Megan 的个人资料Megan's World照片日志列表更多  |  工具 帮助 |
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2006/11/29 unexpected but NOT unwelcome!Kate has been pretty consistent with her overnight feedings now for a couple of weeks. She has an initial 4 hour spacing followed by a 3 hour spacing. That means I'm up generally between 2 and 3 and again between 5 and 6. Last Wednesday night I was stunned when she went to a 5 and 4 hour spacing. Of course it only happened once, but it was exciting. So, get this. Last night...6 hours!!! She ate at 9:30 and was asleep around 10:30. I climbed into bed around 11 thinking that I hoped she didn't wake up at 11:30 and made it to 12:30...then she woke me up - at 3:30!! I was laying there thinking, really, I'm sure I haven't fed her yet...what is going on?? And, not only did she go 6 hours between feedings, she was freaking adorable at 4am. Cooing and smiling up a storm. I guess we were both in good moods from so much sleep. Surprisingly she went back to sleep pretty easily, and I didn't feed her again until 7:30. Man, I could get used to this!! 2006/11/27 searching for smilesKate started smiling three weeks ago, but still only smiles a dozen times a day. It seems to me that the vast majority of those go to other people, mostly Jay - I'm lucky if I get a smile a day. The twit. I make the argument that she's so comfy with me that she's always sleeping when I hold her and she plays with Jay. That's my logic, but I'll be happy when she starts to smile at me more. She sure is cute when she does - eventually I'll catch it with the camera.
Pat and Duane are still here, and we're having a great visit. Saturday we made an expedition downtown on the bus, so I put Kate in the Baby Bjorn. She was so cute! She has this adorable fleece suit - it's not quite a snowsuit - to keep her warm, and it's big on her but still effective. I swear it looked like I had a teddy bear strapped to my chest. She did great on that outing and slept almost the entire time. Mostly we've been relaxing around the house - the household isn't really up and running until about 10am by the time we all shower, etc - and having a good time together. Duane and Jay went to the Sonics (NBA) game last night. Originally we were all going to go, but I got too nervous about how Kate would handle it, so Pat and I stayed home with her. We all went out for dinner beforehand, though, and dropped off the boys at the game. They had a good time, and so did we. Today we went over to Bellevue - the Cheesecake Factory for lunch, then Crate and Barrel. Excellent. Kate behaved herself, of course. Actually, the little baby hates her carseat. Most of the time it's only a small problem, but this morning...man, the kid was upset. It was good that Pat and Duane were in back to help her calm down. She was really upset, but after a few minutes conked out from the exhaustion of carrying on. Other than that, she was a perfect angel all day.
The big story out here is our weather. It got really cold Saturday late afternoon/evening, and it started snowing yesterday evening. It stuck overnight because we dropped into the 20s, and lo and behold, there was more snow off and on all day today. It's still sticking around! We have had the most insane November - we broke the rain record on the 14th, and now snow! Sheesh. Maybe there will be a little respite in December from all of this precipitation.
Pat and Duane fly out tomorrow night around midnight, and it's going to be sad to see them go... 2006/11/23 have a great turkey day!I hope that everyone has a wonderful day filled with family and food! Out here in Seattle we're ready to go - the pies are made, the sweet potatoes are ready to bake, the potatoes are peeled, and the turkey is going into the oven any minute. I'll make the stuffing soon, and we'll be eating around 3:30. It's Kate's first holiday, so we thought she should have an appropriate outfit. Isn't she cute??
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! 2006/11/21 spit happensOne of the new realities of my life as a mom is that I never have on a completely clean shirt...Kate doesn't spit up very much, but does occassionally get my shoulder wet; more often it's just her little drooly open mouth rubbing around. I have these circles of dried spit all over...lovely, huh? I bought a new sweater when Claire was in town, and I don't generally wash sweaters after one wearing, but...Kate made sure to ruin that plan. Ay.
