2 months

Weight: 12 lbs

Height: 23"

Head Circumference: 15.5"

8 Weeks and Counting

Lilli is 8 weeks old and happily nursing. It is a Friday in late July. The past two months have been very surreal. Night has blended into day which has blended back into night. Today was less dreamlike than usual, perhaps because I escaped the confines of this house. Lilli and I went shopping at the consignment store, Me & Moms, in Ballard. Unfortunately Lilli didn't enjoy the trip since the shop floor was too smooth. She prefers the sensation of bumps under her stroller wheels. So she cried rather than slept.

Recently Jon and I have been enjoying 4 hour stretches of sleep at night! However, for a few hours every night she is awake in her crib and Jon and I lye quietly in bed listening to her grunting, sniffing, squirming and slurping as she sucks her thumb. I wonder whether this new found relationship with her thumb will last?

Brrrrrr

Lilli is a huge fan of funny noises. She studies hard and then copies. Sticking out her tongue is easy. Vibrating her lips in a big "bbbrrrrrrrr" is difficult. She tries so hard, but can't quite get her lips positioned accurately. Smiling with her eyes is easy. She narrows her eyes and they glint happily and mischievously. Initially I thought she had sore eyes until I caught sight of myself smiling in the mirror. Ahhhh! So that's where that came from! Lilli loves looking at herself in the mirror and coos delightedly at herself.

Our days have settled into a routine. Sleep, Eat and Play. There is little me-time, but sometimes I do manage to squeeze in a shower. Jon still makes me lunch every morning since I find it hard to do so myself! I am amazed by the amount of laundry I find myself washing and folding. It is the only house task I am capable of completing. I wish I could do more. Jon returns from work and the kitchen hasn't been touched. After he finishes cleaning up the mess he cooks dinner. I hope that soon I'll be able to do a little more. But right now all my time is spent with little Lilli. And I'm starting to feel intense cabin fever. Lilli and I might escape the house for a neighbourhood walk perhaps every other day. These four walls are very monotonous and tedious.

The Battisti Month

Mum and Dad stayed in Seattle for the month of June. It was a beautiful month. They were lucky to have gorgeous sunshine and so were we. We enjoyed many lovely walks around the neighbourhood. July breezed in with my birthday (neither of our birthdays were much of an event this year) and the arrival of Uncle Mike! July was the month of the Battisti family. It was great to see Mike and the rest of the family. They love babies! Lilli was passed back and forth between Uncle Mike, Uncle Dave and Auntie Angela during our frequent family get-togethers. Jon and I found the energy to host a couple of family BBQs in our garden. Lilli had so much fun meeting her big Battisti family. She loves people. Though at bedtime, overstimulated and tired from our parties, she would scream and scream. Big glistening tears rolled out of her eyes. We endlessly bounced her to sleep.

Uncle Mike left and Jon’s parents arrived, Nana and Grandpa. They are awed by Lilli's spirit, her energy and her intense curiosity of the world. She furiously wriggles when loving relatives attempt to bestow cuddles. The squirms subside if you turn her around in your arms and carry her facing outwards. As her Grandpa Battisti said the other night, she is constantly full of energy, even when sleeping. Earlier this week at a family dinner Lilli was passed between cousins Gemma and Emily and Nana and Grandpa before Uncle Dave vanished with her into the cool quiet house removing her from the stimulation and the heat. Even though our family gatherings will end in tears from exhaustion and too much excitement, she misses the activity during the days when she is home alone with me.

Books, Swings and Things

Lilli's marathon nursing sessions have been providing me with plenty of time to catch up with my reading. I flew through the book Charlotte gave me for my birthday, Annette Vallon. Now I’m settling into the story of an escaped convict's life in Bombay. This book, Shantaram, is bringing back the old wanderlust feeling. I’d love to visit India. Maybe I'll be able to escape one day with some girl-friends. Perhaps Lilli would be open to spending some time at a yoga retreat with her aging mother. Unfortunately Jon has no interest in visiting India, despite his love of the cuisine.

In the meantime we took a small day vacation from our house! We enjoyed a fun BBQ with Shannon, Pablo and their baby daughter, Anya, and Doug, Deirdre and their two daughters, Bridget and Cieran. Amazingly Lilli fell asleep and napped contentedly in their mechanical swing. I felt a little guilty since we were the only couple who enjoyed lunch in peace!

