Daycare

Yesterday Lily finished her first week in daycare. She's going to the Family Enrichment Center at the Jewish Community Center, which is just the nicest, nicest place. I really can't say enough good things about them. Every morning I drop her off and they seem happy to see her, and every afternoon when I pick her up she seems happy, like she's had a good day. They do great stuff there. One day when I picked her up all the babies were outside on their playground (the infant room has their own playground so they don't get trampled by the older kids). There are only six babies in the infant room this summer. Three of them were in activity centers (like the old-fashioned walkers, but without wheels because those have all been recalled) and two of them were playing in the sandbox. Lily was sitting in the lap of one of her teachers, finishing up a bottle. Also on their playground they have a swingset that just has baby swings, and a little water center with a baby pool and misters for hot days.

They do the cutest activities there. They work on colors, shapes, and numbers. They learn songs and play baby instruments. They take field trips to the main facility. June is senior citizen month in the infant room, so once a week they take a field trip across the campus to the senior citizen's home and visit with the residents. It's so adorable!

The biggest side effect of daycare is that Lily is very exhausted at the end of the day. Fortunately, it means she's still sleeping through the night every night, which is great for me now that I'm back to work.

Also, I'm relieved to report that the breastfeeding is still going well. I'm pumping enough each day to send bottled breast milk to daycare with Lily each day, so she's still eating just breast milk. It's kind of a pain in the butt to have to take my breast pump to work every day and pump, but I think it's worth it. At least I'm one of the lucky working women who have a special "Mother's Room" at the office so I have a quiet, private place to pump. Our Mother's Room is a small room with a sink, a mini-fridge, a recliner, and an armchair -- everything I need to pump, store the milk, and clean all the supplies. It's a godsend.

Rock-a-Bye Baby

I'm proud to report that Lily slept through the night again last night. And, like a big girl, she slept in her own room. She's taken naps in her nursery before, but that was her first time doing an overnighter in there.

Eight Weeks

Lily turned eight weeks old yesterday! What a big girl she's becoming. She's had a couple more milestones to mark the big birthday. First of all, she's started sucking her thumb. It's pretty much completely adorable, so naturally I had to take pictures of it and post them to her Flickr. And secondly, she slept through the night last night. This one is huge! She slept for eight and a half hours last night. It was amazing.

It's a good thing she got plenty of rest, because today was a big day for us. This morning we went to her daycare so everyone could meet Lily and I could get all the instructions to get ready for Monday. Fortunately, everyone there made many comments on how adorable she is, so I was pleased. She was wearing a onesie that said "too cute" on the front, and the receptionist commented that it was "truth in advertising."

This afternoon, Lily had her eight-week checkup with her pediatrician, which included her first round of vaccinations. The nurse weighed and measured her, and our girl is growing like gangbusters. She's now 24.5 inches long and weighs 13 pounds, 4 ounces. (This puts her in the 97th percentile for height and weight, meaning she's very proportionate.) The doctor came in to examine her -- my regular pediatrician was on vacation, so we saw a different doctor this time. The first thing she said when she walked in the door was, "Thank you for naming your baby something I can pronounce." I liked her right away. She spent most of the exam commenting on how strong and healthy Lily looks. She got a clean bill of health and several comments of "great."

When the doctor was done with the exam, the nurse came back in to administer the shots. She started with the oral stuff -- one vaccination and a dose of Tylenol to help ease the pain of the shots. Lily was not the happiest about the vaccinations. She cried the whole time the nurse was putting the oral stuff in her mouth, and it was hard to get her to swallow it because of the wailing. Once that was over, she calmed down and was smiling up at the nurse when we put her on the table. Then the first needle went in and it was a whole other story. They have to give the dose into the muscle, so it was evidently pretty painful for the poor little thing. She looked stunned for a minute, then did a few of those big gasps where you know she's getting ready to unleash something huge, then let out a piercing scream and started to cry. Poor Lil. Fortunately as soon as it was over she calmed down again.

The Kicker

Lily is still doing great. She's got a few new tricks in her arsenal as well. She's a very, very active baby, so her physical development is coming along really well. She's learned that she can grab hold of the mirror when she's on her play mat and adjust it to give herself a better view of the baby she sees. She's also trying very, very hard to roll over back to stomach, which shouldn't actually happen until she's around five months old, but I predict will be much sooner than that. And finally, today at lunch with a few friends she was delighting them by showing them that if you hold her up to give her balance, she can support all of her own body weight and try to take a few steps.

