Touchdown vs. the Mummy

Hi Sidra,
Well today I will tell you about a couple of your favorite positions. The Touchdown is your favorite. Since the day you were born, you've liked to lie on your back with both arms up like you are signaling a touchdown. You see here in the picture. The first one I took a few minutes ago, the other one was taken in the hospital when you were about 2 days old.
Another favorite position of your mom and I is the Mummy. When we've fed you at about midnight or so, we would like you to sleep for about 4 or 5 hours if possible. So what we do is wrap you up really tight in some blankets. For you, it is like being in a straight jacket. Your arms are down at your sides ( which is not like the touchdown position you like) and we wrap you like a burrito. The idea is that you will feel snug as you might have felt in your mom's uterus before you were born. It does seem to work. You sometimes fight it for a while, and we rock you to sleep. But if we can get you to sleep that way, you will usually sleep for quite a while so we can get some rest.
I also need to tell you that I did feed you two days ago. Your mom pumped some of her milk, and while she was out doing some errands, I fed you her milk from a bottle. It was pretty cool. You were staring at me the whole time, and you sucked it down quick. We won't do that very often, because we want you to feed from her breast mostly, and for you, using the bottle is a lot easier. You don't have to suck as hard on the bottle. Still, I look forward to doing it again soon.
I should tell you what you are doing these days, too. In the last couple of days, you are studying the little toys that hang on the diaper changing table really closely. You are even reaching out and hitting them with your hand. For quite a while I thought that you were hitting them randomly because you were swinging your arms around and you were close enough to touch them. Now I think you are doing it on purpose. Last night you sort of laughed as you were banging them.
We've been trying to keep track of your growth, as best we can. Our scale might not be accurate enough to really weigh you, but we think you are about 9 pounds now. And we measured your head, which seems to be pretty big for a girl your age. The important thing is that it is bigger now than when you were at the doctor's a couple weeks ago. So you are growing. Your weight gain is supposed to be the fastest now, while you are under 6 months old, than any other time in your life.
Another cool thing that happened is that we saw another girl about your age the other night. The first thing was that you were much bigger than her. You looked like a linebacker, she looked like a place kicker.
I was really stunned when the other girl cried. I had been holding you as you were getting hungry and fussing a little and crying yourself some. When the other girl, Grace, cried the first time, you immediately reacted to it. Like, hey, there's another baby here. It was cool.
Well, you are going to wake up hungry pretty soon, and you will probably need a diaper change, so I better wrap this up.
Love you more everyday.......
aba

Tummy Time

Hi Sidra,
Right now I am in the 'office' typing this, and you are in the bedroom in your bassinette sleeping. I am listening to you on a baby monitor. You are making your sweet music of contentment every now and then. You are two days away from being 3 weeks old. You, your mom and I have fallen into a pretty good routine, mostly based on your needs. You get fed about every 3 hours or so, although we let you sleep longer in the nighttime, so we can sleep too. Your mom gets the most intimate contact with you because of the feeding. In a couple of weeks, I will get to feed you a bottle of your mom's milk. I am looking forward to that. So for now I am getting my contact with you mostly by changing your diaper. I don't mind it at all. You fuss a little bit over that procedure, as you protest a little bit the tightness of my diapering. Once it's on, though, you are fine with it. The other thing that you and I do when you are awake, which isn't much sister, is 'tummy time.' T That's when I put you on your tummy and you try to get turned over. Usually you try to turn over. I think you like being on your back more, so you do try to turn over. But sometimes you seem content to sleep on your tummy, so I try to get you to stir and turn over. The reason we do it is to help you develop your neck muscles so you will be able to hold your head up, sit up, etc. as soon as you can.
One thing that you do when we are done with our 'workout' is completely relax. You will be really tense, kicking your legs, flailing your arms, yelling at me, just really carrying on. Then when I turn you over, you take a deep breath, and relax. Usually your legs are up, and as you relax they drop down to be level with the floor. I took a video of this and hopefully it will be posted here.
Also, I was telling you that I was bummed that you probably won't remember that there is snow on the ground right now, and the kids (and adults) have been sledding on the street. We don't get snow like this every winter, so you might not see any in our neighborhood for a few years.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=944324832903463494
The above address will get you to the video, if I haven't been able to post it here.
Love, aba

Welcome!

See, I told you it would be different once you were born. You're now over a week old and it's the first chance I've had to write a new entry. You've been keeping us pretty busy.
Anyway, you were born on 29 December 2006 at 12:46pm. You weighed 8 pounds, 3 ounces and were 19.5 inches long. It was a pretty amazing experience. At 10 am, you were in your mom's uterus and drinking aminotic fluid. Three hours later you were on the outside breathing air like everyone else.
My son Chris reminded me today that I've always said that new born babies are never attractive. Well, you are the most beautiful baby I have ever seen. I admit that being your dad, I have bias, but many people who have seen you or seen your picture have the same assessment. And you are an extremely good baby so far, too. You're not too fussy, only when you are hungry, and you make the sweetest music when you are being held and either sleeping or falling asleep. You are hard to sleep next to, however. Half the time you are asleep you are a little wiggly worm, squirming constantly. So that keeps the person trying to sleep next to you awake.
The surgery that your mom had to have for you to come out is not that pleasant. So you were probably three days old before she actually changed your diaper. I had that honor, almost exclusively during that time. That's not to say your mom wasn't doing anything for you, she was doing your feedings, which weren't that easy to do.
Today, as I write this, I have to stay away from you. I have been mildly sick for the last 24 hours or so, and you don't have a very good immune system yet, so I need to keep my germs away from you. It's no fun not holding you and changing your diaper. I have to keep my distance until I start feeling better.
The top and bottom pictures here were taken on the day you were born. The middle one is after a bath when you were just over a week old.
I'm so happy you are finally here, and healthy. We have a lot to look forward to in watching you grow.
love, aba