Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Seeing Smiles?

Call me crazy, but I think NatureForce might be smiling at me. I know, I know, it's probably too early to be a smile. It's probably "gas." All right then. I love to see the little involuntary smiles in the sleep though, and we've been seeing those for a few weeks now. But I'm starting to see what looks very much like a waking smile, although sometimes it can be followed a few moments later by a piercing wail. So we've either got bipolar baby on our hands, or it's probably just gas.

It's funny how you don't remember the timeframe of development the second time around. You'd think you could draw on your earlier experience as a parent and know the appropriate time for the first smile to appear, or even such things as baby acne. A couple of weeks ago I was remarking to my mother-in-law how clear NatureForce's skin was compared with LittleMum's "at that age." She gently reminded me that baby acne could still appear. Then BOOM! NatureForce develops a full-blown case of red splotchy pimpliness just this week. The beautiful baby skin is perhaps a thing of the past. I guess the lesson is to take each developmental milestone as it comes, don't get too hung up on when things are "supposed" to happen, and to enjoy each day's gifts and deal with each day's challenges.

The days are fleeting, you know. I often wonder where the day has gone when I look at the clock and realize that "LittleMum should probably be in bed by now." And NatureForce? Well, NatureForce runs her own schedule and mine. I figure it's better to live out of the laundry baskets yet another day than to stay up late after NatureForce has gone down for her nightly 3-4 hour stint. I just can't seem to get on top of the laundry nowadays; even when it's done and folded it sits in the basket for several days.

Hmmm. I think I'll try to get NatureForce to sleep and go put the laundry away...

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Long-overdue update: Life with Baby

I'm typing one-handed. I've done quite a bit of that lately, although at times I'll pop NatureForce in the sling carrier to have two hands free. I always hope that she'll just fall asleep so I can put her down without wearing her. Her eyes are currently rolling back in her head, so maybe we'll get lucky.

To pacify or not to pacify: I'm sure the pacifier debate has been raging for years. LittleMum never liked a pacifier, although we did purchase two different kinds and try them. Instead, we just used our pinky fingers when she just needed to suck and I didn't want to feed her yet again. She'd suck on the finger and promptly fall asleep.

With LittleMum, she was showing a bigger need to suck and our fingers are less available than they were the first time around. Because she caught on to nursing from the get-go, we decided to try a pacifier. We pulled out LittleMum's scarcely-used ones and boiled them, then tried them out. After a bit, it actually stayed in her mouth, which never happened with LittleMum. But the first time we went out to her doctor's appointment, we encountered a problem that we never ran into with our pinkies: the pacifier got lost. We still had a couple at home, but I sent Paul to the store to buy Gerber Nuk-Nuk pacifiers, because I've heard they're better for breastfeeding babies (or is that just some marketing schpiel?). A few days later I sent him to get a pacifier clip, because a frequently asked question around our house was "where's the pacifier?" But currently, one Nuk-Nuk and the pacifier clip (they're together, I'm sure) are missing in action.

More to come!...