8 week pictures and 2 month stats

Here are the official progress shots of 8 week old Ivy. Posted, I may note, MORE than 24 hours before we are to take her 9 week shots. On top of our game around here, aren't we!? Good lord the weeks go fast...

From july2010

From july2010

This morning Ivy went for her 2 month doctor visit. All's well. She was pronounced healthy and perfect and was given 3 shots and an oral vaccine (which she is dealing with pretty well today, not too much fussiness so far). She, following in her big brother's footsteps always, will also be participating in a vaccine study. (Jack was informed today that he helped to get the 13-valent Prevnar vaccine licensed for his age group! What an accomplished young man...)

With no further ado, here are her official stats:

Weight-- 11 lbs 8 oz, 75th percentile

Height-- 23 inches, 75th percentile

Head Circumference-- some random number, 10th percentile

So, apparently she is growing nicely. Except for her head, that is. While I am personally a bit concerned that her percentile for head circumference is dropping while everything else is getting bigger, her doctor was not worried, and said the biggest problem with her head size will be finding hats to fit. That and the fact that her mother will be calling her "pinhead" from now on. As a term of endearment, of course!

We are about to start the final stages of packing for our long stay at Farley's. I am most certainly dreading the drive there (8 hours of travel with fussy baby and bored toddler, compounded by unknown-as-yet side effects of vaccines, oh yay...) and hoping that the stay itself will prove the travel to be worthwhile. I feel like we are always running to keep up with daily life around here, where we actually have a routine and storage and all the conveniences we are used to. Hopefully we'll find a rhythm and be able to keep up in a new place...

So, off to pack. I'll leave you with some random pictures from the last week.

Ivy has discovered the mirror on the mobile of her swing...

From july2010

Big and Little

From july2010

Big and Little being really, really cute. (note the small head-- size of Jack's HAND!)

From july2010

One more of Big and Little because I can't help myself..

From july2010

A little bit 'o video. Click on it.

Daddy and Ivy

From july2010

I love my doggie!!

From july2010

Jack at Voinovich Park this morning, where we went to look at the tall ships. He was just as impressed by the Goodtime III and this random sailboat so its a good thing we didn't pay admission to see them!

From july2010

From july2010

8 weeks old!

So it turns out I rather like this little 8 week old. She has become, overnight almost, a pretty charming creature. We've had smiles for a few weeks now, sure. But this week-- these smiles are the real deal! The moon-eyed, face lighting, you-are-my-whole-world-mom real deal. And the cooing! "Ha- oooh..." is the new vocabulary word of the day, added to "ah" and "ohhhh!" and "eh-HEH!" (the best I can do to spell her little breath-catch laugh. When life is really good, the smiles, the coos, the laughs and the kicking all come together to make for one very adorable and engaging girl...

From 2010-07-04 July 2010 4th of July

And then there's this baby...

From july2010

Yes, there's definitely a bit of a family resemblance. :)

Lest you think we have given birth to the same child twice, here a couple of examples from today which should illustrate that Ivy is, in fact, a very different baby.

1. She loves her bath. Loves it. Today after she smiled her way through hair washing and body scrubbing, she continued to laugh, coo and wiggle in the tepid and rather dirty water for a good 5 minutes. Her brother at this age, by contrast, was a human thermometer who would tolerate a bath only as long as the temperature was maintained at precisely 99 degrees, and shrieking to let us know if that changed.

2. Last night, this 8 week old slept for 9 hours without waking. Yes, 9 hours. Not a typo. (OK, so it was 9 hours in the swing,not in a crib, but I am still counting it.)

I am tempted to look back through Jack's blog to find the exact date at which the little non-sleeper his that milestone. You can be assured it was not at 8 weeks. Perhaps 8 months.

I know better than to expect that Ivy will continue this sort of sleep on a regular basis. But I am giddy with the possibility...

Happy 4th!!

