Happy Halloween!

Our little pumpkin!

I love this picture of Kevin getting her all set up for the photo- the light is a little better, I didn't do very well getting setting the camera up for such bright light- we were in a hurry to take the pictures before our pumpkin got tired!



Me and my pumpkin in the pumpkin patch:



Kevin and the pumpkin he picked from the patch:



And finally, a somewhat grumpy pumpkin after all these photos:



We hope you have a fun holiday! And on a personal note, I'd like to wish my little brother a very happy birthday today.

Apple Picking at Larriland Farms

A couple of weekends, we drove ~40 minutes out of Baltimore to go apple-picking for the first time at Larriland Farms. We also went to get pictures of Nora in the pumpkin patch but I'm going to save those for Halloween.

Larriland was *very* busy with kids and other people enjoying the warm and windy fall weather. The apples were clearly getting towards the end of their season but we managed to find some good ones. It was pretty out there too- reminded me a bit of Loveland!

I have to comment on Nora's outfit now- it's a little wild. She's wearing her CSU Rams onesie, and the only pants I could find to match the color green were these floral pants, but then she needed socks so her feet wouldn't be cold, so she has CSU green and gold socks. It's kind of special, but hey, her parents aren't exactly fashionistas.

I love her look of concentration as Kevin held her up to the apple:



There were rows and rows of apples! We picked some Fuji and Stayman varieties. And it was really really bright out so I found it hard to get good pictures- so many sharp shadows! Oh well.



Nora and I are off to Colorado this next week for my conference and so Nora can hang out with some of her biggest fans (aka grandparents and other relatives), so posting will resume on Halloween, when I share Nora's 1st Halloween costume!

Our Little Artist

I don't know if all daycares do this or not, but at our daycare, they do artwork with the babies. I think it's so funny! Obviously Nora isn't just hanging out with a paintbrush. I think they maybe put their little hands in the non-toxic paint and then hold a piece of paper up and let them go to town? I have to say though, I love when they send her artwork home! They also have the whole room covered in the babies' artwork. It's fun to look at all the stuff that's kept her busy during the days!

This one she painted a few weeks ago while Kevin was in psychiatry. We joke that she painted a brain for her dad in honor of his rotation!

And I guess this day she was being the brooding dark artist. I think I've seen this one at the Guggenheim before.



One day she got in the Raven spirit:



And I love this one- handprints. The one on the left is her teacher's, and the blob on the right is Nora's "handprint". Ha!

I'm thinking taking pictures of these is actually a good way to save them- we get a bunch every few weeks and I'm not sure about saving the paper hard copies- is that terrible? Am I going to want them someday? I could save the particularly cute ones. But she's going to have a ton of artwork over the years of being a kid, I presume. I just feel a little bad about throwing them away.

Friday Fragments

1) Kevin's last day of his psychiatry/neurology rotation is today. Psychiatry=thumbs up; neurology=thumbs down. More or less. I was generally a fan of his schedule during this rotation though! We're going to be moving into some harder rotations soon. Surgery rotation is after Christmas and I'm pretty worried about that one.

2) Nora has started refusing to sleep at daycare. Not sure what to do about that one, but it can't be healthy- today she slept for 35 minutes. Like from 8 am when she woke up, until 8pm when I put her to bed, she only took one 35 minute nap. It was weird, she normally acts exhausted and cranky when she gets home but today she was wide awake. I tried to get her to take a nap but she was just wide-eyed (overtired, maybe?). And then at bedtime she was asleep before her head hit the mattress. Anyone have any tips? I'm going to talk to the daycare people about it, and see if there's anything we can do at home to help her sleep better during the day....

3) I've just started freaking out about the fact that when I go to Colorado with Nora for this science conference, there's going to be a two hour time change. Nora goes to sleep at night like clockwork, and wakes up pretty much like clockwork, so yeah... her 5:30am wake up is going to be like a 3:30a wake up. Hmmm.... not. good. Probably by the time she adjusts it will be time to come home, and then like a week later we'll have daylight savings!

4) We can't get canned pumpkin at our grocery store. They say they've been sold out for 8 weeks now. I wanted to make these homemade pumpkin spice lattes but there's no pumpkin. You know why? Because everyone is so worried about a perceived shortage that they buy cans and cans of pumpkin whenever it gets stocked. Which means no pumpkin lattes for us. :(

5) Speaking of the conference, getting things done now is much harder- I can't just stay late at work if I need to finish things up. It does make me focus a lot more during the day when I'm at work (doing paper reviews while pumping milk!), but sometimes it still feels like I can't keep up. And what is it about getting asked to do paper reviews at your busiest times at work? It's like the editors have radar... like, the last paper I got asked to review was two days before I went into labor with Nora. But, I got it done!

6) There are all these little issues with our house that neither Kevin nor I have time to fix, so I need to call someone to fix them, but I don't know exactly who to call. Like, we need our back doors painted, the grout in our bathroom redone, weather stripping redone around windows and doors, etc... ugh. I've also been thinking about hiring a cleaning person like once a month or something. I'm finding it very hard to keep up with housework.

7) Happy friday!! We're going to try to go to a pumpkin patch this weekend with the baby to take pictures.

A few cute pictures...