Pat and Duane got in Sunday night and we're having a nice visit. Grandma is having a fantastic time playing with the baby, as you can imagine. They're chasing me out of the house today, and I made an appointment for a massage this afternoon. My neck and the top of my back are achy from constantly looking down at her while she's feeding. I'm going to do a little shopping (errand-type) while I'm out as well. There's plenty of milk in the fridge if Kate gets hungry, and Pat fed her a bottle last night to be sure that the kid would take it from her. Jay ended up staying home today, so if all else fails Dad can take over. The timing of my appointment worked out so that she may very well not eat while I'm gone. In any case, this is true liberation!
We all wanted to go for a walk to Starbucks yesterday, and the morning was nice. We ended up being a little slow getting out of the house, and when we left it had started to drizzle a bit. We all decided to brave it because it looked like it was going to clear up. About two blocks from the house we realized that it was coming down harder and we turned around with the plan to wait it out. When we got back to the house, it stopped. We grabbed umbrellas and put Kate's rain cover onto the stroller for good measure and headed out again. Well, about halfway there the umbrellas came out. By the time we got to Starbucks it was really coming down with no sign of letting up. Poor Jay was pushing the stroller and didn't have an umbrella...he was pretty soaked. We spent a long time in comfy chairs at Starbucks, and eventually had to brave the rain. I had my raincoat on, so I used my hood and pushed the stroller home. The three others shared the umbrellas, but we were still all pretty wet and cold by the time we got home - everyone except for Kate, that is. She slept through the entire expedition, dry and warm. Thanks, Claire, for making me order that rain cover when you were here.
 It's great because she stays dry AND the wind doesn't hit her, either.So, things are good here. Kate remains adorable.
 Oh, I almost forgot. I had my six week postpartum checkup yesterday morning. I got the all clear to resume all activities, so that was good. I weighed in at a pound less than my first weigh in with them at 12 weeks! Woo-hoo! I had the nurse weigh me and Kate, and she came up light - about 9 1/2 pounds. I figured it just meant that our scale sucks. I reweighed us when we got home, and she was 11 pounds, so who the heck knows what she weighs. Her appointment is two weeks from tomorrow, so we'll find out then for sure. Anyway, my appointment was good.OK, I'm going to be on my way. 2006/11/19 I feel liberatedJay and I had an agreement going into the weekend that he would be Kate's primary caregiver for two days (obviously I need to feed her and help out sometimes). So, yesterday I spent hours away from the little girl, and I have to admit that it was great. I was still in the house, but I was able to do whatever I wanted without considering Kate at all. So nice! When Claire was here she obviously was a big help in watching Kate, but since I was always with Claire, I was always with Kate. I left Jay and Kate to their own devices and did my own thing for the afternoon. I organized our attic...It's not perfect, but at least it's not embarrassing like it was when Claire was here! I also did a bunch of random things around the house. For example, I made chili for dinner and decided to make a double batch to freeze down a bunch of it. Something like that is very hard to accomplish when Kate is my responsibility. Obviously when she naps I'm free to do what I want, but she only typically naps for ~45 min chunks of time, and there's generally once a day when a nap occurs while I'm holding her (thus pinning me down). When she's awake I feel like it isn't reasonable to leave her on her own, and the day just passes with very little productivity from me. (She is spending more time with her toys, though, and doesn't always like it when we involve ourselves.) After I finished up the attic yesterday Kate and I took a long walk. It was getting dark but it was a nice, cool evening and I wanted to get out. I bundled her up in her pink stroller (love that thing!), and off we went. It was great because I was able to go to Trader Joe's (it's always better to go on foot than try to park in their minuscule lot), Safeway (I forgot a couple of things on Friday), I found some Xmas presents for Claire, and I stopped at Starbucks on the way home for good measure. I love living in an urban neighborhood when I can decide on a whim to walk to all of my errands. We were out for a little over an hour, and her cheeks were so cute and rosy by the end of it! Everyone commented on them - they're irresistible.
So, today Jay is again going to bear responsibility for the munchkin while I tackle my desk. It's become a dumping ground and needs to be handled. We have some cleaning to do for Pat and Duane's visit (they get in at 11:00 tonight), so we've split up the chores. For now, though, I'm going to go shower.
