Sunday, July 31, 2005

Woohoo!

Pearl just pooped AND peed in the potty!

Friday, July 29, 2005

Holy Crap, What an Amazing Day!

Along with the success of the first movie theater venture with Pearl, something else monumentous has happened today.

This is the first time I have announced these plans to any but my husband: we are planning on trying elimination communication with Pearl.

Elimination communication is basically this: at a very early age, with the best window of opportunity being between birth and 4-5 months of age, you learn to communicate with your baby about their elimination needs. This is a two way communication: you learn the patterns of your baby's eliminations and how to interpret the cues they give about impending pee or poop; and you also make a sound (psssst is the one we're using) whenever they go, and they learn to associate that sound with elimination and go when you make it. Supposedly!

Since Pearl seems to have a very regular schedule at least with urination, and hates having wet diapers, I thought she would be a good candidate for this and my husband agreed. So, we ordered this very little Baby Bjorn potty, and I set about observing when she peed:



I haven't really noticed a consistent sign she's giving about impending pee. Sometimes she grunts and wiggles before she poops, but not always. Sometimes she does the same thing and just pees.

Anyways, today after we got home from our afternoon in town, the little potty had arrived! So about ten minutes after she finished eating, which is when I've observed her peeing, I sat her on the little potty, supporting her of course, and said, "Psst psst psssssst."

Did that for a few minutes, when lo and behold, with no warning, she POOPED IN THE POTTY!

You could've knocked me over with a feather. Now I know it's more likely that it was a combination of luck and my knowledge of when she goes than her actually knowing what was wanted of her, but damn, what an encouraging start!

I have photographic proof of this amazing occurence but feel just a bit weird about sharing my daughter's poop with the internet, so I've posted it to flickr as visible only to friends and family. You can click here to see if you are one of those! (And if you're not but you'd like to be, let me know!)

Ok, off to clean out the potty!

ETA: She is still going to be wearing diapers! We will just try to catch her pee/poop in the potty when we can and not stress about missing it.

Baby's First Movie

Today Pearl went and saw her first movie in the theaters. Well, I guess she didn't really see it, but my husband and I did, and Pearl certainly heard it, it was hella loud. The movie itself was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which I was super excited to see, as I love the book, love Tim Burton's films, love Johnny Depp, and disliked the first movie. It lived up to my expectations and I enjoyed it immensely. I thought the Oompa Loompas were great and my husband loved their singing and dancing too. He laughed throughout the film.

So, since I've told you that we saw it you probably guessed that Pearl was well-behaved during the showing. She was. We went to a matinee showing and except for one couple, the few other members of the audience were families with small children, and there was one other baby there, so I wasn't too stressed about the possibility/probability that she would start crying at some point. She was up and looking around for the commercials and previews, then started squawking a bit when the movie began, of course! But I put her to the breast and she nursed happily for a while - except it was one of those times when she wanted to talk the whole time as she ate, and was very noisy about it! But at least she wasn't wailing. After that she was a little cranky and tired so I put her in the mei tai, where she promptly spit up on my chest. She wasn't content there long, so her daddy walked her around the empty aisles behind us until she fell asleep, and she was fine for the rest of the film!

Afterwards we went to a farewell party at a restaurant in town for a guy that my husband (and I used to) worked with. We saw a bunch of people that I knew from my days as an employee who hadn't yet met Pearl, and got to see my sister and niece too, as my sister and brother-in-law work in that department too! (My brother does also, pretty crazy! He wasn't there though.) We stayed for a bit, ate quickly, then headed to the drugstore to buy a pregnancy test.

Not that I thought I was pregnant! I am going to get an IUD in two weeks and was instructed to take a home pregnancy test today, and they'd test me again at the time of the appointment, and we're to abstain until then. I took it when I got home and it was negative. It's a weird feeling, peeing on a stick when you don't have any reason to suspect you're pregnant... I've taken pregnancy tests three times before this and each time suspected I was pregnant. Once when I thought I might be but hoped I wasn't... and I was. Once when I hoped I was, thought I might be... but wasn't. And once when I thought I might be, didn't know whether I was hoping or dreading... and was!

