The First Daddy-Daughter Day

Yesterday was my first daddy-daughter day with Julia.  What is daddy-daughter day?  Well as you might expect it is a day that Julia and I get to spend together without Alyssa (aka Mom).

So I have to admit that I was a little nervous about my first daddy-daughter day.  Why you ask?  Well mainly it was the feedings, so far Julia has not been happy taking a bottle.  There tends to be a lot of crying and screaming, some of it even from Julia.  I was also a little nervous because she and I haven’t spent that much time alone together.

Alyssa headed out for her day around 9:30 officially starting daddy-daughter day.  When Alyssa left Julia was taking her morning nap.  Julia slept as peacefully as she ever does until about 10:30am.  Then the moment of truth, would she take a bottle?  I had it already to go and to my great surprise she gulped it right down!  There was very little fussing and no crying.  After that we played for a while doing some tummy time and other games on her blanket.  Then it was off on our adventure.

First we went to target to pick up a fan for her room.  She picked out a small black fan that would really help make her room more comfortable.  Once we had that we headed out to lunch.  She decided that she really wanted a good Rueben.  So we headed to Pat Troy's in Old Town.  It was such a nice day we sat outside and enjoyed our sandwich.

From there we headed down to water to find a quite spot for Julia’s mid-afternoon snack.  We found a great little spot right by the water where we could watch the boats pass.  We stayed there for quite a while and even got to see one boat tow in another boat that had run out of gas.  All in all it was a very exciting day.  By this point it was starting to get late around 3pm so we decided it was time to head home.

At home Julia decided she was ready for her big meal of the day and ate about 4.5 oz of milk from the bottle!  This was on top of the 1.5 oz she ate an hour before watching the boats.  I had no idea she ate so much.  Once she finished this we played a little more followed by a short nap until Mom came home around 5pm.

All in all it was a very fun day so much so that we have decided to do it at least once a month.  It was very rewarding for Julia and I.  Oh and Alyssa and fun out doing her own thing for the day too.

Yoga, Take 2 and Sleeping Update

It is kind of nice to be in room with 6 other infants, 3 of whom are screaming and have your child be the one who is blissfully unaware of anything, sleeping peacefully (sort of) in her carrier!  All in all it was a very successful day at yoga.  Julia slept through almost the entire class and I was able to get in 50 minutes of yoga for the first time in 8 weeks!  So while we may not have mastered the “happy baby” pose I will gladly take “sleeping baby.”

On the nighttime sleeping front we have also tried a new tactic.  Julia is now going to bed between 7:30 and 8:00.  This has helped us in a couple of ways so far. 

1)  Julia is no longer crying uncontrollably from 6-9pm every night (although that may change today as apparently the nap at yoga was so good that she hasn’t felt the need to take one all afternoon!)

and

2)  Andrew and I are able to have a few quiet minutes before we drag ourselves to bed at 9pm… if we can make it to 9pm.

Mom and Baby Yoga Take 1… and sleeping antics

Julia and I went to our first Mom and Baby yoga class on Wednesday.  The instructor is someone that Andrew and I have been taking classes from for a couple of years and both really like.  So I felt pretty comfortable that this would be a good activity for us.  Unfortunately, Julia did not feel the same way.  I don’t think there’s a pose called “crying baby” but if there is Julia has it mastered!  There is a pose called “happy baby” – our goal is to work on that one this week. :)

On the sleeping front we have had a few great nights this week!  Julia has had a couple days where she slept for 4-5 hours at a stretch which both I and her dad really appreciate.  What is hilarious though is the going to sleep routine that she and Andrew go through every night.  Our typical routine is that she gets pjs put on and then is swaddled, nurses, and then Dad burps her and puts her to sleep by reading a couple of bedtime books and doing quite a bit of rocking/bouncing/swaying (this is usually accompanied by some tears – mostly from Julia but occasionally from Andrew as well).  When she finally appears to be out for the count Andrew puts her down in the co-sleeper next to my side of the bed and then makes his way over to his side of the bed ready to put his head on the pillow and get a couple of hours of sleep.  However, for the past couple of weeks Julia has been playing a game with Dad and as soon as his head hits the pillow her eyes pop back open and the routine has to start again!  It’s been pretty amusing because Andrew has started standing by the co-sleeper or sitting on the edge of his side of the bed reading for awhile after he puts her down just to make sure that this doesn’t happen and that she’s really asleep.  But without fail no matter how long he tries to wait her out she will open her eyes right after he lays down!  I’ve been getting quite a few laughs from these little antics.  (These types of things become considerably funnier when you’re sleep deprived.)

