Friday, October 28, 2005

Five Months Old

My little Pearl is five months old today!

Along with the whole deciding to wake up at five in the morning thing, Pearl's napping has been just totally unpredictable. In the course of a week, she has gone from taking no decent naps, to taking a few short and one gloriously long nap, to taking several long naps, to taking a million tiny naps, etc. Her night sleeping schedule is more regular - she seems to be sleeping for a nine and a half hour stretch. I think she's sleeping through the night. Since she's always pretty much done that, what I mean is that I don't think she's rousing to nurse in the time between when I go to sleep and the time her wiggling wakes me in the morning.



She's such an active and playful baby. She's learned how to jump in her doorway jumper and really enjoys it. She can pretty much destroy her playmat, which makes me wish I'd gotten one bigger and sturdier than the gym-to-go that I purchased. However wimpy it may be, she still has lots of fun with it, and that's the whole point, right? She loves for me to play peekaboo with her and she is now returning the interest her cousin Kaida shows in her, reaching out to grab her ears and poke her in the eye and make her cry. Before she would usually arch her back and try to escape, or ignore Kaida completely. My sister's dogs held much more fascination! Pearl is also very fond of our kitty.



Another game she enjoys, especially when Daddy does it, is having her fingers gobbled up. Her daddy just has to open his mouth like he's going to do it and she starts laughing. It's different from the way she giggles when I tickle her, a special laugh reserved for that game in particular. She's also having a lot of fun grabbing at our noses and hair.




This month she has learned how to suck her thumb but she hasn't yet figured out how to do it with her hand closed so at first she would always poke herself in the eye, repeatedly. We found it funny but trying to keep her from doing wouldn't do any good; this child is the most persistant little monkey I've ever met. If you could see her nursing you'd know what I mean - she is still constantly trying to sneak her fingers into her mouth as she eats, and you'd be amazed at the inventiveness she shows in trying to circumvent my hand and get those fingers in there! Sometimes she switches it up a bit and tries to rub furiously at her eye instead, but she's no less determined to dodge my hand in those instances.



She can sit up for about twenty seconds before she topples, and just in the past few days we have seen the beginning of locomotion - place a toy out of reach and she inches towards it on her belly. I have to double check her position to see that she has in fact moved, but she's definitely moving.



Pearl's fifth month has been a wonderful one. She has been so happy and fun, so sweet and affectionate. She makes all sorts of silly noises, and sometimes she does this crazy turning everywhichway looking around thing that's really funny. She smiles at me when she wakes from her nap, she'll pop off the breast just to grin at me, she reaches her arms out towards me when I lay down beside her...

Friday, October 21, 2005

Looking in the Mirror after Her Bath


Looking in the Mirror after Her Bath
Originally uploaded by fuzzypeach.

It's been a busy week I guess. Our computer sort of has big problems which prompted an upgrade that my gamer husband has long been desiring. I'm not that excited about it personally. I just want to be able to upload and tinker with my photos. And not have to use stupid Linux, which is lame, give me Windows please. Thankfully most of my photos were saved - not all, but the best of those that were lost are on flickr, and at least the ones of Pearl taken when she was a newborn... those are dearest to me because there aren't a whole lot from her very first few days, and she was so small and different then. I went and visited a friend with a very new baby boy, he was so small... just five pounds. He was 5 lb 15 oz when he was born, two weeks early due to pre-eclampsia, but lost the 15 oz, and holding him felt like I was just holding the blanket he was snuggled in. He's a long little guy though, 20 in. It was so sweet to see a new little baby. They seem so otherworldly, dreaming of the other place from which they just came. Smiling in their sleep, making the wobbliest of movements.

Yesterday my mom came for a visit and today Scott's grandma came for a visit and tomorrow we're going to see my mom and grandma when we get together to celebrate my brother's birthday, so it's just been the week of the grandmas! It's worn Pearl out, or something has anyway. It's been sleepsleepsleep, eateateat the past two days. Perhaps a growth spurt. Also she has been on a bit of a potty strike though we're doing better today.

She has decided that waking at 4:30-5:30 in the morning is a good idea, and though I don't think this is such a good decision, the child will not listen to reason. I have a suspicion that she just wants to wake up that early so she can see her daddy before he leaves for work. Either that or she enjoys seeing me in grumpyzombie mode. I don't know. I just feel that I haven't gotten any sleep if I get up before the sun.

That's enough rambling for now. I'm going to go rummage through the kitchen. I feel so undernourished lately; haven't been eating healthy enough I imagine.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Twenty Things about FuzzyPeach

Christine tagged me to write a list of 20 random things about myself and then tag as many people as minutes it took me to write it. Well, they're mostly random (I couldn't help myself) but this post took me all day to write so I'm just going to go with three. Whoever came up with that rule does not have a baby.

I'd like to see Sarah, Elaine, and Allison write this list... if they would like. Now then, Twenty (Mostly)Random Things about FuzzyPeach:

1. I have never been further west than Amarillo, further east than Key West, further north than Michigan, nor further south than Cozumel.

2. I was Salutatorian of my high school class and voted "Most Likely to Succeed".

3. I can whistle through my tongue.

4. I am an artist.

5. I have trouble drinking enough water.

6. I can't handle frozen items without wanting puke. Touching icy stuff makes me nauseous.

7. I have five siblings. I was born third.

8. My body resents being pierced and will swell, redden, refuse to heal, and scar at the site of the piercing no matter how diligently I care for it.

9. I was a mermaid in a past life and I love the sea.

10. I got full scholarships to college and dropped out at the end of my freshman year.

11. I used to work with babies and toddlers at a day care. The first three months I was there I was constantly sick. I haven't been sick since then, which has been about fourteen months.

