Blowing Their Socks Off - 9 Days Left
It's been windy and chilly in Philly! After a few Indian Summer days of 60-70 degrees, we are in the blustery beginnings of the cold seasons. Alex's parents are here for Thanksgiving - they always come in for a few weeks around this time; so nice to hang out and really makes it feel like the holidays.
They haven't been here since the Day Thang (she was 2.5 months then). Since then, she has made a few big developmental leaps so they reunited with quite the fun, charming, happy baby - and some much more rested parents!
Thursday she had her 4 month appointment, complete with booster shots. She had no reaction to the 2-month shots but this time - she slept for 4 straight hours after shots, didn't care about nursing at all, had an initial temp of 100.7 then had a fever of 102.7. We have her 2.5mL of Tylenol and let her sleep some more. She slept so much! The next morning she was still warm to the touch but then was herself by the late morning. Otherwise, not too much fussing or crying.
On Friday, F & A ;A watched her while I went to get a haircut in the AM. She went down for her nap exactly on schedule and without much fuss. F & A were definitely impressed by her punctuality and ability to settle down for sleep after only 3 minutes of crying. In the evening, Alex took her to dinner at the condo while I primped and prissed for.... wait for it... a night of CLUBBING! What? No, really, we did. We always do a send-off for each girl before they go back to work. In the past, we have done dinners at people's houses, etc., but - go figure - mine was a night of dancing. Soooo much fun. I couldn't even remember the last time (including late pregnancy) that I was not in the house by 8PM, let alone, traipsing around South Street looking for pizza or fries at 1AM! Such good friends!
Saturday, I think we all went out for Mission Tacos at brunch, shopped Rittenhouse and then napped until dinner at the condo. I committed to putting away all of my maternity clothes!! That chapter is over! What closure!! In preparation for my Come-Back (to work - lame thing given a cool name), I also tried on all my work clothes and organized the closet into "Fits", "Soon" and "Later Maybe."
Dinner Saturday was with 6 other couples (Arnie likes to host; I can relate!). We chatted with a bunch of their life-long friends; pre-Alex friends! Someone reminisced that, when F & A moved out from the city to the burbs after Alex, everyone drove out there and F & A served monkfish and ham. Weird combo! But Sandy and Lucy said not to knock it because Arnie was very proud of it! Lilly was gracious and we all had a really nice adult time, with her periodic napping in Terry's room.
Sunday was decadent. Lilly slept through the night (several weeks now with a brief interruption when we traveled). I woke up, continued reading Bringing up Bebe, which I started when she was about 5 weeks old. I read on her floor while she played and napped and played and napped. Then, went to get mani/pedis with Fern, came back and kept reading! Alex was much more productive, hanging the skateboard decks on the wall on the 2nd floor and knocking out other things on our To-Do Wunderlist. I just rested.
Monday, Lilly and I took a drive to Fairless Hills to visit Djung and pick up some more hand-me-downs. We hung out there for the entire afternoon - she had 2 naps! Then, I drove back to the City, made some thit kho and rau muong xao toi for everyone and cooked up some frozen oatmeal chocolate chip cookie dough. At dinner, Alex said, "no one is talking right now because the food is so delicious." F & A concurred.
They haven't been here since the Day Thang (she was 2.5 months then). Since then, she has made a few big developmental leaps so they reunited with quite the fun, charming, happy baby - and some much more rested parents!
Thursday she had her 4 month appointment, complete with booster shots. She had no reaction to the 2-month shots but this time - she slept for 4 straight hours after shots, didn't care about nursing at all, had an initial temp of 100.7 then had a fever of 102.7. We have her 2.5mL of Tylenol and let her sleep some more. She slept so much! The next morning she was still warm to the touch but then was herself by the late morning. Otherwise, not too much fussing or crying.
On Friday, F & A ;A watched her while I went to get a haircut in the AM. She went down for her nap exactly on schedule and without much fuss. F & A were definitely impressed by her punctuality and ability to settle down for sleep after only 3 minutes of crying. In the evening, Alex took her to dinner at the condo while I primped and prissed for.... wait for it... a night of CLUBBING! What? No, really, we did. We always do a send-off for each girl before they go back to work. In the past, we have done dinners at people's houses, etc., but - go figure - mine was a night of dancing. Soooo much fun. I couldn't even remember the last time (including late pregnancy) that I was not in the house by 8PM, let alone, traipsing around South Street looking for pizza or fries at 1AM! Such good friends!
Saturday, I think we all went out for Mission Tacos at brunch, shopped Rittenhouse and then napped until dinner at the condo. I committed to putting away all of my maternity clothes!! That chapter is over! What closure!! In preparation for my Come-Back (to work - lame thing given a cool name), I also tried on all my work clothes and organized the closet into "Fits", "Soon" and "Later Maybe."
Dinner Saturday was with 6 other couples (Arnie likes to host; I can relate!). We chatted with a bunch of their life-long friends; pre-Alex friends! Someone reminisced that, when F & A moved out from the city to the burbs after Alex, everyone drove out there and F & A served monkfish and ham. Weird combo! But Sandy and Lucy said not to knock it because Arnie was very proud of it! Lilly was gracious and we all had a really nice adult time, with her periodic napping in Terry's room.
Sunday was decadent. Lilly slept through the night (several weeks now with a brief interruption when we traveled). I woke up, continued reading Bringing up Bebe, which I started when she was about 5 weeks old. I read on her floor while she played and napped and played and napped. Then, went to get mani/pedis with Fern, came back and kept reading! Alex was much more productive, hanging the skateboard decks on the wall on the 2nd floor and knocking out other things on our To-Do Wunderlist. I just rested.
Monday, Lilly and I took a drive to Fairless Hills to visit Djung and pick up some more hand-me-downs. We hung out there for the entire afternoon - she had 2 naps! Then, I drove back to the City, made some thit kho and rau muong xao toi for everyone and cooked up some frozen oatmeal chocolate chip cookie dough. At dinner, Alex said, "no one is talking right now because the food is so delicious." F & A concurred.
- Today Lilly did this: Still STTN. She is great at dinner parties. She can fall asleep mostly anywhere (specifically, on her blanket on the floor of Djung's daughter's nursery, even while 3 of us were having a lively conversation and sorting clothes right over her - zonked out!).
- I want to remember this about my time off: In the AM, when I go down to nurse her at 6-7AM, it's like a nighttime feeding. But when I come down around 9-10AM to start our day, i adore how she stretches her whole body and has a huge smile on her face. I think she is a morning person right now, like me! Also, I love that I get to sleep in so much. We don't start our days until 10AM.
- Something I learned about parenting: While we are excited to have her at crowded events and we know she does well at them, we are also obliged to be very conscientious of not having too many people hold her, and to let her re-up periodically with some quiet time in a separate room (sometimes with just one other person visiting or with just me and Alex). It's like she's an introvert and needs quiet recharge time! So, I have gotten into the practice of setting my phone for 2 hours to "nurse" her whether she needs it or not for the quiet time.
- Something I didn't get to do today that I wanted to: Fix up my bike before I go back to work. I would like to definitely do this by January, when we start her at MBB. My plan is to stroller her to MBB, leave the stroller there, then bike the 7-8 blocks to work straight up 18th street.
- I spent time with these people today: F & A and all their friends, all the girls, Djung and her husband.
- Something about me and Alex: We are such a great team. We have also gotten so good at communication over the past year.
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