4 months, 9 months, it's all the same

I was putting away another load of laundry today when I realized I should put into storage the rest of the summer clothes that Grace has mostly outgrown. I also found a fleece sleeper that she never wore because it was too hot over the summer. It's a 3 month size and I debated seeing if she could wear it once since it doesn't have feet, but then I realized that fleece shorts pretty much defeat the purpose of fleece. Maybe we'll have another child in the winter. Or, even in the summer since San Francisco apparently knows no summer. Then, when I had the storage box out, I decided to check if any of the items stored because they're too big might fit soon. Good thing! There are a bunch of 6 month things we might have missed our chance for. But, then I figured I would try some 9 month things on that looked only a little big... well, they just fit now because our little G is so tall. Glad our walking date canceled because she was in labor or Gracie might never have worn those cute outfits. Forget health reform, we need infant clothing size standardization.

P.S. Go Lisa! Can't wait to meet Gracie's new best friend.

Bookshelf: The Yearling

The first book off my own shelf in a while - The Yearling. This was a special one in several ways. It's a copy I got from my mother's dear, dear cousin Fran's collection when she passed away. Then, when I was telling my mom about my book project and that The Yearling was one of the books, she told me she had absolutely loved the book. So I figured it was a good place to start.

And it was fabulous. I'm not the first to have noticed; after all, it did win the Pulitzer prize in 1938. It's a beautifully written tale of a year in a boy's life in central Florida in the latter half of the 19th century. The boy, Jody, adopts a fawn as a companion, and they grow together over the course of that year as Jody's family faces challenge after challenge as subsistence farmers in the "scrub". The characters of Jody and his parents are still with me several days after finishing the book. It's the kind of book where you keep thinking of the characters, wondering what happened next, wishing the book hadn't come to an end.

What a change

When Grace was born, she had only one pair of pants so even though they were way too big for her, she wore them. Well, now she's outgrowing them and I thought the contrast would be fun for a 20 week update. Twenty weeks? Really? I'm not actually 100% sure, but I think that's right.

Four days old.

20 weeks old.

I couldn't pick just one.

We're having a lot of fun these days - Gracie is so much more interactive and interested in what's going on around her. She is actively playing with her toys and trying to sit and roll. She has found her feet and if I ever remember to transfer photos from my phone, I'll post some. She thinks the alphabet is hilarious, especially particular sounds (D, G, M, S). She'll grin and laugh if you say g-g-g-g.

Naps remain a work in progress, but night sleeping is still going well. However, she wants to go to bed just before sunset so has been gradually moving her bedtime up all summer... I'm a little worried that she'll want to crash at 4:30pm in December!

Morning greeting.

Solid foods are not going so well. She was giving us looks like we were the most terrible people for making her eat rice cereal and then spitting it all out so we're taking a break. We'll try again soon. Maybe when Steve starts to be home a bit more since it's currently a two person production as we still haven't gotten a highchair.

Still loves the swings.

Check out that sweater and hat! It's getting cold... supposed to be 42 tonight. That is WAY TOO CLOSE to the 30s. They've turned on the heat in our building. Denial is not working, friends.

Again with the diapers

Let me just start by saying that I hope as much as you do that this is the last post about poop.

We were doing great with the larger size Pampers, but given all the advice I'd also heard about trying Huggies, I got a larger size of those, too. Fortunately, Grace made it through her visit to my office on Tuesday, and didn't poop on my boss or his floor. Nope, the diaper leaked in the car on the way home. Right out the leg hole. Minus 1 for the larger Huggies (and then when I put her in the bathtub a while later, she pooped again. Why has this only happened when Steve has not been home? It is excitement no parent should miss).

So, today we're chilling at the park with my friend Anna, who fortunately was wearing brown pants. Because, oh yes, Grace was sitting in her lap when the poop came up and out the back of the diaper, through the onesie, and onto her pants. Minus 1 for the larger size Pampers.

I was at the end of my rope on Tuesday. Now I'm so past that point. Steve thinks the smaller size Pampers were too big before and that's why they were leaking and that now the smaller size is just right while the larger ones I bought are too loose, but large enough that early successes were simply due to luck. I'm somewhat convinced because no other theory is working. Anna suggested that I give up on worrying about the size of the diapers and just embrace the fact that Grace may be a super pooper and has such massive quantities that no diaper is up to the challenge. I'm trying to be all zen like that.

Moral: diaper clinical trial failure. How soon can we potty train?

Oh my fall

New England knows how to do fall. The weather has been so gorgeous - sunny, clear, and warm enough to want to be outside, but cool enough to be comfortable in a light jacket. Oh, it is heavenly! We are trying to enjoy it as much as possible since once it gets bad here, it gets really, really bad. The leaves are starting to turn and we're tracking the foliage reports so we can get in some good leaf peeping for last New England fall.

