Moeskau Sprout

Man, I’ve really been falling down on the whole blogging thing lately.  I’ve had lots of stuff to talk about, just not enough time and energy to do it.  Well, let’s change that today!

First off, we had another blue chair photo a couple of weeks ago.  There wasn’t quite as dramatic a change this month as there was between 2 and 3 months, but she’s definitely lengthening out a bit.  We also had our 4 month checkup with the pediatrician that same week.  Cora has gone up from 50% to 75% percentile in height (25 inches) and she had more than doubled her birth weight from 6lbs 7oz to 13lbs 2oz.  Her head is still only in the 20th percentile of circumference.  Not sure what that’s all about…

We had a visit a few weeks ago from our friends Scott and Lisa and their 7 month-old twins Nicholas and Alyssa.  They came into town from North Carolina (Lisa had a conference here) and we got to meet them downtown for dinner.  

It was quite a crew with all three kids, but they are all sweet and were in a great mood, so dinner was a lot of fun.  Having spent 4 months with Cora now, I definitely do not envy Scott and Lisa trying to keep up with two at once!

Cora’s latest milestone moment was on Tuesday when she rolled over from her back to her tummy for the first time — that was pretty cool!  She’s been going tummy-to-back for a month now (in fact she’ll barely stay on her tummy now), but she finally decided to go the other way.  

The other big milestone (from May actually, but I never mentioned it) was Cora’s first swim!  We all took our first big road trip to Grandma and Grandpa’s house since Cora came and got to take a dip in their pool.  Cora didn’t stay out for too long — it was way too bright and hot for little babies — but she did get to spend a few minutes playing in the water and she seemed to enjoy it.

I never did get around to making a May update post with the latest photos, and there have been even more photos in June.  If you haven’t checked our Flickr site lately, make sure you do so.  You can look at May photos (includes swimming!), June photos, blue chair photos or our latest videos.

First, the good news. Cora rolled over from tummy to back for the first time a few weeks ago. It was great. She hates tummy time so much and now she can do something about it. She will still occasionally get frustrated and require a little push but can pretty much roll over any time she is on her tummy. So cute!

Now the bad news (to be followed by more good news). Cora was sleeping really well at night and only waking once to eat.  She was happy, we were happy, life was great.  Unfortunately the familial bliss came to a relatively abrupt end and I blame it all on the evil, evil pacifier. During the last few weeks, Cora began waking up screaming every hour or two because her pacifier had fallen out. This makes for extremely tired, irritable and sometimes irrational parents.

We were reluctant to use the pacifier when Cora was a newborn but sucking was the only thing that seemed to soothe her much of the time and her pediatrician assured us it was fine but should not be used after 3 or 4 months. Easy for her to say. Cora is extremely fond of the Suckie (as it is referred to at our house). She usually only uses it at nap time and bedtime but isn’t all that interested in it otherwise. The lack of the Suckie when she wakes never bothered her before but as she became more aware of her environment, not having the Suckie sent her into a screaming rage.

A week ago we had a couple of particularly rough nights. As I was putting the Suckie back in her mouth for the umpteenth time and considering duct taping it to her face (come on, who would find out), I realized we should probably try to wean her from the Suckie. And so the weaning began the next day with the first nap. We stopped swaddling her too on the theory that she may suck on her fingers if she needed the comfort.  I know, I know, poor Cora. In our defense, exhausted and irrational people make for very bad parents and even worse attorneys.

All in all, it took about three days for her to stop screaming at nap time and bedtime and now she goes right to sleep. She may fuss for a few minutes but then she is out. At night she is sleeping from around 6pm until midnight or so when she wakes to eat and then she wakes again around 4:30 to eat and rises for the day around 7 or 7:30. We are ecstatic. Getting rid of the Suckie was our biggest parenting triumph yet.

OK, slightly belated, but I have to mention it since I had a great Father’s Day.  Cora got me a box of gourmet chocolates from Dan’s Chocolates.  I’ve already eaten about a third of the box and I’m not even a chocolate addict like some people.  They are really good!

Cora and Kasi also gave me the gift of some time to myself to enjoy the day however I wanted.  I went out to Genuine Joe’s to have a latte, then on to Alamo Drafthouse to see The Hangover and have some lunch (very funny movie if you are into comedy based on juvenile male debauchery).  After that I went to Half-Price Books and bought some new books for Cora (including a full set of 1989 edition Childcraft books that are in perfect condition for only $20!).  All in all, it was a nice relaxing break from the usual routine at home.  Thanks girls!  

I hope all the other dads out there had a great day too.

Another month, another blue chair photo.  Cora is getting bigger by the day.  Check out the whole set of photos so far to compare to last month.

Nothing else super new to report.  I will say that our latest challenge has been nap time, or should I say, non-nap time.  Cora sleeps really great at night, but during the day we cannot seem to get her to nap consistently.  This leads to an over-tired, super cranky baby by evening.  We went to Target yesterday and bought some blackout shades for her window to see if that will help her sleep better during the day.  

