Our Guard Dog

Kim and I have been concerned that Bagheera, while a wonderful dog, is just not a guard dog. I'm starting to wonder if he realizes that we need to be extra careful to protect Alli.

Yesterday the alarm guy came over to make some adjustments to our system. Of course he came while I was in the middle of nursing. I actually unlatched Alli, put her with the Boppy on our bed, and answered the door. I spent 1/2 an hour with this guy all the way down at the other end of our house. Alli just stayed quiet on our bed, for the most part. I heard a couple of vocals and told him I had to check on my daughter. Well, apparently Bagheera had also heard Alli's stirring because when I got there, I found Bagheera on the bed next to Alli, head facing the bedroom door and alert. I was so proud of him!

Another "alarming" event came when I was back nursing Alli. Both Bagheera and I heard voices from outside. He growled and barked and I told him "good boy". He looked out the windows of the bedroom and then laid down in front of Alli and I, facing the bedroom door. I told him to go check the front windows, but he didn't leave us. It was then that I realized what a guard dog we had.

Bagheera doesn't protect the house. He protects the people. So all this time, we kept thinking we didn't have a guard dog, but really, he's a guard dog just for the things that *really* matter. Us. Not the material things we have in our house. The people. The family. I'm so proud of him and so very happy he's such a big part of our family!

Separation Anxiety

I had decided to go back to work gradually - only working three days this first week back - Mon, Tues, and Thurs. Today is Wednesday, my first day off after two days without Alli. It's interesting how it feels going back to work. For me, as I walked into the building, it felt like I had only been gone for a long weekend. When I got through all the emails, I jumped right in and started catching up on where everything was in the project and started right back to work, just like a long weekend again. In some ways, I was the old Jenny. But I missed holding the little munchkin and smelling her hair.

Day two was harder because I didn't get to see much of Alli on Monday. I mean, I picked her up and she was sorta sleepy. We got home, I fed her, she slept a little, I bathed her and fed her again and then she was done for the night. So Tuesday I really didn't want to leave her, but I did.

Today is *my* day. The day to hold her and smell her hair whenever I want!!! It's been great to see her smiles as she tends to smile more in the morning and early afternoon than evenings (probably because she's tired by evening time).

But in all, I'm happy to be back at work. It does give me a grounding, make me feel a little like myself again. I just wish Alli were there with me so that when I need my little "fix" of holding her I could. But, it will get easier and I'm pretty sure weekends are going to take on an entirely new meaning!

Back to Work

Tonight is my last night of maternity leave. Of course, it's Sunday, so I'm not sure if Friday was technically my last night but whatever. I'm partly excited to get back to "my" life, but mostly bummed that I won't be sharing every day with Alli. I'm sure we'll adjust just fine, it will just take a little while - kinda like it took both of us some time to adjust to life with each other with her outside the womb!

I figured I would take this opportunity to document some of Alli's characteristics. She is definitely a pliable little girl - very easy going. She has adjusted to about every situation we've thrown her into, whether it was dragging her all over town in the heat of Arizona, to hanging out at home, to having lots of people over making lots of noise in the house. She rarely cries most days, and smiles quite often.

She seems like she's ready to talk already. For instance, I'll tell her to say "hi" to someone and and sometimes she'll make some sort of noise, more sounding like "haaa" than "hi", but we'll take it. :) She has lots of different sounds, so in her mind I think she is already communicating - we just have no clue what she's saying.

She's very observant. Every time we take her someplace she just stares and takes everything in. For instance Kim got a haircut over the weekend and we turned it into a family affair. There were many people in the place and she just quietly stared wide-eyed and took in the surroundings. For an entire hour while all the women jabbered on, Alli checked out the scene.

We are told by strangers and friends alike what a beautiful baby we have. Of course, we know this. And of course we are not biased at all!!! :) The one I do have to record was a lady who told us as that we had "a ridiculously cute baby". Since then it's become our favorite phrase for Alli - "oh, you are so ridiculously cute!"

