Mermaid!

I think this is just awesome!  Weta Workshop (Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, etc) made a mermaid tail for a disabled woman.  How neat is that?

Disabled woman given mermaid tail to help her swim

Birthday Weekend

I’m pretty tired today, but wanted to get an update up since I missed posting Lana’s 10 week mark last week (oh woe).  All is going pretty well, except for the haze that is having a baby, even one just over 2 months old.  We’ve been getting better at sleeping during what we will call “night” until she’s old enough to go to school, though the schedule has been a bit erratic (it still should be).  The drugs we got at the doctor have made a huge difference in the reflux pains up until the last two days or so, but I will wait before I assume they’re losing efficacy.  Lana gained about 5 hours of sleep a day after going on them: I am vastly relieved she’s gotten more comfortable.  (Me being tired is random: She actually slept very well last night and has been in a great mood this morning.)

If there’s a theme to this entry, it’s sleep.  My birthday was Saturday, and Sean and I took Lana out to dinner with us.  We went to Prime Thyme, and Lana actually did quite well, I think.  She needed to be walked around a couple of times, to keep her from being too fussy, but the restaurant wasn’t crowded so that was doable.  Lana sat on my lap and watched me eat my salad.  Then I had some lovely cajun chicken alfredo.

Prior to that?  I napped.  After dinner?  I went home and slept.

Yep, the exciting life of a new parent.  Sleep was one of the best gifts I could have gotten on my birthday.

2 Months

So today Lana is 2 months old.  She had her doctor’s check-up, and all was well.  She’s around the 75th percentile across the board, which means she is quite proportional, hehe, and the doctor said she’s doing great.  We’ve discussed her “silent” reflux issues and have some new things to try out, which gives me great peace of mind.  The doctor said we were asking good questions, which makes me feel like we’re doing the right things for her.  It’s odd to need the outside validation, but it’s comforting.

She took the vaccines pretty well, cried more from being held down I think; though she definitely cried a little harder from the shots themselves, she quieted quickly.  She fell asleep not long after (Daddy was soothing) and slept for most of the day.  She might be sore and unhappy tomorrow, we’ll have to see.  We’re allowed to give her Tylenol if we need to.

We took advantage of the nicer weather on Friday to make a jaunt out to the winery, which I think went well.  Lana was charming, and blew bubbles, and napped, and got licked by a dog (she didn’t like it: Sean’s take on it was “Help! It’s tasting me!”) and finally got a little tiny bit fussy when it was time for her to eat.  We got home, she ate, and slept very well.  All in all a successful outing.

We’ve also been having some fabulous tummy time.  I think letting her sleep on my chest (only when I’m awake: I can’t sleep with her there anyway) has helped, since she’s not too fussy about being on her tummy, at least for short periods.  It means I get to catch moments like this:

Now, how many cats can you spot in the second picture?  (It may not be large enough for me to ask, heh.)

8 Weeks of Baby Carriers

Well Lana is 8 weeks this week, and things still feel a little hectic here.  I keep getting hints of what “could be” in terms of things calming down, being able to balance work, fun, and necessities, but we’re not quite there yet.  It doesn’t help that I’ve been feeling more and more penned in, mostly due to the weather.  I don’t feel very good about attempting to go out places with my newborn in the some-teen degree ice and snow, sigh, so I don’t.  Hopefully I’ll be able to take some advantage of the brief warmer streak we’re going to have the next several days.  I think being able to go places with baby will make me feel more independent again, and also give her something more to do so we can start building a more regular stimulus/rest pattern.

But even if I could feel good about getting out with her weather-wise, I need to figure out how to carry her around.  This will be lots easier when she can hold her head up, but for now it’s a bit of a puzzle.  I have lots of baby carriers to play with (I am almost as addicted to the baby carriers as I was to the cloth diapers, with the same result of things not quite working as I’d hoped now but maybe they will when she’s bigger).  Since Lana doesn’t like to be “cradle-carried” in any of the carriers I have it makes it rough.  I have several: A sling-rider, a snugli, a baby k’tan, and a snugglebug pouch-sling.  I have also ordered a mei-tai carrier from a WAHM, since after my carrying experiences so far I think it will be *the* answer, but I haven’t gotten it yet.

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