Happy Baby

 

I know I've mentioned in previous posts how much Juliet enjoys bath time, so I thought I'd share some pictures from her bath tonight.  She is so much fun to bathe.  She talks and laughs and makes faces that show how excited she is.  You can't bathe her and not feel better than you did before you started.  My days have been pretty long this week, but bath time makes the long hours at work and the stress of functioning as a single mom totally melt away.  It's reason number five million that I love her and am so, so, so glad we have her.  She's so good at providing perspective on what really matters: family.

Bath time is also a good time to notice how much hair she's starting to get.  She's still got about 15 long hairs on the crown and a funny little baby mullet in the back, but she's starting to get real hair all over the rest of her head.  It's fine and dark and soft.  And it sticks up in the middle kind of like a mohawk right after a bath.

We do a good bit of snuggling these days.  She is very snuggly first thing in the morning, and she wants to snuggle around her 7:00 PM feeding, too.  Her sense of touch is something that she's really become aware of, and it's most evident during these snuggle times.  She will sweep her hands back and forth against your skin or shirt, and sometimes, she'll do the same thing with her feet.  It is the sweetest thing to feel her just softly brushing your arm or shoulder.  I think it must also soothe her because she does it when she's fighting sleep, too.

One more gratuitous picture of the happiest baby I know:

 

Three and a Half Months

 

Sorry it's been such a long time since my last post, but we've been very busy in the Handley house.  I went back to work on January 2, and I started a new job.  I love it, but it's nothing I've ever done before, so there's a lot of learning going on.  Ray's jobs have kept him busy also, and we've been struggling to work out child care on top of all of that.  Let me say that it's been an exhausting 19 days.

All of the frenzy hasn't bothered Juliet one bit.  She's continuing to grow and change daily, and she's been such a good reminder of how awesome life really is.

So, since January 1, there haven't been any huge changes (like walking), but there have been a ton of small changes in her.  For starters, she's really starting to grow out of her personal fussy time.  Thank you, Lord!  The evenings that we come home from a long day at work and have to manage her incessant crying really are few and far between now (I hope I'm not jinxing myself by writing that).  She is happy to see us, loves to hang out in her Bumbo seat or on her activity mat, and is generally just a joy to come home to.

She has really discovered how to grab things and pull them to her, and she now constantly has something in her mouth because of this new skill.  Her latest trick seems to be spitting the pacifier about two feet away and grabbing the bib or burp cloth to chew on instead.  It's neat to watch her develop, but now I feel like we've got to be extra vigilent about making sure she doesn't have anything she can choke on.  This weekend, I hooked her pacifier to her bib or shirt to keep her from being able to make it hit the floor.  She has used the leash to snatch the paci out of her mouth, but twice, she's also managed to find the pacifier and put it back in on her own.

Juliet likes to talk a lot these days, but she will only do it when she wants.  You can't prompt her to talk.  She seems to enjoy hearing herself right after bath time or when getting changed.  It's so funny to listen to Ray and Juliet have a conversation while he's getting her dressed in the mornings.  You can tell by the tone of her voice that she feels that her thoughts are very important, and he is excellent at taking her seriously.

Since she was born, she's been very strong (see post on her "atypical" strength).  And that's continuing to be the case.  She spends a ton of time sitting up tall in our laps or in her Bumbo seat.  And now, she's attempting to stand.  Juliet will push/pull herself to a standing position while hanging out in your lap, and then she grins and laughs and kind of does a happy dance.  On top of that, she's now strong enough to be on her tummy and push herself up to really be able to look around for extended periods of time.  It's so cool to watch her go from completely flat on the floor, to just her head lifted, to her whole chest off the ground and her head turned to try to see what's going on behind her.  

Finally, of course, she's outgrowing clothes.  That's what babies do, right?  But I swear she's outgrowing things every week now.  I'm looking at her as I type this, and I see that this will be the last time she wears the cute black and gray animal print onesie she has on.  It's too short for her at this point.  So, I'll wash it and move it to the bin with all the other things she's outgrown.  (I'll also be adding two sets of footed pajamas to the bin, too.)  I'm excited to start putting her in the clothes in the next drawer down, though, so at least there's that.  

I promise I'll work harder to post more frequently in the future.  And I'm going to try to get video of her talking to share, too. 

