Baby Talk

Lately Aurora’s been testing out her vocal abilities with all kinds of cute new sounds! Suddenly she can squeal, squeak, sigh, lull, coo and ah-goo with the best of ‘em. She definitely tries to mimic us, both with the length of words and their intonation.

Here’s an extremely short video I took today. I would’ve kept recording, but my camera ran out of space. Hopefully that’ll make it easy for my parents to view (they have dial-up, gasp!). Be sure you turn the volume up - if you listen closely, I swear she’s saying “Aurora and Daddy” Ha!

Mommy 101

I wanted to dedicate this blog to all the mommy’s who have shared their knowledge with me. It’s true that babies don’t come with instruction manuals, but so many people have given me the tips and tricks that have gotten us through to where we are today.

To Julie, for recommending Baby Wise, The Happiest Baby on the Block DVD, and the Hooter Hider.

To Kristen, for telling me about My Brest Friend and the double pump halter top.

To Natalie, for giving us the Miracle Swaddler.

To Amy, for lending me What to Expect the First Year (and recommending just about everything that was on my registry).

These make up my own personal Mommy 101 Instruction Manual. Of course, every baby (and every mommy) is different, and as of today I’ve had 10 full weeks of hands-on Rora training as well!

Tummy Time

Rora’s starting to like tummy time more than she used to. This morning I had her on her tummy, and she actually rolled on to her back! For a little while now, she has been rolling from her back onto her side. I know neither of those officially count as “rolling over” (I think she has to go from her back to her tummy for that), but it’s neat to see her getting so much stronger, and it's great that she's started enjoying herself even when she isn't being held.

Go to your room!

For the past few weeks, Aurora’s been sleeping 6-8 hours per night in her pack ‘n’ play bassinet at the foot of our bed. Having her in our room has been great because we can hear every noise she makes. It’s not so great because she can hear every noise we make, and every noise the cat makes. Turns out, the only one who refuses to sleep through the night around here these days is Tater. She wakes me up at 5am, and then I lay there listening to the baby’s noises, hoping she doesn’t wake up too.

Here's how we've had our bedroom set-up:

My goal was to have her sleeping through the night in her crib in the nursery by the time I go back to work, and while I have about 3-weeks of maternity leave left, she’s been doing so well that we decided it was time to make the move. So, this weekend Aurora slept soundly in her own room for almost 8 hours each night, while the cat woke me up even more than usual. Saturday night I think Tater figured Aurora was gone, so she wanted to purr all night to thank me for choosing her. She was sorely disappointed when I brought a hungry baby back into our bedroom at 6am for a feeding.

Yesterday the pack ‘n’ play made its way downstairs, where we will be glad to have a nap spot and changing station, but it’s strange having our bedroom back to normal. As difficult as that first month of multiple middle of the night feedings was, and as happy as I am to have a baby who sleeps so well, it's a strange feeling having her graduate into her own room... I guess it's time to have another baby! Okay, not really.

Here are a couple of nice photos from yesterday’s breakfast at Tacodeli with Amelia & Patrick. It was a beautiful, albeit very hot day.

Evolution of a Nickname

We’ve had Tater for 11 years now, and she’s had more nicknames than I can even remember. Her name is actually Tatum, but she has been called Deebs, Deeter, Tigger, Tiggs, Tay-Diggs, T-Bone, T-Bone Malone, Ms. Maloney, and Biggie Smalls. Now she’s pretty much Tater, but that often comes out as Tater-tot or Tater-puss.

Aurora’s already getting some pretty silly nicknames in our house. I knew from day one that her official nickname would be Rora, and for the first month of her life we pretty much stuck with that. Once she started smiling, I began calling her Smiley Magee and Chuck started calling her Smiley Jones. Then I started calling her Rora Roo (meant to be short for Aurora Ruth), which just turned into Rora Rooster. Now we’re both calling her Rora Rooster, and it’s cracking me up!

Here she is, concentrating on standing up. She's got strong little legs!

Twins!

Congratulations to Brooke, who gave birth to two beautiful daughters yesterday. Molly & Abby were born 25 minutes apart, both weighing 6 lbs 10 oz, and each 19 inches long. Amazing.

Being that they were born almost exactly the same size as little Rora, I could not believe how tiny and light they were. It seems to me that they weigh about as much as Ashley's new kittens! So, now I guess I can see why people with 2 year olds think Aurora's so tiny.

I wanted to do a size comparison, so here's Molly (being held by her daddy), and Abby laying next to the ginormous Aurora:


I thought it would be fun to show an Aurora vs. Aurora size comparison as well, so here's Rora less than a week old, compared with Aurora at almost 9 weeks old:


Before we know it, Molly & Abby will be big girls too!

2 Month Appointment

This morning we had the dreaded 2 month appt with Dr. Sood.

First, the fun news: Aurora weighs a whopping 11 lbs 6 oz, which puts her in the 75th percentile for weight. She’s only in the 25th percentile for height, though I kind of think she was scrunching up when they measured her... regardless, what a little chunker! Dr. Sood did a thorough examination and said Aurora is gorgeous and doing great.

