First Swim

We went to the Dunitz house today for a BBQ and Delaney’s first swim!  She loved it!  She was pretty serious the whole time, but got chest deep and enjoyed the experience enough to put on a good show for her large audience/paparazzi (Jody, Mitch, Amy, Sam, Chris, Howie and Mitch and Danny for the BBQ).  Thank you, Aunt Jody, for the awesome day! 

 

Watch what Delaney can do...

TOYS

Delaney has started to show some interest in toys.  She especially loves her Whoozit Toy and this morning we brought out some rattles for her to try out.   She is reaching out and grabbing toys and holding onto them for short periods of time.   As with all babies, she explores with her mouth so anything she is able to grab goes directly into her mouth.  As you can imagine, we spend 20 minutes each evening disinfecting all of her toys and playmat….  The amount of time we spend cleaning her play space, washing bottles and pump parts and doing her laundry is remarkable for such a tiny person. 
Side note:  Just so you don't think we are horrible parents for dressing Delaney in sweats and a (very cute cow) beanie in 90 degree valley heat, we take her for a walk every morning and it was nice and cool today. 

LAUGHING

Few things in life are better than hearing your baby laugh.  For some reason,  Brice is the only one that she laughs at and apparently she finds him hilarious- so much so that she always gets the hiccups after a good laugh.  We are noticing that she does certain things with certain people.  She LOVES talking and singing with my mom.  She LOVES laughing at Brice.  I am just good for milk…  We’ve tried many times to capture her laughing on camera, but this is as close as we’ve come.    

Rolling Over!

3 months

Delaney is 3 months/13 weeks! 

She weighs 12lbs 14oz and is 23” tall. 

She is:

-          “talking” up a storm.  She looks us in the eyes, talks talks talks, waits for a response and talks more.  She especially loves talking to Baba (my mom)—perhaps she is understanding Japanese better than English?

-          LAUGHING!  We got a “hah” a few weeks ago, but last weekend we actually got a “hahahahaha” a few different times.  She was sitting on the couch with Brice and went into fits of laughter.  Brice said it was one of the most special moments of his life.   She finds Brice the funniest. 

-          Rolling over!  Actually she rolled over for the first time on June 30 but not since then.   We’ve been pretty vigilant about as much tummy time as possible and we see her getting stronger every day. 

-          Weeing from the swaddle.  We’ve been dreading doing this for awhile since she is so much happier and calmer in the swaddle, but since she is able to roll over now, we must start weening her from the swaddle.  We are starting with 1 arm out during daytime naps, and so far it has not gone very well.  She does not sleep well or long without fully swaddled. 

-          Still preferring the breast over the bottle, but we increased the flow of the nipple and that seemed to have made some progress.  

-          Sleeping through the night!  We are putting her down at around 7:30pm and she is often sleeping until 7am. 

-          Not sleeping very well during daytime naps.  She often wakes up about 45 minutes into a nap.  Sometimes she starts crying and then sorts herself back to sleep.  Many times she starts crying and gets more and more upset because she can’t sort herself back to sleep.   Picking her up to soothe her has varying degrees of success- sometimes it stimulates her further and she definitely won’t go back to sleep, but sometimes she is able to calm down and go back to sleep.   Taking away a full swaddle is not helping matters. 

-          Taking most of her naps and all of the nighttime sleeps in her crib.  Without the Moses basket! 

-          Enjoying Babies First Class/Mommy and Me.  We go on Thursday mornings.  It interferes with her nap but last week we altered her schedule a little so that she would be awake for more of the class.  The first 45 minutes is a lecture and then there are songs, dances, exercises for the babies.   We are in a class of all March babies so Delaney is one of the youngest. 

-          LOVING songs.   We are quickly running out of repetoire, but she doesn’t seem to mind hearing the same songs over and over again.  Old McDonald has just about every animal in the kingdom now. 

-          Enjoying walks in the baby carrier.  We try to take her outside often for the fresh air and vitamin d, and she likes going on walks with Dakota.   Unfortunately it’s getting quite hot here during the day so walks are first thing in the morning or after it cools down in the evening.  

