Well, at least she has a pretty face...

Last week marked Annie's first week of "school" and I am happy to report that she did great!  The whole daycare (or "Children's Academy" as they like to be called) is brand new, so all the babies were new to the daycare experience and none of the teachers knew any of the students at the outset.    Annie started out the week refusing to eat or sleep much, but by Friday she was taking all her bottles and napping well.  She also apparently went to her first religious service yesterday - I wonder what they say at "Tot Shabbat."   Yes, Annie attends a Jewish daycare, where she will be learning Spanish and Hebrew, and we can't send ham sandwiches for lunch.

Anyway, last night we got a sort of re-cap email from Annie's teacher, telling all the parents about the first week of school.  The email itself has taught me a lot about what non-family caretakers should say and should not say about kids.  For example, just sending an email describing all the babies is bound to cause unnecessary comparisons, and in Type-A people like myself, unnecessary competition.

The email, which has been redacted for names and edited for length:

... Your babies are all AMAZING!....

...[Baby A] is our "Queen Bee."  She amazes me every day with her spirit and energy. Today at our first Shabbat, Baby A was moving to the music, dancing all over the place.  She could not keep her little body still. She was so happy.

[Baby B] is our "little princess."  Such a big personality for such a small baby.  Her face lights up a room.  Baby B loves everyone, she smiles at you when you talk to her.  Baby B enjoyed Shabbat also. 

[Baby C] is like a baby doll.  I figured out that she too loves music but reacts in a different way.  It calms her downs, so much that it puts her to sleep.  She spends a lot of time watching everything around her and taking it all in with her gentle smile.

Annie is our "Gerber baby," those eyes are wonderful.  Annie is very patient and quiet.  She loves to cuddle and likes to play tug of war with a burp cloth.

That's right, the other babies are leaders, dancers and musicians.  Our baby likes to play with spit rags.

Five months!

Monday is Annie's five-month birthday!  We celebrated today by taking her to the park at 7:30 am (it was already getting hot) and trying out the baby swings.  She looked so little bitty in there!

I think she had fun, if this smile is at all indicative!

She held on tight to the sides!

She's finally starting to look a little bit like me, and not just like a clone of Toby.  Though, truth be told, she's cuter than both of us put together.  

Don't worry, I stood about 3 inches behind her, at most, the whole time.  I think she's another month or two from being out of the dangeous I-could-fall-through-the-holes stage.

She also enjoyed joining Daddy for a while on the big-kid swings. 

She is just too cute for words.  She's about 15 pounds and starting solids.  She loooooves squash and sweet potatoes, and looks like she's being poisoned when we give her peas and green beans.  We are not deterred on the green vegetable front.  Soon we'll be on to broccoli and avocado!  I may give her a pass on the brussle sprouts, though. :)

Musings

1.  A friend told me about this shop today, and I am so upset that I didn't think of the idea first.  http://www.rufflebutts.com/  Ruffle butts are my favorite feature of little girl clothes. 

2.  Good luck to Tracey this weekend - she is competing in her first triathalon of the fall season.  Kick butt, girlfriend!

3.  Toby started back to work this week, and we've had a bit of a transition period with both of us working and still trying to keep the household running.  Thank goodness my parents have been keeping Annie!  She absolutely adores them, and I'm pretty sure they feel the same.  Next week - daycare!

Best diaper and wipes deal ever!

I am a little too excited about the deal I just got on diapers and wipes. Amazon.com has a "subscribe and save" feature where they send you diapers and wipes (and lots of other stuff) in whatever quantities and on whatever monthly schedule you want. So, for example, we've signed up for 3 cases of wipes every three months and 2 cases of diapers every month. If you sign up now, you get 30% off plus free shipping for the whole time you keep the subscription! Throw in the fact that their prices are cheaper to start with and you don't have to pay tax, and we're saving nearly 50% from the price we pay at Harris Teeter and BabiesRUs. Woo-Hoo!

Toby just gave me a bit of a condescending smile, but I'm taking that extra $75 a month and getting a massage. Double Woo-Hoo!

Not going to win the Mother-of-the-Year Award

I saw AnnaLeigh for about 1.5 waking hours today, and in that time managed to (1) notice that she clawed her face last night because I didn't cut her nails (2) make her scream by sticking my head out from behind the shower curtain to kiss her goodbye, and (3) make her scream by running her arm into a doorframe.

*Sigh*

Try something different...

"Try something different" has been one of my mottos since Annie's arrival. Baby doesn't like the song you're singing? Try something different. Baby hates the bouncy seat she used to love? Try something different. I feed/clothe/bathe her one way, but her daddy, grandparents, friends, etc. are welcome to try something different.

Why on Earth did I forget all that when we were fighting to get her to sleep last week? Yesterday Toby and I finally remembered the motto, tried something different, and got some sleep. No, she didn't sleep through the night, but she did sleep from 7-2:30 and from 3-6. It felt like a huge victory! The changes? We fed her the dreaded f-word (formula) at 6:30 and we didn't wake her up to feed her again at 10, like we had been doing. Then we went to sleep at 9:30, fully expecting to be woken up at 11, 1, 3 and 5.

Instead, I woke up at 1:30 and was so happy/relieved/excited that I couldn't go back to sleep. I finally went to check on her at 2:30. Though I missed all the creaky spots on the floor, my ankle made a terrifically loud pop on my way out of her room, and I woke her up. Next time, I'll try harder not to check on her. :)

It is too early to say we turned the corner on our week of awful sleeping, but we feel so much better today knowing that it is possible to get some sleep on occassion. Wish us luck tonight.

Making me look bad...

Toby has been home with Annie for the last two weeks, and they have been having a great time together. Back when I was home, I was pretty proud at the end of the day that I had kept the baby alive and maybe emptied the dishwasher. Now, I get home at the end of the day and Toby has done all the laundry, kept the house straight, walked the dog, taken Annie for a hike, and today........

...sewed a felt hand puppet to go with her favorite song. "Five little speckled frogs, sitting upon a log, eating some most delicious bugs. One jumped into the pool, where it was nice and cool, now there are four speckled frogs..." etc etc. So he's also teaching her math.

He is seriously making me look bad.