this past weekend -- warm weather, day at the park, grams and grand aunt millie

easter and passover pics

yay! pictures!!!

uncle steven babysits!

uncle steven and torr babysitting was fun for everyone! torr sent me the pics from the night.

3 Months! And new firsts!

wow, two weeks seems to be the norm now in catching up this blog. i'm trying to get better, really i am. it's just so hard to find the time to do this with everything else going on. still, i'm working on it.

anna has just turned 3 months yesterday (13 weeks today). she's getting so big -- i'll find out exactly how much she weighs now when we go to our breastfeeding group later today. every day brings something new. she now gives us the raspberry all the time, and will even go back and forth with you on it for a while. she's learning how to react to an action, and vice-versa... for example, if she puts her foot to my face during a changing, i'll make believe that she kicked me and my head gets pushed back. after i react like that and i put my face back by her, she'll gently kick it again to get the same reaction. i love it!

best new thing -- she can put herself to sleep! we started seeing signs of it last week, when she fell asleep by herself in her carseat while we ate dinner. but last night we decided to really get the bedtime ritual down, start earlier, etc., and make sure that she fell to sleep on her own, not because of the bottle. and it worked! dave bathed her at 9:15, then i gave her a little baby massage, then he fed her at 10. once she was done eating, i brought her into her crib, swaddled her up, and then sat by her crib and read to her for a few minutes. then i shut the light, gave her a kiss, and shut the door. she futzed around for a little bit, but fell asleep by 11 -- a mere 15 minutes after i said goodnight. i was so impressed! and she slept until 6 or so this morning. yay!!!

ok, onto other things. two weekends ago (the weekend of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th), we went up to syracuse and rochester to visit nana, uncle noah, and aunt olivia. anna did really really well. she took her usual naps in the car (receiving blanket over the carseat does the trick), and she was entertaining and engaging to all. =) of course, she got knocked a bit off schedule, and had one bad night when we tried to have her sleep in a travel crib (pack and play did much better by her), but overall she did great! we were so impressed with our little girl. it's so nice to know that traveling upstate to see her nana and her aunt and uncle won't be too much for her. it might be harder for us, with all the stuff we have to take with us!! ha! but i think everyone had a great time together, and we were so happy we went.

nana came down to see us a few days later for anna's first passover, which we attend every year at uncle howie and aunt helene's. again, she was nothing but charming -- which was impressive, since she had been difficult all day. but she was held by all new people -- erin, adam, and courtney -- and of course was scooped up by all the relatives that adore her. aunt joan told her secrets, and uncle howie made her laugh. nana gave her tons of kisses. and anna returned the favor to everyone by flirting with adam (not to mention spitting up on him) and squealing during the seder readings. that's my girl!

since our 3rd wedding anniversary was tuesday the 7th, we decided to have a date night on saturday the 11th. uncle steven and victoria came over to babysit. poor anna had a stomach bug or something going on from friday to sunday, so we felt kinda bad leaving her -- for her and for her babysitters. but uncle steven and victoria did an amazing job. not only did they keep our sick daughter happy and entertained, but they also brought her presents and cleaned our kitchen! that the best babysitting service ever. we told them they're welcome to sit anytime. =)

and then of course, sunday was anna's first easter. she wast still sick and cranky since she refused to nap. but god bless that kid, she still does great putting on a show for everyone. grandma and grandpa had bought anna her easter dress to wear, but since anna was sick she didn't wear it until the end of the day, and that was only for about 45 minutes -- to take pictures and go next door to show off to others. all in all, it was a great holiday (thanks for the amazing food steven!), and we can't wait until next year when she can get an easter basket and hunt for easter eggs. yay!

i will post more pictures later today. there are some killer ones this time around.

