About the little one, 20 weeks

I would like to start posting more, mostly for historical reference.  Yes, I do see myself forgetting when she did what and when, and hmm wouldn’t it be nice to be able to look back.  So this post is mostly for that.

I oscillate between wanting to talk about her all the time, to wanting to talk/write/think about something (anything) non-baby related.   I think moms now have it a little easier than in the past for this one particular point.  The internet makes it easier to converse with the outside world, even with a minimal amount of time during the day.  Of course it’s not face-to-face, and it does nothing for cabin fever, but it helps.

Right, so back to the baby I adore!

Sleeping

For the last 2 weeks at least, sleep has been more uninterrupted than not.  All of last week she would go to bed around 8:30 or 9 p.m. and then wake up at 4 a.m., almost like she had a mini alarm clock tucked inside her crib.  While 4 is slightly better than 2 or 3 in the way-too-early in the morning, it’s really not by much.  You can’t realistically get up at 4 a.m. (nor would you want to).  So most often she will eat and go back to bed, but sometimes this is a longer process, and it’s really not good for mama and papa’s sleep.  Last night she woke up at 4?, took a pacifier and went back to sleep until around 7.  Seven never felt so good.

We’re working this week on moving her bedtime to 8 p.m. sharp because a.) she’s tired by then and b.) we like having the time to clean up and be just the two of us.

Eating

She’s eating about less often now, maybe 5 times?  a day, and the usual amount is around 165 ml.  Sometimes she leaves 40 ml, sometimes she can do closer to 200 ml.  (We don’t measure by ounces but I think it’s between 5 and 7).   No solid foods yet, maybe in another month. We need to get a good baby food book because there seems to be about 25 different opinions on what/when/how for making and feeding a baby “real” food.  Anyone have suggestions?

Baby A is still spitting up pretty regularly.  It’s less than before but it’s still something we watch out for all the time.  She’s teething now and chewing on everything she gets her hands on.  Drool wears  slightly nicer than spit-up since it’s clear..

Playing

The original physical therapy sessions we have been taking for her one-side preference (from birth) was continued this month for another 10 sessions.  The doctor thinks she looks great and doesn’t have problems there now (yay!) but would like to make sure she gains strength in her arms and stomach muscles evenly and on time.  I’m pretty sure at this point it’s more of a follow-up than a real concern, but I’m happy for the extra attention and care.   She doesn’t cry quite so much now during the exercises we “practice”, so I’m not feeling so much the baby-torturer in training like I did in the first few months!

For about the 3 weeks she’s been turning over from her back to her belly, and she does this almost every time we lay her down.  She’s grown more fond of her tummy time lately, which is a good step towards crawling, but when she gets tired she still cannot roll herself to her back (yet), so she just starts complaining very loudly.

Everyone comments baby A is very alert.  She was born with her eyes wide open and hasn’t changed since.  I also get many passing comments that she’s big or tall, and quite a few surprises when I told people she was 4 months old.  She’s wearing 6-9 month clothes now and even some of the 12 month stuff fits well enough to wear.  This is pretty normal from what I’ve heard, but it makes planning ahead difficult.

Personality wise, she’s a “good” or an easy baby.  She’s rarely grumpy without a cause,  not overly sensitive to stimuli, and will let new people hold her without any crying.  She doesn’t cry when we change her clothes (unless it’s her winter suit which constricts her movement), and she smiles all the time.   Finding ways to make her laugh is more difficult, so if I find something she thinks is funny, I stop and save it for when papa comes home so we can both see her laugh.

We walked to the doctor’s this morning for an 8 a.m. appointment.  She got her third and last vaccinations until she is 1 year-old.  She weighed in at 7.3 kg or 16.09 lbs, and was pretty brave with those needles!

January 11, 2010

Oh where to begin?

I’ve had so many things that I’ve thought about writing about in the past few weeks but geez, it’s not easy to find time.  I have time during the day, but not so many minutes consecutively, the past week anyway.  And I’ve been cleaning and doing extra vacation laundry along with the usual baby routine.

The usual baby routine is a bit misleading to say because well, if something happens for 3 days in a row, it seems like a new routine, but the truth is, things change really fast regarding what she doing, how she reacts, what she is interested in.  Some things stay the same – the usual routine does involve D and I feeding, entertaining, playing, and giggling with her, and alternately, trying to do none of the above when she wakes us up at 2:30 a.m.

We had a great Christmas at home.  It was low key and fun.  Then we went and had a great time with D’s parents in France.  We were in the 15ème arrondissement of Paris, near Gare Montparnasse.  It’s mostly residential there, and we mostly stayed in and visited, and ate, and rested.  We searched around until we found a nice grocery and a good place to buy bread (baguettes!!).  The apartment was awesome – two bedrooms, two baths.. clean, big kitchen..  The only thing I can think of to add would be a bigger tv and a hot tub.

It’s been cold around here, and snowing, and not warming up at all.  Which I’m fairly sure is abnormal for this part of Germany.  I’m fairly sure it’s abnormal because I didn’t see anything like this in the last two years (not much reference I know), but also because they really aren’t cleaning the streets here, or the sidewalks.  I had to push the stroller through 3 inches of smooshy, dirty snow most of the way to baby A’s doctor’s appointment this afternoon.  Yech!  And I forgot my gloves (brilliant!).

Our little sack of potatoes was exactly 7.00 kg today (or 15.4 lbs) and turned 4 months old yesterday – go Baby A!  She also woke up at 3 a.m. last night when I coughed and didn’t go back to sleep for the next 2 hours. Yay-ehh..

