Flock In Progress: 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.