Weeks 9 and 10

We're still trucking along.  People often ask "How old?" when they see us out, but it's always funny when someone actually has an idea about baby sizes and they get a sense of how big she is.  She's got a doctor's appointment on Monday and I'm very much looking forward to getting a weight and length.  We finally stood her up against her height chart the other day, but she was probably bending her legs and was standing on carpeting, anyway.  I suspect the doctor's office will put her above that chart.

Last week, I took Jane with me to the Survival Center and she and I kept track of all the visitors.  My usual shift-companions weren't there, so I sat at the desk with a guy named Mo who's really nice.  A few weeks prior his nephew (six months or so) was looking at Jane and Mo told him to "stop flirting."  Another volunteer asked what size Jane was in, and I reported she was wearing some six-month stuff already (she just passed two months!) and she produced a brand-new pack of 6-9 month onesies from the Free Store.  Can't beat that.

After that, Andy's parents arrived and spent the weekend with us.  They'd been in Atlanta and thought that was close enough to justify a hop up here.  No complaints from us!  They were last out when Jane was two weeks old, so a lot's changed.

Anyway, enough talk!  Picture explosion in no particular order!

Smiler in her Osk Kosh

 Success picking apples!

 Jane picking a Jane-sized apple

 Goofy

 Rocking the tummy time.  She's going to roll over soon.

 Grandma reading "The Grumpy Goat."  It's got a twist ending.  I won't spoil it for you.

 Not the best family portrait that we got that night, but it's the one that got uploaded for now.  Or maybe Andy just looks like that all the time.

 That one's better of Andy but I look indifferent to this whole "family" thing.

 Eyes closed.  Oh well.

 My baby may or may not be a TARDIS.

 Action shot of Jane riding Brisco

 Possibly the greatest outfit ever.

 Jane and Calvin, in the micropaleo lab

 Calvin was born in February.  Jane was born in July.  I think they are the same length.

 Calvin is pretty cute.

 Rocking a six-month outfit.

 Chubby face!

 Grandma and Grandpa's arrival!

 Cutie

 Out at a restaurant in Turners Falls.  I forget what it was called, something about Harvest, but it had just opened days before.  It was good.  We may go back.  They were excited for customers.

 Grandpa, Jane, Grandma

 Just this morning, out for a walk.  "Dude, please."

 The extremely rural Montague, MA

 Not-just-this-morning.  Happy girl!

  

Week 8: Back to work

I had to return to work this past week, so Jane started going to the lab with Andy (and even to a seminar on Wednesday).  But before that, we tried to go apple picking.  The place we picked had bad luck with their apples this year, so there were no apples to be had.  The woman at the counter told us we might try for raspberries.  We didn't plan for that--I was thinking we'd have the shade of apple trees, but instead we were out in the sun.  We didn't stay long, ate about five berries each, and returned the basket empty.  It would have taken a long time to fill it.

 It was a pretty day, at least!

 Who are you?

 ...the smiling basket.

 Family shot.  There's a baby in there somewhere.

 Shade at last.

Not pictured: the raspberry stuffed french toast and pancakes we used to fill the no-apples void in our hearts and stomachs.  A nice woman sat and chatted with us (but mostly admired Jane).

Back to work!  Dad multi-tasking:

From all accounts, Jane has done very well in the lab and even spent some time with seven-month old Calvin.  Andy swears he's getting work done, so really, it's the best situation for which we could have hoped.  (Note: it's only been three days.)  I'm back at work too, taking pumping breaks and helping stock those two for the following day.  I even went back to volunteering on Thursday and didn't get too many sad faces for not bringing her in.  I will next week, though!

My pictures came in out of order and since I only have one free hand, mentally place these back on apple-not-picking day, will ya?  We decided to stop at Lake Wyola, since it was on the way back from the orchard.  Andy liked the look of this stream and probably said something sciencey about it.

 Walkin'

 At Lake Wyola with a sleeping Jane

 A kind stranger takes a picture despite being about as good with smartphones as I am.

 Jane did not feel like modeling the sweater and hat Granny knit.

 Do you guys see these as gifs when I post them?  I hope so--there's a smile in there!  She smiles a lot these days.  It makes me feel like not such a crazy person for grinning at her all the time and getting blank stares.

