The Fourth Trimester

Today, our little Millie is 12 weeks old!  Whoa.

Right after we came home from the hospital, some friends gave us a DVD to watch called The Happiest Baby on the Block.  Dr. Harvey Karp instructs you how to soothe and calm a fussy baby by using 5 steps to imitate the womb environment: swaddling, side/stomach position, sucking, shooshing, and swinging.  Some babies are satisfied with nursing and being held, while others cry for hours for no apparent reason.  Dr. Karp says the latter suffer from the fourth trimester - being brought out into the world in such a violent manner and then missing the cozy womb can all be very disorienting.  The logic behind each step really made sense to me, and we have employed all 5 steps at one time or another in this household.  We are done with swaddling but the shooshing and sucking (pacifiers) are still both in full force around here.  Millie loves to suck; she needs it...it triggers her calming reflex and you can visibly see her start to relax once she has the paci in her mouth.  I'm not sure how long she'll continue to use a pacifier or how much longer the shooshing will work on her, but in my mind, we've reached another milestone:  it's been twelve weeks and the fourth trimester is over! 

With this "womb logic" in mind, we purchased this Graco Sweet Slumber Sound Machine.  It plays very loud white noise that sounds like the womb; you can even faintly hear a heartbeat.  We have found this thing to be indispensable and even took it to the hotel a few weekends ago when we were out of town.  Next time we have a baby, I'm taking this thing to the hospital with us.

Here are some pics I took this morning of our twelve week old girl and those chubby chubby cheeks:

And I also took some video and posted it here: http://youtu.be/BcM_s26LoOo

Today was supposed to be my first day back at work for Walmart.  It's kind of bittersweet; I'm so grateful to have the opportunity to stay home with Millie...to be able to see her development and daily changes is priceless.  But I'm also sad to be giving up working at Walmart; I really enjoyed my job there, especially the social interaction.  I'll miss my Walmart friends, and hopefully we will continue to stay in touch and meet for lunches and sonic runs.

Exciting news:  Millie's cousin, Oliver, is to be born tomorrow morning!  I'm looking forward to seeing them play and grow together.  Love and luck to Lacy & Stephen!

Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.

Friday turned out to be a pretty interesting day.  Around 2am, I was up feeding Millie when Beansie came out of her cave to get a rather large drink of water.  Beansie never gets up in the middle of the night and for her to finish off the water bowl was really strange.  I mentioned it to Johnny in the morning and we decided to just keep an eye on her that day.  Then around lunchtime, I was searching for some chocolate and knew I had an open bag of Dove chocolates in the kitchen...which turned out to be empty.  Unless Johnny had a whole bag of Dove chocolates for breakfast, there must be another culprit in the house.  Uh-oh.  Isn't chocolate bad for dogs?!  Called the vet and they had me bring her in immediately.  This is where it gets interesting...how do I get a 55lb dog and a baby all loaded up for a trip to the vet?  I was sitting in the vet parking lot thinking "should I take the dog in and come back for the baby?  or do I leave the dog in the car, take the baby in and then come back for the dog??" (hence the Godfather quote).  Neither is a good answer since it means leaving Millie somewhere unattended and ready for the baby snatchers.  So I pulled out some mom muscles and wrangled the dog and the baby in to the vet's office at the same time.  Not pretty. 

Anyhoo, as it turns out, chocolate really is bad for dogs.  That isn't just a nasty rumor.  Especially dark chocolate and a whole bag of it.  Poor Beansie had to stay a night in the hospital flushing IV fluids and charcoal through her system to get rid of the toxic chocolate.  We brought her home yesterday morning, and she's doing okay.  Kind of lethargic and not back to her old self yet but definitely alive and kicking...thank goodness.

Also this weekend, John & I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary.  It was really lovely; we just stayed home and lounged all weekend ordering in pizza (vegan cheese for me) and eating a lot of candy.  Did you know that the traditional 6th wedding anniversary gifts are candy and iron?  We skipped the iron and went straight for the candy; no complaints here.  We spent a lot of the weekend laughing at Millie's new obsession with ceiling fans.  She breaks into a huge grin every time she catches sight of one.  It's hilarious.  I've even had trouble keeping her focused on feeding because of the big fan right above us.  Here's the typical reaction:

On a random note - my cousin Abby sent me this picture; she thinks I need this.  I think she's right.  How funny would it be to see me and Millie in this contraption?!

sunny days sweeping the clouds away...

