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Gloria Highlights, Week 37

Posted on April 2, 2012 in Family by kenny. 0 Comments Tags: baby, Seattle.

This week our little scientist has discovered gravity. She loves to drop spoons, sippy cups, toys, or really anything she gets her hands on, down to the floor. She’ll then look over the side of her high chair to ensure the items landed where she expected them to be. Her favorite activity lately is bouncing on our knees to the Lone Ranger theme song and being tossed into the air at the top of the crescendos. Unless something is truly awry, it’s 3 minutes and 36 seconds of a very happy baby.

Motivated primarily by Cheerios, Gloria has seriously refined her pincer grasp. She now routinely succeeds when attempting to put Cheerios or pieces of string cheese into her mouth, much to her delight. As a result, she has been very engaged (and messy!) at mealtimes. She’s also been sitting up great; we no longer need to sit behind her to act as a spotter (though we often hedge our bets by propping a pillow behind her).

My paternity leave ended this week, and we tried our best to get Gloria on a regular bottle schedule in preparation for her time with Megan. Unfortunately I had very limited success; mostly just a succession of frustrating battles with Baby G. Megan had a similar experience when she was with Gloria for a half day on Friday. There may be a ray of hope though; yesterday she was very cooperative – and drank a whole 4 ounces! – when given a pre-warmed bottle with a Dr. Brown’s level 2 nipple. We’ll see if we can discern/establish a reliable pattern over the next week or two.

Naps are settling back into a normal routine. Gloria still seems to be experiencing some teething pain, and occasionally needs to be rocked at bedtime, but is mostly self-soothing to sleep again (whew). We’ve hit some fussy spells in the afternoons, especially on Thursday when during a trip to SAM we discovered that our little munchkin isn’t a Gaugin fan. I was surprised, as usually she loves being toured around in her Gemini carrier. I’m sure it didn’t help that she had a measly 2 oz bottle feed that afternoon.

Gloria’s week concluded with a trip to Miller Park this afternoon, where she discovered grass! She was fascinated looking at it, touching it, and of course grabbing and putting it in her mouth.

Playing with mommy

Playing with her shape sorter, dressed as an eskimo

Playing at her table

Playing with mommy in the pool

Trying her first raw chili

Gloria Highlights, Week 35

Posted on March 19, 2012 in Family by kenny. 0 Comments Tags: baby, Seattle.

Theme of week 35: Gloria the Explorer. Our munchkin is grabbing anything within arms reach. Often that means grabbing mommy or daddy’s face, or pulling on her diaper. We’ve had to be on our toes at mealtimes, as Gloria wants to touch (or knock over) anything within arms reach. At Rancho Bravo, she clearly was coveting my burrito, so I let her have a few bites. I think Gloria might like burritos even more than tamales!

Her movements are getting much more precise. When she wants a toy, she’s able to snag it on the first or second attempt. She’s also close to mastering her pincer grasp, primarily motivated by Cheerios. To prove my point: on multiple occasions Gloria would try to pick up Cheerios from her tray even when there weren’t any there! She did manage to get a Cheerio or two into her mouth without our assistance this week, but I think it was mostly due to luck.

Naps are still erratic, as Gloria is continuing her 3-2 nap transition. She’s at about 50/50 right now; with fussier evenings on some of the 2-nap days. Teething hasn’t helped – on Thursday night Gloria was in enough pain that she needed some baby Tylenol. In general though her night sleep has been amazing,

On the mobility front, Gloria is rolling over more frequently, especially from tummy to back (“tummy time” is a bit of a misnomer, as it’s really “roll off my tummy” time). She’s sitting up again, though sometimes she still locks her legs and only wants to stand or lay down. Gloria’s new move is a travelling bridge pose. Laying on her back, she arches her midsection up, and tries to scoot backwards. She moves an inch or two at best in this fashion, but it’s quite entertaining to watch.

We found a few new ways of entertaining our munchkin this week, and have been rewarded with more and more laughs by the day. She is in stitches when being tickled or when we pretend to eat her hands and cheeks. Tossing her into the air is almost guaranteed a laugh (though it’s also ever more tiring now that she’s over 20 pounds).

