These Days are Numbered

I'm pretty sure that Copper's first tumble from the sofa will be on my watch. She currently sits quite peacefully on the sofa playing with toys while I run around the house trying to get things accomplished. On this day I laid her down for a quick nap while Aubrey and I got ready to run some errands. So far she hasn't rolled from her back on to her stomach. Although she is pretty good at rolling onto her side. As a precautionary measure I did place the back sofa cushion next to the couch to hopefully slow down her fall. Luckily it wasn't needed.

Must be the fresh Iowa air

Copper had a whole week of first time experiences on our trip back to Iowa. They included:

Rolling over from her stomach onto her back unassisted.

Eating veggies. She very much enjoys carrots.

Going swimming.

Note: This one may not count completely since the water was freezing and she only got her legs wet.

Sitting in a restaurant high chair and eating a slice of lime.

Going to a playground.

Equipment used: swing, teeter totter, rocking horse thingy, and slide

Good job Bug! Growing up so fast.

Crawling

Copper and I went to a Stroller Strides class on Friday at Wash Park. If you're not familiar it's an outdoor fitness class for mommies and their babies in strollers. It combines cardio and strength training in a circuit format. It was a lot of fun and a great workout. I haven't been this sore in a very long time. Anyways, at the end of the class we were all hanging out with our babies in the grass when a woman came over with her little girl. She noticed how well Copper was sitting up and asked how old she is. Turns out that her girl is 1 day older than Copper, but hasn't mastered sitting up very well. I asked her how she does with crawling and she said that she is doing well and can get up on her hands and knees. She then put her girl on the ground and sure enough she immediately propped herself up. I expressed my amazement and then showed her Copper's lack of progress. I placed Copper on her belly and with pudgy little arms splayed out to both sides and laying flat on her belly with the side of her face plastered to the matt she started to fuss. Sitting up...check. Learning to crawl...fail. It was interesting to see so many babies and the range of their abilities. I'm not the least bit concerned about Copper's lack of interest in crawling. It'll all come together soon enough.

6 Months - A bit belated

Copper Jo Jo turned 6 months old on May 12th. I obviously didn't get around to posting her 6 month info. So I'm doing it now. She weighed 16 lb 8 oz (she must have had a wet diaper, just eaten, and been wearing 2 pounds of clothes when I got that 17 lb reading), she was 26 inches long, and her noggin was 42.5 cm. All of which are totally average.

Hobbies include:

• Sucking on orange peels (her favorite)
• Doing everything that she did at 5 months only better and longer

I hoped to report that she was walking by now, but unfortunately it hasn't happened yet.

Also at 6 months she has developed patches of dry skin. I haven't used lotion on her ever (except for her chin) and now I have to lather her up a couple times a day with heavy cream.

It seems like she didn't develop as many new skills from 5 months to 6 months. She just does them all better now.

That's what I get.

I've been bragging lately about how I haven't had a clogged duct in weeks. I was getting nasty clogged ducts that left half my right boob feeling like a bruised rock every 3-4 days for over a month. I was convinced that I would just have to deal with them for the rest of my breastfeeding days. Then all of a sudden I didn't get them anymore. Now that I opened my mouth and shouted with joy that I have been cured, they've come back. I was convinced that the breastfeeding gods were testing me and I had prevailed. Guess I should have knocked on wood. Stupid boob.

Time to lower the bed

Notice that guilty look on Copper's face? That's because instead of napping she decided to turn on her mobile and play with it. I looked in the monitor and heard the music and then noticed that the mobile wasn't turning. She had a death grip on the giraffe's foot. It's time to lower the mattress a notch or two. Speaking of the crib, I do really need to finish her bumper. Even though she's not rolling all the over quite yet, she does move around an awful lot. Someday she's going to get her little sausage feet stuck in the bars.

Note: Copper turned 6 months old on Thursday. I haven't posted her 6 month update yet because I left her weight, height, etc. paperwork at the pediatrician's yesterday. I'll post the update when the paperwork comes in the mail.

Being Creative

I have come to terms that while I am with Copper I cannot get everything done that I want to. Chores can wait, work can wait, working out can wait, relaxing can wait, showering can wait, getting a good buzz on can wait, going out to nice dinners can wait...you get the picture. When I put her down for a nap yesterday I immediately started cleaning the truck to get ready for Lisa, Lucy, Copper, and my trip back to Iowa. I got about 20 minutes into it before she woke up. I let her lay in her bed for quite a while, but eventually had to go get her. I wasn't willing to abandon my task so I just put her in the truck while I finished cleaning it. She loved it. While I can't always do everything that I want to, many things are possible if I just get a little creative.

