mmmm...rice cereal

Olivea is 4 months old now, and she gets more interesting everyday. It's such a cliche, but time is whizzing right by. At her pediatrician's suggestion I'm giving her some solids. So far she's just had rice cereal and avocado. She likes the cereal but isn't a big fan of avocado.


In other news my husband was laid off, although if he does well on several tests he'll be able to get a job at the company again in a different capacity. The lay off package gave us a few months to work things out, so we're doing okay. But the whole thing leaves me a worried mess.

My official job is the family worrier. I'm the one who has heart attacks about everything from being 5 minutes late to the size of our debt. My husband has a much more cavalier everything will-work-out attitude, and frankly I worry about that as well. I recognize that we are in a good position compared to a lot of people out there and that things very likely will work out. But I'd still feel better if he was worried too. It's silly but true.

The upside of this is that the daddy /daughter relationship has grown leaps and bounds. We've cut down on daycare, and he's been watching her a few days a week. She definitely looked to me as the primary care giver for a while, and now it is more evenly split. She has just as many smiles for daddy as she does for me.

I'll probably regret this in a few years...

But she found her thumb! She's been trying to get it in her mouth pretty much since birth but hadn't really figured it out. I tried to help her a few times when she was about a month old, but she didn't understand that she had to close up her fist and just managed to poke herself in the eye. Her hands are usually spread wide or in tiny little fists, so quite often she tries to suck her thumb but has it tightly clenched under her other fingers.

In other news at 9 weeks old she's more or less sleeping through the night. At 4 weeks she was down to one waking/feeding a night. And for the past week we've put her down between 7:30-8:30 pm, and she has gotten up around 5 am. This was a bit early for my taste but with daylight savings, 5 am is now 6 am and life is perfect. :) Don't hate me. She's just the best baby in the world.

The video was a little dark, so here is few still of her very sad face.

She's the next Simon Cowel!

I sing to Olivea all the time and while she doesn't cheer, laugh or smile, she at least stares transfixed at my face (much like she does at the TV, the ceiling fan, and the screw holding the computer desk together). When Mat sings to her though she makes these horribly sad faces. Somebody kicked her puppy kind of faces. Perfect frowns grace her face, and she looks like she's going to burst into tears at any given second. So of course he sings to her often, and I watch and laugh. It's just too funny, and frankly she's a little young to be scarred* for life. You might want to turn the volume down, or you'll be making some frowny faces too.



*I checked the spelling of this by typing it into google. Not a good idea. Some truly horrible images came up. I don't recommend it.

2 Months Old...or maybe 3 months?

Olivea hit eight weeks on Friday...I'm still not sure how old that makes her. I want to say two months, but really 8 weeks would mean she's already been around for two months and is starting her third month of life. (sorry this is a pretty dull monologue...stick with me) It's like stupid pregnancy math. I never knew how to answer people when they asked what month I was and came across as quite dumb to anyone who didn't know about the whole discrepancy between weeks and months.

At any rate she has discovered mirrors and will stare at herself until she falls asleep. This is excellent as it allows me the chance to finish the dishes. Also she looks really adorable when she falls asleep on her play mat. She stretches out spread eagle, like a little comatose snow angel.

No, I don't have an eTrade account...

I have mad love for the eTrade Baby. Here are all of the commercials...my favorite is the outtakes. I don't know what it is about the juxtaposition of his cute little baby face and the adult content. Probably the same thing that makes me love Home Movies. I dvr a couple of different things so I have something to watch at 3 am when I'm nursing the girl. And between the Daily Show and Home Movies it's almost worth being awake....almost.

getting started....

I'm a new mom to an 8 week old, and I can't believe how quickly she is changing. My little blob who made her escape just two months ago has gone from a fairly demanding and unresponsive pile of flesh to one that now smiles and coos at me. I don't want to forget any of it.

The best way to steal a smile is to make baby sounds at her, so Mat and I gather around and coo and coo and coo until she grins and coos back. We sound like a dole* of doves.

We're getting over our first colds, courtesy of our introduction to daycare. I feel like I definitely suffered the most, what with my inability to sleep it off...unlike everyone else in the household who naps or sleeps in non-stop (this includes the husband). Poor little goose is the snottiest baby I've ever met. I go after her with the snot sucking bulb until she screams, and she still sounds like she's blowing bubbles with her nose.

She is so filled with rage at this rubber bulb that I was afraid it hurt. So in a particularly stuffed up moment I tried it on myself. And DAMN it works well. In conclusion, she needs to chill out. That snot sucker bought me a few moments of glorious nose breathing, and she should appreciate.

*I totally looked this up. Who knew a group of doves is called a dole?! According to wiki it's also called a flight or piteousness, but those seemed like a bit much.