The other big news this week is that we hired a nanny! Starting in April, Gloria will spend three days a week with Megan as part of a nanny-share arrangement. Gloria and Megan met last week and connected well, but we still needed to meet the other family in the nanny-share. So on Friday we took Gloria to meet Eliana, who is two months older than our munchkin. Megan has been Eliana’s nanny for a few months, and Eliana’s parents were hoping to find their daughter a good playmate. We got along well with Eliana’s parents, but more importantly I think Gloria and Eliana will become good friends. At the very least, Gloria loved playing in Eliana’s Jumperoo and Eliana liked grabbing Gloria’s face.

Mmmm…mole chicken burrito

Fun-filled outing of lunch at Samurai Noodle and smelling flowers at the Volunteer Park Conservatory

Happy that Grandma H is visiting

Mommy, I want to grab your nose

I will not let this crab go!

I love sitting on mommy’s lap

Gloria Highlights, Week 34

Posted on March 12, 2012 in Family by lauren. 0 Comments Tags: baby, Seattle.

Our crazy baby, so happy with herself and her newfound sitting skills two weeks ago, has decided she is no longer interested in sitting. When I try to prop her into a sitting position, she stiffens her legs and arches her back, so that she lands standing rather than sitting. Then she squeals with delight at her accomplishment. Perhaps as another sign of her growing sense of independence, she has made it known that she prefers not to eat her purees with a plastic baby spoon. She much prefers being fed mashed sweet potatoes and peas with a dignified adult spoon, thankyouverymuch. (We realize that this could be a teething thing, on the other hand – the metal spoon probably feels good on her swollen gums.)

We also realized this week that Gloria definitely understands object permanence, and she’s enjoying experimenting with objects out of her view. One of her favorite activities is to drop things (spoons, toys, food) from her highchair, and then check to make sure they are in fact on the floor. This game is loads of fun for Baby G, but I imagine it will get old for Mommy and Daddy pretty fast. We’ve also noticed that her dexterity is improving as she picks up and plays with her toys much more precisely and even pulls her own hair (ouch!).

We still seem to be in the midst of the 3-2 nap transition, signaled by the fact that Gloria has been waking up earlier than usual in the mornings and resisting her late afternoon catnap most days. On some days, I give in and the nap just doesn’t happen, which makes for some awkward scheduling because she really doesn’t seem to be ready for the very long wakeful period between nap #2 and bedtime that results. So when she skips the catnap we’ve been trying to institute a super early bedtime, but this also only seems to work sometimes. I think Gloria’s circadian rhythm is just so hard-wired – she knows it’s not bedtime yet when I try to put her down at 6PM instead of 7. We just had the switchover to DST on Sunday morning, and we decided not to shift her, in hopes that a later (by the clock) wakeup and bedtime will make things a bit easier on us. We’ll see whether it works – I’m a bit concerned already that the long daylight hours are going to wreak havoc on bedtime.

The other event that threatened to throw a wrench in Gloria’s sleep this week was her flu shot booster – we had been dreading this ever since her 6-month shots about a month ago. Miraculously, Gloria was a rockstar and the shot was a non-event. She didn’t even cry when the nurse gave her the injection, and it had no impact on sleep whatsoever. She didn’t have any apparent pain, and slept through the night just like normal. Whew.

With Kenny’s paternity leave ending at the end of this month and Gloria’s pre-school not starting until September, Kenny and I have decided to hire a part-time nanny so that I can start working a few days a week. I just started interviewing a few candidates the second half of this week and I expect to do more next week. I know it will be hard for me to leave the munchkin with someone else a few days a week, but I know it will be good for her to spend time with someone who isn’t Mommy or Daddy. It also means we’ll need to work on getting Gloria to take a bottle again. Hmmm.

These days we can only convince Gloria to eat her food if it is delivered on an adult spoon

Being silly with Mommy in the nursery

Trying one of the bialys that Grandma Lynn sent for Purim, and sampling her first bite of ice cream!

Lounging around in two adorable outfits from Tio Gio and his family

Demonstrating her latest sound effect: tongue clicking

Having fun in the pool with Daddy

Hangin’ with her childbirth class buddies at Declan’s house

Gloria Highlights, Week 33

Posted on March 5, 2012 in Family by kenny. 0 Comments Tags: baby, Seattle.

