Pics update

A lot has happened over the past week, and it deserves a good blog post. Instead, though, you'll have to just deal with pictures until we can gather up the time to write about the x-mas break.

Our kinda cheesy first christmas photo:


Catherine in a cute shirt from Nic:


Chris, Nancy, Mike, and Jill came to visit. Here is the baby shot. From left to right, Amelia Rector, Glendon Snow, Catie Clover, Nathan Rector:


Smiling, happy baby:


A holiday outfit:


Corpse baby after too much activity:


Dad and daughter:

Two months old

Today, Catherine is two months old.

Every day, she gets more cute. Every day, she interacts with us more. Every day, she sleeps a little better, is a little less fussy. Every day is more fun. Every day, she shows us a tiny bit more of her personality.

Every day is better than the previous day.

School's out, first needles

The latest on the sleep situation:

Catherine slept Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday night in her crib. It was awesome. Wednesday and Thursday were days with some fussiness so we didn't push our luck - she came back to bed with us. She slept in the crib last night, though, and has slept all morning, too.

Other news:

On Thursday, she got her 1st set of needles. I wasn't there but Jenny said it was brutally sad. The little bean wailed. Still, she showed no ill effects.

What else? Not too much, but school is out for two weeks. Sweeeet.

Finally, it appears - by looking through these photos - that I wear the same sweater every day. Indeed I do. It's too much effort to look through the closet for something else. The one on top will do, thanks.

-Andrew

First night in the crib

It's 7:15 monday morning, and we have just completed Catherine's first night in the crib in her own room. Jenny will have more detailed information (as she is the one who gets up to feed the bean), but I think it was a major success. She even slept for 4 hours straight - midnight to 4. Both baby and mom are still sleeping right now.

Do you think our dog has an eating problem?

Step into the kitchen, and she's there. Snack on something, and she's at your side, staring into your eyes. If you make the rustling noise of any type of food packaging or container, she bolts in your direction. Leave food unattended for more than 5 minutes and she has found a way to get to it - even if it's on the dining room table.

Ellie loves food.

So today, when I used up the last of the cat food, she looked at the empty bag longingly. I gave it to her:


He doesn't get much mention in these pages, but we also share our home with Rex:

Happy Baby!

Yes, Miss. Catie Clover seems to be a much happier little darling lately. Who knows if it's because of passing the six week mark, or because her medication dosage for her acid reflux was increased or because I decided to give up chocolate? Who knows? And heck, who cares? As long as she is a happy girl that's all that matters. All we know is for the past week she has been content and happy and that makes our hearts burst with joy.


Now, don't get me wrong. We still have tears. For instance, she still hates being in a car seat unless it's moving. But her bursts are shorter now and much more manageable.


In other news, Catie took her first bottle this week. She only gave a few funny looks and then she was off and sucking!


We also brought out the Baby Bjorn this week. She's still a little young to be facing out. But boy oh boy is she going to love it when the time comes. She's such a nosy little girl... she loves checking everything out!


After the success that Andrew had with it (success meaning no tears), I tried it, and within minutes she was sound asleep.


And finally, a picture of one of her favourite things to do: blow bubbles!

Snow day!

It's a snow day here in Halifax! Some of the best parts of being a teacher are the random extra holidays..

-I shoveled

-Jenny made poached eggs on toast

-Ellie cleaned the plates

-and Catherine slept:

At the 6.5 week mark

So here's what we know:

1) Catherine still has acid reflux. It can frequently make her life miserable. Some days are better than others (yesterday and today were/are awesome), but on other days she seems to be in a bunch of pain. No fun.

2) She is still gaining weight on schedule - she's now 10 lbs, 3 oz.

3) That thing where she's supposed to poop only 2-3 times a day? Yeah, that hasn't happened yet.

4) She can smile! She gives us several smiles a day - as much as her developing muscles will allow her to. At first, I was skeptical. But now I'm a believer. When she's in a quiet-alert moment, she clearly and obviously follows our faces around, stares us in the eyes, and smiles when we sing or make silly noises.

Now... the pictures...

In her cutest outfit yet:

With a really cute hat on: it's got cat ears on it. She hates hats, though. Fervently.


This is a mediocre picture of her smiling. She gives us bigger ones than this, but it's all I've managed to capture so far.

Click on the picture to view a larger version.

Bath time

Mom scolded me again so here's a quick post (just for you, moms!):

Catherine's going longer between feedings now, 2-3 hours between meals. We even got some 4 hour stretches a couple of nights in a row - it was wonderful.

Here are some pics of our bath session tonight:

She loved it. Wide-eyed and pretty close to a smile:


We had to brush her hair and make her look pretty...

Winter's here, and another milestone

Firstly, here's Catie Clover doing her stretches. Note the cute shirt.... Thanks Nic.


Later, it was time to go out. It's getting cold here in NS so we have to bundle her up in her ridiculously cute winter suit. The suit is on loan from - you guessed it - Nic.