This week has had the most perfect weather!  I love this time of year.  Millie and I have been taking advantage with our morning walks.  It has felt so good to take our time getting out there without having to rush to beat the heat.  Although...I'm not sure what is up with grasshopper population.  Those things have been downright dangerous.  We walk on a concrete walking trail that is surrounded by fields, and the grasshoppers have been flying in all directions when we pass.  Yesterday, one landed on my hand and I definitely screamed.  Today, two of them landed on the stroller and I was scared I was going to have to man-up and peel them off Millie, if it came to that.  Thank goodness, they left the stroller on their own.  Through it all, I would expect to see some sort of reaction out of Millie...however, she consistently has this look on our walks:

With the cooler weather, we've been bringing out some warmer clothes...

 hello cardigans...

i know it isn't the correct terminology, but when i see this picture the word "pantaloons" comes to mind...

how cute is our millie bear in these teddy bear pj's?  they fit so snugly so you can really see her shape.

Today the temp was back up in the 80's, so I took advantage and went out back for a little photo shoot before the grass is dead.  The sun was a little too bright for Millie's eyes, so she was squinty.  And since I didn't put sunblock on her, I made it super quick. 

This past week, she has really discovered her hands.  They are now in her mouth constantly (producing some serious drool)!

Other news in our household...our bookcases came in!  John knew how much I wanted a bookcase, so for my birthday he put in serious research time and finally found some that I love.  I'm so happy to have my books downstairs so I can lovingly stare at them from the comfort of my purple lazyboy.  Thank you, Johnny, for a most perfect birthday present.

Mills & Bud...Bud & Mills

Today is my firstborn Buddy Love's 14th birthday.  I have big plans for Buddy & Millie to become the best of friends.  When I was pregnant, Buddy would lay on my belly every night; we were convinced that Camilla would come out of the womb purring.  Unfortunately, since her arrival, Buddy has been slow to warm up to her.  He's coming around though, and because he is such a vocal cat, Millie's first word may very well be "meow".  Nothing would make me prouder. ;)

he liked to rest his head on my belly...

closer to the end, he preferred this spot on the belly...

learning to share the lap space...

 creeper...somebody took his spot!

 catching up on his reading...What to Expect the First Year

 the three amigos...

Happy Birthday, Bud!  Here's to 14 more...

Happy Birthday, JKK!

Last Friday was Johnny's birthday.  We were in Tulsa all weekend for a wedding; he was a groomsman, so Friday night was spent at the rehearsal dinner.  We had a good time at Kilkenny's - good food, good drinks and good company.  In fact, the whole weekend in Tulsa was fun.  We didn't get to do much specifically for JKK's bday though; I'll have to make that up to him soon.   However, my mom did get some millatime.  We were lucky enough to have her come in from out of town to babysit during the wedding festivities.  Not only did Millie get to spend some quality time with Nana, but Aunt Dina also came to hang out with the girls both nights!  It was a regular slumber party.  I think Millie was on her best behavior for them, although, I'm not sure I would get a straight answer if she wasn't. ;)  The wedding was held at The Mayo hotel in Tulsa, so this is also where we stayed for the weekend.  It was quite lovely.  Here's a little timeline in pictures:

getting ready to leave the bean friday night...sad

 aunt dina on babysitting duty

 saturday lunch at the brook with colleen, dan, lukey, mom & dina

JKK & KK at the wedding saturday night

 nana on babysitting duty

 sunday morning, getting ready to go to brunch

 nana getting in a few more snuggles before we say goodbye

family picture time outside the dilly deli

 happy birthday, daddy

Millie, you don't know how lucky you are to have this handsome guy as your father.  He's the best, which you will no doubt realize one day.  I can tell you already love spending time with him...out on the deck or changing into your jammy jams at night.  Let's hope you inherit his slim thighs and easygoing attitude, his energy (seriously, he puts me to shame) and sense of humor, those deep blue eyes and beautiful hands, his love of dogs and loyalty to loved ones, his amazing ability to hold his tongue, his sense of adventure and lovely olive skin tone, his intelligence and humility... and there is so much more; I can't possibly do him justice here.  I'm proud to say that I respect him and love him very much.  JKK, we are both so lucky to have you!

Belated 2 Month Pics

Finally, we were able to get Millie's 2 month pics in her chair.  It was crazy last week and we were out of town this weekend for a wedding, so unfortunately, we are five days late in taking them.  Must be better about this next month.  Anyhoo, here they are...she was in a serious mood this afternoon and fell right asleep after taking the pics.  I think traveling this weekend wore her out!

one-week old:

one-month old:

two-months old:

Her face in this one kills me...look at that double chin!

I'll write another post soon about this weekend, JKK's birthday and our first road trip to Tulsa. ;)