So, here are a couple of videos. The first, from yesterday, is of Grace showing how joyful life can be when you're four months old. It just doesn't seem to get any better!

And this is one from our vacation that I forgot about.

And this is from before our vacation when I was trying to get a video of Grace laughing so Steve could see since she was pretty much always asleep when he was home. Yes, I'm fake laughing like a dope because she laughs more if you laugh with her.

Update

If you read The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, there's an interesting bit in the Times about the Hmong community in central California working with the local hospital. There is now an official program for allowing shamans to be involved in inpatient care! That was one of the best books I read in college and had a major influence on my interests in public health (though I might not have guessed that my interest in cross-cultural health care issues would morph into a fascination with incentive structures, but I guess that's what happens when all your professors are economists).

16-13

That's right. No win is sweeter than one against SC, especially a huge upset. I take it as the start of a new era for the Dawgs, and the end of one for the dirty Trojans. The only thing missing here is a picture of Grace in her Husky gear. Except, oops, she doesn't have any. Who let that happen?

A-ha!

Just found this on babycenter: "The peak age for spitting up is 4 months." Well, thank heavens. I was beginning to wonder what I was suddenly doing wrong. Neither Grace nor I have enough clothes to continue this way. If I could only remember to carry a burp cloth on my shoulder, chest, and pants at all times. Perhaps I actually need a burp shroud.

On repeat

Our weekly conversation.

Steve is perusing the real estate ads in San Francisco.

Kate: So, where do all the poor people in San Francisco live?

Steve: Apparently, poor people can't live in San Francisco.

Kate: Then why do we hear such bad things about the schools?

Steve: Yeah, that's a disconnect I've wondered about, too.

Working girl

Well, yesterday I put on a suit and went off to the fall board meeting for work. Then, in the evening, I put the suit back on and went to a networking event for a fellowship program I belong to (thank you so much, Sarah, for staying with Grace since Steve's on nights!). It was a little weird and also fun. I like my work and I'm very happy to have a part-time position as Associate Director of the health policy org I worked for in grad school. It was exciting to be sitting around a table with leaders in health policy for the state talking about serious matters. I hadn't used that part of my brain in a while! I also made some good connections at the event for networking in San Francisco. Baby steps back into it all. It's strange, though, to get off the subway and realize I can go up the stairs rather than figuring out where the elevator is. And it's weird to be just a random lady strolling down the street rather than having my "mom" identity. The gentleman who begs in front of Dunkin' Donuts ignored me as I walked by; usually, he calls out "congratulations" when he sees the stroller.

And these pictures have nothing whatsoever to do with the rest of this, but they're just too cute. Babies don't come any cuter, do they?

I mean, it's just not fair.

One baby, so much cuteness!

And aren't legwarmers just the best idea?!

Thanks to fashion-forward Emma.

History lesson, part 2

Yep, welcome to nerdworld. We finally went to the Adams Historical Site on Friday, something I'd been looking forward to since watching the HBO miniseries about John Adams. It was so interesting! Grace fell asleep in arms while we first toured the birthplaces of John Adams and John Quincy Adams. Then, we headed over to Peacefield, the home John and Abigail lived in after returning from Philadelphia and Washington DC for his time as VP and president until their deaths. Peacefield was in the Adams family until the late 1940s and the birthplaces were owned by the family as rental properties until the late 70s. Can you imagine renting a house that was built in the 1600s and was the birthplace of presidents? Not if you're from the west coast, you can't.

Anyway, by the time we got to Peacefield, Gracie was awake and enthusiastic and chatty chatty!

The tours are guided so we felt really bad - it just hadn't dawned on us that she would want to talk. She is generally fairly quiet when out and about and around lots of strangers. We really don't want to be those parents who think their kids is cute while everyone else thinks she's obnoxious.

But the ranger said she wasn't bothered and other people on the tour encouraged us to stay so we did and Grace settled down more or less. I think she must have remembered how much she liked the miniseries. Because Peacefield was occupied by the Adams family until it was donated to the National Park Service, all the furnishings are original to the family and many date to the time of John and Abigail. My obsession with Abigail is renewed. What a phenom!

JQA's library. Can you imagine?

Solids

Gracie tried her first solid food today - a little rice cereal. She was patient, and maybe she even swallowed some of it! Looks like we may need to get a high chair, too.

Really?

If I have to...

Wait a minute,

are you kidding me?

Hmpf.

