Lotus Elise Sighting

We just saw a Lotus Elise drive by! A red one. Pretty cool.

Baby's First Funeral

Elise went to her first funeral yesterday. She did well. Slept through about half of it and was quiet for the rest.

Husband's uncle passed away unexpectedly. Very sad. I didn't know him-- I think I met him just once-- but the service was lovely and from what was said, he sounded like a pretty cool guy. I'm sure I would have liked him if I'd have had the chance to get to know him.

When we first heard the bad news and started making plans to go to the funeral, I worried about what Elise should wear. It's hard enough to find a dress for a 4 month old that isn't pink, let alone trying to find one that's black. But then I read that you aren't supposed to dress babies in black anyway, since they aren't mourning. You just dress them like they're going to church. So we found a little white and brown dress and some white baby shoes.

Hopefully that's the last funeral for a long, long time.

Baby Medicine Cabinet

Before Elise was born, I asked several people what kinds of medicine-cabinet-type things I should get for the baby. I didn't get much in the way of suggestions, probably partly because there aren't a whole lot of things that newborn babies need. But here is a list of what I would tell someone who asked me that question now:

1. Rubbing alcohol, to clean the umbilical cord stump before it falls off

2. Cotton balls or Q-tips, to clean the umbilical cord stump

3. Baby Tylenol (or whatever brand), because EVENTUALLY you will need it, and when you do need it (like after shots) you won't want to make the baby wait while you go get it

4. A rectal thermometer, as this is the best and most accurate way to take a newborn's temperature-- and since fevers can be dangerous for newborns, you want the most accurate reading possible

5. Vaseline, for greasing up the baby butt thermometer (and I think that you use it on circumcised boys to keep the diaper from sticking to the incision, but I don't know for sure)

6. Diaper rash cream, just in case you need it (and you probably will at some point, no matter how vigilant you are with regard to changing diapers)

7. Saline drops for baby's little nosie-- newborns are often congested and you need saline drops to use that nose sucker bulb thingy the right way

8. Lotion-- even though we don't regularly put lotion on Elise, every once in a while she'll have a little spot of dry skin

9. Baby oil, for removing the sticky parts of band aids or medical tape, or for rubbing on your baby's head if she has cradle cap

We also bought a humidifier when Elise was little and was all congested. It seemed to help her when she'd sleep. I don't know if I'd say "You're having a baby? Get a humidifier!" but it's something you'll probably EVENTUALLY end up using.

Also, a first aid kit. Again probably not something you NEED for a newborn, but it sure can't hurt to have it around.

Based on my experience, that stuff ought to get new parents through the first couple of months, anyhow.

The Baby In the Mirror

Elise LOOOOVES seeing herself in the mirror. She smiles and coos and reaches for herself. If she's a little bit fussy, a trip to the mirror cheers her right up. Not full-blown crying. Even Mirror Baby can't fix that. But Mirror Baby temporarily cures Cranky Elise.

I wonder if she knows that she's seeing herself. She doesn't get so excited when she sees other babies in real life. And she knows what I look like. She must realize that she's seeing me in the mirror. Who does she think Mirror Baby is?

I know that scientists do experiments where they'll put a mark of paint on an animal somewhere that can only be seen with a mirror. If the animal tries to clean its own body (instead of trying to clean the animal in the mirror), then they assume that the marked animal realizes that it's looking at a reflection and not another animal. But I don't think that would work on Elise, since she doesn't try to clean herself. Unless the whole reason she keeps putting her hands in her mouth is because she's more like an OCD kitty cat than a teething baby. But I doubt that.

We love Mirror Baby!

2 A.M. Poop

Elise has a new habit. A 2 a.m. poop in her diaper. She's back to waking up at least twice each night, and one of those wake ups is so that I'll change her stinky diaper.

I guess her digestive tract is going through some changes, because her eating habits aren't any different. She's growing! In a couple of months we'll start solid foods and then there will be a whole set of new poopy habits. How exciting!

Dream About My Sister's Baby

I had a dream that I went with my sister to another ultrasound once her baby was bigger. We looked at the monitor and I could see its little face moving in real time, like one of those 4-D ultrasounds.

The baby started wiggling its ears. And I was relieved. I thought, "Oh, GOOD! Thank God it can wiggle its ears!"

