Day Seventy-Six

Stimuli and Sleep

Milo didn’t sleep well last night, for some reason. She was awake just about every hour. I’m still amazed at how calm and patient I’ve become when woken up in the middle of the night; I used to be such a crab, but now I just don’t feel much frustration. I was pretty tired this morning, though, so Chase took Milo for about 30 minutes while I got a power nap in before he left for work. It was amazing.

My mission for the day was to give Milo a lot of stimuli. I ended up going to two different Safeways on different sides of town (returning merchandise, bleh), and we walked through Golden Gate Park a couple of times in the process. Later, we spent some time on the roof looking around at the plants and the city view, and then we took an afternoon walk through Panhandle Park. Milo took lots of naps during the day, and Chase and I are planning on being in bed by 9pm to get plenty of sleep for our flights tomorrow. Here’s hoping all goes well.

Day Seventy-Five

Magic

Michelle is magic. She came over this morning to help with some paperwork, and while here she managed to get Milo to drink a bottle. She explained that Chase and I have kind of trained Milo to expect certain things from us: Chase is holding her, she gets fussed, and then he passes her off to me so I can nurse her. So, now when he holds her and tries to feed her, she’s expecting him to hand her over for breastfeeding. When he doesn’t, she gets pissed. But if a third party gives her a bottle, she’ll take it because she’s hungry. After Michelle started the feeding, she passed Milo off to Chase, and Milo easily finished the bottle.

Michelle makes everything better. Jokingly, I said to Chase that we should have another baby soon so that Michelle will come over for visits all the time. He readily agreed ;-)

Day Seventy-Four

Board Books

Milo slept for nearly 7 hours last night! Her sleep hasn’t been consistent in the past week or so. Last week, we could depend on around a 5 hour stretch of sleep after we first put her down for the night. This week, it’s been more varied. We nearly always put her down at 8:30pm; at times, she’s up at 10:30 ready to eat again. Last night, though, she went to sleep at around 8:40 and didn’t wake up until nearly 3:30am! Then, after she went back to sleep, she didn’t get up to eat again until 7:30! What a champ!

We had a trip to the bookstore right after lunch. Milo fell asleep just after we arrived there, and I ended up buying her two board books. When she awoke (and after she ate again), we read the books several times. She seemed to like them very much!

Notes:

• Milo has been making good eye contact. This relates to that Radiolab episode that Chase mentioned; we’re pretty sure she’s not consciously fixed on us, but we sure do like looking back at her.

• Milo had her first projectile spit-up today! Ok, this one isn’t fun or exciting. I was patting her back while she was propped up on my shoulder, and she managed to spit up on herself, my arm and shoulder, and the couch. What an overachiever!

• We met a nice Filipino lady on the bus today who 1) recommended that I buy a hat for my girl so that she can more easily look at the world when it’s sunny (I’m working on it), and 2) told me that in the Philippines, they shave a baby’s head upon turing one year old. I don’t think I’ll take that second advice.

• Mornings are still Milo’s favorite time of day.

Day Seventy-Three

Milo, Swaddle Destroyer

Last night, Milo broke out of all of her swaddles. We are still swaddling her because she still wakes herself up with her arms if we don’t. Also, the swaddle is soothing for her and part of her routine; we swaddle and feed her, and she falls asleep more easily. However, during the night, she moves around so much that the swaddle almost always comes loose and we have to reswaddle her at least once. Since she’s getting so big (and the big muslin swaddle blankets are not quite big enough anymore), we decided to try a Halo Swaddle Sleep Sack to see how it would go. She had an arm out by her first middle-of-the-night feeding. So then we used one of the muslin swaddle blankets to reswaddle. Lo and behold, she had both arms out in no time. So, we’ll have to come up with some other solution in the future.

Today, Chase and I took Milo to the park because there was a dog competition not far from our apartment. She wasn’t very happy to be in the park, so I ended up feeding her a couple of times and then we walked around. After that, a quick trip to Costco (the busiest, most crowded place in San Francisco) wore her out, and she was ready to have a nap.

Chase and I have been daring to go to bed a bit later this past week or so. Milo usually sleeps until around 7am, and she falls asleep for the evening at around 8:30pm. So our reasoning is that if we go to bed at around 11pm, we should be able to get at least 7 hours of sleep, give or take. You know, unless Milo gets fussed and decides to keep us up for hours in the middle of the night. Thankfully, that hasn’t happened for a while. I have to admit, though, I get a bit scared each time we go to bed any time after 10pm.

