Stork Bit

Have you heard of them? Stork bites? Elise has a stork bite on her nose.

Stork bites are these little places on a baby's skin that show up pink when the baby is upset. Babies usually have them on their heads somewhere if they have them. When Elise was born and I saw the mark on her nose, I thought it was a bruise at first. Or a birthmark. Then I noticed that it faded away when she was calm and popped back up when she was upset.

Stork bites fade over time and they're usually gone in a year or so. Elise's is already less pronounced than when she was born.

Stork bite. Sometimes I get this image of a stork flying through the clouds, holding my baby by her little nose.

This Is Awesome

Elise just slept for 7 hours. 7 hours!

She woke up with a wet diaper, but when I took her to the potty she immediately pooped, so I think she was holding it in. I hardly have to change poopy diapers now. My dad says that I'm missing out on one of the joys of parenthood, but I'm okay with that. If I never have to clean up one of those disgusting shit-up-the-back explosions that babies are so famous for, I don't think I'll miss it. Lord knows that I've cleaned up enough vomit to compensate.

I must have earned some seriously good karma in a past life, because Elise is the best baby ever.

Ice Cream, Elise Screams

I think that when I eat ice cream it upsets Elise's tummy. Ice cream is seriously one of my favorite foods on the planet.

Sigh.

I had trouble when I ate ice cream when I was pregnant, too.

No more ice cream for Mommy until you're done breastfeeding. See how much I love you Elise? More than ice cream. And that's A LOT.

Elimination Communication Magic

Oh. My. GOD.

It' 5:00 in the morning. Elise just woke up from sleeping since 11:30 last night AND HER DIAPER WAS DRY. She slept for 5 1/2 hours and didn't wet herself! She's 11 weeks old!

She's never before woken up from sleeping at night with a dry diaper.

Now, to be fair, I took off her diaper and she started to pee just a little. But she stopped herself, I ran with her to the potty, and then she pooped and peed (a LOT). I wasn't planning to do EC at night, but I guess Elise has different plans. I suppose she realized that she doesn't want to sit in a wet diaper in the middle of the night.

Apparently she trusts that I'll take her right to the potty when she wakes up. All day long, any time she wakes up from a nap I take her to the potty. She always goes. Yesterday, she woke up from a nap, I took her to the potty and she peed, and she went right back to sleep. "It's almost as if she woke up just to go to the bathroom," I said to myself.

Then last night around 11:00, I fed her, burped her, swaddled her, and put her in her bassinet like usual. She slept for about 10 minutes and woke up. Since I was still wide awake, I offered her the potty. She went. "That's cool," I thought to myself. "She woke up just to go to the potty. I think we're having some breakthroughs in EC here."

And then she holds it all night. After 4 days of EC training.

Amazing!!!

Baby Cries and an EC Breakthrough

Shortly after Elise was born, people started asking me "Can you tell her different cries apart yet?" I couldn't. And I felt really crappy about it-- like I was a bad parent-- until I realized that she didn't HAVE different cries at first.

It took a couple of weeks before she made noticeably different noises, and then another couple of weeks after that before I could tell what was what. Now, on top of noticing different cries, I have that mother's intuition going on, so sometimes I just KNOW that she's tired or hungry or wet.

When she's wet she makes a sort of "nuh nuh nuh" sound. And when she's hungry she makes this cry that almost sounds like a sarcastic laugh. "Aha aha aha." She doesn't make those sounds every time she's wet or hungry, but if she makes them when she cries, I know what's bothering her right away.

So, tonight just before bed Husband was holding Elise and she started to cry. He was trying to comfort her. "You know, she's making the sound like she's wet. Did you check her diaper?" I asked.

It wasn't wet.

So I jumped up and rushed her to the toilet. Major poo.

To my knowledge she has never made that cry BEFORE her diaper was soiled. I think she was saying, "I don't want to sit in my own crap. And you guys seem to get a big kick out of it when I use the potty. SO... let's make this a win-win situation and you just take me to the potty right now. RIGHT NOW!"

It was really cool.

I've read that once they realize that they don't have to sit in poo, a lot of babies do really well with cueing their caregivers to take them to the potty when they have to poop. All babies have accidents when they're learning elimination communication, but apparently poopy accidents are usually much fewer and farther between than the pee-pee ones.