Lilli is sleeping more consistently at night. She quickly falls asleep in my arms when she's not nodding off while nursing. She is eating a lot! It must be a growth spurt. She has discovered her hands and how to make all those facial muscles work together to pull an amazing array of facial expressions, including big beautiful smiles. Her body movements are less jerky and a touch more coordinated now. She moves so much! We've been told many times that we have a spirited baby - whatever that means!

Medical Concerns!

To begin with there was the scare over Lilli's umbilical cord. A few days after our return from the hospital Lilli began to smell rather foul. It didn't take us long to locate the source of the stench. Lilli's umbilical cord stump was slowly detaching. With a little wiggling it was possible to see that there was puss collecting underneath. We had been dutifully cleaning her stump, but after some "You Tube" research we realized that we had been given poor "cord care" information in our birth class. We panicked and with visions of Lilli succumbing to blood poisoning we called the doctor, but they rather unhelpfully never responded. The next day Jon discovered the stump floating around in her Onesie! We swabbed her red belly button with alcohol and it healed quickly.

At 6 weeks of age we worried that Lilli had developed reflux. She appeared to be in intense pain after feedings. We visited the doctor who prescribed 'Baby Zantac.' Feeling reluctant to put Lilli on these intense drugs, we decided to give a homeopathic remedy, gripe water, a shot. It looked very unappetizing and her spit-up and poop turned an interesting shade of indigo. We only tried that once and thankfully the reflux seems to have vanished. She still regurgitates vast quantities of milk but without any fussing. I'm the one who is anxiously watching my cream rug develop grey spit-up spots!

A Blue Bath

I’m sad I missed the walk around the lake with the May Babies and their Mums which happens every Thursday. But since Lilli and I had a rare lie in until 9.30 there was no way we were going to get ready and out of the house in half an hour. Instead Lilli and I went to the consignment store and found a blue baby bath. Last night the 3 of us walked to the Fainting Goat Gelato and enjoyed delicious mango sorbet and almond gelato. What a lovely treat!

Smiles

Lilli started smiling at around 4 weeks of age. Such a big beautiful smile. Her whole face smiles. Her cries have started to change. She's already capable of expressing different emotions and needs.

Lilli has a black and white baby gym which she loves. It keeps her entertained and very happy. It allows us a little bit of freedom since she's been in our arms since she was born. Jon and I have spent hours shhing, rocking and swinging to help her sleep. We're attempting to mimic the security of the womb.

We've thought about implementing a routine, but that seems miles away. Right now our days and nights are very chaotic, very erratic, but so wonderful. There are times when I look at Lilli and I cry with happiness and wonder. Jon had a harder time giving up his freedom. There are days when I also feel completely overwhelmed, wishing I could hike in the mountains, create craftsy projects, practice yoga, have dinner together. Even just remembering to say "Hi" to Jon and "did you have a good day" when he gets home, rather than throwing Lilli at him when he’s exhausted from work would be good. But I guess that’s the way it goes. Wonderful highs and rock bottom lows. My feelings towards Jon, after the birth and after that first month have grown so much. I didn’t think that was possible. He’s an amazing and wonderful person. He's given me so much support through these first few months. My attraction to him, my love for him has deepened so much. Lilli is lucky to have such a wonderful father.

Granny & Grandad

Mum and Dad arrived when Lilli was about 2 weeks old. It was wonderful to see them. Initially it was a little hard looking after visitors in addition to Lilli, but it didn't take us long to establish a routine.

They spent the whole month of June in Seattle living on a small houseboat at Gasworks Park, just at the bottom of the hill. They walked up the hill every day. Dad would clean the kitchen muttering about Jon's messy cooking habits. Mum would take Lilli out for a walk in her stroller between 10 and 11am, allowing me time to nap, or if the neighbour's children were outside screaming with excitement then I'd take a blissfully long shower or clean the house. Mum loved these long walks with Lilli. Together they explored every street in Wallingford.

We had fun with Mum and Dad aka Granny and Grandad. We enjoyed dinners on the houseboat watching the ducks and we even spotted a beaver! We had a picnic in the sunshine at Discovery Park. We visited the Farmer's Market every Saturday and went shopping at the U-Village and ran into Deirdre, Cieran, Bridget and D’s parents who were also visiting. Jon and Dad brewed beer one evening with Greg. We saw Dave and Lynn. We had some delicious dinners at home, some of which we enjoyed in the garden. Dad took charge of my garden and tended my vegetables with good care. We kept him busy with many small house projects. Mum and Dad were a wonderful help.