Christmas 2009

Christmas morning was definitely more special this year because...we had a white Christmas! 

No really, obviously our Christmas was truly awesome because of our little Paige. She didn't have a clue that December 25th was different than any other day, but it was fun to show her all the Christmas traditions (stay in your PJ's until wildly awkward at family events, then eat a lot). We started our day around 5:15 am when she first woke up. I convinced her that it was not actually time to get up yet, and she listened and went back to sleep. We then got up for real around 6:15 am. Paige looked at the presents that Santa left for her, but her focus was more on her morning bottle. After we got that out of the way, she was able to really see what she got, but she had this frustrating habit of only wanting the boxes, plastic bags or twisty ties that the actual toy was surrounded in. When we took those away from her, she then went to her old stand-by to play with, power cords. Every toy that we somehow managed to get her to play with was tested for its ability to fit in her mouth before being discarded when she spotted...well, basically anything that we didn't want her to have. Our floor was literally covered in toys, but if there was one little plastic thing that holds tags to clothes somewhere on the floor, she'd find it and that was all she wanted to play with. Mental note for next kid: Give them an empty diaper box for Christmas and it'll make their day.

After checking out Paige's Santa presents, we opened a few things at our house, Paige took her one and only nap of the day (at 9:00 am), then we headed to Andrew's for breakfast. The day-of-eating-too-much started with some waffles, french (freedom) toast, bacon, sausage and fried potatoes. We then headed to Pop's for the true chaos present opening. Paige enjoyed putting discard

ed wrapping paper in her mouth until it made a gross little slobber ball of paper that would get stuck to the roof of her mouth. Then she didn't like it anymore and would cry. We tried to prevent that from happening as much as possible, but she is a fast little booger. Having a baby at Christmas is a really different experience because it prevents the mid-day nap on the couch. Now, it may have been the fact that there were 5 babies and a 3 year old in the house that prevented any naps from being taken on the couch, but I definitely didn't nap on the couch because I had to make sure Paige wasn't getting into things she isn't supposed to, as she is inclined to do. By the time we got home, around 8:30 pm, we were exhausted. We put Paige to bed, then went to bed ourselves. 

All in all an excellent Christmas. I do hope that once we take all these boxes out on trash day that Paige will start playing with some actual toys, but it was fun picking stuff out for her none the less...

Blanket Battle 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYDseEKui2k

Creepy Crawly

Paige Speaks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLmj4AeJ3yk

Baby Eats

Enjoying Some Quiet Time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W_BLucxsrQ

School Starts

All bundled up and ready to head to daycare for the first day:

Her stuff all packed up:

Heading to the car:

The "school bus":

On her way:

Paige's Progress so far...

We are very lucky that I am a gifted teacher (the person that instructs the gifted students, that is) because I am able to quickly recognize all the signs of giftedness that Paige demonstrates. For example, growing: Paige has managed to reach the 95th percentile in height. She's only in the 75th percentile for weight, so we've been working on that one by showing her how to eat like a Heironimus (only eat things that you see and/or are within arms length). She is also a very gifted sleeper. She gets that from Dave. Not many people believe me when I tell them that she sleeps from 8 pm until around 7 am every night (and has done this since she was a little over 2 months old), but she does. I almost called the pediatrician to see why she was sleeping so long, but was told by more than a few people that you don't call the pediatrician because the baby sleeps too well.

Other than her ability to outgrow clothes at an accelerated pace, Paige is also able to do all the things that she's supposed to do, plus many more. She "talks" with lots of sounds and "plays" with the numerous toys we present her with. Of course, her "playing" is more of an activity in getting the thing in her hand into her mouth, but we'll call it playing. She can now jam her entire hand into her mouth at one time, something that will probably prove to be a fun party trick for her over the years if she keeps up with the practice.

Izzy is starting to enjoy Paige a little bit more now that she realizes the benefits to living with a baby that has reflux...a never ending supply of spit-up on the couch, the carpet, the kitchen floor, our clothes, etc. We, of course, see the benefit to having a dog that is willing to "clean up" all spit-up spots for us. Paige has finally started to notice that Izzy and Burrito exist and she'll stare at them and attempt to grab them as they walk by. She still hasn't quite mastered her grab though and so she typically ends up with air in her hand and the dog is long gone by the time she actually closes her fingers...