12. I love sad songs that drive my husband-who-has-never-suffered-from-depression crazy.

13. I'm very much an introvert.

14. I have a tattoo depicting the Celtic goddess Brigid on my back.

15. My internet addiction started in 1996 when I became involved in a play-by-email writing roleplaying group based on Anne McCaffery's Pern books (if there was ever a doubt in your mind that I was a nerd, it should now be firmly banished).

16. I have also MUSHed, which is geekiness along the same lines as #15, in a more popular form. Both of these had their hayday before the days of graphical MMORPGs. I am totally old school.

17. My dorkhood is limited and completely computer based. I have never LARPed nor touched a set of Dungeons & Dragons cards.

18. It was love at first sight (or something very near to it) when I met my husband.

19. I have serious trouble forgiving myself for the stupid things I've done. The big ones, anyway.

20. I lovelovelove chocolate. I'm Oompa-Loompesque in that respect only.

Edit: My Extremely Nerdy Husband has informed me that dungeons and dragons requires no cards. That would be Magic: The Gathering. See, told you my dorkhood was limited.

Monday, October 17, 2005

BabyLegs



As I was too young during the eighties to be aware of fashion trends - this is something I do not mourn - these legwarmers don't give me flashbacks of any sort, nostalgic or otherwise. They're damn cute though, aren't they? I came across them on one of the elimination communication boards I read and they are perfect for ECing - they keep Pearl's legs warm without having to pull anything down or undo any snaps when potty time rolls around. And I won a pair! I was so excited, I've never won anything in a giveaway in my entire life. I entered at their website - http://www.babylegs.net - and won the navy blue pair. After I had thoroughly fallen in love with them I ordered another pair:



They're great!

Saturday, October 15, 2005

Nobody Blogs on a Saturday Night

Cept for me. Mr. Peach is off at a wedding this evening and I am home alone with the baby, who is not peacefully sleeping, giving me a nice quiet evening, but is fussing, fussing, fussing, giving me an evening of frustration with no one here to help out. I think her little poor teethies are bugging her. She hasn't been eating or sleeping much today, and has fussed from waking to crashing. Chomping on everything, drooling everywhere, etc. She has days like this every now and again, makes sense I guess, my wisdom teeth give me several days off at a time too. The ten minute naps are killing me though, she fights to stay awake and then I finally get her to sleep and am looking forward to a break, and five minutes after I lay her down she's right back up again... if she doesn't wake up the moment she touches the bed.

I did give her a bath today and that was fun. She has a little teardrop-shaped sort of bathtub with a little bench in it so that she can sit up in the water in and she really enjoys it.

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Wooooohooooo!

One of the possibilities for job advancement for Mr. Peach that I mentioned earlier came through - he will soon be moving into a new position! I'm soooooooooooooooooooooo happy about it; he really needed a change but I really didn't want to give up the university's excellent benefits so this is great.

Congratulations my dear, you got the job because you are so clever and wonderful. I am so proud!

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Learning Fast



Originally uploaded by fuzzypeach.

Today I watched Pearl figure something out. I was baking brownies and had stuck her in the bouncy seat while I tested them for doneness and when I returned to my seat she had her legs stretched out and was looking very intently at her feet. She looked at them for a while longer and then crunched up and reached out and grabbed those toes!

Her tummy muscles are getting real strong and she's gaining control of her hands. It was neat to see her put it all together in that moment.

However, this does raise the question of how safe the bouncy seat is now. She's been pushing up on the bottom and straightening out in it for a while, and now she can sit up in it. I'll have to check it out.

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Elimination Communication in the News

There have been a couple of articles in the New York Times about EC lately, and one in the latest edition of People magazine too. EC has also been discussed on Good Morning America and the Today Show (scroll down for a video clip).

I'm pleased that the idea is getting mainstream coverage. It'd be nice to not feel like such a freakazoid when I try to potty Pearl in the car! I always try when we go to town but we're rarely successful. I don't know if going in and out of stores and the car messes up our timing or if she picks up on my stress. Probably both.

Friday, October 07, 2005

Word Verification

The spammers got cocky and started thanking me for allowing comments so I finally went ahead and turned on word verification. Hope it's not too annoying.

As You Can See, I Got Up Early This Morning



Originally uploaded by fuzzypeach.

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

And One Year Ago on This Day...

...Mr. Peach and I were wed!

It was nothing fancy at all - he has called it his dream wedding. We took a break from work and went to a judge's office downtown. I wore a purple dress. There was an elderly couple waiting there to be married as well, and we made small talk with them while we waited.

Even though it was the simplest of ceremonies I was still excited and jittery. We said our I-do's and we exchanged white gold bands and we kissed and it was done... and now it's a year later and we're celebrating our first anniversary tonight by going out to our favorite restaurant. As I'm not quite ready to leave Pearl alone she's coming along too, which is perfectly okay with me as she was there when we got married and went on our honeymoon too.

Being married doesn't feel a whole lot different from when we weren't married - I still feel like my partner is a wonderfully smart, silly, and kind person; a sweet man who I am happy to share my life with.

I don't have any pictures from our wedding day but I have some from a day trip we took a few weeks later. They will have to do.


Monday, October 03, 2005

Pearl Sings a Sleepy Song




Share Video at JussPress.com


Perhaps the title should say "Hear" instead of "See," my digital camera obviously doesn't do so well in low light, but I wanted to share the song she's been singing when she's tired lately. Last night she treated us to a whole opera.