After three days of dry weather (with two very substantial walks for Kate and I), it's pouring again today. C'est la vie... 2006/11/18 my big girlKate is really packing on the pounds! I weighed her early in the week that Claire was here, and she was ~10.5 pounds. I weighed her this past Wednesday, a week and a half later, and she weighed 12.4 pounds!! Both times she had on a (potentially wet) diaper and her clothes, so call all of that half a pound - she gained 2 pounds in 9 days?? Phew, the kid can eat. The books all say an ounce a day, but we're closer to 2 ounces a day out here in Seattle. She's visibly plumping up (as you probably can tell in the photos). Her little cherubic face is getting rounder by the day, and her legs and arms are starting to develop the rolls that you expect on little babies. So cute!! I love chubby babies, so I'm happy that Kate is one of them. If you recall, a few months ago I predicted that she'd be a chub...
For the last few weeks I've been told countless times to enjoy her while she's so little because she'll be big so soon. I can really appreciate that because she's already so much bigger and more 'mature' than she was just a couple of weeks ago. She's six weeks old today, and she's starting to turn into a baby the does stuff. She's nowhere near doing that much, really, but she has developed a genuine interest in her toys and she whacks them and smiles at them when they dangle in front of her. There a couple of times everyday when she's a little fussy and the solution is to let her play with her toys. She's just so darn cute!
Last night broke new ground - she ate at 10:30, 2:30, and 6:30. That's 2 four hour spacings!!! My mouth fell open when I looked at the clock at 6:30. I'm not holding my breath for it to repeat itself, but wouldn't it be nice if it would? See, she's growing up already...I assume she's just able to eat more at any given feeding now and that's why she's sleeping longer, but whatever the reason, I'm not complaining! She also had taken to spitting up a little bit after most feedings. It started when Claire was here and continued until Wednesday...then stopped completely. My theory is that she was trying to eat more but her little stomach couldn't handle the volume (hence the spitting up); after a week of eating larger volumes, her tummy has stretched and she no longer has issues keeping it all down. I'm hoping it stays away - it's difficult to live in constant fear of being puked on!
We really got lucky with Kate: she is so easygoing. Well, I don't mean to imply that she's laid back, because I don't think she really is. I mean that she is tolerant, I guess. I drag her places everyday and I barely get any complaints. Yesterday I hauled her around to two grocery stores (Thanksgiving shopping) and two other stores that I needed to stop in. Hardly a peep. She also went out to dinner with us (with a friend of mine from lab) last night and behaved very well - she needed to eat once, but that's understandable. My goal is to keep her used to being on errand runs so that she'll have no issues sleeping wherever she might be. Now that we've passed the fabled six week mark, though, it might get a little tougher to continue this pattern. I'm going to try, though.
OK, I have cleaning to do...blech. 2006/11/16 it really IS a magic blanketMan, this blanket has changed my life. OK, that may be overstating it a bit, but really, it's helping a lot. After each feeding (late evening and overnight) I wrap Kate up in the blanket and hold her for a few minutes. She gets a bit drowsy and comfy and then I put her down to sleep - eyes still open. She'll take her pacifier and get really sleepy. A few minutes later the pacifier hits the bed and she's out. I'm so excited that she's putting herself to sleep! Like I said yesterday, I don't know what issue it's addressing for her, but I suspect she was a bit cold. It's hard to imagine because she herself is a little oven...It is true, though, that we've known that she sleeps best on our chests (very warm) or in bed with me under the covers (again, very warm). So, maybe she likes being a little oven. Her fleece sleepers really aren't that heavy, and she generally only has on a short sleeve onesie underneath. Adding a blanket is about the easiest thing we could have done to improve her sleep.
