izzy likes to touch the back of her hair a lot and stretch out her arms too. this is the product of both of her favorite arm positions. heisman anyone?
we tried so hard to get izzy to look at the camera. but the ceiling fan and the blinds were just too mesmerizing. pete was sure excited though. (she's gettin' chubby huh? her face is getting so round she's starting to look like those little characters from those books: mr. happy and stuff. you know what i am talking about?)
so my mom flew in from georgia (where i grew up) to help out and see her first grandchild. my mom has been waiting for this culminating event since i was 18. i don't think she even cared about all the other things that precede pregnancy and birth (college, job, marriage, etc.). she just wanted that baby!
here is my mom's intro to izzy. umm...izzy was mad about something. lately, it sort of comes out of nowhere. the little one has monster gas though. she could win a burping and farting contest hands down.
this is one of her new faces when she is upset. she perfected the pouty look recently. mama is so proud.
my mom and izzy at target. our favorite place to shop for our everyday needs. izzy looks shocked here, because my mom was trying to explain kitty cats on a shirt to her. izzy cried right after.
major closeup of izzy in the crib...which she does not sleep in yet. she's only in here, because her new favorite thing is to do #1 and #2 once the diaper comes off. she cries less now when her diaper is changed, but that's because she is concentrating on making an explosive mess. thanks everyone for the many blankets you gave us. i wondered why we got so many.
typical middle of the night diaper change. this was my mom's last chance to change izzy's diaper before she headed back home. she enjoyed every minute of it. even the mess.
miss izzy is doing really well at focusing on our faces these days and listening (or what i think is listening) as we speak to her. her neck is getting stronger every day, and she follows her toys when we play the side-to-side game. she's the best milk monster i could ever ask for.
i want to say she loves taking baths/showers as much as i do. alas, she does not yet. diaper changes are also a scream fest. i would say she sounds like animal from the muppet show when she gets her diaper changed. pete and i have resorted to laughing at it when she does this just to relieve the stress of her howl.
this is her after her bath in her mini bath robe.
here is izzy getting burped by her daddy. isn't she a doll?
izzy in her car seat on the way to the restaurant. doesn't it look like she is either giving you two thumbs up or pointing both fingers at you and going, "eh! for-gedd aboud id!"
izzy covering her ears while daddy vacuums. no joke, she put her hands up to her ears when pete came into the room with the vacuum. it was one of the funniest and cutest things she's done so far.
oh...and don't worry. we won't post only pics of the baby on this blog, cuz i know you want to see us too. right?
so pete and i live across the street from this good ol' minnesota boy and his family. he has something like 3 or 4 garages attached to this house. of course, he also has a classic car. i believe it is a red convertible mustang. i don't know what year, cuz i'm not a motor head or whatever you call them.
anyway, he has these lawn decorations in his yard. with all the visits we've had with the new baby, everyone asks what is up with them. i never know what to say besides, "i don't know. he's weird." pete and i have talked to him before, and he seems okay. normal. nice.
anyway, i promised my team at regis that i would show them his yard. now, i only got a picture of one side of his yard. i didn't want to be shooting pics on the other side where there is another representation of his interesting lawn art. so...here it is:
the other phone booth on the other side of his house is plugged in. i think it works. so if you ever get stranded in the western suburbs of minneapolis and don't have a cell phone, i guess you could move the mannequin over and make a call.
oh, btw. the mannequins don't hang out in the booths in the winter. they only come out in the spring and summer and through part of fall. just in case you were wondering.
so i'm 2 weeks into being a mommy, and i can probably count the number of hours i've slept in those 2 weeks with the digits god gave me. i'm running on some foreign fuel and somehow have gone from 6 small meals a day to barely eating 2. i know i should eat more, since i am nursing. but i haven't figured out how to eat and hold a newborn at the same time.
izzy is getting better at sleeping in the bassinet next to our bed, rather than in our bed. she's only really slept in our bed a few times, which is good. we're going to graduate her to the crib later.
anyway, i am concerned about whether or not she has colic or is suffering from acid reflux. she makes these grunting, elephant-like noises all the time. at first, i thought they were cute. now, they worry me a bit after reading symptoms of reflux in infants. she's also started these long crying jags recently, and they have been so frustrating. she'll sort of stop if i rock her, but not always. i notice she burps sometimes when i try to comfort her, so i thought it was gas. but it doesn't always seem that that's what it is. she has also coughed a few times when nursing, as if she swallowed wrong. when she does that, it scares the bejeezus out of me.
i could call the doctor and probably get a professional diagnosis, but i am always interested in what moms have experienced (my baby's doc is not a mom, but a dude). has anyone else experienced this with their babies? did you do anything specific to bring comfort to your baby? how did you stay sane during all the crying? help, please!
p.s. happy mommy's day too!
Ok. So Amanda and I had a little conversation the other day that went something like this:
Pete: I think I would like to buy a gun. What do you think about that?
Amanda: {Big Pause} Why?
Pete: Well here's the thing. I don't really like guns. I don't really want to shoot it very often, but what about the apocalypse?
Amanda: What in heck's name are you talking about?
Pete: Well, here's the thing. If the world goes to crap while we are still alive and government and society break down and there are hungry people roving the land, we will need to defend ourselves, our home, family and food. So I think it would be a good idea to have some protection.
Amanda: But what about having a gun around with kids?
Pete: Well here's the thing. I don't really want to shoot it. It's not for sport. I will get a lock box and the whole bit. It's just for if we have to protect ourself if the end of the world happens on our watch. That's all.
Amanda: Ok. Whatever.
Pete: Actually, I think we should have a couple of guns.
Does anyone else feel the same way? I mean I'm not doom and gloom and you would never catch me on the street corner in downtown Minneapolis waving a sign that says "Repent the end is near." But just in case...
so my poor baby girl had to go into the hospital this past friday, because her bilirubin levels went up from when she (and i) were discharged the prior wednesday. for those who don't know what bilirubin is, here goes:
basically, it's a pigment that is released when your red blood cells break down in your body. your liver is supposed to help release or rid your body of this excess pigment in your body, but with many newborns their livers are still a bit immature. thus, you get yellow babies or jaundice. for cases like izzy's and worse, they prescribe phototherapy to help induce the breakdown of the bilirubin. in essence, it just comes out in their poo/pee.
all of this put my emotions over the top. not only had i no time to recover from delivery, but i had no time to let my nerves and sleep-deprived body chill from all the worry of being a new mom. doing her blood work and hearing her scream and then seeing her probed and put under lights and being told to not pick her up too much was so heartbreaking for me. thankfully, pete and our family are close by and gave us much support.
she's all better now, but here are a couple of pics of izzy's ordeal. btw, she was so good under the bili lights and didn't cry as much as i thought she would. some idiot engineer swindled the hospital and sold them these terrible eye goggles that kept falling off, and i was pissed. thankfully, a wonderful nurse came by and brought a handy solution to keep them on.
she was so good here. we had to give her the pacifier only a few times when her diaper needed changing or when the nurses came in to check her vitals.
pete and i slept over at the hospital on friday night and stayed all day on saturday. this was our nightlight--our baby girl being illuminated like a little alien.
this is my girl at home in her crib being watched over by her ninja kitty that my friend, jenni, made for her. she looks super yellow here, because the lights are dim and the room is painted yellow. and...because she is asian.
all in all, she's been great. good eater. good pooper. deliciously cute. now, i just gotta get her to figure out when people are supposed to sleep.
