Last Monday, Erin dropped Abigail off at daycare for the 1st time. I know that it was very difficult for Erin after spending the 1st 3 1/2 months of Abigail's life with her every day, however, both of them seem to have transitioned well. Abigail started off in the newborn room (6 weeks - 4 months) at daycare and the teacher said that she hasn't had any issues during the 1st week. At first we were nervous about her figuring out how to sleep at daycare without being swaddled (thank you state of Iowa for that silly rule) but by Friday, she was taking naps just fine at daycare and we are no longer swaddling her at home for naps during the day. We are still swaddling at night, but I think we might be nearing the end with that too.
The one thing that I have noticed with Erin going back to school, is how much I am missing Erin now. I spent all of my time worrying about the transition for Erin and Abigail, I guess that I didn't prepare myself for the changes. Another surprise is that so far I am not missing coaching at all, however, that may change as football seasons start in the next week or so.
I look forward to picking up Abigail from daycare each day and am excited when I hear from the teachers how well she is doing. I'm trying to identify things that we can do each day to enjoy our time together before Erin gets home from school. So far, we have just spent time at home playing on the floor and reading books, but I hope to find places that I can take her that both of us will enjoy.
After looking at my last post, I guess a lot has not changed over the past 2 weeks. She is smiling and laughing a lot now and is generally a happy baby. She grabs onto anything within her reach. While eating, she likes to grab onto her bib and/or burp rag and shove them into her mouth (I keep telling her that we only have so many bibs so she can't eat them all). She has started to hate tummy time less (although she still isn't a big fan) and on a few occasions has gone longer then 5 minutes at a time without screaming. In fact, yesterday we had a really good tummy session where she held her head and chest up for quite a long time to look into a mirror and almost rolled over a few times too. She discovered the baby in the mirror and never seems to tire of looking in the mirror. She has started to reach out from her body to bat at objects (she has been grabbing objects out to the side for awhile but just started reaching out in front of her for things).
I guess there has been one issue that is plaguing is lately. Due to her stool consistency at the beginning of August (I will spare you the details), the doctor suggested we try Soy-based formula. This seemed to clear up the issues with her stool but she began spitting up a lot more often (and strangely, not right after a feeding but a couple hours later). With the doctor's permission, we switched back to regular formula on Friday evening. Strangely, she didn't eat much on Saturday (15oz total instead of close to 30oz). Yesterday was a little better as she ate close to 20oz but she still has us a bit worried. Luckily, she woke up this morning and ate very well. We told daycare to call us if she didn't eat well for them (and since we are nearly 2 hours post feeding and they haven't called, she must have eaten well). We are hopping that it was due to the formula change and not something more serious as we are concerned with dehydration. Time will tell, but hopefully we won't have to take her to the doctor again before her well baby check up next week.
I almost forgot, an unofficial weigh this weekend has Abigail nearing 12 1/2lbs. Time to start buying level 2 diapers!
Monday, August 22, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
The Golden Age
Recently, Erin was reading the book "What to Expect in the 1st Year", and came across a statement declaring that from about 3 months old until 7 or 8 months old (or when a baby starts crawling) is considered the golden age for infants. Their reasoning is that usually, starting around 3 months, babies start sleeping better at night, are smiling, begin laughing and making happy noises, playing with toys and other "fun" things but are not yet very mobile. I know several parents that would disagree with the above description, however, I really feel that the golden age for Abigail has begun.
Taking care of her is still quite the chore, but I have found that more and more time has been spent playing with and interacting with her verses doing work to simply maintain life. For the most part, she spends her days being very happy.
The past couple of weeks have been a lot of fun. She has gotten much louder with her noises and at times seems to be yelling at us. She can now grab onto objects that are either handed to her or placed near her and is just beginning to reach for objects held above or in front of her. She has rolled over from her tummy to back a few times when propped up on her teddy bear, but isn't quite there yet when placed flat on her tummy. She can now get her thumb and whole hand up to her mouth whenever she wants and drool is flowing freely.
One thing that Erin and I discussed yesterday is that she seems to be understanding social interaction more. She will turn to look at us when we talk and smiles at us when we walk into the room. When we smile at her she will smile back. She also can tell when we are and aren't paying attention to her and she prefers the former (and lets us know by making loud noises when we aren't paying enough attention to her).
Last Saturday was a BIG day for our family as Abigail was baptized at 4:30 mass. I'm not even sure how to describe how happy it makes me to be raising our daughter in the faith that both Erin and I have been raised in. The Catholic church is an amazing community to be a part of and God's Grace has definitely blessed Abigail since the day she was conceived. I think back at all of the worry and stress that was involved during Erin's final months of pregnancy and through the first couple of days after Abigail was born. All of the things that could have gone wrong but didn't, that was God and work. For her to become a part of our faith family, makes everything seem whole.
To end this entry, I would like to take a moment to thank Erin and both of my parents. The first 2 months of Abigail's life were very hard for me. Throughout that time, Erin and my parents spent countless hours listening to my struggles and encouraging me as a dad. Becoming a parent for the 1st time is the hardest thing that I have done in my life, and it is just so great to have the support I need to do it. Ironically, as I have seen happen so many times in my life, I don't think I would be where I am at in my role as a father today had I not struggled through those first couple of months and I am a better person today because of it.
Taking care of her is still quite the chore, but I have found that more and more time has been spent playing with and interacting with her verses doing work to simply maintain life. For the most part, she spends her days being very happy.
The past couple of weeks have been a lot of fun. She has gotten much louder with her noises and at times seems to be yelling at us. She can now grab onto objects that are either handed to her or placed near her and is just beginning to reach for objects held above or in front of her. She has rolled over from her tummy to back a few times when propped up on her teddy bear, but isn't quite there yet when placed flat on her tummy. She can now get her thumb and whole hand up to her mouth whenever she wants and drool is flowing freely.
One thing that Erin and I discussed yesterday is that she seems to be understanding social interaction more. She will turn to look at us when we talk and smiles at us when we walk into the room. When we smile at her she will smile back. She also can tell when we are and aren't paying attention to her and she prefers the former (and lets us know by making loud noises when we aren't paying enough attention to her).
Last Saturday was a BIG day for our family as Abigail was baptized at 4:30 mass. I'm not even sure how to describe how happy it makes me to be raising our daughter in the faith that both Erin and I have been raised in. The Catholic church is an amazing community to be a part of and God's Grace has definitely blessed Abigail since the day she was conceived. I think back at all of the worry and stress that was involved during Erin's final months of pregnancy and through the first couple of days after Abigail was born. All of the things that could have gone wrong but didn't, that was God and work. For her to become a part of our faith family, makes everything seem whole.
To end this entry, I would like to take a moment to thank Erin and both of my parents. The first 2 months of Abigail's life were very hard for me. Throughout that time, Erin and my parents spent countless hours listening to my struggles and encouraging me as a dad. Becoming a parent for the 1st time is the hardest thing that I have done in my life, and it is just so great to have the support I need to do it. Ironically, as I have seen happen so many times in my life, I don't think I would be where I am at in my role as a father today had I not struggled through those first couple of months and I am a better person today because of it.
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