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.

Happy Belated

Happy Belated Birthday, Kayla!

As of two days ago, you are officially 2 Months Old! To celebrate, you had a super fussy and unhappy day, but Mommy did manage to snap a couple pics before you turned into Fuss Master Extraordinaire.





Your ballerina outfit was quite the hit at Baby Yoga. In fact, Tamar, the little 3-month old boy lying next to us, couldn't take his eyes off you. You played it very coy, not even making eye contact with him, but he grinned at you for a solid 45 minutes. His mommy says he's in love. Of course, he didn't see you later in the day when you were pitching an absolute fit. Over what? I haven't the faintest idea, but something had you seriously out of sorts that day. Even bath time, normally your FAVORITE time of the day, couldn't cheer you up. I set you down in that bath and you screamed like I had forced you onto a bed of nails. Don't you know that you worry Mommy when you carry on like that? You followed up that day with a day of nothing but sleep yesterday. Apparently all that screaming plum wore you out. (Plum wore you out? Who says that? Suddenly, I'm an 80-year old West Virginian? I should have added in a "tuckered" for good measure.) Anyway...you seem to be somewhat recovered today, thank goodness. Mommy is preparing to be alone with you for most of four nights and three days next week while Daddy is out of town and an entire day of screaming was starting to get her a little nervous about the prospect of all that alone time. Today, you seem to be back to your normally cheerful self, so let's hope maybe you've exorcised your demons and are back to being my lovable little snuzzle girl.

(Side note: It is "exorcise", right? When you google it, it keeps suggesting "exercise" instead. She gave those demons plenty of exercise...those demons were going full steam all day Tuesday; lifting weights, running races, grunting and groaning and generally getting their workout on. I don't know that "exercise" is what they need. I don't want those demons any stronger or tougher than they already are...just sayin'...)



On another side note, totally un-baby related, is anyone else watching the hearings today in which they are lambasting the BP CEO? If so, does anyone else think this is a) a ridiculous political show in which the members of the Energy Panel are simply posturing for public support by pointing fingers, yelling, and generally feigning indignation? b) a big fat waste of our tax dollars? What's done is done. Can we work on fixing this, rather than pointing fingers, and can we spend these dollars on coming up with solutions and aid programs rather than on hours of televised berating of a man who, himself, is gaining nothing through this terrible disaster and is, therefore, unlikely to have orchestrated the event? If I have to hear one more Republican blame the current administration or one more Democrat blame the last, I am going to throw my TV out the window. Seriously, people...this is why I vote third party.

And now, let me apologize for my political rant. I promise never again to watch MSNBC while posting on the happy baby blog.

And Heaven and Angels Sing...Well, Most of the Time

Good Morning, Mama!



Last night my baby, my wonderful, darling, amazing baby, slept for eight hours. EIGHT hours. I fed her at 730pm, took about an hour getting her to fall asleep in her VERY OWN BED, and then she slept from 830pm right through until 430am. Can you believe it?? And you know what was just as amazing? At 430am, she woke up, ate for ten minutes, went right back to sleep and slept another three hours! In other words, I got to sleep from about 930pm until 730am. Do you have any idea how amazing that is? Well, okay, it wasn't quite that good because a) I couldn't figure out why in the world my baby wasn't waking up which meant that I woke up every hour or so and had to check to make sure that she hadn't stopped breathing. I mean, listen, if your 8 week old suddenly decides to sleep for 8 hours straight, you can't help but be a little suspicious that it is too good to be true. And then, of course, there's the whole breastfeeding issue, as in I am breastfeeding and the boobies do not like to go 8 hours without being emptied. Have you ever seen cows moo-ing uncomfortable in a pasture? Yeah...So I also had to finally give in and pump (moo, again) at 330am, so that my boobs did not decide to get angry and rebel by clogging up or some other equally pleasant issue. I have spared you people the details of clogged ducts and most other post-pregnancy body issues, but let's just say that there are some things they just don't warn you about in the prenatal classes. Anywho, I am not complaining. TRUST ME, there is NO complaint here after having my baby sleep, essentially, through the night. I can only hope that this is a new trick she plans to keep on showing off night after night. Fingers crossed!

