I just finally got Carolyn’s two month pictures off the camera and sized them so I could publish her two month birthday post.
If you think that’s bad, I’m also just getting around to finding a place to have a party after her baptism. Which is in 19 days. This could be fun…
Santa was very, very good to Carolyn. Although right now it looks like he actually came and trashed our house rather than leaving presents, but that’s only because there are new toys and clothes covering every square inch of the living room floor. She has enough 3-6 month sized clothes now to wear a new outfit every day for at least a month, I think. And we – oh, wait, I mean, Carolyn – got some really cool new toys and books.
I’m really glad I wrapped her presents, because even though she couldn’t unwrap things herself, she was really interested in the colorful, crinkling paper, and was all smiles while we opened things up for her.
Carolyn has just recently discovered her hands, and this morning she was on the changing table and she held up her hand in front of her face, turned it from side to side, and got this surprised look on her face that clearly said “Wow. That is so cool!” Have I ever mentioned how cute she is?
Dear Carolyn,
Today you turned two months old. Not only that, but it’s your Grandma’s birthday, and it’s Christmas Eve, so today is an extra-special day. Later today we’re going to Great-Grandma’s house to celebrate.
You’ve changed so much in the past month. The pictures we took this morning don’t look that much different from when you turned one month old, but there have been so many changes. For one thing, you’re filling out your clothes more – we’re almost ready to retire some of your 0-3 month outfits, even though they’re my favorites. You’ve grown three whole inches and gained four pounds since you were born!
You can hold your head up for the most part – it’s still a little wobbly, but you have pretty good control of that noggin of yours. When we lay you on your tummy, you can raise your head and chest up off the floor, and you’re starting to move your legs as though you’re trying to crawl. You may have rolled over (but you haven’t done it since, so I really think it was an accident) the other day. Oh, and when I pull you up by your hands to a sitting position you can keep your head steady. Sometimes you even try to pull yourself up when holding my hands. You get pretty frustrated that you aren’t a mobile baby yet, but you’re working really hard at it, and you’ll get there before any of us are ready!
You’ve also become an incredibly social baby. We have long conversations using only the words “ah-goo”, “la”, and “ah-hah”. When you’re happy, you screech so high that I’m afraid you’re going to break glass one of these days. You smile at everyone, especially when they tell you how cute you are. Daddy and I always get the best smiles, though – the ones where your whole face crinkles up and even your arms and legs get into the act.
Just in the past few days, you seem to have discovered your hands. They must be extra-tasty baby hands, because you suck on them all the time. A side benefit of having made this fabulous discovery is that you can now grab at things on purpose. (Nothing is safe anymore…)
You’re still regularly sleeping about 6 hours at night, with a three-hour stretch after that. That’s about the only thing that’s stayed the same since last month. You’re changing so much every day I can hardly keep up! Sometimes I just watch you sleeping, and I can almost see you growing while I watch…
Love, Mommy
The last tray of the 18 dozen cookies I baked is in the oven right now. No, that’s not a typo, I just baked 18 dozen cookies. All one variety. And most of them are going on a tray as the main dessert for our big family party tomorrow night.
Now if only all the presents were wrapped, my house was clean, and the laundry was done, I’d feel good about tomorrow being Christmas Eve. As it is, I still have to get up way too early tomorrow to frost the cookies.
Do you think Carrie would mind if her presents weren’t wrapped this year? Maybe Santa will do it when he stops by tomorrow night? Actually, I’ll make him a deal. I’ll wrap the presents if he runs the vacuum for me…
Dear Carolyn,
You’ve got your first cold – we think you caught Daddy’s cold. It’s been a rough couple of nights, since you can’t get to sleep without your binky, but you can’t breathe well with it. You seem to be bright and cheerful this morning, though, despite not sleeping much last night, so we’re going to go see Santa in a little while.
I also think you may have rolled over for the first time on Sunday. It’s hard to say – you weren’t on a level surface, so it may have just been an accident. It was also from your back to your front, which isn’t quite the way babies are supposed to do things. Then again, you don’t seem to do anything the way you’re “supposed” to.
Anyway, I hope you feel better tonight, if for no other reason than I don’t think I can take a third night where I only manage to get 4 or 5 random hours of sleep! (Well, that and it makes me sad to hear you sniffle so much.)
Love, Mommy
I’ve actually finished knitting something!
Teeny-tiny baby socks for teeny-tiny baby feet. I had some random single skeins of Koigu, and this one just begged to become baby socks. Unfortunately, they didn’t use the whole skein, so now I have to find something to do with the leftovers…
We were going to head home today, but with the well-below-freezing temperatures we decided it would be better to stay until tomorrow when it will be a teeny bit (just around freezing) warmer. Besides, this gave Carolyn (and us) a free day with no parties to attend, no where to drive to, and no interruptions in normal napping and eating schedules.
…Considering the amount of napping she’s done today, though, she’s either really worn out from the weekend or we’re in for a very wakeful night…
So far today I’ve finished reading a book (Dune, Messiah) and knitting a baby sock. I was going to start playing Myst IV, but that could be a dangerous thing to do when there’s Christmas wrapping, decorating and baking to be done when we get home. After all that’s done, I’ll start it. (Denis bought it for me the weekend after Carolyn was born, and I haven’t had an opportunity to play it yet!)
I’ve done all the packing I can do before morning, including doing the laundry – what a nice change to be coming home with bags of clean clothes instead of dirty! I don’t have much to do except start the second baby sock tonight. With any luck, I’ll be able to get it done by the time we get home!
We really have a very good baby. Carolyn slept in the car for almost the entire drive – we even had a good three-hour stretch where we didn’t need to stop at all. McDonald’s is not the most comfortable place to nurse, and their changing areas are hit-or-miss, but it wasn’t too bad. I even managed to knit half a baby sock in the car before it got too dark out!
The only thing I think we forgot was the baby monitor, which isn’t the end of the world, just a minor inconvenience. I always like to figure out what I’ve forgotten – since I always forget one thing – so that I know that everything else made it. (My grandmother always leaves something on purpose in hotel rooms, so that she knows what she left and can make sure it’s not a really important thing – like she’ll leave a pair of old slippers so that she doesn’t forget her jewelry. Yes, I have a weird family.)
Now if we can just get back on a somewhat “normal” sleep schedule, we’ll be all set. That being said, she did sleep from 1 to 7 and is sleeping still, so it’s not like I didn’t get any sleep last night, it just got shifted a bit from our usual 11 to 5 schedule.