Alli has been trying really hard to roll over but it hasn't happened yet. I was hoping it would happen before I started back to work... What she is really good at is lying on her stomach and being able to move her head from one side to the other, and even holding her head up and looking ahead. She's actually been able to do this for a while now. Strong little peanut!

So now that I'll be going back to work, posts to the blog may become a little more sparse. I will definitely capture milestones, and we will try to take pictures and post them periodically (for sure every month).

Alli's Smile

The social smile is something that sorta happens. We couldn't tell when her first social smile occurred, probably because you're always thinking "did she mean to do that, or was that gas?" But now we know that Alli is smiling at us and it just makes our hearts melt.

Alli is happiest in the morning. In fact, it's so much fun to hear her squirming in bed in the morning, making little noises to see if we'll come get her. Once we walk over and say good morning, we usually get an ear-to-ear grin as she stares up at us. I *love* that! Talking to her in the mornings is the highlight of my day, because it pretty much doesn't matter what you say, she just smiles and coos back at you.

I think Alli has a sense of humor too. I usually ask her lots of questions, not really expecting much of a response. But once in a while she'll answer back with a grunt or some sort of vocal and it will make me laugh and then she will laugh - like she meant to say something funny and it worked based on my reaction.

This morning we had some fun while feeding. Alli is on this kick lately that when we switch sides she starts squealing as though someone pierced her stomach with something sharp. Oh my - she's going to die of starvation in the 1 minute is takes us to flip to the other side! OMG!!! :) So this morning we were changing sides and she started winding up for the squeal. But she opened her eyes and looked at me and I was just smiling and laughing at the sight of her antics and she stopped and smiled a big smile right back at me. But then she must have realized that she was supposed to be squealing so she stopped smiling and started fussing. That just made me laugh harder and I flipped her to the other side so she wouldn't die of starvation... :D

Never Over-Estimate a Diaper's Capacity...

This is my last week of maternity leave. I'm finding that I don't want to put Alli down in her cradle for naps - I just want to hold her all the time!! (yes, she's in my arms sleeping as I type this.)

So today Alli and I had one last workday lunch with Daddy and some friends. Unfortunately, Alli is settling into a feeding schedule that made the timing of lunch a bit inconvenient. She was signaling to me that she was hungry all while we were eating, but she never cried. I promised her that we would go to a parking lot and feed before heading home, and we did. Usually before any feeding (parking lot or home) I change her diaper first. Today as I pulled her out of the carseat I decided there wasn't much in her diaper, so I would just feed her. After nursing, I put her back in the caeseat and headed home.

Well, what a surprise I had when I pulled her out of the carseat at home - poop and pee everywhere!! Apparently the diaper overflowed... So we spent the next 1/2 hour at home cleaning up the mess - the carseat cover is in the wash and Alli got a bath.

You would think that someone who is at the end of her maternity leave would know better than to over-estimate a diaper's capacity! Maybe it's a sign that my brain is not ready to think logically, like say, on work-type things! :D

The Family Chair

In our living room we have a sofa, a love seat, and a double-wide chair with ottoman which we call "the blue chair" (yes, it's blue). This chair, while a little big for the size of our living room, especially with the other furniture, is a great comfy chair that holds our whole family. On Alli's Two Month old birthday, we had friends over for a photography workshop. By the end of the night, our family wound up watching the DVD seminar on the blue chair and I made the comment that I wish we had a picture. Our friends Ellen and Jon jumped at the opportunity, so I wanted to share with everyone our family on the blue chair.

I believe credit for this one goes to Ellen. Thanks guys!!

Swing Batter, Batter - Swing!!

Today Alli showed me just how coordinated she is getting. While sitting in her carseat, waiting for mommy to finish chatting so we could head home, she started swinging her fist at the froggy rattle hanging from the handle. To my surprise, she hit it - twice! Not sure if that was on purpose or not, but it was the first time that I saw her even take notice of the critter.