Flickr Pro Account?

I'd like to get a flickr pro account, but, being poor, want to make sure it's that much better than the free account. I haven't yet reached my maximum monthly upload limit, but I do have to go through and resize my pics before uploading. The unlimited sets is also appealing.

So, those of you with flickr pro accounts, are they worth it? Should I get one?

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Two Months Old

Today little Pearl is two months old, and I thought I would celebrate the occasion by sharing the first picture ever taken of her:



Not great quality, but hey, it was an exciting time!

Her second month has been a pretty good one. She has discovered the toys on the bar of her bouncy seat and now enjoys batting at them and seeing them whirl and hearing them rattle, as well as looking at the baby in the mirror. She'll happily spend 5-10 minutes doing that while I take a shower, so I don't have to wait until she's asleep and pray she stays that way to get clean.

Now if we place toys in her hands she brings them to her mouth and tries her best to get them in there. Her repetoire of sounds has increased and she is always talking about something! She now makes unhappy sounds that aren't crying, and of course there are the gleeful shrieks that I love.

Even though she isn't mobile she spends a lot of time doing physical activity - pushing up with her legs, pushing up with her arms, crunches, and improving her head/neck control. I tell her all the time that it looks like she's just going to get up and run away! It definitely seems like she wants to. I'm sure once she does start moving on her own, she is never going to stop.

Her little thighs have gotten so chubby! Her hair might be a bit longer, too. I know her eyelashes are. When she was born they were just little stubs, hardly visible; now they are long and dark. Her eyes themselves have lightened near the iris and are a gorgeous shade of blue.

Sometimes when she's mad she'll raise her right arm and shake her fist, like a grumpy old man saying, "You cotton-pickin' kids, get off my lawn!"

Her fussy time is no longer a scheduled event but has disintegrated into just being crankier in general throughout the evening. It's very wearying. Is that a word? I don't know. It's evening; I'm wearified. Pearl is at her best in the mornings, after she has just woken up and is ready to smile and babble. I am at my best then too, because the world seems fresh and the day is new and I've got Pearl to spend it with.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

More New Stuff the Baby Does

Here is what Pearl has been doing:

  • Drooling quarts at a time.
  • Rolling from her back to her side - she's been doing this for a while but it was always on a soft surface (the bed, couch, etc) so I didn't count it until she did it yesterday on the floor.
  • Going for a whole day without pooping - this was yesterday, we finally had the messy diaper this morning.
  • Nursing purely for comfort/to get to sleep.
  • Standing up when trying to put the mei tai on - can't get it on right unless her legs are folded up in there, the little booger. She's not yet big enough for her legs to stick out the sides.

A Visit With My Family

Well it's morning and I'm awake and the baby is not! We had a birthday dinner for my little brother last night and all the excitement wore her out, poor little thing. She's still snoozing away. She didn't get much sleep yesterday evening. Thankfully it rained on the way home so she went to sleep then at least... Pearl does not appear to be one of those babies who automatically falls asleep in the car. She does sometimes though, and is generally content the times she is awake.

Pearl with her Uncle:


I got to see my little niece whom I haven't seen in a few weeks. She is cute but not so plump as Pearl! Her skin is more olive colored, like her daddy, my brother-in-law. I got her to smile and coo at me, it was pretty cute. Everyone comments on how noisy Pearl is - not in a bad way, she is just very very talkative! Makes noises about everything. I don't really think twice about it except when I'm around my niece, who barely makes a sound, and even cries pretty quietly.

Pearl's cousin:


I had all sorts of nightmares last night, ranging from living with my ex-in-laws, finding out my husband had a another child, husband being drowned in swamp mud by a blonde girl, to people and animals being killed by fiery doors from Heaven. All sorts of craziness that will be popping into my head all day. Why is it that normal dreams I can't remember, but the nightmares I can't shake?