Three Months

Today, January 1, 2013, Juliet is three months old.  She has changed so much in three months that it's hard to believe.  Actually, she's changed so much in the past month alone, that's hard to believe.  In the past month, she has:

• Started sleeping through the night pretty much every night
• Discovered her voice and begun talking to us, Ninja, herself, the tv, and toys
• Begun drooling so much that I have to keep a bib on her when she's awake or change her onesie every twenty minutes
• Started sticking her fists in her mouth any chance she gets
• Gotten even stronger and started spending lots of time in her Bumbo seat sitting up
• Discovered how fun her activity mat is and spent lots of time pulling on the rattle, kicking the whale, and looking at herself in the mirror
• Become an expert escape artist and gotten out of every attempt to swaddle her in the past two weeks

Hanging out on her activity mat

Playing in the Bumbo seat

Let's talk about this escape artist thing she's got going on.  We have swaddled her from Day 1, and it's been awesome.  The tighter she was swaddled, the better she slept.  And then, she started kicking out of the swaddle.  After that, she started kicking out and then scooting herself around on her back in her crib.  Now, she kicks out, gets her arms out, and moves pretty much wherever she'd like in the crib.  I've tried putting her down without swaddling her, but she won't stay asleep that way.  According to what I read, this is normal, and the best way around it is to start trying to wean her off the swaddle.  At this point, we just swaddle one arm in.  Hopefully, we'll be swaddle-free soon.

Juliet after a full escape and rotating herself (somehow!) 90 degrees clockwise

Passed out in my lap

Juliet's First Christmas

Juliet's first Christmas was pretty wonderful for our little family.  We really wanted to spend the holiday enjoying our time together, so we made it our priority to take things slowly and enjoy each thing we did.

On Christmas Eve eve, Ray and I loaded up Juliet, Ninja, and Filch, and we went to look at Christmas lights.  Going to Dorothy B. Oven park to look at lights is something we started doing our first Christmas with Filch.  Over the years, we've started including Ninja, and now, of course, Juliet.  After we drive through DBO, we typically drive through some neighborhoods that can be counted on for good (and/or tacky) Christmas decorations.  It was fairly cold that night, so we bundled Juliet up before putting her in her car seat.

All bundled up in her cute Christmas hat

With Dad in front of the Christmas tree

Ray went to take some pictures of me with Juliet in front of the tree, and she promptly spit up all over herself, all over me, and all over the floor.  It was simultaneously gross and impressive.

Better shot of her cute hat

We hosted my parents, my brother and sister-in-law, and grandmother for an afternoon of visiting and munching on food on Christmas Eve.  I pulled out our wedding china and Granny Squeaky's crystal, and Ray fried a turkey using the big propane cooker he got for his birthday.  We really enjoyed hosting family for a holiday, and it felt sort of like this solidification of my adulthood.  I have a husband, a child, and I've hosted a Christmas gathering and used china and crystal.  I'm not sure what else you do as a grown-up! ;)

Juliet in the rocking chair my parents gave to her (with cushions made by my mom and grandmother)

After hosting my family, we went to Christmas Eve service at John Wesley United Methodist Church.  Juliet was fantastic during the service and didn't fuss a bit.  She did talk a little to whomever she thought was listening, but she was mostly quiet.

We spent Christmas Day at our house, just the three of us (okay, five if you count Ninja and Filch).  It was so nice to get up and have a nice breakfast together, open presents at a leisurely pace, and just really focus on enjoying our many blessings this Christmas.  Christmas night, we went to Ray's parents and had dinner with them and Ray's sister and her family. 

I have to say I think it was my most favorite Christmas ever.  I spent the entire time thinking about how happy and blessed I was the whole time. 

Two-Month Doctor Visit

On December 17, 2012, we took Juliet to Dr. VanLandingham's office for her two month check-up.  I was very nervous about this visit because I knew that Juliet would be getting four vaccines in this one visit.  I wasn't nervous about the vaccines.  I've done a lot of research and feel comfortable with the vaccines, but I was nervous about how she would do when she got them.  When she got her vaccine at her four-week appointment, she cried the most heart-breaking cry for about ten seconds.  And it was the worst ten seconds of my life.  I cried with her.  Hearing your child make a sound that clearly expresses surprise and pain is just awful, and knowing that I'd subjected her to that (even if it is for her own health) just killed me.

Not surprisingly, Juliet did the same thing this time around.  I was very glad Ray was able to be there with me and helped me comfort her.  I was also very glad that they called in two nurses and gave her all the vaccines at once.  I can't imagine having to subject her to four rounds of shots in four separate stickings.  Eek.