Well it became much less amusing at 4:00 this morning when Julia started playing a similar game with me.  She was grunting and groaning in the co-sleeper and I kept sitting up to look at her and make sure she was okay.  But every time I sat up her eyes were tightly shut and she would quiet down.  I would lay back down and then the grunting would start again.  Then one time, as I was sitting up, I caught her pop her eyes open, look over at me, and then quickly shut them tight and lie quiet and still again.  I think we’re going to have to keep a close eye on this child!  :)

6 Weeks

Julia was 6 weeks old as of yesterday.  It’s amazing to us that so much time has passed already.  Even though some of the days seem to go very slowly it feels like the last six weeks have flown by.  We saw a newborn at the doctor’s office on Monday who was about Julia’s size when she was born and it was incredible to see the difference.  According to our scale Julia now weighs around 9 1/2 – 10 lbs which means she has gained more than 50% of her birth weight!  That would be why she has such cute little chubby cheeks!

Julia is also becoming more interactive and has given me several smiles and sticks her tongue out at her Dad.  She is starting to become interested in some of her toys and mobiles although her favorite view is still the skylights in the family room!  Lastly she has started grabbing at things while she is eating or being held; my shirt and the burp cloth are frequent targets – Andrew is afraid of her inevitable discovery of his chest hair!  He’s been wearing a lot of high necked t-shirts!  Here is one of my favorite pictures of her from the past few days with her cuddling up to the burp cloth she confiscated and looking like the adorable little imp that she is!

The Crowder Clan Visits Julia

Ok, I am a little late with this post but raising Julia is a full time task.  Anyway just over two weeks ago my brother Jeff,  his wife Helki, grandma Susan and grandpa Herb came to visit.  Julia was very excited to meet her extended family.

Almost everyone jumped at the chance to hold, cuddle and inspect Julia.   We even got Jeff to hold her.  You see he only looks a little scared. 

They did have an agreement - if she didn’t cry neither would he.  And yes, dad, she does have 10 fingers and 10 toes, she just likes to be wrapped in her blanket.

However it was grandma Susan and aunt Helki that didn’t want to put her down.

After 4 fun filled days where the main sport was Julia watching we got the whole family together for a picture.

It was great having the whole family together and we hope we can get them all back soon.

Two Little Leprechauns

Four years ago today there was one little leprechaun in our family, our niece Alex.  This picture was taken of her that St. Patrick’s Day when she was 36 days old.

This year we’ve added our little leprechaun to the clan and thanks to Aunt Merrill and Uncle Jim (who have saved a lot of Alex’s things and very kindly passed them on) we have these photos of Julia at 36 days old.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!!

One Month and Our Adorable Shrek

Julia was one month old this past Monday.  It’s hard to believe that it’s been that long since we brought her home!  She has had a busy month meeting relatives, friends and neighbors, having video chats with relatives who have not been able to meet her yet, and becoming more aware of her surroundings and interested in the sights and sounds around her.  She has also become a great eater.  Andrew and I both commented over the weekend on how big she seems to us and that she has grown quite a bit.  That was verified when we went to the doctor today and found out that she now weighs 8lbs 1 oz! 

Starting tonight Julia will also be trying out some new sleeping arrangements.  We have been telling people for the last month about our loud grunting daughter and, not surprisingly, everyone has been skeptical of our claims that it really is surprisingly loud and persistent; most claiming that “babies grunt” and that as new parents we are hypersensitive to all noises she makes (which is 100% true).  But after four weeks of sleepless nights for us while Julia slept soundly in her bassinet we decided that a call to the doctor was in order.  So today we found out that some babies (and probably ours) have immature tracheas which can be sort of collapsed when the baby relaxes and the neck is compressed when they are on their backs.  It’s not that big a deal and Julia will grow out of it in the next few weeks as her neck develops but it can make sleeping on her back an effort for her (although not painful or distressing).  The solution – to have her sleep in her car seat or another upright position.  You’d think we would have thought of this as we had noted that she slept much more peacefully when held upright on someone or when she was in her swing, etc.  But lack of sleep causes you to not be able to connect the dots!  Anyway, we are hoping that the doctor’s office is right and not just making up things to make new parents feel better about the fact that their sweet new baby sounds like Shrek.  And we’re keeping our fingers crossed that there might be a few more minutes of peaceful sleep in our future!