Quote of the Day

Me: "Is Copper looking chunky?"
Mom: "No!" (pause) "Well maybe a little."

Happy Mother's Day to ME!

Copper woke up with a wonderful present for me this morning; a big ol' nasty poopy diaper. Melvin came inside covered in grass which I then had to brush off. I kept looking around for a regurgitated hairball from Flea, but she must have forgot it was Mother's Day. Joking aside, it really was a pretty cool day and nothing that special even took place. Now that I'm a mama, Mother's Day has taken on a whole new meaning. Sorry, mom, but today was all about me. Copper and I slept in until 11 (maybe she did realize what today was) and spent the day hanging out and running a few errands. (One of which was getting the kiddo her very own adirondack chair.) Aubrey got me Einstein's for breakfast and a huge bag of Jelly Bellys. Thanks Bumpkins! It was a great day to reflect on what an amazing honor it is to be Copper's mommy. Happy Mother's Day!

Flea

Some of you may wonder how Flea is coping with having the new baby around. She basically just pretends that Copper doesn't exist.

Socializing: Part II

For a whole day after my last post I felt great about our new social freedom. Then I got an e-mail from Kellie rallying the girls to get together for dinner. I immediately panicked. I can't go out to dinner at a restaurant without Copper. Aubrey would kill me. She's generally a bit more emotional in the evenings and I could only be gone for about 1.5 hours tops. When Kellie asked if 5:30 works for everyone, I responded that I would need a guarantee that we were seated immediately, our food would be served immediately after ordering and I could only stay for an hour. I wrote it as a joke, but it is actually the truth. If I fed Copper at 4:45, left the house by 5:05, got to the restaurant at 5:30, I would need to leave by 6:15, maybe 6:30, in order to get home in time for a total baby hunger meltdown. That would allow me about 45 minutes to sit and gab with the girls and eat. With that timeframe I would probably have to get my food to go. I guess that I don't have quite as much social freedom as I thought. Good thing Copper is so damned cute because I really enjoy having dinner with the girls. Maybe next time ladies.

Socializing

When Copper was little, well littler, going to see friends in the evening was not a big deal. The kid didn't go to bed before 2am anyways so we didn't see a problem with staying out with her. Now she has a bedtime and God forbid we stray from it for even one night. About a month ago we were invited to watch the fights on a Saturday night at a friend's house and we turned it down because we were getting into a good routine with Copper's bedtime and we didn't want to disrupt it. In hindsight, we should have said "screw it" and went anyways. Is one night really going to do that much harm? Last weekend we did accept an offer to have dinner at a friend's place and we stayed until 10. Did Copper suddenly become a devil child because of a missed bedtime? Nope. She rocked it out. She was great the entire evening and quietly fell asleep in my arms while we all chatted away. When we got home I changed and fed her and was able to quickly get her into her bed. She was great the next day too. We're slowly learning how to modify our lives to include the little one. It's generally not as bad as we think it'll be.

Tummy Time

Supposedly an infant needs to spend considerable time on their tummy in order to learn how to crawl. Copper didn't receive that memo. She's not a big fan of tummy time. About 5 seconds after taking this picture she had a break down. If I'm ever going to be able to brag about how fast my daughter learned how to crawl I'm probably going to have to be a little more proactive with allowing her to learn the basics.

Happy 5 Months!

Copper Jo (aka Bug) turned 5 months old today!

She weighed in at an impressive 17 pounds! In case you were wondering, that'a a gain of about 3 pounds in about a month! Holy growth spurt! Guess that's why she's pretty much outgrown all of her 3-6 month clothes and is starting to fit nicely into 6-9 month clothes.