And now for the bad news: vaccinations. They gave her some Tylenol first, then an oral Rotavirus vaccine and 3 combination shots which included: Hep B, Tdap, Hib, Pneumococcal Conjugate, and IPV. I have no idea what most of these are, but they’ve all been marked accordingly on her immunization record.

I took some pictures before, during, and after the shots. It does look as though there’s some sort of medieval baby torture going on, but I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly she recovered and how well she’s doing now. Hopefully she won’t get a fever or any other yucky side-effects as the day goes on.

Just the three of us

Katie left yesterday, and now it’s just the three of us for my last month of maternity leave. It’s interesting to look back and think of how different Aurora was for each of our guests. When Nancy was here, she was just a newborn, and all she did was eat, sleep, poop, and cry. By the time my parents came, she was starting to smile and focus her eyes. And while Katie was here, she became a little person!

Chuck keeps saying that Aurora’s not a baby anymore. Whenever people with children hold her, they always say something like “I can’t believe mine were ever this small!” and strangers are always commenting on how tiny and cute she is, so I know she’s still little. But compared to her newborn-self, she’s just SO much bigger, stronger, and smarter.

One of her favorite things to do now is to be held up in a standing position. Often she’ll stand up with her little hands grasping only my 2 index fingers, and she concentrates so hard on balancing. She loves to go from standing to being lifted up above our heads, and actually kicks off to make it happen! And just in the last few days she’s started intentionally bringing things to her mouth to suck on them. She did it for the first time in yoga on Sunday – during relaxation she just wanted to stand on me while holding my fingers, so I closed my eyes and let her balance on my tummy. Suddenly my finger got wet! She actually pulled one of my fingers into her mouth! Today I put a bib on her because she was getting very drooly, and she grasped the bib and put it in her mouth. She also found her thumb and sucked it this morning. These are things she never dreamed of doing as a newborn.

Last night we watched her first Baby Einstein video together, “My First Signs,” and she totally watched the whole thing. She doesn’t usually even look at the TV, but she knew this was for her. Katie gave us a book about how to teach your child to sign, so we’re starting to work on that. This morning Chuck signed “eat, milk, mommy” to her. I don’t think she’ll be able to sign back until she’s 7 or 8 months old, but that’s long before she starts talking. It will be neat when she can crawl and communicate.

Father's Day

Happy Father’s Day to all the papa’s out there! I hope my dad, my brother Julian, our Grandpa Sandler, Chuck's brother Andrew, and their dad and step-father are all enjoying the day. This is how we woke Chuck up this morning...

I made egg & cheese croissants with coffee and orange juice for breakfast, then Chuck opened his cards and gifts. Rora gave him a onesie that says “DADDY ROCKS” (okay, it’s really for her!)

Afterwards I gave Chuck a haircut, and tonight we’re going out to a special dinner at the Melting Pot while Katie watches Aurora. It'll be our first outing alone together since she was born!

Got Milk?

The Austin Children's Museum was really cute, and will be fun for Aurora in a few years. As for today, we enjoyed bonding with the cow and watching 5 year olds run around like crazy!

A few of my favorite things

Rora is 8-weeks old today, and she definitely knows what she likes and doesn’t like. Here is a comprehensive list of her favorite things:

1. Diaper changes. Even if she’s upset, put her in the crib, turn on the mobile, start making faces and talking silly to her while changing a diaper, and you will get smiles - guaranteed or your money back. Plus, who wouldn’t prefer to be clean and dry?
2. Her daddy. He’s working in the studio again, but when he comes inside and gives her his undivided attention, she is in baby heaven.
3. The balcony, where it’s windy and warm and we have glider chairs.
4. Swaddling. Not only does swaddling calm her down and allow her to get a good night’s sleep, but there’s nothing quite like emerging from the miracle swaddler first thing in the morning… Strrrrrrretchhhh!!! Ahhhhhhh.
5. Rora LOVES her wubby horse and cat pacifiers. She would probably keep one in her mouth 24/7 if she could.

She also enjoys the common things that most babies probably like: bouncing around, being held and adored, napping, burping and pooping.

Here are her least favorite things:

1. Gas. This is the number one sad-maker. Sometimes it even makes her scream while I’m feeding her (which is why eating didn’t make the top list).
2. Having the folds on her neck cleaned. As soon as I try to get into those folds, she tightens up and squirms so much that I just can’t get to them. I’m scared to see what she’s been collecting in those lovely neck folds!
3. Spitting up through her nose. This is gross, and she knows it.

A few things are hit and miss. She doesn’t mind the car seat when it’s in motion, but can get upset if she’s left in its constraints while just sitting in the house. Sometimes she happily conks out to sleep, and other times she tries her hardest to fight it – as if she doesn’t want to miss a thing. And really, who can blame her.

Denim shorts... on a 7-week old??

Hehe! I'm going to sound like a doting mom with some serious bias going on, but not only is Rora the cutest little baby EVER in her tiny denim shorts, but she's so strong! She's already supporting her own head while sitting in her BeBePod!

