2 Month Check

Eliza and I are spending our afternoon recovering from this morning's two month appointment. Everything looked great with our little girl. She is still on her mission to be THE biggest baby - weighing in at 13lbs 11oz, which is the 97th percentile. Only 3 more to go! Lengthwise she is 23 inches long at the 70th percentile, which explains her buddha-esque figure :)

This was also our big shot appointment. Because we opted to have her birth immunizations delayed, today she had three pokes and one oral dose. Poor booger hated the oral immunization - I guess because all she's ever had is breastmilk it was pretty yucky - also a lot more than I would have thought for such a little booger. The nurse who gave her the shots was a pro and did them very quickly but it was still pretty rough. I don't know who was more traumatized - her or me! It's been a couple of hours now and we've spent most of the time snuggling and nursing, trying to get back on track. After our last nurse she gave me lots of big smiles so I think she's on her way to forgiving me for letting them poke her :)

This last week Eliza has had a lot of changes. She's been smiling a lot more - usually in the mornings. It's been so much fun and now we're eager for the giggles to start. She also started moving her head back and forth. She still has a hematoma (bruise) on her skull from birth that has made her only want to turn to the left, but she's been moving to the right on her own this week which is awesome - that should keep her from developing a flat spot opposite the hematoma. She found her hands this week and has been sucking on them like mad. It's super cute, even if she does get a little frustrated and fussy when she can't quite get her thumb out of her fist. Lastly, she has been focusing and tracking a lot. You can move back and forth in front of her or move a toy around and she will follow it with her eyes like a pro. She's more and more interactive and "talkative" and we're loving it.

We've spent the past two weeks trying to get her into a bedtime routine. She had been staying up with Jeremy until he comes to bed at 2am. It was working great, but with work trips coming up we decided we needed to start putting her down earlier so I don't have to stay up while he's gone. It was a rough few nights getting her to go down between 9 and 10, but now she's pretty much got it. Jeremy wakes her up to change her when he comes to bed and I nurse her. The other night he fell asleep in his office and didn't come get her and I woke up at 5am - she had slept for 7 hours and was still going strong! Of course since my body is used to nursing her at least every 4 hours I had to wake her up and get some relief - but I do wonder how long she would have gone! Looks like the only thing keeping her from sleeping through the night is me. I'm not quite ready for that yet, though.

I think we're going to try to offer her a bottle with my pumped milk this weekend. I'm having a hard time letting go and doing this just because I love our nursing soooo much - but it will be good for me to be able to leave her on occasion. Wish us luck!

Hanging with Daddy at Qdoba

Big smiles!

So serious!

Cute little crossed feetsies

Hanging with Grandpa

In the waiting room at the doctor, sound asleep

Sleeping again in the exam room, waiting for the dreaded pokes

Home recovering with some Momma snuggles

Sleeping away the pain

Finally happy again - that wasn't so bad! :)

Smiling girl

I finally caught a smile on video - they don't happen when she's wide awake very often so it's always a surprise! The camera angle is funny because she's looking at her monster on the wall :)

The Modern Woman's Dilemma

As most of you know, this week I handed in my resignation at Columbia. This is a decision which I have agonized over and while it was hard to bite the bullet it's a huge relief to have it over and done with.

There was definitely a part of me that wished that I hadn't found such a good fit with my first librarian job so the decision would have been easier. Jeremy and I spent a lot of time weighing the pros and cons of staying at home versus going back to work. Columbia is an adorable little school and I absolutely loved it. I worked with a principal who was very hands off and let me do what I wanted as long as it worked. This gave me the freedom to create a library program exactly how I wanted to. I loved the kiddos and it was so fun to help them connect with literature. In addition to loving my job, we really did have the perfect setup for childcare. Rather than sending Eliza to daycare, we had planned on paying my mom to watch her. What better option than having someone we trust so implicitly watch our baby during the day?? I'm not going to lie, though - thinking of coming home after a long day at work and hearing about how much fun mom and Eliza had made me more than a little jealous.

Since I spent the last couple of years before we moved in graduate school, Jeremy and I learned how to live on just his salary, so financially it's not much of a stretch for us to have me at home. (I know it's shocking, but school librarians don't exactly rake in the dough :-p ) Now instead of making monthly grad school payments, we get to buy diapers and cute little outfits instead :-) I think the biggest decision maker for us (aside from me wanting to spend as much time as possible with Eliza), was that our lives will be much less hectic with me at home. Trying to imagine both of us working 40-50 hour weeks and then trying to spend quality time with the baby, as well as keep up with laundry, groceries, chores, etc. on the weekends and evenings just sounds like it would be really intense. Jeremy and I are both such laid-back people, we really liked the sound of me being able to take care of a lot of that stuff during the week so that we can have more relaxing weekends as a family. We are also looking forward to travel flexibility. Only traveling during the summer can be a drag. Plans to spend a couple of weeks in Austin this fall are already in the making!

The hardest part of all of this was going in to tell my bosses that I would not be returning. I could not have asked for a better reception, though. My principal said she respected my decision, even though she was very disappointed. She reminded me that my position at Columbia is one that tends to open up every few years because there are no library aides so it tends to be more stressful than most, and said to keep my eye out. My boss at district told me that whenever I want to come back all I have to do is walk in the door and I will have a job. This is such a relief as I was very concerned about leaving the district that I would want to work with in the future. In the meantime I am going to get certified to sub in libraries across the district and also start working on my murals more. I'd like to build up a portfolio - so if anyone knows someone in the Springs who would like a kids mural for cost, let me know :-)

I really appreciate everyone's support in our decision - I'm very excited to enjoy every moment while we can!

And now, just for fun . . .

The day I found out I was pregnant ------- 1 1/2 weeks before delivery

I got HUGE!!!

6 week cuteness

Things are still great here - Eliza is growing so quickly. At her one month appointment two weeks ago she was 10lbs 15oz and at the 95th percentile. We think she might have taken that as a challenge and is trying for the 100th percentile. She doesn't want any babies to be bigger than her! :-p

Eliza got to meet all kinds of new people this week. My friend Jac came in from Austin and our cousins Josh and Chandra with their daughter Izzy are here for a few weeks. She's just been soaking it all in. Recently she's been awake and happy more often, and practicing her cooing. So far we've gotten 3 or 4 big smiles while she's awake, versus the sleepy smiles she's been giving us since the beginning. Every day is more fun than the last and we're trying to enjoy every moment!

I've been bad about posting pictures so here are a ton!

Giving me the stink-eye

Sooooo tired

Hanging out with Cousin Izzy

Meeting our friends' baby Zachary who is a month and a half older than her - that's right, my daughter is a hoss! (I don't think she likes holding hands on the first date)

Conked out

Cousin Chandra has cozy arms

Playing on her sea-animal playmat which she loves

Zoning out with Grandma