Monday, July 25, 2005

So Tired

I feel bad complaining about how tired I am because I know we have it relatively easy in that Pearl sleeps through the night (waking up a few times to eat of course). We had a few days recently where she was hard to get down for the night, but those seem to have passed. There was one day when she woke up for good at 4:30am but thank goodness, that was a fluke. So I guess I get plenty of sleep. I'm just so, so tired all the time. We finally mastered nursing laying down in bed so at least I don't have to sit up to nurse any more, just get her latched on and stay awake through let down, which is very strong and causes Pearl to choke and sputter and pull off and then latch on again. Then I can snooze through the rest of the feeding.

So yeah, I'm tired. My house is a disaster and diaper laundry needs to be done but I have absolutely no motivation to do these things, I just want to sit and rest... Taking a nap is a good idea but doesn't work, I'm not usually not sleepy, just worn out. I think I read that breastfeeding saps energy, maybe that's why I'm so tired. I don't know.

Anyways, not a lot going on other than being tired. Pearl is very much enjoying putting weight on her feet, pushing up on her arms, etc. When she's a bit older I'm going to get her a doorway jumper, I think she'd have lots of fun in one. She is getting quite plump! Plumper than ever. I'm not surprised, I was a very fat little baby. She's about to outgrow some of her first diapers.

Friday, July 22, 2005

The Mama

Today while I was over at my mother-in-law's doing some laundry, Pearl was quite cranky. I knew it was about time for her to fall asleep because her rhythms have been pretty predictable lately: wake up, get wet diaper changed, nurse a little, play, have another wet and/or slightly poopy diaper, get cranky, back to sleep in the mei tai - this happened every hour. I don't think it'll be quite so regular today as it got interrupted.

Anyways, she was tired and cranky and ready to go to sleep. Usually I get to her sleep either by nursing or using the mei tai, but she was visiting with her grandma so I let them be. However she just got crankier and crankier so I gave up hoping grandma could soothe her to sleep and took her back, thinking she might be hungry even though it hadn't been very long since she last nursed. She quieted down some right away and by the time I unhooked my nursing bra and got her latched on she was calm as could be. She didn't really eat much but just laid there for a while, then she unlatched and rested her cheek agaisnt my breast, closed her eyes, and she was asleep.

Of course everyone knows that mothers generally soothe their babies best, but I've gained a different understanding of that now that I'm the mama. It's a very sweet thing, realizing that she now recognizes the difference between when I hold her and others hold her. She knows who her parents are. Since birth she has recognized the sound of her daddy's voice and will look around for him. Her daddy laments sometimes that she doesn't like him as much as she likes me, but after all, I do have a nine months head start.

I love being a little family.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Smiling at the Baby in the Mirror

Pearl loves the mirror on that toybar so much! She smiles and coos at her image, and hits the toys to either side of it. I don't think she's hitting them on purpose yet but either way it's pretty cute and she enjoys it.

p.s. I washed her hair this morning and am pleased to announce that the cradle cap has retreated for now and her scalp and hair are both looking lovely. Hooray.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Adventures With Cradle Cap

So Pearl had a few patches of cradle cap on her sweet little head. Not a big deal. She started out with it in her eyebrows! I looked up how to be rid of it and tried applying Burt's Bees Apricot Oil to her brows then gently scraping off the flaky scaly stuff. It worked very well, haven't had cradle cap of the eyebrows since, though, as I said, she developed a few patches on her scalp.

Today I applied the apricot oil to those spots and then rubbed at them a little, then gave her a bath, washed her hair. All was good at this point. Then I decided to brush her hair. I have brushed it once or twice before with a little cheapy brush, no problem, but this time I decided it would be nice to do it with the silver-backed brush from the set my mother-in-law gave to me at my baby shower that also includes a comb and a cute little round silver box that says "My First Curl."

It was nice, very picturesque and all, but I didn't realize that brush's bristles were so stiff... it was quite rough on her scalp and made the cradle cap look much, much worse. It didn't seem to bother her at all, but it looked awful! I used the other, softer brush to get all the flakies out of her hair, and that was better, but her scalp was still looking pretty bad so I rubbed some Burt's Bees Baby Bee lotion onto it. (Can you tell I love Burt's Bees? I do love it.) I don't know why I decided to do that rather than use the apricot oil. The lotion left her hair greasy and kind of crunchy as opposed to just oily, as with the apricot oil. But her scalp looks better!

