A Whole Hand's Worth of Months Old

The baby girl is 5 months old today! I can't even believe it; where does the time go; blah blah blah.

When she can read and go online in a few months, she'll be pissed about some of the unflattering blooper shots I've posted. And the vomit pictures. But this adorable picture has to make up for that, right?

Highlights at the moment? Babbling. Grabbing things and putting them in her mouth. Spitting up a ton less but drooling a ton more. We need fewer burp cloths at the ready, but now she's never without a drool-catching bib.

My favorite thing? Her little laugh. Without fail, she'll laugh when I sing "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty." And when Alan says "Ho Ho Ho." I have no shame in what I'll do to get her to laugh. Wouldn't you do anything for this?

We're still getting the sleep thing figured out. Sometimes she'll sleep in her crib with no problem. Other times she gets all screamy as soon as she senses she's being laid down horizontally and OH MY GOD, WHERE DID MOM GO? I can only let her cry so long before I give up and climb into her crib with her. JUST KIDDING. But compared to those first months of getting up every two hours? I'm sleeping well, thank you.

At 5 months, she's wearing anything from 6- to 12-month clothing sizes. And while she is in the heavyweight division for her age, she's not exactly tall. Yet if it's anything footed, she grows out of it lengthwise well before she fills it out anywhere else. But if it's pants, they have to be ridunkulously long to fit her in the waist.

I do love how the pant length makes her look footless. May just put her in dresses from now on to avoid the problem. Also, check out how she's sitting on her own (for two seconds until she tumbles over)!

Hands: So Much Better Than Sliced Bread It's Ridiculous

Ever since Miss Aves discovered her hands, they've been her favorite playthings. Rattles and teethers are fine and dandy, but why play with those when hands are always there for you? She doesn't really suck her thumb. Instead, she jams her thumb into her mouth and gums it. Then when she's bored of her thumb, she'll go for several fingers at a time. Sometimes a fist. Sometimes a fist and her other thumb. Sometimes her fist and several other fingers. Sometimes both fists.

So I have a million pictures of her doing this:


And this:



And this:


And sometimes those little fingers would get jammed just a touch too far down the throat. And she'd gag a little. And I'd try to reason with her. I'd say, "Look. One of these days you're going to make yourself throw up."

But did she listen?


You just cannot reason with a 4-month-old.

The Canine Burrow of Infiltration

Marti has always liked to be in the middle of the action. Pre-Avery, when I was working full-time from home, there were days she would drive me to my wit's end because she would sit next to me and scratch me any time she was not the center of my attention. Which was often, because I was working. So, we're talking entire workdays of scratching.

I was never worried about how Marti would react to the baby. But I did wonder how she would do when she wasn't the center of attention any more. Because the scratching? I couldn't deal with every time my attention was diverted to the baby.

The only problem we've had since Avery was born, really, has been that she so desperately wants to be with her humans that it borders on ridiculous. And being close isn't enough. Must be ontopofyoualwaysandforever.

For instance, I was in the kitchen recently, and Avery was in her bouncer in the living room. I heard an "Eeep! Eeep!" from Avery. So I sprinted to the living room. Lo and behold, Marti is IN THE BOUNCER with Avery. Marti was sitting there like, "What's up? Why is she 'eeping'?" And Little Miss Aves is like, "Something is amiss! A dog is on my legs! A dog is on my legs!"

Did a sharp scolding keep her out of the bouncer for good? No. But at least there is no baby this time.



Marti has this amazing talent of finding the most comfortable spot in the house. We come home to find her on the back of couch cushions or in our bed. Never on the floor. No way. Here she used the Boppy to build a Fort of Cozy.



If there are humans to snuggle with though? Even better. Baby pits? Best.



And if I'm wearing a robe? Well, Marti considers it a custom, closer-to-mom blanket for herself.



As much as Marti loves me, I think Aves is her new favorite person. She babysits. For free.



She tries to sneak in smooches.



She brings offerings. This ball was brand-new and she was willing to share.



Nothing will deter Marti from getting involved. There's no room? She'll squeeze in. Breastfeeding? Avery makes a perfect chair!



For Marti, adding Avery to the family just means one more person to love.

Just Add Milk

Now with more pounds and a lot more attitude!


Miss Avery Anne is four months old today. Looking at her today, I barely recognize her as the tiny little girl we met in August. I'm pretty sure she's close to tripling her birth weight at this point, so I'm interested to see what her measurements are at the doctor next week. She is large and oh so in charge.

Those luxurious locks have grown thinner, even though she still has quite a bit of hair. Just look at what she was born with!

Today, her hair may be thinner, but she's filled out everywhere else! She's got the cutest chubby little cheeks and thighs you just want to munch on. I can't believe how much she's grown. The kid on her package of diapers is walking, for crying out loud.