I got up to feed Kate a half hour ago and gasped with delight - the sun is out and the sky is blue and clear! We are definitely going for a walk this morning, I don't care how cold it is out there! I'm not sure if it's sticking around or not, so it's time to take advantage. With that, I'm off. I need to shower and get myself together before Kate wakes up again - she's sleeping in her co-sleeper wrapped up in her blanket right now. a very wet dayKate and I went out for a few hours today, and man, did we (I) get wet. Kate stayed nice and dry in her car seat, but I got soaked. I had my raincoat on, obviously, but it was pretty darn wet out there. The storm had really high winds, so it was coming at us from all directions. We went in to meet my labmates and I wasn't able to park anywhere near the building - that was the real rain exposure. Everyone loved her, of course, and I got to see the new lab space - man, I wish we had been in there when I was working! It's gorgeous. It was fun to see everyone after 6 weeks away, and it seemed like they were happy to see me. We visited for about an hour and a half, and then Kate and I braved the windy rainy day again to get back to the car. We went and picked up my copy of my dissertation (so cool!), and then went to the (outdoor!) mall that's near campus to return and exchange a couple of things. It was seriously wet out there. Kate's car seat has a canopy on it that really earned its place in my heart today, and I have this fantastic bunting over the seat to keep her lower half dry. I bought it before she was born, and I was really torn on whether we'd use it on the stroller or the car seat, and I finally decided that the stroller made more sense - so I ordered the pink one to coordinate.
I went to Costco a couple of days before Claire got into town and had to seriously brave the rain with her car seat. That's when I decided that I needed a better way to keep her dry than draping blankets over the seat. I moved the bunting and man, what a great thing it is. I bought it specifically for its wind- and water-resistance; it's not thick at all. We really don't need super warm outerwear here for the winter, and I'll just add blankets underneath when needed. Anyway, it's great - it totally keeps her dry, and while the wind was whipping around us today she didn't mind at all. It's pretty cute, to boot. Anyway, it was a darn wet day - the car seat and my raincoat definitely need to the night to dry out before we do it again tomorrow! 2006/11/15 CONSTANT rain!Even if you don't live in Seattle you probably heard about our incessant rain last week - there was massive flooding in the region, although no damage was done in Seattle proper. Claire's entire visit - rain, rain, rain. There was one afternoon without it. Totally nuts. Then, new storms rolled in, and the rain is endless again. We're used to having rain everyday out here, but this is something different - a LOT of rain everyday. Not quite as pleasant as a little drizzle...Today's storm is knocking out power around the region because of high winds. Sheesh. I haven't taken Kate on a walk in weeks, although her stroller's rain cover has been shipped out. If this continues I'm just going to have to suck it up and take her out anyway - I can't stand not getting outside once in a while.
Kate slept in her co-sleeper all but one hour last night. Yay! This whole thing started a couple of weeks ago when she just wouldn't sleep by herself. After much discussion with various people the consensus was that she might be cold. She sleeps in fleece blanket sleepers, but hey, you never know. I started using the heating pad to warm up the bed while I was feeding her, and it seemed to help. Then, like I mentioned, we started having problems with it again. Kate was swaddled for the first three days of her life, but then seemed to just hate it. So we haven't been swaddling her at all or even using blankets. Yesterday I pulled out the blanket that Claire made for her, and wa-la! It's not a blanket that can really be used for swaddling per se, but I wrapped her up in it for each of her naps yesterday and then again overnight. It's a magic blanket, I guess.
I don't know why she likes it so much - is it the warmth, the softness, or just the feeling of being wrapped up? Whatever the reason, she sleeps great with it, so I'm going to keep it up. She's adorable wrapped up in it, too.I LOVE the three hour feeding schedule! Yesterday we went out twice - once to Target and then again to the grocery store. With her feedings so spaced out I can really use the time to be productive because I have at least two hours before I have to worry about her again. It's such a difference from the two hour schedule.
Pat and Duane (my in-laws) get into town late Sunday night and will be here 8 days. We're all excited to see each other (and of course they're totally amped about meeting Kate). I have some prep to do before they arrive, but since Claire was just here we're actually in ok shape. Pat wants to do the turkey day grocery shopping with Jay next week, but I don't think that's a great idea so I'll probably take care of it on Friday after she and I chat about the menu. I'm making pumpkin and pecan pies, that I know for sure.