From july2010

We've had a magical Independence Day so far. This is one of the days of the year when I love our neighborhood completely. Somerton gets blocked to traffic and all the children come out into the street to play. Neighbors stand and chat, kids splash in pools and run and shout, and this year the Rocket Car came and gave rides. And then there is the parade. How to describe the parade? Honor guard of kids on bikes, crepe paper streamers trailing. Homegrown band of talented neighbors playing patriotic tunes on whatever instruments they have on hand. (this year, a marching cello). A maypole and streamers and a few drums. And glorious hot hot hot sunshine and a lotta love. Yes.

And this year, Jack was old enough to get in on the action...

From july2010

Can you say, "time for a nap??"

From july2010

Emma's visit

We were happy to host Jack's wonderful 12 year old cousin Emma from Wednesday to Friday this week. Jack loves her. Really, really loves her. We hope Emma had as much fun playing with him as he did, ordering her around. :)

Highlights of the visit:
Wade Oval Wednesday with Mama Santa's pizza on, well, Wednesday. A trip to the zoo (Nat took the 3 kids, on his own, while I worked. Holy Superdad!) on Thursday. A trip to Edgewater (see post below)Thursday night. A visit to the Botanical Gardens and lunch and desert in Little Italy on Friday. Perfect weather the whole time.

Ivy and Emma...

From july2010

From july2010 Jack and buddy Riley playing amid the summer fun...

From july2010 Ivy and Lillian.....

From july2010

From july2010 Melinda, Naomi and friends from Baby and Me group..

From july2010 Three girlies!! :) Lillian, Ivy, Naomi......

From july2010 Jack and Emma at the zoo.....

From july2010

Just a little smile for you...

From june 2010

Milestone update, week 7-8:

Ivy smiles often and purposefully now. She also laughs. Not the true social laughing (or even the fake laughter that is Jack's new thing -- "I'm jus' laughin' at cows, mom!") but oh so cute nonetheless!

She is also cooing-- open ah and oh sounds accompanied by a very serious and deliberate face.

She can hold her head up in supported sitting for quite a long time. She is hardly mushy any more. You know, we still think of her as our tiny baby but she's not so tiny these days! She is getting solid and more in control of her body, stretched out and starting to look around instead of melting into us... sigh. Kind of miss that melty baby...

Yesterday she noticed the mirror above her in her swing and greeted it with excited kicking and smiling. She also notices the mobile abover her pack and play. We need to get the crib set up in the nursery now with a proper, moving mobile for her. I think she'll really enjoy it.

Kicking is a new pastime, as is clawing at her own face. She can get her hands into her mouth but and this appears to be a big goal in life for her-- she sucks with great fortitude on whichever finger or knuckle makes it there-- but she misses a lot and ends up smooshing her hand into her cheek or eye or forehead. It's quite comical until she scratches herself and yells about it. Her fingernails grow so amazingly fast!

She is beginning to regulate into something of a schedule, or at least a "rythm" to her day:
Up around 8am. Time to poop! Eat and have some super happy time laying on her back somewhere.
Back down to take a rest by 9:30-- kicking, cooing and smiling is tough!!)--in her swing. Nature sounds and swinging motion on, please, and a blanket tucked around her.
Back awake around 10:30. This tends to be a fussy/needy stretch. Often we go somewhere at this time. Walking or being held or in the sling...Time to eat, usually a nice big meal, both sides...
11:30-- time for sleep!! She fights it but needs it at this time. Often this nap is in the car carrier, in the car home from somewhere. Or, back in the swing or sling.
Up to eat at around 1-2. Some alert time then she usually naps while Jack is napping, a nice solid nap in her swing, from 2:30-5:30 or so.
Up to eat at 5:30. Alert and happy but ready to fuss at a moments notice if it looks like we are going to eat dinner or need two hands to cook.
Maybe a catnap in the evening, maybe not. By 7:30 or 8 she is getting a bit on the rangy side. Current bedtime routine is PJ's on and a massage around 8. Nurse, hang out, relax while Jack watches videos. Rock to sleep or near sleep while Jack gets tucked in. Be put down in pack and play 4 times and calmed back down each time that doesn't work. Eventually she "wins" and is asleep in her swing by 9:15 or 9:30.
Sleep til 2:30 or 3. Wake to eat and come in bed with mom.
Sleep til 5am. Begin grunting at this time, like clockwork. Time to poop! Get changed. Nurse in bed off and on til 6 or so when mom gets tired of the grunting. Go back in swing and sleep til 7. Wake to eat for real back in bed and sleep very well til 8:30.