This week was full of exciting developments. Gloria has continued to hone her sitting skills, hitting the one minute mark and starting to rebalance (occasionally) if she is about to topple over. She is also getting more accurate and dexterous in her grasping skills, smacking and holding onto her toys for longer stretches. Our munchkin is *maybe* thinking about crawling, as she gets frustrated when she can’t reach something and makes slight forward progress when we apply counter-pressure to her feet. That said, I think it will be awhile before thoughts become reality; she hasn’t even gotten up onto all fours yet.

Last week’s cold lingered with a constant stream of snot that made naptime difficult; it finally cleared up later in the week. Gloria remains a drool machine though, and periodic teething pain caused a few tough spots on otherwise sunny days. We’re seeing lots of the “teething signs,” but still no hint of white under those cute gums.

Speaking of her gums, Gloria has been trying to munch on anything in arm’s reach. Her latest obsession is eating books, so we’ve transitioned exclusively to board books (primarily The Foot Book, Brown Bear Brown Bear, and Goodnight Moon). She has also gotten back into her solids with a vengeance, with purees that are a mixture of multiple “cubes” (such as banana/avocado, zucchini/pear, butternut squash/sweet potato). She is also trying more of mommy and daddy’s foods, including her own piece of bread at Specialty’s, a bowl of black beans at Rancho Bravo, and an impressive number of barley green noodles at Shanghai Garden. We also introduced Gloria to yogurt this week, which she enjoys mixed with banana or pears and has taken the prize for messiest food.

This Saturday Gloria had her first swim lesson at Medgar Evers pool, meeting up with a bunch of her friends from our childbirth class. She seemed bewildered by the experience, but enjoyed seeing her friends and generally played along until she made it known that it was time for her lunch.

Overall we had a great week, with lots of laughing, singing the ABCs, and regularly sleeping through the night (5 times in a row, though she has started getting up a bit earlier). We suspect she may be working on transitioning and consolidating from three daily naps down to two, which may throw a small wrench into our daily routine next week.

When I sit, I can hold things!

Being ridiculously cute

Hi Mommy, can I grab your hair?

Ready for her first swim lesson

Splashing in the pool with childbirth class pals Lionel and Charlotte

Gloria welcomed Karen with open jaws

Eating is getting progressively messier – we don’t serve Gloria yogurt outside the house, and yogurt meals are usually followed by bath time

Gloria Highlights, Week 32

Posted on February 27, 2012 in Family by lauren. 0 Comments Tags: airplane, baby, flight, mexico, puerto vallarta, Seattle, travel.

At the end of week 31, we took Gloria south of the border to get her second passport stamp. Kenny’s Aunt Barbara and Uncle Barry had generously offered to share their timeshare in Puerto Vallarta and they were dying to meet their grand niece. Eager for some sunshine and relaxation, we took them up on their offer. Our experience on the flight to PV was a stark reminder of how much Gloria has changed since our Thailand trip, as Kenny outlined in last week’s highlights post.

Gloria was great in PV, however. We decided to keep her on PST rather than adjusting her by two hours, and that was a great decision – it meant she slept in every morning and was able to stay up until 9 PM each night – perfect for a lazy vacation. However, we quickly learned that Gloria can no longer nap just anywhere, like she could during her newborn days, and our fantasy of poolside naps was quickly dashed. We ended up spending quite a bit of time in the hotel room each day while the munchkin got her beauty rest, but we were able to get her out and about between naps and in the late afternoon and early evening. Her later schedule also meant that we got to take her out for dinner almost every night. She also seems to be transitioning from three down to two naps, which made her nap schedule fairly unpredictable some days, as we were never certain whether to plan around a third nap or not.

By day two or so of our PV stay, we noticed that something seemed a bit off with Gloria. For one thing, our enthusiastic eater abruptly lost interest in solid foods. We initially suspected teething, but by Wednesday the verdict was clear: she had caught my cold. The poor kiddo had a few very rough nights, waking several times with a very stuffed up nose that clearly made her extremely uncomfortable. Fortunately we had remembered to travel with a bulb syringe this time around, and Gloria was very agreeable about letting us use it – I think she was pretty quick to catch onto the idea that it would provide some relief (note to self: bring the NoseFrida next time).