Hobbies now include:

• Yelling
• Playing with her feet
• Rolling onto her side
• Sitting up unassisted (and then falling over)
• Playing with toys
• Grabbing everything within reach, and
• Putting everything into her mouth

Moving Day

With a bit of encouragement from Aubrey, we decided to have Copper sleep in her room last night. I was running out of excuses as to why she couldn't sleep in there, i.e. the stencils on her dresser weren't painted, the crib skirt wasn't sewn, there wasn't a rug, I hadn't started her bumper, the valences weren't sewn...the list goes on and on. None of them serious reasons for her to not sleep in her room, but valid enough excuses for me. What was crazy about the decision was that as soon as it was made, I was okay with it. She had napped in there Friday and Saturday and didn't have any adverse side effects, so I was willing to try it out. I also thought that I would NEED to sleep in the guest room just in case she started screaming bloody murder, but since she did well with her naps I didn't feel the necessity any more. I got the video monitor set up Saturday afternoon and made sure there weren't any monsters under her bed or in the closet. I put her to bed about 8:30ish last night and she happily snoozed the night away. She made a few little noises throughout the night, but nothing serious. This morning around 6:00, we woke to the sound in the monitor of her farting and pooping. It was pretty funny. I went up stairs and sang our good morning song, just like I do every morning and she smiled at me just like she does every morning.

I'm a Mom

Every so often I have these strong feelings where I realize whole heartedly that I am a mom. The feelings don't overwhelm me or frighten me, they just kind of stop me and remind me of my new role in life. I have a baby. I am a mom. Someday I will hold my daughter's hand as we walk to school. I will buy her her first bra and talk to her about sex. I will hate her boyfriends. I will watch her fall and encourage her to always try again. I will help with her homework. She will give me grandkids. It's just so crazy how much changed when she was born. All of it for the better. I'm just glad that I'm at a place in my life when it made perfect sense to have a baby and that I'm 100% ready to do everything in my power to be the best mom that I can be.

Time for her crib

I never would have thought that I would be the type of mom who would have their baby sleep in my room for 5 months. When I was pregnant I assumed that I would be kicking her out of our room after about a month. I had a hard time kicking her out of our bed after a month. Given that Copper has about 4 inches of clearance in her mini pack n play that she currently sleeps in next to our bed, it's about time to move her into her own room. This would also allow Aubrey and I to be able to talk to each other at night and allow Aubrey to let his alarm clock go off in the morning. I believe that I no longer have concerns over her safety at night and she only wakes up once a night to eat. I do like the convenience of just picking her up and laying back in bed to feed her. When she sleeps in her room I'll have to go all the way upstairs (which I actually do every night anyways since I always have to pee and we don't have the downstairs bathroom finished yet) and feed her in a chair in her room. Doing that will probably help me be quicker about getting her, and me, back to bed though. I currently let her eat/hold her for 20 minutes to an hour. I told Aubrey that within the next couple weeks I would have her sleeping in her room. We joke that I'll sleep upstairs the first few nights that she's in her room, but the reality is is that I will definitely sleep upstairs those first few nights. She spends time in her crib, but has never really slept in it. I just want to be close so that when she does wake up she realizes that I am still close by. I will miss waking up in my bed and being able to see her and talk to her while she's in her bed next to me. I always sing a little "good morning" song to her while we're both still lying down when she wakes up. Now I'll have to get my ass out of bed, get dressed, and climb a flight of stairs before I can sing our song.

She Likes It!

My sister-in-law Rian had suggested that I try feeding Copper some cereal with boobie milk since she wasn't overly found of veggies. So last night I mixed up rice cereal with some milk that was pumped at 4:30am (when my clogged duct decided to release itself) and gave it a go. And by golly, she liked it! She fended off my first few attempts, but once she realized it was her favorite meal/snack/drink/dessert, she decided to open up and eat. Most of it made it into her tummy and not all over her face and bib. Tonight we tried it again and she ate it again. Our little girl is growing up so fast.

Quote of the Day

"Huh. I must have slept through that one."

-Aubrey

While feeding Copper a couple nights ago I told Aubrey that I needed to get her to eat from both sides so that she'd be good and full before going to bed. I said that I was tired of getting up a 2 am to feed her. Aubrey responded that she had done really well the night before since she didn't wake up until 6:30. The "Quote of the Day" was his response to me telling him that 6:30 was the second time she woke up that night. That she also woke up at 1:30 am and needed to be fed.

Copper no like green beans

We tried green beans for 4 days with no luck. She even started tucking her lips into a tight mouth when I brought the spoon to her mouth. So tonight we tried sweet potatoes. Unless we were really good at distracting her, the spoon didn't make it past her tight lips. Isn't she too young to already learn those games? I had Aubrey try feeding her too, but that didn't work either. I'm not sure if she's completely ready for food yet, but I really want to get her on probiotics to hopefully help with her poop issues. Food is the only way I can do it. Any advice or tips? She loves watching us eat and drink and seems quite curious about food. How long is it supposed to take before a baby will learn how to swallow food?