My Little Tumbleweed

A few weeks ago Elise rolled from her tummy to her back. She did it, like, 5 times in a row... and hasn't done it since. In the meanwhile, she figured out how go from her back to her tummy like a pro. Back to tummy is supposed to be harder, but she's having trouble with tummy to back.

WELL

She just rolled from her tummy to her back. She looked a little surprised when it happened, but overall, pleased with herself.

Will it be another 3 weeks before she does it again? Or did she really figure it out this time? I'll let you know.

Just Visiting

I went with my sister to her first OBGYN appointment today. Brother-in-law couldn't go. I was a husband stand-in.

My sister is going to the same practice that I went to, and the midwife who delivered Elise saw her today. Yay, reunion. All of the ladies in the office cooed over Elise. Especially the front desk ladies.

Elise was very cranky at the doctor's office. I think that she either 1) realized that she was in a doctor's office and was afraid she'd get some shots like she did yesterday, 2) hated that she wasn't the center of attention, 3) was having teething troubles, or 4) got worried that we were there to put her back where she came from. Or some combination of the above.

Anyway, Sister got an ultrasound done, and there's a blob in there all right. With a teeeeensy little heart beating at the center.

It was a much more relaxed visit than my first visit for Elise. I was bleeding, so they moved my appointment up by a week (I went in at 7 weeks instead of 8 weeks) and I was terrified the whole visit that they'd tell me that I was on my way to miscarrying. Even when they did the ultrasound, I could never really see the heart beating on the monitor so I was barely reassured. Husband said he saw it, so I took his word for it.

But Sister definitely has a little 8 week old baby in her belly. And Elise was one of the first people to meet the little sprout.

4 Month Check Up

4 month doctor's visit. Elise was 24 1/2 inches long (55th percentile) and 13 lbs 4 oz (45th percentile). Healthy as can be. And hitting all of her milestones, according to the piece of paper the nurse gave me to read.

I'm not one to monitor the "your baby should be doing THIS by 4 months" kind of stuff. Every baby is different and unless there is something seriously wrong, I just don't care if Elise is 2 weeks early doing this or 3 weeks late doing that. She's perfect and smart and cool, no matter what some book or website or stranger in the grocery store might have to say.

Now, with foster kids, it's a little bit more important to monitor the milestones because their mom might have been doing drugs while she was pregnant or the kids might have suffered some sort of trauma, and the only way you can know sometimes is to see that the children are behind developmentally. It's sad, but since little babies can't say, "she used to shake me until I'd stop crying" you just have to go with what you can observe about the child. So I'm not saying that these milestones are unimportant.

But since I know that Elise wasn't exposed to anything dangerous while she was in my belly, and since she is the most loved-on, snuggled, and adored baby on the planet, I'm pretty sure that she's developing just fine.

She is a very goo gooorl.

First Time With the Teething Ring

Elise used her teething ring for the first time tonight. She's been very chompy lately. She'll put things in her mouth not just to suck on them but to chomp, too. So I thought I'd give the ol' teething ring a try. See if she likes it.

The one we have goes in the freezer so it's cold. It has lots of different textures all around the ring. Elise liked the cold, which kind of surprised me since she's used to warm breast milk. She turned the ring round and round to try all of the textures. Chomp, chomp, chomp.

She used it for so long that I thought she must be hungry. I tried to feed her. No dice. Not interested in boobie. AND her mouth was freezing cold. I'm just glad that at this point she is willing to differentiate between the teething ring and my nipple. At least she chose to reject my breast instead of chomping on it.

Thank you, whoever invented cold teething rings. You've made Elise a very happy baby.

Boob Hickey

When Elise wakes up in the middle of the night I often feed her lying down. I put her in bed with me and hook her right up. Then I can relax or take a little nap until she's done and it's time to burp her and put her back in her bassinet.

Last night while I was snoozing, I guess she unlatched and then tried to re-latch. I woke up saying, "YEEE-ouch!" because she had missed finding my nipple and was sucking on my skin. HARD.

This morning I noticed a very pronounced hickey right under my nipple where she had been sucking. Burst capillaries and everything.

Thanks a lot, little suckermouth. You bruised Mommy's boobie.

4 Months Old!

I can't BELIEVE Elise is 4 months old!

She does all of this cool stuff that I haven't mentioned yet. Let's see. She can roll from her back onto her belly by rolling in either direction now. At first she always rolled to the left, but now she can roll to the right, too.