Cleveland, the happy place

My favorite thing about a perfect summer day-- I mean aside from ideal temperatures, cloudless blue skies, and gentle breezes-- is how daggone happy it makes everyone. Downright joyful, that's what this city was today. It seemed that people just came pouring outdoors-- couples and groups of kids and joggers and dog walkers. And all of them smiling. I think I even saw one of the grumpy old Italian men in front of the cigar shop crack a smile. It was that sort of day.

And then there was tonight. A trip to Edgewater with a McDonald's picnic. A later start than we anticipated after Jack's long nap, but the timing was as perfect as the day. Just look at that lighting.

From july2010

From july2010

Jack finally agreed to wear his sandals to the beach. Such amazing cuteness as he explored the texture of the sand on his feet, and minced his way into the waves, arms out straight, mouth stretched in a giggle-grin and a bit of a shiver, squealing with delight. Eventually he ended up with an entirely wet bottom, which didn't seem to bother him too much. Picture him using a zebra mussel shell to scoop up sand and bring it to me, tiny shellful at a time, then plopping his wet-shorted self down in the sand to have a drink of Sprite.

It was a stunningly wonderful evening. I had to tear myself away from the sunset over the perfect-glass lake to drive home. We've been trying to follow a new policy of leaving while we're still having fun, to make the leaving go a bit more smoothly... but tonight it was especially hard. Could've stayed on that beach forever...

Oh yeah-- and it's our anniversary today too. Four years of marriage. Not counting the 12 years we were together before that. And I still love him with all my heart.

Looking back over this blog, at these two gorgeous children we've produced (And c'mon, they are pretty stinkin' gorgeous kids, aren't they?) and all the wonderful memories we've made along with them-- it's been a pretty good run so far.

I love you, Nat. Here's to many more perfect summer days-- and amazing years-- to come.

A video for ya. Click on it.

Warther's and a wonderful day...

We headed back down to Strasburg today to spend some more time with Grandpa and Vovo before they go back to Wyoming. We had a wonderful repast of fejouada (thank you Anna!) and ham and baby swiss (thank you Aunt Pat) and relaxed at Pat's house watching the kids for a while. That house brings back such childhood memories for me. Aunt Pat has kept it remarkably like it was when Grandma Gertie lived there. Complete with the toy closet. I used to think it was so very magical that the light came on when you opened the door. Like the closet was welcoming me in. And inside-- still so many of the very same old-school Fisher Price toys that I played with as a little girl. Jack spent most of the morning pulling out one toy after another...

From june 2010

From june 2010

After lunch-- more memories. We drove to Dover and visited the Warther museum, another tradition of my childhood. As predicted, Jack adored the trains. He also loved the flowers and the ramps and the whole experience, really. It was wonderful to watch my son enjoying this marvelous museum while listening to my dad's stories of how he used to hitchike to Dover as a boy and watch Mooney Warther carve. I never tire of looking at the amazing works of art Mooney created..

From june 2010

Best moment-- hard to rate really as it was wonderful the whole time, watching the boy run from train to train, enthralled, carefully following the tour guide's directions the whole while-- may have been when he looked at the model of the Golden Spike, the two trains facing one another on the track, and said, "Two engines!!!....... They're gonna run into theirselves!" SO concerned. So adorable.