2 months and great developments

First, look at this photo and tell me you can actually resist the urge to laugh:
Why yes, I did carve a pumpkin with the face of a crying baby -- it is the most horrifying thing I could think of and I did happen to know what Marian's Halloween costume would be!
Second, the stuffing in the costume aside, that is an 11lb2oz baby in that there pumpkin, and it is true that 11lbs is the magic number -- for the last 4 nights Marian has slept between 7-9 hours, awaking to two very happy parents. Her dad has the magic touch for getting her to sleep so long, so he puts her to bed every night and we alternate who will get up with her. She's also starting to eat more in a sitting, bumping up from 4oz to 6oz of formula or so. She continues to be so very active -- trying to climb, crawl and fly at times.

She also continues to get cuter and cuter:
she smiles readily, easily, and without coaxing, and if you rub her belly and smile at her you're almost guaranteed to get one back. She's started to recognize voices and faces and has learned to turn her head toward them, thus leading to a heart-melting scenario of her turning to look at you, taking a moment to register your face, and then bursting into a happy smile. It's impossible not to smile back. The other day she squealed from happiness for the first time too, and I'm looking so forward to hearing her first laugh. In the meantime she regales us with coos, squeaks, grunts, shrieks and ahs.
We have switched her to cloth diapers during the day and so far they are working out really well. We had a couple leaks the first few times we used them but learned to button the legs a little tighter and haven't had a problem since. It feels very gratifying to be saving the money and the landfill space by using "Fuzzibunz," and since they have multiple snaps they're easy to use and will grow with her right up through potty training.
Life with Marian continues to fly by, and each week seems to bring new excitement and new achievements...stay tuned!

One month down...hundreds to go!

9/23/10 marked Marian's one month anniversary. It did go by quickly, but only in retrospect!
We marked the day by taking her to the pediatrician, poor dear -- fortunately she's not due for immunizations until her two-month. Instead, we found out that she's 9lbs3oz, and we learned how to put her on a sleep schedule. Basically, we put her down at 8pm every night, awake or not, and we wait out her crying, and she falls asleep. The longest she's cried is about 45 minutes -- the MD said we can check on her every 15 to make sure nothing's wrong, but we have to wait 2 hours before we can soothe her. We've never had to do that -- her average crying jag is 15 minutes and then she crashes out. When she wakes up again, we feed her, change her, and put her right back down, preferably awake. In this way she learns to self-soothe. The idea is that eventually as her sleep cycles end and she wakes up, she'll learn to just go right back to sleep without needing us to intervene.
Her longest sleeping jag has been 4.5 hours, but the average is more like 3. Lately it's even shorter -- she hit the 6 week mark and is experiencing a growth spurt (apparently 6 weeks is a common time for a growth spurt) and she becomes hungry within practically an hour and a half of being fed, when as I said it used to be more like three. We're starting to feed her more per sitting to see if we can satisfy her. So far we can't seem to stuff her for long. But the book says these "cluster feedings" last a couple days and then chill out, so hopefully that will be the case. Steve and I are still alternating nights for who gets up to feed and change her, so each of us is getting mostly-consistent sleep every other night.
This Wednesday I'll have my 6 week postpartum check up to see how I've been doing. I'm hopeful that everything will be fine and I can exercise again -- I really miss it. And I really need my ab muscles back (what there was of them) because my back is compensating and getting achy. Marian's 9 pounds can feel much heavier after a long enough time holding her. Holding her though, no matter what, is such a sweet feeling.
For most of her life during her calm and awake states she will go through a repertoire of mouth movements and gestures that make it look like she's trying to orate. She's becoming more diverse in her vocal range as well -- "ahs" and "icks" and grumbles and squeaks and squeals and sighs. Those who meet her and know babies almost always describe her as alert, but she's upped the ante for the last few weeks: she's been in nearly constant movement when I sit holding her against me on her belly. It's like she's trying to mountain climb: her legs are kicking, her hands are grasping, she's looking up over my shoulder like the horizon is right there, calling to her.
Get used to that, kiddo -- it really is.