Finally a New Post

Sorry it has been such a long time, but moving with a baby while working on a dissertation takes a lot of time. We are into the new house and have a large proportion of our things unpacked, but still have a ways to go. I think we'll be done in a week or two though as long as we set our minds to it and keep motivated.

Lucy is growing by leaps and bounds. She had a big brain growth spurt a couple of weeks ago and has just gotten over the associated fussiness (getting smarter is actually a little scary). She's not as talkative as she used to be. She still talks, but seems to think about it first now. She still loves to bounce, but we had to raise the bouncer by a notch. She also stairs at things for a lot longer than she used to and cocks her head sometimes while she's looking at them. This is partially due to the bigger brain and partially due to her developing depth perception. Once put into the position, she can sit up on her own for a few minutes and likes to play with things this way, but tends to try to manipulate objects with her feet as much as she does with her hands right now (it's a primate thing). She generally only wakes up once at night now (thank goodness). She is sleeping in her crib. She is also a very mellow baby saving her tears for bedtime. Of course, her Dad and I respond to her needs very quickly, so perhaps she just doesn't need to cry.

I'm posting some pictures of the house mixed into the newest pictures (sorry there are so many together, but I don't have time to sort right now) and will write more when I can.

A quarter of?

Little Lucy is 25 weeks this Saturday and as adorable as ever, but she sure has grown. I remember when she used to curl up in a little tiny ball and lay on my chest pretending she was still in the womb. Now I can barely burp her because when I lay her against my shoulder her legs go just past my waist (and she enjoys standing up on her tippy toes, which sort of kills the whole process).

If she doesn't have a tooth in the next day or two, I'll be very surprised. She has a definite bump and her new favorite thing is grabbing people's fingers, putting them in her mouth, and chomping down as hard as she can. She's having an awful time with sleeping until I put a little bit of numbing stuff on he lower gums. After that she usually will drift off, but it's rough until then. Tomorrow I will go pick up some teething tabs. I have no clue what they are except that they are some kind of homeopathic thing. Hey the doctor recommended them, so I'm game. If they won't hurt her, then all they can do is help at this point. I'm pretty sure it is good that none of us remembers teething because it sure looks painful.

No other new milestones to report. We're working on sitting, but these things take time. She's lost her triple chin and seems to be thinning out a bit, but, except in the morning, she's still a healthy eater. She has mastered solids, but it is hard to tell what she likes and doesn't. For the most part she seems to eat anything on a spoon pretty dutifully (except prunes, which she would rather not have...those she just sort of sits and stairs at you like, "you aren't seriously thinking I should put that in my mouth"). Tonight we try sweet potatoes or bananas (I think she'll like them both, but only one new food every three or four days (doctor's orders)).

I know everyone is dying to know and yes, we closed on the house. Everything went well, mostly. There were some issues with the keys (being misplaced...), but all was resolved by the afternoon and we were there just yesterday getting ready to get ready to move in. Major plans to shampoo the carpets tonight (although there is a massive storm brewing). Tomorrow the exterminator will spray (and it better be completely baby safe or heads will be rolling). The next day the new A/C and heater are installed. Saturday we paint and go to a graduation party (party at 6). Sunday we paint some more. Someday I will finish my dissertation, but don't hold your breath this month (really I'm that close....ahhhhh!!!!!).

Pictures will be forthcoming, but I don't have my camera with me, so be patient. As soon as were settled we'll have people over to visit and check out the new digs...oh and yes we're getting a kitten, but the puppy will have to wait until the dissertation is finished. I just don't have time for three babies. When we get the puppy I'm thinking we want either a golden retriever or border collie (I had a border collie when I was a child...his name was spot...he was the best dog ever (besides Duke of course)...he followed me like a shadow...or a black version of Lassie...I still miss him).

Rainy Days

Lucy is 23 weeks now and is so different from when we brought her home last November. Not only is she more than twice the size that she was, but she is very interactive. She talks all the time, laughs, makes funny faces to make other people laugh, grabs, pulls, holds, tries to sit up, rolls on her tummy and on her back, and avoids sleeping whenever possible. She is absolutely amazing.

Lucy's biggest milestone to report this post is that she now says Mama all the time. She still doesn't know what she is saying, but with Mama's immediate, exuberant reaction, she'll have it figured out before long. Much to Major's consternation, she has yet to day Dada. I have repeatedly assured him that she will.

