catching up part two

I know several of you out there think we just quit blogging and are wondering what is up with baby Slane. But we still don't have internet and taking a baby to the library is difficult unless I skip my own nap to take her during hers (which is what I am doing right now).

She is getting so big and heavy and so much fun. She laughs and coos and smiles and spits and buzzes and plays with her crinkle books and rattles and jingly toys. She loved the 4th of July parade, but I think every emergency vehicle in the county was in the parade and I had to cover her ears for most of it. I didn't catch one in time and it scared her and she cried. Her scared cry makes me sad. She is becoming a traveler. Last week she was the littlest camper (yup, we stayed in the cabin with the girls), and then she endured two long rides in a car to get to and from Michigan for a wedding. She loves walks outside around dusk, and yesterday rolled over all on her own (from belly to back).

I am still pumping a few times a day so she gets some breastmilk but not much. It is mostly discouraging for me because I just don't get a lot and I wish I did. Q reminds me that I have a healthy, happy baby who has been sleeping through the night for a while now and there are people out there who would trade their breastfed, not sleeping through the night babies for that.

Slane's 4 month appointment checkup is Friday, and maybe Q can put some pictures up at work so you all can see how big and beautiful she is.

For the next two weeks my cousin is visiting from Michigan to help with Slane. She has been a big help so far too. I can just ask her to hold Slane and then I get to do things around the house..like unpack my last year school stuff and get ready for this year, and catch up laundry, and organize closets and things. It really is nice.

catching up

We have been super busy since our last post. We had Slane's baptism, the end of school, the college's reunion, my orientation for my summer camp job, switching piano lessons to a summer schedule, trying to find a toddler friendly apartment, and grandparents visiting, and on top of all of that our internet connection moved out (congrats on graduating, but I wish you could have left your connection behind). I have tried to take Slane to the college library, but she "talks" too much, and it closes at 5. Q came home one day at lunch so I could run over and take care of a few things (both my MI and NV teaching licenses expire in a few weeks, so I had to do application stuff). And I have also borrowed a friend's connection, but don't want to overuse it. As soon as I start my new teaching job we can get our own.

We will get pictures up soon--of baptism and other things going on.

Slane has been getting better and better at holding rattles and grabbing things. But on Thursdsay, she figured out something else new. I was feeding Slane when she decided to poop. I could feel it oozing out of the diaper so I ran upstairs to the changing table, only to discover that I had a handful of poop, it was running down my shirt, and I got it all over the changing table too. I got my shirt off, Slane's clothes off, and the rag I was holding that caught some of the poop, and then Q called. I told him he needed to come home NOW. He did, and while I was starting to clean up some more, Slane rolled over onto her right side on the changing table. I moved naked baby to the floor on a blanket and she just kept rolling to her back and then to her right side. I was so excited and Q made it home in time to see for himself. Then as he was in the process of changing out of work clothes while I started hosing things down (so glad we got that shower attachment sprayer), Q picked her up while only wearing boxers. She proceeded to both spit up and pee on him...so he went straight to the shower and Slane went straight to a bath. And then, she was still hungry.

We also took her on her first road trip last week, and I am typing this while on our second trip. Last week we celebrated our 5th anniversary by taking Slane to our friends' inn in Illinois. She did pretty well in the car and let us know when she needed to stop. I have become very adept at using the breast pump in strange bathrooms, and have given up on modesty, especially when it is difficult to find an outlet, or it is right in the middle of the sinks and mirrors. She did well on the drive to Kansas City yesterday too, and even slept well in a hotel room. All of this should prime us for the trip to Michigan in July. And help us to pack too--it takes a lot to go on a trip with a baby...we even busted out the ginormous diaper bag, and then packed backups for it as well.

I promise those pictures will be up soon...so you can see the cuteness we have been enjoying.

Children's book fail

How many bananas do you see?























Schadenfreude is delightful.

(Image courtesy of the excellent site FAILBlog.)

Nine pounds, nine ounces

Woohoo! We don't have to go back to the doctor until our two month wellness check (which is really only in two weeks, but nonetheless). Slane is eating like a champ and growing!

Today we also went to Tulip Time. Slane did really well and slept through most of the parade. She met some aunts and uncles and cousins for the first time, and some friends too. She even got her picture taken with some tulips. The cutest part: it started to storm as we were leaving, and even though she was being pushed through the rain (the canopy was up) she was laughing and smiling. I hope that means the thunder doesn't scare her. The most frustrating part, after finding a bathroom and claiming it to pump (still measuring ounces), I apparently took too long. The patrons waiting in line went to get the manager to check on the person in the bathroom. My fault-I thought rechargeable batteries would work in the pump and they didn't so I had to plug in...People were banging on the door and I kept saying "just a minute" but they didn't hear me. When I finally left the bathroom, I just berated the people in line about having respect for a breastfeeding mother seeking a little privacy. Then I left as quickly as possible.

There are things I should be doing,

but taking some time for myself seems like a better idea. The bottles to clean and dishes to do will still be there later. I doubt tomorrow's babysitter notices the mess.

Slane is gaining weight. I hate that I have to give her formula (no place in the budget for that), and am disappointed by my own lack of production, but it does mean she is gaining weight. Right now she is eating about half breast milk (measured out in bottles, of course) and half formula. It makes life more convenient and less convenient in different ways. Now I have to pump a lot (had to borrow an electric pump) and that is less convenient because I need to be in a more private place to do that. Before, I could just cover Slane with a blanket and go about my business while feeding. Now I can feed her whenever and wherever we are, and before I couldn't always feed right when she was hungry (like when I was in the middle of a piano lesson, though I did feed her once during a lesson). It has been a tough adjustment for all of us.

The Incredibles and Jack-Jack's clever super power

As I sit here at 2:30 a.m. feeding Miss Slane, I am reminded of a conversation MamaCue and I had about the excellent animated film The Incredibles, directed by genius Brad Bird. (SPOILER ALERT: This post reveals the secret super power of Jack-Jack, a character in the film which came out in 2004.) Thursday, we watched it for the first time since Slane was born.

Here's a brief synopsis: superheroes who once lived among us now must live "normal" lives, maintaining their super identities a secret. Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl, now Bob and Helen Parr, have two super children and an infant: Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack. In interviews, Bird admits raising his own family was inspiration for The Incredibles' super powers. A father (Mr. Incredible) thinks he needs to be strong, providing and defending for his family. A mother (Elastigirl) must be flexible as she is stretched to her limits. Some adolescent girls (Violet) want to be invisible, while some little boys (Dash) are full of boundless energy.

I don't remember how Bird explained Jack-Jack's super powers, but now that we have an infant, we get why Jack-Jack has the super powers he reveals in the film. During a feeding, Sara shared her revelation about his powers. "The fact that he can go from fire, to dead weight, to monster: Slane does all of those things! It's what babies do."

They also poop through their outfits and spit up twice -- at least that's what Slane has done since I started typing this post on the Blackberry. And wear four changes of clothes in an hour. Maybe we can all return to sleep now?

Soft spots and blowholes:

DaddyCue (after singing to Slane and giving her a kiss on the forehead): Did that just blow your mind?

(Slane stares blankly at DaddyCue.)

MamaCue: No, daddy. If that had blown her mind, her soft spot would open up like a whale's blowhole and start spouting things.

DaddyCue: Uhh...right. Thanks for that image. Blech.

(Photo Credit: Daylife.com/Getty Images)