I wonder if it was just a fluke, or if Elise was really trying to communicate with us.

Naked Baby Time!

New addition to our daily routine: naked baby time! I bought some cloth diapers today so that I can lay them underneath Elise while she plays on the floor naked for about 15 minutes at a time. I wait until she's had a good potty session so that the risk of accidents on the diapers is seriously reduced. We had two naked baby times today. She loved it!

Just Elise

Elise is now an only child, for the first time. Foster Son went back to his mom yesterday. Husband and I are happy for him, but sad for ourselves. Foster Son lived with us for a year. Not having him around will take some getting used to.

I have to say, having Foster Son in our home has really taught Husband and me how to parent as a team. We've seen our flaws, our strengths, discussed how and why we want to do things differently from each other. Very eye-opening. I'm so glad that we work well together. Of course, Husband and I each come from our own unique family culture and so there were plenty of times when we had to reconcile two different ways of handling a situation with Foster Son. How lucky for Elise that we've already worked out some of the kinks.

In other news, Elise's second day of EC went well. I'll spare you the details, other than to say that not having to change poopy diapers is AWESOME.

Also, she's slept for 6 hours for 2 nights in a row now. Heaven!

First Full Day of EC

Cuz I'm sure that you're dying for an update. :)

So, in 24 hours Elise peed or pooped in the toilet 11 times. 11 TIMES! She's pro.

I think I changed about 6 diapers in the last 24 hours, as opposed to the usual 10 to 12. I know. The math. 6 diapers + 11 catches (that's what ECers call it when the baby goes in the appropriate potty place) is 17, not 10 to 12. It seems that babies-- or MY baby-- has lots of little pees during the day. I guess that a normal wet diaper could have more than one elimination. None of the diapers that I changed today were very wet. It was just enough to notice and so I had to change it.

Twice, I offered her the potty and she didn't go. Then within about 5 minutes of diapering her, she went. I KNEW she had to go, but my timing was a bit off, I guess.

Either way, I saved at least 4 diapers today. Woo hoo! That's gonna add up pretty quickly. 4 times 30 is 120 diapers per month.

Two In A Row!

As soon as Elise woke up this morning I took her to the toilet. BAM! Pee AND poo!

So, I've totally turned into one of those moms that breastfeeds until the kid's two years old, lets her babies run around naked, and grinds all of her own baby food. I didn't see that one coming. But I'm okay with being Hippie Mom because I feel like these things are best for Elise and best for our family. Not for EVERYONE-- I'm not preaching. "Dangle you two month old over the toilet..." No, you won't hear me encouraging anyone to make the same decisions I have unless they ask for encouragement first.

But it IS strangely exhilarating to successfully catch your little baby's eliminations in the toilet instead of a diaper.

My 2 1/2 Month Old Just Peed In The Toilet!

I'm so excited right now.

Okay.

I started reading about "elimination communication" (or "EC") today. The idea is that people throughout history, people in hunter-gatherer societies, and people in less developed parts of the world often do not diaper their babies. But they aren't constantly covered in baby poop either. Instead they use EC.

To sum it up real quick, the adult (usually the mother) learns the baby's potty patterns. Like, maybe your baby always pees 5 minutes after feeding and right after waking. Then the adult tries to notice the baby's potty cues. A certain face the baby makes before going, or the baby getting fussy, or whatever. The adult uses this information to take the baby to an appropriate place to eliminate when the baby needs to go. To a toilet maybe. Then, the adult uses a cue to let the baby know that its okay to relax and go to the bathroom. For example, making the sound of moving water like "pssss pssss pssss." That way, even if you're in a different place (a public restroom instead of your bathroom at home), the baby can know that it's okay to go potty.

You can start practicing EC as soon as a baby is born, or anytime thereafter. The idea isn't to potty train a 6 month old. The baby tells the adult when it's time to go, not the other way around. The benefits of EC are that there is trust and communication established between the adult and the baby, you save money on diapers, you are more environmentally friendly because you use fewer diapers, and your baby gets fewer diaper rashes, urinary tract infections, etc.

