Who Would Have Thought?

Who would have thought that...

male pattern baldness
acne
eyes that occasionally cross
dry scalp
a toothless grin
a double chin
no bowel or bladder control
and
an unabashed penchant for burping and tooting...

 

...could be this darn cute??

Choir Girl

We generally attend church at a larger church, where Staley goes to the nursery while we go to 'big church'.  Today, however, we joined my parents at their small church.  Their church does not have a nursery, so Staley sat with us throughout the entire service.  Armed with books, coloring, and snacks, Staley did a wonderful job of sitting still and staying (relatively) quiet.

Staley really enjoyed the singing during the church service.  When we were singing, Staley wanted to stand and hold her own hymnal while trying to sing along.  After the first hymn, we sat down.  Staley kept her hymnal open, placed her finger on the words as if reading them, and began to sing 'Reflection' (which is a song from the movie 'Mulan.')  It was so cute, but after singing several stanzas with no indication of being done soon, I had to tell her that singing time was over.  And although we might not actually find that song in a church hymnal, I love that she was wanting to be an active participant in the service.  We might just need to spend a little more time at home singing hymns rather than princess songs before our next visit.

Worst Night Ever

Last night was the worst night I've experienced in my history of parenting.  Staley has been sick over the past week and has had a few restless nights of sleep and poor napping.  Yesterday she didn't nap at all, so we decided that an early bedtime was necessary.  Adelie also spent most of the day yesterday awake, so we figured that we'd all be in bed early for a good night's sleep.  Boy, were we wrong!

Staley went down without a fuss at 7:30 and fell right asleep.  Adelie ate at 7:30.  Zach and I settled on the couch for some NFL draft coverage.  Adelie decided that she didn't want to go to sleep after eating, but instead started to fuss.  Zach took her in the office to use some music and dancing to try to induce sleep.  A few minutes later, Staley began crying upstairs.  I went to check on her, and she was inconsolable.  She wasn't talking or answering questions, but was rolling around on her bed and crying.  I tried talking to her, asking what was wrong, offering her a drink, holding her, rocking her, lying with her, checking her temperature.  After 15 minutes with no luck in calming her down, I went downstairs to find Zach.  He was holding a fussy baby who just wanted to eat.  We traded kids.

Adelie remained awake until about 10:00, fussing and eating about every 45 minutes.  Staley was awake until 10:30, finally requiring cuddling on the couch for a Dora episode to calm her down.  Adelie then slept for a rare 6 straight hours.  Unfortunately, as our infant daughter let us sleep, our 2 year old daughter didn't.  Staley went to sleep again around 10:30 after watching Dora, but awakened every 30-40 minutes throughout the night, crying.  We could generally calm her down and get her back to sleep in about 5 minutes, but her sleep came in short, fitful bursts.  She could never tell us what was wrong.  Finally, at 4:00 a.m., we decided to give Staley some Ibuprofin.  Staley then fell asleep and slept until 7.

Rocked by the rough night of awakening to one sad, sad little girl and not being able to determine the cause of her sadness, I called the doctor first thing this morning.  The verdict?  Double ear infections.  Very bad double ear infections.  The kind of ear infections that would cause enough pain to awaken a child continuously throughout the night.  And although I don't want Staley to have this, I was relieved that there was a reason for Staley's rough night that has an easy fix.  And now my sick little girl and my awake-all-day-yesterday infant girl are both napping soundly.  I think I'm going to join them.

One Month

Time flies!!  Adelie is already one month old.  She is growing quickly, already weighing about 10 lbs.  She has outgrown her newborn clothes and her newborn bathtub insert.  I've had to move the straps up on her carseat.  She is still in newborn diapers only because I am trying to use them up.  It's hard to believe that she has already changed so much in just one short month.

Likes:  Adelie likes eating.  (She generally wants to eat every 1 1/2 to 2 hours during the day when awake.)  She enjoys baths, diaper changes, music, dancing, walks, being outdoors, and car rides.  She is most smiley in the mornings and generally more fussy in the evenings, so we'll be glass-half-full people and attribute that to liking mornings.  She prefers her swing to her bouncy seat, and seems to enjoy play time on her playmat.  (Although when fussy, being held and walking around is her preferred position.)

Dislikes:  Being hungry, cold, or tired.  She is also not fond of being strapped into her carseat when it is not moving.

Skills:  Adelie's skill set is relatively limited.  She can drink from a bottle, lift her head up for short periods of time on her tummy and when upright, flail and kick at her playmat toys (and hit them relatively often), suck on her hands/fingers, and pull her own hair.  She is a pretty good night time sleeper, sleeping anywhere from 3-5 hours at a time with the very rare 6 hour or 2 hour stint.  She is generally mellow as long as she is well-fed and well-rested.  And her smile can't be beat.  Our life is fuller because of Adelie.

Adelie at one day

 

Adelie at one month

New Skill

Adelie doesn't have a lot of skills to brag about, so it's always good to be able to bolster the resume a little with something new.  And last night, she added this one...



 

 

The Perfect Storm

Take a 2-year old little girl.  Sweet, loving, wonderful little girl.  Give her a low-grade fever, hacking cough, and runny nose over several days.  Mix in 2 consecutive days with a nap of less than 45 minutes, a full day of playing outside, a night of restless sleep with multiple wakings, and an early morning wake-up.  What do you get?

You get...
...crying because I put an ice cube in her water and she wanted it 'warm.'
...crying because I needed to change her diaper.
...crying because I couldn't carry her and her infant sister at the same time.
...crying because I took the wrong heart dress out of her closet.
...crying because she wanted her tray on her booster for breakfast.
...crying because she was done eating and I didn't get her out of her booster quickly enough.
...crying because she wanted me to play upstairs with her while I was downstairs feeding her sister.

And my favorite...
...crying because her hair was in her eyes (and sticking to the snot that was running down her face from being sick and crying.)  I pushed her hair behind her ear and told her that I'd get her a bow to keep the hair out of her face.  More crying.  Why?  She didn't want a bow because Rapunzel doesn't wear a bow.  REALLY?????

I looked at the clock.  It was only 8:30, and I was already worn out.  What's a gal to do?  Call Uma, of course.  Staley's Uma came over and played for an hour and a half.  With Uma's help, my morning drama queen became her laughing, giggling, happy, playful self.  And after Uma left, Staley ate a good lunch, wanted to snuggle and cuddle for music and books time, and then went down for an early nap without any fuss.  Here's hoping it's a good one.

Smiley

Adelie has been a smiley baby since birth.  She smiles in her sleep.  She smiles when she eats.  She even smiles when awake, although nothing I could categorize as a voluntary smile.  Well, she must have enjoyed her Adelie day with me yesterday because Adelie's first official first...

First Voluntary Smile-April 19, 2013

Adelie gave me several big, open-mouth smiles yesterday when we were talking and playing together.  Of course, I didn't have my camera handy so you'll just have to imagine cute gummy baby smiles.  I can't wait to see more!!