In spite of her cold, Gloria was an agreeable munchkin for most of the trip, and she really enjoyed the company of her great aunt and uncle. In particular, she would light up whenever Barbara walked into the room, and always had huge smiles for her. The fact that Barbara has a high-pitched voice and loves to sing may have had something to do with it. Barbara also discovered a few of Gloria’s ticklish spots, and Gloria rewarded her with uncontrollable giggling. Gloria took her first couple of dips in a swimming pool, an experience she was skeptical about at first, but she warmed up to it quickly (I took note of this and signed her up for swim lessons in Seattle). I even took her on a few waterslides, the latter of which seemed to be a rather harrowing experience for her and probably one I will not live down for some time.

The flight home on Friday was an unhappy experience for everyone. The flight timing worked out such that Gloria’s afternoon nap didn’t happen, and she was unable to get any real rest on the plane. This resulted in one unhappy baby, and we found ourselves resorting to all kinds of techniques to distract her from her fatigue, like singing, bouncing, nursing, singing again, walking the aisle, more nursing, and bouncing her until we felt like our arms would fall off. Eventually, she was so overtired and unhappy that we took to pacing the aisle for the final hour of the flight, taking shifts as our strength gave out (she has gotten very, very heavy). Other passengers on the flight gave us sympathetic looks, and a few made comments like, “hang in there, we’ve all been there before.” One positive thing I can say about the ordeal is that it’s finally over.

We were so harried and out of sorts by the time we got to SeaTac and picked up our bags, that we were on the road home before we realized that we had forgotten Gloria’s car seat (an extra one, not the one she was strapped into!) back at customs. So we had to turn around and head back to the airport. It was an unfortunate end to an already demoralizing day, and poor Kenny was stuck in the car trying to comfort a crying baby while I waited impatiently in a long line of passengers with various travel issues to get an Alaska Airlines supervisor to help me track down the missing car seat. Fortunately the detour only cost us about 30 minutes, but it was already past poor Gloria’s bedtime. She passed out immediately when we arrived at home.

The Mexico trip was a blast, but it’s also quite nice to be settling back in at home. We had a quiet weekend, and Gloria snapped back onto her normal schedule pretty easily. This morning, while Gloria and I were playing in her nursery, Gloria demonstrated a new skill for the first time: sitting unassisted! She’s a bit wobbly and can’t sit for long periods yet, but she can definitely hold herself up for short stints. I even caught a short video.

Enjoying dinner with her Great-Aunt Barbara

Playing on her tummy in a pretty dress from Grandma Lynn

Lounging by the pool

Taking a dip

Family portrait

Settling in for the flight home

Back in Seattle, showing off her new skill: sitting!

Gloria Highlights, Week 31

Posted on February 21, 2012 in Family by kenny. 0 Comments Tags: baby, Seattle.

This week commenced with Gloria’s first Valentine’s Day; at her request we took her to the Volunteer Park Conservatory to check out the orchids and succulents.

Mealtimes have continued to grow more adventuresome. This week, Gloria has taken to more solid foods than just her “solid” purees, including slices of tofu and Cheerios. She is starting to take more interest in copying our eating habits – one evening I needed to feed her from my “adult” spoon for her to accept the puree.

Our fun-filled week concluded with a flight to Puerto Vallarta. What a difference three months makes; turns out that a 5 hour nonstop flight with a seven month old can be more tiring than a 24 hour journey with a four month old! Gloria had a blast the first few hours, but as the flight wore on (and turbulence and fatigue set in) she got a bit antsy.

We are trying to keep her on Seattle-time this week rather than adjust her two hours forward, and at least for the first night it seems to be working – she is still soundly asleep in her hotel crib. While she did sleep through the night again this past week, providing us and her babysitter this courtesy just in time for our date night, I worry that our travels to Mexico will regress the progress we’ve made on that front.

