Dahlia's New Love

We spent Thanksgiving at Grandma Lyn's. Though it wasn't their first time meeting Dahlia was in love with Molly dog.

The lights are on

After 5 days off (I love my job!) I had to return to work yesterday and Dahlia to daycare. She was not happy about her 7 am wake up and cried for some time. Jeff gave her a massage and cuddled her while I got ready for work. It was an average day and Dahlia did well at daycare. We learned that next week she'll get to go to the Children's Museum with the fellow daycare babies.

Dahlia enjoyed her first bit of avocado last night. She was more interested in squishing it in her fists then ingesting it. When it was initially time to start giving her solids I was a bit sad as it seemed to be the beginning of her needing me less. Now that we've been doing solids for a month and a half I often wonder if its a success. She loves sitting at the table and holding her little spoon and fork. She often accepts food with pursed lips slowly letting bits of it enter. Or she'll take a spoonful and immediately spit it out in its entirety.

After the panic of having half a string go out in the midst of winding it on the tree as well as having to remove two strands after realizing the plugs wouldn't work with the remaining strands...our Christmas lights are finally up.

Dahlia was fascinated with the lights.

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The first day of December

Its the first day of December and the beginning of Dahlia's first Christmas. Poor little girl has a cold. For the past two days her nose has been a faucet and she just hasn't been herself. We decided to kick off the holiday season with one of many holiday outfits.

Dahlia and I spent the day at home napping and decorating for Christmas. When Jeff got home from work we went out for a Christmas tree. I hoped to have it lit tonight but I spent a half hour putting on the wrong lights only to remove them (Thank you Jeff!) and be too tired to begin again. Happy First Christmas darling girl!

First Fruit

I spotted our first tomato tonight. Yeah! We also received raspberries from my mom. Can you believe these were all from one days picking?

Speaking of berries...see how Dahlia's grown into her Strawberry hat.

School

Today we attended Next Months, a moms group for babies ages 3-6 months. We've been enjoying this group since Dahlia was 2 weeks old. Our friend Sarah calls it school as each week we learn so much from our group leader, Ann Keppler, as well as the other mothers.

Dahlia has a few bouts of crankiness this week where she's struggled to calm down. She's also slept in two days this week until 9:30 am when she usually wakes around 7 am. Ann shared this was all part of her being 3 months - she's taking in more visually, she's finding her voice, and she just learned to roll over. These are all activities that are tiring her out and at times overstimulating her.

100%

So Dahlia had rolled over (back to tummy) 3/4's of the way several times. But last Wednesday night (7/9) she completed the roll 100%. This means she maneuvered her arm out from under her after officially rolling over.

It all started as she lay down in bed with her dad. She kept turning to the side, a usual practice for her. What made this occassion different was she kept pushing her face down into the mattress. She was enjoying the activity when I came along to feed her before falling asleep. She wouldn't feed but instead wanted to keep burrowing her head down. Eventually the rest of her followed...100%

New Hat

After arriving for a visit at Joanne and Olivia's I removed Dahlia's pink sunhat only to find a red ring around her head. Her sweet little hat had officially become too small. Olivia immediately found one of her old hats to pass on to Dahlia. Thank you Olivia!

Livie

Today was a busy day. Dahlia and I went for a walk to Blockbuster in the morning. We're currently addicted to The Sopranos. Yes, we're years behind the rest of popular culture.

We had lunch with Dad at the Elysian before driving to my friend Joanne's new house. Joanne was my doula at Dahlia's birth. She's my dear friend and coworker. She and her family just moved into a new house in North Ballard. We had a tour then enjoyed lounging around.

Livie, Joanne's 4 year old, was excited to meet Dahlia for the first time. She introduced her to her doll, Purple Baby, and showed her pink bedroom decorated with Cinderella, Tinkerbell, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. Livie loved holding Dahlia.

I'm glad summer's here but I'm still not used to the heat. Poor Dahlia's had a bit of heat rash but is otherwise fine. I think she's enjoying naked time.

Oly

On Saturday we took a trip to Olympia to visit family. We saw Aunt Megan's new house that she's renting with her friend Julie. We then went to Darby's for brunch - great eggs benedict - thanks Megan!

From there we enjoyed the Farmer's Market. Its a fantastic market. It was so hot out we appreciated the covered open air building. Jeff was excited to find a booth specializing in beef jerky - one of his favorites.

Dahlia handled the heat well and enjoyed lounging in her stroller. She was excellent all day and spent her time in the car taking naps.

Everyone wants to know...

It seems were often asked the same two questions:


Is she a good baby?

Does she sleep through the night?

The funny thing is I too was guilty of asking the same questions to moms and dads before I had Dahlia...

The answers:

Well of course she's a good baby. What mother would say otherwise?

In all honesty she is very good. We've had a couple of days in the last two weeks were someone flipped a switch and she become quite fussy and insconsolable for a time. I'm told this was my welcome to 3 months. Unfortunately, matters were worsened as the majority of these incidents happened in the car. I've mastered side of the road nursing, diaper changes and baby soothing.

I've learned through First Weeks that sleeping through the night for an infant is defined as five consecutive hours. Following this definition, no, Dahlia does not sleep through the night. She sleeps in stretches of about 3-4 hours between feedings. She doesn't really wake for feedings but simply grunts, squirms and rubs her hands on her face. She's such a solid sleeper she struggles to wake up in the morning. She'll twitch, fuss, and squirm and usually only open her eyes after mom or dad have picked her up.

On Tuesday, June 24th, Dahlia and I went for a walk along Alki Beach with some mom and baby friends. Dahlia slept in my arms for most of the walk.

Three Months Today

This is my first time blogging. I hope this will be a fun and interactive means of keeping track of Dahlia's life and times while updating family and friends of her growth.

Dahlia is 3 months old today!

Here's what we know....

She's an alert, talkative little girl. Right now she loves chewing her fists, grabbing her dress or the nearest piece of fabric (diaper, burp cloth, kitchen towel, blankie) to hold onto and potentially suck on.

She's quite the drooler these days often soaking her entire front.

She enjoys her friends the chicken, ladybug and octopus.

Her favorite place is your shoulder. She can see the world or cozy up for a nap.

She's rolling from back to side and thus far has made it to her stomach one time.

When visiting the chicken and octopus she's now swatting at them with her hands and occassionaly kicks them (pictures to come, if we can capture them).

Just yesterday she found her feet...that is she grabbed one. And just last week at First Weeks she put her foot in her mouth while her legs were being held up.

Finally, she's a little more "sturdy" these days. She's better at holding her head up and can be propped into a sitting position.

I had just posed Dahlia on the couch when she began to topple over...that's Jeff's hand trying to catch her.

Some impromtu tummy timeSuccess the 2nd time around

I can hear her beginning to fuss so I need to run... in future postings I'll answer the most frequently asked questions of any mother with an infant

Is she a good baby?
Does she sleep through the night?

Also to follow - A day in the life of Dahlia

Much love - Betsy