Learning Curve

Today was the craziest day. After a week of sleeping, feeding and fussing non-stop, I was pretty convinced that Snuzzler was going through a major growth spurt, but it looks like her body isn't all that's growing. Today, I swear it was like a whole string of light bulbs just came on at once, lit Snuzzler's brain up like a Christmas tree and suddenly she was perfecting new trick after new trick. And she is EXHAUSTING herself performing them, but she is LOVING it. She basically hasn't slept all day, too excited to close her eyes. This has lead to some periods of inconsolable crying, but they've been short and they've been immediately followed by more wide-eyed performances.

So what has she been doing?

She has been talking all day long - story after story after story.

Originally uploaded by chezpappy

I can't believe it! She has cooed and oohed and aahed and squeaked her way through the day, looking me right in the eyes and telling me a tale for the ages. I speak back to her when she pauses and her eyes get bright, she smiles, and then after kicking her legs, peddling her arms, and throwing her head from side to side, she finally manages to respond with a triumphant "Ahhh-oooooooh." And for the first time, she is getting out more than just one noise at a time. I mean she was putting together strings of ah-goos today, to the point that you honestly would have thought the kid was forming coo-sentences in her little head. She had me cracking up with her enthusiastic gurgles and the way she would focus on me like "Do you hear this?? I am doing this! Isn't this amazing? I said ahhh-ooooh ahh-oooh ahh-oooh, mama!"

Then she showed off her reaching.

Reaching!
Originally uploaded by chezpappy

She spent minutes upon minutes - up to 20 at one point, which is an eternity in Snuzzler Time, focusing on different toys and then stretching out her little arms so that she could bat at them with her hands. You could literally see the satisfaction on her face when she would manage to bat them. She even opened her hands a couple of times and looked like she might grab ahold of the toys dangling in front of her, but I think that skill is still a little ways off. The batting though...the batting she has down!




And then there was the Tummy Time.

Originally uploaded by chezpappy

As you know, Snuzzles HATES Tummy Time usually. She has had a super strong neck since birth, but for some reason she doesn't usually like being forced to show it off via Tummy Time. But today...holy successful Tummy Time, Batmom! She pushed up on those little arms, lifting not only her head, but her chest as well! And she then focused again on the dangling toys, even kicking her legs like she wanted to go for them.




She was amazing. I have never seen her so focused for so long. It's like all this sleeping and eating has just helped her clear some developmental hump that she couldn't quite get over before. She was just this whole new baby today - the smarts on this kid...makes a mama proud. It is truly amazing how proud you can feel watching your child accomplish even the smallest milestones. It is just so amazing to watch this little person grow, develop and learn how to work all the amazing body parts that adults just take for granted.

Mommy is so so proud of you today, Snuzzler. You are even more amazing with every passing minute.

Snuzzle Monkey

People, since last Thursday my daughter has been doing something amazing...she has been sleeping through the night! And I'm not talking about 5 to 6 hours. I'm talking about 8 to 10 to 12 (this morning) hours. What is going on?? Could this be permanent? When will we know? It's hard to believe that at 11 weeks old (almost) she is already sleeping like a Big Girl, but this is now 5 nights running! I think there are only two logical conclusions one can draw from this. The first is that she's going through a growth spurt. I do feel like she's been decidedly fussier than usual; like every time she's awake she is screaming fussy. The second conclusion, of course, is that there really is a God.

I do think it's safe to say that her figuring out how to get her thumb in her mouth at night is by no means sheer coincidence. That thing is a miracle worker. It soothes her better than anything else ever can, even The Baby Walk. (For those of you who have yet to experience The Baby Walk, I will attempt to get a video up one of these days. It is quite the sight.) Each morning I go in and she is lying there contentedly sucking away on that tiny little thumb. I hear her cry a little at night, go in to check on her and she is already back asleep, thumb between lips. Say what you want about having to later break a kid of thumb sucking, but man...for right now, it is the most wonderful habit on Earth.

Strangely, it also apparently makes her more mobile. For the past five nights, she has been managing to scoot herself all the way to the right of her crib, until her head is pressed up against the bars. Last night, I even started her off in the lower left corner of her crib and then, halfway through the night, found her way up at the upper right corner, head hitting bars. How does she do it? I need to rig up a video camera. Especially because this morning, not only did she manage to move to the right, but she spun 180 degrees! I am not joking! I went in there this morning and in my just-woke-up confusion, thought that my daughter's head was missing, but nope. There it is. It is at the OPPOSITE end of the bed from where I put it last night. How did she spin in a circle?? And she's in a Sleepsack! Shouldn't that keep her from performing acrobatics? Crazy Snuzzle Monkey.