But, in good news, Juliet weighed 11 pounds 7.5 ounces.  And she's 23 inches long.  That puts her in the 25th percentile for weight and 20th percentile for height.  The teacher in me, used to thinking of percentiles in terms of test scores, got very worried about her low percentiles.  I asked Hugh about them, and he explained that everything was fine; Juliet is just taking after the VanLandinghams in terms of size, not the Handleys.  Her weight gain indicates that she's growing steadily and that she's eating well. 

Big stretch the morning after her shots... Pink band-aids on each thigh over the injection sites.

Sleep, Glorious Sleep

Juliet passed out on our bed after some tummy time.

 
Over the past couple of weeks, Juliet has begun sleeping through the night.  Before I was a parent, I would have considered "through the night" to be something like 10:00 pm till 8:00 am.  Now, I understand that for an eleven-week old, six or seven consecutive hours of sleep counts as "through the night."

Juliet now consistently goes down at 10:30 pm and sleeps through until at least 4:45 am.  Three times now, she's slept past 6:00 am.  On more than one occasion, I have woken in a panic thinking, "OhmyGod!  She's not made a peep since 10:30!  Is she still breathing?!?!"  Thankfully, she's been happily snoozing in her crib when I've gone to check on her.

This morning, she slept till 6:26.  When I woke up and looked at my watch, I couldn't help but smile and say a prayer of thanksgiving.  It's as if our sweet little angel knew we needed to sleep in.  (Oh, how sad that sleeping past 6:00 am is considered "sleeping in" for us!)  Yesterday was Ray's birthday, and we spent the better part of the day with our CrossFit Black Box family.  The gym was having a fundraiser and multiple workouts.  We took Juliet with us when we went to the gym at 9:00 am.  She stayed there with us until I took her home a little after noon.  Then, we took her with us to the CFBB Christmas party, and we passed her around to several gym members.  (I am so thankful that she's such a happy baby and lets other people hold her without crying.  It makes me feel like we're raising a sociable child, and it makes me feel less anxious about others holding her if she's happy while they're doing it.)  I guess because her day was so busy (she was awake a lot), she was worn out and slept well.  I know Ray and I were worn out, so the extra uninterrupted sleep was something we both needed.

Ray credits On Becoming Babywise for this sleep.  In fact, the subtitle of that book is something like "Giving your infant the gift of sleep."  While I'm sure Juliet likes to sleep, it really is more of a gift for the parents at this point.  (Perhaps later it's a gift for her?  The ability to sleep through the night must surely be good for her growth and development.)  The book helps you build a schedule around your child's natural eat-wake-sleep cycle.  By encouraging and fostering that pattern, most Babywise kids sleep through the night by three months of age.

It's so funny to hear others talk about when their children sleep through the night.  On one end of the spectrum are people like my parents who say, "You and Patrick were sleeping through the night at two weeks old!"  Um, somehow, I doubt that.  But if we were, maybe that's why we're both of smaller stature... We were STARVED!  (Kidding, Mom!)  Hospital staff beat into mine and Ray's heads that we were to wake Juliet every 2.5 - 3 hours to feed her for the first several weeks, and everything else we read (including Babywise) said the same thing.  At the other end of the spectrum are people who say, "Wow! I haven't slept through the night in six years since our first was born!"  Oh, thankyouthankyouthankyou, Juliet, for letting Dad and Mama sleep!

I do think that the schedule and routine we established with Juliet are the main reasons we're getting such good sleep now.  But I also think that we're also very lucky.  Our Juliet is a pretty easy baby from what I've been able to discern.  As I'm typing this, she's napping on the couch next to me, and I have to wonder... Is Juliet an easy baby because that's her personality?  Or is she an easy baby because of what we've done based on our parenting philosophy?  Regardless of the answer, it's awesome to have a baby who doesn't need to be rocked or sung to sleep and who sleeps through the night already.  Reasons number 2387429374 that we love her and think she's the best thing ever.  Ever.

Baby Gear

Now that we've had Juliet here with us for a little more than two months, we've had plenty of opportunity to use most of the items we were given or we bought in preparation for her arrival.  While I was pregnant, I asked my new-mom friends for advice on what to get and what to skip.  They were super helpful, and many went into detail about why they felt certain items were must-haves and others were a waste of time and money.  Of course, there was conflicting advice because I'd asked such a wide variety of people, but knowing the reasoning behind each bit of advice helped us make choices we felt would be right for us.  I thought it'd be worth sharing what we thought regarding baby gear since so many of this blog's readers were kind enough to give us needed items... And since some of our friends are expecting their first baby.  :)

