Monkey Business



January has been a month full of fun and monkey business despite a few sniffles and coughs. Millie smiled through it all. Her Christmas jammies are still a little big, so she decided to share them with Mickey the Monkey last night. Millie loves to sit on the couch like a big girl, play on her playmat, watch her mobile, stand up and "walk", and fly around the room in mommy's hands. She SO wants to sit up and walk and talk :). Soon enough. For now, mommy and daddy are enjoying her immobility :). Enjoy the show!

Best Part of the Day

Millie was supposed to get the rest of her two-month shots yesterday which would have entailed just a visit with the nurse at the Dr.'s office. Mommy decided that since Millie has had a cold for the past week, she'd better be safe and have a Dr. check her out before she got shots. So, that's what we did. Millie was still a bit congested with a cough for the Dr., but it was determined that the cold was all in her head and had not gotten into her lungs or ears -- yea! We did decide to postpone the shots just to make sure that nothing else developed out of this cold. So, no shots until next week.

Millie did get to get weighed which is always fun -- 10 pounds 15 ounces! Up a pound and a quarter from last month. Woo hoo! Such a big girl! Millie and mommy had a blast hanging out in the Dr.'s office while we waited for the Dr. to come in. There's something about those rooms (possibly the crinkly paper, though that isn't in all the rooms), that just makes Millie smile. We played and laughed and talked -- it was great. I think she laughed more yesterday than I've ever heard her. I was happy we didn't have to ruin such a nice afternoon with shots :) -- it really was the best part of my day.

12 weeks

It's hard to believe that Millie is headed into her 3rd month! She is such an amazing addition to our lives and it's so wonderful to see how she changes and grows with every day. In some ways it's hard to see her increasing her independence so much, but mostly it's gratifying to know that she is growing into a secure and happy little baby. The early days certainly don't last long enough.

Week in Review

We made it through another week of work/daycare with relative ease. We also made it through Millie's first cold.

The week started off a bit rough as Millie started getting congested Sunday night after mommy and daddy had come down with colds the week before. I was really hoping that Millie would be safe and not get it since she's breastfeeding, but no such luck. On Monday she decided to stage a bottle-strike at daycare and only took 2 ounces with Stephanie. Fortunately she ate with mommy at lunch and at home, so it was likely due to a combination of having just spent a weekend with mommy and not feeling well. We were slightly worried it might be her ears...

We had a few restless nights where Millie woke up to eat a lot and struggled with her stuffy nose. We did our best to help her out with saline drops and the nose syringe plus lots of cuddles and love. It was rough having to take her to daycare when I knew she wasn't feeling her best, but I also knew her days were better than her nights and that she would get lots of care from Stephanie. Fortunately the bottle strike only lasted one day and Millie ate well the rest of the week. Pumping at work and feeding Millie at lunch time has been working out well and Millie seems to have plenty to eat everyday.

Friday night mommy went out with Emily (Will's mom) and Katharine (Anna's mom) for a mommy's night out. We enjoyed swapping baby stories and advice, though we missed the other moms. It's been really nice to have this group of women to talk to. The e-mails fly during the week regarding feeding, pumping, work, daycare, and just general management of being a mom. Whenever one of us thinks we're alone in a problem or concern we might be having, someone else chimes in that they are dealing with the same thing. The support is just amazing. It's also nice to know that we have people we can socialize with who will welcome babies into the plans :). So, mommy went out and had a drink and some food and daddy and Millie stayed home together -- for the first time. Daddy was very confident as mommy got ready to leave. Millie was fed, there were two bottles in the 'fridge (way more than Millie would need), and she was in her 'jammies ready for bed. Mommy left around 6:00 knowing that Millie would want to eat again in about an hour and that she would be winding down for the night around 8:00. The big question of the night was what would Millie do when she got hungry and mommy wasn't there? Well, she did just what she was supposed to do -- she took her first bottle from daddy!! 3+ ounces! When mommy came home (near 10:00) Millie was fast asleep in daddy's arms on the couch. The night was a success for everyone ;).

Not only did daddy have a banner night with the baby, but he also found mommy's wedding ring that she lost when they first moved to CT almost a year and a half ago! He found the ring sitting in the middle of the floor in the rec. room! We are thinking that the ring had been caught up in some clothes in the closet in the rec room and that when daddy took his suit in and out of the closet the week before for his trip he had somehow released the ring from it's hiding place. Daddy presented the ring to mommy when she got home ;).

We've spent our weekend happily at home as a family -- catching up on sleep and chores around the house. We are so happy that we have tomorrow off as well! Millie is still quite phlegmy, so the extra day at home will be much appreciated. Millie held her first video conference today when she talked to Grandma Lainey and Grandpa Ric in St. Louis and Uncle Christian in Denver all at the same time. She gave some smiles to everyone, but her attention span was pretty short :). I'm pretty sure that in about a year she'll be calling people on the computer all by herself! She is a genius baby after all... :).

