The Big Roll. Over.

So, I wasn't going to post anymore until I got back to NY, BUT, something very exciting happened yesterday, and right now, Stretchy is sleeping in her carseat*.

As we were having our daily "tummy time" - necessary now because babies can't sleep on their stomachs anymore and without tummy time, would apparently never learn to crawl - Stretchy did something totally unexpected.  For the past few days, she'd been getting a lot better at tummy time.  Since we started at week 4, tummy time typically involved a very unhappy baby faceplanting the playmat, drooling some, and crying almost immediately.  For a couple weeks, we saw some improvement in the form of a slight headlift which would precede the faceplant.  But recently, she's been able to hold her head up for a good 20 seconds before falling subject to the face-in-the-mat.  Yesterday, as she was holding her little head up, she started rocking a little- not too unusual, the rocking usually signified her deciding tummy time was over, but suddenly, she was on her back.  No help needed- she'd ROLLED OVER!!

Now, I couldn't get too excited just yet, because at her 4-week appointment, the doctor had placed her on her tummy and somehow she rolled over to her back.  The doctor was impressed, but I'm pretty sure it was a fluke combination of her being extremely upset and the placement of one of her arms (maybe under the belly?).  So I had to see if she'd do it again...

Like any proud parent I took out the camcorder (thanks for the awesome Christmas present, Mom!) and turned her back on her tummy and pressed record.  And waited.  And waited.  For her to faceplant and start crying...

I hoped she was just too tired from the first flip to do it again right away.  And I was right!  After a nap, this is what I caught on tape:

I couldn't have been prouder of my little girl!!

She worked so hard!

Happy Day After Christmas!

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Stretchy, Bob and I arrived on Friday night and spent a relaxing Christmas Eve with my family.  We couldn't really start many Christmas traditions this year since Stretchy is too young to remember, but one thing I loved when I was a kid, and wanted to keep going for Stretchy was the tradition of opening ONE present on Christmas Eve:

Of course, that one present was always pajamas:

Stretchy loved hers!

Christmas was a little overwhelming for Stretchy, and while she got lots of cool presents, she slept through all the festivities yesterday and only started enjoying her new toys today.

We'll be enjoying lots of rest and relaxation (with my mom helping to take care of us!) and quality time together this week, so until next week, enjoy the rest of the holiday season and best wishes for a Happy New Year!!

Merry Christmas Eve Eve

Tonight we're off to NH to spend Christmas with my family.  Since Stretchy is too young to know what's going on, we don't have to worry about who's house Santa comes to, or Christmas Eve/Day traditions of our very own... at least until next year... though I did buy her some PJs to open before bed on Christmas Eve because I used to love that part of Christmas when I was growing up...

In case we are so busy that I don't have time to post from home... I just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.

Here are two super cute pictures to hold you over until the new year.

Stretchy in yet another Christmas outfit:

And camouflage baby!!

Oh, the Horror!!

Today was Stretchy's 2 month visit.  Three things happened during this visit that I wasn't expecting.

1. Stretchy was calm, collected and cool for almost the entire time.  She even smiled at the doctor and practiced coo-ing.  Awesome.

2.  She was not nearly as heavy as I thought and I lost the bet.  I thought she'd be at least 12lbs. by now.  Nope.  10lbs.14oz.  Which places her neatly in the 48th percentile.  Enjoy that while you can little Stretchy... if you've got any Mommy-genes in you, it won't last long...

3.  Watching your child as someone inflicts pain on them- in fact, pain which you have whole-heartedly signed up and asked for- is the most horrific thing that could happen to a person.  The cry that ensued as the injections were given was the saddest thing I've ever seen Stretchy do.  The red face, the un-ending wail... I may have even teared up a little.

The up-side to the vaccines?  Stretchy took a two-hour nap when we got home and I finished my Christmas wrapping.

The down-side?  Since she woke up from the above-mentioned nap, she's been trying to wear out her lungs.  It hasn't worked yet.

Dear Infant Triaminic,

Please work soon, or Mommy will have a nervous breakdown from not being able to comfort her child in any way.

