Dinner Time

It's hard to believe that my maternity leave is drawing to a close. I am officially back at work next Wednesday. In preparation for that time, we started giving her a bottle in the evenings at around 4 weeks old. Stu gives her the bottle and we often eat our dinner as she eats. Tonight she was looking at me with such a sweet expression on her face, I just had to take a picture.

What a sweet girl!

Angriest Bear

 When I was super pregnant and getting ready for the baby, I realized we had no outerwear for our child. "It's cold in Vermont in March!" I thought. So I headed over to Junebug, our local baby clothes consignment store, and picked up the most adorably cozy bear suit. I think it's probably a Halloween costume, but it looked great!

Of course, when we brought her home it was woefully too big.

I realized the other day that she would probably never wear it. We're into much warmer temps these days. And if it is cold, we just pile more blankets onto her car seat...it's never really cold inside. Like a true Vermonter baby, she's much more bothered by being too warm than too cold, it seems.

Like a good mother (not really) I decided that I would put her into the bear suit, for the purposes of pictures. She fits it perfectly right now! (At 7 weeks...)

 

So sad to be a bear....

I'm not sure whether it was because she was too warm or just really bothered by the faux pas of wearing a Halloween costume in May, but being in this bear suit unleashed an inner sadness and rage in our little girl that was kind of adorable. (See, this is the part where I am not really a good mother....) Instead of soothing her immediately...I had to take a couple of pictures. 

There are many people that claim that it is cruel to take pictures of crying babies. But I say that it merely shows another side of their emotional experience. Matilda is a good crier, just like she's good at lots of other things. So here she is crying because she's in a bear suit.

Taller

We had to adjust the straps on her car seat because Matilda is too tall for the shortest setting. Yay! Taller! Here is a pic of her in her new setting. I think you can see the difference between the other pictures...I have included a pic of when we brought her home from the hospital, for contrast. What a difference 6 weeks can make!

Miss M, 6.5 weeks old

Tiny Matilda, 1.5 days old

Happy Mother's Day

This was my first Mother's Day and I have to say, I had a great one. Stu asked me on Friday what I wanted for Mother's Day and I made 3 requests:
1. Dinner at home
2. An unlimited-time shower
3. A family walk

I got my unlimited-time shower first thing after Matilda's early morning nap. This is especially nice because this past week I've been showering while she sleeps, which means they are super-high speed showers, while I listen for her to start wailing. Not very relaxing. I even had time to properly moisturize and put in my contact lenses--what a treat! Then, we headed to breakfast with pastries in Brandon (our usual weekend date). Then we took a nice walk around Brandon--the weather was a little cool, and it threatened rain, but it never did while we were out.

A picture from our walk. Matilda continues to be a great sleeper...

We had baby-family playtime in the afternoon, Matilda was in a super mood, which was really nice. Wiggly, happy, and "laughing".

For dinner, Stu held Matilda and did all of the diaper changes while I made my oven-curry. I know most women would not consider that a Mother's Day treat, but I love to cook. It was nice to just concentrate on cooking, rather than having to constantly stop and tend to my babe. Or, what is more likely recently, try and cook one-handed with her sleeping in my other arm.

What a wonderful first Mother's Day! I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband and such a sweet daughter.

Auntie Brooke

Our friends had us over for brunch this weekend--Matilda got to meet kitties and our friend Brooke. 

Here are some pics!

Matilda's looking awfully sleepy in these pics.

Dr. Aunt Alice

Our friend Alice came to visit last weekend, gifting Matilda a lovely hand-knit hat and giving us the opportunity for another series of great photos.

Cute hat, no?

And cute honorary Dr. Aunt Alice (She's an honorary aunt...she's a real Dr.)

That sleepy time of evening...

oooooooo

On Sunday we had our usual breakfast date (+friend) to Brandon for pastries. Mmmmm pastries. The river in the background here is the Neshobe. During Hurricane Irene it flooded so high that where we were standing was under almost a foot of water. Just to the left of this picture (out of frame) the local pizza restaurant was swept off its foundation and into the road. Brandon has made a pretty amazing recovery from all that craziness....

Of course, Matilda slept like a champ in the car on the way home...

Relaxation- also new, larger diapers!

It was really hot during the day on the 6th AND I discovered that Matilda fits into the next size up of gDiaper! We're still using the newborn sized ones (they're good up to 11 lbs.) but it's nice that she's finally chubbed up enough to fit the next set.

This ridiculous pose is pretty typical for her when really asleep. She uses her frogger to fall asleep, then spits it out when she finally drifts off. It usually doesn't get far. Wouldn't it be nice to sleep that well?