Items We Love

• Medela Pump In Style Advanced Breast Pump. I cannot say enough about this piece of equipment. It allows you to pump from both sides at once, making the process of pumping much faster.  I love that it came with a mini ice chest for storage and that it's just a plain black backpack.  It doesn't scream, "I'm a breast pump!!" so it's not awkward feeling toting it around in public.
• Boppy pillow.  This made feeding Juliet so much easier.  Ray has even used it while giving her a bottle.  It's firmer than regular pillows, too, which I really liked in terms of giving my arms some support.
• Wipe Warmer.  Ray will tell you that this is the best $20 we ever spent.  Juliet screamed bloody murder for the first two weeks of her life each time you changed her diaper because she hated the cold wet wipes on her tiny baby hiney.  Our friends Austin and Katrina recommended this to us, and I wish that we had gotten it before Juliet's birth.  It's made diaper-changing a cheerful, happy time for her.
• Gerber Sleep Sacks.  Okay, so these aren't traditional sleep sacks that can be used as an alternative to swaddling, but they're similar.  These sacks make middle-of-the-night diaper changes so much easier and faster than fumbling with onesie snaps and pants.  Every one of these we got as hand-me-downs, and they're all we use at night now.
• Hospital swaddling blankets.  I wish there was a link to these, but they're not available in stores.  We accidentally managed to take two of them home with us, and they are the best swaddling blankets.  They're made of a sturdy cotton and are 48 inches square.  No other swaddling blanket available in stores will keep our little escape artist swaddled.
• Munchkin Shampoo Rinser.  This thing is the bomb!  Its soft mouth lets us mash it against Juliet's forehead to keep the water out of her eyes, and it's the perfect size to hold a big bottle of Johnson's Baby Shampoo, which helps keep the bathroom a little neater.  I also think it looks a little nicer than a plastic cup from the kitchen.
• Lady Bug Night Light.  It puts off the perfect amount of light, gives Juliet something to stare at other than the ceiling fan, and has real constellations for us to help her find when she's older.
• Clothes.  Juliet received so many clothes as hand-me-downs and as shower gifts that we have not had to purchase anything for her other than some pants as the weather has gotten colder.  We didn't register for any clothes, and I'm glad that we didn't.  I cannot imagine how large her wardrobe would have been if we had.  Plus, I love putting her in outfits and thinking about the person who gave us that outfit.  I've tried to take pictures and send them to the person who gave us the clothes, but that doesn't always work out like I plan.
• Books.  We began reading to Juliet even before she was born.  We still read to her now, and it is the most amazing thing to watch her stare at the colorful pages.
• Monkey Bouncer.  We don't have this exact bouncer, but ours is similar.  I put Juliet in it all the time now.  It's a perfect place for her to hang out while I take care of things around the house so that I don't have to put her in her crib.  And she loves the monkey and mirror that are hanging in front of her for entertainment.

Items to Leave Off Your Registry

• Baby blankets.  I'm not exaggerating when I say that Juliet has eleven blankets.  And, honestly, that was just at last count.  She's gotten several more since I last counted.  Almost every one was handmade by someone who loves us/her.  They are all very special, but I'm so glad we didn't register for any blankets because we would have had to build an addition just for the blankets.
• Clothes.  People love buying baby clothes, and they will buy them for you whether you register for them or not. My advice is not to bother registering for any and save the registry for items you think you really need.

Big Ticket Items
Items like a crib, a dresser, a changing table, a stroller, a car seat, and other bigger (and more expensive) items can be difficult.  There are so many choices that it can be overwhelming, and there really is no right answer.  The way we made our choices on these items was to look at our available space (in the nursery) and to listen to the advice of people who lead similar lifestyles (regarding strollers).

One last thought... Our friends Austin and Katrina gave us a copy of On Becoming Babywise, and our copy is dog-eared and battered already from frequent reading.  It's a fairly controversial book in that people either swear by it or hate it.  (To be quite honest, though, our friends who hate it all admit that they haven't read it.)  This parenting philosophy is what works for our family, and the book was filled with a lot of really helpful information about growth spurts and sleep patterns and what to expect those first few weeks.  I recommend reading it regardless of what kind of parent you think you want to be.  I also recommend reading about the Attachment Parenting philosophy.  The two philosophies are fairly different (although they are not polar opposites as some people would suggest), but both are worth considering.  I have found that AP is not something I agree with or that would work for us, but there is a lot of advocating of trusting your instincts within that philosophy, and I appreciate that.

Juliet relaxing in her bouncer at two weeks old.