In other news, yesterday was another big day of adventures for Kayla. Yesterday morning, Kayla participated in her first charity event. She joined Chris, Grandma Duck and I for a 5K American Cancer Society walk across the GW Bridge. Kayla was a champ and not only allowed herself to be roused very early in the morning, but then relaxed and slept for most of the walk.









She was an absolute doll of a baby, until...after the walk, we had planned to go over to a nearby park to join in the post-event festivities. We finished the walk, packed up the car, drove over, parked and I decided I had better feed Kayla so that she would be happy to let us hang out at the picnic for awhile. So I get her all nestled into my lap in the front seat and start feeding her. All is going well until suddenly I feel this bubbling sensation on my forearm and then a warmth washes over my hands...long story short, not only did Kayla manage to shoot pooh out the back of her diaper, but she managed to get it all over my hands, my arm, her entire body, the car seat, and, perhaps most impressively, all over my shorts. That's right, in poohing herself, she managed to make it look like mommy had done the same thing. So impressive. So disgusting. Now, I have noticed that becoming a mom somehow immediately ups your threshold for yuckiness. It has to, otherwise the first time your kid projectile poohed all over something you would their bags and ship them back to whence they came. That said...there is something about suddenly realizing that you are sitting in someone else's pooh that can churn even the strongest mother's stomach. Needless to say, we did not stay for the picnic and mommy road the whole way home sitting gingerly on a burp cloth. Unbelievable. And do you know that Miss Baby tried to do the same thing again this morning? Luckily, I am too quick for her now. As soon as I felt the first bubble and saw that red, concentrated look come over her face, I leapt for the bedroom and changing table. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...Of course, she was then super pleasant and happy all morning. Apparently, a long night's sleep and good BM will do that for a girl. Who knew?

This is one special, special job.

I Love My PlayMat



Until I Don't

My Baby Goes to Harvard

Dude...so, I've started looking into daycare options for Kayla. I'm not planning to enroll her anywhere until fall, but I thought it would be a good idea to at least start researching. Turns out I probably should have started that back when she was but a tiny seed in my belly because the wait-lists around here are incredible!!! I saw that coming, I guess, but I figured that we wouldn't be in any rush to get her in post-birth since I am working from home and am pretty flexible. That said, I had no idea that most of these people started getting their kids on wait-lists 'round about that time that the little dipstick came back with a plus sign in its window. Stupid me for thinking you should at least let the kid grow some appendages before you start enrolling it in daycare.

Another thing I had no idea about - admission processes. That's right, you don't just enroll your kid at some of these places, some of them actually have full admission processes, including interviews. INTERVIEWS...with INFANTS...really?? This is the stuff out of parenting movies where the parents are desperately trying to get their 3-month old to stop drooling and rattle off baby signs at the speed of light so that she can impress a panel of daycare admissions people. Interviews. I mean seriously...what the heck is going to come out of that? They must just pick by cutest baby, right? (It's in the bag, Kayla! It's in the bag!) What else can you possibly derive from an interview with a 2-month old? Does this mean I have to go back to fretting about whether or not Kayla is hitting the "What to Expect" milestones? Will these admissions people be putting her through some kind of test? Are they going to judge her because she still just makes general cooing sounds rather than mixing up vowels and consonants, a la "Ah-goo" that the books keep mentioning? Will they be unimpressed by the fact that she doesn't always smile on cue and can only whack at the toys that hang in front of her rather than grabbing them? Lord have mercy...maybe I should get her some glasses pre-interview...give her that "air of intelligence". Not that I doubt your smarts, Kayla. I watched you reach out and whack that little purple elephant toy over and over again this morning and I was darned impressed. You are one smart cookie. But what if there are more smart cookies out there? I just think the glasses might give us an edge, that's all.

