Thursday, September 30, 2010
She Keeps Getting Better
Last night Natali went to bed at 10:30PM and slept until 4:30AM. She took 2 ounces then went back to bed at 5AM. She then slept until 8AM. Not too shabby. Off to the State Fair of Texas today.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Daddy on Board
There are tons of resources for new moms. For new dads??? Not so much.
Natali Del Conte is the tech reporter who we used for the spelling of Natali. Natali Del Conte is dating a man named Clayton Morris. Clayton has had a long running podcast called the Grizzly Bear Egg Cafe. He recently launched a podcast called...Daddy On Board.
Natali Del Conte and Clayton had their first child about two weeks before our daughter was born. It is refreshing to see and hear all the questions and concerns he had going up until the birth.
It's a weekly podcast that, as far as I can figure, is only subscribable on Itunes or viewable online here.
Last night Natali woke up just once....at 3:30AM. My turn. I made a 3 ounce bottle. Natali is really good at measuring as she stops eating in exactly one ounce intervals! After two ounces we took a break and I burped her. I then popped to bottle back in. I leaned my head back for just a moment. The next thing I knew my hand was covered in warm liquid. Then my shirt. Then my boxer shorts. The flow had reversed.
I sprang into action and used the burping rag to catch a good two ounces of formula. Nice eh?
New diaper, new clothes (for the both of us!) and a new bottle later...all was good. She went back to sleep at 4:15AM not waking up again until 8AM.
Natali appears to have Kelli's personality. Laid back until something is not to her liking...and then watch out! Natali's crying doesn't bother me to the point of stressing me out. When she cries and I am holding her, I will position her so she can stand on my lap. She then puts her hands on my chest, pushes off and wails. I just look at her and say," Come on Natali, look me in the eyes and scream at me like you mean it!"
We are getting our rug today. We bought a 8 X 11 foot rug last week for the living room. It's a shag rug...kinda retro. Has some color in it to help our mostly brown living room. Will be easier for Natali to have tummy time.
Natali is 7 weeks old today!
Natali Del Conte is the tech reporter who we used for the spelling of Natali. Natali Del Conte is dating a man named Clayton Morris. Clayton has had a long running podcast called the Grizzly Bear Egg Cafe. He recently launched a podcast called...Daddy On Board.
Natali Del Conte and Clayton had their first child about two weeks before our daughter was born. It is refreshing to see and hear all the questions and concerns he had going up until the birth.
It's a weekly podcast that, as far as I can figure, is only subscribable on Itunes or viewable online here.
Last night Natali woke up just once....at 3:30AM. My turn. I made a 3 ounce bottle. Natali is really good at measuring as she stops eating in exactly one ounce intervals! After two ounces we took a break and I burped her. I then popped to bottle back in. I leaned my head back for just a moment. The next thing I knew my hand was covered in warm liquid. Then my shirt. Then my boxer shorts. The flow had reversed.
I sprang into action and used the burping rag to catch a good two ounces of formula. Nice eh?
New diaper, new clothes (for the both of us!) and a new bottle later...all was good. She went back to sleep at 4:15AM not waking up again until 8AM.
Natali appears to have Kelli's personality. Laid back until something is not to her liking...and then watch out! Natali's crying doesn't bother me to the point of stressing me out. When she cries and I am holding her, I will position her so she can stand on my lap. She then puts her hands on my chest, pushes off and wails. I just look at her and say," Come on Natali, look me in the eyes and scream at me like you mean it!"
We are getting our rug today. We bought a 8 X 11 foot rug last week for the living room. It's a shag rug...kinda retro. Has some color in it to help our mostly brown living room. Will be easier for Natali to have tummy time.
Natali is 7 weeks old today!
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Not so gross
In the past the changing of baby diapers grossed me out. Heck it still does. My sisters in law would change diapers in front of me in attempts to make me queasy. Nice eh?
My sister in law Jami would "take a peek" at her daughters diaper to see what was in it. Again I was grossed out.....till I found myself doing it a few weeks ago.
We started off using Pampers diapers.....cause that's what the hospital and friends gave us. Somewhere we got some Huggies. Huggies suck. We will use them until they are gone then go back to Pampers.
Before having a kid I was told that, when it comes to changing diapers, "it's different when it's your own kid" Hmmm. Whatever. Still gross. I still get queasy and I know it will get worse as time goes on. The worst times are when Natali...ahem...let's is flow/fly while I am changing her. I have learned that I take off the diaper....let the cold air rush in....close the diaper....count to 10...then change the diaper. This way if she needs to pee again she can do so in the diaper. It works sometimes. Other times I sigh...change the diaper...and then her clothes.
Natali is progressing very well in my eyes. Her head control is very good side to side and getting better forward and backward. She really likes to stand up when she is on my lap. Of course when she steps around on my lap she runs the risk of being an only child.
