I Like to Move it Move it.

Since my last post of sitting up and rolling over I am now mobile!

Around Valentine’s Day my Tias Wendy and Emily came to visit.  Emily brought Cara, who is a month older than me, but boy could she move!  She crawled around like nobody’s business and it made me very jealous.  I decided that barrel rolling from side to side was no way to get around.

Looking up to Cara.

I look so juvenile rolling.

Around the end of February I had an army crawl down.  This helped me get to block towers that I had to knock down or to Mom and Dad if they tried to get away from me. 

  It was very exhausting, but no matter how hard my mom tried to get me to crawl on my hands and knees, I wouldn’t do it.  Even Mom, Dad, and Dolores got down on the floor and started crawling to show me how to do it. It’s not like I didn’t know, I just didn’t have very good balance.

Eventually I decided that I needed to get to stuff faster than Mom and Dad expected me to get to, like outlets, coffee tables, glasses of water, important bills and documents, keys, makeup, and the edge of the bed.  This was my ultimate motivation in shedding the slow army crawl for the big girl hands and knees crawl. 

Now I am motoring all over the place and my parents have to baby proof our home, which is the safe thing to do but a never-ending process apparently.  They keep forgetting stuff, so I make sure to point it out to them by being really excited about pulling stuff off shelves and putting everything in my mouth!

I’ve had other Milestones since my last post that I think you’ll enjoy:

I got my helmet off. Am I cute or what?

Valentine's Day 2016

I blazed through month 11.

The chalk never lasts long

I tried out facial hair.

I mustache you a question.

Villain Malala

Mom and Dad took me to their favorite hobby, hiking.  

I can't understand why they are so tired after hiking.

I tried swim lessons.

Looking the part.

I'm ready for the Olympics.  As long as Mom holds me.

I can pull up on furniture.  I decided to do this TOTALLY out of the blue.

No practice necessary.

Next up WALKING!

The adorableness that is me at 10 months

After a long hiatus from posting I thought it was time to drop an unconscionably adorable bomb on my followers:

Mom tried showing me how to clap earlier in the week and I just kind of stared at her in amazement.  She is pretty awesome but I had no idea she could coordinate her hands to hit each other and make a sound.  She really is talented, that one.  After a day of her showing me this trick, I tried to mimic it, but I mostly just gave myself near miss fist bumps.  After another day I got them to connect, but my left hand betrayed me by being in fist form only.  Then the magic happened.  I was so proud of myself that I had to show Mom and lifted my long-withstanding ban on tummy time.  

This last month has been exhausting.  With the New Year I made a resolution to work out more and get my baby muscles into shape in time for my first birthday.  I've been hitting goal after goal on development.  Here are some highlights.

  I can sit up like a boss:

Me with the most shrill and annoying toy of all time.  Thanks Grammy.

I joined a book club:

War and Peace is next on my reading list.

And I decided to try some new hobbies:

Good thing I've got this protective head gear.

And I don't want to brag but I am now a member of the 1%...

In weight.  I'm on the chart  BABY!

I'll have Mom do a back-post recap of months 7-9 because I've very tired after all of this hard work.  Stay tuned because there's bound to be a crawling video in the next few weeks.

Peace-

 Malala

6 month update

Time is flying by faster than my little tiny fingers can keep up.  Every time I want to report on a new month, it seems like the next one has crept up on me.  Since I am not yet creeping, I’m getting lapped. 

My photographer (minion 1) and I

On the week before I turn 7 months, I want you to be aware of my slew of milestones, in the order of Mom’s favorite.

Partying cause it was month #5

And now I'm very tired

5. Tonight marks my tenure in the new world

As of 6:43PM TONIGHT, I will have existed longer in this outside world than in Mom’s womb.  Seems too soon right?  That’s what happens when you’re born at 7 months. Mom does get the benefit of not having gotten really big though in months 8 &9, but she’s weirdly sentimental at having been pregnant so we’ll just quietly mention this milestone and move on.

6 months was just kind of blah

 4.  Outgrowing newborn sizes

This is not mom’s favorite because my tiniest outfits are just so darn cute.  It was great to graduate to from preemie to newborn size, but now Mom feels I am getting carried away despite the fact that I am 6 months old and just now fitting into 3 month sizes without looking like I’m wearing Dad’s t-shirt. 

Speaking of sizes.

