Two Month Progress Report

Happy 2 months baby!!! I swear she's a different, more aware person every day. Sometimes I look her in the eyes and fully expect her to start talking..."Mommy, I'd like a pony..."
By the end of this month she has been doing the following:

• Using her hands deliberately. She was using the back of her wrist (instead of her claws) to rub her nose and eyes. And while she's eating, her fingers and hands dance around as if she were bored. She gets her hands into her mouth consistently..also hits Daddy in the face a lot while they are both sleeping. I don't know why I don't get hit more...
• Holding her head level. She is getting a lot more neck control.
• Focusing on Faces. It used to be that we really didn't think she saw faces at all. Beginning quite recently she has been looking at people who are holding her, but also people around the person holding her. Very new. One of Angela's friends was really surprised and elated that she smiled at him and stared intently at his face when she was being held by Angela. She also follows people with her eyes and can see a lot farther that before.
• Eyes and head darting around to see new things. In her active moments, she really does dart her head around. She may not know what anything is yet, but boy does she want to see them!
• Using fingers (and hands) to grab things in front of her. She isn't grabbing at objects like toys yet, but she is grabbing at fingers that are not placed in her hand and she often grabs my shirt (and unfortunately, my skin as well) with her fingers. Her fingers are getting more dexterity every day. She grabs her ear too.
• Emotional control. Okay, you can call me on this one...but today she was oddly calm when she stabbed herself in the eye with her own fingernail. Okay, so she was waiving her arms and her fingernail brushed into her eye. It began to tear up and her face got all red and she shut her eyes really really tight...but no crying at all. I was surprised because she was tired and a little fussy at the time. That's usually when babies start screaming at the smallest stuff. She went right on with her day like nothing had ever happened.
• Tummy time. I hate doing it because she hates it...and sometimes just lays there. But we must and sometimes she gets a lot done with her feet...and still not much with her neck and arms. Ah well, she'll get there.
• Cooing. This is the big one at the end of this month. When I leave her with my mom, they have long conversations...so when I get her back she'll talk to me too. At first it took some coaxing and the right mood, but now she's willing to talk to just about anyone who will listen. I swear they sound like real words, but of course they do. She's trying to mimic what we say. The crazy positions she gets those little lips into just make me laugh so hard. She is learning volume control and how to talk and breath at the same time and how to string as many vowels together as possible! Things she often says are:
• ah-ggggggggg (it's cute 'cause it sounds like growling and she flares her nostrils while she does it)
• oowwwaaooww
• squeals (this is fairly new)
• mmmm-ba
• mmmm-da
• mmm-ga

Sell Out

...With attitude to boot. Tomorrow she's going to be suing me for using her Hollywood cash to pay for some Payless sunglasses for mommy. Just kidding.

The glasses stayed on a surprisingly long time on our walk the other night. Her onesie says: "This is my little Black Dress," and has a strand of glittery pearls painted on. We ended up going to O'Neill's that night. She was amazing! What a star!!! The things she will put up with for her crazy parents...

Dos Videos

Big baby yawn

Reading our Book. Before I pushed record, I think I was saying "Do you like your book?"

The White Onesie

It's like the calm before the storm...she must have known her butt was about to explode because she gave me the cutest pictures.

Strike a pose, baby girl!!! This is her "one leg kicking/ flail the arms" pose.

Tummy Time for baby Bell

Tummy Time on the boppy. Her arms and neck need some work...but those legs are killer strong!

See...she tried to catapult herself off of the Boppy. Yes, I did successfully catch her, although she is still on the couch.

She was happy when Tummy Time was over :) P.S. This is her second outfit today. I had put her in this really awesome button front onesie, taken some really cute pictures...and then she burst into poop.  And the white onesie was not so white anymore.  At least I got pictures.

Voted off the Island

I got voted off the proverbial island this morning. I moved River from her spot in the middle to my left side to do a side-lying-feeding...then went to the bathroom. When I came back...they had taken over. And I packed my things and went...to the futon.

Luther Clemens and River Bell Rae

My friend Marla (and her partner, Adam) recently had a bebe. See? Luther Peacock was born on May 22nd. I was joking that we had a play date...when really it was more like a breastfeeding-side-by-side date. We had lasagna and chocolate cupcakes...a merry time was had by all and I was happy to see my birthing class buddy. It's really great seeing her as a mother and experiencing it right along with her. We have some cute babies. BTW, I love being a mother. I think Marla does too. :)

She may be suspicious of the Fish and Canoe but it's Sleepy Time for Bonzo

My little pumpkin seems to really respond to this book. Now she is actually touching the pages and "trying to turn them." It's really very cute...but honestly, it looks like she's weary of a conspiracy going on..."What are those Fish and Canoes up to anyway???"

Our friend had a birthday/fight night at her home. Once Daddy had her, she was content and fell asleep in his arms. It was quite adorable.

Thoughts floating on a River

She likes to give herself arm hickeys. This is how she tells me that she wasn't finished eating.

Does anyone else think she looks longer? I'm pretty sure she's huge. Whale like. Lol. Just kidding. But she does have that cute little Buddha belly...and yes, she's much longer.

I don't have many pictures of me with my baby. I imagine someday she'll be like "Mom, how come you don't love me? You were never around in any pictures. Did you just not like me?" And I'll be like..."I was taking all the dang pictures!"

River is a Water Baby

Despite being born into a pool of water, she didn't love her first bath. I stupidly did it on a cold day in a cold bathroom while she was already fussy. The second and subsequent baths went a lot better when I warmed up the bathroom and put a wet towel over her to keep her warm. 

One day Chris decided to take her for a shower. He put her little itsy bitsy bathtub in the shower with him and she seemed to like it. She tried sucking up the water as it fell on her face. 

Today, we did the same thing and again, she seemed to really like it. I put her in 3 big fluffy towels when she got out and she smells so much cleaner!

This photo was taken after her first shower. She's all bundled up and warm! I guess little ducky faces like showers too!

The Green Buddha Baby (9.5 lbs.)

My little Monkey Princess

 

Yesterday was my first day back to work at Stone Age. River had only 1 day of practice with a bottle. I had to work two 2 hour shifts with a 3 hour break between them. Needless to say I was worried. I made sure to spend some quality time with her before I left. We read our high contrast (black and white) book called "Fish and Canoe" and I took lots of pictures. I fed her right before I left and she was somewhat asleep.

When my first shift was over I met Daddy and Baby at Best Buy...one of many many errands they ran that day. Just as I came into the store and called Chris' name, I walk up and River opens her eyes and starts fussing. Apparently that was the first time she'd been awake since I'd left. So I fed her again in my car and then at the Super Cuts (yet another errand). I spent some time putting her back to sleep and I was off again for my second shift.

As I expected, this one went just fine, but not as smoothly. They ran more errands together, but a lot of them were done with one of Daddy's fingers in the mouth! When they got home, Chris successfully fed her her second bottle ever! Way to go! When I got home, dinner was ready and baby was asleep.

The rest of the night she was a little fussy but nothing like the last few nights have been. We watched Black Swan as I finally got River to sleep at around 1030pm (Fastest yet!). I kept waking up throughout the night during the times she usually wakes up...but she was sound asleep.  

All in all, a good first day back to work. Next Friday I work a full 4 hour shift. As I'm writing this, she is in her swing, asleep making really cute cooing noises.