Week 14/15

Okay, I've totally blown it, skipping a week and being forced already to combine 2 weeks worth of Val updates into one. The days roll on, sometimes monotonous, sometimes not, but always with new things to report.

Most important: her stupidass heart murmur continues to not grow, while she grows like a weedlet around it. She clocked in at 12 lbs, 10 oz and a stunning 25 inches long last week.

That means her little toes are getting dangerously close to the edge of her very pink carseat. It may soon be time to bust out the so-called hideous larger seat I have waiting for her.

She's started making noises like a little dragon. Cooing is apparently growing blase, yesterday's news. She also cheered me to a really fun victory in a hockey tournament this weekend, falling asleep 5-6 minutes into each game.

A growth spurt is coming soon because she's eating everything I've got and more. It's a good thing I usually stay up late to pump extra milk for her.

Everything in her reach now goes into her mouth. Thanks to her increasing hand-eye coordination, this also means that sometimes (like right now) she can take out her pacifier, then put it back in. Or just fondle it lovingly. She also helps hold up a bottle when we let her. Which isn't very often because we're always holding her and the bottle.

I nodded at her while regaling her with exciting tales the other day and she totally nodded back. Every morning, we are greeted with a huge smile. Then a string of farts.

The mini hugs she gives when I pick her up get better and better every day. Hello, tiny person doing tiny person things!

Obligatory 3 Month Photos

13 Weeks/ 3 Months

It seems absolutely unreal that it's been 3 months since Val arrived pissing and screaming into this world. Since then, everything has changed for us. We sleep less, we talk about Val more. Way more. I'm a lot more forceful when people make dumb comments. Andrea has proved herself to be the kind of amazing parent I knew she would be.

Unfortunately, I'm realizing that I'm really not cut out to be a stay-at-home mom. Part-time, yes, that would rule. But it's getting to the point where filling my days is something of a challenge (it's not you, Val, it's me). I'm doing my best to cherish the few weeks I have left at home with her, because I won't get this time again unless we win the lottery or sell our house and move to Ohio. Or the South.

Val's accomplishments for the week include rolling from both front to back and back to front. She startles herself (and us) every time she does it. Today, she started to push herself up when lying on her tummy, looking very much like the line drawing of the baby in the development books.

There's also a lot more drool in our lives. Everything goes into her mouth, then comes out a bit moister than it went in. I'm pretty sure this means a tooth is on it's way.

She's also become the master of reaching for and holding things. We have to pay attention to what's around her, lest it be caught in her strong but small grasp.

Her laugh has gone from a very unique squeak to a more grownup laugh. She's getting better and better at going to sleep fast, it just takes a little coaxing with a pacifier and some rocking. Most of the time, she goes out like a light when we do this. Usually when she's fussy, it means she's ready for this. This simple fact makes our lives about a million times easier. And hers too, I imagine.

Being her mom is everything I dreamed of and more. To those who still seem surprised to see me with a stroller or talking like an idiot to my beautiful baby girl, I say pbbbt. And I ask how many times you'd really expect me to reach into the deepest place in my heart and pull out my most faraway dream and share it, just like that.

Which brings me to Val. She's everything I held in that faraway place, all I'd hoped for every time I tried to picture being a mom. And every day, it's just moreso.

I cannot wait to see what she does next.

12 Weeks

A little late, but here's what 12 weeks of Val's arrival into the world includes:

• She's gotten LOUD! LOUD! It's sort of graduated beyond cooing and into semi-talking. She responds to us when we talk and 'talks' back. It's so rad.
• The downside of this loudness is that her cries are now louder, which totally freaks us out.
• The other downside is that sneaking her into movies with me is now a lot more difficult.
• She's toying with the idea of going to bed at like 8 pm instead of 11 or midnight. This I don't like because when Andrea gets home from work, I really enjoy having Val's company when we're all together as a family
• I'm pretty sure she's starting to teethe. There has been a lot of extra drool lately and she's starting to bite down a lot harder while nursing. Brings me back to the early days of her life, when I winced/bit my lip in pain every time she latched on.
• She actually liked the activity mat for the first time. She also rolled from front to back while on it.

  

• When I hold her over my shoulder, she reaches out with her arms and holds on, the coolest little baby hug.
• She now understands that kisses are indeed a good thing.
• She laughs more like an adult.
• She's discovered some serious love for Sesame Street. The monsters give her great joy and I'll admit it -- sometimes, when I am very tired after not sleeping enough I turn that shit on and give thanks for the 20 or so minuets that I get where I don't need to entertain her.
• To that end, she can now rock the Bumbo seat more than before. It makes her slightly more portable -- I put her in that on top of the washer when I'm doing laundry, on top of the table in the garage when I'm packing hockey gear. Not only is it useful, she's totally hilarious looking in it.

  

She just gets more amazing every day. I'm so grateful that she's here. Yes, it was worth every part of the pregnancy and labor, not to mention all the charting and plotting that went into getting pregnant.

On a personal note, this week marked one year since the start of the cycle I got pregnant. For all those months, I said "August 7" every time I had a doctor's appointment and now, another August 7 has come and gone. In the first two weeks of that cycle, I had started to give up hope that we'd ever get pregnant. We planned our pregnancy attempt but tried to stop caring whether it worked or not, because it hurt too much when we did care.

11 Weeks!

I think I'll end up starting every Milestone Post this way -- holy shit! Val is 11 weeks old now. This last week has brought on some exciting changes -- more laughing, more smiles (good god, more smiles), less fussiness and on a serious note, a couple of days of Boobie Hate.

Thanks to advice from Kellymom, I was able to get her back to the boob for her meals. The downside to this is that I'm no longer able to keep as many full-ish bottles of pumped milk in the fridge. But the upside is renewed boobie love, complete with a gigantic smile at the end that lets me know she's all done.

Other excitement included her first bathing suit, swimming again at the magic swimming pool in Newark, a party where Andrea managed to unknowingly fling a cherry pit into her sleeve while she was sleeping. We also met some really interesting other parents, encounters that have me already bracing myself for what it will be like when Val goes to school.

She's grabbing everything within reach now. Blankets, toys, stray objects. They all find their way into her hands and then, into her mouth. Along those lines, she got this badass new toy from Sarah and Greg:

She can hold her head up like a pro (most of the time) and has taken to trying to sit up in her car seat. Soon, the Bumbo seat will be her highchair. She hates the car seat in my car, bitches and moans about how much it sucks every time I drive her somewhere. We're trying to remedy that, stay tuned.

Now that we're nearing the end of my maternity leave, each passing day means that I have one day less at home with her. And it breaks my heart, knowing that I'll have to stop spending my days gazing into Valerie's eyes and start looking at my computer instead.