Anna really enjoyed the Strong Museum today – after sleeping for most of the time we were there, she woke up and flashed me smile after smile. I even managed to snap a couple of smiley-baby pictures!
Check out the super chubby cheeks…don’t you just want to smoosh ’em?!?
Dear Carolyn,
I blinked and another month went by! We’ve been managing to keep pretty busy, even with Anna taking up so much of our attention. We’ve been going to the farmer’s market, the library, playgroup, playdates…and I’d guess that has a lot to do with why the time is flying by so quickly. The end of summer is just around the corner, and it’s not too long before you go back to school!
You’re turning into a little comedienne: the other day you asked me, “Mommy, how do baby ducks learn to fly?” So I tried to give you a real answer, something about the mommy and daddy ducks showing the baby ducks how to flap their wings, etc, etc…and you got really indignant: “No, Mommy! How do baby ducks learn to FLY?!?” “Um, I don’t know honey, how do you think they learn to fly?” “They just wing it!” You’d think a few days later when you asked, “Mommy, why do birds fly south for the winter?” I would have realized you were making another joke instead of seriously asking. (The punchline, in case you don’t remember later, is “Because it’s too far to walk!” (Bah-dum-bum.))
We haven’t talked about your favorite toys lately, and there’s definitely been a shift recently. You are so into tiny little (choking-hazard-sized) toys now – itty-bitty Hello Kitty dolls, the tiny My Little Pony sets, and now…Barbie, along with all her tiny shoes and things. Gasp! (Just kidding, I have absolutely nothing against Barbie, I just didn’t expect you to want them so soon!) You also have a collection of Calico Critters living in your room, although I left the upstairs gate open one evening while we were out and Molly (apparently) ate half of them. No matter what I give you to play with, you wind up role playing. Two cars? One’s the mommy and the other is the kid. A box of crayons? They more often end up dancing and talking than actually marking any paper. It’s really interesting to eavesdrop on this kind of play, because it usually reflects what’s going on in your life – the good and the not-so-good.
You’re really settling into the big sister role now. Anna smiles at you a lot, because you get right in her face and talk to her, sing to her and shake toys for her. I feel like I’m constantly telling you to be gentle, not wake Anna, wash the peanut butter off your hands, and keep your voice somewhat quieter than banshee-level, but most of the time you are just trying to help…just maybe a bit enthusiastically. I can’t wait until Anna’s a bit bigger and more interactive, because watching you with her now fills me with joy, and it will only get better – until Anna starts trying to play with your toys, of course! You really are my sweet, wonderful little girl. I love you.
Love, Mommy
Anna has already seen her first movie-theater movie: The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything. It was a bit scarier than I expected, but Carrie says she enjoyed it, even with the scary parts.
And then at my six-week checkup, I discovered that Anna weighs 11 pounds. (Granted, that was fully clothed and with an impending diaper blowout, plus I was holding her and subtracted my weight from the total, so it might not have been 100% accurate.) No wonder some of her 0-3 month clothes are already starting to seem snug!
The yarn shop has been open for one entire year! To celebrate we’re having a big sale through the end of the month. If you’re local and love yarn and fiber, stop by!
Anna, meet bottle. Bottle, meet Anna. Anna has successfully consumed milk from a bottle – hooray! I can now leave the house (well, once I stash some more milk in the freezer) for a few hours without having to worry that the baby will starve. When do I plan to do this? Well, not for a good long while. But it’s nice to know that I could.
And although Anna doesn’t reject pacifiers altogether, she’s already much more of a thumb-sucker than Carrie ever was. In fact, I can’t recall Carrie ever sticking her thumb in her mouth, but Anna’s been trying since the day she was born with some success. Well, last night she was all snuggled up against me and I looked down and her thumb was firmly planted in her mouth with her fingers all spread up against her face. It can’t have been very satisfying, since her thumb is barely a half inch long, but she was a happy little munchkin!
