Feeling better

As you can see, Molly escaped the plague.

It was sad to miss Easter at home, but we're going to try again this weekend.

The big highlight of the past few days was the other night when Molly laughed! She was on her Daddy's lap, looking at his face. He was telling her a joke (I believe it went something like "a-googly-googly-googly-gooo") and she cracked up. It made us laugh, which made her laugh even more.

We've been trying to catch her laugh on video, but no luck yet.

Sick

For those who haven't heard already, Jim and I have both been knocked out by a stomach bug. Jim was up all night with it Tuesday and I was up all night last night. This morning we had to call off our plans to go to visit family for Easter.

We're waiting to see if Molly gets it too, which would be horrible. It's already bad enough trying to take care of her, as the two of us wander around here like zombies. I've been able to nurse her through all this, but it's been hard. Fortunately the worst of it hit me over night while she was sleeping. Today I just have chills and muscle aches and mild nausea. Still, changing a diaper on an uneasy stomach is rough.

I've nursed Molly through a cold before, but this was the first time I felt absolutely incapacitated and unable to take care of her. If Jim wasn't so good about taking over, I think I would have really freaked out. She's a good baby, though, and seems oblivious. Thank goodness!!

Napping

Over the past couple weeks Molly's naps gotten gradually shorter to the point where they have almost disappeared. She's still sleeping at least 8 hours every night, which is a blessing, but the trade-off is that she doesn't want to sleep during the day. Even her morning nap, which always happened like clockwork an hour after she woke up, has gotten later and shorter and more of a struggle.

It's very hard for me to put her down, too, because she's such a silly little critter when she's awake.



(There she is playing with her new knit rabbit that came all the way from Holland -- Thanks Ome Luutsen and Tante Annie!)

Every day she seems a little closer to grabbing things and bringing them to her mouth. She grabs my shirt when I change her, the blanket that covers her in her car seat, and the toys that hang down from her play gym.

She's getting very strong, too. She can stand up with just me holding her hands for balance. She's more comfortable now sitting my lap than snuggled up by my shoulder. Her hair is losing its puppy fuzz texture as new hair grows in (lighter and more red, we think). She seems eager to move herself around the room and frustrated that she can't. She's also finally looking at her hands all the time, and lately she's been pretty good about entertaining herself while I do other things nearby (which is important because without naps, I have no time to get anything done!)

It's also cute that her cuddles have gotten more intentional. She doesn't sleep on my shoulder anymore, but when she's tired now sometimes she tucks her head under my chin and snuggles against me. Hee hee. That's pretty nice.

Our top headline ...

Molly made her newspaper debut this morning, as part of my Yard Dirt column. It was the centerpiece in the Lifestyles section.

Here's the link:

http://www.eagletribune.com/pulife/local_story_076072719.html?keyword=topstory

The photographer came out to our house to get the photo. Molly was not amused. We tried so hard to get her to smile. Oh, well. At least she got to show off her pretty dress. It's the second one she's ever worn.

Play time

Today Molly's wearing her tie-dye outfit so her feet can be bare ... and because it's cute!




















She loves standing up (with assistance, of course). All winter I've tried to keep her feet covered for warmth, but now that she's using them and starting to look at them, it's time to let those feet loose!

Big night

Molly spent the night in her own bedroom last night for the first time.

We didn't have any specific plans to move her out of the bassinet in our room, but it just seemed like the right time. She's been sleeping so well lately, and all of a sudden it seemed like our presence in the room was making it harder for her to sleep, rather than easier. The creak of our bathroom door or the puff of air from me pulling up the covers over would rouse her.

She slept great last night in her crib -- 1o hours -- and woke up with a smile, as usual. I was the one who was opening my eyes every few hours all night to check the clock and listen for noises across the hall. It was the first night of her life that she was out of arm's reach. At least she didn't go very far. I can see her crib from our bed. :)

12 weeks

Molly turned 12 weeks old yesterday. That's a big milestone. It's the point all the baby books talk about as being the end of unexplained fussiness and the end of the "fourth trimester," the phase where the baby is adjusting to life outside the womb.

It's amazing how much easier life has gotten in such a short period of time. Molly has been sleeping through the night, with only one exception, for 11 nights in a row. Lately she's been going to bed around 9:30 or 10 and waking up around 5:30 or 6. (With the time change it's suddenly an hour later). That's not just a full 8 hours. It's also a normal adult time of night to be sleeping!

Also, Molly has completely changed her opinion on car rides and trips out of the house. She used to cry every time we put her in the car seat, especially hard when we fastened the buckles. Now she smiles. In the car she was always either sleeping or crying -- usually crying. We often had to turn around and come home or feel miserable about the trip. Now she sits there looking around, content. Often she drifts off to sleep after 10 or 15 minutes. In stores, I used to have to take her out of her car seat and carry her around or she would fuss. Now she sits happily in the car seat, looking around. She even fell asleep once as I was pushing her around the grocery store and stayed asleep through the checkout and everything. We went out for lunch Saturday and she sat happily in her car seat until about half way through the meal, when she fell asleep.

One of my books on baby development says 3-month-old babies are typically so full of smiles that it looks like they're perpetually high. That's a perfect description for Molly. She gives us huge grins that just grow and grow as you look at her. She kicks her legs and waves her arms like she's ready to crawl away. Last night she was looking at her left fist and trying to control it, when she smacked herself in the forehead. She's so fun to watch! She gets excited when she sees her Daddy and follows him around the room with her eyes. One time this weekend she screamed when I picked her up out of his lap.

She still gets fussy sometimes and we still spend hours and hours rocking her, swaddling her (she can get her arms out easily now, but she still has trouble sleeping with her arms free), putting her down, picking her up again and trying to get her to sleep. That's as frustrating as ever. But most of the time she's just fun.

Smiling and Talking (sort of)

Happy birthday, Lucy!!!

Babies grow so quickly. It seems like just yesterday that cousin Lucy was a newborn.

Remember Lucy at four days old?

Then at two months ...

At four months ...

Six months ...

Seven months ...

And almost 11 months ...

I packed away more of Molly's baby clothes yesterday and I got really sad when I found the knit hat she wore at the hospital and it looked so tiny. It made me very sentimental. Plus, now that Molly's getting more social and waking up less at night I'm already rewriting history in my mind and forgetting how difficult the last few months have been.

Anyway, sad as it is to see time passing, it's been a delight to watch Lucy grow up this year.

We love you, little bean! Happy Birthday!

Good-bye, chocolate

So I've been living on PB&J for a week, hoping to discover which, if any, of the foods I eat bother Molly's tummy. The idea is to eliminate everything at once, then reintroduce things one at a time and see what happens.

The first thing I reintroduced was chocolate. I ate one dark chocolate candy bar. Molly promptly produced two green poopy diapers within 12 hours (forgive me, non-parents -- it's hard to talk about a baby without talking about poop). So it looks like I'm going to be off chocolate for a while.

I waited two days to make sure her digestive system was really back to normal, then this afternoon I reintroduced dairy (i.e. vanilla ice cream, skim milk and cheese). Fingers crossed!

Happy baby

Guess who's had four nights in a row of phenomenal sleep.
This happy baby!!!!















Sleep has never felt so good. I don't know exactly which food I'm avoiding, if any, is doing the trick, but I'll happily give up ice cream and chocolate for that smile -- and for the joy of waking up seven, eight or even nine hours after getting in bed with the slow realization that it's almost dawn and I'm still cozy in bed and the baby's still sleeping happily beside us in her bassinet.


Molly was full of smiles for Oma and Grandpa's visit this weekend. We cooked some yummy food and had a great time. Molly is so much fun!