Birthday Wishes

It was my hope that Natalie would start crawling this past Sunday, my birthday. No such luck. Truth be told, she’s probably not that close. She’s good at flipping herself over and getting up on all fours, but that is usually followed by a lot of flailing around and some verbal frustration. Either way she is starting to like to be on her activity mat more and more.

My birthday weekend did mark the beginning of Natalie sleeping in her crib at night in the nursery. On Saturday night, she even slept through the night which is getting a little more rare now that she seems to be eating more. She’s also started on solid foods, first some rice cereal and now we are mixing in some fruit. Sunday night, Tiffany’s mom was feeding her when we were all done dinner. As you can see here some visual coaching appears to help.

She’s also eating from her high chair now. I got the pleasure of putting that together on Friday or Saturday. It’s a high chair, booster seat, child seat and chair. It’s a 4-in-1 setup, not sure if I got the name of all four parts right though. Anyway, all the pieces do not get used so it made putting it together a little more complicated. It also continued a theme that I’m noticing in instructions lately. 

It seems as though some companies in a move to save time and money have stopped printing written instructions at all and have decided to just use pictures with symbols which is always a fun adventure. I suppose this saves them from writing instructions in four languages which I’ve seen, 50 pages of instructions, 8 of which are in english. I guess it’s crazy to think that if you buy a product in the United States, the instructions should be in english and english alone. Likewise, if you live in France or Mexico, the directions should be in french or spanish respectively. I know, crazy. I knew things were going down a bad path when the circulars here started having coupons that were both in english and spanish. I guess I should be thanking these companies, it’s pretty easy to learn Spanish when you have the English translation right next to it. That’s probably why they print them in both so hispanic folks can work on their english while putting together their bookcase from IKEA. Some might say that if you don’t offer the spanish option, folks might actually have to learn english and become better assimilated...Another crazy thought...But i digress.

Tiffany’s aunt headed to the airport today, but her grandparents remain in town for now. As retirees they have no set time to return to Virginia so hopefully they will spend another week or two. Her aunt seemed to have a good time. She got to use our guest level (the second floor) and seemed comfortable. Chase enjoyed her company as well. 

A sad development is that today appears to be the last day afloat for the “It’s a Girl” giant foot balloon I got at the hospital gift shop the day after Natalie was born. It was purchased on January 12, it appears it will be laid to rest on May 25, that’s 132 days for those keeping score.  A pretty good life span as far as a mylar balloon is concerned. 

Mouthy Martha

When Natalie started to verbalize her needs with chatter and baby talk that I don’t think she even understood, I began to call her Chatty Cathy. She’s now graduated to Mouthy Martha because she will put pretty much anything she can get her hands on into her mouth.

She doesn’t appear to have any teeth coming in yet, but she is sticking her finger in her mouth all the time to feel her gums so she very well could be teething. This weekend we tried some rice cereal for the first time. She was not a fan. She had a look on her face that said something like, “Umm, Mommy, Daddy, this milk has gone bad, it has chunks in it.” 

She was taking it in her mouth, but it would end up back on the spoon or her bib. Yesterday there was a breakthrough, however. Not only was she eating the rice cereal, she began to grab the spoon from Tiffany and pull it back toward her mouth. We have some video that I’ll post at some point soon. 

Natalie will also be having some more guests this weekend. Her great-grandparents and great aunt will be visiting from VIrginia. This is of course is their first chance to see Natalie in person. It’s also my birthday on Sunday so it should be a busy weekend.

4 Months

Our little girl turned 4 months old today and had her routine checkup this morning. Tiffany took her in for two sets of shots and some drops in her mouth. She seems to have reacted okay to them, but is sporting a sizable silver band aid on each thigh. She weighed in at just under 13 pounds 3 ounces and is already over 2 feet tall at 2 feet, 1 and a quarter inch. She’s in the 85th percentile for height and the 40th percentile for weight so I guess we have a long “skinny” baby.