Other milestones.

She hugs...really nestles in there when she wants a squeeze and you're holding her. It feels wonderful.

She is also eating other foods besides cereal. The first real food we gave her was pureed carrots, which she wasn't sure about the first day we gave them to her, but the second day she devoured them. I tried them (I have to eat everything to show her its edible before she'll try it) and have to say baby food carrots taste canned (ooh gross). I think I, at least, will enjoy homemade baby food more. I bet she does too. For those who enjoy the gross out files (you're so weird), the carrots did make her pooh orange, which only freaked mom out for a minute. Tonight we eat squash.

She rolls. She rolls to her tummy from her back and from her back to her tummy and sometimes she just rolls a couple times for fun. She loves to lay in her gym so she can roll. We don't have the living room baby safe yet because Daddy is waiting until we move into the new house, so Mommy has to watch her like a hawk when she's on the floor. I'll be happy when we have a playroom.

I've managed to piece together most of Lucy's summer wardrobe. I did a little bit off of Craigslist, a little bit at the Goodwill, and we went to the Kid's consignment sale yesterday. Daddy bought because Mommy was broke. We got some really cute outfits at very reasonable prices including some Jayhawk bloomers that Daddy hopes she won't grow into until the Fall (we'll see). Picture day is May 14, so I'll have to figure out which new outfit she should wear.

We're getting more and more excited to move and plan to paint Lucy's room a nice shade of Lavender. We also need to paint the cupboards in the kitchen and Mommy's debating painting some accent walls throughout the house. I also need to order some curtains (as the house has none) and the only curtains we have are for Lucy's room. We'll keep everyone updated on our progress.

Daddy Found a House and Lucy's 21

I know some of you have heard that Daddy found a house he wants to buy and are dying to see it. There are some pictures mixed in with this post's update. The house is very pretty. It is a foreclosure, which is why we can afford it. I know that some of you have been a little bit nervous when you heard it was a foreclosure, but the majority of the foreclosures here in Lawrence have been very nice. There have been some HUD foreclosures that were a bit sketchy, but otherwise all have been in extremely good shape and very reasonably priced.

The house passed inspection with the exception of the air conditioner. We've asked the seller to replace it, but assume they won't (our realtor pointed out it never hurts to ask). Major will use some of the money from my little nest egg that I gave him for the down payment, associated fees, and miscellaneous expenses. I've got all, but two chapters done on my dissertation (of course I'll have to edit it and do some rewrites), so I'm upping myself to 75% time at work. It'll be hard to be away from Lucy for another day, but it will also ensure we don't end up house poor (Major says we won't, but Mommy's pretty frugal (which is how she managed to have a nest egg in grad school)).

Lucy still loves her high pitched scream and blowing bubbles. She can sit up with minimal support now, but still doesn't like to roll over (she can she just doesn't want to). It's getting pretty tough to get her down for naps. Bedtime has been a breeze pretty much since we started Dr. Sears method (establishing a consistent bedtime routine that includes laying her in the bassinet and sitting or laying next to her with your hand on her tummy until she falls asleep). I think we need to set specific nap times and a routine and am in conference with her daycare provider about it. Right now I usually put her in the vibrating chair and let her watch the bubbles as she drifts off. The swing doesn't really work anymore (the fishes are boring these days).

As you'll see in the pictures, she's successfully started solids. She's only had rice cereal, but took to it like a natural. She opens her mouth and moves it around with her tongue, swallows and generally gets more in her tummy than on her clothes. Once we move, I'll start making her baby food, but for the next couple weeks we'll continue with just cereal or pick up some of the Gerber supported sitter (number one) foods. Daddy likes to make the cereal really soupy, but Mommy's gotten it up to the consistency most of us eat our cream of wheat (well for those of us that eat cream of wheat).

We've all had colds this week, but are recovering. Except for one night when Mommy's milk production was down because she was sick, Lucy's been sleeping for one five hour and one three hour block consistently. She's got a head full of blond hair coming in and has the biggest blue eyes. Her eyelashes are thick and a mile long. She's also perfectly symmetrical, which in biological anthropology terms means Daddy wants a shotgun (he promises he'll only use rock salt).