Then we got home and while in the bouncy seat with her animal friends (toybar), she started kicking the zebra! I was so shocked that she could actually get her leg up that high to kick it. It *surely* was intentional!! :) I'm just so proud of that eye-fist-foot coordination she's got going on.

Alli's Two Month Birthday

Today Alli is two months old. We are celebrating by relaxing and taking photos. :)

Yesterday was her two month checkup and included her first set of vaccinations. She took the shot like a trooper - screaming her head off. Dr. Patel promptly blamed Daddy for the pain, so Daddy had to console his daughter. I *love* having a woman pediatrician! haha

So, here are Alli's stats:

Eyes: Still blue
Weight: 9.4 lbs !!! Yes, she's getting big, although that is only 17 percentile.
Height: 21 inches (8 percentile)
Head Circumference: 14.5 inches (9 percentile)

So, according to the percentages, she's chubby for her length? It must all be in the belly cause her arms and legs are still pretty skinny. Apparently, she'll be storing fat like her mom - all in the middle! :)

And this past week Alli graduated out of newborn diapers and into size 1. They are a little big on her, but newborn were a little small, and big is better than small when it comes to diapers!



Credit to Jenny for this picture.



Credit to Ellen for this picture.



Credit to Ellen for this picture.



Credit to Kim for this picture.
(Our model got tired by the last part of the shoot.)

Mommy's Play Toy

Yesterday I decided to entertain myself and to see what Alli could do with holding on to objects. While on the changing table, I decided to pry her hand open and put a rattle in it. I had much fun watching her wave her arms and bang herself in the head a couple of times with the rattle. She kept holding on though until she banged it into the wall and it flew out of her hand. Am I mean?? :)

On another note, for anyone that was interested in those "warm bags", they are really marketed as heating pads. I don't know where Kim got the one we have, but they must sell them someplace because Krista (aka Krista-Care for Alli) had one as well.

The Warm Bag

Yesterday my sister-in-law called because she had read the blog and had a similar situation with one of her kids who wouldn't sleep during the day without being held. She said that a woman told her to get a "warm bag", which is basically just a bag stuffed with rice (or something) that you microwave to warm up and that has enough weight to put on the baby to make them think they are still sleeping on mommy or daddy. Well, surprisingly, we had such a bag lying around the house. (I think it was Kim's from high school.) Anyway, today I decided to give it a whirl. After play time this morning, Alli was getting tired so I kept her in my arms until she fell asleep. Then I heated up this bag and put her in her cradle and then put the bag on top of her belly. She slept for over an hour! After her 12:00 feeding, she fell asleep again so I decided I would put her back in the cradle, with the bag. Here it is 2:30 and she is STILL SLEEPING! This is like a miracle! In fact, I don't know what to do with myself with all this free time without carrying a child around.

Now let's hope she still sleeps a good bit through the night! :)

Thanks for the suggestion Wendy!

Sleepy Baby

Yesterday was an interesting day. Alli was doing great until it came for sleep. She sleeps great during the night, don't get me wrong. But during the day, there are many times that she just wants to be held. Yesterday was one of them. So, I put my "tough parent" hat on and decided that she needed to learn to sleep during the day without being in mommy's arms. I let her cry (just for a couple of minutes though) quite a few times. She was soooo tired. If she fell asleep with me holding her, she would wake up 5 minutes after I put her down. I keep thinking that this is not a good thing for when I go back to work, so she's going to have to learn to sleep without being held.

After her 7pm feeding, she fell asleep. I figured that she would be out for the night since she hadn't had much more than a 1/2 hour nap during the day. (Ok, there were probably about 4 half hour naps, but that's not good sleep.) In some ways, it was really nice having her fall asleep for the night so early. Kim and I got to watch a movie together before I got so tired I had to go to bed. At 1am, I woke up and heard her sucking. I figured I better go to the bathroom and prepare myself for the feeding. But she fell back to sleep. I went to bed listening for her to wake up... At 3:45am, I woke up realizing it had been about 9 hours since her last feeding. While I love the fact that she's such a good night sleeper, I fear that she is too young and too small to be able to go that long without food. So I took it upon myself to wake her up. Let me tell you, that was no small feat. I finally got her awake enough to feed and I felt much better about it.