11 weeks old, and 2 weeks behind

so sorry! i know i haven't been keeping up on the info about our little anna jae. it's been a rough few weeks around here. dave's working a lot. i hurt my tailbone in some mystery way and was in excrutiating pain for about 5 days, and i'm still not 100% ok when sitting for a while. anna has been taken out a bunch and thrown off schedule, which clearly does not agree with her. and i'm trying to get back to work. all in all, it's been good but crazy.

our girl is growing bigger every day. i go to a breastfeeding support group on tuesdays, and you can weigh your baby there. as of yesterday (at 11 weeks old), she weighed 10 lbs., 15 oz... basically 11 lbs. i can't believe it! she's getting so big so fast. i guess it's cause she eats a lot -- anna takes in about 5-5.5 oz. per feeding, 6 feedings a day. crazy! she's almost completely out of her 3 month clothes and moving up into the 3-6 month outfits.

we had some issues with really long nursing sessions recently. anna is not known to be a fast eater, even with a bottle. she likes to take her time -- more like her dad that way than her mom. but our nursing sessions went from a long 45 minutes to a ridiculously long hour-and-a-half. it started out as a growth spurt i think, but sort of resulted in a slow let-down from me, which made me stress about my slow let-down, which made the let down even slower. ugh. vicious cycle. but i've been trying to not think about it too much, and the more distracted i am from the situation, the quicker she finishes up. again, not quick, but we're back to about 45-50 minutes on average, which is normal for her.

anna jae is doing so well otherwise though. she has begun sleeping through the night, without awakening at all, and in her crib! and she started doing this at 2 months old, when i hurt my tailbone and didn't want to bend over the swing or bassinet. i used the crib for naps and bedtime that weekend, and she took to it right away. of course, we still have to swaddle the hell out of her, but it's nice knowing that she'll go for 6.5 or 7 hours straight without needing us to soothe her back to sleep. we bought big muslin blankets over the weekend so that we could do a better swaddle on her (she was getting too big for her receiving blanket swaddle and breaking out of everything). works like a charm. and the best part? when she wakes for her first feeding of the day, she goes right back to sleep after she eats, and sleeps until 10 or 10:30. awesome!

anna is a baby that clearly responds well to scheduling, so she does best on a normal day at home where she can take her regular naps (usually after about 2 hours of being up) and be in her favorite surroundings. not always possible, of course, because real life has to occur and mommy needs to leave the house from time to time -- mostly for my sanity. if i can fit in errands or a walk between feedings, it doesn't disrupt her too much. but if we're out for the whole day, and she's in new places, she's too curious to sleep and then gets uber-cranky. and i pay for it for the next 2 days... but she's getting better. and overall she's a very happy baby.

our little girls is a gabber. she loves to talk to us! she smiles and laughs and then has full-on baby conversations with us. it's fabulous. i think she's going to start talking very early.

grandma (and sometimes grandpa) have been coming by once a week to babysit while i work. it's been a good start for all of us. anna had trouble at first doing her usual tasks, like napping, with anyone other than me. even dave was having trouble getting her to settle down for a nap. but she has adjusted quickly to others, and now gives them only the same amount of trouble she gives me. ::wink:: we'll do this for another week or two at our place so that she can be in her own surroundings, and then we'll start going to grandma and grandpa's. i'll be working out there most of the time so that i don't waste time with the commute (and money over the bridge).

ok, i think i've caught you all up. we are going upstate this weekend to visit nana, uncle noah, and aunt olivia. we're excited, but nervous about the ride up there. wish us luck!

new pics... info to come

so sorry i haven't posted on here in over a week. we've had some issues in the past 2 weeks that have kept me from it. but i'm putting together a new post with all the recent happenings in our new little world.

in the meantime, enjoy the vast array of photos i've posted! she's changing so much day by day...

this is the sequence of how anna jae wakes up. she's the funniest thing...

in her little jean dress (thanks dawn!)...

showin' off her bloomers with aileen!

just relaxin'

it's funny cause it's true!

tummy time!

with andrew

i think she was flirting!

aunt carrie took this series the other day. how great are these photos?

8 weeks, 4 vaccines, 2 temper tantrums, and one date

anna jae is 8 weeks old today!! and the poor kid had to celebrate with her first round of vaccines.

i want to do a recap of the past week or so...

anna's first tantrum(s)
oh yes, this kid is starting early. she has officially given us a first look at her temper tantrums. granted, at this stage, it's all about a newborn's need to be held NOW, but still, it's not a pleasant view into the future.

