Funny Baby

A few weeks ago I noticed that Abigail has a tendency to put her hand on the side of her head and move her cute little fingers around.  It looks like she's playing with her hair.  I'm pretty sure she doesn't really know what she's doing just yet, but it's adorable nonetheless.  My sister, Debi, told me that I needed to catch it on video, so here is a sequence of videos.  

The first prominently features the hair grasping,

in the second she launches her pacifier and gets a little fussy,

and in the third she falls asleep on her play mat.
 

I would say that 50% of the time I put her on her activity mat falls asleep.  I assume she gets a little overstimulated and then the lights go out.  They are usually short little naps, 15-20 minutes, but I am always amused when I find her droopy-eyed on her "activity mat".

Fall

Today it is like summer in San Diego, the summer we never had.  But seeing as it is October, and Halloween is around the corner, we took Abigail to a pumpkin patch this past weekend.  One great thing about being a parent is seeing life through her little eyes, wondering what she's thinking, imagining her experience with new sights, smells, and sounds.  She can't walk or talk yet, but I was still completely thrilled to take her to the pumpkin patch for the first time.  Before Abigail arrived this is the kind of outing that we would fully intend to make, like going to the Del Mar Fair or spending a day at the races when they are in season, but we never quite get it together.  Now we have an adorable 10.5 pound motivating factor.

 She was pretty sleepy when we arrived.

 And she always wakes up on her own timeframe.

 I thought this patch of pumpkins was about her size.

 Jake introducing her to a goat,

 a chicken,

 a turkey,

 a duck, I think,

 and a ram.

 My mom, Debi, and Miles drove to Temecula to spend time with us at the pumpkin patch, so we had a crew walking through the "corn maze", which was my favorite part!

 We didn't get a family photo,

but we did pose with a gorde-headed farmer.

 She wasn't immediately thrilled about laying in the grass with the pumpkins.

 But I can usually tease a smile out of her!

 That's my girl.

In case you were wondering, Jake is  delighted with fatherhood.

A sleepy baby for the car ride home is always a good thing.

It felt really good to spend the whole day out and about.  We went to my nephew's baptism in the morning in Riverside, then spent the afternoon at the pumpkin patch before driving back to San Diego to catch Sunday night football.  It's nice to finally feel like we can successfully navigate anything that might come up when we take the baby out.  Of course we've been out before, we even drove hours away to my sister's wedding and spent the night in a hotel, but this was my first stress-free outing.  I wasn't really worried about anything and Abigail was happy and pleasant all day long.

Just Plain Pretty

I know that all babies are precious and wonderful.  I believe that all parents should see the cutest baby that ever lived in their child (or children....they can share the title).  But honestly, I think my baby is especially cute.  Call me biased.  I don't care!  She's really, really good looking.  Here's the proof!

Singing

I have to admit that I had a significant fear that my baby would not like my singing.  I remember one car trip long ago when my little 7 year old niece asked me if I could stop singing.  Then there was the time that I was told in a track van that I ruin all car trips by singing "too pretty" to the radio, despite the fact that others were singing along as well.  I'm content to use my singing voice in the correct context in life, don't get me wrong, but I would be sad if lullabies were not included in that category.  Luckily, my little girl LOVES singing.  The first time I realized just how much comfort and joy my baby takes in song was on a particularly hard car ride.  She was all dressed up with a bow on her head on the way to my sister Michele's wedding.  Abigail was hating the car seat and I was in the back seat trying to soothe her while Jake was driving.  As her face reached an unnatural shade of red I was desperate.  Pacifier, shushing, holding hands, clicking, talking, tickling, rattling...nothing was working.  I didn't think there was any way that singing was going to stop this frantic child from crying, but I started in with the lullaby from Dumbo, Baby Mine, which is what I sang to her when she was in my womb.  "Baby mine, don't you cry.  Baby mine, dry your eyes.  Rest your head close to my heart, never to part, baby of mine."  She stopped crying almost immediately.  She hiccuped two times and then just stared at me.  I sang the song over and over again until we arrived and really wondered if she was just cried out or if the singing had done the trick.  Turns out it was the song, as it has worked on several occasions since then!  I actually don't sing it to soothe her to sleep, because she gets very alert and looks at me most of the time when I sing.  I use that trick to get good pictures!