I'm not explaining it fully, but that's the Cliff's Notes version of EC. Google it for more detailed info.

Anyway, I was totally intrigued. I talked to Husband about maybe practicing EC and he was sold at "it'll save us money on diapers." Since I'm staying home for now, it will be easier to try practicing EC. And I'm already exclusively breastfeeding on demand, so I'm pretty much at Elise's beck and call anyway.

Well, tonight as we were getting ready for bed, Elise started farting. There aren't really any more obvious cues than that as far as I'm-about-to-go-to-the-bathroom goes. So I took off her diaper and carried her to the toilet. Husband was in the bathroom brushing his teeth. "Here goes!" I told him.

I held her upper back against my chest, straddled the toilet backwards, put her feet on the toilet seat with her legs spread, and lowered her into a deep squatting position over the toilet bowl. Then I started going "pssss pssss pssss." And she peed into the toilet. Seriously. She peed. It was awesome.

What better way to start practicing EC than to have it work perfectly the first time? I think I'll keep trying it and see if it's practical for our family. I don't think that I'll ever be a diaper-free ECer (some people don't use diapers at all once they've got a good line of adult-baby communication established) but maybe we'll use cloth diapers at home or something like that. We'll see how it goes.

Other Peoples' Birth Stories: My Coworker

I used to work with this lady about two years ago that told me one day, "All babies are NOT cute." When she had her first son, they handed him to her right after delivery and she thought, "This baby can't be mine. He's too ugly!"

My coworker was shocked by how ugly she thought her own baby was. She said that he "grew into his looks" and that now she thinks he's handsome (he's an adult by the time she's telling me this), but at first she was depressed by how unattractive her baby was.

I appreciated her honesty. Motherhood is often sentimentalized and the feelings that some mothers have for their babies aren't always beautiful, blissful feelings of pride and joy. I don't think that my coworker was a bad mother for not instantly feeling like her son was the most beautiful thing on the planet. Or for saying it aloud.

I was really scared that I'd have an ugly baby. Now that Elise is here, that fear seems silly. I honestly think she is the most beautiful thing that I've ever seen. Ever. But when she was still in my belly and I didn't know how she looked, I'd worry and think things like, "If she's ugly, will I have trouble bonding with her? Will I grow to love her looks or just accept them? Will everyone lie to me and tell me that she's cute or will they just not say anything at all?..."

To make matters worse, all babies come out looking a little weird. They're all puffy and swollen when they're born and it takes a few hours to a few days before the swelling goes down. So you don't even REALLY know what your baby looks like at first, anyway.

I thought Elise looked cute in every stage-- from her swollen post-delivery body, to her skinny newborn physique, to her current chubby-cheeked self. I got pretty lucky.

Other Peoples' Birth Stories: My Aunt

I vaguely remember one of my aunts telling a group of lady relatives about her experience when she had her first child. She told this story over 10 years ago, so I'm totally paraphrasing.

She must have given birth for the first time during the mid-60s or so. Well, she went into labor while my uncle was at work-- he might even have been out of town, I can't remember. Either way, he didn't go with her to the hospital. At the hospital, they gave her drugs for the pain of labor. According to my aunt, the drugs they gave her made her super loopy. She said that the drugs were an unpleasant experience-- that was the point of the story, be glad for the better drugs that they have now.

Anyhow, my uncle arrived at the hospital, after the medication had been administered. He went in to see my aunt, but he'd gotten a haircut that day and because the medication had made her so out of it, my aunt didn't recognize him. She freaked out. "Who is that man in my room?!?" And she wouldn't believe it was her husband. They had to kick him out of the room immediately.

I'm so thankful that doctors don't use those kinds of drugs anymore. Of course, labor itself made me as mad as a hatter, but at least I could recognize my own husband.

I Accidentally Fed My Baby Soap

I bathe Elise twice a week. She does just fine during her bath-- she's not too excited either way. She doesn't cry or get overly happy. She seems to just think of it as a regular part of the day.

My routine is to get two washcloths. First I put one washcloth across her belly, to keep her warm. With the other washcloth, I scrub her little face with water, then I wash her hair with shampoo. I drape the first washcloth across her head like a hat, then I wash her body with soap with the second washcloth.

