November 26, 2014

Of course I mean me….

Selah June turned 2 months old today!  She also had her 2 month wellness checkup with the doctor.  Along with the standard height, weight, temperature, eating habit, and developmental checks, we also had shots.  Jeremy and I knew it was coming.  Selah June did not.  These first few pics are at the office but before the shots.

Dr. Bryson came in to see Selah June, and she was already in a mood.  We had had a very rough night and a rough morning as well.  Selah June thought the rectal thermometer was bad…  And she was letting Jen know about it!  Screaming, screaming, screaming…..

And Jen asked us how much of the day was spent like this.  Trying to be very honest and realistic, we relayed the typical pattern of fussy.  Though we thought she was experiencing a witching hour for the first 6 weeks, we now were not so sure.  Jen said that she clearly has “the colic” — a diagnosis with little remedy for the baby and no help for the parents.

I knew that it was a possibility.  In fact, I’ve been telling everybody that she is colicky.  But to hear it from the doctor made it real and made me realize that there is no cure, no tricks of the trade, no end in sight.

That news combined with the infliction of pain on my precious little one had me in tears by the time we left the office.  I always knew that shots were bad.  Babies are going to cry.  It’s not going to be fun.  But I wasn’t prepared to hear the actual sound of pain in my baby’s voice…. to see panic in her eyes…. to know that she expected me to make it stop.  It was a frightening reminder that I am her protection in this world.

You hear that, Self?  Don’t be a wuss!

We left the office, and she rather immediately fell asleep.  She’s been zonked out all afternoon.  I think we both needed a break from today.

And here are her stats:

November 24, 2014

(of happenings on Saturday, November 22, 2014)

Selah June and Grandpa watched Gator football together.  The Gators played like crap, but luckily they were playing a crappy team.  This gave Selah June her first opportunity to see Florida Gators do what they often do best — play well against unworthy opponents. As you can see, she doesn’t quite know what to think about it.

November 24, 2014

These pictures are from yesterday’s tummy time.  The morning light coming in the window was wonderful, and Mommy just had to shoot away.

Selah June spent some time trying out life on her tummy.  She’s not a huge fan.  She kicks her legs and squirms quite a bit, but she’s not too interested in stuff put in front of her face on the floor.  I think she knows it will still be there when she flips over.

Here she is with no idea what’s about to happen…

Here she is in full-on tummy time.

And she’s given up…

It didn’t take too long for Daddy to come to the rescue.

November 22, 2014

Selah June wakes up happy.  She smiles and coos.  She doesn’t mind diaper changes or getting dressed.  She doesn’t fuss too much while she waits to eat.  We have good time in the morning.

She looks cute every day, but she looked super cute this morning in her green polkadot outfit.  The light was nice, and so we had to have a photo shoot on the couch.

Yesterday, we tried out a nanny.  She was a wonderfully nice person with a great attitude.  But Selah June wasn’t happy.  She cried the whole time.  I suppose she didn’t like being without one of us… but I felt badly about it.  The nanny was frazzled by the time I got home, and I was frazzled at the thought of Little Miss being so upset.  I had left her, and she knew it.  Uggghhhh……

Jeremy was also unnerved by the experience.  We’re reevaluating options, but, for the time being, they do not include a nanny.

November 21, 2014

In eight full weeks, I have yet to produce a post entirely about baths.  Shocking!

I have lots to say about this subject.  A Facebook post about a French nurse’s bathing technique for newborns changed my whole thinking on the matter.  Before watching this video, I was among the millions of new moms who struggled to choose among competing bath apparatuses.  Do I use the whale tub? or the mesh baby recliner?  Which whale tub do I use?  (because goodness knows I now have five of them from friends with toddlers…  apparently there is only one option in plastic tubs — the whale tub!)

Okay…. So I went with the mesh baby recliner.  How do I keep the baby wet enough to keep her warm with all the water rushing straight through the mesh to the countertop?  How do I keep the baby on the mesh recliner without straps and snaps?  Why would anybody want to bathe in a mesh recliner?

And then I watched this video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx-SwXgrefs

After pondering the likelihood that I would drown the baby and hoping the odds would be in my favor, I decided to try it.  Selah June is rather colicky, and we’ve tried many many things to help calm her down — especially during the evening witching hour.  This is one of the few predictable things that will make her little body relax.  She loves floating around in the sink full of water.  She loves the warm water ladled over her head full of hair.  She loves the full body massage we give her after bath time is done.  And I love her loving bath time.

On another related note:  How do infants get so much crap between their toes?

November 16, 2014

Selah June is so lucky to have Jeremy Evans as a daddy.  His evenings and weekends are so precious during this time of year.  Working in retail during the holiday season is not the most fun job in the world.  Managers deal with corporate demands for store overhauls, employee demands for schedules that accommodate family holiday plans, and customer demands for the greatest deals and the best service.  He spends more time “on the floor” this time of year, in the store on his feet.  His back is sore, and his spirits are low.

That’s what makes his dedication to this little girl so much more meaningful to me.  I know how hard it is for him to get up every morning and face another day as the Christmas countdown continues.  I know the need he has to zone out in the evenings after work to TV to games on his phone — to anything that provides mindless entertainment.

Selah June provides entertainment, but she takes every ounce of attention one can muster.  She needs her daddy to hold her and bounce her and rock her and sing to her and kiss her and feed her and change her and bounce her some more.  And he does it…

Today, in the late afternoon, she had a bit of a fussy period.  Her daddy took her outside… the place where she feels most zen.  She blinks and coos to the wind on her face.  She looks all around at the lights and the trees.  And she listens intently to all the different sounds of coming winter in the country.  She finds her peace.

Her daddy loves her, and he wants her to find her peace — even at the expense of his.

November 15, 2014

We’ve been working on sleeping in our co-sleeper on our tummies.  It’s getting easier and more frequent, but it’s still a work in progress.