Rubber Ducky

 

You Are My Sunshine

This last picture is one of my favorites.  I had just swaddled her and was going to rock her to sleep.  I put her down on the bed so I could turn off the computer screen and started singing Amazing Grace.  She fell asleep while my back was turned.  So I kept singing and folded the laundry around her.  Each time I stopped singing her eyes would pop open.  I think I sang that song for an hour.  I had to look up the lyrics so I wouldn't have to sing the same verse over and over again.

Amazing Grace

Growing!

The rate of infant growth that I've witnessed is nothing short of amazing.  Abigail was born at 6 lbs 4 oz and 20 inches.  She came home from the hospital weighing 5 lbs 15 oz and 9 weeks later weighed 10 lbs 6 oz and was 22.5 inches long.  And she looks like a completely different baby!  Her eyes and mouth are the most consistent features.  She's been expressive from the day she was born.  

She no longer allows us to dress her in gowns.  Her kicking legs push down on the gown until the collar is stretched toward her feet which makes her angry.  I think in a couple of weeks we'll be out of the 0-3 mnth size already.

A mother's love

My mom is the best mom ever, in case you didn't know.  She is talented, loving, insightful, beautiful, committed, helpful, and all together great.  From the moment I became pregnant she was an emotional resource.  She coached Jake and I on the birthing process and was there for our labor and delivery.  She's an amazing doula and I'm so happy that she found her calling in helping birthing mothers. 

Here I am in labor, with Mom there from the moment we reached the hospital.  She's wearing a Soaring Spirits Loss Foundation T-shirt because she was volunteering for Michele's Widow Camp the day before my labor began.  She's super mom!

Mom came down to make me food and help out once Abigail was home.  She drove to and from San Diego (3 hours round trip) three times in a week.  I only wish we lived in a village, so we could have these moments more often.

Jake getting to know Abigail

It wasn't until Abigail arrived that I realized how different the experience of meeting her would be for me and Jake.  I felt like I knew her.  My heartbeat was her rhythm.  My voice was her soundtrack.  Jake was, of course, talking to her throughout the pregnancy and waiting in anticipation for the moment when he would get to feel and see her.  It was so easy to see the joy and love in his eyes when he met her.  It continues to delight me, witnessing the moments that they share.  Here are a few of my favorites so far!

 This picture was taken the evening of her birth.  I love the teary face that Jake has as he admires her.

 He takes every opportunity to hold our sleepy angel....

 and sometimes join in.  Abigail did not wear much clothing her first few weeks.  It was hot at our house and we got to see her little tummy and arms and legs.  She certainly didn't want for "skin to skin" time, since there was plenty.

 Aaaaw.

She was fascinated with his fingers floating around in front of her face when she was very little.  Jake called it the "five-apotomus".

Indescribable

Beginning to document something as life altering as parenthood is challenging.  I didn't know if I should start with pregnancy, tell the birth story, or show thousands of pictures.  Time certainly didn't stop as I tried to figure it out.   Abigail is 10 weeks old already, so I figured I better start somewhere.  Suffice it to say that my experience thus far has been amazing and really indescribable.  I'll let our faces tell the story of mom and baby.  We have a very special bond, one that I knew I would love but could never have known of its depth before experiencing it first-hand.  I love my baby girl and she loves me, so I am going to use the world wide web to share our life with all my friends and family who cannot be with us in person.  I hope you enjoy my stories.

 Our first day with Abigail on the "outside" as I liked to say.  I was so grateful and relieved that she came to my arms safe and sound.

 She looks so tiny to me here.  Those first weeks were not easy, for sure, but the mixture of joy and pain (of the physical nature) was a unique and empowering experience.  We learned that we can do it as a family.

 A favorite sleeping place for both of us.

 There's nothing as sweet as a sleepy, sleepy baby.

 She's always been extremely expressive, and it's wonderful to see her eyes looking at me.

 Sharing a moment.

 About to take a bath.

 Getting ready for an evening walk.

I spend all day with the little miss and often experiment with photo shoots, mostly of the baby, but I try to get myself in there sometimes.