I wish flickr would accept video files. Since it doesn’t, here’s a short video clip of Sara playing in her bassinet this afternoon. She’s been interacting with this particular toy since she was 3 weeks old (in fact, we still need to post that video clip), but now she’s responding “verbally” to it as she plays… it’s too cute!
The video is entitled, “Squeaker” and was recorded today (April 28, 2007) starring Sara at 1 month, 1 week and 6 days old.
A quick shout out to wish my brother a very happy 30th birthday! Justin, Sara and I look forward to celebrating with you later this evening.
In other news, a huge grin and “You go girl!” to my favorite former co-worker, Regan, who is now working at ThinkGeek. I dare say, especially during my “expendable income” days, I single-handedly contributed 1/4 of a single ThinkGeek staffer’s salary with my personal and gift purchases!
{Sara’s doing great, and yes, I seriously owe everyone some updated photos and videos of her highness!}
Wow. Clearly, I have been living a bit of a disconnect with the broader world. While channel surfing I caught multiple news channels carrying the same press conference, all airing it “LIVE”. All I could gather was something major had happened on the campus of Virginia Tech, but I couldn’t even place what day (4-16-07) they were referring to or what exactly had happened. Surfing CNN this afternoon I realize just how out of touch I’d gotten… nursing a wee one around the clock leaves little time, it seems, to tune in or flip through the national news.
My heart go out to all of those whose lives are affected by this senseless and horrible act. We are a troubled nation, and sadly some of the most troubled seem to be our youth.
Is it still a blog if your entries are really just placeholders — a sort of “to do” list in reverse, with bulleted points of things you’ve done that you plan to blog at some future date?
One of the things I need to blog (including photos and GPS tracks):
Sara has gone on two short walks/hikes with us for a total of over 3 miles. The most recent hike was on Sunday and she rode in her brand new offroad/jogging stroller. About a week or two before that, she did a shorter hike with us while riding in her sling on my chest.
Sara’s been to Target for a food shopping, and she slept through the entire experience.
We still haven’t graduated to taking her out to dinner with us, or to anyone’s home other than my parents’. We’re getting there… it’s just so much more work being anywhere other than home with her because she needs to breastfeed so often, and I’m not likely to be comfortable breastfeeding in public.
We have good nights and not-so-good nights. A good night has at least one stretch where Sara and I get to both sleep 3 or 4 hours straight. A not-so-good night is like last night when she is feeding constantly all night long, and when she’s not feeding, the only way she sleeps is to lay on my chest or beside me (side-lying breastfeeding position.)
She’s awesome and adorable and so amazing, even if she is the most work I’ve ever had to do in my life.
Breast pump demo (NSFW, unless you can explain spontaneously breaking out in laughter and convulsions as some billable activity at your workplace.)
Thankfully, they had the good sense to stop filming before someone had the lightbulb moment (Suction + What = Fun!)
Needless to say I haven’t had much time to hop on the computer for any reason, much less to do blog updates or edit/share photos and videos. Sara is doing awesome and still amazing us with near daily changes. She’s started fitting into some of her clothing a lot better, which means she’s gained another inch or so in length (and her legs actually stay in the legs of her footed onesies now!) Her hair is growing, although I haven’t caved in and put a bow in her hair just yet.
She is starting to get on her own schedule, or at least we’re starting to learn some tips and tricks that work with her. The ongoing challenge of “how many American Academy of Pediatrics rules do we want to break today?” remains. The latest broken rule? She gets swaddled before being put down in her bassinet (haven’t tried this at night, but another night like last night may precipitate it), as long as one of us will be beside her. This results in her sleeping more soundly and for longer periods, and without the constant startle-recover-startle reflexes that newborns do because they’ve been used to being cozy in the womb. She also sleeps on my chest (belly to belly) at night when she’s really fussy; that way, we both get some decent sleep, and she’s only inches away from what she needs (breast) when she does awaken. Nighttime is her active time, starting at around 8 PM. This is actually the same as it was when she was in utero — she’d move around, jostle and kick/stretch around 8 PM onward, often as we happened to be watching episodes of Star Trek on DVD, and she wouldn’t quiet down until 11 PM or midnight.
Her eyes are starting to lighten, and right now at least they are a deep shade of blue. Her hair is a very dark blonde… a bit darker than mine, but with the same highlights and fair-colored body hair that I have. I think she has Dad’s hands and head, and she’s definitely got my weird toes, pudgy cheeks and nose. She also sleeps like Dad — when she’s really tired, she’s out in two seconds flat. In fact, she’s even fallen asleep a couple times with one leg propped up, bent at the knee, just like Daddy does sometimes.
Her stroller arrived on Friday and is awaiting assembly so we can take her out and about a little more. We have a sling carrier which works great, but will soon probably overheat her at least for hiking/long walks since she rides so close to Mom or Dad’s chest. We also have a Baby Bjorn Air Carrier for her, which she’s just about big enough to ride in now (she needs to be at least 8 lbs, which she may be now, actually.) The stroller’s an offroad/jogging stroller with shocks and everything, so we can take her on our favorite paved and unpaved walking/hiking trails. (Yet another American Academy of Pediatrics rule on the verge of breaking — they recommend not carrying an infant in a jogging/offroad stroller until they’re 6-8 months old.) We’ll see how she tolerates walks around the neighborhood and other paved areas, and let that be our guide, as we have with everything else. She’s a resilient li’l one, and we haven’t broken her yet.
Gotta run and take this long nap opportunity she’s having to fix myself some food. I’m having a devil of a time eating enough calories and drinking enough water, which of course is the wrong thing to slack on when you’re breastfeeding and should be tanking up on 500 or so more calories a day. I’m tryin’!