I am half excited and half dreading putting her in daycare. One part of me is sad to think that there would be days where her little mushy face wouldn't be right there beside me anytime I wanted to lean over and kiss it. That part of me is also not thrilled with the idea of putting her in a place where she'll be surrounded by little germ monsters (ie other kids) who will expose her to all kinds of nasty bugs which will, no doubt, make both her and our lives miserable at times. Another part of me though is kind of selfishly excited about the idea of having a few days a week to myself. That part of me realizes that I might actually be able to get some work done on those days. It dreams of getting to run all those errands that tend to pile up. It also realizes that those days would be fantastic opportunities for me to get in long workouts at the gym, trips to the salon, or just quiet reading and relaxation time in the park. That part of me can't help it...It kind of wants to start part-time daycare asap. Of course, both those parts are just going to have to agree to disagree and, regardless, they are not in control of when Kayla starts daycare. The Man is in charge of that and the Man says we first need to figure out a way to stand out amongst the zillion other overachieving 2 month olds on the wait-list. Kayla, say "So very nice to meet you, Admissions Officers." Now, en Francais.

It's Funny 'Cause It's True!

"Do Hoboken Moms Suffer From Playdate Syndrome?"

Summer Sun

Before we begin...can we just marvel at how much Kayla has grown in the past seven weeks? I don't know if you remember my previous post of a photo of her lying next to her giraffe, but if you do, take a gander at the picture below. Giraffe, Kayla now beats you in a size contest, no question.



Actually, here's the older pic, just so you can really compare.



Incredible, huh? But on to the meat of the post...

The last couple days have been so fun, despite the fact that Kayla's sleep schedule has gotten a little messed up in the process. Moving to NJ last summer was tough and though we're feeling more and more at home, I still don't feel "settled". When we left Virginia, we had been there for a little over seven years. In that time, Virginia had really become home. We were settled into careers, a house, an amazing group of friends...Coming up here has really felt like starting over completely. We know next to no one here, with the exception of my sister and cousin and though I'm still working, my job is SO different from what it once was that it almost feels like beginning my career over again too. In Virginia we were used to living a jam packed life. We both belonged to at least one or two soccer teams, I was playing on two volleyball teams, we had our jobs and our regular get-togethers with friends...it was rare that we had a night where we were both just home alone and relaxing, so any downtime felt really special. Up here, our lives have been so much the opposite - lots of downtime and far fewer social commitments. We haven't really managed to find sports teams to join yet, partially because I wasn't exactly in any shape to be joining a team what with the whole baby-carrying process. Also, with me working from home, it's been harder to find that core group of friends up here. We were so lucky in Virginia. I wound up working with amazing people who became my closest friends, on top of the fact that we each had good friends from high school who just happened to wind up living nearby. Coming up here, we had to really search more for friends, which ain't easy. It's feels a lot like being back on the dating scene. I meet other women through yoga or pilates and feel like I have to do the whole "So...what are your interests? What do you like to do on the weekend? Are you looking for a friend relationship?" And I'm trying. I'm trying to do it, but it's tougher than it seems. Picking up friends at the gym or at Starbucks just isn't super comfortable. I won't lie, from time to time being up here has been really hard and I've wanted to just call it quits and go back to our comfortable, familiar lives in DC, but there are so many reasons that being up here is good for us, especially for Chris, and so, instead, I've been trying to tough it out. Some days are easier than others. The last couple days though have given me renewed hope that maybe, just maybe, we'll eventually feel at home here too.

Last night, Kayla and I walked down to meet Chris at the Path station as he commuted home from work. When he got off the Path, he said "So...what are you doing tonight?" "Um...I don't know. What am I doing?" I asked. "You are playing volleyball," he answered and then proceeded to explain that the Hoboken Ski Club has Monday night sand volleyball games all summer long. We had planned to join the Hoboken Ski Club last winter and Chris actually did go to one event, but with me being pregnant, we weren't able to actually go on any of their trips last year and I also wasn't really able to take advantage of their weekly bar meet-ups, so our plans to participate sort of went by the wayside. When Chris brought up the volleyball game, I was actually really nervous. I wouldn't know anyone! I completely balked and was ready to just say "uh uh, no way," and resign myself to another night at home, but Chris insisted we at least do a walk-by and, in my heart, I knew it was the right thing to do. So, off we went and, in the end, it was great! I have no idea what will come out of it, but it was so nice to be out playing volleyball again and the group was a really nice, chill bunch of people. It was so nice, in fact, that we wound up staying until after 9pm, killing Kayla's schedule, but she slept happily in the Baby Bjorn for the entire 2 hours, clearly content to be out for the evening and a party animal later that night. No, I did not play volleyball with her in the Baby Bjorn. Chris actually kept her while I played and though she kept getting invited to get in on the court action, she chose instead to snooze away. Knowing that these games are a weekly thing gives me hope that it might wind up being a way for us to get to know some new people and maybe make some friends so, after a nice, fun night, I'm actually super excited about getting to go again next week and I am super grateful to my husband for making me put on a brave face and get out there (See? Dating scene lingo again!)