Over the last few nights her overnight sleeping has improved. Instead of waking up every 2 hours she wakes up every 3-4 hours. This means we fill her up with formula at 10:30. She falls asleep around 11PMish. She wakes up between 3-3:30AM and then again around 6AM. Much better for our sleeping patterns.
She turns 42 days old tomorrow. I'm not using weeks/months....to0 cliche.
My sister in law Jami would "take a peek" at her daughters diaper to see what was in it. Again I was grossed out.....till I found myself doing it a few weeks ago.
We started off using Pampers diapers.....cause that's what the hospital and friends gave us. Somewhere we got some Huggies. Huggies suck. We will use them until they are gone then go back to Pampers.
Before having a kid I was told that, when it comes to changing diapers, "it's different when it's your own kid" Hmmm. Whatever. Still gross. I still get queasy and I know it will get worse as time goes on. The worst times are when Natali...ahem...let's is flow/fly while I am changing her. I have learned that I take off the diaper....let the cold air rush in....close the diaper....count to 10...then change the diaper. This way if she needs to pee again she can do so in the diaper. It works sometimes. Other times I sigh...change the diaper...and then her clothes.
Natali is progressing very well in my eyes. Her head control is very good side to side and getting better forward and backward. She really likes to stand up when she is on my lap. Of course when she steps around on my lap she runs the risk of being an only child.
Over the last few nights her overnight sleeping has improved. Instead of waking up every 2 hours she wakes up every 3-4 hours. This means we fill her up with formula at 10:30. She falls asleep around 11PMish. She wakes up between 3-3:30AM and then again around 6AM. Much better for our sleeping patterns.
She turns 42 days old tomorrow. I'm not using weeks/months....to0 cliche.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Full nights sleep
Kelli is in one of her "why do I have to update the blog" moods...so I will do a little more than normal.
Natali is now 6 weeks old. It is amazing watching her progress day to day.
She started using her legs a lot two weeks ago. When I stood her up on my chest she would push down and stand up on them. Of course I have to balance her. I think she likes standing up on my chest or lap. I know when she gets frustrated she likes to stand and scream in my face....which I respond by kissing her all over her which distracts her and she momentarily stops crying.
Beyond that her head motions and control are improving. She can control side to side very well....forward and back not so much yet.
Natali isn't bothered at all with tummy time. When we are on the couch we place her on her stomach and she sleeps very well. Although we are sure she would be fine sleeping overnight on her stomach, we will continue to place her on her back until she is 6 months old.
Speaking of sleeping, the last time Kelli had a full, uninterrupted, nights sleep was August 10th....kinda. Natali was pushing down on her bladder pretty good. I guess the last time was some time in 2009. I've had several uninterrupted nights sleep, especially while I was working in New York.
Last night I took Natali down the hall and we both slept in the guest bedroom. This was to give Kelli a full nights sleep. I didn't mind too much. Natali went to sleep at 11PM. She woke up at 2:30AM and went back to sleep at 3:00AM. She again woke up at 5:00AM and settled back in just before 6:00AM. Not too bad for a 6 week old.
Beyond that we looked at our 3rd day care today. This one is $300 more per month than the last one we looked at. Was it $300 better? Eh....we gotta think about it. Still have 3 1/2 months to discuss it.
Natali is now 6 weeks old. It is amazing watching her progress day to day.
She started using her legs a lot two weeks ago. When I stood her up on my chest she would push down and stand up on them. Of course I have to balance her. I think she likes standing up on my chest or lap. I know when she gets frustrated she likes to stand and scream in my face....which I respond by kissing her all over her which distracts her and she momentarily stops crying.
Beyond that her head motions and control are improving. She can control side to side very well....forward and back not so much yet.
Natali isn't bothered at all with tummy time. When we are on the couch we place her on her stomach and she sleeps very well. Although we are sure she would be fine sleeping overnight on her stomach, we will continue to place her on her back until she is 6 months old.
Speaking of sleeping, the last time Kelli had a full, uninterrupted, nights sleep was August 10th....kinda. Natali was pushing down on her bladder pretty good. I guess the last time was some time in 2009. I've had several uninterrupted nights sleep, especially while I was working in New York.
Last night I took Natali down the hall and we both slept in the guest bedroom. This was to give Kelli a full nights sleep. I didn't mind too much. Natali went to sleep at 11PM. She woke up at 2:30AM and went back to sleep at 3:00AM. She again woke up at 5:00AM and settled back in just before 6:00AM. Not too bad for a 6 week old.
Beyond that we looked at our 3rd day care today. This one is $300 more per month than the last one we looked at. Was it $300 better? Eh....we gotta think about it. Still have 3 1/2 months to discuss it.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Natali at 5 weeks
A few quick photos I took this morning of Natali at 5 weeks. For those who want copies without my watermark simply shoot me an email and I will send you my Flickr link.
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Saturday, September 18, 2010
Don't Be That Baby
We took a trip to see Grandpa yesterday. My dad lives down in Houston. Sure most people would hop in the car and drive the 4 hours. That's what we used to do. But since I work for a company that owns a bunch of jets.....we fly.