Someone told me it's all happening at the zoo...

I do believe, I do believe it's true!
Whoo hoo hoo

Katie's been in town visiting us since Thursday afternoon, and we've just been hanging out spending time with the baby. Rora really likes Katie - especially when she helps exorcise the dreaded fart monsters.

Friday we went to the LAF for the new intern lunch, and Kate got to meet my work friends. Rora and I both wore cute new dresses, and really enjoyed seeing everybody (as usual!).

Saturday we went to the mall for some power walking and baby girl clothes shopping, and this morning we went to the zoo. The Austin Zoo is so small, and there are roosters and peacocks loose all over the place! It's all gravel sloping walkways, which is a little tough to maneuver with a stroller, but we managed. Chuck took video, so one day Rora can see what her first sleepy zoo visit was like.

Next time we'll take the little train and feed the animals at the petting zoo (when Rora's a little older). All in all, it was a nice day. Aurora couldn't help but smile in her sleep!

Good Morning!

Going out and growing up

After our parents left, we had about a week of complete downtime. It's always nice to relax, but it didn’t take long for me to get stir crazy. Soon I started scheduling social engagements. Lots of ‘em.

On Friday we had lunch with Teresa; Saturday we went mall walking with Gina and her 5-month old twins, then Bethany (7-months pregnant) came over to meet Aurora; Sunday we had Sue and her two sons over and then went to yoga; yesterday we had lunch with Julie and her 6-month old son Ramsey, then went to visit Brooke, who is 8-months pregnant with twins. Tomorrow we have lunch with Daniela & Brittany, and on Thursday Katie arrives from Washington. She’ll be visiting for over a week, and you can be sure we’ll have plenty of fun outings to report!

Today’s yoga class was packed. There were about 20 women with babies ranging from 4-weeks to 7-months old, and I could hardly believe Rora was ever as small as the 4-week old (and he was born over 7 lbs!). It’s just crazy… she’s getting big so fast! I think she had another growth spurt last night - it’s the second time I’ve felt like I woke up to a bigger baby.

When we brought Aurora home from the hospital, she was a tiny 6 lbs 4 oz. The craziest thing is that she doesn’t necessarily grow all at once – she seems to grow part by part. The first thing I noticed grow was her eyes (while we were still in the hospital). Chuck said she was probably just opening them wider, but I could tell they got bigger. Next her cheeks and chin started growing, followed by her whole head. Next was her tummy, and then one day her skinny thighs bulked up. Next I noticed her hands get wider and thicker, and today I swear she’s longer and chunkier. Her feet haven’t grown too much; probably because they started out so big… they must’ve had their growth spurt while still in my tummy.

I’m torn between wanting her to grow up, and wishing she could stay little forever. I guess since growth is the only option, I’ll just have to enjoy this time while she’s small and be thankful that she’s healthy and happy. Here’s a picture I just took of her sitting on my lap. She likes blogging!

Board Report

I’m getting used to this whole maternity leave thing. The first few weeks were a little strange; not just the fact that I suddenly wasn’t working, but figuring out who this little person is and learning how to take care of a newborn baby - it was a lot of change all at once. We’re halfway through now, and it’s getting really fun! Not only is Aurora smiling and interacting more, but I’m settling into it. We’re getting out more often, I have more energy, and I think I’m pretty lucky that I get to spend my days with my daughter. After all, she won’t be this tiny and adorable for long.

Yesterday we figured out how to get her to sleep longer through the night. In hindsight it seems so obvious, but once Chuck started giving the last bottle of the day and putting her down to sleep, it took a couple days to step back and figure out how we could establish a better nighttime routine.

The first nights that Chuck put her to bed, she woke up before 3am, which was just too early. I’d feed her and put her back to sleep, but it messed up our schedule and made for an overly tired momma. I realized in the morning that Chuck had left her in a onesie, and she was wriggling out of her blankie and getting cold. I’d bring her into our bed and we’d snuggle to warm her up. I asked Chuck to be sure he’s changing her diaper and putting her in warmer pj’s before bed, and the last two nights he also swaddled her more snugly. Low and behold, she started sleeping longer! Turns out, the warmer and cozier she is, the more she sleeps. It’s been so hot here in Austin that I think he didn’t want her to overheat, but we do have the A/C and ceiling fan on, and she has a very little body.

The other thing that’s been bothering her is gas, which is a struggle day and night. About a week ago I picked up Mylicon infant gas relief drops, and they’ve been helping. Now before bed we feed her, give her Mylicon drops, change her diaper, change her into pajamas, rock and sway her, kiss and love her, wrap her up nice and warm, and voila - she sleeps 6 hours straight, from about 10:30pm-4:30am. And this will continue to extend as she gets bigger.

Parenting really is a full-time job, and having a happy family isn't just luck - it requires the same skills as any other job: analytical thinking, planning, organization, scheduling, flexibility, delegation, communication, creativity and patience. I think I might deserve a raise!