Well, today I decided to scrub a little soap on her cheeks and chin as I was washing her chest. I soaped up the rest of her body, rinsed out the washcloth, and went back to wash the soap away. That's when I noticed her blowing bubbles out of her mouth. These bubbles were too big to be just from spit. Dammit! I fed the baby soap.

She didn't cry or seem very concerned about the new taste.

I guess a little soap in her mouth won't kill her. The preschool that I went to washed kids' mouths out with soap for bad language all the time. I specifically remember circle time one day where the teacher was having us name rhymes for "duck." One of my best preschool friends was a little bit evil. She raised her hand. "She won't do it," I thought to myself. "No way." She did. And got her mouth rinsed out with soap for an extra long time. She's still alive, so I guess Elise will be okay, too.

Baby Monkey

Elise is really strong. I know this because for at least a month now she's been puling my hair. And it hurts. A lot.

At first she would grab my shirt and hold on for dear life, as if I might drop her and she needed to be able to support her own weight. Like a little baby monkey. I thought this was very cute. Until she developed a preference for holding on to my hair instead.
She doesn't grab the sturdy hairs that grow from the top of my head. No. She grabs the delicate under-hairs that start behind my ears or at the top of my neck. Little hairs that are too fragile even for light to hit them. Even when I put my hair into a ponytail, her cruel baby fingers find these wispy little hairs and yank the living hell out of them.

I thought about shaving my head, but then I realized that she would just grab raw flesh instead.

Turn That Frown Upside Down

I cleared out my office at work. That's it. I'm done. And it was kind of sad for me.

Where is this silly emotion coming from?

I read that women are most susceptable to post-partum depression during months 2 to 4 after delivery. Elise is 10 weeks old now. I think I have some mild post-partum sadness. I mean, I have legitimate reasons to be sad (quitting work, Foster Son going home soon, etc) but I'm dealing with my feelings in very counter-productive ways. Like not getting changed out of my pajamas all day.

Elise makes me so happy-- I look at her and my heart bubbles over with joy. So I don't think I need to seek help or anything. I'm not overwhelmed by depression. There's just a underlying current of sadness to my life right now. And I'm trying to be all Tao Te Ching about it and tell myself that if I don't balance the amazing goodness of Elise with a little bit of life's badness, I won't be able to see the contrast and recognize how incredibly, wonderfully happy my sweet baby makes me. If I were super happy all the time, then I wouldn't be super happy, really. Super happy would become the new baseline.

Or some such bullshit.

Oh, and I read an article about how dads get post-partum depression, too. They're most likely to get it between months 3 and 6 post-partum. The fact that daddies get it too makes researchers think that post-partum depression for women might not only be because of changes in hormones. Interesting!

Gray Skies Are Gonna Clear Up...

... Put on a happy face! Baby Baby slept for 5 hours again. :)

Is This Real? Am I Dreaming?

The baby just slept for 5 1/2 hours. It feels like Christmas.

Cry Me A River

You might not know this unless you've had a baby or have been around a newborn, but little babies don't shed tears when they cry. I guess their tear ducts aren't fully formed or something. They cry and cry but no tears come out.

Elise's eyes have been getting wet when she cries, but not wet enough for tears to spill down her cheeks. Today, she'd squeeze her little eyes shut when she'd cry and tear drops would actually form under her eyes and cling to her eyelashes. But then she'd open her eyes and the tears would get sucked back into her eyes. I kept waiting for the tear drops to actually fall, but they never did.

Is it weird that I can't wait for my daughter to cry real tears? Every little change seems like such a milestone to me. It's silly how fascinated with her I am.

Highway Child

Elise took her 2nd out-of-town trip. Foster Son is going home soon, so we went to a museum that he has been to before and likes. The car ride was 2 1/2 hours each way. Elise did alright. Some fussing, but overall not too bad.

I've done lots of breastfeeding in public now. I did it twice at the museum. But I've also done it at several different restaurants in the past. No one has said anything to me yet. I mean, I keep everything covered up. But I've heard stories of people getting offended nonetheless and telling breastfeeding moms that they shouldn't feed in public. I don't know what I'll say if some stranger tries to give me crap-- "thank you for sharing your opinion"... I don't know.

