What I Would Blog About If I Had Time for Blogging

BE FOREWARNED: This post will be entirely about my baby girl.

-Our lil' baby sweet potato girl turned two months old last week! This is a joyous thing - - and strangely, a sad thing as well. She's growing too fast! And I know it's only going to go faster. Next thing we know, we'll be celebrating her first birthday, and her first day of kindergarten and, and, and... I can't think about it! I get choked up. *sigh* In fact, yesterday morning, while she laid in her bouncy chair, I sat on the floor in her bedroom while folding and sorting her clothes, and I put aside in a bag all the clothes she's grown out of... and I cried. [SIDE NOTE: She only likes the bouncy chair if you're sitting right there with her.]

-She had her "two months wellness appointment" with the pediatrician and her second round of immunization shots last week. She's in the 90% across the board for her age group in terms of height (23 inches), head circumference (41 cm) and weight (12 pounds). Mind you, that was all last week...she's gained 6 ounces since that appointment!

-Over the last week, she's become a serious lil' eater in the mornings, and that includes her 2-3AM-ish feeding (thank goodness). Yup, she gets right down to business and she gets 'er done fast in 20 to 30 minutes. In the late afternoon and evenings, however, she now dawdles --yes, she dawdles. She looks around and takes long pauses... she'll stop and sigh, she'll stop and grin and coo at me and look around some more... She'll quit eating altogether and refuse to continue, so I'll wrap it up, and 10 minutes later, she wants more. Thankfully, the very latter behavior isn't an every day thing (so far).

-Oh, and about three week ago, she decided she doesn't really like laying down or reclining during the daytime anymore... she wants to sit up and see what's going on. And she'll squawk LOUDLY if she isn't placed in her preferred position.

-Over the last month, she's developed a fussy time that falls somewhere between 7:00 and 8:30PM, and it lasts for about an hour (now that we know what's going on), at which time, it's best to either take her on a quiet walk in the stroller or LET HER ALONE! More often than not, she simply wants to lounge in her swing or be propped up amongst some pillows on the couch - - and she's in no mood for conversation or cuddles nor any kisses at that time, no thanks! Now that we've figured this out, the evenings are pretty fine. At the end of April and into May though, there were two weeks when we just didn't quite get it yet. We'd rock her, walk her in our arms, bounce her, sing to her, coo to her and talk to her and we'd try to feed her --I'd make an attempt or my honey-man would try a bottle-- and we'd burp her and try burping her again, we'd exercise her legs hoping to help her "release painful bubbles," all to no avail until one night, after over an hour of whining and fussing and crying, my honey-man had just had enough already. He silently swaddled her and then laid her alone in her Pack n' Play bassinet and walked away. And I was shocked! But there was silence... Cautiously, we both approached the Pack n' Play to peer inside... She was just lying there, wide awake and she had a slightly slap-happy grin on her face. And as soon as she spied us spying upon her, she gave a whimper and a deep frown, and another sad whimper as she averted her eyes; this was a WARNING for us to please leave her the freak alone! We thought it was a fluke at the time, but the very next night, we realized a pattern had evolved ~ We finally got the message!

-It's too hot now for her to be fully swaddled and she no longer likes 'jello head'. If she needs to be settled down a bit in order for her to be ready for bed, she now likes to be swayed back and forth or bounced in one's arms, either sitting or standing, it doesn't matter. Moreover, I can swaddle just her arms about her and lay her in bassinet before she's actually asleep, placing a blanket over the bassinet hood to decrease visual distraction. Sometimes she may need her binky, and I may creep a hand in a couples times to give it back to her if she spits it out before conking out-- but basically, she's capable of falling asleep on own now. It's a wonderful thing... At the same time though, I love it when she falls asleep in my arms, but I don't want her dependent upon either of us in order for her to fall asleep at night. [SIDE NOTE: The latter is an indirect confession of sorts: Who says I don't let her fall asleep in my arms during the day? I certainly didn't!] *UPDATE*: I neglected to mention an important part of her bedtime routine! She has a white noise machine at the head of her bassinet which plays the sound of ocean waves and we let it run all night long!

-Oh! She's beginning to recognize that those things that occasionally bop her in her face possibly belong to her [and those would be her hands].

-Speaking of her hands, she really likes to clutch what we call her "spee rags," as in 'spit rags,' which are the birdseye cotton cloth diapers made by Gerber - she loves them! When she's in her carseat carrier, riding in the backseat, we're always sure she has one = they keep her happy when she's lost her binky and we can't reach her. Thanks again, Debbie & Kelly!

