The End of an Era

I am sad to say that today is my last day of maternity leave. I only have about 2 1/2 hours left. I'm having a much tougher time with it than I though I would. These last 9 weeks have been quite a ride. Lucy's birth seems like eons ago, so much has happened since then....

• 5 lbs. 14 oz. of skinny Lucy has turned into 11 lbs. 3 oz. of Chubby Wubberson


• we've had extended visits from both grandmas, who helped us through two of the toughest times


• we went from bottle feedings, to syringe feedings, to breast feeding and back to bottle feedings


• she's already gone on her first road trip to Indy


• she's already been to her first Cubs game


• we went from no sleep, to sleeping only on my chest, to sleeping only in our bed, to sleeping all by her grown-up self (for 9 hours!!) in her crib


• I went from a ton of...we shall call it water weight...to being back to my old self


• she's already outgrown her first set of clothes! No more newborn size here!


• she went from screaming bloody murder when you put her in her car seat to actually enjoying it and taking naps in it (which she is doing right now)


• Lucy went from this tiny little stranger that neither of us knew what to do with, to our daughter


• and of course, I went from daily ice cream binges to no dairy of any kind

Its been a whirlwind and I've loved every minute of it (well....almost every minute of it). I will truly truly miss being a stay at home mom and am dreading the first time Lucy calls the daycare lady "mom." Alas, as Jack-the-Pumpkin said...."some things just can't be helped."

p.s. Of course Lucy picks today of all days to be a sleeping champ. As much as I want to play with her, I don't have the heart to wake her up.

Doctor's Visit

Lucy went for her 2 month appointment today (on her two month birthday). She passed with flying colors!! She does everything she's supposed to do...smile...coo...follow things with her eyes...etc. We are very proud.

She also got weighed and measured. She's 11 lbs. 3 oz. and 22 inches long. For weight she's between the 25th -- 50th percentile. For length she's between the 10th -- 25th percentile. The poor girl takes after her mom. She likes to eat and is going to have to get all of her pants hemmed!

Lucy also got her first round of vaccinations. She was a champ. From the amount of blood in her band-aid, it had to hurt. Justin was also a champ. I made him hold her. Seems like a dad responsibility to me.

Lucy's First Cubs Game -- July 26, 2009 -- Cubs (5) vs. Reds (2)

So, as pretty much everyone who reads this blog knows, there aren't many things that Jess and I like doing in the summer more than going to Cubs' games. So, eight weeks into her life, we decided to take Lucy to her first game. Despite Lucy being great, it wasn't exactly a stress free trip...a timeline....

Middle of the First - Lucy got hungry. Before this she had been sleeping for about two and a half hours, while we were at an ALS Fundraiser pre-game party at the Vic. Let's just say that next time we take her to a game, we're going to try to get her to sleep right before the game...that's the key. So, off to the Family Area/First Aid Center Jess goes.

Middle of the Third - Jess returns.

Bottom of the Third - We pretty much stop watching the game and play with Lucy. She was really cute.

Middle of the Fourth - We have a overstimulated baby on our hands, so we decide to try and walk her around to get her to sleep.

Top of the Sixth - We finally get her to sleep. By this time however we are literally in the opposite corner of the ballpark.

Bottom of the Sixth - We get back to our seets with a sleeping Lucy on our hands. Perfect.

Middle of the Seventh - Jeff Safdakfjldnvmarjda starts warming up in the bullpen. The guy behind us continues to scream "Notre Dame" at the top of his lungs (as an aside, this is Exhibit FFF in my long running series entitled "Why I hate the Domers" - look for it as a 83-part DVD to be released in the summer of 2032). That, coupled with the singing of Take Me Out to the Ballgame, set Lucy off....needless to say, our exit was quickly thereafter.

So, not exactly the most relaxing of games, but on the walk home, Jess and I both agreed that there was absolutely no question we were happy we went and that we'd pretty much always remember the day that we got to share Mom and Dad's favorite summer activity with our favorite person.

The Farmer's Market in a Sling

Crib Sleeping Update... Another challenge down!

She's doing it! She's sleeping in her crib (at least at night). We started the crib sleeping last Thursday. I tried to kick things off with crib naps. It did not go well. Despite this, we decided we'd try night sleeping. She rocked! She slept for 4 hours straight, twice. The first time involved about 45 minutes of crying, but she went straight down the second time.

Given our success, we kept it up all weekend and she did great. She cries when she goes down initially for about 30 minutes, but once she's asleep, she's asleep. On Tuesday night she even slept for 7 1/2 hours!!! Too bad I had to get up and pump in the middle of the night so I only got 5 hours of straight sleep. It was still glorious!!

We're very proud of our little girl, even though we miss her desperately.

The window to a baby's soul...

is in its poo. Well, ok. Maybe not the baby's soul, but at least its digestive tract and therefore its temperament. It's been all but confirmed by the doctor that Lucy does in fact have a milk intolerance. Ever since my stupid hollandaise slip up, she's been a nightmare. Back to her old fussy self. Beginning on Monday, her poo changed colors. As a parent, you notice these things. For those of you who are not parents, this may seem really gross. For those of you who are parents, this likely seems normal. Let's just say her poo was not what it used to be. This continued on Tuesday and most of Wednesday. Then it began to go back to normal, and so did Lucy. She's been an absolute dream for the last 24 hours. The best baby in the world. The more "normal" her poo becomes, the more adorable she becomes. Given the timing of the poo change, I'm pretty sure she can't handle the milk. Now we know!

Happy Baby!!

I freakin' love this picture. It looks like a passport photo of the happiest baby. She's so damn cute!