Dear Anna,
You are a month old today. I thought time flew by with your big sister, but this time it’s going even faster, if that’s possible. And at the same time, I’m having a hard time remembering what life was like before you joined us. We’ve all been spending the past month figuring out how to be a family of four, but somewhere along the line it just happened, and now it’s our new “normal”. (I can’t really have you thinking that you joined a truly normal family. You didn’t. We do our best, though.)
It’s been a busy month – you’ve been out and about much more than Carolyn was at this point, because I’d go stark raving mad if I had to stay home and watch one more kids’ show. (Honestly, I think your sister might have gone stark raving mad too!) So at eight days old we took you to church, the next day we hosted playgroup, a day later we all went to the mall, and the very next day I faced my fear of taking two kids out by myself and the three of us went to the library and the farmer’s market. We haven’t looked back since.
Once again, I’ve given in to the need for every last minute of sleep I can get at night, so you are spending the vast majority of the night tucked in between me and your daddy. Your sister survived it, and as long as she doesn’t squish you when she crawls in along with us on occasion you will too – don’t worry, I’ll make sure you don’t get squished, though a bigger bed might be a good investment… Since you sleep about three hours in our bed in between wakings vs. only an hour and a half in the bassinet, this is a no-brainer. You occasionally even sleep for almost four hours. This makes for a happy (although still a bit sleep-deprived) mommy. So, thanks.
I don’t know if you’re just way too mellow for your own good, or I’m way more relaxed about things this time, but you really are the easiest baby ever. (And that’s saying something, because Carolyn was also a really easy baby too.) You sleep, you nurse, you fill up diapers, you get visibly bigger every day, and occasionally you do really cute things like chuckle in your sleep or wave your fists around and accidentally punch your sister in the nose. I won’t say that you never cry, but you honestly don’t cry more than five minutes out of an entire day. You have this funny habit of keeping your big toes pointing straight up – unless you’re asleep, and then they’re just as relaxed as the rest of your toes. I don’t know what it means, but I’m taking it as a sign of your superior intelligence.
Just for the record, your hair is not highlighted (despite the blond natural highlights) or hennaed (despite the occasional glimpse of a reddish tint). I’ve been accused of doing one or the other or both, and I don’t want you thinking when you see the pictures when you’re older that I’d do any such thing. :) Oh, and your eyes are pretty much purely gray. I’m going to guess they’ll turn brown like Carolyn’s, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
In the past few days, you’ve really started waking up and noticing the world around you. And that comes along with cute little baby cooing and gooing, and the most beautiful smiles ever. And when you’re sleeping, I get to snuggle your warm little body and drink in your perfect little dimpled hands and the delicate artist-brush eyelashes. If I could just make one wish, it would be to freeze these moments in my memory to savor for all time.
Love, Mommy
OK, I have independent confirmation that Anna really did smile at me today. I think she’s smiled at me once or twice before, but it was a fleeting thing and I was too sleep deprived to be sure. This time, I said “hello, baby girl!” as I was holding her in my lap, and her whole face lit up in a smile while she was looking directly at me.
(And no, Denis, it wasn’t just gas!)
It’s becoming tradition to have a 0th birthday party for our children so we got a little ice cream cake and had a nice dinner with our parents. And took lots of pictures, of course! Honestly, at this point I’ve taken more pictures in Anna’s first four weeks than I did in Carolyn’s first four weeks…I think I might be just a bit too worried about the notion that second children have fewer pictures taken of them.
(All bets are off about the baby books though – to be fair, I didn’t fill in Carolyn’s either…)
Nana and Poppy arrived today, and we took the girls out to dinner at Friday’s. Anna slept the whole time (yay for eating an entire hot meal!) and Carrie thoroughly enjoyed her chocolate caramel ice cream sundae.
And when we left, we saw this amazing double rainbow – the pictures don’t do it justice at all! Oh, and from where we were standing, the pot of gold was definitely on our front step at home…someone must have moved it before we got there. ;)
Sometimes I’m overcome with the need to freeze time. A picture is as close as I can get.