And then today. Today Kayla and I had our first baby-and-me yoga class. Itsy Bitsy Yoga class. The instructor is the same woman who taught one of my prenatal yoga classes, so I had been really excited for this session to start so that I could see her again and introduce her to Kayla. The class was WONDERFUL. It is definitely focused on the babies. It's not a workout class, but it is a wonderful way to spend some fun time playing and bonding with baby. The whole class is so cute. Everyone sits in a circle holding their babies or sitting with their babies laid out on a mat in front of them. You do some baby massage and some fun little limb manipulation games while singing and talking to baby. There is also just a lot of chatting amongst the people there - comparing stories and tips...It was really nice. I was hoping it might be a good way to meet people and we'll see how that goes since the class is actually pretty small. Regardless though, I really loved getting to just play with Kayla that way. At home we play a ton of course, but it was nice to have a little organized activity and to get some new ideas. She did so well too! It's a brilliant class in that it is completely tailored to kids 6 weeks through about a year, so everyone brings in their diaper bags, people feed their babies in the middle of class if they need to, there is no pressure to have the "perfect baby", in fact, the instructor started out by saying, "Listen, many babies won't make it all the way through a 45 minute class, so if you need to get up and walk them around or to put them down to sleep or whatever, feel free!" Kayla was the youngest there by about a month, but she hung in like a champ! She actually started out seeming like she really liked it. She smiled at the songs and seemed to like the little massage/movement activities. She looked all around, wide-eyed and seemingly fascinated by the baby next to us. It wasn't until the last ten minutes or so that she started to look tired and got a tad fussy, but she still stuck it out and was so much better than I could have even hoped for. It was fun to see so many babies at so many different stages. It's so exciting to think how much she is going to change in just the next month or two.

Speaking of which...this morning, I swear Kayla purposefully reached for the toy I was dangling in front of her. She has definitely been noticing her hands more and more lately. She has no problem getting them to her mouth when she wants to and, lately, she'll bring them up in front of her face and focus on them like "hey...I think this is mine!" This morning, you could see the concentration on her face as she looked at the toy and then slowly, slowly moved her hand up to touch it. And it wasn't a fluke. She brought that hand up and batted at the little jangling toy I was holding one, two, SEVEN times! And she would get so excited when she hit it. It was so cute! What an amazing thing to be just starting out in life, to be just figuring out all the amazing things that you and your body are capable of. I love watching her learn. She was also full of smiles this morning, which always makes me giggle. This little girl is slowly developing from a little lovable blob into a real little person and I love it.





Oh and PS...just to prove that we really did take our 7 Week Old to a pro soccer game...







Note the look of total shock in this last one...poor poor traumatized baby...!

Holy Overstimulation, Batmom!

Last night we decided to embark on a brave new adventure. We packed Kayla into the Baby Bjorn, loaded up the diaper bag and headed out to the Red Bulls game at the new football stadium. I just said "football". I mean "soccer". Look at those old Euro-schooling roots coming out! Anyhow...