She found her feet a little while ago and now she obsessively holds her toes.

When she sees something she wants, she can reach right out and grab it. No more swinging her arms in the general direction and hoping her hand lands where she wants. She has pretty good eye/hand coordination, really.

She loves sitting up or standing up with help. And when she's standing, she'll often take little steps. They're silly looking, like she's walking on the moon-- all slow and exaggerated-- but she always wants to be on the go.

And she can TALK! Ooh, she'll talk your ear off. She can make lots of sounds, but of course she doesn't use those sounds to mean anything yet. One sound that she makes a lot is "goo goorl" to which we have attributed the meaning "good girl." We tell her "good girl" a lot when she uses the potty or turns over or whatever. So we're trying to attach "good girl" to that sound. Maybe it will end up being her first phrase.

I love her so much.

Last Night

Last night I looked at newborn pictures of Elise and cried. She looked so tiny and fragile. There's this picture of her in her swing and the waist strap thing that buckles her in came up so high on her tiny body that it was right under her chin. That's when I lost it. Seeing that picture just about killed me.

Then last night in my sleep one of the characters in my dream was named Beezus Cardboard Valedictorian. I must have been thinking about Jesus Christ Superstar or something. That has nothing to do with the baby, I just didn't want to forget that silly name.

Super Baby

Elise has her own marvelous fashion sense. She was extra super drooly today, so I put a bib on her. I almost never use a bib, but today it seemed warranted. Elise, however, quickly managed to turn it around and wear it as a cape. Which I liked better anyway. High five, Baby Elise!

True Blood

I only made that the title because I saw my first episode of the tv show True Blood the other day. It was alright. Vampire-y.

Anyhow, the hands down worst part of pregnancy for me was the spotting. Oh, the anxiety it caused me! Especially for the first few months, I lived in near-constant fear that I would lose the baby. It was awful. Especially after being incorrectly told that I HAD miscarried, I would have a really hard time of it whenever I would start spotting again.

Well, let me just tell you, I haven't had a period or any kind of post-childbirth bleeding for two months now and it is WONDERFUL! Thank you breastfeeding hormones!

I've got to keep this going. I'll just breastfeed indefinitely. When Elise gets too big, I'll become a wet nurse. I'll suckle piglets.

Eeew.

I read once that back in the old days (whenever that was) wet nurses would suckle piglets when they were between babies so that their milk wouldn't dry up. Is that true? I'm going to go look that up.

Memory: Moving

One of my earliest memories is moving house. I don't know exactly how old I was. My guess is about 3 years old. I have this faint memory of driving up to the house I grew up in. And then I remember my parents lying my little sister onto some kind of mat or blanket on the floor in the front room and telling me to come eat. I was concerned that my sister was sleeping and wasn't awake to eat with us, but my parents told me to let her sleep. That's all I remember.

I think this is my earliest memory because I don't remember living in any other house before that one. I must remember that day because I'm sure that moving to a new house was a big deal to my little brain, so it hung on to that memory.

I wonder what Elise will remember from her toddlerhood.

Family-versary

July 4th last year was the day Elise was made. The day we became a family. So special and wonderful. As we were watching fireworks tonight, I told Elise that that's how my heart feels every time I look at her-- all sparkley and explosive. It's true.

Putting It Into Perspective

My maternal grandfather was one of twelve kids. But some of them died young. At least one sister did-- I think that more than one died before adulthood, though.

Now that I've had a baby, the whole thing kind of blows my mind. 1) TWELVE FREAKIN' KIDS!? My poor great-granny! And 2) how unbelieveably sad it must be to lose children. I'd die. I wouldn't be able to bear it.

Breastfeeding Dream

I had a strange dream the other night. In my dream I was sitting outside with Husband and I was topless. A wind picked up and I got cold all of a sudden. I looked down at my nipples and watched in horror as they got hard and started growing. They grew to be about 6 inches long.

I said to Husband, "I think the baby stretched out my nipples."

The Opposite of Nostalgia

My sister is 6 weeks along now. That's when my morning sickness kicked in, and her morning sickness has kicked in, too. I remember those days.

My mom got really bad morning sickess, I got really bad morning sickness, and it looks like my sister won't be getting off easy, either. I guess it's hereditary somehow. Sorry, Elise.