Saturday, July 31, 2010

Oh baby!






You are really keeping us busy lately my love. You are one busy lady. You walk and toddle and stumble ALL OVER! Plus, you've quit sleeping. Sleeping is apparently for wimps.

I also think you might have whooping cough. I took you to the doctor and he thought so too, so you're on an antibiotic to decontaminate you. Poor kiddo.

Those last two teeth have finally broken through too. You've been working on those since early June. They were SLOW movers.

Because of all this not-fun stuff, Daddo has taken to letting you sleep on his chest. You seem quite happy with this arrangement. You nap on one of us, you sleep at night on Daddo, and you spend all day playing with us. You seem to just love this arrangement, and Daddo seems pretty happy too.

We went to the Museum of the North this week. Every time you saw a dead bear, bison, fox, wolf, or other furry animal (including birds) you'd shout 'DOG!' and make everyone around you laugh. You loved looking around at everything. Paintings, a highly decorated outhouse, all of it was cool and groovy as long as Daddo kept slipping you pieces of graham cracker. It's against the rules to have food or drink in the Museum, but we were hoping no one would care if you ate a little. And no one did. You did a great job by keeping it secret, just between you and dad. And after our walk to the museum, our walk through the museum, and our walk home, you were a tired, sleeping girl.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Guess who can walk now!!

Adelaide, you're walking!



My big girl! I am so proud of you! And you seem very proud of yourself. Oh Adelaide, this has been such a wonderful day. You're walking all by yourself, and you got your own room today! Mommy and Daddy moved out and gave you a whole room to yourself. What a big day!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Let the Wild Rumpus Start!

Today, Adelaide, you learned how to 'wild rumpus' a la Where The Wild Things Are.

This is the result:

Friday, July 16, 2010

I have not been keeping up with my letters, dear daughter. But you, oh sweet one, have been on a rampage. It's not bad, exactly, just extremely busy.

Daddy is officially "Dad-O" and I am "mom-mae", and we are both blissfully happy with our new names.

Each of us has read you every book you can reach several times today, yesterday, the day before, etc. Since we got home from Michigan you just read from the moment you wake up until the moment you go to sleep. Nothing is as amazing as a book. Especially one with animals, or sounds, or something to touch, or peek a boo pages. Your appetite for books is voracious and amazing. We're happy to read to you, even if it is the 5th time Daddy's read "Mama Do You Love Me" today. And sweetheart I will keep on doing my very best 'moos' when we read "Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?" as long as you keep smiling like that.

As soon as dad brings you downstairs in the morning, you crawl over to your books, pull them off the shelf and look for the one you want. When you find it, you hand it to Dad, then hold your arms out to him so he'll pick you up. This is how you tell us you'd like us to read to you. We can't turn you down.

Though I may start hiding some of these books.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Dog Books

For the last several days you have wanted to read, and read, and read. You crawl over to your books saying 'dog dog dog' and find a book that has a dog (your definition includes bears) in it. Hand it to a parent, hold out your arms. We read you the book, you read along with us, you turn the pages, and excitedly point and talk to and about the 'dogs'. When that book is over, the process repeats.

At this point, my lovely daughter, we're going to have to go buy some new books. I don't think I can read Barnyard Dance again or Brown Bear Brown Bear, What Do You See? without imploding. Your generally patient father has started hiding books.

We are both so excited about your love of reading. You just exude joy when you're holding a book and turning the pages. Even though our brains are turning to mush from the repetition, don't stop. Enjoy your books, and don't let our limitations limit you.

Oh, and thanks to Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?, you now know what an owl says. Which is pretty darn cute.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

tattle tale!

My daughter, you have started tattling on Daddy. When he's doing something you don't like (such as change your diaper) you start yelling, "Mom mom mom mom mom!"

I think this is hilarious, Daddy does not. Probably because he's the one being tattled on. But I love that you call me when something is wrong (even if nothing is really wrong) and I love that you are such a big girl. Even more, I love that you know who I am. I love that you know what "Mom" means. I love that you know how to call me.

I love you.

We took a crazy walk last night. I wish I had brought my camera. We thought that a nice long stroll through the woods would put you right to sleep and give us exercise. Daddy ended up carrying you as I pushed and dragged your stroller through a swamp. You loved it. So much to see and do and touch. We kept you up far too late, but getting muddy was pretty fun. I may take you back out there today just for some pictures!

Thursday, July 8, 2010



Adelaide, you are such a star.

And you love to fly. You love having both mine and Daddy's complete and undivided attention, you love smiling and waving to everyone you make eye contact with, and you love flirting with the flight attendants.

And they love giving you extra cookies, moving other passengers so that we have our own row, and giving us room to keep you moving and happy in the Ergo.

We had a wonderful vacation. Except for your fever and crankiness. Your pediatrician said that you were likely recovering from an ear infection. Today you weigh 20 pounds, 7 ounces and are 28 inches long with an almost 18 inch head. You're healthy and strong and amazing.

Love you baby.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Your birth story

I'm still editing your birth story. There's still so much to say.

Our daughter was born 8/26 at 2:53pm, at home, after 13 hours of labor.