Thank You, Mother Nature!

Update on lady parts! Things ARE looking more and more how I am used to, by the way. I guess it just takes a little while for everything to finish healing.

Had the changes been permanent, it really wouldn't have been that big of a deal. I mean, the difference between the "before" lady parts and the "after" lady parts was definitely something that I could notice, but someone unfamiliar with my "before" lady parts wouldn't have been like, "Whoa! What happened there?" or anything. In fact, when I was talking to the midwife at my 6 week post-partum checkup, she said, "Well, everything looks normal to ME-- but I haven't known your body for 31 years like you have." That's reassuring, right? A woman who looks at lady parts all day long should know messed up lady parts when she sees them.

And just to set the record straight-- things don't FEEL different. If it weren't for the fact that I possess a hand mirror and a lot of curiosity about how my body has been changing during pregnancy and delivery, then I never would have known that everything didn't just snap back into place after the baby was born.

I guess that I wasn't expecting it to take MONTHS for my body to finish healing. Once the post-partum pains go away, it's hard to remember that there are still changes taking place. It took over 9 months to grow my baby, 22 hours to push her out, and now it has been over 2 months since she was born and my body still hasn't finished its healing process. That's a long time to have your body be different than what you're used to. Once you get pregnant, your body really is for your baby-- it isn't just for you anymore.

I'm getting my body back, slowly but surely.

Full-time Mom

I resigned from my position at work. I am now a full-time mommy. My job is to raise Elise to be the best person she can be. Most important job in the world.

I thought I'd feel happy to quit working. Instead I'm a little depressed. I mean, I'm happy and depressed about it at the same time.

I've worked since I was 16 years old. In those 15 years, I always went from one job to the next with no break in between, except that I took 1 year off from working during my first year of law school. And I was still working hard that year, believe me. I just wasn't getting paid for it. But I worked during my last two years of law school... and I still graduated with honors. Woo hoo!

At one point in undergrad, I was working full-time, going to school full-time, and studying to take the LSAT. That was INSANE. But my point is, working is a part of who I am. So to not work feels kind of weird.

I'm so thankful that I have the opportunity to stay home with Elise. I know that she's better with me for her first year than she is at a daycare. It's just hard to go from attorney to housewife. I'm kind of lousy at domestic duties.

Fortunately, being a mommy is a natural part who I am, too. I can always go back to work, but I can never get Elise's first year of childhood back. I know I'm making the best decision for my baby.

Wiped Out

Before you have a baby, people are always telling you how expensive diapers are, how you'll have to run out in the middle of the night to get them because you didn't realize that you were almost out, etc. They don't mention wipes. While not as expensive, they are equally as important. And you'll go through them like crazy.

We've tried Huggies brand wipes, Wal-mart brand (Parents' Choice), and Publix brand. And you know what? I like the Wal-mart brand best. I mean, they all work fine. But as far as I can tell, there is NO reason to pay top dollar for the Huggies wipes when the Wal-mart wipes are available. The Wal-mart wipes are cheap, sturdy, and adequately moist.

We've stocked up on the Wal-mart wipes. We have several months worth stacked in Elise's closet. I refuse to be caught without wipes. Oh lord-- just what I'd need. A mudslide and no wipes.

I've read that you can make your own wipes by cutting up paper towels and soaking them in a solution of water and mild soap. That's some serious dedication to your baby's butt. I cannot imagine myself at the dining room table with scissors and a roll of paper towels, cutting away for hours. It's seems much cheaper, money-wise and time-wise, to just buy the Wal-mart wipes. Maybe the homemade wipes are more natural or something. Good for all of you ladies and men out there who have the patience to make your own wipes-- I wish I had your dedication. And your inordinant amounts of free time.

I Guess That Did Sound Strange

If I didn't have the ability to surf the Internet on my smartphone, I'd go crazy. As I've mentioned before, when Elise wakes up in the middle of the night, it generally takes about an hour to feed her, burp her, and get her back to sleep. During the night I don't talk to her or play with her-- I want her to know that it's bedtime. But I have to stay awake, which isn't always easy.