In Target we tried out the Moby Wrap with Cora facing out so she could see what was going on.  We’ve used it before when she was a bit smaller and she just bunched up inside of it and slept.  Now that she’s big enough we decided to see if she would like hanging out with us while we shopped.  She seemed to enjoy it, and it keeps her much better entertained than when she’s trapped in her carrier.  It’s also easier and more comfortable for me to use than lugging that carrier around now that Cora is getting heavier.  It takes a little practice to get Cora into it quickly, and it can get a little hot when worn outside, but for walking through stores like this I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Aside from that, we’re just hanging in there.  Kasi has been easing her way back into work, so soon I’ll post about how the whole stay-at-home dad thing has been working out for me.  Until then, have a great Memorial Day weekend! 

Here are the closest photos I could find so far for comparison at this point (click the photo for a larger version):

Now, my first question is… what the hell was up with that photo of me?  Granted, the ’70’s were not exactly the golden age of family photography to begin with, but that was the best pose of me they could come up with?  Seriously?  Couldn’t even give the hair a once-over with a comb?

Anyway.  This is me at ~6 weeks and Kasi and Cora both at 8 weeks.  I will leave all comparative judgments up to the peanut gallery.  Obviously Cora got her hair style from mommy (seriously, what is up with that hair?), but I’d be curious to hear what others think.  Feel free to leave your votes in the comments

Cora hit 11 weeks old this week, and the little barfy lump is slowly but surely developing into a real person.  Here are some of the new things she’s done for the first time just in the past week or so:

Started playing with the hangy toys in her carrier. We got Cora some little toys that hang down from the handle of her infant carrier to keep her amused while she’s stuck in the seat.  She’s had them for several weeks now and never even noticed them it seemed.  Then suddenly a few days ago we were strolling through Target (buying, what else, baby supplies) with Cora in her carrier inside the shopping cart, and we started hearing something being batted around.  We looked in the carrier and Cora was going to town knocking her little toys around!  It was neat to see her really engaged like that and having fun (and keeping herself occupied). For the hard-core fans out there, here’s a video I shot of her today at the clothing store doing the same thing.

Noticed her feet for the first time. Just yesterday I had Cora on my lap facing me and I was playing with her.  All of a sudden she looked down and stopped what she was doing and started staring intently at her feet.  The more her feet moved, the more interested she got — reading her face it was like she had just started connecting the dots that she was the one somehow controlling them, but there was still that confusion about how it was happening.  Since then she has been bending over a lot while sitting upright, getting progressively closer to grabbing them.

Got ejected from her first restaurant. Until last night, we’d had really good luck with Cora in restaurants.  As most infants do she sleeps a lot, especially in her carrier, and taking her out to eat has been a snap.  Of course, we knew the time would come soon when she decided to not cooperate, and that time came last night.  She was restless even before we sat down, but by the time we had ordered our food she was in full blown scream mode.  For the first time I had to take her completely out of the restaurant and rock her to sleep for 15 minutes.  Luckily I was able to get her back to sleep and got back in time to still eat my dinner hot, but it definitely could have turned the other way to.  I guess Cora has officially put us on warning to start eating all meals at home.

Slept through the night. As a follow-up to the restaurant episode yesterday evening, Cora woke up as we were leaving the restaurant and cried non-stop all the way home.  Turns out that she had an upset tummy, and she stayed up all through her normal evening nap screaming bloody murder.  By the time we finally got her to sleep around 10 she had been up (and “exercising” vigorously) for several extra hours over her usual schedule.  She crashed hard and blew right through her normal 2-3 am feeding, and didn’t get up until 5:30 or so.  Even then, she barely woke up enough to eat and went right back to sleep for several more hours.  While 5:30 am is pretty darn early, it was a solid 7.5 hours of uninterrupted sack time, which we are calling her first all nighter!

Controlled her hands and fingers.  Just earlier today Cora stuck her hand in front of her face, kept it perfectly still and just stared at it intently, moving her fingers around slowly.  She was sitting on my lap, so when I noticed what she was doing I stuck my hand out to mirror her.  She looked at my hand and appeared to make the connection, so I tried bringing my finger tips down to my thumb.  Sure enough — and amazingly to me — she did the exact same thing with her hand!  Wow, that was cool.  I did it several times to make sure it wasn’t a fluke and sure enough, while she struggled to control them, her fingers were definitely under her willing control.  It was a lot different from the random flailing and grabbing that we’ve been used to.

All in all, a busy week for Miss Cora.  Next week she’ll be 3 months old and I expect that we’ll have a lot more to report as she continues developing.  For the 3 of you who actually read this far, here’s a special bonus video just for you

Just a quick post to say Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there (especially the new moms).  My favorite mom got a nice gourmet breakfast cooked for her and a vase of fresh flowers!  And for dessert later there are some chocolate covered strawberries.  Mmmm…

Cora woke up in a rare mood this morning.  Every now and then she can be quite a bitter little pill.  She got in a better mood around lunch time, but has been spewing like a fountain all morning, which probably partly explains her mood.  The spit up situation (and now add excessive drooling to that, which just started recently) has forced us to keep her in just a diaper the past few days.  As soon as we put clean clothes on her she immediately soaks them.  Of course, now we know to change her out of wet clothes — thanks Amy ;) (sorry, inside joke).