The Shakedown

When we visited our friends, they had a vibrating baby seat for us to try. Before I had a baby I believe I said something like: "oh that's the dumbest thing ever. Why would you need a vibrating baby seat?" The answer, of course, is if your baby refuses to be put down on a still surface and will only sit in a carrier for so long. Carrying around a baby all day gets pretty old, especially if you want/need to use two hands. A vibrating baby seat can be a boon!

We managed to locate one second hand. Matilda is not particularly in love with it, but it works some of the time. Here are some pictures that prove that she doesn't hate it.

It also comes with dangley toys to attach on it for when she is interested in such things. (Apparently not yet.) The family that sold it to us said their son used it until he was almost 3. Not bad for a $10 investment on our part! For what it's worth, Matilda also loves riding in the car seat- either in the stroller attachment from Grammy Nammy or in the car proper.

Six Weeks

Blog posts have been slow in coming because lately: either Matilda wants to be held all the time (and standing or walking, of course--no sitting for the Wiggle Princess...) or Blogger refuses to load my pictures. Which is why, for those of you playing at home, the time stamp on this posting is so late.

Her six week mark was yesterday, May 10th. She is smiling (when happy and placid) and also making a hilariously cute little happy baby-laugh sound. It is extremely appealing.

Her facial expressions continue to get more subtle and interesting. She now makes a pouty face when she's slightly unhappy, before she launches into crying. I have yet to get a photo of that one. And her crying is more expressive. She also continues to be wiggly, perhaps even more so than before. I think we have an active little girl on our hands. Not a huge surprise, since she was a very kicky baby in utero. It remains to be seen whether this means soccer, tap dancing, or karate...

Two pics from my phone: 

 That smile! Woo! So great.

And a pic with mom, just in time for Mother's Day: 

 

I swear her dour expression does not reflect on her mood at the time. It was just a scrunchy pose for her. I will say, in my defense, I am not very good at taking selfie pics with my phone. 

Visiting the farm in Connecticut

Two weekends ago (April 27-30), we went down to visit Grandma Elizabeth and Grandpa Lyle in Connecticut. We decided to leave in the evening on Friday, around the time Matilda would be sleeping, in the hopes that she would sleep most of the trip. It worked pretty well! We had to stop on the side of the road for a diaper change at around 7:30, but after that point, she was out like a light. The only downside is that Stu and I are not used to staying up super late any more--it was a bit of a challenge to make the drive and we got in pretty late both coming and going.

April 29th was Matilda's one-month birthday! I tried to take some "artsy pics" which ended up being thwarted by hilarious baby expressions. She is wearing little wool socks, since she's a Vermonter. And is squinty mostly because she's not used to natural light.

Oh, it's so hard to take pictures of babies. Stu tried to provide some motivation for smiling, which she was just starting to do at this point.

 Verrrrry skeptical of daddy's enthusiasm.

In addition to the baby photo shoot, Matilda also met some ponies!

On Sunday we met Jack and Judy for brunch. Matilda was a dear and slept the whole time. She does some of her best sleeping in restaurants.

And before we left to go home there were several shots with Lyle and Elizabeth's new tractor. My favorite is the grandparents shot. :D

 A man, a baby, and a tractor: the Vermont trifecta.

Matilda was very indulgent of all the photo-taking that occurred, which is good. She's a much-photographed baby, which is not likely to change.

Play Date

We met up last Saturday with our friends Heather and Ethan and their son Leif. We met Heather and Ethan at our expectant parents class. Leif and Matilda were 4 gestational days apart, and a week apart in birth. You can see in these pictures that he came out a lot bigger than her!

Matilda was sleepy at first-- she loves sleeping in her car seat in the car. (Classic baby move.)

 

 

Leif and Matilda on the play blanket. 

They are in training for the Baby Olympics. Which means mostly tummy time when they can stand it and flailing on their backs when they can't. Obviously, they're not aware of each other yet, but it is pretty cute to see them together.

 We walked down to their local bakery and got pastries for breakfast. Ethan and I are showing off our bags of pastries, Stu and Heather are showing off the babies. 

All in all, lots of fun and a lovely visit. Thanks for having us, Nelsons!

Sooooo big!

A short comparison post:  This is Matilda when we brought her home from the hospital. Note where her head is on the headrest.

 Tiny! Angry! Also in a cute bear pjs suit...

And here she is at about 4.5 weeks

She may not be plumping up very quickly, but look! She grew half an inch from when we brought her home vs. her one month appointment. Woooo! Her little legs are longer too.