I graduated to size 1 diapers month.  This would be fantastic if Mom wouldn’t have cornered the market on newborn diapers when we signed up for Amazon Mom.  Who knew there would be a lag in when the order was fulfilled and when it arrivest?  We actually got a delivery of 5 cases of newborn diapers in one week.  This was around the time that I was a poo factory so it seemed like they’d get used.  They finally gave up with one case left, and I’m glad because I was getting SQUEEZED into those stupid things.  Sheer physics of squeezed baby and too small diaper dictated the graduation to size 1.

aunt tabby's ballerina size 3 months

My last time in newborn size (I wore this when I came home)

Mom calls this "adorable anger"

3.  My abs are sore

It all started with Mom holding on to my hands and me tugging at them.  I got the taste of sitting up and I can't go back.  The first days, I grunted like an Olympian weight lifter when Mom offered me her hands and tugged.  Then, within a week I was trying to do it on my own.  After another week, I cried when she laid me down instead of sitting me in her lap.  This is probably Dad’s favorite milestone because it means I’ll sit in his lap contently while he watches football games or Netflix.  Mom says I’m just like my Daddy because when a football game is on, she can’t get either one of our attention. 

No mom, I'm going to sit up like a MFing adult.

2.  Keep Calm and SMILE On

So not only has occupational therapy helped me calm down, but with this new-found zen, I actually smile quite a bit when I wake up.  One of the ways to melt Mom’s heart is to throw her one of my charming gummy grins when she peeks over the crib.  She seems to like this much better than when I scream in her face first thing in the morning.  Dad likes to snuggle with me in the happy morning too.  At this rate, if I keep smiling, and learn to say the words, “Can I have a pony?” I’ll have him completely wrapped around my tiny drool-covered fingers.

Charmed, I'm sure.

Hard to see but this is me waking up.

I also like to drool everywhere

Me and my human transporter (minion 2)

1.  Chunks of sleep*

No I’m not sleeping completely through the night (and Mom throws some mean eye daggers when asked this question), BUT with the purchase of the miraculous sleep sack, I will go up to 5 hours before chugging a bottle and laying right back down.  This allows mom and dad to both get a decent chunk of sleep.  Each of them get up once during the night to cater to my every need.  They seem far less sleepy than when I did my two hour sleeping bits.  You’re welcome.

Back is best, but tummy makes for better naps.

snuggle time

*since publication of this blog post, I’ve decided that I’ve been much too generous with Mom’s favorite milestone.  As I start to teethe, I’ve made an effort to regress to waking up every couple of hours.

Marylin Monroe had it all wrong.... Grandmas are a girl's best friend

Of course that makes for a much less sexy song, and I'm fairly certain it wouldn't make as much sense having a lot of tuxedo clad men carrying around Marylin if she was singing about crocheted cardigans and meatloaf but I am here to tell you that I'd take a grandma over a diamond any day.

I didn't know what to expect about this whole grandma business when I encountered my first.  Grammy Bond was at my bedside non stop my first days in the hospital.  Every time I looked to the side of my isolette there was Grammy keeping vigil at my bedside and staring at me.  She sighed if the nurses took too long when I was crying, or didn't fix my bilirubin glasses, or pretty much didn't attend to my every little squeak.  I thought boy, this lady is all about my customer satisfaction.  Even mom took breaks to pump and eat, but Grammy must have been in camel mode or had a catheter because she never took breaks.

Then the next time she visited she gave me my first taste of being held ALL DAY.  I didn't know life could be so amazing. Why would I EVER want to go back in a bassinet when someone is willing to cuddle me for 24 hours straight? Once she did this Mom had a hell of a time trying to get me to sleep in my bassinet on my own.  Once I had a taste of the good life, I wasn't going back.

Then I got excited because Mom and Dad also mentioned a Grandma Simpson.  They said I'd have to wait to see her because she was coming when Mom went back to work.  But she came out for TWO whole weeks and took care of me when Mom decided to put a shirt back on and leave the house for 8 hours a day.  She knew just how to hold me and soothe me when I was in a terrible mood, something Mom and Dad never bothered to learn (In their defense I do change my mind daily about how I like to be soothed and just what the problem is when I'm crying). She also took care of Mom and Dad by helping clean and making them dinner.  They were sad to see her go, but we made plans to reunite for Christmas.

I was angry at life, but look how much Grandma Simpson loves me anyway.

All of this makes me realize that Grandma's are a girls best friend.

Grandmas are good listeners:

They give good pats on the back:

We play with toys

And we nap

Plus Grandma's love to dress me up in clothes.  Here are some of my best grandma outfits:

I sure do wish my best friends lived closer, but for now, I'll take all the visits I can get!

A Fantastic Four Months

Who's got two tiny thumbs and turned 4 months today?

This gal!

