19th WEEK STATUS

Fingers are the subject of the week. "S" has finally discovered she has fingers. They wiggle. They poke. They go in her mouth and around her mouth. They pull at her blankie and push it around her head, against her cheeks, and also into her mouth. They push Mr. Bear on his head and around her head.

Unfortunately, the fingers (and the hands) have not yet grasped how to use the "nummy" (i.e. pacifier) nor has she figured out completely how to soothe herself with her fingers (i.e. thumb sucking) either. So, for now, mommy and daddy are still spending their time helping her soothe herself to sleep. If only this meant more sleep for mommy and daddy, too.

NAPPING

There's nothing like a "Grumpasaurus" to teach one the importance of a nap. We learned to put "S" to bed immediately after seeing two or three of the sleepy cues: yawning, eye-rubbing, teary eyes, or fussing. Did you know hiccuping is also a sign of tiredness?

"S" is now sleeping at least three to five naps a day, ranging from 30 minutes to 2 hrs. It's been an uphill struggle for all to get her to sleep during the day over the course of the last four weeks. She is now addicted to her "nummy" (i.e. pacifier) and swing.

Now, that we almost have naps conquered ("knock on wood"), we are turning towards getting the nights mastered and breaking our bad habits (after all we got her addicted to the nummy and swing). We expect "S" to continue to fight sleep until the bitter end!

4 MONTH STATUS

"S" is becoming a little human and we fall more "in-love" with her with each passing day. She is getting a hang of her hands and often is successful in grasping and holding her toys and blankie. Recently, she has been playing in an excer-saurcer that she inherited from her cousins. She gets excited to be able to reach for her toys and to watch around the room sitting up by herself (well... with a little help from the excer-saucer and a small towel).

BTW, she is now 14 lb, 2 oz and 22 1/2 in. according to her 4 month checkup. This is still 50% in weight and 5% in length.

3 MONTH STATUS

"S" is now 3 months old and is AWAKE. She struggles every day against taking naps because the world is much more interesting that dreaming about milk. She tries real hard to take it all in. Her saucer eyes scans the room and sky everyday and checks out every detail. She doesn't realize yet that she has plenty of time. It won't go anywhere.

We firmly believe that "S" has inherited our stubborness. At the end of the day, she is determined to fight against going to sleep. As she drifts off, she often gives out one last cry... Sometimes she wins and sometimes the sleep wins. We, often, are just victims in her battle.

NURSING

The past three weeks have been miserable -- due to thrush (originally) and now reflux. Both Mommy and baby shared their first communicable disease - thrush, a yeast infection. "S" cries and pulls away during nursing. Mommy's nerves and confidence are shaken, especially with a crying and screaming baby (who sounds hungry) at her breast.

Nursing has slowly gotten better. Maybe the reflux medication or sleeping wedge is helping. Who knows? We're not sure if it was reflux or thrush which caused the crying and pulling away while nursing.

12 WEEK STATUS

"S" is changing quickly. She is now 11 lb 9 oz, a chubby healthy baby. According to her 2 month checkup, she's 50% in weight and 5% in length. Daddy says, "baby got back!"

She is just realizing she has hands, but still has no control or coordination of them. After a couple of minutes of watching her punch herself and trying not to laugh at her, we come to her rescue with a pacifier.

Recently "S" went through a growth spurt at 2 1/2 months and ate like Ms. Piggy (no insult intended the real Ms. Piggy). Right now, her schedule is messed up because of the growth spurt and we hope her schedule will settle out soon -- for her sake and ours.

10 WEEK STATUS

It's amazing to realize how much "S" is growing and changing. She is now an 11-pounder and getting too heavy for us to carry her on our evening walks.

She is more AWARE of her surrounding. She loves looking at the mobile in her swing and over her changing table. When we carry her around, her eyes get so big and her head moves around looking at everything. She has also started to mimic the sounds we make, although she has no idea of what she is saying. We can get her to say "hi," "hello," and "open" if we say it often enough.

We are happy to say that she now sleeps six hours straight at night. Bedtime is typically midnight (or her last nursing) and she wakes around 6 o'clock in the morning. There's nothing like more sleep to make mommy & daddy happy and sane!

INTRODUCTIONS

S. M. has finally arrived! She came into our lives at 2:08am Sunday, May 21. She's a tiny little thing (4lbs. 12oz., 18in.), but she's healthy and thriving, and doing everything a baby should do.

We're spending our time getting acquainted and trying to redefine 'normal'. Day and night have less meaning than they did before. But we're getting the hang of it.