I thought my water broke on Tuesday at 9am (turns out it was just a high leak). We took castor oil, black and blue cohosh, and walked for ever. Had some good, regular contractions, but they fizzled out pretty quickly. Went in to visit my midwives that night, and we decided that since I WOULD be in labor no matter what the next day, I should just rest for the night. I'd been having regular contractions throughout the night for a couple of nights, so I thought maybe I just needed to be relaxed to start labor.

Went home and watched some TV show reruns (doesn't get much more mindless than that!) and relaxed with my hubby. Went to bed, and woke up around 2 with regular contractions. I timed them at 1 min long every 3-4 minutes, which is exactly what the midwives wanted to know about. So we called, and they said to call back when we wanted them to come over.

Around 7, my amazing midwives came over and found me at 7 cm and fully effaced. Sweet! At this point, I wasn't having to vocalize much during the contractions as long as I remembered to breathe (important!). So we kept laboring.

We ended up spending about an hour in the tub, and I slept. Laboring in water was so relaxing that I was almost able to sleep through the contractions (that was really unexpected). Unfortunately, that super relaxing time didn't help me progress at all. At 11, I was only at 8. Oddly enough, one side of my cervix was complete and the other side wasn't.

So we labored some more. My husband is pretty much the most amazing man I've ever met. He sat with me on the floor, and helped me into and out of the tub, and basically carried me through most of labor (literally - it felt so good to go limp during a contraction). At one point, I felt the contractions change and I knew I was close. That was terrifying. I was SURE that I was about to experience the worst pain of my life.

So I got in the tub to calm things down and collect myself. When I got out, I started pushing. We tried a few different positions, and found the best (for us, for that birth) to be on the birth stool with my husband holding me up from behind. After a while, I realized that this really didn't hurt as badly as I had expected. Really. Once I stopped worrying about how badly I thought it was going to hurt and just lived in the moment and experiences that were actually happening, I was fine.

I don't know how long I pushed, but it was quick. Once she crowned, we figured it would be about 6-10 more contractions and good pushes (not that she needed to be out then, but I liked having some sort of progress to monitor). The next contraction, she came out all at once! I was a little surprised to see her there. I thought her arrival would be marked with more pain and more drama.

At 3pm on August 26th, I pushed a baby out of me.

I thought she was SO BLUE! Really, it was the newborn gunk. Her actual skin wasn't blue. And she was not at all interested in crying, so we ended up putting oxygen on her to help her get pink. I lost a bit of blood and my blood pressure dropped so the midwives got me on the bed, baby on my chest, had hubby hold the oxygen for her, and they went in for the placenta. It had partially detached with the birth, and that was causing the bleeding, so it needed to come out. I got a shot of pitocin and with a little cord traction (um, WEIRD!), and a lot of uncomfortable manipulation and a push, the placenta came out. I was still bleeding so they gave me some methergin, and everything seemed pretty fantastic after that.

I was a bit woozy, so I stayed on the bed until much later that night. A few minor after birth complications, but nothing dramatic.

My daughter is perfect. She's beautiful and just flawless.

Vacation is ending

Well my love, you don't seem to be interested in walking on vacation. You are so, so close. As much as I would love to see you toddling through the airport, and to your aunts and uncles around the house, I'm ok with waiting. You do what you need to do, and you do it on your own time.

But if you could start sleeping at night, your dad and I would much appreciate it. That is all.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Lake Michigan

Oh baby, you had such a wonderful time today. We went to Lake Michigan and played on the beach, in the sand and in the water.

You are truly fearless. You never flinched at the waves or the incredible body of water, or even when you threw sand and it blew back in your face. You crawled along the shore and let the water wash over your legs. No worries.

Then, you saw your cousin's sand castle. Suddenly, life got really good. You crawled over and tried so hard to help him build the castle. And every time you knocked it down he would say "Oh, that's ok Adelaide," and turn to me and say "She doesn't know yet, she's too little." You and your cousins had a great time playing in the sand.

Daddy took you into the water and you loved that too. You love the water and the waves. Maybe you just feel very safe in your daddy's arms.

We had so much fun at the beach with you today.

Oh, and Uncle Jason fed you most of his ice cream cone so if you grow up addicted to ice cream - blame him.

Aggresive sleeping

Daughter, you've wounded me.

You leave bruises on my upper arms. As you slip into sleep (sometimes against your will) you like to touch, pinch, scratch, stroke, and feel skin. Generally, you can reach my upper arms (including the underside made of soft, sensitive skin), my ribcage, and my armpits. I have marks. People have commented on what look like evidence of abuse. To be honest, the touching and hurting gets to me at night. I start to lose patience, I have to give you to Daddy.

Then, when he's touched and pinched and scratched out, we switch back. Eventually you sleep and your fingers stop moving.

This too shall pass. Babies go through LOTS of phases and this is one of them. There is a particular blanket at home that has a material you like to feel. I think I'll try to teach you to touch that as you fall asleep in an attempt to save my own skin.



Once you're asleep, there is nothing in the world that feels better than cuddling with you. Cuddling with you when you're awake (and not fighting sleep) is blissful as well, but that doesn't happen very often.

 

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