Reactions

Nicole just reached the four-month mark this week, and she had her scheduled doctor's visit. She checked in at 24 inches, 13lbs & 12 oz, and it shows- she's definitely heftier. She's also noticably stronger with her arms, back and squirms.

But what we really notice is the change in her interactivity- she does things to see how we will react, staring at us with wide eyes. We also we get a huge kick out of is provoking reactions in her. Of course making her laugh is the most fun. It might be the funnest sound I've ever heard.
It start out like a high pitched giggle, but when she's really into it, she'll even kind of yell, like in the video above where Liz is playing with her. What's cool is when she's laughing like that, she's totally focussing on you to see what you'll do next.

Once we find something that puts a smile on her face, we'll do it repeatedly, faster, and more exaggerated to see if we can get her to laugh. She's not ticklish yet, but I can't wait. She loves to move really fast and have us fly her around like Supergirl.

Can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

Time Flies

We constantly wonder where all the time goes. I think most parents feel this weird mix of wishing their babies would stay babies longer and looking forward to all the things they'll be able to do when they get a little older. I guess it's a good place to be- wanting to slow down the present while happily anticipating the future.

This month in particular flew by, though. Mainly because we have been mentally occupied with figuring out what to do when Liz returned to work (first day was yesterday). We looked into a few good options, and decided to go with a nanny who comes to our house 4 days/week. She's a very experienced Polish lady names Gosia (pro: Go-sha). And she lives in our neighborhood, so she can walk to our house in the morning. She has a kind and playful temperment and seems to really enjoy playing with Nicole.

She was previously commuting to Hillsborough, where she worked for 4 years for someone who Liz's boss knows. Of course no matter how good the references are, there's still some anxiety. The fact that I can partially work from home makes it easier, though.

And the remaining one day a week, Liz's parents have volunteered to come over and care for Nicole. Yesterday was their first day, and I think it worked out great. It's been a while since they took care of a newborn all day, so I think there was some nerves, but I hope they had fun. Nicole loved it of course.

She is super interactive now, and seems like she is making sounds on purpose. They're longer and alomst annunciated. We can almost see her thinking, reacting to our reactions. She laughs, which makes us laugh, which she laughs at. I think that means we're on the verge of actual parenting. Scary.

She looks around the room searching for certain things, and can reach out and grab stuff we put in front of her. Of course everything she grabs goes directly into her mouth. And just the other day, she held her own bottle for the first time.

Time keeps on slippin into the future, and the only option we have is to soak it up.

Here are some pics!

Mornings

(This video is kind of long, and there's no big finish or anything, so you won't be missing anything if you stop it before it's done)


Mornings are typically the best for us, and I am especially happy when I can hang around for a bit before heading to work. The video above is from this morning. One of my favorite things is her first smile of the day. For about 2 weeks now, Nicole has been sleeping a solid 7-8 hours at night, which has been a blessing for Liz and me. What's more, she usually wakes up happy and wants to smile and play.

Liz is also working on stretching out Nicole's daytime meal intervals from about 2 hours to 3 or more. So far Liz has been really successful. When Nicole wants to eat, we'll try to disctract her by picking her up, playing with her, or going for a walk. But when she reaches her limit, she lets us know. The video below is from this morning, about an hour after Nicole woke up. As you can see, she's finding her lungs and learning how to express herself.