I was answering Gloria’s questions on how greenhouses work

At well over 20 pounds, I get most of my exercise carrying this munchkin around

Still loving her exersaucer

Dancing with mommy

Anticipating her time on the beach in Puerto Vallarta

Gloria Highlights, Week 30

Posted on February 13, 2012 in Family by lauren. 0 Comments Tags: baby, Seattle.

This was an exciting week! Not only did we have Gloria’s Grandpa Gary and Grandma Lynn in town for our annual Mardi Gras party, Uncle Shawn and Aunt Jessica decided to surprise us and join in the fun for the second year in a row (although, of course, this year they got to visit with a real live Baby G rather than my growing belly). Gloria enjoyed her first Mardi Gras tremendously, and she got into the spirit of things with a festive getup, featuring legwarmers and a fabulous headband from Jessica.

Baby G made a big discovery this week: she located her feet! Since she found them, she’s been practicing her Happy Baby Pose, and attempting to get her toes in her mouth. The only problem is that she has a big Buddha belly in the way.

Our solid feedings have gotten more animated, as Gloria tries to assert her independence by grabbing the spoon and attempting to self-feed. Fortunately she’ll let us help her direct the spoon to the vicinity of her mouth, but she manages to make a huge mess, nevertheless. She tried peas and pears for the first time this week and enjoyed both thoroughly. I’ve tried a few bites of the homemade pear puree here and there and I must say – it is delicious.

Chillin’ at home

Eating a waffle

Eating Grandpa Gary’s finger

Showing off her Mardi Gras getup

Quiet playtime with Mommy

Mardi Gras 2012

Posted on February 11, 2012 in Seattle by kenny. 0 Comments Tags: baby, family, holiday, Seattle.

Ever since my father moved to New Orleans, we’ve had an annual tradition. He sends a king cake to Seattle and we use it as the foundation for a Seattle Mardi Gras party. This year, my parents arranged to join us (most importantly, Baby G) in Seattle for the festivities. They arrived on Friday and brought some local supplies with them, including beads galore, many pounds of gulf shrimp, Louisiana crab meat, and a variety of New Orleans sauces.

They also brought two king cakes with them this year, one from each of the top two bakeries in New Orleans, in order get a Seattle vote on the decision of “best king cake.” The first was the historic champion (and annual delivery tradition): Randazzo’s praline king cake. However, the Randazzo family has been subject to some drama recently, and some locals (including my father) believe they are losing their touch. Enter Exhibit B, an apple and cream cheese filled king cake from Rouses that is my Dad’s current favorite.

Yesterday morning we awoke early and headed to Pike’s Place Market to get the remaining ingredients necessary for Grandma Lynn’s cooking extravaganza. While we were out, Lauren and Gloria has some serious excitement on the home front. Unbeknownst to us, Shawn and Jessica booked a last minute flight from San Francisco, and they showed up on our doorstep at 10AM this morning!

We had a fantastic time this afternoon sipping Hurricanes and gorging on Cajun cooking. Somehow we all saved a little bit of room for the king cakes (competition for the baby Jesus embedded inside the cake didn’t hurt). When all was said and done, we had a clear winner; all but one vote was cast for…..Rouses! The overall food winner however, was Lynn’s crab cakes, which received numerous raves of “the best crab cake I’ve ever had.”

Imagine my surprise in receiving this picture while I was out grocery shopping!

The feast – jalapeno corn muffins, jambalaya, crab cakes, rozo crab salad, and hurricanes

The New Orleans locals bringing the Mardi Gras cheer to Seattle

Our little Mardi Gras princess

Showing off a gift that Shawn and Jessica brought back from Burma

Gloria Highlights, Week 29

Posted on February 7, 2012 in Family by kenny. 0 Comments Tags: baby, Seattle.

This whole “wonder week 26” business definitely takes its toll. Gloria is sleeping well at night, but naptimes have been quite the battle with resulting afternoon fussiness. There have been a few days that Gloria has refused her naps altogether, especially the late afternoon catnap. The fruits of this mental leap are amazing though. Our Globug is reaching out to grasp objects intentionally and has quite a grip when she does so. She no longer only visually inspects the toys on her activity mat, but instead grabs them and tries to pull them towards her mouth. She’s also gotten much more playful in her exersaucer – her former timid manner of interacting with the toys has been replaced by a tendency to bang forcefully on all of the buttons, jump up and down, and grab things and put them in her mouth.