So here are my thoughts. 1) I keep forgetting that I still have 3 weeks before going back to work and she could change into a completely different kid by then, so it's probably a little early to start worrying about her routine. 2) I forget that she doesn't *always* need me to hold her for daytime naps, so maybe I should just listen to her when she does. 3) I don't know why I am so forgetful of the above points during the time that these things are going on!!!

Bumbo

I keep thinking that Alli needs to explore different things. I mean, she's changing by the day, so I'm assuming so are her needs. I keep digging through the closet to check out all the things we've collected from gifts from everyone to see what I can use with her now. Yesterday, I got out the Bumbo. For those of you that don't know what a Bumbo is, it's a soft gel-like plastic blob that is shaped such that a child that can hold their head up can sit upright. Well, Alli can hold her head upright, so I thought maybe she would like to sit up and see the world that way, without mom holding her. I put her in the Bumbo. She was....indifferent. Not so sure what to make of anything. Dad and I took some pictures because she looked so cute (and small) in this seat.

Today I put her in the Bumbo again. This time, after taking more pictures next to a teddy bear), I sat in front of her with a bright colored rattle. I at least got a smile out of her, so I think she's okay with the Bumbo. She doesn't last long in it because she wants to move her arms and legs, and she can't while sitting in it. She should be able to move her arms once she's bigger, but for now, she's pretty much captive, so I pull her out and put her elsewhere so she can kick and bee-bop.

I thought it would be fun to show that Alli is as big as her teddy bear, sitting with her in Teddy's seat. :)

More fun pictures of Alli and the bumbo on her Flickr link. (Please refer to the side bar link to get to it.)

The Playroom/Nursery

I always thought our nursery was goofy looking. I mean, we didn't paint, we didn't buy nice wall-hangings or really nice furniture. I was almost embarrassed to show people the room because it's so....not what you would see in a magazine.

Alli *loves* her room. In fact, now that she's focusing on objects, we seem to spend quite a bit of time in there. Typically I only take her in there to change her diaper since she still sleeps in a cradle in our bedroom. But lately we've been hanging out there. We have her activity floor mat in there and all the bright posters on the wall of the colors and numbers. She can stare at the walls for quite a while when I hold her. And I'm happy to say, it looks like she has mom's attention span as opposed to dad's. (Sorry dad.) Today she stayed on the activity mat for half an hour bee-bopping around and smiling with the animals. Then I put her in her crib and wound up the mobile and she watched that for another 15 minutes while I made myself breakfast. The great thing is that after all that playing, she then slept for an hour, woke up and ate, and then we repeated the whole thing again. The second time around I had her in activity mat for only 15 minutes while I did some situps by her (counting my reps out loud - I'm sure she'll be counting to 10 very soon!) and then I moved her to the bouncy seat with the animal toy bar and into the bathroom so I could take a shower. She sat quietly in the seat with her animal friends for over half an hour while I showered, dressed, did my hair, brushed my teeth... Ah, why can't all days be this easy! :)

I'm trying to see if I notice any patterns in her day to help tailor her nap times and such for when I go back to work (27 days and counting). Unfortunately, I have made lots of plans and they may not fit in to this schedule, but then again, they may...

She's a very good baby. She doesn't cry anymore unless I neglect her for quite a while. She typically just makes little noises to let me know that she wants my attention. I'm also finding that since she sleeps in our room, its just small noises to let us know she's awake, and a lot of sucking sounds. :) (Apparently, that means FEED ME!) If I let her go too long while communicating, the volume goes up and more frequent bursts of sound. She's a really good communicator. And I love having her in our room. I feel like we are quite the pack and I'm sure listening to daddy and Baggy snore make her feel comfortable. :) I know I like listening to everyone breath - it's my pack family!