She didn't appreciate her own cuteness, as right after this she started to fuss. "Why am I too hot, trapped in this seat, and being blasted with flashing lights?"

Friday night it snowed. And snowed. And snowed some more. The weatherfolks say 35 cm but for sure it was more at our house (at least after the plow came by 4000 times). I spent nearly 3 hours shoveling on Saturday morning and an hour more on Sunday. Winter has arrived.

Saturday night, Duane, Laurie, Mike, Jill, and Glendon came over. Glendon is 7 months old and he is a freakish giant compared to Catherine. Is this what we are to expect? But seriously, he can do all kinds of cool stuff, like hold his head up and respond to a variety of stimuli.


And our Catherine is making progress daily! Today, she grabbed and held on to a rattle, and then shook it around. Another first for the bean!

One month old

Today, Catie's 1 month old. I guess the time is going quickly (she's so much bigger now, and so much cuter).

More pics coming soon, I'm sure, but here's the latest.

She's grown 2 inches in length - she's now 21.5 inches long

She now weights 9 lbs, up from 7 lbs 13oz two weeks ago.

These measurements place her in the 50th percentile for both height and weight for her age. Good news, indeed. Heck, she's now into the #1 diaper size.

She has also developed a case of acid reflux - heartburn. We've got her on some meds and those have definitely made a difference - she's sleeping much better now. Apparently, this is a common condition with small humans, and so we've got to just keep on keeping on with what we're doing.

Milestones

So I took Ellie for a quick spin down to Local Jo's, our little coffee shop here, and I bought a couple chocolate chip cookies. They make the best cookies!

We ate the first one together, but later on...

Me: "What happened to that other biscuit?"
Jenny: "I ate it."
Me: "I see how you are."
Jenny: "And I'm not apologizing it for it, either."

OK, back to the bean. Earlier in the week, she was slumbering away, but started to fuss. Grammy Fran to the rescue - as she grabbed Catie's thumb and shoved it in her mouth. We got another hour of sleep out of her as a result!

Sleeping but stirring:

Post-thumb insertion. A happy bean:



Other exciting milestones this weekend:

#1 - We went outside to a public event. It was CP Allen's football final (which we won - Tier 2 Champions...), so we went and brought bean. Sadly, the weather absolutely sucked (and it continues to suck right now), so we scrammed after just 1 hour.


#2 - The baby's attentiveness. She is definitely focusing on noises and sights now. There's no question. This morning, I am sure I had her undivided attention for a good 2 minutes. It was really cool. Whatever my face was doing, she was going to stare straight into it.

#3 - Jenny is also convinced that Catherine smiled at her today. She asked me to come and look, but I was napping (this must have been when the cookie got eaten. Argh!). She said that she looked right at Jenny and smiled at her.

(keep in mind that #2 and #3 are not happening with any regularity, but man is it cool progress!)

#4 - We went out for breakfast with the bean. All hail Smitty's, the mother of all family restaurants! She was a perfect angel for the duration, and we've gained valuable confidence and experience. And gained an awesome milkshake, too.

Lots of things going on right now!

Saturday morning post

Updates abound; here's Jenny carrying the sweet girl in the sling:


Later on, Jenny packed up Catherine to take her out. The hat is cute, but the car-seat-sleeping-bag is even cuter.

The next morning, it was snuggle time. It's clear that they have a very strong connection already....

We've taken to calling Catherine "the bean." Reason being, sometimes she sleeps curled up like a kidney bean. Her face even takes on a reddish quality, not unlike the skin of a legume. Here's photographic evidence:



Aunt Kellie was in town for work, and she dropped by to visit (and she brought food from Il Mercato - yummy garlic, chili, and oil pasta!). Kel was loving the bean. She got some quality time with her:

Growth spurt?

Must be something like the 3-week-old growth spurt these days, as Catherine has her fussypants on this week and seems to be hungry all the time.

Tonight, for example, Jenny was driving home with Catherine and Ellie. Catie was freaking out so hard that she got Ellie going - and when Ellie gets barking, you don't want to be around. Jenny had to pull the car over and apply some doggie discipline (holding closed the mouth). Still, Ellie and Catie continued to freak out all the way home. Jenny had to admit it was her fault - she tried to make it home before feeding her and was about 20 minutes too late (that little girl has a hollow leg!).

As a result, Ellie spent some quality crate time when she got in the house. We don't have a crate for Catherine (is it even legal?), so we used Jenny as the human pacifier instead.

Mom called and gave me grief about no updates recently.... She said "I don't even know what she looks like anymore!"

I totally agree - I've been slack. So here are a few.

Making supper with a baby on the chest (Paenang Curry, if you're wondering):


Sleepy baby, parts 1 and 2:



Asleep in the swing. She's really taken to it lately and thankfully so. It's a lifesaver!

Nothing new, really

Still just getting into the routine. I'm still waiting for Catherine to become more interactive (give me a smile, follow me with your eyes, anything!).

Meanwhile, Jenny is gaining valuable experience in the field of stuffing-a-baby-into-a-sack-so-she-looks-like-a-sausage.