As recompense from the recent Snowpocalypse, we had a nice stretch of clear sunny days this week. Gloria is definitely getting to know the sights and sounds (and parks) of Capitol Hill. I had the chance to weigh Gloria this week, and she clocked in at a whopping 20 pounds even. She’s getting heavy!

Mealtimes are ever more fun by the day, with our munchkin getting the hang of keeping her food in her mouth. We added zucchini to her repertoire, and to my surprise she couldn’t get enough of it! However, her favorites are still sweet potato and avocado.

Munching on her winkel

Usually Gloria feasts on sweet potato, but we also introduced her to zucchini this week while we lunched at Rancho Bravo

Scrutinizing Capitol Hill

Gloria’s first time on a slide, which was much less frightening than her first swing ride

Oh captain, my captain

Squeaky clean

Gloria Highlights, Week 28

Posted on January 30, 2012 in Family by lauren. 0 Comments Tags: baby, Seattle.

Most of the snow melted just in time for a visit from Gloria’s Grandma Judy, who was in town for the first half of week 28. She was amazed to see how much our little munchkin has grown up since her last visit in September. Judy was especially impressed by what an intent listener Gloria has become – she really looks you in the eye when you talk to her. Judy reminded us to watch what we say, because little ears are taking everything in. While Judy was in town, we installed Gloria’s “big girl car seat” – that is, the only other car seat she’ll ever need now that she’s outgrown her infant bucket. It’s huge, heavy (I could barely lift the box it was shipped in), and supposedly very safe.

Gloria is quickly making her way through the various “first foods” recommended for babies, and we’re making good use of our food processor. The newest additions to her repertoire are bananas, oatmeal, and butternut squash – surprisingly, she doesn’t seem too fond of the latter, but we’ll try again in a week or so.

On Wednesday morning, we took Gloria for her 6 month well child appointment. She measured 27.5 inches long and 19 pounds, 4 ounces, in the 94th percentile for both height and weight. The doctor was very impressed by her fat rolls, and glad to see that she’s a happy healthy kiddo. Then, of course, the doctor left us with the nurse for the dreaded part of the visit: the shots. Gloria had four pokes this time, because we opted for the flu shot. Our poor sweetie burst into tears on the first jab, and grew more upset with each successive one. Fortunately the nurse was quick. It took a few minutes of singing and bouncing to soothe her, but by the time we left the office she was in better spirits, even flashing a smile at the nurse who had administered the vaccines.

Unfortunately things have been pretty miserable in our house since then. For a couple of days after the shots, Gloria clearly experienced quite a bit of discomfort. We gave her baby Tylenol a few times, and it seemed to help a little. Bedtimes and naptimes, which are usually relatively drama-free, have involved battles and lots of tears. On Wednesday night, the poor sweetie woke several times crying and was quite difficult to console. Thursday night, we had arranged to have a babysitter for the first time so we could enjoy a dinner out, and I was almost inclined to cancel so that we could be home in case Gloria needed us. However, she did sleep much better on Thursday, and didn’t wake for feeding/cuddling until after we arrived back home.

Things have gotten a bit better – Gloria doesn’t seem to be in any pain anymore – but we suspect we’ve entered Wonder Week 26 purgatory (our loyal readers will recall that Gloria was born 4 weeks early, so her current adjusted age is 24 weeks). She is certainly more clingy than usual, sometimes starting to cry quite suddenly if I disappear from her sight. She’s also grabbing my clothes quite a bit more when I hold her, and sometimes clinging tightly to a fistful of my hair (ouch!). Naps have become struggles and on some days have essentially disappeared. Earlier today, Kenny went to the gym while I attempted to put Gloria down for her afternoon nap. After an hour of nursing, reading, rocking, and singing, I gave up, and Gloria was still awake (and quite overtired and fussy) by the time Kenny returned.

We are taking solace in the fact that week 26 is only a couple of weeks away, and with it will come new skills and a much happier baby. In the meantime, I’ll just remember my mantra, “Serenity Now.”

First ride in her big girl car seat