The Long Drive

As I write, Lisa has finally gotten Anna to take a nap. Perhaps after a weekend of being passed from Daddy to Grandpa, from Mom and to Grandma, it was too much fun to hang just with Mom for most of the day, and Anna found it hard to rest. Maybe it was gas. You can rarely tell with these young babies.

We were away up north when our friends Chris and Jenny called from Pasadena, CA, to say that their daughter had been born Sunday morning. When she got the phone message and later spoke to Jenny, her impulse was to fly out and help. My thought, of course, it to take one baby at a time. It's certainly plenty for me to handle. In fact, we have had some 'discussion' this weekend about my anxiety about being left alone with Anna for extended periods.

No doubt I enjoy my time with her, especially now that she's more expressive and more able to interact during play. Then again, certain things have changed as Lisa and Anna have bonded more tightly.

For the first month after we got home from the hospital, I took a certain amount of pride in the fact that I seemed pretty good at walking her around and singing to her to get her to calm down. Lately, though, it seems she prefers Lisa's rocking. More troubling are those times when I do all I can to calm her down, yet she only becomes quiet when I give her to Lisa. At one time it seemed that her advantage in soothing her came primarily from her ability to breast feed. Now it's more general than that.

Anna did no less than GREAT in the car this weekend; She slept most of the way back and forth to Butternut, which is more than 4.5 hours in the car. I imagine that some of that was due to Gene's excellent driving and the fact that she benefited from having Mom on one side of her and Grandma Sue Sue on the other.

So as I find new strategies to cope with the protest cries to come, I'll remember that we're in this for the long haul, and we'll get there one way or another.

Two Months Old

If she's two months can we say two months or do we have to stick to weeks for the foreseeable future?

Speaking of the future, as a new parent, it's not that you don't want to look to the future: The prospect of better sleep ahead; Less crying and fussing, or at least crying that is more easily identifiable; A chance to hear words and laughter, to see crawling, walking, and rolling over.

For better or worse, babies keep us in the present. Since most parents of older children have told us to 'snuggle 'em while you can' and enjoy the moments both difficult and sweet, I figure the present is where we want to be. And not just with babies. The same goes for friends, husbands and wives, those we meet and help at work. I have always been particularly annoyed at parents who push a stroller with a cell phone or those who can't be bothered to talk to their children on the way to the grocery store. It's disrespectful and wasted opportunity.

Today was a great day for Dad. She really seems to be figuring out that Mommy's stooge isn't going anywhere but to work. He also plays a little sillier than Mommy does. She seemed to really enjoy when I pretended to be munching on her fists this afternoon and tonight, and she stared at me intently during diaper changes. I enjoy and it now AND I enjoying knowing that our play will become even more fun in the days to come.

Enjoy future U.S. Olympic Volleyball player Anna in this video action!

Miles of Smiles

A couple of months ago, some friends with a new baby mentioned that once their son began to smile, they spent most waking moments trying to create conditions favorable to further grins and toothless smirks. Now we know where they're coming from.

I think especially after all the newborn crying, when she smiles it's like a powerful antidote to the night time crying spells.

Of course, since she's just figuring out this smiling business, it can arrive at odd times. She seemed pretty pleased, for example, as I changed a particularly messy diaper. What's different lately, though, is that smiles show up during her short bursts of play. At this stage, play is usually defined as her following an object, such as a rattle, as we shake it in front of her mug. Her other favorite is lying beneath the ceiling fan while we chat playfully to her, and we sometimes receive coos and ahs in response.

Of course, there's no shortage of fussing and crying yet. My latest frustration is that she'll settle down and nap if I tote her about. If I try to sit for more than a few minutes, however, she'll wake and fuss. If I get up to walk again, she falls back asleep. Perhaps she's trying to work off the extra pounds daddy has acquired from being around the house and refrigerator so often. Perhaps she's just yanking my chain. Either way, I find it quite irritating. Just now Lisa relieved me and she went fast asleep in her arms as Lisa enjoyed an Ellen rerun. Turns out the joke is on Mom, however: John McCain was the featured guest.

Today Mom and Dad tried to be bold and go to a matinee. Lisa has been wanting to see the Pineapple Express, the stoner action comedy from the Judd Apatow gang. Plus today has been forcast as the hottest day of the year, so far.

We bought our tickets and settled in. Marcus theaters have bench seats that work well with a car seat. Just as Lisa was chomping on the second half of her sandwich from lunch, an employee came to explain that babies aren't allowed into R rated films. The gave us both a refund and free passes. It probably worked out for the best since there was no way Anna would keep quiet for 90 minutes. Now we can hire a sitter and use our free passes to see it and relax at the same time.

Instead of a movie, we made a trip to Target for diapers and milk. Plenty of air conditioning there, too.

Baby Travelogue

This won't make for interesting reading, but I thought I'd keep a list of places Anna travels so that she can add up her mileage later in life.

