Monday 24 December 2007

A couple of Christmas themed pictures:
Zoë as Baby Jesus in The Christmas Story:




And for the more secular among us:




Happy Holidays from Joe, Zoë and I!

Saturday 22 December 2007

Well, it's been a pretty interesting couple of weeks here trying to get ready for her first Christmas while battling through our yearly ennui. December has never been a good time for either Joe or myself and the addition of Zoë has made it both harder and easier.
It's so much harder to get things done while carrying her around. But every time we look at her our mood can't help but lift. (As an aside, my respect for my mother has gone through the roof. How she managed to do anything when she had her first 4 kids in 5 years is beyond me. I tried to do some sewing to help my sister out a few weeks ago and I could barely manage to do a couple of seams an hour.)

Shopping with her has been an adventure. Every time we go out together I have to decide stroller or sling. With the stroller I can last longer and can carry more stuff comfortably, but I'm so much more manoeuverable with the sling. Tiny shops and public transportation are a breeze. (especially with my new boots!)
The sling has been winning for the most part. That means I'm exhausted at the end of the day though. I've taken to leaving her with Joe for an hour or so every couple of days to just sit in a coffee shop and relax.
We even left her with my niece for an hour last week so Joe and I could spend some time together without her. That was rather strange. But good. We probably won't have a chance to do that again until the new year, but hopefully it can turn into a regular thing.

Onto the pictures. I have week 15 (I missed week 14.) and her first picture with the fat man!




Saturday 8 December 2007

I was going to write a post that was all sunshine and roses about how she is now 3 months old and where does the time go yadda yadda, but it seems like the time got all saved up for days like today where minutes seemed liked hours.
For the last couple of days it's been really hard to settle her down for a nap and she always seems to want to be on the breast, but half the time she just plays there. I called my sister in a right state today and she asked if she was drooling a lot, and if so, the problem might be teething. I had to admit that the drool factor had definitely risen lately, to the point that I was considering putting a bib on her in an attempt to keep her clothes dry.
If this is her teething, Joe and I are in for a long year. She was completely bi-polar today screaming and babbling happily in turn. We tried to take her out in her stroller tonight because we were both a bit too tired to really want to carry her (and it's tough to fit her into the sling Joe uses with her snowsuit on) but we needed the air. She screamed the entire time in there. In the end I had to sling her up to get us home without completely shattering our nerves.
Also today, she was very clingy with me. Every time I left her with Joe for even the shortest time, she would start fussing, then the inevitable screaming. In the end we had to dose her with baby tempra and 2 ounces of formula to get her to calm down and sleep. Of course with all that in her, she'll sleep for hours now.

It is pretty exciting that she's 3 months now though. She babbles a lot now. I was sitting in the mall yesterday and she loved watching the people around us and was talking to them as they all passed. She's holding her head up enough that I tried her in the Bumbo seat. That seemed to be a success. She's also starting to reach for things and bat them around.
The most exciting thing is she seems to have a favourite toy and song. She loves talking to her Baby Clutch Cube and it can generally hold her attention for a few minutes. She also loves the song, Roly Poly Up Up Up (sung to the tune of Frere Jaques) that I learned from the library story time. I'm not sure if she just likes the fact that I swing her high up then low down with the song, but she laughs and the second time I sing it in a row, she starts smiling right away.

For pictures this time, we have week 12 and week 13 as well as the first time in the bumbo and putting up the christmas tree with dad! Exciting times!