On another note, Grace has an interesting new habit. She seems to like to talk herself to sleep. For the last two months or so, we've been putting her to bed awake, but with her pacifier. She wouldspit out her binky, hang out for a while babbling and gradually start to fuss. Once we gave her the pacifier again, she would eventually settle down and fall asleep. The last few days, though, she has been babbling herself to sleep sans binky. It's kind of amusing - she'll be ohhing and aaahing away, and then suddenly silent and sound asleep. More proof she is my child.

Four months old

Someone seems excited!

Tomorrow she has her four month pedi appointment... she will probably not be so excited after her shots. Luckily, Steve will be able to go to her appointment so I won't have to suffer the anguish alone.

In other news, Gracie rallied for health reform yesterday. I always forget how fun such events are, but it's great to participate and stand up for something we believe in.

Oh and p.s. - thanks for all the diaper tips. So far, the larger size is doing the trick. I'm sure you were dying for an update.

A treatise on diapers

In a word, if it's a word: GRRRR.

More diaper leakage, even after a thorough study of the problem, fit, sizing, and technique. And the leaks have been massive. But only out one side of the diaper and usually when riding in her carseat.

This is bad on many levels - first of all, what idiot cannot properly diaper their child? Me. And my husband. Second, it's a real pain to not know if when you pick up your child, she, her clothes, whatever she was sitting in, and soon you will be covered in poo.

We had a similar problem a while ago and the lovely ladies in my mothers' group said that leaky diapers means to go up a size. Excellent advice as I've since learned that as soon as she starts to have a tiny bit of leakage, I need to order a larger size. Has worked like a charm. So, my last order was for Pampers size 2-3. They are for babies 14-22 lbs and I figured that since Grace was just over 12lbs and unlikely to double in size within the month, we'd be set for a while. The kidlet is barely 14lbs if she's over 14lbs at all. They fit when she was 12-13 lbs, but now there is poop everywhere!

So I finally surrendered and went to CVS to check Pampers' next size up. Size 3 is something like 16-28lbs. That is a range the size of a 3 or 4 month old child! So we'll see how Size 3 goes. They better work because I'm sick of the mess. But I have a WHOLE CASE of size 2-3 (Lisa's lucky day!). That's about $50 worth of diapers!

Any tips from those of you with experience? Should I switch to Huggies? Start using duct tape?

Grr. Grr. Grr.

Vacation round up

What a fab vacation. It was a little hard to leave, especially since it meant taking Grace so far from her extended family, especially her doting grandparents. Plus, Steve and I got a lot of rest and it was a treat to have ready arms for Grace whenever we wanted to do something simple like use the bathroom. Poor Gracie is going to be so bored now that it's back to spending long days just with me. It was also amazing to see how much she changed just during the time we were gone. She's crying less (maybe just because she rarely had the chance to get bored) and is showing a lot more interest in her toys, reaching for things, making lots of new sounds, and laughing more.

Also, Steve and I finally went on a date! It wasn't really on purpose that we waited so long, but mostly a function of his work schedule. It was kind of funny because we were seated at a table with babies on two sides of us (at what I wouldn't have considered an especially family-oriented restaurant). The baby across from us looked to be just about Grace's age and flipped a lid when his parents were about halfway through dinner. Dad kept walking the baby while Mom tried to finish eating, but eventually they packed up their food and left. Steve and I kept wondering if we should offer to hold the baby so they could finish their meal. But we had to remind ourselves that was why we were out sans Gracie - so we could just be us for two hours! It was fun! And we do remember how to have a conversation.

The trip back was mostly uneventful. Grace was once again a champion traveler. Even as we had a long trip home from the airport on the T at midnight, she was wide-eyed, but not hysterical as we had feared. She is adjusting to the time change... but I think it might take a few more days.

The only glitch traveling was when I picked Gracie up to carry her through security screening at SeaTac. Massive diaper leak... all over the carseat and her and our boarding passes, which we had smartly slipped in next to her. So I grabbed a plastic bag to hold around her and we marched through heads held high. Hurray for family restrooms. Can you imagine cleaning that up on a little table in a restroom where you can't leave the baby while you walk to the sink? Ugh. And fortunately I had the foresight to wash out the onesie she was in and let it airdry on the stroller because oh yes, it happened again on the plane. Not as dramatically, thank goodness, but we did have quite the tricky change while Gracie screamed because she was hungry. Oh the flight attendants had a good laugh and I hope you do too because someone should find all this funny (and yes, we have been working on what exactly the issue is with the diapers). The fun just never ends.

Now we are back and Steve is off to work and I need to figure out how to get some work done while Grace takes her periodic, brief naps because my contract started this week and daycare doesn't start till October. Yikes. Posting may be light... or not if procrastination takes hold.

The rest of our trip pix are here (using picassa because flickr is irritating me).