 

I have been up to a lot since way back when I turned 3 months old.  Mom has lifted the sequester on me, and I've been out several times to make very strategic, germ free visits.  I caught up with nurse Linda, I went to learn all about babywearing, and mom took me on a road show to visit my buddies Jill, Cristina, and Chris. Dad takes me on walks in the park in the weeeeeee hours of the morning.  It's like there's a whole new world out there that I didn't even know about.  I love watching Mom and Dad huff and puff when they take walks. They talk a lot about being out of shape, but they've always looked like fuzzy blobs to me.  I don't get it.

babywearing is the bomb

I have started occupational therapy to address something called sensory issues.  I don't really like loud sounds or lights or fabrics.  I'm not a fan of touch either.  My therapist Michelle said I'm pretty stellar at playing with toys though.  We're going to be working on a whole lot of stuff so stay tuned!

Big news! I have colic, which is super awesome because it makes my parents want to hold me all the time.  I've yet to give them the secret password that stops me from crying.  About two weeks ago, I decided 7pm is the witching hour, when I start screaming inconsolably.  Dad has figured out if he twists like Chubby Checker on heroin, I will settle down for a bit.  It's good for his waist line really.  You're welcome pops.

Dad and I after twisting.

Mom keeps telling me her time with me one on one is coming to an end soon.  Something about August 3rd being her return back to full time work.  I haven't quite decided if we're supposed to be excited about this or not.  Sometimes she starts smiling about it as I'm crying, but then i hear her crying in the morning as she's holding me and I'm all quite and snuggly. I guess she hasn't made up her mind either.  Since she's going to work, I get to meet my Grandma Simpson.  I'm so excited to find out I have TWO grandmas.  This one is going to stay with me for two weeks, while Mom transitions back to work.

I thought I'd compile a list of things that I dig at 4 months:

Elvis, making Mom and Dad sleep with me, the sound "g", miss turtle on my changing table, my black and white queen cow, and baths.... but NOT getting out of baths.

I try to get milk out of queen cow, but she's holding out.

Dressed in my Sunday best

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee

Happy 4 months to me!

3 Months and counting

Hey everybody!

3 Months!

I've been so busy being home and an awesome, albeit fussy newborn, that I haven't had time to blog.

The transition home has been interesting.  Mommy and Daddy were so excited to have me home.  You should see them figure out this whole parenting thing.  There were times when I was being a perfect sleeping angel, resting quietly.  They thought I was a little "too quiet" and they nudged me just to make sure I was breathing.  I showed them I was by screaming and not going back to sleep.  It's a team effort really, and I'm all about feedback.

Here is a photo of me at 2 months old.  I was such a little baby back in those days.

I have been to the pediatrician and cardiologist and both say I am doing so well!  I think Mom and Dad have a hard time not being regimented like the NICU schedule.  My pediatrician says Mom needs to adjust to real life and to go with the flow. When I'm hungry feed me.  I decided I am going to start being hungry every 2 hours, just in case she wants to fall asleep on the job, I do my duty of waking her up!  The cardiologist also said my heart was really strong and that I'll be monitored throughout childhood to make sure it stays that way.  He said it was amazing that everything turned out so well and that he was actually really worried when he heard Mommy was delivering at 29 weeks.  I'm full of surprises!

First doc appointment after the NICU.... BORING.

I have had so many milestones that it's hard to keep track.  I passed being 3 months old on the 29th of June.  Even though I am so old, I am still really gestationally only about 3 weeks old.  I was born so early that the early months really just count like I was still a fetus.  Mommy and Daddy will measure my developmental milestones from my due date. That means I'm still working on things like tummy time and recognizing black and white objects. Here are some of my work outs:

The vibrating chair is intense

This will likely make me a genius one day.

Add caption

Here I am at my favorite gym. Right now I just bat at all the toys, but someday I will grab them and in my mouth they will go.

Sophie and I discuss changing table etiquette.

This is me interacting with "My baby".  She's always talking when I am.  It is so rude.

Most of the time I just sleep and look adorable.  

I'm too sexy for my shirt.  So sexy it hurts.

As you can see for the first couple of weeks I didn't wear anything but a diaper and a swaddle.  This was because Mom and Dad were too lazy to change clothes and a diaper, but over time Mom has gotten into the whole cute clothing idea and likes to put outfits on me as if I were a doll.  Dad likes the outfits only because it provides another layer of blow-out protection.

I have passed the 7lb mark and am growing really well, but still pretty small.  I am in the 10th percentile for preterm babies in both weight and length.

This next month I start some heavy duty training- Occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy.  These are supposed to help me catch up to other kiddos my age.  Mom and Dad are hoping they train me on how to stay asleep all night. We'll see about that: