lazy sunday afternoon.

A few photos from our afternoon -- we had just finished singing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and "If You're Happy and You Know It."

2 funny things.

1. Lorelei loves to be tickled with hair. I don't know why, but she seems to find it relaxing. In fact, if she's a little upset, it can turn her mood right back around.



2. Lorelei has slept for 8 hours in a row for three nights now. After her shots yesterday, she was pretty out of it, sleeping a lot more than usual and being very unhappy when she was awake. I woke up at 4:15am and heard her grumbling, but she fell back asleep. I woke Jason up to ask what he thought I should do and we agreed I should wake her up to eat. 25 minutes later, she fell asleep on my shoulder, but I was worried that her head felt hot, so I carried her back in to our bedroom to ask Jason what I should do. Here's the transcript of our conversation.

Courtney: Jason?
Jason: (grunt) Yeah?
Courtney: Should I take Lorelei's temperature or give her more Tylenol?
Jason: (heavy breathing)
Courtney: (rubs Jason's back with her one free hand) Jason?
Jason: (grunt) Yeah?
Courtney: Should I take Lorelei's temperature or give her more Tylenol?
Jason: Yeah, I'd give her more time.
Courtney: Jason, I know you're sleeping, but I need to ask you a question, okay?
Jason: What? What?
Courtney: Should I take Lorelei's temperature or give her more Tylenol?
Jason: Yeah, I'd feed her.
Courtney: Jason, I just fed her for 25 minutes. I need to know if I should wake her up to take her temperature or give her more Tylenol.
Jason: Wait, what time is it?

Word of advice to Lorelei, if you ever read this: in the middle of the night, if there is an emergency, wake your mom up first!

2 month check-up.

Lorelei had her two-month "well child" doctor's visit today. The doctor says she is, in fact, well. She weighs 11 pounds, 12 ounces, is 22.5 inches long, and her head circumference is 15 inches -- which puts her into the 50th, 25th, and 25th percentiles respectively (this is up from 5th, 15th-ish, and 5th at birth). All other reflexes and whatever else the doctor looks for seemed to be normal.

Lorelei was very happy at her appointment, looking at all of the medical equipment, kicking her feet, and enjoying squirming around on the doctor's table...that is, until her vaccinations. I have never heard her cry like that before! Jason was all talk beforehand ("Shots don't even really hurt -- what's the big deal?"), but when the needle came out, he mouthed "I'm scared!" at me and he was very startled by how upset she was. I tried to nurse her right away for comfort, but she was too upset to even do that! Poor little baby!

TRUE happiness.

This morning, 7:15am.

I had just finished nursing Lorelei a little before 7. She fell asleep, so I gently wrapped her and laid her in her crib, then snuck back to bed. I was exhausted from being up too late the night before and so I buried myself under the covers and tried to fall back asleep as quickly as I could. But then I heard something.

I looked at the baby monitor. Lorelei seemed to be awake -- but she wasn't making sounds of distress. She was cooing! I was curious as to what was going on, so I climbed out of bed and went back to her room. There she was, staring up at her mobile, squirming with happiness and cooing. She must have woken up after being conked out from nursing and was happy to see her favorite "toy" (she could stare at it for hours!).

I walked over to her crib, figuring she was up and I should probably be on call to spend some time playing with her. I looked over the side of the crib and Lorelei looked straight up at me, making eye contact. Then she gave me the biggest grin I've ever seen and started squealing and kicking her feet. I picked her up and she snuggled into my chest.

What a wonderful reason to get back out of bed! If only every morning could be as snuggly and happy as this morning -- I would give up an extra hour or two of sleep for that much happiness any day.

Lorelei, blurry because she is flailing and squirming with delight

to sleep, perchance to dream.

Now that our breastfeeding woes are (mostly) over, Lorelei and I are onto our new battle: sleep.


Lorelei busting out of her swaddle-wrap, 7 1/2 weeks old

For about the first six weeks, Lorelei was pretty consistent with her sleeping. She would have the occasional off day or two (like during growth spurts), but mostly she would nurse and then go to sleep with a regular interval of 3 hours in between feedings. Sometimes at night she would "cluster feed" and then, starting at about 11 or 12, go for 4 hours, but that was pretty rare.

Then, all of a sudden at about 7 weeks of age, she started napping really poorly. Waking up 45, 30, or 20 minutes into her nap! Because of our breastfeeding issues, I struggled with determining if she was waking up due to hunger. After about a week, though, it's pretty clear that she's doing this because she's sleep-deprived!

Now that she's socially aware, Lorelei wants to be awake as much as possible. When she was only a few weeks old, she would fall asleep anywhere and anytime she needed to so we didn't have to worry about "keeping her up." But now that she is so excited about the world around her, she needs help to get to sleep and we have to watch her every move to make sure that she is whisked into her crib the moment she starts to seem drowsy. This is very difficult to do when you are having fun with her -- especially for dads. :)

The positive side to this is that Lorelei is sleeping much better at night now -- going 5 or 6 hours in between feedings. But I bet she would sleep even more soundly if we could get her nap schedule to even out. As Dr. Weissbluth says, "Sleep begets sleep" -- the more well-rested our little girl is, the better she'll sleep.

It's interesting to me how the science of sleeping gets so wrapped up into parenting styles. Good sleep is good sleep, no matter what kind of parent you want to be. The parent-directed and the attachment parenting "camps" seem to want to point fingers of blame and shame. But no matter if you have your kid on a feeding schedule or have a family bed and nurse 10 times a night, if you put your child in daycare or carry her in a sling all day, she still needs to sleep! There's so much research on the importance of sleep for adolescents and adults -- how could people deny that good quality sleep is what's healthiest for infants, who are in an extremely rapid and fragile state of development?

So we're in crisis-response mode here. Mission: Baby Sleep. It means less playtime with Lorelei temporarily -- but if that means a healthier, happier baby in the long run, that's a sacrifice we're going to have to make!


Lorelei, looking angelic in her sleep on 7/4/2011



8 weeks old.

Today I am 8 weeks old. Here's what I can do!

Squeal and laugh a little bit.

"Talk" in some vowel sounds with maybe a "goo" thrown in once or twice for good measure.

Smile at my parents, at toys, and when I'm having my diaper changed or when I'm being swaddled before sleeping.

Bat at objects hanging down near me.

Stare at everything -- pictures on the wall, my owl mobile, and especially my parents.

Kick my feet with wild abandon like I am trying to run away.

Lift my head and a little bit of my chest and hold it there steadily so I can stare straight ahead (I won't do this on command, though, so don't get your hopes up that I'll do it when you want me to!)

Keep my head steady when my parents hold me upright, and I'm starting to be able to do it when they pull me to a sitting position, too.

Stand up and put some weight on my legs and feet when my parents support me under my arms.

Wear some of my 0-3 month clothes -- I am really filling out!

Sleep...sometimes, when I'm not busy doing other things. I absolutely love being alive and I'm so fascinated by the world around me I just can't bear to miss any minute of it!

once again, lorelei the live version.

Here's another set of videos of what Lorelei's been up to lately.

This one is a compilation of her new tricks: batting at things, cooing, and smiling (we can't yet capture her big ear-to-ear grin on camera, so I guess you'll have to see it in person by coming to visit!).



Here's a long-ish one of story time with Dad before bed.



And here's a short little one Jason tried to take of Lorelei smiling that was not so successful!