Lorelei is Two Months Old!

Lorelei is 2 months old!

She's getting so big!  Her newborn sized onesies are just starting to seem snug, and she's getting stronger.  She's started arching her back and kicking her feet when we change her, and when she does both at the same time, she scoots herself backwards, right off the end of the changing pad!

This has been a big month for Lorelei with a lot of firsts.  The most exciting for Andrew and I has been her first smile!  We've been trying to catch her doing this with the camera, and we finally succeeded!  Silly baby, who are you sticking that tongue out at! :)

She's also started taking an interest in the dangling toys on her playmat.

At first she just looked at them and then would bat them accidentally when she waved her arms.  But just this past week we've watched her look at the and hit them repeatedly with the same movement.  So we think this is the first "purposeful interaction with the objects in her environment." :)  She still isn't purposefully grasping, but she does "hook" the rings on the elephant toy with her fingers.  If I put a rattle in her hand, she'll grasp it for a moment, but as soon as she looks away, she lets go.

Lorelei celebrated her first Valentine's Day with an adorable new outfit, hand-knitted by Gommy (Lynne - my mom).  I love the hat! 

Lorelei also received a handmade toy from Andrew's cousin, Kayla.  It's an owl holding a blankie and will make a great companion for the knitted elephant toy from Gommy!

Lorelei also had her first little cold (everyone in the house did)!  Fortunately it was mostly just nasal congestion for her and it passed quickly for all of us!  We were going to take her in to visit the March department meeting this past week, but with many other people sick and their kids sick, we decided not to risk it until after she's had her first round of immunizations.  Maybe she can go visit in April

February also brought Lorelei's first visit with her Aunt Kerry, Uncle Ben, and cousin Will!  That was a fun weekend.  You don't realize how little 1 and a half month old is until you put her next to an 11 month old!  We tried to get a nice group shot, but Lorelei quickly lost patience with posing. :)

Will spent some time looking at her, especially when she cried, but she's really not all that interesting to a toddler yet.  Just wait, Will, in a year she'll be toddling along after you!

She's doing great with tummy time! She's still working on holding up her head for long, but she's getting better at pushing with her arms and seems close to rolling over from tummy to back! 

We're doing well with breastfeeding -- I've learned how to do many things one handed including eating dinner with my left hand!  I'm enjoying reading on my new Kindle while I nurse. :)

I'm also adjusting well to pumping at work, thanks to my wonderfully caring and obliging  officemate, Pam! :)  As you might have guessed then, this past week was my first week back at work.  It's both good and difficult to be back at work during the day.  I missed my work activities and the routine (although I'm not yet entirely back into it yet), but it's very hard to leave my little girl behind.  We've spent the past two months getting to know each other better so I'm so happy that I can leave her with Daddy instead of strangers.

Lorelei is not quite as happy about the change we think.  She seems to be responding to my return to work by becoming increasingly clingy when I'm home.  She she had a total meltdown when I left for book group on Fri night and cried, non-stop for 3 hours except when she was eating.  She finally fell asleep just before I got home, leaving poor Daddy a bit worn around the edges. So I'm giving her lots of snuggle time this weekend.  She wants to nurse non-stop, so we're spending lots of Mommy time together to give Andrew a break. I'm sure she'll adjust soon, but the first weeks of not having mommy all day are hard apparently.  Fortunately I have a very flexible schedule for the rest of this semester.  I'll continue teaching my 2 online courses and plus a Mon, Wed afternoon course on campus and a Tues Thur night course out at Fort Drum. This gives me lots of flexibility for arranging my hours at work.

This weekend, we're having a A nice calm weekend at home, and then a short week at work next week because we're leaving on Fri for my nephew Will's 1st birthday party in PA..  This will be our first long trip with Baby Girl.  Given her current clinginess, this could be an interesting trip.  Fortunately she sleeps a lot in the car, so we should be able to go at least 2 hours at a stretch before stopping to feed and change her.  That's about when we normally stop anyway, so it should work out well. :)

We'll check in again next week to let you all know how the trip went and how her 2 month check-up and immunizations went.  Until then, Thanks for Reading!