pediatric update

annie had another great appointment ...

weight = 12 lbs, 2 oz.

height = 24 inches

head = 40.5 cm

she's 50th percentile in height and weight but off the charts in cuteness! our only directive for her care was to nibble on her delicious toes ... we can handle that!

impromptu sleepover

due to the unforeseen (and inforeseeable) crashing of a giant limb from an enormous tree into our slate roof, mommy and the kids were treated to an impromptu sleepover at nana and grandad's house.

we had a fine time ... jack, for his part, enjoyed the adventure -- reading books, playing games and exploring nature at his grandparents' more countrified environs. and annie slept like a champ ... nearly 12 hours with one brief waking to feed.

daddy did not accompany on this adventure, preferring to stay with the house and make sure the emergency-tarped roof held during the forecasted overnight rains.

because everyone knows when it rains ... it pours.

a winning formula

we had hoped to spend all last week posting pictures and anecdotes from our week in florida ... but annie had some different ideas. instead we spent all last week exhausted and only semi-functional.

since our return from the sunshine state, our little miss sunshine gave up sleeping at night. didn't anyone tell her that lent is over and we don't have to give things up anymore? well, apparently not ...

she went from sleeping 5 or 6 hours at a stretch when she was a newborn to waking up frequently ... as much as 4 times in 3 hours! who says, "i wish my baby would sleep like she did when she was first born"??? well, we do.

we had a week of nights like this. of course, we were also moving her from the co-sleeper in our room beside our bed to her own big crib in her own big room. this, coinciding with an expanded sociability and social awareness, and combined with an overall change in routine from traveling, led to a perfect storm that we like to call "baby insomnia."

during this craziness, mommy got word that when she returns to work from her maternity leave next week, she will likely have to travel.

oh, and the travel is to europe.

oh, and it will be like a 4 day trip.

oh, and she will have to leave the day after her first day back.

what?!?

so of course mommy did the only thing she could do.

panic.

then, collect herself.

then, break out the box of formula we received from the hospital.

we decided to introduce annie to the wonders of modern science, courtesy of abbott laboratories, in advance of her 3-month check-up this week. our rationale being that if we did have any issues with the old similac, we could bring them up with our doctor. we began thursday night.

and wouldn't you know it -- her sleeping got better starting thursday night.

and it has since improved every night since.

last night she went down at 8 p.m., awoke at 3:15 a.m. for a feeding and slept again until about 8 a.m. ... huzzah!

so, who knows what brought about the change (or really the return to the status quo ante) but whatever it is, looks we've found a winning formula!

(for now)

free cone day at ben & jerry's

week-and-a-half update

as we intimated in monday's post ... a trip to florida was in the offing. in fact, it's been off'd and on'd. we've been there and back, so we have much to update you on.

suffice it to say we had excellent weather, wonderful company and a perfect trip.

more specifics in our upcoming posts ... so check back!

headphone jack

while preparing for our trip to florida, the braintrust behind ·ald· procured a dvd player to use on the plane to keep saucy jack occupied.

it was a good idea to practice (told you we were a braintrust) because jack was a little hesitant about the headphones at first.



but he soon got the hang of it and soon was stylin' and profilin' with his sweet cans:

badges? we don't need no stinkin' badges!

jack has been appropriately feted as the "big brother" since annie's arrival.

many of the gifts that arrive for annie are accompanied by a "big brother" present for master jack.

a recent card included a badge which read: "awesome big brother." jack couldn't wait to wear it ... along with one of his big brother shirts, natch!



awesome. we concur.

we concur largely!

siblings

as we at ·ald· have previously blogged, jack gets on exceedingly well with his baby sister.

his frequent request is, "i want to hold the baby!"

and sometimes we actually oblige:

when they're this cute together, how could you resist?

puddle jumper

rainy days and weekends always get me pantless

okay, so that was not the original lyric, but that's what happened when a gloomy sunday kept jack inside rather than out playing at the park.

mommy eventually decided that jack had been cooped up too long and the rain had turned into mere mist, so jack got on his rainboots and we headed out to find some puddles to splash in.

jack had a blast ... every time he saw one iota of standing water he'd yell, "puddle!" and charge ahead to stomp and splash.

we splashed long. we splashed hard. we splashed until our pants got wet, despite the boots. and then we headed home.

but even after he was stripped of his wet, muddy trou, jack still wanted to splash.

so he put his boots back on ...



brings to mind another altered lyric ...

you can leave your boots on

chef boy-oh-boy

breakfast with jack can be a challenge with jack at times.

first, when you ask him what he'd like, he infallibly replies, "pancakes. i want pancakes for breakfast!"

we blame tomie depaola for this.

but, more often than not, mommy will acquiese and prepare pancakes. on the weekends we do pancakes from scratch. during the week? aunt jemima all the way, baby.

one recent morning, jack decided that "chef jack" and "chef mommy" would prepare his morning repast:



he insisted that we wear the toques. but he did not insist that the pancakes be microwaved before he chowed down:

damn you, tommie depaola! and eat your heart out, chef combo!

naked cowboy

shortly after the "ribbon is a dancer" performance ...

jack called down from his bath, "i'm a cowboy!"

and sure enough, streaking down the stairs was a little guy in a cowboy hat.

and we do mean streaking. besides the cowboy hat, there was not much else:



he ran a lap around the ground floor, shouting, "howdy, partner!" before his mamaxana coaxed him back upstairs to get his pj's on.

sort of like the (in)famous naked cowboy of new york ... except no guitar and you don't have to go to manhattan, either!

visit with aunt megan

last week we were lucky enough to have a visit from "aunt megan." jack was very glad to see her, having heard that she was an animal scientist like diego.

she came bearing gifts -- a reptiles & amphibians set and some jungle animals and then she acquiesced to play with them and rescue them with jack's fire truck.

that's all it took. they were bff's.

on one of her last days on the right coast (and we do mean right) ... we headed to the national zoo to check out the animals and enjoy some (relatively) warmer weather:




the trip with aunt megan was much more informative and ... what's the word ... correct than the normal zoo excursion. and jack seemed to enjoy it (or maybe that's just the hot dog and ketchup talking) :

nature walks, rescues, zoo trips, rescues ... aunt megan's trip was the epitome of eventful ... full of events!

pediatric update

we close out the week with a pediatric update from annie's 2 month checkup.

we realize the appointment was on monday, march 30 and we're only now getting around to posting the update, but hey, second child ... it happens.

anyway, here are the stats:

10 pounds, 15.5 ounces (let's just call it 11 lbs., shall we?)
22 inches long
39 cm head circumference

dr. kornfeld said that her weight was perfect. she had gained exactly the right amount to maintain her curve on the growth chart at 50th percentile. not too little, not too much. her height puts her between 25th and 50th percentile but it is so hard to measure them at this age that they seem not to pay too much attention. she seems pretty long to us!

she continues to have a blocked tear duct which is causing a fair amount of ... what's the techncial term?? ... oh yeah, eye goop, but will hopefully resolve itself soon.

and the umbilical granuloma she has did not make enough progress by itself so it was cauterized. guess that means no bellybutton ring for annie ... at least not for a while. but the silver nitrate did give it a cool looking "bling" effect.

our big girl

it's no april fool's joke ... our girl is already 2 months old! and in addition to wearing cute outfits, she is sitting up quite well. check out her head control ...

this was one notable takeaway from her doctor's appointment this week. more on that in a forthcoming pediatric update.