I use my phone to make blog posts at 3 in the morning (hence all the typos), or check Facebook, or just bop around on the Internet, going off on weird tangents and looking up seemingly random crap.

This morning I instant messaged Husband, "i learned a lot about cream cheese in the middle of the night last night"

He pointed out how strange that sounded. And in retrospect, I agree.

Elise's Song

A while ago I made up a little song for Elise. I sing it to her every day-- sometimes it helps to calm her.

It's to the tune of "Jesus Loves The Little Children." And it doesn't have the best grammar, but fortunately Elise doesn't know that yet. Or if she does, she appears not to care.

"Mommy loves her little baby
All the babies in the world
Aren't as cute and aren't as sweet
As her little baby Elise
All the babies in the world"

I also sing her the ABC song every day. The rest of the songs that I sing are on rotation, so I don't get bored.

I tried singing "I Will Survive" the other day, but she didn't appreciate my rendition of the 1970s classic. Guess I'll avoid disco for now.

2 Month Check Up

Elise had her 2 month check up at the doctor's office. She measured 22 1/2 inches in height (50th percentile) and weighed 10 pounds and 11 ounces (50th percentile).

She got 3 shots and had to drink some fluid containing a live virus. Her first vaccines. Oh, she screamed when the nurse stuck her. It broke my heart. So I asked the nurse if I could use the room for an extra minute to feed her. Not to give her a meal, just to let her suck for a minute for comfort. The nurse begrudgingly agreed. And you know what? It totally worked. She stopped crying and was fine after just a few seconds of breastfeeding. Mommy knows how to make Baby Baby better.

Elise slept the whole way home and for another couple of hours after that. Deep sleep. I figured that her body was processing the vaccinations and it must be making her tired.

Well, when she woke up she was UNCONSOLABLE. Poor baby. She didn't have a fever or anything, but she clearly felt miserable. I tried feeding her. She would nurse for a minute, unlatch and scream for a minute, nurse for a minute, scream for a minute-- it was so sad. And once I'd get her quieted, if anything changed, I'd move the slightest bit or there'd be a noise, she'd start screaming again.

Now, I have 4 cats, and the youngest (let's call him "Vincent") does not care to hear the baby cry. Usually he'll get up and leave the room if she starts fussing. Sometimes he'll come stand by me and start yowling, too, as if to say to me "DO something, dammit!" And a few times, Vincent's tried to bat at her in an effort to make the noise stop.

Well, as I was instant messaging Husband to ask him to leave work a few minutes early so he could pick up some baby Tylenol, and while Elise was screaming in discomfort, Vincent came over to me, grabbed my forearem firmly in his teeth, and let loose a long, loud yowl. He's not a biter, so this was very strange. He was clearly telling me to make the baby stop crying OR ELSE.

Anyhow, once we gave Elise some Tylenol she was able to go back to sleep for a bit and she woke up acting like her usual cheery self. Poor baby.

I'm not looking forward to her 4 month boosters.

Special Day

May 9th, 2010. My 1st Mother's Day. Elise's 2 month birthday. What a wonderful day!

I had a really, really nice Mother's Day. On Saturday, husband and (Elise and) I went to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. It was delicious. We got apple, onion, and brie quesadillas for a starter. Then roasted vegetable hummus and chips. And I ordered pasta with spinach, mushrooms, and gorgonzola cheese sauce for my entree. Yum!

I got to sleep in a bit on the morning of Mother's Day because Foster Son was on an overnight visit with his mom. After I woke up, Husband washed my car. Later on, we went to the mall. We got chocolates, I bought a nursing shirt, and Husband bought me a beautiful necklace made with Elise's birthstone.

I couldn't have asked for a better Mommy's Day!

Baby's First Trip Out of Town

We took Elise on her first trip to another city. It was about a two hour car ride. Yikes, right? She doesn't like riding in the car. Well, I managed to get her to take her pacifier.

She'd been refusing to take the pacifier for the last several car rides. She was having trouble sucking on it, which would only frustrate the situation and upset her more. She kept choking and gagging when I'd give it to her. But after a lot of patience on both of our parts, Elise managed to take the pacifier, which was a big help during the 4 hours she was car-bound.