So basically, to sum up, Paige is on the path to greatness and will most likely continue to add cute and fun things to her ever expanding portfolio of tricks. We do not hide the fact that we are enamored with our little girl and everything she does (eh, we could do without the crying sometimes). Next month we look forward to the possibility of Paige clasping her hands together or doing something wildly accelerated for her age. Would it be too soon to start creating a resume of her activities for her UVA application?

Paige Can Feel it in the Air Tonight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyGR2b9qAb4

Mommy Bootcamp

Since the excuse, "I just had a baby," doesn't last forever, I decided it was time to start working out again. Now, to be honest, I am probably close to my pre-baby weight, but I'm still about 15-20 pounds away from my pre-England weight (thank you Carling beer and Bangers & Mash). Dave and I occasionally go on walks with Izzy (and now Paige), but that is about the most strenuous activity that I have completed in the past year. So I decided to dive in headfirst to working out again by signing up for Mommy Bootcamp. I was feeling pretty confident when I walked into the Dulles Sportsplex because I used to do workout classes all the time. Seriously, I thought to myself, what can two pregnant lady instructors do that will be so difficult...

I made it about 10 minutes before I wanted to collapse.

Paige was supposed to be my partner in this workout routine by crying when I needed a break, because that's the only reason I could stop without getting yelled at by an instructor. Of course, my "partner" slept more soundly during that hour than she ever has. Rarely do I wish for Paige to cry, but this was one of those moments that I would have done anything to get her to scream. No such luck.

Will I go back? Absolutely. I find that I'm much better at working out if I have a set class to attend where someone will yell at me if I slack off. Without that, I am very good at finding excuses to either not go or to do the minimum. I do hope that Paige will learn that she needs to rescue me occasionally, but maybe she's just trying to help me get back into shape...

How is Izzy Doing?

Since we brought Paige home from the hospital we have had many inquiries as to how Izzy is handling the new addition. I suppose the best way to answer that question is that she is doing pretty well. She has enjoyed our home "remodel" (we didn't really remodel, baby crap has simply exploded in every room, to Izzy it seems as though we remodeled) and also appears to like all the brightly colored things that dangle and swing and play music that have become predominant in every room. She seems to appreciate our rare walks and trips to the dog park a little more than she did before she was second fiddle. A few months ago Izzy expected these things, but now she gets really excited when we say "want to go on a waaaalk?" in our higher-than-normal pitched voice that we use when we talk to Izzy. She is disappointed that we got rid of her leash that extends and got her a 5 footer (easier to use with the stroller), but she still likes her walks.

Those of you that know Izzy also know that Izzy has a blue blanket that she loves and carries everywhere she goes. Well, a few months before Paige was born, her blanket was in shreds (too many games of tug-of-war with Yogi), and she was down to a piece about the size of a washcloth. Pop (Izzy's grandad?) came to her rescue with another full-sized blue blanket for her to drag around our house. It was like the present that you get an older child when a new baby comes into the house. This blanket has become a nice little security blanket for Izzy and she definitely lugs it around more now that she gets less attention from us. Her blanket must come into our bed every night now, and then comes back downstairs with her every morning. I should probably wash her blue blanket more often than I do, but it is hard to get the blue blanket from Izzy long enough to wash it.

All in all Izzy is doing very well with Paige. She doesn't acknowledge her very much, but when she does, it is mostly to give her kisses. We initally tried to stop Izzy from licking the baby on the face, but realized very quickly that it was a lost cause. Paige doesn't seem any worse for the wear due to Izzy's face lickings, so we've given up on that one. I see it as the beginning to a great friendship.