So yes, we took our 7 week old to a pro-soccer game. This seemed like a potentially terrible idea. They were forecasting evening thunderstorms, the game would definitely last through at least one feeding session, there was not likely to be a good place to feed or even to change her, it was a million degrees out...all ingredients which might have added up to a recipe for disaster. That said, we braved the game anyway because, let's be honest, a family can only take so much time stuck inside the apartment. Thankfully, we have a seriously tolerant child. That is not to say that she loved the experience, as a matter of fact, I think she may be mildly traumatized since she has spent literally almost all day today sleeping, but she did make it through with more than 70 minutes of soccer with flying colors. In fact, at first I thought she was enjoying it. A nice breeze sprung up early on, so it actually felt pretty nice out and every time the wind would tickle her toes, she would open her eyes wide and not smile, but look pleased. She even seemed to enjoy the cheering and the music from the fan clubs off on the other side of the field (we sat up high in a quieter section thinking it might help). It wasn't until the Red Bulls scored their first (and only) goal that she suddenly looked more panicked than pleased. As they drove in to score, the noise in the stadium jumped about three decibels and her little eyes turned into huge blue saucers. I jumped to cover her ears with my hands while her little mouth started to quiver and she looked at me like "My God! Is this the end??? What is happening?? I'm only 7 weeks old, I'm too young to die!!!" Needless to say, even though she calmed back down once the noise subsided, she was decidedly more jumpy after that and 'round about half time, she started to cry and had to be put back in the Bjorn for a walk around the quieter enclaves of the stadium with Daddy. The kid is a trooper though. She stuck it out through halftime, fell asleep and stayed fairly content until minute 75 when we decided to leave early and beat the crowds. She was definitely wired last night - didn't truly fall asleep until about 1am, but she made up for that by sleeping from 1 til 4, then 430 til 7, and then, most impressively, from 730 until about noon. She then proceeded to take today as a recovery day, sleeping away most of the day. She barely even lifted an eyebrow when we took her down for a walk through a local fair and then out to a restaurant for an hour long lunch. Bless her little heart, I think she is still recovering from the barrage of sights, smells, and sounds of last night. And now, at 915pm, she is trying to settle down for a nighttime doze to the lulling sounds of "womb/mom's heartbeat" as played by her little Sleep Giraffe.

Dear Kayla, Mommy and Daddy are so sorry that they temporarily traumatized you yesterday. You will think this is a good story when you are older. Please do not seek revenge by staying up all night tonight.

Love and Thanks in Advance,
The Parentals

The Magic Continues...

Still trying not to get too excited, but last night was the third night in a row that Kayla slept AMAZINGLY well. Last night she again took her last bottle around 11pm and then slept through til almost 4am, waking briefly to eat and immediately falling back to sleep and staying that way until 830am this morning. I can't even tell you how exciting this is. Truly, there is nothing to renew your belief in God like a baby finally sleeping through the night. Everyone we talk to and everything we read warns us that this is likely temporary and that she'll be back to an erratic sleep schedule in no time, but I'm trying to drown those people out so that I can just enjoy these few pleasurable nights while they're here.

Oops, napping baby is awake. Gotta run!

Happy Birthday To US

So, for her 7-week birthday, Snuzzler decided to give her mommy and daddy a present. Last night, I kid you not, we fed her at 1015pm, 330am, and...well...we haven't fed her again since because she's been SLEEPING. SLEEPING!! She slept for a 5 hour stretch from 1015 to 330 and has now been on a second marathon sleeping session which has lasted for about 5.5/6 hours so far. She is occasionally waking to snuzzle around, but then she immediately goes back to sleep. I can't believe it!

Slackerdom

So the problem with not writing in the blog for awhile is that when you come back to post you have way more to say than you can possibly have time to write, plus none of it really fits together, so your brain can only produce a mish-mash of items, none of which are that important, but all of which seemingly need to be detailed. Let's begin at the beginning...

As though she heard me, the very morning after my last post, Kayla woke up and gave me the smile to end all smiles. Clearly she did not want to be outdone by some 5-week-old upstart and so, I got to see her beam at me with a beam that could melt the polar ice caps. I am not even kidding when I say that her smile may be my favorite thing EVER. More of a favorite than chocolate ice cream. More of a favorite than traveling the globe. More of a favorite than...dare I say it??...shopping. This smile...my god. It truly makes my insides go all gooey. I guess it is good that she is still only giving it sporadically (although far more often!) since otherwise I would just be a giggling babbling mess of a woman. For those of you who have kids, you likely remember this moment. For those of you who don't, I honestly think having your baby look up, crinkle her little eyes and then burst into a toothless grin that outshines the sun, might be a valid reason for having kids in the first place. If you are on the fence, please come witness this smile. You'll be packing away the birth control and jumping on the baby wagon in no time. Of course, Kayla has totally screwed herself now, because now every time she is awake she has a face full of mom going "Come on, pretty baby. Smile at mommy. Smile at mommy. Who has the prettiest smile around? Who? Hiiiiii, pretty baby...". Annoying much? I'm sure. But it's her own darn fault for being so irresistibly cute.

