The Times They are a Changin'

Life and Baby

First, sorry about the slowdown in the posting these past few days. Life has been busy and we're trying to keep up! I've been working on a live lead for a toy job and things may change sooner rather than later in the employment department. This is both exciting and nerve wracking as I consider all the factors, not the least of which is feeling like I'm leaving Sarah and Margaret.

Sarah has passed a milestone as well with her now fitting into non-maternity pants! This past week, she even went and got a new pair of jeans at H&M and guess what? Size 8!


Sarah in her new jeans! Rowr!

In the meantime, Margaret continues to change at a breakneck pace.

We had her weighed yesterday and she clocked in at 4030 grams / 8.88 pounds and 54 centimeters / 21.26 inches. That's 4 cm of growth in as many weeks!

More and more now, she seems engaged and her grab reflex seems to be increasing. She now often comes away with the burp cloth in a closed fist after being burped. It's the absolute best when she holds one of our fingers in her hands.

Sarah thinks that she's working towards more and more hand usage as well and says that Margaret now often looks at her hands while awake with furrowed brow as if trying to figure out what they do. I can't wait until she figures them out!

Also, we got her US passport and Consular Certification of Birth Abroad for a US Citizen today so we're official. Woohoo!

Angels in the Night time


Borrowed from Flikr

I've always thought of Margaret as being angelic, but I didn't realize how much she resembled a classic cherub until last night.

It was about 3:15 AM and she had just completed a feed. While swaddling her with her flat on her back, after her burp, a fount of spit-up came issuing forth from her mouth that I swear must have gone 3 inches high. Keeping in mind that this hole is much bigger than the one from the now infamous, "Curious Incident of the Poop on the Carpet," I find the amount of pressure that builds up inside her incredible.

She was, of course, completely soaked. Clothes. Hair. Receiving blanket. Burp cloth. I've gotta' figure out how to get it out of the couch, too, before it turns yellow.

I find it a true testament, however, of how far I've come as a parent that instead of swearing and screaming for SAM to help, I instead cooed to my little one, "Oooh, doesn't that feel better. Daddy change you now and get you all dry!"

Talkin' 'bout a Revolution or "Desmond"

My life has been revolutionized over the past few days by an item which I truly believe has improved my quality of life. I refer, of course, to our hand me down breast feeding pillow which we got from Lindsay. Its label identifies it as "My Brest Friend." (funny, it doesn't look French) We call it "The Tutu."


The Tutu being modeled by SAM

By freeing up our hands, The Tutu allows Sam and I greater freedom while feeding. Sam can actually read a book with Margaret on a breast and I have a hand free while bottle feeding to do everything from wipe spit up, pat her on her tummy or drink from a glass. SAM has even figured out that she can (carefully) sort of stand up and walk over the the phone to pick it up without Margaret skipping a beat (or sip).


Margaret was sleeping so Ubi2 offered to stand in to illustrate



In actual use at 5:00 AM

Cryptically punny Francophone name aside, I consider this the best breast feeding accessory. Ever.

Training

In addition, starting the day before yesterday, we began a regimen of training that will, hopefully, allow Sarah some more sleep.

Over the past weeks Margaret was becoming increasingly dependent upon suckling or being held to fall asleep and to feel secure. This was becoming an exhausting demand on Sarah and my time. So, with the help of The Baby Whisperer, we've embarked upon an ambitious plan to establish some new habits for Margaret and to teach her how to fall asleep on her own.

The plan is to feed her for no more than 45 minutes, try to introduce a pacifier so she can soothe herself, and to make sure she falls asleep in her crib, but in a manner in which she doesn't feel abandoned (i.e. we do pick her up when she cries, but put her down as soon as she quiets but before falling asleep).

And while this adjustment period seems to involve quite a lot of screaming (at heretofore unheard of volumes), it already seems to be yielding results. Once Margaret is down, she is down for a more predictable period that allows SAM time to get a few things done in her life. It also seems that she's taking less and less time to settle - from something like 2 hours on Monday to today's 30 to 45 minutes. We're hoping to see continued improvement.


Tonight. She will now, occassionally, take a pacifier.