last week, anna cried a couple of times when she was put down to be changed. the cry was new though -- louder, and with a screech involved. a piercing screech. i couldn't tell if it was just that she wanted to be picked up and held, or if she was over-hungry at the moment. well, i got my answer on friday... my mom and i took her down to seaside, nj to visit some family friends, and on the way back, she started to cry in her carseat. then the cries got more intense. i decided to sit in the back with her to keep her calm. when i got back there and i started to soothe her, she started to screech again. i had told my mom about this new cry earlier that day, and when she heard it, she said, "THAT'S a temper tantrum!" oy. all we need is a kid that will throw tantrums, right? ha! i was able to soothe her, but she did it again after we switched cars and i headed back to brooklyn. man, this pretty little girl can scream.

mom and dad's first date night!
yep. dave and i got to go out on a date! i had been getting more than a bit baby-worn, so my parents and grandma offered to babysit for us on saturday night while dave and i went out. we were so excited about this, we talked about it all week.

i wanted to go to dinner and a movie. sounds passé, but honestly, we can't go to a movie with anna. so we decided that slumdog millionaire was our choice, and i found a theater that was playing it not far from pj clarke's, where we wanted to have dinner. well, we drove in, and after we parked the car, we found out that the theater wasn't playing it after all. eek! i was kinda sad, but we decided to go to dinner and then decide what we wanted to do.

we had the most wonderful dinner. we ordered the raw bar sampler and a bottle of wine -- two things i hadn't been able to have in almost a year! -- and then some yummy burgers. the conversation was great, we got to relax and be adults... granted, we talked mostly about anna, but that was ok. she wasn't sitting right next to us, or nursing from me at the moment. it was the first time i had been away from anna since she was born, and it was heavenly.

realizing that a theater nearby was playing coraline, we opted to go see that instead. when i called from the theater to check on anna, my mom said that she wasn't sleeping. crazy kid hadn't slept all day! so i said she should sleep after her 8:30 feeding... well, we called on the way home, and she STILL wasn't sleeping!! she wasn't being difficult, but i was worried we were in for a fit later on as a result.

when we got back, dave dropped me off first to go look for a spot. i came in, said hello to everyone, and then picked up anna to say hi. she immediately put her head down on my chest and got quiet. my mom exclaimed, "i've been trying to get her to do that all night!" aw, anna missed me! it was enough to make me cry. though, as i explained to her at that moment, not enough to keep me from going out again. =) still, it reminded me of the magic of having a child, which can get lost so easily in the daily chores and frustrations. that brought me back to our little private heaven.

anna's first shots...
anna jae received her first round of vaccines today. while the rest of her 2-month checkup went well (she's now 9 lbs 14 ounces, and 22 inches long), the vaccines were awful. poor kid was all content, lying on the table and discovering everything around her. then mommy held her arms and made sure she had her pacifier in her mouth while the kind nurse gave her her first dose of outside pain. oh man, my heart broke for her. she went from happy to so very, very upset in a split second. she screamed with each one (remember that screech?), and couldn't stop crying and screaming even after they were done. i held her for a bit to calm her down, then got her dressed and put her in my babyhawk. thank god i brought that, because i think being held next to me was the only thing that was going to really make her feel better at that point.

i don't get riled up by anna's crying anymore, as most of the time she's just fine. but this time, since i knew she was in pain, i wanted to cry right along with her.

plus, i had a migraine all day (yes, they're back), so that didn't help.

anna is sleeping now, hopefully will wake soon for a feeding, and then i'm sure will sleep more. i hope that tomorrow she'll be better.

my thoughts so far

i've realized that we've developed some favorites in our new little world -- things that really make anna happy and/or make our lives easier. and we have a few things that she has just refused, making us miserable in the process. every baby is different, it's so true...

