Ocean Exploration
We just got back from a vacation to Washington State. (Around here, there is a small town called Washington. I have to be clear that we went to the Pacific Northwest for our vacation, or folks will think we just spent a week across the river.)

Katie was such a good sport about all the traveling we did. She spent some quality time on four airplanes and four lovely airports. She let strange family members and friends hold her without protest. She slept in unfamiliar cribs and napped in all manner of improvised places.


While traveling, Kate go the hang of taking a bottle. We spent so much time in a car, it was the perfect place to practice a bottle. Now that she is back home and going to day care, she's doing much better. Nothing makes a baby happier than a little milk on the belly.

While in Washington, we visited some old haunts in Seattle, walked along the beach on the Olympic Penninsula, and strolled through the Hoh rain forest.



But the best part of the trip was seeing my sister Sarah get married. She had a beautiful wedding in a meadow in the woods by a lake. It was a perfect day--clear and breezy. People blew bubbles all through the ceremony, which I think should become a new wedding tradition. At the reception, there was a kickin' band. Kate danced a little with her dad.

Ah, my family is spread out coast-to-coast. If only we lived closer together.

- posted by Laurie @ 2:30 PM |

 
Transitions

For the last week, Katie has been sleeping soundly in her crib. I consider this a good milestone for us newbie parents.

Yesterday, we moved the bassinet down to the basement. I hated to give the bassinet up. It was very reassuring to have her sleeping right next to me in the bassinet. I could just reach over and pat her to help her go back to sleep, and I could listen to her breath all night long.

But she's reached the weight limit for the bassinet, and she's started trying to roll over. The sides of the bassinet are just not that high. Plus, she started waking up at 6:00 AM from the sounds of Randy and me getting ready for the day. Man, I like getting a shower in before she wakes up.

So we took a couple of weeks to make the transition to the crib. We started by putting the bassinet in the baby room. I was able to sleep in the baby room, too, on a twin bed that's in there. After a couple of nights, I started putting her down for naps in the crib. After that, she slept just fine in her crib all night.

As for now, I'm still sleeping on the twin bed in Katie's room. This is more for my comfort than Katie's, I'm sure. I am nervous I won't hear her from our bedroom, even though it is just across the hall.

Of course, it would help if I would hear her while sleeping in the same room! Last night, Katie was sleeping soundly in her crib when I went to sleep myself on the twin in her room at 10:30 PM. At 11:30 PM, I woke up to find Randy changing her diaper on the changing table. Katie was putting up quite a fuss! She'd been awake since about 10:45. Randy tried rocking her back to sleep and giving her a bottle of EBM, but no luck. She'd been crying and fussing the whole time, but I didn't hear a thing!

Daycare Update
Katie went to daycare during the morning on Tuesday and Thursday this week. On the plus side, she started warming up to Jackie, her teacher. She gave Jackie a big smile when she saw her on Thursday morning. For now, Katie is the only infant in the Baby Room, so Jackie was able to hold her and play with her all morning on both days.

On the down side, Katie only drank an ounce or two of milk while she was there all morning. Once I picked her up, she nursed like crazy the rest of the afternoon. Jackie worked and worked with Katie to drink from the bottle, but Katie is a girl who knows what she likes.

This week, in addition to packing some bottles to go with Katie, I'm going to send a few cubes of frozen EBM. Katie does like eating chips of the frozen milk off a spoon. This should give Jackie another way to get a few ounces down Katie.

I talked with our pediatrician about the situation on Friday. She reassured me that Katie is not going to starve, she'll just make up the calories at other times of the day. According to the ped, Katie will take to the bottle when she's ready. In the mean time, I'd feel a lot better if she'd drink more from the bottle. She'd have a lot more fun while she's at daycare if she would.

- posted by Laurie @ 7:29 AM |