Caledonia
Dodgeville
Richland Center
DeForest
Sun Prairie

More to come!

Anna in her stroller!!

Expectations vs. Patterns

Everyone from birth class to experienced mothers have told us that newborns are pretty unpredictable. They're new enough to the world that routines are fairly meaningless, so it's best to 'go with the flow' of the new-to-the-world baby.

We've taken that to heart, but this week Lisa has noticed a pattern that is sinking deep into our parental consciousness.

It seems that when we take Anna out in the evening and keep her out fairly late (past dark), she has a terrible time settling down for some sack time.

On Thursday we took the birthday boy's daughter to Gene and Sue's for some homemade pizza (courtesy of the birthday boy) and delicious chocolate cake (courtesy of Grandma Sue Sue). Anna, it seemed, was having a nice time sleeping on his Grandma Weezie, being held by Great Grandma Hattie, and hanging with his cousins Ava and Rowan. She ate some, she slept some, she played some. All good, right?

How do you explain, then, that she fussed and cried till past 2am? Her mother's instinct is that too many strange arms, excitement, and who knows what else seems to keep her unsettled longer into the evening.

Finally after trying to put her down for the umpteenth time, I scooped her up and made a spot in the bed next to me, and we fell asleep. I was in a really uncomfortable position, but, hey, you have to sacrifice for the next generation, right? Beats listening to the horse cries of a cranky little girl.

Speaking of which, here's a picture of her cranky puss yesterday. Yesterday and last night went much better by the way. We were home by dark.

That's to be expected

After a particularly difficult night of crying, fussing, and general carrying on from Anna, I spoke to our friend Will on the phone. He's the proud father of two rapidly growing children and was headed our way so that he, Julie, and their kids could take a peak at Baby Anna. The conversation went about like this:

"We had a rough night - she cried and cried and was often too worked up to nurse, which is her favorite thing in the world."

Will: "That's to be expected."

"Perhaps it is, but how the hell do we know?"

Everyone assures us that this is the hardest time to be parents, at least until they're walking and getting into every possible dangerous thing. Will and Julie say we're half way through the hard part. Malcolm and Jenny were a little more conservative and consistent with what we've heard before, a 10-12 week sentence. Both seem really far away, especially at 12:30 am.

She falls asleep, but usually won't stay asleep long. Mostly she wants to nurse every 1.5 to 2 hours. Lisa tries to look on the bright side by saying in the morning, "She did pretty good last night." By that she means that she nursed and fell back asleep, but again, if she could sleep an additional hour in between, Lisa could get a little real rest.

I've come up with a number of nicknames for her and lately they've become a little less complimentary:

First nicknames:

Snorky (not really flattering, but certainly cute)
Struggle Bug (cute, but suggestive of her sometimes cranky nature)

More recent names:

Burpee big girl (there's a tomato with a similar name...given because of her red-faced crying)
Snarfy (as in 'snarf it down')
Big Gulp (named after the 44oz gas station soft drink)
Little Ms. Cranky Britches ('nuff said)

Her likes:

Breast milk, snuggling with Mom, looking outside, stroller rides, Dad singing Simon and Garfunkel tunes, warm baths.

Dislikes:

Prolonged sleep, sleeping solo, sleeping in, sleeping while swaddled, staying asleep after Dad has sung to her and danced her around for 20 minutes, clothes being pulled over her head, mechanical swings, vibrating seats.

So far, humor helps, as does working together.

We had our first date night without Anna, so really we (I) shouldn't complain, but it makes for better blogging. We went to dinner with the Thornes and the DeKaysers and had a great time.
In fact, I felt like a true grown-up for the first time, out to dinner with friends while the babysitters (Gene and Sue) took great care of Anna.

We had to admit that we missed her while we were gone. Lisa explained that that must be biologic and not logic speaking.

Where is that baby translator from the Simpsons?

If you're a Simpsons fan, you might have seen when Unkie Herb invented a baby translator that would decipher a baby's crying to tell you what it was after. Since that was a cartoon, we have to keep trying and troubleshooting between the two of us.

At this point, a cry for food sounds a whole lot like the "I'm cranky tired and will fall asleep in the next few minutes" cry. What's tricky is when she is tired but won't take her nook. Till recently we've generally took that to mean, "Slip me a nipple, will you?"

She rarely seems bothered by wet diapers or with the soiled variety. Nevertheless, we change them.

One thing I can tell very quickly is when she's about to get fussy and cry.

We gave her a bath yesterday and she didn't seem to mind it at all, which was a relief.

In other news, she's become a world traveler. This weekend we took her to the Land's End summer clearance sale in Dodgeville, and we also introduced her to the Considine Farm in the Baraboo Bluffs. Fortunately, she's getting used to being in a car seat, as she slept most of her time on the road. I had a nice time carrying her around the Dodgeville sale, which made me very popular with the older ladies. Guess I'll take any positive affirmation I can get as a new dad.

Here are a few pics from the last few days of parenting fun.