 ZINGERMAN'S BIB!

 Using Jane's belly as a writing surface.

 Her shirt was a find from the Survival Center!

 This rattle has been holding her attention during tummy time, and it's a stylish cap.

It looks like a nice day for a walk out there.  Jane's first fal--no, let's say autumn.  :-)

Week 6 and almost 7

My maternity leave is almost over!  Hard to believe, but back to work on Monday.  And Jane gets to start life in the lab with Andy.

I think I'm posting and writing about things in reverse order this time, so Jane might be Benjamin Button-ing.

My mom and Don came to visit this week.  She made us spherical pancakes that have some name I can't remember.

 Granny and Jane

 Andy and Jane, chillin' on the couch

 Once upon a time five years ago, I was nanny to twin babies.  These PJs were a favorite of mine and their mom, and when she offered to let me take some baby stuff they'd outgrown, I was sure to snag these.  So what that I had to wait five years for a baby to fill them!

 Nanny-Brisco, ever vigilant.  "Don't worry guys, I got this."

 All babies need at least two chins....

 ...and a ridiculous, whopping, giant belly.

 Propped up on Dad

 Trying to latch on to Dad's nose.  You won't like anything you get from there, Jane!

She has definitely started doing big smiles in response to us, and we get especially big smiles when she gets toweled off after bath time.  We'll try to get a picture of that soon.

Her nights have been mostly good lately, we think due to a relaxing bath prior to bed.  Last night she slept a six-hour stretch.  She really is mostly an easygoing baby.

Until next week!

Weeks 4-5

Hard to believe I'm so far through my maternity leave already.  Just when I start to feel like we have something of a daily routine down, my back-to-work date looms on the calendar.  Oh well, not there yet!

Jane is doing great.  She does really well with her daily tummy time, which is not always the case with babies I've known.  She holds her head up really well and has done so pretty much since birth.  Andy likes to coax her to turn her head when she's down on her play mat.  Brisco also likes to help.  He has been really great with her.  He'll come up to the bouncer when she's in it and put his face right by her, saying hello, and it doesn't make me nervous at all.  A gentle giant.  Though he's been biting at his tail and it looks a bit like he has mange right now.

 We're pretty sure we're starting to see real smiles...

 She is a gassy lass, but I think this is the real deal!

 Here's another picture of Brisco, who's upset because he used to be featured more prominently on here.

 We went in to the lab yesterday for Jane's first visit.  We set up her portable tie-up mat and she pretty happily hung out for a while.  I was there, reading O magazine and feeding her as needed.  Which was often.

My dad and Karen were here last week... or at some point... and we managed to not take a single picture.  I think/hope they snapped some shots.  Jane has had a few nights where she wouldn't stay asleep and needed to nurse constantly, and at least one of those coincided with their trip, so we were a bit out of it.  We did make a few trips out.  Jane went to Hillside Pizza, the People's Pint, and the Night Kitchen.  And to the grocery store as well, which she's done twice now.

I've been trying to keep my eye out for jobs.  I had two interviews, the more interesting of which didn't seem to go terribly well.  I can't blame Jane for having two massive spitups before I left.  At least the fact that I got the interview in the first place is keeping me optimistic that I can find something.  That, and the dose of mega-confidence I got from labor.

I should say that the other night, I had a very rough time that stretched into the following day.  I was tired so I thought Jane and I could go upstairs to bed around 8.  She wouldn't stay asleep and I got more and more frustrated.  We cried a bit together, and I couldn't shake the bad mood the next day.  Our morning routine has been that Andy would take her downstairs when he'd wake up, then bring her back to nurse, and take her away again, leaving me to get up when I pleased.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to stay in bed very long that day, so coupled with a bad night, it was a rough day.  I say this because it's easy to look at these cute pictures and only remember my adorable daughter, but it's not always easy.  Even for a former nanny with years of experience with babies.  I'm grateful for my experience because it's made things easier but not always easy.  The cranky bursts (hers and mine) are usually short-lived.

She's still napping, so I'm going to put a few things away.  And possibly start on this chocolate cake recipe that happened to pop up.