Her mommy has also been more mobile lately. Last Thursday, Aunt Kristen was kind enough to run my first timed race post-pregnancy with me. 97 degrees outside...sun shining right in our faces...but we made it! I was thrilled to run a solid, if not super speedy, pace and to run the entire thing with no breaks. After all, it has been 7 months or so (??) since I was last able to run on a regular basis. Go, mommy!




Don't be scared. While I do, in fact, sweat like a fiend when I workout, most of the water in this picture is from the large glass I poured over my head. I didn't realize until after the fact that the super refreshing shower made me look like I sweat like a male twice my size.

In other news, last Friday Kayla took her first flight on an airplane!


"Woohoo! Put me on! I'm ready to go!"

We flew from JFK to Cincinnati for my cousin Leo's wedding. We actually managed to travel pretty light. I think we're getting much more adept at figuring out what things we really need and what things we can live without. Good thing too, because there were enough other logistics to figure out once we got the airport. For instance, who knew you had to dismantle and fold up the stroller to go through security? Or there was the fear that TSA would confiscate the golden bottle 'o' breastmilk that was carefully stored for emergency on-plane use. Then there was the cluster of trying to get seat assignments with dear old Delta. Even as a Gold Medallion member, they still treat you like a Delta customer, which basically means like pooh-pooh. And so, after much haggling and much incompetence, we finally managed to get two seats together so that at least neither Chris nor I had to be alone with the baby. In fact, the haggling wound up getting us two seats in First Class. I know that sounds like it should lead to no complaining, but honestly, the amount of nonsense we had to go through before those seats were gained...ugh. Anywho, so yes, Kayla got to ride First Class on her first flight. The flight itself was only about two hours long and while we sat on the runway for 20 minutes, waiting to takeoff, we were starting to think that might be a long two hours...Kayla, not a fan of the runway. In all fairness, it was getting hot sitting there and the engine wasn't really running, so there is no fabulous lulling sound/sensation to help knock a baby out. So we sat there and she fussed and she cried and Chris and I looked at each other like "Oh no...what have we gotten ourselves into?" And the stewardess kept coming over to offer advice like "Have you changed her?", "Have you fed her?", "Maybe she's hot...". Um yeah...I know the kid is only two months old, so we're still new parents, but we have figured out the whole feeding/changing thing. We only do each of those things about 600 times a day, so...luckily we were in the first row of First Class, because I'm sure we were getting the stink eye from the business travelers behind us. I remember being that business traveler. Of course, I don't think you get to make the stink eye pre-takeoff, nor should you make it on a two hour flight in the middle of the day. An overseas flight? Okay, that I get. But 2 hours from 11am to 1pm? Cut a new mother some slack. The good news is that none of it wound up mattering. As soon as that plane took off, Kayla bowed her little head and succumbed to the engine's lullaby. She proceeded to sleep for the entire flight (with one diaper change near the end), bless her little heart. She did the same thing on the flight back, even after some evil old woman got on the plane, took one look at her little crying face and rolled her eyes, heaved a huge sigh, and proceeded to grimace at her until she moved by our row to find her own seat. Rude. Part of me almost WANTED Kayla to scream for the whole flight just for revenge. Well, okay, not really. That would have been equally as miserable for us, but you know what I mean. But yes, Kayla was actually a fantastic flier overall and she was equally adorable all weekend. She seems to be getting more and more smiley with every day and is getting more and more excited about all the fun noises she is now capable of making. In fact, she decided to demonstrate those noises in the middle of the wedding ceremony.


"Oooooooh!"


"Hehehe - cooing in church is fun!"

And the fun continued. Throughout the night, Kayla met tons of new family members...






And got to reconnect with her favorite family, some of whom she hadn't seen in well over a month now!





Overall, a highly successful weekend for a quickly growing girl!

My Daughter Won't Wake Up

No, I'm not kidding. She won't wake up. Now, some of you are going "And you are complaining, because...?" But seriously...it is the middle of the day and she has now been sleeping for about three and a half to four hours. And this is after sleeping for a full (I kid you not) ten hours last night. I'm going to start referring to her as Sleeping Beauty. What is happening? Have I entered Bizarro World? This is the baby who doesn't nap. I mean she DOES NOT NAP. She cat naps, sure - 40 mins here, 20 mins there...but sleeps for 4 hours in the middle of the day? Not my baby. Who stole my baby?

