Mr. Frog

So Holly has decided that she really loves the toy that my colleague, Laura, gave us that we have named (creatively) Mr. Frog. She likes to talk and sing to him. When she's frustrated, she likes to complain to him. In the car, it's about the only thing that keeps her calm if she's awake and bored. She still loves the blinking star (that came with the activity mat) and Kevin (the peacock). But Mr. Frog usually wins out. Today for the first time she was able to reach out and grab him! It really makes you appreciate how hard all this stuff is when you watch her struggle day after day with this whole thing:

1. Gaining enough control of her arms to swing them in his direction.
2. Control the motion of opening her hand from its usual fist.
3. Reaching out with an open hand toward the frog (which is often swinging from all the whaps it has sustained in steps 1 and 2).
4. Closing her hand around the ring.

I've included a photo of her talking to and grabbing Mr. Frog. Way to go, Holly! This might give you something to think about as you reach out and grab your champagne to toast 2010.
Happy New Year!

with her Mom

For those of you who keep complaining that I never post any photos of Holly with me- here's one. She's wearing a pretty new dress that Shannon bought her for Christmas (and I'm wearing the new earrings). Frank is supervising in the background.

Rockin' around the Christmas tree

So Holly is growing by leaps and bounds every day! She's really been working a great deal on her neck strength these days and is now able to hold her head up when put in a sitting position. This is a bit early, but you can't tell Holly that. Her Nanna is here---so she's probably just showing off.

Merry Christmas!

He puzzled and puzzled till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!
Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.
Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more!

Ode to the iPhone

If there's one item I think every new parent should have, it's the iPhone. Here are just a few of the many uses that I've found for mine over the past 2 months:

• Taken photos and emailed them to family and friends from the hospital, the house and out on the town.
• Googled various maladies to rule them out---often late at night with her in my arms.
• Sampled various soothing water sounds on iTunes as I paced the floor with her, purchased them and then played them straight from the phone resulting in nearly instant sleep.
• Read the NY times, email, Facebook and other things as I lie in bed with her as she sleeps. This has seriously helped me keep my sanity.
  
• Kept in touch with friends and family through email (usually done typing one-handed) as she sleeps.
• Skyped my Dad when I was in the hospital (he was in Doha at the time).

As I type this, Tom is holding one very upset Holly in the rocking chair and playing StickWars on his iPhone as she sleeps on his shoulder. She had her vaccines this morning and she was perfectly fine until about 2pm and she's been pretty much crying ever since except when she's asleep. We finally gave her some infant Tylenol about 30 minutes ago and we're hoping that will make her feel better. For those who are following Holly's vital stats, at 2 months she is:

• 13lbs 8oz
• 23"
• 39.3cm head circumference

She is cooing up a storm these days and (before her shots this morning) we were teasing her that she was the happiest baby on the block. Let's hope she'll be that happy cooing baby again soon!

It snowded!

We had some snow around here and we took Holly outside to see it. I think she might be a warm weather baby based on her reaction. She had on MANY layers under this warm bunny suit and still seemed a bit unhappy. She gets her shots tomorrow at her two month appointment. Wish us luck!

Holly Chat

Inspired by Nico's first Hollywood debut, here's Holly telling us what she's thinking.

Who does she look like?

Everyone asks us whether she looks more like her Mom or Dad. The answer is I really don't know. You be the judge! In case you don't recognize us, that's me above with my lovely big sister and that's Tom over there lying on the floor. Feel free to comment below and let us know your votes.

Holly rockin out with her dad

Sleeping

So the first words on every new parent's lips is usually something about sleeping. While all our friends and family are asking us about if we plan to have another (c'mon, people!) all the new parents are asking each other questions like,

• "How long does she sleep at night?"
  
• "What are her naps like?"
  
• "Where does she sleep?"
  
• "How does she get to sleep?"
  
• "How are you handling the lack of sleep?"

The reason for all these sleep questions is probably pretty obvious. When you're missing something, you get a bit obsessed with it. So here's my answers for those who are interested.

Holly started sleeping for 5 hour stretches at night about 2 weeks ago. She usually does a 5 hour stretch from 10 til 3am - wakes for milk- then back to sleep until somewhere between 5 and 7 which she usually decides is morning and time for us to wake up. Although this has improved a bit since we've started doing side-lying breastfeeding.

Holly usually takes anywhere from 2-6 naps a day that range from 30 minutes to 3 hours. Her car seat naps are the best and enable us to stroll her around town. Above is Holly sleeping in the Butterfly Room of our local museum.

