2 months old

Markin is 2 months old today. She had her pediatrician appointment this afternoon and she weighed 10 pounds 5 ounces (40% percentile) and was 22.5 inches long (60%) - the doctor said that was just about perfect! Everything looked fine and Markin survived her 2 shots (we're using Dr. Sear's alternate vaccination schedule, with the exception of moving up the hep B shots because she's in day care).

We went to my old school today and showed the kids the baby that was growing in my tummy all of last year. They were really excited to see her and held her very gently. One first grader kept playing "this little piggy" with her toes :)

After our busy day, Markin helped mommy at school - she was SO GOOD!!! I got lots done and will hopefully be ready for our open house tomorrow afternoon.

"Someone's been eating my porridge"

Or, more accurately, "Someone's been wearing my diapers." My little Goldilocks is having trouble finding diapers that are "just right." Swaddlers size 1 are too big (they leaked all over both of us!), Swaddlers newborn are too small - and we haven't found "baby bear's just right" ones yet.

And the prize for "best baby ever" goes to . . . Markin!

She's such a good baby that I often tell her that she's the best baby ever. She also hears that from her grandparents (and compared to her cousin who was colicky, they love the fact that Markin rarely cries -- fortunately, Naliya is now the happiest, smiliest baby ever and you almost forget the months and months of crying). Well, I was teasing my mom that I expected Markin's day care to tell me that she was the best baby ever. She told me that they wouldn't be allowed to say that (can't show favoritism) - and they didn't, but they did tell me over and over what a good baby she was. Well, a co-worker had lunch today with one of the "teachers" in Markin's room and she told my co-worker that Markin was the best baby ever - so that makes it official (my sister even agrees with the statement as long as best means easiest.)

Of course, I have to admit we had a rough afternoon. I took her to my old school to meet everyone and she had a tantrum! She was just over tired and couldn't fall asleep. As soon as I put her in her car seat, she was happy and fell asleep as soon as the car started to move.

First day of "school"

Markin went to day care for the first time today. It was just a half day, but still hard for me to leave her with strangers! When I picked her up, they commented on what a good baby she was. She hung out on the floor with everyone and had fun "playing." However, she slept through the art project - which I'm fine with. I'm sure it would be cute and part of it is just getting to experience it, but I'm pretty picky about art projects with my students. I had a paraprofessional (associate) one time who would make our students art projects perfect (basically do it for them) - and parents don't want something that's perfect and done by the teacher, they want what their child makes! (We butted heads all of the time on this topic.)

Of course, we did our "first day of school" pics - the first one is from when I dropped her off, the next one is from when I picked her up. She was sound asleep and didn't wake up for another 2 hours. Seems like I missed her more than she missed me, which is the only way I'd want it.

Helping Mommy

Well, even though I'm still on maternity leave, I need to get my classroom ready for the kiddos to come. Class starts on August 3oth for me, but I need to do home visits next week with all of my families. I've been trying to work in my classroom for a couple of hours each day, and Markin is coming along to "help." Today we even went to the staff meeting - everyone commented on what a good baby she is! She was awake and sat quietly in her car seat for the first 40 minutes, then decided to take a nap for the rest of the meeting. Maybe my principal will just let me bring her to work with me everyday and I won't have to leave her at day care - wouldn't that be great??? (the direct quote from my principal was "Wow! What a good baby! Glad you joined us!") The kiddos in my classroom would probably love it as well, if they're anything like my 4 year old niece!

Baby's first tattoo

Well, when I got back from the funeral on Saturday, the first thing I noticed was that Markin had a tattoo - courtesy of my 4 year old niece!

a difficult day

Today was a hard day all around. One of my college roommates' father was killed in a motorcycle accident, along with 3 other motorcyclists, on Monday. Very tragic - he was a great man. I felt I needed to go and pay my respects and support my friend, so I asked my sister to watch Markin. I figured it would be easier to leave her for the first time with family instead of strangers. It was hard for me to walk out the door without her (I left a lot later than I should have, only making it to the funeral with 5 minutes to spare by the time I got done pumping), but I did it knowing she'd be in good hands. Sounds like she had a good time with her auntie, uncle, and cousins. It was a long 8 hours without her, but I'm glad I went.

.

.

Markin's first stroller ride - on her way back from a garage sale

Markin with Naliya's "baby" and the stuffed animal Kalini bought for her

Kalini and Markin hanging out

First bottle

I fed Sweet Pea and she fell asleep, so I decided to pump and see if I could get a little more milk to freeze for when I go back to work in 2 weeks (I'm taking the full 8 weeks because of the c-section and will skip the first week of inservice meetings. There's almost 200 ounces in our freezer now ready for her when I have to leave her at day care, which is going to be so hard!). Well, as soon as I finished pumping, Markin woke up and started making her hungry noises. I decided we might as well try a bottle to see how it goes. She was unsure about it at first but caught on quickly.

6 weeks

Sweet Pea is 6 weeks old already. She's getting so big! Markin weighs about 9 pounds and 5 ounces.

Today I got a genuine smile - definitely not gas! She was asleep in my arms and when she woke up and saw me, she smiled at me. My heart melted.