But, wait...

There is an answer.

She has been lulled into another long peaceful sleep not by a poisoned spinning wheel or apple or other princess-like nemesis. Her sleeping pill is one small, but equally effective thing...

Bleeding Ears

If my daughter doesn't stop crying soon, I think my eardrums are going to just up and quit. "Sorry, lady, but this isn't what we signed up for," and off they'll go to live in ears that don't have to listen to this incessant fussing for hours and hours. I've changed her diaper MULTIPLE times. I've fed her. I've rocked her, I've sung to her, I've tried putting her in the bouncer, the swing, and on the playmat. I've tried giving her a pacifier, her thumb, her fist. I've tried playing music and creating total silence. I've tried lights and no lights. I have honest to God tried everything and yet, for some reason, she is just super fussy today. And in between the fussing she stops to smile and grin and be the most adorable thing ever, but then out of nowhere, ten minutes later, the fussiness comes back on and WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH. Can Kayla say "bipolar"? Say "bipolar" for mommy.

I'm honestly wondering if taking her to the "playgroup" this afternoon is a good idea. I don't want her scaring off our potential new friends. It just kills me when she does this. The only conclusion I can come to is that she doesn't take solid enough naps during the day and she gets so overtired and overwrought that she can't function anymore. I've been trying desperately to get her to take better naps during the day, but 40 minutes seems to be about the max and that is a longer nap for her. And some days it doesn't seem to bother her, but other days...holy crap. It's like she's discovered that there's this whole world out here and though it wears her out completely, she isn't willing to close her eyes for fear that it won't be there when she wakes up. I love this child more than life itself, but I simply can't listen to her cry non-stop. That cry penetrates a parent's ear like nothing else on this Earth and when she goes full force minutes feel like hours and hours feel like days...and then the stupid book tells me she should be crying less and I think, uh oh. I don't want to misrepresent her. She is a good kid and for the most part she isn't a terrible crier, but the problem is that when she does cry, she goes all out. This is not a kid who does anything halfway. If she is going to cry, then she is going to scream, by God.

Wait...

Silence...

I put her down in her crib about 5 minutes ago, thinking I would just have to let her cry for a few minutes, because I was out of ideas and patience and now...

Silence...

Deep breath...

Mommy needs a beer.

Take That, Miss Murkoff

So can we just talk about the insanity that can ensue when one spends too much time thinking about baby milestones? I think I mentioned before that I have, for the most part, put the baby books aside at this point. I just don't want to know What To Expect anymore. Following along with those expectations, no matter how many times they tell you that "every baby is different" and "these milestones are just estimates" could seriously drive you to drink. And when you know that having alcohol in your bloodstream could cause your baby to sleep less soundly, being driven to drink is a serious, serious thing.

Here's my problem with the milestones. Every new parent wants their baby to excel. If you don't, then you probably aren't cut out for this job. Every new parent wants their kid to achieve milestones right on time, if not early, so when a book tells you that your baby "likely should be able to" do thing x by 6-weeks of age, it is basically telling you that if the kid hasn't achieved thing x by 5 weeks and 6 days, it is time to PANIC. That's right. I said it. I don't care if you follow up the "should be able to" statement with a disclaimer saying "oh, but if they don't, that's okay...your child may just be slower" - Stop Right There. Slower?? Say what? Like as in may not get to graduate with the rest of her class slower? What are you telling me? "Don't panic if your child does not reach every milestone on time." Oh sure. Tell me my child is "slow" and then tell me not to panic. Like THAT is going to happen. What if I told you that your book sales were "slower" than anticipated, but not to worry because I was sure some day someone would "likely" be interested in reading your "milestones" and therefore someday you would "likely" start earning some income? Would that make you feel safe and secure, oh author? I think not. Think of the tortoise and the hare. Okay, I know that the point of that story was "slow and steady wins the race", but let's enter reality for a minute here. We all know that really the hare would have dusted the tortoise 9 times out of 10. The hare would have gotten the higher paying job straight out of college and, even if he burned out within just a couple years, he still would have burned out while earning a much higher salary than the tortoise who would likely have been plodding away, tucked into some unrewarding call representative job, earning minimum wage, with little chance for advancement. (Sorry, my experience with the travel agency yesterday has left me momentarily bitter enough with call reps that they currently represent, for me, the lowest form of human kind. My apologies to any call reps reading this. I am sure my faith will one day be restored and I am sure that you are far superior to the guy I dealt with...just bear with me while I try to get over my hate...) So, really...how often does someone succeed by being slower? Honestly? Let's all given an honest "rarely".