Daddy's Nesting

Lucy is 19 weeks this week and is doing very well. She is a very happy baby who giggles and laughs nearly all the time (except bed time and nap time). She's figuring out how to play with some of her toys (listening to her play the same musical tune over and over is so much fun).

I'm sorry I haven't posted lately, but we had a death in the family. Racelin, our loving kitty died suddenly on Sunday night (around 3 a.m.). He had not been ill or indicated in any way he was sick. I woke up and fed Lucy around 1 a.m. I love him up and gave him food, which he ate. He was fine. At 3 a.m. I woke up again because I heard strange noises from the food of the bed (I actually thought Race was killing something) and jostled Major. He woke up and went to the foot of the bed where he just kind of froze. I could tell by looking at him that something was terribly wrong and jumped out of bed. Race was gone. The next day Major announced we were buying a house and moving.

We've spent an insanely busy week house hunting all over Lawrence. We have a great realtor who has held our hand and helped us a lot. We've picked our favorite three properties and begun the process of making offers and eliminating those that will not come down to where we want them in price. Major is in charge of this part of the process. We'll keep you updated.

Sweet 16

Lucy is 16 weeks old this week and there are a lot of things to report. She rolled over from her tummy to her back last night all by herself. Of course, it was a huge shock for everybody (she immediately burst into tears she was so surprised). Not only was she not trying to do it, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't know how she did it, so it will be awhile before she does it again. Of course Daddy told Mommy to grab the video camera and I had to sit there for five minutes filming her explaining that she probably wasn't going to do it again. Daddy's enthusiasm for tummy time has increased about 100 fold though.

She makes distinct word sounds now (no not actual words, what linguists call phonemes or the smallest recognizable units of sound in a language...ummm yes I know I'm a nerd, but I had to take linguistic anthropology (it is one of the 4 fields). I knew it would come in handy for something). The key to understanding a language is recognizing its phonemes. Our brains do it automatically and the ability to do it develops in infancy (which is why she is starting to do it now...if you don't do it before 5 you aren't ever gonna). The hardest part of learning to understand a new language when it is spoken to us is picking up its phonemes (we have the skill once we can pick it up for our native language). The fact that she is making these sounds now is a huge, mega deal. She doesn't know what the sounds mean yet (just that they are distinct noises), but soon she'll start to recognize patterns (this sound always follows that sound). After that, she'll start putting them together to make words. Exciting times are ahead. In the meantime, when she starts to chatter at you, just mimic the rhythm of a normal conversation. It will help her figure out how people talk to each other. If you want to help with sounds use what they call parentese, it's that high pitched, slow speak that all parents of children seem to do naturally when they are around babies (apparently it is instinctual). Just for the record, throwing words at her in another language will do nothing. She has to hear the language spoken frequently to learn it.

It's true what they say, Mommy knows best. I've figured out a lot about Lucy in the short amount of time we've had together. I can tell from a single sound if she needs to be picked up. I know when she's hungry before she does. I can tell if she has gas from the way she moves her legs and know when she needs a nap just by looking at her. Daddy's not quite there yet, but he has some special skills of his own. Lucy is too big to be swaddled now. We did the sleeper sack for the very first time last night, and it was tough, but there is something about the way Daddy holds her hand while she lays in the bassinet that sure seems to calm her down and help her get to sleep. Mommy can't do it. Only Daddy has this ability (Mommy does have some sneaky tricks of her own to get Lucy to fall asleep). Of course Lucy sometimes wonders who Daddy loves more, her or Stephen Colbert (Mommy is going to unplug the TV tomorrow).

Gross Out Files --- Skip this if you don't want to know ---
The bacteria in her lower intestine are coming along nicely. You know what that means....ohhh da stinky pooh days are here.

Lucy has also developed a couple of new high pitched screams that are lots of fun. One is the universal I'm not getting what I want scream that all parents know immediately (it is a cross cultural universal by the way). She usually does this because she is frustrated, but don't try to help. Mommy made that mistake and it was ugly (how could you move Mr. Bug, I was trying to move Mr. Bug...). The other scream is the, wow I can make my voice do that, that's cool, scream that will make your ears bleed. Fortunately she can only do it a couple times before it makes her throat tired.

Well, more soon...

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