Time to go enjoy the rest of the day with Super Mom Moeskau.  I hope everyone else has a great day too.

Nothing super new to report at the moment. I just thought I would round up some photos from April for all the Cora photo junkies out there. Check them out!

She is doing great, getting a little more predictable in terms of eating and sleeping, but still not quite on any kind of schedule.  She is growing like a weed — she’s already outgrowing a lot of her 0-3 month clothes (even though she’s still only 10 weeks old) and we’re moving into the 3-6 month clothes.  We’ve also decided to try cloth diapers and have a set on order.  I’m sure we’ll post our thoughts on those once we have some time to really try them out.  The quantity of disposables that one baby can go through in a week is pretty mind-boggling.  Everyone says that, but you really have to empty out a Diaper Genie every few days yourself to really appreciate how many they go through.

Oh, I almost forgot — in other news, Kasi officially went back to the office (part-time) this past Monday.  She only went for a few hours and will only go a few times a week for now to ease back into it slowly.  That left Daddy in charge (gasp!) for a full afternoon!  Actually Cora slept pretty much the entire time Kasi was gone, so it made for a pretty easy introduction to the stay-at-home dad world.  I’m sure she’s just setting me up for later…

On a side note, you can see in this photo that Cora is sporting a cool custom outfit by Justin Hillgrove, the same artist who painted several of the paintings hanging in Cora’s room (including the one pictured here).  We also have a set of cute monsters hanging over her crib.  Kasi and I ran across Justin’s work on our vacation in Seattle last year (while we were about 3 months pregnant) and we knew that his style would be prefect for Cora’s room.  We love those paintings!

Kasi and I have been getting cabin fever lately.  I’m sure everyone who’s had kids themselves can relate.  Sure, we get out for an hour here and there to pick up food, run to Babies ‘R’ Us, walk around the block, etc.  But of course you’re always on the clock, scheduling around baby’s feedings and sour moods.  Today we decided that we needed a break so we loaded up the munchkin and a full bottle and headed out.  We stopped by Austin’s Pasta & Co. on Kerbey Lane to pick up some fresh pasta for dinner — it was really, really tasty.  Since we were on Kerbey Lane, what better place for lunch than next door at the original Kerbey Lane Cafe?  Then for dessert and caffeination we kept walking north up the block to Russell’s Bakery.

Cora was still doing well after that (read: sleeping) so we ventured around the corner to Santa Fe Optical to peruse their glasses.  Cora even tried on a pair herself, although they didn’t quite fit yet.  Maybe in a few years.  At that point she started getting hungry (read: annoyed) so we fed her the bottle, which made her happy again.  After a stop by Babies ‘R’ Us (we can’t leave the house without going there at least once it seems) we finally made it home.  We were gone about 4 hours, which I’m pretty sure is our record so far since Feb. 23rd.  All in all it was a nice relaxing way to spend a Friday afternoon, and we’ll definitely have to do it a few more times before Kasi starts heading back to the office.

Today Cora is 2 months old (it seems like only yesterday…), which means we took another blue chair photo.  It’s hard to notice changes from day to day, but comparing this photo to the one we took just 4 weeks ago is pretty amazing.  As you can see she can hold herself upright pretty well now and can control her head for the most part, unless she’s tired.  She’s already growing out of some of her 0-3 month old clothing, which is amazing since at first even the newborn outfits seemed to swallow her up.  Speaking of stats…

We went to the pediatrician earlier this afternoon for the 2-month checkup.  Cora is now 10 lbs. 1 oz., meaning she’s put on 3 lbs. 10 oz. since birth.  In relative terms, this would be the equivalent of me gaining more than 100 pounds in 8 weeks.  I find that to be pretty amazing, especially considering that she’s on a liquid diet (and that between spitting up and passing everything else through the other end, it seems like there would be nothing left for her body to build on).  She’s also gained about 3 inches in height since birth.  Originally her weight/height had her on the low end of the average range (~10th percentile) but now she’s already up to 50th percentile on both (which if she’s going to end up splitting the difference between Kasi and me, is probably about right).

We also got immunization shots at the doctor today.  Let me tell you… that is not much fun.  Cora is definitely not a fan, and getting poked repeatedly pretty much ruined her mood for the rest of the day.  At least it’s over with and we don’t have to go back to the doctor for a couple of months.

Aside from that, Cora has been doing pretty well. She’s getting closer and closer to laughing, but still no dice. It will be fun once she finally figures that out.  As you can see in the photo above, she’s able to hold herself up (briefly) on her forearms with her head high (she usually starts leaning after a few seconds, then topples completely over).  Still, not bad for 8 weeks.  She’s also become quite the wiggle-worm already.  We think that once she starts moving around for real (i.e. crawling) she’s going to be a handful.

In other family news, Keenan (our older dog) has been chewing on her leg for the past week or so.  We’re not sure if she’s stressed out about the baby for some reason, or maybe has allergies or what.  It got to be so bad that I had to get a “comfy cone” to put around her neck.  It’s sorta funny (in a sad way) since she walks around bumping into everything — we lovingly call her “conehead” now.