Day Seventy-Two

The Martian

Today I went to a movie! IN THE THEATER! Let me explain: a while ago, when Jeff and Kathy visited, they told us that when their daughter was a baby, they’d regularly go to movies because a) she slept all the time, b) there were few people if they went to the first showtime, and c) it was easy to just take her out of the theater for a moment if she started fussing. They encouraged us to try it. So we did.

We went to the 10am showtime of The Martian at the closest theater, and Milo was pretty good. It helps that Chase has seen the movie. We were super sensitive about any sounds that she made, so Chase took her out of the theater just after the coming attractions when she began to squirm and fuss a bit. He was gone for a little while and brought her back sleeping to enjoy the rest of the movie. Then, in the final 20 minutes, she got hungry again and I fed her, finishing just as the movie ended. Not bad.

Also today, Milo LAUGHED. In the past she has had brief chuckles while sleeping, but today she was fully awake and looking at me and she LAUGHED and it was more than just a chuckle! I called Chase over and we were both able to watch and enjoy her little baby smile and laugh. She was in the middle of breastfeeding while it happened, so we couldn’t get a video.

Today was a good day.

Day Seventy-One

Stimuli

I read an article about babies and sleep today. In it, the author (whose writing style I find amusing) says that the more stimuli babies get during the day causes them to sleep more at night. Logical, and true for Milo. Today we went to ILSC, and Milo stayed awake and stared at everything the whole time. She was even cordial to the ladies at work and didn’t fuss much. Then, when we got home, she slept and slept. There was so much to look at! I think she especially loves riding MUNI (sometimes) because there are all sorts of people on the bus to look at and talk to, and there are tons of windows to look out of.

Things we’ve encountered while riding MUNI:

• an African-American lady and a Latina lady getting into a screaming fight (that I was sure would turn physical) over a seat. The bus driver eventually took the bus out of service after the Latina lady started screaming the n-word.

• Lots of people talking to and smiling at Milo. We’ve heard stories about grown children whose kids are giving them their karmic just desserts by not sleeping EVER, stories about neighbors and friends’ kids, etc., as well as people guessing Milo’s gender (most of the time getting it wrong) and marveling at her size when we tell them how old she is.

• a fight among a group of men on Market St. Not sure what was going on, but it got broken up pretty quickly.

• everyone and their mother trying to give us a seat. Most of the time I have to refuse because she’s wrapped up, which makes sitting awkward.

In milestone news, Milo is holding her head up like a champ, and she’s been smiling and laughing more and more. I think she might finally be getting the hang of her hands, as she seems to keep them in or near her mouth more often now. She’s not purposely grabbing things or reaching for things yet, but maybe soon.

Oh, and I got a really good look at her eyes in the sunshine this afternoon. They still look dark gray, but there seems to be some lighter color near the iris. Definitely Chase’s eyes.

Day Seventy

Fun and Fuss

From day to day, Milo’s behavior changes. One day, she’s alert and happy, the next day she’s fussed and sleepy. Today was the fussed and sleepy kind of day. It was the wake-up-screaming kind of day, wherein Milo demands to be held all day and bounced to sleep for 30 minutes each time. It was a bit stressful.

We have been enjoying some reading time these days, though. In the past few days, I’ve been reading baby books to my girl; so far, we’ve read about six. Milo LOVES being read to. She just stares and stares at the pages as I read, sometimes cooing, sometimes wide-eyed. I love it. I hope she continues to love being read to.

Truth: Sometimes I let Milo sleep on her side or her tummy. It terrifies me because of the SIDS risk, but it’s so comfortable for her, and it helps her relax when she has gas or needs to poop. AND, I only let her do this if I’m right next to her the whole time. I just can’t help it. She twists and turns and grunts in the middle of the night so much sometimes that I feel like I need to help her out; so I put her on my chest and pat her back, and the writhing automatically stops; her breathing calms, and she sleeps. I don’t let her sleep this way long, just enough time to soothe her. And, when sleeping on her side, she always rolls onto her back after just a few minutes anyway. I wonder sometimes how much the writhing really bothers her; perhaps when she starts sleeping in the bassinet I’ll be able to see a difference.

Day Sixty-Nine

Day Sixty-Eight

Out of Milk

Not much to note today. I’m still doing on-demand feeding with Milo (not sure when I’ll try to get her on a schedule), and today was one of those days when she seemed endlessly thirsty (hungry?). This evening, for her final feeding before bed, she just wanted to eat and eat and eat, even when I felt certain that there was nothing left for her. Luckily, I was able to get her to sleep without too much fussing.

We’re still having trouble getting Milo to take a bottle. I tried again this morning, and she wouldn’t have it. I tasted the milk and it did taste a bit weird, which is odd since it was freshly expressed at around 2am. It made me wonder if the brussels sprouts we’ve been eating could make my milk taste different. If that’s the case, Milo doesn’t have a problem with the taste of the milk if she’s getting it from the breast. Which means that she’s just refusing the bottle not the milk.