 What size turkey do you need to feed four people? Ooh, it just occurred to me that this will be the most guilt-free Thanksgiving ever for me - this milk production thing bumps up my calorie requirement quite a bit, and I'm hungry all the time. I'm going to enjoy myself, that's for sure.OK, I'm off to do a few household chores while the babe naps. We're going to go into my lab today when she wakes up - what fun! 2006/11/14 still adjustingI miss my sister. *sniff* It was so nice to have someone around to chat with and just do stuff with all last week, and there's no one that I'd rather have here than her. She left early Sunday morning, but Sunday was really busy so the impact of her departure didn't really hit me. Yesterday, though, I just felt crappy all day. I mostly sat around and caught up on my TV shows; although I had planned to be productive, I just didn't feel like it. I guess it's just like how Claire didn't get out of her pjs yesterday. *sigh* It just seems to quiet here...
Kate is doing really well. She has shifted herself to a 3 hour feeding schedule with the exception of the evening when she generally has two 2 hour spacings. Her first feeding overnight is always at a 4 hour spacing after which she goes back to 3 hours. It's not too bad, and I definitely can tell that I'm spending less time in the breastfeeding chair than I was. Still no glider...a week and a half ago I was told that it would arrive in 1-3 weeks, so I'm really hoping that it's soon. The nursery is all set now - except for the glider. Oh, and I need to figure out a lamp for the table next to the glider as well. Once it's totally done I'll post pictures - I don't really want to show it off piecemeal. It's super cute.
Claire had lent me "Good Night, Sleep Tight," a book about getting your child into a healthy sleep routine. I had read it on the flight home from DC in September, but never looked at it again. The other day it occurred to me that it might be useful now! I re-read the pertinent sections yesterday, and I think I'm going to start keeping track of Kate's sleep so that I can see what's going on. The author is a big advocate of putting the baby down in the crib when she's drowsy but still awake, a notion that makes a lot of sense to me and one that I've been trying to follow ever since she was born. About 25 minutes ago Kate started to fall asleep while I was holding her, so I put her in the crib - she still isn't asleep. She's super-drowsy and has periods of quiet, but then I hear her making noise again. She's not fussing, though, so that's good. She's not used to sleeping in her crib, so that's probably part of the issue. She did settle down some after I put the blanket Aunt Claire made over her - she really seems to like sleeping under the covers. Anyway, I'm hoping that she actually sleeps pretty soon.
So, while the feedings at night have really gotten to be very manageable (generally at 2:00 and 5:00), Kate has really been sleeping exclusively in our bed. *sigh* This is not something that I (or Jay) really want to have happen, but she needs a little help falling asleep, so I put her next to me after she's eaten...and then we both fall asleep. I guess I should stay up longer to get her mostly asleep and then try to put her in her co-sleeper, but that means less sleep for me and in the middle of the night I'm not always thinking clearly enough to remember to do that. Initially it was great - I'd wait for her to fall asleep then move her to the co-sleeper. That does require me to be awake, however...
Man, the kid is still making noise in there. She needs to sleep, so maybe I'll go rescue her now... 2006/11/9 Kate loves Aunt Claire!And so do I. Kate, for her part, has been an ultra-good baby. We spent both yesterday and today out and about, and the little sweetheart just slept and ate while we spent money. Today was a big day - we shopped all day, had lunch at the Cheescake Factory, and generally just dragged her everywhere. I fed her three times while we were running around (once for the first time in a public place), and she really just behaved. She, of course, is a major topic of conversation everywhere we go. She's just too cute to not comment on her. So, after all of the activity of the last couple of days Claire and I are feeling a little bad for the baby, so tomorrow we're going to do some stuff around the house instead to give her a break. We got a bunch of stuff to organize Kate's dresser and other belongings today, so maybe we'll put all that to use. Anyway, we're having a great visit, and life as a mom continues to be good. I bought some shirts today that actually fit me and my new (quite enhanced!) chest. Ay. I'm not so sure that I really want this much enhancement, but there it is. OK, I'm just rambling, so off I go. My bed is calling... 