And you know what else? There should also be no averages given in these books. Some of us are not capable of not worrying when our child doesn't fall within the "average" parameters laid out in black and white on the pages of expert-written books. "At this age, your child should sleep an average of 15 hours a day." Oh my God! She slept for 18 hours yesterday and 19 the day before that! She is clearly suffering from some horrible sleep disease or we are just so painfully boring that she has decided that it isn't worth becoming more alert! "Your child should nurse 8-12 times a day for approximately 15-30 minutes at a time." Oh my God! Kayla eats for no more than 7 minutes at a time and only about 6 times a day! Clearly, despite the fact that she is growing like a weed, she must be malnourished or suffering from some rare disease in which her stomach is shrinking while the rest of her grows! No! Not our bay-ayby!

Oh okay, I exaggerate. I'm definitely not nearly as paranoid as all that. I forget to make people wash their hands before touching her now. I am thrilled when she goes more than 5 hours without eating (sleepy time for mama). I even put her pacifier back in her mouth after it popped out and rolled across the living room floor earlier (5 second rule!), but still...for the sake of all new parents, I do think these books should be burned, banned or otherwise relegated to dark dank places where they can't disturb the peaceful (ha!) slumbers of new parents. Perhaps, I shall write my own book. It will be called "You have a baby. I have a baby. And Neither Of Us Has a Clue." Or "Your Baby Rolled First, But Mine Went To Harvard." Or "My Baby's Smiling On The Inside." Or "Why Your Baby Ain't There and That is Okay." It's a work in progress. Regardless, I do think the standing rule with babies, in every parent's head, should be "que sera sera". When it comes to babies, you just have to live and let live, even if one baby is living a more smiley, graspy, rolly life than another.

At First I Was Afraid, I Was Petrified...

Well, it's official. Kayla and I have been on our own for almost 36 hours now and, believe it or not, all is well! I have to admit that I was dreading having Chris gone for three days. I can't even really explain what it was I was worried about. It's not like Kayla and I aren't always alone during the day and it's not like I'm not typically the one who gets up with her anytime she wakes during the night and yet...I think it was knowing that if she had a really bad day (Banshee Baby) there was no relief to be had. Luckily (knock on wood), things have gone really well so far. Kayla was fabulous all day yesterday, slept pretty darned well last night (Mommy had insomnia...seriously, how do you have insomnia when you have a newborn wearing you out 24/7? Stupid overactive brain.), and has been pretty pleasant today (though she was, once again, not loving Baby Yoga by the end of the 45 minutes). In fact, yesterday, despite my torturing her for most of the day, she smiled, cooed and generally put up with my nonsense without complaint. I started off yesterday by making her entertain herself forEVER while I sat on the phone with the travel agent. Twenty minutes on hold to be hung up on. Then, 20 minutes on hold to get no answer. Then...and so on and so on. And then once I finally got off the phone with the travel agency, it started all over again with the airlines. Trying to accomplish such painfully long phone sessions with an infant on your lap...not easy. Believe it or not, Kayla has even less patience for the idiotic phone representatives than I do. But, she let me get accomplished what I needed to and then she continued to be a trooper while I dragged her around the mall for three hours. That's right, three hours. I know, I am a terrible, terrible mother. But, listen...I have to go to another family wedding this weekend and while I had been planning on being good and just wearing a dress that was already hanging in my closet, I sort of forgot about the fact that while most of me is back to its original size, somethings are now serving as storage containers for baby food and, shockingly, do not exactly fit into their old clothing homes. Doh. So, when I encountered this problem last month, I managed to locate one dress in my closet that would still work and, like a good money-saving new mother, wore it. Of course, Kayla then decided that me wearing an old dress was SO boring and she drooled milk all over it, leaving it pretty much a no-go for this wedding. Silk + baby = laughable plan. Hence, my need to go look for a dress yesterday. To make the story of her tolerating our trip to the mall even more impressive, when we finally got out to the mall I realized that I had neglected to bring her stroller. Double doh. So, she wound up being trapped in the Baby Bjorn for the three hours. Now, you are probably wondering, "How does one try on clothes with a baby strapped to their chest?" The answer is, you don't. The answer is that you make a makeshift bed out of your changing pad and burp cloth and every time you go into a dressing room, you carefully place your precious bundle down on said "bed" and make googly eyes and sounds at them, hoping that your cheerful demeanor will trick them into thinking that this is actually a fun outing and not just mommy's terrible terrible idea. But, hey, it somehow worked! Kayla laid there contently, smiling up at me or staring aimlessly at the ceiling. Why she tolerated that, but will not tolerate even so much as 5 minutes in her bouncy chair today is beyond me. Babies...can't live with 'em...But no, I can't complain. I even managed to try on a pair of shorts with her still hooked into the Baby Bjorn towards the end of the day. Who is a pro-mom now??