Our car seat is a fancy Peg Perego model. It's very high quality...but one annoying feature. The seat MUST have a base attached to a seat belt. The base must be removed to be attached to a stroller. When we fly we have to carry the base through the airport and then check the stroller and carry the base on board. Not so great for those who travel light and frequently.
To solve this we decided to buy a car seat just for traveling. We stopped by a baby store and checked them out. Me being me I compared prices to Amazon. We found a decent Graco model for $130 in the store.....only $75 on Amazon...shipped free in just two days. We didn't inspect it too much, after all it was just for travel.
When it arrived, I checked it out more. Wow is it cheap! It's the small things like the lack of neck strap pads, one pull adjustable straps, super soft padding and overall substantialness. But again....it's just for travel.
This was Natali's second round trip. The first two went very well.
Because this was a day trip we bit the bullet and parked at the terminal instead of my free (but time consuming and non baby friendly employee parking) Just a diaper bag and an Ipad each, we breezed through security.
The flight down was fine. She slept most of the way. She slept a lot that day. Which was a problem.
We made it to my dad's house and visited before heading to lunch. Natali was sleep most of the time.
She slept through lunch. She slept one the ride back to my dad's house. She slept at my dad's house. She slept on the car ride back to the airport.
Back at the airport it started. The fussiness started....she slept too much. We only had enough formula for one more bottle....just a 2 ouncer. She took it down and was still a little fussy. Not good.
I dashed off to a shop in the airport that sold sundries. They had one single use infant bottle left. It was a different brand...and huge...8 ounces....but it was our only choice.
Natali was fussy in the terminal area unless we held her...and even then she was loudly crying. Thankfully we were traveling light. I held Natali while Kelli carried the baby seat and diaper bag on board.
Once onboard the crying started. Bad. I held her and calmly talked to her. She quieted down...looked me in the eyes as I spoke, "Natali honey, Don't Be That Baby"....and once I was done...the crying continued. No amount of holding or a pacifier helped. I called for the one use bottle.
She didn't eat much, but as long as she had that nipple in her mouth, she was content.
I held her in my arms for the entire flight. She slept after takeoff.
Once back home she was quiet. But the night was rough. Instead of waking up just twice during the night, she woke up almost every hour. Lesson learned.
We will no longer allow her to just sleep. She's hard to wake up. I found a new...ummm tool....the new environmentally friendly Sun Chips bags. Picking one up sounds like nails in a metal bucket.
Our car seat is a fancy Peg Perego model. It's very high quality...but one annoying feature. The seat MUST have a base attached to a seat belt. The base must be removed to be attached to a stroller. When we fly we have to carry the base through the airport and then check the stroller and carry the base on board. Not so great for those who travel light and frequently.
To solve this we decided to buy a car seat just for traveling. We stopped by a baby store and checked them out. Me being me I compared prices to Amazon. We found a decent Graco model for $130 in the store.....only $75 on Amazon...shipped free in just two days. We didn't inspect it too much, after all it was just for travel.
When it arrived, I checked it out more. Wow is it cheap! It's the small things like the lack of neck strap pads, one pull adjustable straps, super soft padding and overall substantialness. But again....it's just for travel.
This was Natali's second round trip. The first two went very well.
Because this was a day trip we bit the bullet and parked at the terminal instead of my free (but time consuming and non baby friendly employee parking) Just a diaper bag and an Ipad each, we breezed through security.
The flight down was fine. She slept most of the way. She slept a lot that day. Which was a problem.
We made it to my dad's house and visited before heading to lunch. Natali was sleep most of the time.
She slept through lunch. She slept one the ride back to my dad's house. She slept at my dad's house. She slept on the car ride back to the airport.
Back at the airport it started. The fussiness started....she slept too much. We only had enough formula for one more bottle....just a 2 ouncer. She took it down and was still a little fussy. Not good.
I dashed off to a shop in the airport that sold sundries. They had one single use infant bottle left. It was a different brand...and huge...8 ounces....but it was our only choice.
Natali was fussy in the terminal area unless we held her...and even then she was loudly crying. Thankfully we were traveling light. I held Natali while Kelli carried the baby seat and diaper bag on board.
Once onboard the crying started. Bad. I held her and calmly talked to her. She quieted down...looked me in the eyes as I spoke, "Natali honey, Don't Be That Baby"....and once I was done...the crying continued. No amount of holding or a pacifier helped. I called for the one use bottle.
She didn't eat much, but as long as she had that nipple in her mouth, she was content.
I held her in my arms for the entire flight. She slept after takeoff.
Once back home she was quiet. But the night was rough. Instead of waking up just twice during the night, she woke up almost every hour. Lesson learned.
We will no longer allow her to just sleep. She's hard to wake up. I found a new...ummm tool....the new environmentally friendly Sun Chips bags. Picking one up sounds like nails in a metal bucket.
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