A Double Feature

Long overdue, I know.

We went to Utah for July 4th, and we had a mostly good time. There were some baby tummy issues (you do NOT want to know...) but she handled the altitude all right (10,000 feet above sea level) and we learned a few good lessons about traveling with a baby. The cabin is about 5 miles from a ski resort (Brian Head, to be specific) and we stayed at a condo there and visited Dad & Florence each day. It worked out, as the cabin had no running water, and running water is a key component of an Optimal Baby Environment.



I like hummingbirds, hence the inclusion of the hummingbird clip. It was a great weekend and we're hoping to get back up there soon. The last part (it went kind of Blair Witchy, didn't it, and I'm not so thrilled about that...) happened on the evening of the 4th. There was this huge fireworks show that happened right in front of our condo. It was crazy and we were freaking out because HI WE HAVE A SLEEPING BABY YOU MORONS but she slept right through it. Rock on, kid.

Our evening entertainment lately is all about The Ava Show. She's a funny kid and does cute little funny things.



That bouncy thing is about the best hundred bucks we'll ever spend. She. Loves. It. She still kicks her legs all the time, and she's all about being jostled and bumped around so it really is fun to watch her catch a bouncy wave and go to town.

We've started feeding her Real People Food, not just formula. My friend Tammy told me about a great website that is all about making your own baby food. It sounds kind of earthy-chunky-granola, but you can buy an entire acorn squash for the price of two jars of it prepared by a corporation with who knows what additives. And it's easy. Cut stuff into chunks, steam it, puree it, spoon it into an ice cube tray and freeze it. So far, we have done broccoli, the aforementioned acorn squash, and a yam. Broccoli seems to be kind of hit or miss (as it is for many of us), acorn squash seems to be pretty well received, but the yam? Oh she loves the yam. NOM NOM NOM YAM. She'll also chow down a third of a banana pretty easily for breakfast. My kid loves food. No shock there, huh? I really do love doing family dinners--we feed Ava while we eat and it's just cool :).

Ava had her six month check-up (and vaccinations because we don't want the Polio...). Little missy is 24 inches long and 17 pounds 9 ounces. She's grown almost 5 inches and she's gained 10 pounds, mostly in her cheeks and thighs. Very Wise Doctor seems pleased with her progress--she's still a little on the short side for her weight (runs in the family) but well within the normal range. We talked about her milestones: laughing, babbling, reaching, grabbing, sitting up unassisted. She's not so much into rolling over yet, and that's evidently an important precursor to the whole Crawling Thing, but I think we're close. We're about to start childproofing the house, mostly because we want to be ahead of the curve and if she does suddenly take off, we don't want to be running around the house with a drill like a couple of crazy handymen. Yeah. It's about to get fun.

It's been one month (and one day...)

Here is what is different:

1. Everything

It's shocking to realize that everything that happens, every thought in my head, every plan I make goes through an Ava filter. She casts a shadow over everything. My time continuum is now divided differently than before--it used to be based on whether something happened before or after my mom died. That was the context into which all events fell, and looking back, how awful is that? Now, everything, including that awful event, has fallen into a new category: was it before or after January 12, 2009?

I'll tell you one thing--if it was before that date, I probably did it faster and with fewer props.

I have about five and a half weeks until I go back to work, and that is another red letter date right there. I'm ready, in the sense that I'm looking forward to re-entering the world. As much as I have fantasized about not working, it's become very clear that I am not meant to be a stay-at-home mom. Nope. The same amount of focus that I put into all of the components of my job description is now concentrated into the 2 or 3 things I seem to be doing all day every day at home. It's exhausting. I miss the variety of my job and the people I see every day. I do have a pretty cool job with interesting people coming in and out of my office throughout the day. It requires me to think on my feet and shift gears quickly, and I like that.

But I'm so not ready to go back to work in so many ways that have nothing to do with me. Ava will be 10 weeks old on March 23. Yikes! Little! The thought of taking her to the day care and, oh my god, LEAVING HER THERE scares me to death. I'm pretty sure that we won't get into our first choice facility, and that's OK. We're aiming for #2, and I've spoken with the director who is also in the newborn room. They have a transition program that is mainly for parents--it's supposed to help us get used to leaving the child with them. I'm hoping that it includes a sedative and a pitcher of martinis as well, because I am going to be a hot mess. Ten. Weeks. Old. OMG. Rob is going to take time off and we're going to do the day care transition thing together.

We try not to think about March 23 too much.

Some quick Ava stats...

• 8 pounds, 14 ounces; 20-3/4 inches long
• 100 diapers in 7 days
• 3-4 hours of sleep at a time, interrupted by a 4-ounce bottle and an hour or so of awake time
• 3 costume changes a day, due to the occasional spit-up issue
• Favorite time of day is still 1-4AM, just like when I was pregnant.
  

At 4 weeks, she's starting to become more of a person and less of a larvae. She's awake more, and is pretty content (we're counting our lucky stars on that one...) unless she's hungry or in need of a new diaper. She still goes into Hulk Baby mode if we take too long with the bottle, but she calms down quickly, and we're thankful for that. I'm not cocky enough to think it's because of our amazing instinctive parenting skills--she's an easy baby so far. My dad thinks she's just saving it up for her adolescence, like I did. We'll see.