.... since I am swamped with work before this conference in 2 weeks and don't have time to properly blog- my apologies! Let my cute baby distract you.

Here she is in her new jumperoo. Hasn't quite gotten the hang of "jumping", but she does seem to like the toys.

She's moving into 3-6 month clothes! Here's one that some friends got her from Old Navy, I believe- so cute, I love the hoodie!

"Well golly gee willickers, I *do* look pretty adorable!

Modeling the hoodie:

Nora: Month Four

Dear Nora-

1/3rd of your first year is complete- crazy! This month was a complete joy for us. You really did grow out of the newborn stage and into a baby with personality and interest in everything around you. Towards the end of the month it was astonishing at how fast some of the changes were occurring- suddenly you were a rolling, squealing, laughing bundle of joy. You seem to be growing out of a lot of your reflux/fussy problems (for the most part). You're also able to entertain yourself for longer periods of time now, though you still favor being held and carried around (particularly when Mom and Dad are eating dinner).

Sleeping: Daycare wears you out! You come home and sometimes want to nap before bedtime. Bedtime is currently around 8:30pm and it's one of the best parts of my day- we read stories and snuggle while you drink your last bottle, with the lights dim. It is such a sweet feeling. You sleep from 8:30pm to 5:30am, so 9 hours straight- you go baby Nora! Then you go back to bed for another 2 hours. Daytime sleep is much more difficult particularly at daycare- you are not one of those babies that will just sleep through anything. Usually you get maybe 2 hours of sleep at daycare (and usually not all at once but in 1/2 hour increments). But since you're sleeping through the night, I certainly don't mind too much!

Oh, and we made the big transition from the Rock-n-Play to the crib- it went great! We propped the crib up at first so it still had an incline like the RnP, but after a week of that I removed it and now you're sleeping fine in there flat. But.... we still haven't de-swaddled. I'm scared. As soon as we let your arms go they're all up in your face, going crazy, in your mouth, in your eyes- yikes! I think you might be able to fall asleep without the swaddle at night but I'm worried you'll be waking up every hour. But we have to do it pretty soon because you're rolling now and you can often get out of the swaddle.

Miss Crazy Arms:

Eating: Breastfeeding took a major hit this month- namely, you developed a strong bottle preference. :( I can't really blame you- the flow is apparently much faster (even though we switched to "preemie flow" nipples). It's been quite the struggle because you're constantly latching on, latching off, latching on- and my supply was dropping. I started supplementing about halfway through the month with formula and it definitely has been helping both of us. I can still pump enough for the milk you drink at daycare, but I'm frustrated enough that I might be slowly dropping nursing sessions in the next month until my supply is low enough to not be worth it. I've come to actually really like our bottle sessions though because we can read stories together and it goes much smoother than nursing lately. I'm so proud that I've made it to 4 months breastfeeding though with all the time I spend pumping and nursing! I know most people won't understand it, but it means a lot to me to be able to do this for you as long as possible. I wish I could do it longer.

Weight: At your 3 month appointment, you only weighed 10 lbs, which is less than the 5th percentile, so I got a little worried even though the pediatrician said it was fine. That led to my decision to start supplementing a little because your rate of growth according to my calculations had declined from the previous month. And at your 4 month appointment? You weighed 12 lbs 9 oz! Holy weight gain! I think you were playing catch up from the month before. Now you're in the 25th percentile for weight and height (23.5" long).

Diaper Size: Size one, but they're definitely starting to get tight. We have one more giant box of them though, so I'm hoping they last for a little longer, then we'll move up to size two.

Clothes Size: Mostly still 0-3 months, but you've started to outgrow them. You fit Carters 3M size pretty much perfectly right now, but I'm sure in a couple of weeks they'll start to be too small. You have lots of cute 3-6 month clothes though and they're more appropriate for colder weather, so it's probably good that you're getting big enough for them.

Milestones/Firsts: You made your first outloud laughter. I love those little happy shrieks and squeals! You also got your first sickness. You got very good at grabbing for toys- you love your playmat right now and the monkey and the elephant that hang down. You started doing "baby crunches"- pulling your chest and head up while lying down- I think in preparation for sitting. When we pull you up now your head doesn't flop back but stays inline with your body. There was lots of "talking"- trying out different octaves and different vowel sounds. And you learned to roll! (see the youtube sensation here).

Likes/Dislikes: You really hate the carseat and riding in the car. I think I've seen marginal improvement at the end of this month when I turn the radio up louder, but you usually cry the entire time I'm driving. Thank god daycare is so close. You still hate the swing. You love your playmat and like the bumbo (see picture below) for at least a short period of time. You love baths now- yay! Also, you started to get really interested in our cats. They better watch out once you start getting mobile!

It's also clear that you know who certain people are now- like you definitely know mommy and daddy! You also know who your main teachers are- because when a different teacher comes in I've heard you are not a fan. Luckily I don't think you've scared away too many of our babysitters... yet. :) You find the mirror more interesting than ever before- we can definitely see your growing awareness of other people (or in the case of the mirror, that awfully cute baby looking back at you).

Sweetpea, you amaze us each and every day, and since we don't get to spend 24 hours a day with you, we try to make each hour we do get worthwhile. I love that each day might hold a new surprise of what you might do. We're looking forward to all the fun that month five is going to hold!