clothing/furniture items/accessories:
- swing. yep, our girl couldn't live without her swing. in fact, she couldn't sleep without it. sure, she'll deign to go down in her bassinet for a nap, or for a few hours at night, but sleep the whole night through? surely you jest. give her the swing and she'll sleep until the morning. the REAL morning, not baby-world 3am morning.
- babyhawk baby carrier. i got both a sling and a babyhawk. anna liked the sling for a whole 2 weeks, and then went on a sling strike. the babyhawk worked much better for her. it holds her close to me at my chest, which is her favorite position. she can look around for a while, and then fall asleep while i do housework or walk to the store. it's a lifesaver for both of us.
- receiving blankets. we swaddle the heck out of our girl. whenever we want her to sleep, we need her to be swaddled. the carter's receiving blankets (the regular ones, not the organic -- the organic are too small) are the perfect size and weight to swaddle her without making her uncomfortable or sweaty. it's the only way she can sleep for any length of time.
- car seat stroller attachments. if i put anna in the car, and she falls asleep, do i really want to wake her up? of course not!
- pillows. not for her, of course. but for her feedings. i like the boppy breastfeeding pillow, but it's heavy and stiff, and so really bothered my incision. so i used all the other soft throw pillows in my house for feedings. sure, i look silly, surrounded by mismatched throw pillows, but it's comfy and helps support her.
- footie pajamas. i like her feet to be warm, and socks fall off.
- swaddlers. sometimes you don't want to have to do blanket origami to get her to sleep. or, if you're dave, you can't do it at all. =) so the swaddlers are an easy fix. granted, they look like baby straight jackets, but they work.
- snow suit. ok, so i still hate the big pink snowsuit that grandma bought for anna, but it does come in handy. as a winter baby, we wouldn't have even been able to get her home without it. on those cold 40-and-below days, it's the right choice. (next year i want one that makes her look like a teddy bear)
- portable changing pads. we don't have a changing table, but we have several portable changing pads. one stays in the nursery/office for daytime changings, and one in our bedroom for nighttime changings. easy, simple, and eliminates the need for moving all through the house to get to a localized change table.

soothing items/methods
- white noise. again, can't stress this enough. it's the only thing that calms her at times, and we keep it on all night to ensure that she sleeps more soundly (it's not so bad for our sleep either). we have a white noise album that plays on a loop on our iPod, and her sleep sheep is a portable way to take the white noise with us for easy calming.
- pacifier. it took a while to get anna to take it. and she still doesn't want it all the time. but when we want her to go back to sleep in her swing, or are trying to get her to sleep while rocking her, the pacifier works like a charm. we like the soothie's brand, and their shape is ideal for breastfeeding moms (apparently, the other types encourage biting. eek!).
- car ride. yeah, if you have access to a car and a cranky kid, this will help out a lot. anna does tend to cry if you stop at a light, since she likes the movement so much, but finally quiets down when she falls to sleep.
- warming her bassinet mattress. it's still chilly in this place sometimes, and if the sheet on the bassinet mattress is cold, she jerks awake and doesn't want to go down. so i discovered that warming the mattress, either at the heater, with a hair dryer, or at the mouth of the oven will aid in getting her to sleep each time. totally genius.
- baths. she just loves her baths! that's daddy/anna bonding time, and she just has the best time. if we want her to relax, it's a great solution.

things she/we could do without
- sleep sacks. a great idea, but they don't keep her swaddled. so we don't use them, unless we're leaving the house. maybe we'll like them when we're out of the swaddling phase.
- car seat. obviously, dave and i like the car seat. and we need a car seat. but most of the time, unless she's in a great mood, anna could do without it. and she HATES being buckled in.
- breastfeeding cover. i got one of those capes so that i could be discreet when i fed her. but she hates being under there. it's dark, it gets hot, she freaks out. so now i just use a pashmina around my neck or something similar when i feed her in public.
- sling. as said above, she really doesn't like it. but i know many babies who do. ::shrug::


this list will change/grow as she gets older, but we like where we are at right now.

pumping help...

hey out there. if any of you ladies have suggestions on how to pump more efficiently, please let me know. i'm having some trouble. =(

weekend with nana...

this past weekend, anna had a visit from her nana (dave's mom, barbara). it was too short, of course, but we were so glad to have them spend time together. friday night we went to great-great aunt pearl's for dinner, and also got to see aunt helene and uncle howie. anna was so well behaved! we couldn't get over it. the kid was making a liar out of us. saturday, nana came to our house to spend the whole day with anna (by the way, anyone else notice that they rhyme? just saying). except for when i was feeding her, anna was in barb's arms all day, either sleeping or having fun.

sadly, with my stupid migraines returning, i was completely out of it and forgot to take photos. but the next day, anna wore a onesie that barbara gave to her, and so i took pics of her and dave together and sent them over to barb. and that's what is posted here.


anna is getting over a cold, but she's much better than she was. and she's decided that sleeping through the night may not be her thing after all, so i'm exhausted. sigh...