Today has been a pretty good day too, so far. This morning we had to get up and get moving so that we could make it to Starbucks in time to meet a friend pre-Baby Yoga. This new friend has a baby who was born on the same day as Kayla, so we're hoping to be able to commiserate/compare notes on 9 Week and 5 day old babies soon. I have to say that little Anna held up much better than Kayla did in class today. Kayla started out looking like she was going to be a champ, but unfortunately, she just is not a fan of any of the big roller-coaster-esque moves that happen later in class and by the third "Whoosh" move, she was done. I'm trying to convince her that sudden movements that make your stomach lurch up into your throat are actually fun, but so far she's not buying it. She did make it to the end of class without falling asleep though and then was a very good girl and passed out for over an hour while Mommy went to lunch with another woman from class. Now she is passed out asleep in her bed, hopefully down for a decent nap and Mommy is headed into the office to actually get some work done. Yes, Mommy sat down to write in the blog first - naughty Mommy. I can't help it, my priorities are all out of whack these days. Must...refocus...

Anyway, fingers crossed that all continues to go well today and tonight and that we are shockingly well-rested and settled when Daddy gets home late tomorrow night.

Lots of other stories to tell, but now I really do need to go focus on that for which I am paid. If anyone wants to start paying me to do this, I am all for a change of careers...let me know and I'll send you my paypal account info. :)

No, for real...let me know.

Half Post

Poor Kayla...

This afternoon she visits the Boo Boo Doctor and according to Mommy's records, she has six vaccinations awaiting her. I'm hoping some of them come in a combo package, because otherwise six vaccinations does not sound like fun. Chris and I were originally going to take tonight as a date night, but I couldn't bear the thought of leaving her after such a potentially traumatizing doctor's visit, so instead, we made last night date night. Though we were both a little tired, it was nice to get out. We went out to dinner in Midtown - honestly...nothing worse than oblivious tourists. Once you live in NYC, Midtown is such a nightmare. We avoid Times Square like the plague now, unless we're going to a show and have no choice. Last night we wound up having to eat dinner up there because of the way things worked out timing-wise and Chris swears it's the last time ever. Can't say that I blame him...between the area just being a jam packed mess of tourists and being practically all chains and chintzy theme restaurants, it really is a little "blech". That said, it was fun to get out for a night of dinner and theater. We wound up seeing The Addams Family, mainly because Nathan Lane is in it. We saw him in The Producers back in the day and would follow him anywhere now. He's brilliant. That said, Addams Family was a little rough...painful ballad after painful ballad, seriously rough character accent attempts, a couple scenes that literally made Chris and I turn to eachother and go "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?" If you need an example, there is a whole song in which the guy is talking about having learned the meaning of love from a Giant Squid. Yeah...but, it wasn't a total loss. There were some pretty funny parts and sitting in a room full of 300+ people all snapping their fingers to the Addams Family theme song is entertaining in and of itself. Almost more entertaining though was a brief moment at dinner beforehand. We wound up going to a big old Chinese chain restaurant - total tourist trap - kind of like PF Changs minus a few taste points. So we're sitting there waiting to be seated (20 min wait - NOTHING in Manhattan) when this guy walks in. Now, 1) He is wearing sunglasses at 7pm and, now, inside, 2) He is wearing a hat that says "I am a fashion victim who paid way too much for a hat that, no matter how expensive, can't make me look like I'm actually cool." So he walks in, girlfriend in tow, leans over onto the counter and says "Listen...I'm so-and-so from NBC. I don't have a reservation, but how about you get in me, okay?" Enter a blank stare from the hostess who agrees to seat him asap (i.e. in the same 20 min window as everyone else). As he later gets lead to his table, the waitress turns to the person beside her and says "Seriously no clue who that guy is." Listen...if you want to name drop, at least make sure yours is a name worth dropping and, for the love of God, drop it somewhere more worthwhile than the Chinese chain restaurant.

And...I totally got distracted and never finished this post, but far be it from me to let it just go to waste.