Paige Snores

Puggles Like Pacifiers Also

This week I have really perfected the art of talking to myself, the dog and a baby that communicates through a variety of different cries. Dave had to go to San Diego for work, which left me home with Paige, Izzy and Burrito. Surprisingly, the only casualty of the week was a pacifier that Izzy decided to chew up while I was showering. The current theory is that Izzy sees how much attention Paige gets, and Paige seems to always have a pacifier in her mouth, so Izzy thought that she should have the pacifier in her mouth which would then mean she'd get some attention like Paige does. Truthfully though, her thought process was probably something more along the lines of, "that looks chewy and smells like that thing that I lick all the time (aka Paige)."

Last night we had a nice thunderstorm and Izzy really could have used a pacifier. Apparently howling at thunder is her new thing. She even tried snuggling up to Paige on the bed for comfort at one point because she was so freaked out. My decision to run downstairs and get the camera (leaving Paige on the bed with the dog) is probably not going to win me any Parent of the Year awards, but the picture is at least adorable (unfortunately the camera did not capture the moment when Izzy put her paw in Paige's hand, but I at least got the picture that I did).

Dave returns from San Diego tomorrow, then also leaves again tomorrow for his NASCAR race weekend in the Poconos. I'm sure I'll begin talking to inanimate objects at some point this weekend, but hopefully my sanity will return with Dave when he returns on Sunday night.

Bathtime Fun

Paige had her first bath the other day. It had been about 3 weeks since her last bath (she's 3 weeks old), so we figured it was about time. Plus we had just gotten a new baby tub and loads of baby bath accessories, so this bath was more for us than for Paige.

All said and done it was fairly uneventful. There was some crying and protesting at first, but I quickly calmed down after Molly told me Paige was the one getting the bath. She actually did pretty well, although I suppose it's just a bath and the bar is set pretty low. Still, we were proud of our little girl and consider this small success a big accomplishment. Paige is clean, we got to use our new bath toys, and we're one experience closer to becoming pros at this whole parenting thing. Plus, we were able to take lots of naked baby pictures to use as blackmail for those teenage years.

During her bath I noticed something odd about the way I was acting. Apparently when I talk to a baby (which is odd enough in itself) I feel the need to ask really obvious questions and repeat myself. A lot. I will also answer for her any question I ask. Then I will repeat that. So I'll sound something like this:

"Are you taking a bath? Huh? Are you taking a bath? Yeah, you're taking a bath, aren't you?"

With each repeating quesion I raise the pitch of my voice. I do not know why.

If Paige can understand what I'm saying, she must think she has a lunatic for a father. While this may in fact be true, I'd like my lunacy to be based on something a little more interesting than a tendency to repeat stupid questions and answer them. Something like buying a new power mower to cut less than 0.04 acres of grass for example.

Pictures have been updated...

http://picasaweb.google.com/mollyuva/May2009

Paige Pokes Herself in the Eye

Maybe switching to formula wasn't the best idea.

Advice

Ok, so we have officially survived two weeks with Paige (and somehow she has survived two weeks with us). While I would love to report that we have been "naturals" at this whole parenting thing, that is just not entirely the case. Luckily we haven't had any life threatening issues, just a few smaller glitches. Paige, however, doesn't seem to notice our inexperience and continues to be a happy little baby.

While we received a lot of advice during my pregnancy, here are a few things that we wish someone had told us before Paige was born:

1. Know how to fold up the stroller before you are in a crowded parking lot and someone is waiting for your parking spot with their blinker on. The pressure may cause you to shove the open stroller in the back of the car.

2. Sterilize the pacifiers before you NEED them. Screaming babies actually make water boil slower.

3. When installing the car seat and using the indicator on the side of the seat to determine if the seat is at the proper angle, make sure your parking spot is not on an incline.

4. If you leave the house with the baby, even if it is just to run to the bank really quickly, take the diaper bag. Babies know when you are unprepared and they will poop the second you do not have a diaper at the ready.

5. Speaking of diapers: always, always have a clean one on the ready when changing a baby. Air apparently causes babies to relieve themselves. Dirty diaper out, clean diaper in...one movement.