-Last week, she reallllly began paying close attention to the kitties... She'll watch them walk past her or whatever and she grins and smiles at them when she sees them. Yes, it is very cute. Yes, I do have pictures...

-And again, speaking of her lil' hands, although she doesn't really know what she's doing whenever it happens, sometimes when she sees the kitties, she'll get really excited and she'll kick her little feet and she'll reach out her arms and hands. Well, when she does this, she sometimes inadvertently winds up touching a kitty and when that happens, she'll freeze for a split moment, and then she'll slowly spread and wiggle the fingers of her hand that's made the contact, and her eyes will widen and then she'll smile and crinkle her little nose while smiling some more. Yes, it's killer cute.

-Her bald spot isn't really a spot per se -- it's more like a line that runs across the back of her head from ear to ear. Yesterday, upon closer inspection of the fitted sheet for her bassinet and the 'spee rag' that's kept there beneath her sleeping head to protect the sheets from baby spit up and drool, I discovered I could actually see the tiny, fine, dark hairs she's rubbed off from the back of her head, from her turning her head about from side to side, looking around while she's lying there in the mornings before she lets us know she's ready to get up.

-Speaking of drool and spit up, my lil' girlie is already a major drooler! oh my, yes she is! AND if we're not really careful with our coaxing for a burp, she spits up as well. No, no projectile spitting up just yet! [SOME BACKGROUND INFO: Like her mother, she's not a good burper. Yup, not only cannot I not voluntary produce/force a burp, it doesn't happen all that well involuntarily either, thus, I am not into carbonation, no matter how much I love the taste of Dr. Pepper. Furthermore, like her mother as well, she has also apparently inherited my overactive salivary glands. No joke!]

-Oh and, again, speaking of drool, that reminds me! She's a bubble blower too. Yup, spit bubbles - - she does it when she's awake and when she's asleep. If she were an adult, it'd be a disgusting thing to do, but she's a baby, sooo, somehow I find this behavior to be absolutely adorable! As my step-mum wrote me in a text, after having received a pic I'd sent her of our babe with a clear line of drool down her chin, "Gotta love it. Did you ever imagine you'd think drool was cute!"

-When I give her a bath in the mornings, I play the B52s (we always skip "Cosmic Thing") and I sing to her and she loves it! Oh, and three weeks ago, she added something new to her morning bath routine: She now vigorously kicks her legs and feet, splashing water everywhere... she loves it and I LOVE IT! Soooo cute! I think tomorrow we'll try some of The Beatles' Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band... When my lil' brother was a wee one, I taught him all the words to "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."

-I bought three mini-handheld, battery-operated fans last week; 1 for the changing table in her room, 1 for her Pack n' Play diaper changing area, and 1 for her diaper bag-- all to help us dry her bum completely whenever we change her diaper... Hey, I'm really serious about preventing diaper rash! Before the mini-fans, we were actully blowing air on her bummy to dry her! Oh, BTW, she loves getting her bummy air-dried via min-fan! It's hysterical.

-I bought her a size 3-6 month swimsuit at Old Navy this past Sunday - - I tried it on her yesterday and it doesn't fit = it's TOO SMALL!?! Now remember, she's only TWO months old! Not three or four, nor SIX MONTHS -- She's only TWO months old!

-As I'd mentioned last week, for two weeks' time, she was wanting to eat every 2 to 2 n' half hours, like she was a newborn again. And during the nights, she was waking nearly every 3 hours or less! There was one night she woke at 1:30AM, and she took over an hour and 30 minutes to eat, including the time it took to properly burp her and change her diaper... and then she woke up again at 3AM, ready to eat again! I think my left eye was twitching for 5 days straight... BUT THEN SOMETHING AMAZING HAPPENED! [drumroll please] She slept from 10PM until 4:50AM = That's nearly SEVEN HOURS of uninterrupted sleep! = For me, this constitutes our first official time she 'slept through the night.' Of course, it hasn't happened again since, even if the very next night, she was out for 6 hours... it really hasn't happened again. Fingers crossed for a repeat and soon!

-Yeah, lots of new things began when she reached 6 weeks of age, and more stuff is happening now that she's two months old. I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW MUCH SHE'S GROWING AND CHANGING! Have I said this before?

P.S. As I began this, my honey-man had just left for LA to bring the angel boy-O back here for his first two months of summer. At some point while writing this, after my baby girlie was asleep, post-fussy time, I realized this could be tonight's only window of opportunity for a shower... I don't think I've ever ran upstairs faster, no do I think I've ever taken a faster shower than I did tonight!