At night, Holly sleeps between us in the bed. Yes- I've heard about the dangers of co-sleeping. I've also read about the benefits and researched how to co-sleep safely. During the day, she sleeps either in her car seat (if I have errands she falls asleep and stays there when we get home until she wakes up) in the vibrating chair or in bed with me. She is not into the Pack and Play. I'm a bit nervous about this with her starting to go with her nanny soon since I doubt a mother of a toddler and an 8 month old can climb in bed with Holly. Here's hoping this gets a little better before she starts going with her nanny!

I like to joke that you have to shed a little blood on the alter of Holly to get her to go to sleep. It really depends on the day/night but getting her to sleep can involve rocking with a pacifier, rocking without a pacifier, walking around with her on my shoulder, nursing, water sounds and shushing. Often getting her to sleep involves some combo of all of those and often for nearly an hour. Then you finally go to put her down in the bed thinking she's totally asleep and her little eyes pop right back open. Your back aches and your arm cramps as you realize you're going to have to do it all over again.

I think I can handle lack of sleep a little better than Tom can, but then I basically didn't sleep for the last two weeks of my pregnancy thanks to those "painless" contractions that plagued me all day and night. It's also improved now that she's only waking up once or twice per night. But I have say that coffee in the morning and tea in the afternoon helps a bunch.

Our little Cuddle Bug

So we have two carriers that we can use with Holly and to be honest, she really doesn't like either of them and (unfortunately) would prefer that we carry her in our arms.

The first is the hot sling which she adored in the store and 1 out of 3 times we use it she snuggles in happily. The other 2 out of 3 times results in massive meltdowns, screaming (from her) and promises that we'll never use it again (from us).

The second is a generic version of the BabyBjorn that my brother-in-law bought us. She loves it about half the time and the other half results in massive meltdowns.

We so completely wish that she would allow us to carry her some other way other than in our arms so our backs could have a break. Holly is quite the little Cuddle Bug and would love to be hugged and cuddled every minute if she could. We're happy to comply, except our backs and arms are hurting quite a bit these days. Here's hoping this will change as she gets older! If you have any suggestions on improving Holly's opinion of these slings please let us know.

2 perfect ears

In our State, they automatically test all infants for hearing at birth and Holly failed. Of course we freaked out a little about this, but our doctor was quick to point out that many infants DO fail because of excessive fluid in the ear they retain from their watery home. She was scheduled today for an appointment with a specialist and I'm happy to report that her little ears are just as perfect on the inside as they are on the outside. A number of folks also want to know how they test a baby's hearing and I'm here to tell you...

They placed 3 little electrodes on Holly's forehead and neck. Then (one at a time) they put little pink plastic ear muffs on her ears. The computer makes a 35 decibel sound in her ear and they monitor her brain stem for a response. Of course, movement can also cause the same response so they wanted her to stay as still as possible. Luckily Holly cooperated with this one like a trooper. She was pretty much asleep when we arrived but woke up when they put the things on her forehead. She smiled at the doctor and promptly drifted off again.

This photo has nothing to do with that visit. But it's awfully cute, isn't it? I'd also like to send out a shout out to our friend Kristen who is in labor right now (and has been since early yesterday). We're thinking of you and wishing you all the best!

Show me the chicken!

There are many things I love about being Holly's mom (or Moo Cow, as I sometimes call myself). A short list would include holding her little hand in the middle of the night as she nurses, watching her smile, rubbing cooling lotion on her little bottom (no diaper rash- it's preventive), listening to her cute little noises and splish-splashing with her in her little tub. There's really only one thing I hate and that's the total helplessness of what to do when she's wailing for no apparent reason. You run through the list (fed=check, diaper=check, etc) and then you're left with the ones she can't tell you about (gas, fatigue, etc). Or the possibility that she's just upset for no reason she can put her finger on. At those times I would happily pluck a chicken and dance by the light of the full moon to get her to stop crying. In our house, this has become a running joke. Our cry has become "SHOW ME THE CHICKEN!" as we search for something to calm her when she's upset. Happily, this doesn't happen too often. But all babies get upset and Holly is no exception to that rule. We joke that carrying her a certain way is "the chicken" but the next night it might be the vibrating chair or soothing water sounds. Shes just over 6 weeks old now and the need for "the chicken" is starting to become less and less often. We don't have any photos of her wailing (would you put your screaming baby down to take a photo?!?!?) but I think this one shows her ability to be express anger.