Her height explains why she’s been powering through clothes as of late. Every store/brand seems like they have different standards for what “3 months” should be as far as a size is concerned. It’s not as if we’re talking about a 30-year size where there’s decades of time for a person to grow to a different size and shape than someone else. We’re talking about 90 days, how can one outfit be too big and the other skin tight, I don’t get it. Anyway, now at 4 months, she’s firmly entrenched in the 6-month size and the stockpile of clothes to be stored is growing. 

It seems like there could be a Netflix like business where you could send back baby clothes that don’t fit for the next size up. You could send them back dirty and get the next size back laundered. It would probably be too expensive, but I would guess that at least 20% of all landfills are baby related items, including clothes.

Mother's Day

Tiffany enjoyed her first mother’s day yesterday. Natalie got her a long three and half hour nap yesterday morning and a gift certificate for a manicure and pedicure at a local nail place. I got her a balloon and a chain to put a charm on that TIffany’s grandmother had gotten her. It’s a small baby bootie with Natalie’s name and birthdate on the bottom of the foot. I do think that she was more excited to see the bag that the chain came in (Gordon’s Jewelers) than the chain itself, though she won’t admit that.

For breakfast I made waffles and then Tiffany’s parents and brothers and sisters came over for lunch which was prepared by her dad, her grandmother (who was also visiting with her aunt and grandfather) and myself. I must admit that the only “cooking” I did was buttering about half the english muffins which were the base of the eggs benedict. I did take command on cleanup though and there were plenty of dishes to wash.

Mom and Daughter on their first mother's day

Since Natalie was well rested she was a very good mood most of the afternoon. She did get talkative as the last folks were getting ready to leave which is usually an indication she is tired, but a good afternoon nonetheless. The streak was also continued yesterday, and again this morning, of her only doing number 2 while I hold her. It’s been about three weeks since anyone else has had the unique pleasure and I’ve changed every one of those diapers except one, lucky me.

Also word came last week that TIffany’s grandparents and aunt in Virginia will be coming to visit the weekend of May 19th. This is their first great grandchild and great niece so they are looking forward to meeting Natalie and I guess visiting with us.Her aunt will stay with us from Thursday-Tuesday before heading home and her grandparents will stay down the street with Tiffany’s parents. They have not planned a return trip yet so they should be here for a nice long visit. 

Laughing at Daddy

Tiffany got Natalie to laugh yesterday for the first time. She was kissing her neck while she laid on our bed. We both enjoyed it though I think in reality she was probably laughing at me for something that happened earlier in the day. 

I’ve mentioned before how Natalie likes to do her “business” on my lap. That has not changed, but the frequency has. She’s started to go about every three days, which is not unusual for breast fed babies. Yesterday morning we were sitting on the couch, beginning a third day without a “dirty” diaper despite the fact she has no problem filling them up with number 1. 

As a byproduct of her not going as often, Natalie has started to pass more gas. It’s loud and it smells which historically indicated a diaper change was in order. That’s no longer the case as both Tiffany and I have both been duped into thinking she needed a diaper change only to take the diaper off and discover nothing.

So yesterday while she sat on my lap and started playing the butt flute, I didn’t assume anything. However, when they started to sound more, let’s say substantial, I knew this could be the main event.

Not wanting to get caught in the line of fire I wanted to wait to make sure she had completed her business before changing her diaper. About five minutes later and a few more toots I decided to place my hand under her bum to see if there was any warmth...Mistake.

There was warmth and plenty of poo. She had busted out on both sides of the diaper and the bottom of her pajamas was soaked almost all the way through and of course, my shirt was victimized.  I immediately called for help, but Tiffany was paralyzed with laughter so I sat there for a few moments with a damp hand and soiled shirt. 

Once we got her to the changing table we saw her handy work. Without getting too graphic, let’s just say that the diaper had reached it’s saturation point and would not take any more. Tiffany gagged, I stepped away, a few minutes later it was all over. I suggested we just throw that pair of pajamas out....I’m not sure what’s to become of them, but they have certainly seen better days.