Now I must wash her hair again before my mother arrives for a visit and discovers what a silly, silly mother I am!

In other news, I am about a fourth of the way into the new Harry Potter book, and am enjoying it. However, I am reading it in ebook form and I guess it is not quite legit - there are many crazy typos and about six chapters in the font abruptly changed! That was quite disconcerting actually. But nonetheless, I am enjoying it.

Monday, July 18, 2005

Cloth Diapers

Hippie Chick asked me how cloth diapering was going, and I thought I'd write about it here since I don't have a whole lot else to talk about. (Except that Mystery Animal I almost ran over in the national forest on my way into town for groceries... what was that Mystery Animal? Too small for a ground hog, didn't move like a squirrel or rabbit, not striped like a skunk, fluffier-tailed than a possum but smaller than a raccoon - and besides, this was broad daylight... hmmmm...)

Cloth diapering is a big commitment, for me at least. We do not have a washer and dryer so doing the diaper laundy every third day requires hauling the diapers either to my mother-in-law's (who just lives next door thankfully) or to a laundromat. I've done them at my sister's house too, while visiting with her and her baby. But usually I do them twice a week at my in-laws' and once at the laundromat.

It's a pain, but I like using them a lot better than disposables. I don't like the way disposables feel or smell (with the exception of Seventh Generations, which is what we used when we first brought Pearl home from the hospital, and what I recently bought a pack of so we don't panic when it's laundry day and the diaper supply is running low. They're alright.), and having to shell out the money for them all the time would drive my thrifty soul nuts. The fact that you can just toss out a disposable when you're done with it and never think about it again is nice... except I do still think about it, sitting in a landfill for the rest of eternity. I feel much better getting use after use out of cloth diapers.

During the day, if we're hanging around the house, Pearl usually wears a chinese prefold with either a wool soaker or a prorap plasticky cover. I don't like the proraps much. I'm slowly converting my prefolds into fitted diapers - directions to do so (with pictures!) can be found here and here. You lose a little bit of the absorbancy of the prefolds, as you're doing away with some of the cloth, but that doesn't matter for us, because the diapers rarely reach their maximum absorbancy - Pearl cries as soon as her diapers are at all wet/poopy.

Which brings us to the topic of nighttime diapering! At night we use Fuzzibunz, diapers with a waterproof outside, fleece inside, and space in between to stick absorbant material. The fleece keeps her from feeling the dampness so unless she poops at night, which she doesn't do often these days, I don't change her diaper until morning. It's awesome.

We also have some Kissaluvs, fluffy fitted diapers, that we generally use when out and about since they're easier to put on than prefolds.

So cloth diapering is indeed going well! It suits us. Well, my husband loves the ease of disposables, so when she outgrows all these diapers I might see if it's worth it to him to spend more money and get more Fuzzibunz and less prefolds, cause I want him to like it too!

Sunday, July 17, 2005

New Stuff the Baby Does

Some new things the baby can do:

  • Bring her hands to her mouth pretty reliably and then feast on them.
  • Push herself up on her legs when held upright against my chest. She does this all the time! She'll also push her upper body away from my chest with her arms. I'm usually leaning back on the couch during all this, so not completely vertical - there's a couple of photos of this on my flickr account, I'm feeling too lazy to stick them here though, sorry. (Also uploaded other photos, lots, check em out.)

Okay that's all the new stuff she can do.

Yesterday and the day before, she was so, so cranky. All throughout the day, cry, cry cry. I think caffeine might be the culprit, as throughout the week I had been enjoying tea with vanilla almond milk (yum). It was a nice little pick me up, I've been so tired lately... but I didn't have any today or yesterday, and today she's been very calm and happy so I think that may be it. *sigh*

p.s. I accidentally posted this without a title. I didn't even realize you could do that!! And here all this time I've been struggling with post titles! I may never title anything again! Oh, I guess I'd better, for archival purposes...