Speaking of crying out loud, she has found her attitude. She is usually a very happy baby, but she knows that a loud holler gets results in a hurry. And that loud holler is more of a horror-movie scream. I have visions of that scream happening in grocery stores. In which case I'm pretty sure I'd do anything to make it stop. Want a live lobster? It's yours! She'll go from zero to 60 in a few seconds flat. Here is one of her fits during our photo session:

But she's also found her smile and her laughter, so we have a lot of fun getting her to grin and giggle.


She still hates the pacifier (Marti still loves them. Six destroyed now.), but she's learned that she's got these hands, and hands have thumbs. She doesn't suck, she just noms on them and drools like crazy. Yum yum!

She also rolled over during tummy time the other day. She did it in September when she was super pissed, but this time it wasn't a fluke. Here she enjoys some tummy time with daddy!

Other milestones include lifting her legs up into the air and slamming them down with ferocity, and bringing her rattles and teething rings straight to the mouth. Or I should say, bringing them in the general direction of her mouth. It's a source of endless entertainment for me.



And if I see you at Christmas, don't even ask if she's sleeping through the night. She's not. Not even close. I will volunteer that information when we at least step in the right direction. Until then, I will share pictures like this where you can't quite see the dark circles under my eyes.

Clearing Out the Inbox

My email inbox has been out of control since August 7. I gave birth to a little cutie pie, spent almost a week at the hospital and away from the computer, and it's been tough to recover. Even though I see new emails on my BlackBerry, I don't always have two free thumbs to respond. So the email continues to pile up. It's like one step forward when I delete an email and one step back when it's replaced by a new one.

I've finally gotten it down to 17 new emails, and in going through the inbox, came across this one, dated July 30, 2010.

An email to Nikki and Erika, responding to the question "How are you feeling?"

So yeah, 34 weeks today. I'm up every hour or so at night either maneuvering into a different sleep position (with a Snoogle that I won. It's awesome.) or peeing. Our house is still chaos...Alan's planning to tile the kitchen floor...stresses me out but I'm trying to be zen about it. My maternity pants don't even really fit any more, so that's very annoying. And tight. So I'm rotating like three dresses and a skirt. YAWN. My feet also started to swell towards the end of the day and for some reason that is very depressing--like you need a further reminder that you have no control over your body any more. Oh, and Bethenny Getting Married had her baby at 35 weeks so now I'm freaking out that I'm so not ready if the baby makes an early appearance. Not likely, I know, but I can't be rationalized with. I'm also sick of being the clumsiest human alive and banging my shins or breaking dishes every other minute. See the can of worms you open up when you ask how I am?

Oh, Erin of July 30. You should be freaking out. Very much indeed.

The Boss

She says "milk," and I say, "How much?" I couldn't have a cuter boss.

Juggling

Fact: You can't fully appreciate your parents until you have kids of your own. Then you see both how much they've loved you all this time and how much work they've done to take care of you. Love is a wonderful thing, and it's not only enough to make the work worthwhile, but it also makes you crazy enough to want to do it again. At some point.

Now that Avery is three months old, I can't help but think that many moms would be back to work about now. Can I just say, I have no idea how they do it. We're still up at least a couple of times during the night, and while there is almost no crying now and I haven't had to turn on the infomercials in more than a month, there is still enough exhaustion that I've fallen asleep in the glider. For an hour or more. Granted, I do work, but thankfully I can do my writing and editing when it's convenient for me, at home. I've never been afraid to work hard (Ken Berry at 10! Child labor, anyone?), but taking care of an infant full time is by far the toughest job I've ever had. Babies might sleep for 14 hours a day, but Avery sleeps 10 minutes here and an hour there...and so far, not predictably. I'm also busy trying to keep us from getting buried alive by laundry. And making dinner, which I'm proud to report I'm doing regularly again, finally. And, on occasion, showering, which I've done with one leg out of the shower to keep bouncing Avery in her bouncer.

So sometimes I can't respond to emails. Or voice mails. Sometimes I get interrupted putting on shoes. I've been wearing only one shoe for about an hour now.


Also keeping me busy? Leaves. Fall out here is absolutely gorgeous. So beautiful that it almost makes up for some of the New Jersey nastiness. Here is the view from our front porch on Sunday, midway through raking our front yard.

This was today, after a storm blew threw last night. I had to laugh at the few remaining leaves struggling to hang on to the tree.

And because I know you people don't visit to get a leaf report: Avery is now babbling at us like crazy, and we've also started earning huge gummy grins regularly. Sometimes she looks at us like we're being doofuses, but sometimes those doofuses are funny! Unfortunately, she knows when I'm trying to capture giggles and grins, and she wants to have the upper hand and so refuses to give me what I want. So smart already.