Looking forward and remembering back.

Amazing how time flies. 2010 is out the door, the Christmas tree came down yesterday, Lizzie's back at school, and the season's cookies, gifts, and excesses are long gone. So ends another incredible -- and incredibly busy -- cycle around the calendar.

Alice's first year (including gestation) was a blur. It's hard to believe that this time last year, she was little more than a blastocyst -- if even that -- and now we have a living, feeling, usually joyful but always spirited little person on our hands! The past month has brought big changes in little Alice. Alice achieved a major milestone which, alas, I have yet to see: she rolled over, from front to back, on Wednesday 10/22, just shy of her 3 month birthday. She repeated the feat three times -- for Eric and for O'Mama and O'Pa. And then... nothing. Hasn't done it again. It's a bit uncouth, really, to share the moment with everyone but me... she leaves my sight quite rarely still... and yet. Harumph. (But of course, I am very proud.) She's also very very close to rolling back to front. We were sort of expecting that first, truth be told.

Alice has also become very talkative. She coos and gurgles quite a bit, but she also, well, talks. I can't think of how else to put it. Harranging, perhaps. It can be very loud. She discusses the wrongdoings of her nemesis Mr. Brown Owl, and she'll sometimes beckon the ceiling fan to please come closer so she can get a better look. And of course she demands attention from me -- from us -- when we are insufficiently engaged in her cuteness on the playmat. (This said, she's still remarkably more independent and self-entertaining than Lizzie was at this age.)

Somewhat less charming are Alice's new sleep habits. First the backstory: Shortly before Christmas, Eric and I shared some takeout szechuan eggplant, a dish we both love in large part for the numbing szechuan peppercorns that signify the dish. Turns out, those same peppercorns flavored my milk, and Alice didn't like it. At all. She was inconsolable for about 36 hours. Didn't want to eat, then got too hungry, then didn't take much, got hungrier.... in short, a disaster that led to some bad habits like waking several times a night and very poor napping. The peppercorns are long past, but the residual effects linger on. Alice has been waking 2 and 3 times a night (and typically failing to settle back to sleep at least once) for nearly 3 weeks now. BOO! (Before this she'd been sleeping from roughly 6:30pm -2am, then again from 2:15am-7am.) I'll start dream-feeding tonight to see how that goes. Fingers crossed.

Sleeping woes notwithstanding, we're all doing well and looking forward to an exciting 2011. I'll leave you with a little baby-zen. Happy New Year!

New developments

Alice is growing like a weed, physically and cognitively. Her body has rounded out in the past month. Where she used to have skinny little chicken legs (at least compared to her sister at the same age), she now has dimpled little thighs. Long lean fingers have been replaced by tiny little sausages, and her tummy and face are rounder too. I'm so proud. (It's one of the stranger side effects of oxytocin: pride in making one's baby cherubically chubby.) Her hair is thinning, but she still sports far more than Lizzie did at this point.

Alice is showing us more of her personality and special baby skills every day. She now bats at toys, and I'm convinced it's intentional. She'll look at a toy on her play gym, bat it, watch it move until it stops swinging, then bat it again. She also grasps the rings on her play gym, but that's clearly accidental at this point. She often hangs on for minutes at a time, poor dear.

Alice has a wide array of vocalizations -- coos, and squeaks, squeals and clicks. She uses her voice to convey both pleasure (when batting toys, for example), and frustration. She also cries more than she used to (which was next to never). In the past week and a half, we've heard a real, honest to goodness scream-cry on three occasions: vaccinations, when Lizzie fell on her bouncy chair (which was scary, but didn't hurt her in any way), and again when I very gently helped her roll from front to back (which must have been scary given her reaction). Alice gets pretty ornery before about 50% of her bedtimes, and she'll cry then, but never for very long. And she doesn't come close to Lizzie's old pterodactyl cries. Still no laugh, but I swear we're getting close.

Smiles are now easy and often. Alice wakes with a giant grin from almost any nap, and (unfortunately) sometimes in the middle of the night. The smile is incredibly cute -- it's just so big and so very enthusiastic -- but it's dangerous. It means, without a doubt, that she'll want to interact properly -- ideally for about an hour and quarter -- before she'll even contemplate sleep again. Alice has also started smiling when I talk but she can't see me. A high pitched "hello, sweet baby" is sure to earn a charming, gummy reward.

Sleep is progressing nicely too. Alice and Lizzie are now on remarkably similar schedules. Both go to bed between 6:30-7pm, and wake up between 6-7am. (Earlier on some unfortunate mornings, and a tiny bit later very very rarely -- only if it's been a rough night for all four of us.) Alice wakes once, roughly 7-8 hours later (between 1 and 3am), and again 3-4 hours later. If the timing is just right, this means that she wakes only once during the night to eat! (I'd say I get this lucky 25-30% of the time recently.)

Alice tends to stay awake for about an hour and a half first thing in the morning before she takes morning nap #1. This first nap is pretty consistent, but short at 30-45 minutes. The rest of the morning is a bit spottier. Alice generally wants to be awake for about an hour and 15 minutes at a time (and nap for 30-45 minutes), but her drowsy window is very short. Jump the gun, and you'll have a wide awake baby who then gets mad and wont go to sleep. Wait too long to try, and you're really in for it. So the mornings have been a challenge... (Which would be fine if if I didn't have mountains of work to do. I can definitely see the allure of stay at home parenthood.) In the afternoon, Alice goes down for a nap at the same time as Lizzie -- around 12:30-1pm. About half the time she'll take a huge nap, just like Lizzie, through 3 or even 5pm. The other half of the time (as today, unfortunately), she'll wake up after just 30 minutes, and repeat the morning quick-cycle through bedtime. (Boo. Then nothing at all gets done all day.)