Friday, July 15, 2005

Pork: It's What's for Breakfast!

For Father's Day my husband got a grill and we have been enjoying a variety of food cooked over the flames. Last night it was barbequed pork tenderloins and man, were they good. I had leftovers for breakfast. Now I don't usually have barbeque for breakfast; it's just hard to find breakfast that doesn't involve cooking or milk. I used to be a cereal kind of girl but now that I'm breastfeeding my daughter, that isn't an option.

I stopped eating dairy when she was about two weeks old after reading how babies' digestive systems have a hard time digesting the proteins in cow's milk until they are a few months old and that breastfed mothers' consumption of dairy had been linked to colic in their babies, particularly if the family has a history of milk allergy. I couldn't eat dairy products as a child and neither could my little brother, so I cut it out of my diet hoping it would improve Pearl's gassiness/fussiness. It didn't get rid of her evening fussy time, we still have that, but she did seem less cranky during the day. Well, last Friday we went out for pizza with my parents and that cheese (oh, it was so good, so, so tasty) was the first dairy product I'd had in a while. A few hours later, which also happened to be Fussy Time, Pearl screamed and screamed! Now she does usually cry during Fussy Time (obviously) but usually bouncing in her bouncy chair and taking a walk outside will quiet her down. This time, however, she would not be soothed. It was awful, I could tell she was really hurting. So, no more cow's milk for me. We'll try again in a few months and see how it goes.

I really, really miss ice cream.

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Congratulations!

Congrats to Cara, who has given birth to her baby boy! He is quite cute!

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

What's Up With Baby

Perhaps you're wondering what's new with the baby these days - she's growing fast! I haven't checked her weight or height since she was a month old (10.5lb and 22in) and she's now about six and a half weeks and every time I look at her I think she's gotten bigger! Mama's milk is good stuff.

She has eyelashes! Of course she always has, but she was born with just little stubby ones. Now they're longer and darker, quite fetching. It's astonishing, watching her grow and develop... a baby is a 'common miracle' but a miracle nonetheless. It first really hit me that we'd created a real live human when gazing at her ear one day, all the intricate curves and hollows. It's amazing to think that she just started out as cells... and look at her now.

As you can see from the picture in my last post, she's getting quite good at holding her head up. She has been all along actually, and is improving her control all the time. Her trunk is also getting stronger and if we hold her upright she does crunches and moves her upper body all around. She's putting weight on her feet now too, which means she's moving fast out of the newborn stage!

Her sleep habits have changed too... not something I'm thrilled about. It used to be she would generally sleep after nursing anytime, no problem. Now she'll still sleep after nursing, but not always very deeply, and at bedtime, not at all. That's right. Not going to sleep at bedtime. That is why I am awake right now rather than snoozing blissfully.

However, even though nursing no longer puts her dependably to sleep, I know what does - our mei tai. I put her in it (on my front though, not on my back as in the picture) and bounce on the birth ball or walk around and pretty soon, she's out like a light. Thank goodness... I don't handle not getting my sleep well.

But now she is snoozing (thank you mei tai, thank you birth ball) and so I am off to bed! Sweet dreams all.

Hangin' Out on the Boppy


Hangin' Out on the Boppy
Originally uploaded by fuzzypeach.
Testing the layout for my flickr photos... seeing how I like the photo on the side.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog. I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted to move but after I decided to I felt better, so I guess it was the right thing to do. I've changed my username around the net and taken some other precautions. I hate that I felt I had to move at all, feels kind of like I'm letting the bad guy win and letting fear dictate my actions. I know I haven't done everything I could've but I've done everything I'm willing to and now I'm going to continue writing and posting pictures, worry free. Que sera, sera and all that.

I'm still working on the template. Those of you who were around for the last move (which I think was just my husband and KB!) may remember how long it took me to get set up... but I wanted to go ahead and get started writing again because not writing was driving me nuts. So expect to see changes and stuff added over the next few weeks as I settle in whenever I get a few moments.