And for those of you that just come here to see pictures, here are some new ones: http://picasaweb.google.com/mollyuva/May2009

Preparedness

Before becoming parents, Dave and I both considered ourselves to be relatively smart people. Both of us hold Masters degrees, we have respectable jobs, we are homeowners and somehow got through the days successfully without requiring too much outside help. For the past week, however, our intelligence has been both tested and questioned.

To prepare for our endeavor into parent-dom we took all the necessary steps. This all started several years ago when we each independently decided to take on responsibility for another being, in this case, cats. When Dave lived in Cambridge, he got his orange tabby, Dignan, with his roommates. While I was living by myself in Boston, I adopted Burrito. Our cats were well taken care of and did not change our daily routines too much. Now, we all know that cats are pretty simple critters and do not require too much intervention, so Dave and I decided after our wedding to up the ante. We got Izzy back in 2006 and embraced all the challenges that a new puppy brought to our home. She was very stubborn and not easy to house train, but she eventually caught on (I attribute this to our excellent training skills). We even managed to teach her a few tricks (sit, stay, high-five, etc) and we felt like we were quite the parents. Izzy made it so that we couldn't be away from our house for longer than 8 hours at a time, a huge challenge for us at the time because we liked going out for the evenings and perhaps staying overnight at friend's houses. After adjusting our routine to dog ownership, we thought to ourselves, "how much more difficult can it be to have a baby??"

The answer to that question is, a lot.

I don't remember ever worrying about Burrito and Izzy's eating habits (something they both managed to master early on), neither had any major complaints throughout the day, other than maybe wanting to play when we had to do other things, and they certainly could be left alone for at least a few hours at a time. Babies, on the other hand, can't do much of anything for themselves. Paige has figured out how to eat, but only sometimes will go back to sleep after her meals (a challenge at 3 am). She will sometimes cry, and we (remember, two people with Masters degrees) can't figure out what she wants. Her diaper is clean, she's just been fed, she doesn't seem too hot or too cold...she's just crying. Now don't get me wrong, we still think her cry is cute, but I can see that not lasting too much longer.

I am fairly confident that we will figure this whole "parenting" thing out soon and will someday be able to get some sleep again. Dave returns to work tomorrow, so Paige and I will have to get into some sort of routine that allows for me to complete regular daily activities (laundry, cleaning, etc) as well as the new baby activities (feeding, bouncing, rocking, etc). I'm sure that a few frantic phone calls to grandad will be made in the first few days, but then we'll work it out...

Homecoming Weekend

This past Saturday we brought our new daughter Paige home. While she had grown attached to Molly's recovery room and her friends in the nursery, she agreed that it was time to see where she'd be spending the next few years of her life (at least until the housing market improves).

If sleeping is a sign of happiness, Paige was definitely thrilled to be in her new home. She was greeted by Grandad Heironimus and later met her Granny Lynch. Both seemed to like their new granddaughter, and promised to buy her anything she ever wants whenever she wants it.

On Sunday Paige met her 5 Heironimus cousins out at Grandad's place in Leesburg. At first they seemed wary of the newcomer, but eventually warmed up to Paige after she charmed them with her quick wit and candid demeanor. Here is a video of all the grandkids with their grandad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11oPCbW7dx4

Lately Paige has been trying to master the art of eating and sleeping. She seems to grasp the two concepts individually, but has yet to understand when to do which one. Also, she cries. A lot. In the middle of the night. Granted this did not come to a surprise to us, but it's still tough to anticipate and prepare for. Needless to say, we find ourselves napping whenever and wherever we get a chance. Which can be dangerous in heavy traffic, but I've been pretty good at restricting my naps to red lights and the occassional stop sign.

We've posted some more pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mollyuva/PaigeTaylorArrives

Our Odd Baby

So Dave and I decided that we would have a kid on 05/07/09 because it is a cool date. See, consecutive odd number dates only come up 6 times a century, so we wanted our baby to have one of those dates as a birthday. For this reason, I went into labor on this day...

Introducing Paige Taylor Lynch! Born at 7:59 pm. 7 pounds 14.6 ounces. 21 inches long.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mollyuva/PaigeTaylorArrives