The sad news is that I only have a few days left with her before I go back to work and she starts daycare. Tomorrow morning we're going down to her daycare for a while so the staff can meet her and I can get my instructions on everything I need to take for her Monday and what the right procedures are for handling the breastmilk. (I've pumped a supply so I'll be able to send it along with her to daycare, then I'll keep pumping a couple of times a day at work in the mother's room so I can keep giving it to the daycare each day.)

Also happening tomorrow is Lily's eight-week doctor's appointment. They'll be weighing and measuring her again to make sure she's still growing, and they'll also be administering her first round of vaccinations. Poor Lil!

Such a Big Girl!

Lily is growing so fast. She's not very heavy, but my goodness, she's tall. At seven weeks, she has completely outgrown all of her 0-3 month clothes and is wearing only 3-6 month stuff. She's narrow for the 3-6 month stuff (the width of the 0-3 is better for her), but if I try to put her in a 0-3 onesie I can't get the snaps to snap without stretching the fabric really, really tightly over her diaper. This morning I tried to put her in a three-month romper. The legs of it ended up being capri-length on Stretch McGee here.

In other news, she's just as smiley and happy as ever. This morning I had her in her bouncer while I did some work (I'm starting to do a little work from home to ease back into things). The bouncer was on the floor next to me and I was using my foot to tap it to keep it bouncing. She was punching her fists into the air and kicking her feet wildly, all while grinning away and making little happy grunts.

Also this morning, I took her with me to Einstein's to get a bagel. She was sleeping soundly in her car seat, so I got my food to eat there and just sat down at a table with her. She slept while I ate and read a book. We'd only been there a few minutes when an older woman stopped by my table to comment on what a little angel Lily was. The Einstein's we go to is pretty bustling and loud, but nothing phases her. The woman asked if she always sleeps that well, and told me how fortunate I am to have such a good, beautiful baby.

Another Milestone!

Tonight my Mom and I were hanging out around the house with Lily. My Mom had Lily in her lap and was doing all kinds of faces and noises for her, so we got to see Lily do another couple of her throaty little laughs.

When Lily got tired of being held, I put her down on a blanket on the floor for some back time. She did that for a while, then I put her on her stomach for some tummy time. She was doing her baby pushups for a bit, which she does pretty much all the time when she's on her tummy. She'll do that and kick her legs or arch them up, trying to flip. The difference tonight is that she was successful! She arched up with all her might and gave her legs a kick, propelling herself from her stomach to her right side to her back in one quick motion. The parenting guides say you can expect a baby to flip herself from stomach to back at around three months, so six-and-a-half-week-old Lily is way ahead of the game.

Laughter

Lily is growing up so fast, so I decided it was time for me to start a blog to record all the little things she does that steal everyone's heart. A lot has already happened in her six weeks with us (I'll try to retroactively write that down in the near future), but there will be a lot to report going forward.

Last night we had a milestone -- Lily's first laugh. She was sitting in her grandma's lap, and grandma was making silly faces and noises. Lily was grinning from ear to ear, and getting happier with each subsequent noise. Eventually she let out a little laugh -- it was basically a huge smile accompanied by a deep, happy grunt. The books all say this wasn't a "true" laugh (that supposedly won't happen until she's a little older), but it sure sounded like one to me. I didn't get any video of the little laughs, but I did take some pictures of her smiling away for Grandma. Here's one of those pictures.

Also, on Tuesday I had a six-week checkup with my midwife. She held Lily and walked around with her for a while, and commented on how amazingly strong and alert Lily is. Although it's still very early, she predicted that Lily will be able to flip herself over relatively soon. Right now she can get from her back to her side, but can't make it from side to stomach. She tries very hard to get from her stomach to her back (see here for an example of her trying hard), but can't make it happen just yet.

And finally, now that I'm closing in on my return-to-work date, I wanted to be sure that Lily knows how to drink out of a bottle and is still able to transition back to the breast. I pumped some milk for her and put it in a bottle and gave it to Grandma to feed to her. Lily had no troubles whatsoever. (Here is a picture of her eating from the bottle.) After she finished the bottle, I put her back on the breast to finish the feeding, and she latched on right away to that. Hopefully this means we'll have an easy transition into daycare, where she'll be getting bottled breast milk by day and breastfeeding directly at night.