Speaking of irresistible, last night Kayla had an utterly scrumptious night. She took a bottle at 1215am and then, I kid you not, slept until 530 this morning. I couldn't believe it. I have never in my life been so happy to be woken up at 530. I honestly think I could avoid ever complaining about lack of sleep again if we could just relive last night every night for the next year. Well...maybe not a full year...after all, eventually this kid has to start sleeping for more than 5 hours at a stretch, but still...5 hours last night. Ahh, sweet relief. I had fed her around 930pm and then Chris had agreed to take her for the next feeding whilst I went off to try to grab a few hours of sleep. I couldn't believe it when he didn't come in to retrieve me until 530 this morning. The sad sad truth is that there is no way this will last. I can pretty much guarantee that while this may eventually be a regular occurrence, we ain't there yet. That said, even that one night was a pleasant surprise, especially after the previous night and day were a little rough. Poor Kayla's tummy has not improved much over the weeks and she still suffers from miserable gas attacks that will literally wake her from a sound sleep. The poor kid...can you imagine?? I'm not sure if we had been lazy in giving her Mylicon or if it was just being cooped up in the car multiple times, held constantly, and overwhelmed by people and noise all weekend, but either way, Monday night was NOT fun. Let's just say that the evening culminated in multiple people's tears, a 1.5 hour walk around the neighborhood at 10pm, and a whole lot of lost sleep. But that is all water under the bridge. Let us focus on the positive - 5 hours of sleep!! Her 1230am feeding was 3 full ounces from the bottle, so I think we're going to give that another go tonight and see if maybe letting her eat a little more pre-bed isn't the magic recipe for sleep. It's so hard (okay, impossible) to know how much she gets while breastfeeding, but this was the first time that she took 3oz of breastmilk from the bottle without spitting up, so we're going to start letting her increase from the 2.5 we were allowing her based on previous spit-up episodes. Honestly, you just have no idea before you have kids how much one can care about pooh, pee, and drink amounts. Well, you learn the "drink amounts" rule in college, but that's a whole different kind of caring.

In other news, Kayla had a super busy weekend. Last Friday, we drove out to Lancaster, PA to go to my cousin Jen's wedding. This was Kayla's first opportunity to meet the Spatz side of the family and so she got all dolled up in a lime green dress to show off for Shannon, Jen, John, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Paige, Rachel, Megan, Emma, Great Great Aunt Pat, Great Great Uncle Frank, and the rest of the Spatz clan.





On Saturday, after the wedding, we all drove up to Mountain Top, PA to spend the weekend at Aunt Sue's house. Aunt Paige, Uncle Jeff and the girls joined, so it was a big weekend of Spatzes and Svobodas, 18+ people, all under one roof. This was Kayla's second time meeting Aunt Sue, Uncle Steve, Lisa and Jay, but her first time meeting Mike, Meghann, Zoe, Julie, Aunt Barb, Uncle Tom, Nick and Beth. It was a crazy weekend and I'm pretty sure it took Kayla until today to recover from the constant noise and chaos, but it was also an absolute blast. The weather was perfect, so there was lots of quality time spent by the pool and even though Kayla couldn't join in the bonfire on Sunday night (flying mosquitoes...flying Airsoft bullets...), she got more attention and love in those two days than a lot of kids probably get in an entire lifetime. This kid has no idea how lucky she is...She has more people ready and waiting to love her...It makes her mommy and daddy so proud.

Ready For The Pool





Cousin Emma


Great Aunt Paige



Fun in the Sun with Mommy



Naptime with Lisa



Fun with Aunt Sue and Zoe




and The Prettiest Baby Ever (If I Do Say So Myself)