2006/11/4 prepping for the big introductionWell, both of Claire's flights left on time - she just left Dallas a half hour ago - so she should be on time. Jay and I are really excited to see her and introduce her to Kate. I'm expecting to have a fantastic week with Claire. Tomorrow morning I'm bringing her and Kate along with me to Meghan's baby shower, and in the afternoon Carmen and Allison are bringing over their families. There are two points to this: 1. they meet Claire, and 2. we all get together with moms, dads, and the 4 kids. Allison was here Thursday for a couple of hours, and based on the experience of having the two of us with 3 kids, I expect tomorrow to be CRAZY. Carmen, Allison, and I haven't gotten together in months - maybe since the twins were born 12 weeks ago! - so we're looking forward to finally being in the same place (they were at my shower but that wasn't quite the same). Anyway, tomorrow will be fun and busy. Monday morning we're taking Kate to get her first studio portrait at The Picture People, so that should be...interesting. I scheduled it during a time when she's generally pretty alert, so hopefully we won't have pictures of a sleeping baby (although she's plenty cute when she sleeps). After Monday we don't have any formal plans, although I'm hoping that Claire and I manage to do our fair share of shopping - I'm desperate for new shirts (stupid boobs!) and need to get some stuff to organize Kate's dresser...and there's always random browsing to be done! OK, I'm off to clean the bathroom! 2006/11/2 what a night!I mean that only in the best way...yesterday was the last in a string of more difficult days. It all started on Saturday when Kate went completely off any type of feeding schedule, required 5 changes of clothes because she kept spitting up, and fussed way more than normal. The days since then weren't bad, but the nights...ugh. Yesterday morning I was more than a little frustrated and exhausted to boot. I totally intended to blog (I even had a great title: grin and bear it), but I just couldn't get myself to sit down and write. I felt a little better yesterday after showering, and the day was ok. I talked to my mom and Claire in the evening, and that's when things started to look up. We were on a nice 2 hour feeding schedule all day, and suddenly...3 1/2 hours! Woo-ho! Then, miracle of miracles, she did it again! Two 3 1/2 hour spacings in a row - I thought I was in heaven (except for the pain in my chest). Not only that, but she ate from her first bottle last night, and it was too cute for words. I had managed to assemble 2 oz over the course of the day, and she guzzled it right down. Jay, of course, loved that he could feed her. So, at this point things are really looking up; I'd even managed to fit in a 2 hour nap in one of those 3 1/2 hour chunks of time. OK, you say, so the day ended well, but what happened overnight? Solid 2 1/2 hour spacings, baby! Now, that may not seem like a big deal after the 3 1/2 hour miracles, but the fact that it was regular and she ate well each time was a change from the last few days. Not only that, but she slept alone in her co-sleeper all night. There's a bit of background to give here, but I'm not going to get into it at the moment - suffice it to say that we've been struggling with the co-sleeper for a few nights. So, here I am, it's 8am, it's been 2 1/2 hours since she ate, I've had breakfast, started the diaper laundry, and am looking forward to a visit from Allison and the twins later this morning. If it wasn't absolutely pouring outside I'd say it's a beautiful day. |
It's so much fun to have her in town - fun and good for our household! Yesterday she purged our refrigerator of old food, and today we cleaned out and organized the pantry. It's been so nice to have her here keeping me company, helping with Kate, making dinner, shopping - what a great sister. She, of course, adores Kate (it would be nearly impossible not to!).
I'm just glad to have clothes that fit and look decent. The best part was having Claire there to help me find and decide on shirts. Shopping alone just isn't as fun.
I expected to talk with Claire yesterday, but she never called back, and we haven't discussed where we're meeting her. I guess that means we'll get as close as possible to her gate. We all have cell phones if things go awry...The house is pretty much ready to go...Kate's going to get a bath so that her hair is clean and spiky when she meets Aunt Claire for the first time. Hmm, actually, she'll need a hat for the trip, so it might not be so spiky. Well, we'll do our best to show off her punk hairdo. I'm debating what cute outfit the kid should wear...She's outgrowing all of her newborn clothes and will soon be solely in 0-3 months - all of that stuff has been huge until recently. Her shift to the next size is definitely helped by the size of her diaper (she has a little bubble butt with the cloth). Whenever she's in a disposable her clothes are way bigger on her, and her little butt seems so small in my hands. Oh, she is so cute...|
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