In preparation for the trip, I researched what kind of sunscreen babies are supposed to wear. Turns out that most sunscreens are full of chemicals, but you can get non-chemical sunscreen if you look for it. Remember that old brand of sunscreen, I think it was called Zinc, that came in white or lots of bright colors and you could put it down your nose or under your eyes? It was opaque. The kind of thing lifeguards use to use. Well, you can still find sunscreen with that zinc stuff in it, but it blends into your skin better and isn't so thick. Since it's non-chemical, you don't have to apply it 30 minutes before you go into the sun-- the zinc literally blocks the sun's rays from your skin so it starts working immediately. And because it is non-chemical, it's not as harsh on your skin.

We got a bottle of Banana Boat brand sensitive skin sunscreen formula that is non-chemical, and it worked just fine. We looked at a bunch of sunscreens supposedly "for babies" but they were full of chemicals. They just had really high SPFs. But I'd rather reapply more often if it means fewer chemicals on Elise's skin. It pays to do your research and not just assume that because something is marketed for babies that it is actually the best choice.

There's so much to think about once you have a baby!

Baby BFFs

We just saw our friends Peg, her boyfriend, and their Baby D. Elise and Baby D are about 5 months apart, so naturally they are baby BFFs. Or at least I assume that to be the case. Elise doesn't actually know any other babies yet, so Baby D is her best friend by default. I'm sure that they'll be swapping clothes, secrets, and advice on avoiding boy-cooties in no time.

It was cute, though, because Elise and Baby D looked at each other a lot and Baby D (who has much more eye/hand coordination than Elise) would reach out and touch Elise.

Why are babies fascinated by other babies? It's as if they can recognize, "Hey! Your head's one fourth of the length of your body, too! We have giant heads together!"

I can't wait until Elise is just a little bit bigger, because then she and Baby D can really play together. That will be so cool.

So Soon?

Why, why, why?

I think I have my period back already. I had really light bleeding for three days.

Damn it!

I thought I would have 9 months of pregnancy plus at least several months of breastfeeding to keep "Aunt Flo" away. But noooooooo. My body is determined to bleed. I had spotting during my pregnancy and despite breastfeeding exclusively AND being on the mini pill, I'm now resuming my menstrual cycle.

WTF?

I thought to myself, "Don't women who breastfeed exclusively usually not get their period for a while?" I'm not using any formula. I'm not even pumping and using bottles. Everytime Elise wants to eat, she goes to my breast. Nature should have kicked in and said, "Oh, I see you already have a baby... no more babies for you! Let's put a hold on ovulation for a while."

I looked it up, to see when breastfeeding moms usually get their period back. I read that women who breatfeed exclusively usually resume their menstrual cycle 6 months to a year after giving birth. But it has been reported that in some cases women have gotten them back as early as 6 weeks. So its not common to get your menstrual cycle back that quickly.

Well, I went a whole 8 weeks.

I said to Husband the other night, "I feel weird. Kind of PMS-y. My tummy feels weird and I feel all emotional for no reason." The next morning, the bleeding started.

Damn it! It's not fair!

Pregnancy Dreams

I had two dreams recently where I was pregnant again.

About a week and a half ago, I dreamed that I was in labor at the hospital. I was in this room that looked sort of like an operating room, laying flat in a bed. A nurse came in with a Jansport backpack over one shoulder (hello, middle school!), set it down on the foot of my bed, and started unpacking it.

She took out a huge butcher's knife. A meat cleaver of some sort. "Am I having a c-section this time?" I asked. "Not necessarily," she said, "we just want to be ready."

Then a couple of nights ago I dreamed that Husband and I were out at dinner with a friend. All of a sudden, I felt a baby kick. It was unmistakeable as to what it was. I grabbed my stomach and glanced over at Husband. He could tell by the look on my face what was going on and he stared back at me, looking slightly horrified.

Jeez, brain, what's with the pregnancy dreams? Can't we just put that behind us for now?

What's So Funny?

Elise laughed again, this time for no apparent reason. She was on the changing table and she just stretched out her legs and giggled. It was super cute.

It's amazing how happy her little laughs make me.