Lastly: an update on Alice's cold. (We've all had this rotten cold for 2 weeks.) She's recovering well (as are we all), but slowly. The biggest side effect from the congestion is that Alice has taken to sleeping in her rocker, which elevates her head. Fine for the time being, but I worry about the long term effect of the rocker's cradled shape -- Alice doesn't have freedom to kick her arms and legs when she's in it. So we're trying to get her back down in her crib, unswaddled. So far, we've had a bunch of very short naps... but we'll persevere. The mini crib she now has is a stepping stone to her big crib... and that's the key to getting out of our room and into Lizzie's! (We're still not sure when we'll make that jump -- we don't want Liz and Alice to wake each other up in the night -- but boy am I looking forward to being able to turn on my bedside light again!)

So that's the news. Until next time...

I forgot

to say that Alice's first Thanksgiving was spent sleeping in her carseat, sleeping off the vaccinations from the previous day...

Turkey Day and shots

Alice had a visit to the doctor on Wednesday, and she got a bunch of shots. She didn't like any of them. She seems to be thriving and in good health, except for the cold that has infected the whole family.

Her sleep schedule continues to evolve. In fact, we think that some of the evening grumpies were induced by us. About a week ago, we started settling her to bed at 7, and that seems to work pretty well. So it is possible that we kept her up with us during the evening when all she wanted was to go to bed. Other than that, the afternoon nap looks to be regularizing, which is great.

Based on her measurements at the doc, she is average in length, and about 80th percentile in weight.

Every day she is more alert, and we are having a hard time settling her. The doctor said there is a window 8-16 weeks when babies are alert enough that they can't be settled by their parents and they don't know how to settle themselves to sleep. Hopefully this will pass soon.

Thank you, Alice! (Nighty night by 7pm)

Alice reached a major milestone yesterday and last night: a big girl sleep pattern! Alice took a 3.5 hour nap yesterday afternoon, which is somewhat unusual, but not unprecedented. What was new is that her nap coincided with Lizzie's almost perfectly. Eric and I found ourselves with more than three blessed hours of free time in the afternoon. It's amazing how much we accomplished: I set up Lizzie's easel and playroom in the basement, Eric fixed a leak in the car, I reupholstered the footstools, Eric spent more than an hour in the shop... AND the kitchen got clean, laundry was folded, and clutter was corralled. Truly amazing.

Feeling bullish, we then decided to try to settle Alice upstairs at the same time Lizzie worked through her nighttime ritual (bath, books, etc.). Both were tucked in by 6:45pm. We had to go up a few times for each (and a few times for both -- negative complementarities), but no more than half a dozen times, total, and never for more than a few minutes. By 8:30pm both girls were out cold. We enjoyed evening tea in peace for the first time in more than a month. Wow. What a difference.

The tally: Alice slept from 6:45pm-2:30am, woke for about 10 minutes to nurse, fell right back to sleep, and was out until 6:30am, at which point we all got up for the morning. (Lizzie woke once at 4am to pee, used the potty and went right back to sleep until 6:30.) Yay, team!

Coos

Alice has been making lots of coos and gurgles lately. I had forgotten how cute they are. She is also becoming so much more alert and interactive during her play time. On Wednesday, she completed her first observed intentional hand to mouth movement to suck on her fist. She's very strong, and does a great job pushing up during tummy time.

Her sleep schedule is starting to regularize, much to her parents' delight. She's even started soothing herself to sleep, which is great. We still usually have some evening fussies, but its getting better.

Bye for now.

Double Team!

So last night, Lizzie and Alice teamed up for a special Saturday night. We'd actually had pretty smooth sailing until then...

Just as Lizzie was finishing up her bath, Alice decided it was time for dessert. No problem. Eric and I switched off (I'd been doing the bath while he soothed Alice), and I sat down to nurse Alice for a few more minutes. Eric got Lizzie out of the bath, and headed downstairs to get some milk. Lizzie was running around in the buff, as usual, in her usual delay to put on her bedtime diaper and PJs. A minute later (with Alice still nursing), I heard Lizzie say "poop!"

Okay, I figured. She farted or thinks she needs to sit on the potty. (Probably just a rouse to read "go dog go" yet again -- her potty book these days.) "I'll be there in a minute, honey," I called.

Lizzie showed up in the bedroom where Alice and I were sitting. "Poop," very matter of factly. "Okay honey, I'll be there in a minute. Go sit on the potty and I'll be right in."

"Coco!!!" Now with urgency. Hmm... something's wrong. I could hear Eric coming back up the stairs... then whoosh! Barf. Everywhere. I'd say a good 24-30" arc out of Alice, in several rounds, onto everything: rug, rocking chair, me, baby...

"Hey Eric? I could use some help here..."

At the same time, from the other room: "Oh wow Liz! You did poop!" I heard him say. "But next time let's try to put it IN the potty..." It was on the floor by the bed (not the rug, thank goodness).

On my own, I trudged out of the bedroom, dripping in barf (knees to armpits on one side -- pretty nice shot, kiddo!). And on the way to the bathroom I stepped in a stray poop-dollop. I felt the wet in my toes just as Eric said "watch your feet..."

UGH. So yeah, a rockin' Saturday night for us. Alice got a second bath. Lizzie got to stay up a little late, and Eric and I had a chance to spot clean the floors in much of the upstairs. Incredibly, the girls were both tucked into bed and sleeping soundly before 8pm. (Alice woke for her evening grumps shortly later, but that's another matter...) I even got to take a long bubble bath, guilt free. I earned that one.