Laughter

Laughing is a very new and still developing skill for Millie, so it's hard to catch her in the act. You never know what is going to bring the giggles on or how long they will last. We managed to catch this bit though -- not the biggest laugh we've heard from her, but a pretty good one :). This particular bout was brought on when daddy tickled the bottom of her feet with his beard...

Look Who's Talking

Millie gives dad a rundown of her day...

Update

We've officially made it through a week of work/daycare now and things are going well. Millie has conquered her fear of the bottle -- at least at Stephanie's, we still have to work on her taking it at home with dad -- and is eating like a champ. She added a couple ounces everyday last week and yesterday and today she averaged 8 ounces PLUS lunch with mommy! So far I've been able to keep up with the demand (it helped that we had a big stash from November and December). Millie is sleeping well at daycare too and still sleeping well at home -- so far there doesn't seem to be any backlash ;). And mommy is dealing relatively well. I still have my moments, but all-in-all it's been okay. There is definitely plenty of work at school to do to keep me busy. It's been great that I've been able to see Millie on my lunch break, it makes the day go so much faster. I'll also probably be picking Millie up early some days and taking her back to school with me when the students are gone so I can stay and get extra work done without being away from Millie longer.

In addition to work and daycare, Millie has gone car shopping with mommy and daddy (Saturday) and got to party with her friends from her newborn group on Sunday. Millie was a trooper at the car dealership -- she hung out for 4 hours! Unfortunately the deal fell through, so she doesn't have a new car to show for all her time. Maybe next time ;).

Millie continues to flash her great smile every chance she gets, she has discovered her hand and likes to suck on her knuckles, she LOVES to stand up and dance, she loves to look at her mobile and play on her play mat, she likes to fall asleep to mommy reading a book, she studies people's faces intently when they are talking to her and tries her darnedest to figure out how they do that, she "talks" back and has little conversations more and more everyday, and the best new development is that she is starting to laugh. She's full-out giggled a couple of times, though it's not consistent yet. Tonight she did a little heh heh heh while we were practicing our cheers. She loves the "be aggressive cheer." We're going to have to have Auntie LoLo teach us some more cheers -- it's probably not good to be encouraging aggression :). I feel a little like Ross and Rachel on Friends when they get Emma to laugh by singing the "big butt" song :)

Millie and I are on our second (and last) no-daddy night. Scott got asked to go on a business trip to Arkansas at the last minute. He left yesterday and gets back tomorrow afternoon. We've fared well so far, but I'm certainly happy that I don't have to do this alone all the time. Our family is such a strong unit that it just isn't right without all of us here together. We will be very glad to come home tomorrow and find daddy here again!

Happy New Year!

Millie had a great New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. She got to meet her friend Christian who came up from Philly for the night. We went to dinner where Millie was a big hit and then spent the evening hanging out at home. We almost made it out to a party at baby Emerson's house, but decided to stay in when Millie fell asleep right when it was time to leave. We thought it would be best for everyone if she got to stay asleep :). So, Millie slept while mom, dad and Christian visited, played games, and rung in the new year. Mommy managed to stay awake until about 12:01 ;) and Daddy made it all the way to maybe 12:20! We had a nice brunch at home with Christian in the morning and then watched the Cotton Bowl (Go Tigers!) in the afternoon. The rest of the day was a bit of a downer 'cause we had to get ready for work the next day -- yep, mommy was headed back to work and Millie was headed to daycare. We packed everyone's bags and made lunches and mommy whined through the whole thing! Millie spent some time playing in her vibrating chair and looked pretty cute with her little ducky slippers :).

So, today was the big day. Mommy made it to work and Millie made it to daycare. There were a few tears shed, but overall everyone did well. This is how Millie started out her day at home:

How could anyone leave that?! It wasn't easy. Millie was asleep by the time we reached Stephanie's so that was good. If she had been awake and crying I would have felt like a terrible mother for leaving her and if she had been awake and happy I would have felt like she didn't need me. Sleeping was nice and neutral. I was able to go to see her on my lunch hour and feed her, which was good 'cause she didn't eat much for Stephanie. Stephanie reported that she slept a lot and had a pretty good day -- she sat in the swing, went outside for a bit, and watched the big kids play. It doesn't appear that her sleepy day is going to affect her night as she fell asleep at 7:30! I do think she'll be eating a lot more tonight though.... and we had just gotten down to one feeding a night! It's okay though, I think I'm going to need the make-up mommy/baby time too...

Hard to believe I have to do this everyday now. Sigh.