-          Teething?  We are not sure if it’s actually teething but she is showing some of the symptoms—drooling, trying to chew on her fingers, sticking her tounge out, fussiness…  It was especially heartbreaking when she let out many whimpers throughout the night. 

-          Still retaining her blue eyes.

-          Batting at objects, or as Brice likes to call it, “tomahawking.” 

-          Showing very little interest in toys other than Sophie the Giraffe

Back on the road...

Harder than breastfeeding, traveling while pregnant, morning sickness, the last few weeks of pregnancy and childbirth, was leaving Delaney for the first time.  I have been getting back to work more and more in the last few weeks and the time had come for me to get back on the road to see my most important client, Safeway Canada in Calgary.  It had been 4 glorious months since my last trip and I admit I was a bit rusty on packing.  Mostly because I had to pack a ridiculous amount of equipment in order for me to pump, store and bring back breastmilk.  Despite a healthy freezer stash, I was not prepared to just throw away this "liquid gold."  In preparation I bought a polar cooler which keeps ice for 26 hours.  I had to pack the breast pump including a cigarette lighter adaptor in case I have to pump on the plane or car, cleaning wipes, bottles, storage bags, ziploc bags for ice, hands free pumping bra , nursing cover and a print out of the TSA rule stating I can carry on breastmilk.  I pumped for the first time standing up in the terminal 2 airport.  A few moms smiled at me sympathetically.  American Express saved the day on the way home and got me into a lounge where I could pump in the private handicapped bathroom.   I only missed 1 pumping session in the 2 day trip which won't effect my supply.

I dreaded the trip since the day I booked it and got increasingly upset as the day drew nearer.  I knew that Delaney would be fine.  She is happy, has settled into a routine and gives cues of which both my mom and Brice are absolutely capable of responding to and enjoy handling.  I knew that Brice and my mom would be fine.  In fact Brice was excited to have a night alone with Delaney.  And I knew that I could handle the annoyance and inconvenience of pumping on the road.  But the bond between mother and child is so emotional and physical, so intense, that I was in physical pain from missing her so much.  I cried for the 2 hours before I had to leave, the whole way to the airport and in bursts throughout the trip.  I looked at her pictures over and over again.  I made Brice send me frequent pictures and updates on every detail.  I imagined what she might be doing at any given second. 

Guess what? We all did just fine.  Despite a major spit up right before bedtime, some fussiness and an unusually early wake up, Delaney and Brice had a great night.  She finished every bottle from my mom, had great burps, naps and tummy time.  I had a very successful trip that made me feel less terrible about having to go. In fact telling the buyer that this was my first time away from my 11 week old was good for at least one sympathy order.   I brought back over 20 oz of breastmilk with no issues in security.  And when I got home I got a huge smile from Delaney as if to say, Its ok that you had to go but I'm so happy you are home.  I even made it home to do the whole bedtime routine.  And she slept through the night! 

Like many things we have learned in the last few months, we sometimes just need to rip off the bandaid and push our comfort zone.   That isn't to say I won't miss her terribly any time I have to leave her, but next time I might only cry for 1.5 hours instead of 2.   

Bath Graduation

Delaney graduated from the sink to her whale tub!  I have such mixed emotions about it-- I'm so proud of her growth but also so sad that she's growing up so quickly!  I would be sadder had the whale tub not been 10 times easier than the sink.  And she seemed to enjoy it more too since she could just sit back and relax for her spa time! 

Here was her first bath at 4 days old:

And then last night at almost 10 weeks:

Happy Baby

I feel like we must be doing SOMETHING right because Delaney appears to be a very happy baby.  She is smiling all the time now, and not just little grins, but mouth-wide-open smiles.  She is also "talking" all the time.  We don't know where she got her blue eyes from, but the babbling is no surprise!  We respond to her sounds with similar sounds in an effort to boost her self-confidence.  She is especially chatty in the afternoons.