I’m throwing this theme-less post up because it’s late and I’m tired.  Pictures next time! Happy 2010!

Off we go

So we’re headed to Paris this morning, if we ever stop adding things to the somehow-stuff-into-the-car pile.  I think I’ll feel better about everything once we get settled in there and realize we didn’t forget anything vitally important.  And find a place to park the car that doesn’t cost 30 Euro/day because in general, bringing a car into Paris proper is a nightmare.

It’s supposed to rain, almost all week, so I’m packing my very practical hiking shoes, and a couple pairs of boots.  I’m packing a couple of books too.

Maybe we find some free internet but I’m not holding my breath, so Happy New Year’s everyone!

Merry Christmas Eve Eve

Christmas is Friday

THIS Friday. Yay!!

For the past couple of years, by the time the 21st of December rolled around we had already visited at least one family a little bit.  Had already endured at least two full, fully cramped airplane rides and survived the customs lines in Atlanta (most often) or Chicago (once or twice).

The Christmas party for my side of the family for this year was on Saturday, and we joined them for a few minutes via webcam so that my grandmother and aunts and uncles could see the newest family member.  Luckily the party started at 2 p.m.  (8 p.m. here) so we had a small window before her bedtime.

While it is hard not being in town this year, I rather liked our weekend here.   Along with everyone else in the world (it seems), I baked.   It snowed enough to stay on the ground:

It got really frigid here (-10 C), but we braved the cold and filled up the refrigerator.  We played on the floor and read books.  All three of us took naps.

We dealt with some last minute gift drama.   There were lots of kisses.  Then it snowed some more:

Some deep cleaning was done in the bathroom.  Oh and we had an excellent dinner last night, and excellent wine too.  So nothing particularly special made this weekend special.  I’m hoping for more of the same for the coming week!

I have to add, since it just popped in my brain, 3 month-olds are really fun.  And for me, well, I’m starting to feel more adjusted to this new routine.  As we folded a bunch of clothes this weekend, newborn clothes that this baby won’t ever wear again, it hit me how fast this time is going and to really appreciate it.

Best wishes for everyone this week!

Decorating or not? Update

A few weeks ago I was pondering whether to decorate this year.

Because remember, in theory, we won’t be living here next Christmas, and combined, we own three ornaments.

After deciding I’d be a little mopey if we didn’t, I rallied up a few ideas that would take little to no storage after the fact.

Stockings on the banister:

Felt garland:

And our “tree” (which also means all the gifts are wrapped):

D gets credit for helping me figure out the “tree” top last night, and for hanging the star!

Christmas in Germany,

New Year’s in Paris.

That is the latest plan for the holidays, and maybe the 4 or 5th iteration of  this year’s Christmas agenda.  We don’t have all the details yet;  D and his mother are working on this.   As far as I know, the tickets are bought but the hotel/apartment is not yet secured.   Our parents are very anxious to see their first grandbaby, thus all the last minute changes and drastic measures.

Notre Dame de Paris, last September

We picked Paris because of the non-stop flights there from Quebec, and well, it’s a nice place to visit. And it’s only a 4 hour drive for us.  We’ll mostly be skipping the Parisian restaurants this year, so we need to get a place with a kitchen so we can cook and eat together.

As such, I’ve been trying to get baby A to enjoy walking around with me in the Ergo baby carrier, in hopes we can use it for this trip.  Up to recently she wasn’t having it AT all, but she’s a better size for it now, and is tolerating it more and more.

It’s not as good as being back to see everyone but we are excited!

2009 in review, bump edition

Almost 3 months

Being pregnant was all about how many weeks.  Now that we have the bundle o’ joy, it’s all about the months and she’s already almost 3!

We’re still getting used to the new existence.   It’s a 180 degree change for me, going from working overtime every week as an engineer to working overtime every week as a new parent.   It takes a completely different set of brain skills to keep her and myself entertained all day.

So it’s hard work but  she’s amazing and makes laugh so much during the day:

I’m grateful that this is where I get to be right now.

Sleep wise we’re all getting more through the night, yippee!  Baby A goes to sleep between 9 – 10 p.m. and usually wakes up around 5 – 6 a.m.  for a bottle and then goes back to sleep until 8 or 9 a.m.   Not bad eh?  She doesn’t nap too much during the day on this schedule, which I miss, but I definitely prefer this to the 10, 3, 6 schedule we used to have.

This week, for the first time, she’s been trying to pull herself up into a sitting position when she holds my finger.  She does this almost any time she’s reclined but she doesn’t have much strength when she gets there so I only let her keep this position for a short time.

Who knows what funny thing she will try to do tomorrow!

Decorating or not?

Thanksgiving (both US and Canadian) has come and gone.  Thanksgiving is not a holiday here, but D came home early and we spent Thursday evening eating take-out Chinese and then watching French-Canadian reality TV.   Go figure, it was fun.

Christmas is now officially “on” from here on out.  And this is the first year we’re not going “home” to see friends and family.  Various reasons but the biggest are:  1.) 16 hour travel days with a 3 month old, and 2.) H1N1.

So back to the question, do we decorate?  Our apartment is small and we’ve had a big influx of baby gear so far this year – there is no way I want to put up a Christmas tree.  I thought stockings would be cute but I cannot find any anywhere!  And yes, they do do Christmas stockings in Germany, though the tradition is that they get filled on the December 6th instead of on Christmas morning.  Bah, I suppose if I stall long enough it won’t matter.