Paci Fail

I tried to give Elise a pacifier in the car again today, but she totally rejected it. She not only rejected it, she acted like I was choking her, gagging and coughing. I wasn't shoving it in her mouth or anything-- it would touch her tongue and she'd freak out, screaming and crying even harder.

I guess I'll try again next time she's having a rough car ride and see if she takes it or if she's decided that she doesn't like pacifiers.

A Picture's Worth A Thousand Words

Ever since Husband's computer crashed a few months ago, I've been obsessed with finding new ways to back up our files. I especially don't want to lose Elise's baby pictures. When I was little, it would take a fire or a flood to destroy all of your family's photos. Now, everything can be deleted with the push of a button. Scary.

So I started a Shutterfly.com account for Elise. I've been uploading pictures to the Internet in order to back them up. It's the best thing I can think of. Of course, we have an external hard drive and all of that, but it will fail eventually, just like the computer. Hopefully, the pictures can exist on the Internet forever. No flood, fire, button pushing, or computer crashing can get rid of Elise's baby pictures now!

Caught In A Mudslide

I finally got pooped on.

I was sitting on the couch with Elise in my lap when she let loose a mudslide. Then I heard myself saying, "Ooooh! That's warm!" just as I realized WHY there was a warm feeling spreading across my lap.

Baby's First Pacifer

Breastfed babies aren't supposed to be given a pacifer until they are at least 1 month old. Elise is almost 8 weeks old, so you can see that I've been struggling with the decision of whether to use a pacifer or not.

I don't come from a culture of pacifier use, so I don't instinctively think baby = pacifier. At the same time, I recognize that sometimes babies need to be soothed and you can't always give them exactly what they want exactly when thay want it.

I don't like it when people give babies pacifiers for every little reason. The baby's crying, so the first thing they reach for is the pacifier. The baby's sleepy, they reach for the pacifier. The baby's happy, they reach for the pacifier. The baby's breathing, so he must want his pacifier.

I believe that pacifiers should be a last resort for when the baby is upset. I think that usually there's something that the baby wants more than the pacifier-- food, a clean diaper, attention, a nap. That's just me, though. I don't want my baby dependent on a pacifier for happiness or to feel normal.

Elise REALLY doesn't like car rides. They stress her out. Sometimes she does okay, but once she gets upset, there's no calming her. And I obviously can't take her out of her seat and hold her while we're riding down the road. So I started to consider using a pacifier for these situations. She gets so stressed out, and I want to be able to...well, PACIFY her.

So I did some research. Basically what I found is that so long as you don't give pacifiers too soon or let the kid keep using them too late, pacifiers are probably okay. They might increase the instances of ear infections, but since I plan to use a pacifier so infrequently and only in specific instances (car rides, out in public when I can't feed her the instant she gets hungry and she's very upset about it) I'm not terribly concerned about her getting extra ear infections.

So today we were stuck in traffic. Bad traffic. And Elise started screaming. I tried singing to her and petting her head, which sometimes works. I tried shushing her. No dice. I decided to try a pacifier for the first time.

I could tell she was confused. She didn't seem to understand why she was sucking but getting no food. However, she didn't spit the pacifier out. She kept grumbling and looking generally miserable, but she wasn't screaming anymore. And eventually she fell asleep. Fitful, angry sleep, but sleep nonetheless.

So the pacifier was successful, I think.

Now I just have to keep myself in check and make sure that I'm not tempted to rely on it everytime we get in the car. I really don't ever want to have to break a "binky habit."

Big Girl

Elise is growing so fast. Or at least it seems that way to me. She's officially outgrown most of her newborn clothes (she can still wear some of the pants) and she's been out of newborn diapers for almost a month now.

She was about 6 and 1/2 pounds when she was born and she was able to wear newborn diapers for one month. It was perfect because we had 1 month's supply of newborn size. Just about the time Husband said to me "I think these are getting too small" we only had a few more days worth of those diapers left. If she'd been much bigger when she was born, we'd have had extra diapers leftover. On that note, I wouldn't advise expectant parents to stock up on newborn diapers-- there's no telling how big your baby will be when it's born.

Elise's little newborn clothes are too small, as well. She's wearing size 0-3 now. I've been packing up the newborn clothes, saving them in case we get a newborn foster child sometime.

They grow up so fast!