We’ll keep trying. It sure would be nice to be able to do things and leave Chase with a bottle for her. As of now, I kind of dread making appointments for myself. I had a successful eye exam over the weekend, and when we’re in Texas (next week!) I have a hair appointment. I hope she’s more amenable to the bottle by that point. We’ll see.

Day Sixty-Seven

Miscellaneous

I read an article recently about how Mom’s sleep poorly when their infant is in the same room. Not in the bed with them, in the same room with them. Milo keeps me awake at night much of the time, even when she’s sleeping soundly. I wonder if this will ever go away.

Notes:

• Milo sweats a lot. It worries me. I am constantly scared that she’s sick with a fever.
• My breasts leak a lot, especially at night when they still get engorged. Last night, my nursing pad got too full and I leaked all over the bed and Milo, who was laying right next to me. Sorry, Milo!
• Milo does not want to drink from a bottle. Not at all. She will have no part of it. She gives me that look, like when I try to put a pacifier in her mouth. The look says “what in the world is that?” or “you’re crazy if you think I’m sucking on anything other than mom’s nipple!” Furrowed brow and all.

First blood

I got a little ambitious tonight.

Misty was feeding Milo in our rocker, and since that usually keeps her calm, we took the opportunity to trim her long, dirty fingernails. Since I’d done it before and since Misty had her hands full, I was the one wielding the clippers. And for nine whole fingers, I once again did an excellent job: I trimmed each nail with two quick snips and raced onward — against the fuss-clock — to the next.

But, like I said. I got cocky.

The first sign, as always, was her once-peaceful brow furrowing like an elephant’s trunk. Then her mouth detached from the nipple and arched open and let out a yelp. Finally, she scrunched her hands up next to her face, her whole body tensed, and she started crying. Not too much, actually. Kids can recover quickly from quite a lot if they’re properly distracted (in this case, by her mother’s scent and the prospect of more food). But I knew I had snipped too close on right thumb, and sure enough, there was soon a bright red rim around her fingernail.

In a moment we realized that it wasn’t going to stop bleeding on its own, so I went to the bathroom and fetched the tiniest band-aids I could find. But having never put a band-aid on another human being, I messed it up; on the first try I covered the cut with the adhesive instead of the pad, and on the second try the band-aid got folded on itself in a way that wouldn’t stick. With some helpful coaching from Misty, the third time was a charm, and Milo — freshly manicured — was none the wiser.

The next day I mentioned the incident to Virgilio, a semi-pro athlete and part-time model and coworker of mine. He laughed, joking that if he ever had a kid he’d probably do that intentionally so that they wouldn’t complain when he makes them ride 100 miles on a bicycle.

So yeah, for the record, Milo: I was just toughening you up!

Day Sixty-Six

Sonoma

A while ago, I saw an article online that said Sonoma Valley was a good place to see fall colors. So, Chase and I set out to take a drive in the North Bay this morning. Milo has been pretty good in the car lately, so we figured it would be nice to get out and spend some time out of the apartment (and the city).

Milo was great in the car - we started out with doughnuts at Bob’s, then headed up to the San Rafael Farmer’s Market (where we ran into Mami and bought some Mami’s Crunch), then drove up to Sonoma. Milo got a little fussed in the car, but lately she’s soothed by sucking on my finger (still refuses the pacifier) until she can fall asleep or we get moving again.

Unfortunately, there were no real fall colors in Sonoma yet. I think we were too early. We decided to walk around the town square, and we ended up getting some sandwiches and ice cream.

Notes:

• Today marked the first day that Milo was really fussy in the Moby wrap. She demanded to be let out when Chase was carrying her, then I wrapped her and she again demanded to be out. It may have been due to hunger. I hope it’s not a trend.
• Chase and Milo made a lot of ladies swoon today, as he carried her around Sonoma while she slept. They’re so cute!

Day Sixty-Five

Eye Exam

Another milestone as a mother: I made an appointment and went to it. It’s such a silly thing to feel good about, but I feel good. This morning I had an eye exam, and Chase and I went with Milo. She got fussed while we were there, so I had to ask the attendant to wait a few minutes while I fed her (we’re still doing on-demand feeding, so her hunger can be unpredictable at times). Then, Chase watched her while the doctor checked out my eyes. Afterwards, Chase and I had fun trying on frames.

Mexican food for lunch (quesadilla!!), and the rest of the afternoon was spent watching some college football. Chase had to do a bit of work, so Milo and I hung out and played together. She’s all smiles and sweetness lately!

Day Sixty-Four