Love,

Frazzled Mommy, Who in the Very Near Future, Might Break Down and Cry with Her Baby

New York at Christmas

Last weekend we went to New York City.  I'm like a little kid, and as soon as we found out we'd be living within hours of NYC, I had to go at Christmastime.

It was Stretchy's 2 month birthday.  I thought a trip to NYC seemed like a pretty good present.

We got up early (we even had to wake Stretchy up) and arrived at the Saratoga bus station at 8am.

Stretchy wasn't sure about her first bus ride.

By the time we transferred in Albany, she was a pro.

We arrived in NYC around noon.  Stretchy was in awe.

It was bustling and crazy and there were people practically lined up to walk across the street.

Stretchy was a little overwhelmed and decided to take a nap.

We saw Times Square.

Stretchy woke up in time to see the Christmas Market at Bryant Park where we saw the ice skaters

and got our picture taken by the tree.

There were lots of interesting things to see

On the way to The Tree

We waited in line at FAO Schwartz.  Fortunately, the stroller line was short!

Daddy couldn't figure out how to use the camera... but here we are by the Ugly Dolls.

We went across the street to the Plaza Hotel

Where there was the best Santa ever.

 Stretchy got her first picture with Santa, and it was the cutest thing on the planet, but I'll save that for another post... but here she is afterwards in the fancy waiting area chair.

On the way back to the bus we tried for a family portrait...

And took a few more photos.

I have to say that looking back, was taking a 2 month old to NYC a very enjoyable thing to do?  When you are a crazy, worrying mom, No.  But was it amazing and awesome and would I do it again?  Totally.  If only for the Santa picture.

A New Nickname & Apples

First order of business for today's post is... a new nickname for MiniM.E.  Most of the other "mommy bloggers" I follow don't use their kids' names.  Which totally makes sense (mostly when you are an awesome blogger and have tons of followers- many who you've never met... less when you only have a tiny smattering of people who you'd trust your kid with...).  That's why I picked MiniM.E. (which, if you know her name, as probably all of you do, makes sense).  BUT hopefully I will eventually amass a ginormous following due to my fantastic sense of humor and inevitable pitfalls as a new mother (or not...).

When choosing MiniM.E.'s nickname, I was envious of others with adorable names for their kids like "The Incredible Hulk" (at newmomontheblog.blogspot.com) or "The Pork Lo Mainiac" (at starkravingmadmommy.com).  My first mommy blog was rantsfrommommyland.com (absolutely hilarious) and they have good nicknames too, but I am too lazy to re-read posts from ages ago to find them.  And somewhere in my mommy-internet-land there's a "Burrito Boy" for the way the blogger's son looked when swaddled.

But since I started my blog before MiniM.E. was even born, and frankly, newborns have close to zero personality (unless those funny smiles and sounds while pooping count?), I didn't have any direction when choosing a nickname.

UNTIL NOW!  MiniM.E. is the most fantastic stretcher I've ever seen.  Most people (babies included?) stretch after sleeping.  Check.  MiniM.E. stretches after every nap.  But also when getting out of or into the car seat, baby swing, pack-n-play and/or crib, after eating, after burping, before diaper changes, during diaper changes, and after diaper changes, and often every fifteen or so minutes.  Hence, the new nickname "Stretch Armstrong" (or "Stretchy" for short).

I promise I will soon capture a photo of said stretching.

Apparently, I probably shouldn't be posting photos of Stretchy on my blog (but you guys are all my friends and family, so for now, its okay- until she stops looking like "nondescript baby") and I should probably also nickname my husband...  I'll put it on my mile-long to-do list...

For now, a photo showing Stretchy taking after her mom and beginning a caffeine addiction at an early age.  The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

see, she even looks jacked up on caffeine!

A Very Christmassy Weekend

My Christmas decorations are finally up!

I have to say, it is very difficult to get anything done with a 7-week old, let alone hang anything delicate or which requires hooks, lighting, electricity, or live branches.

Thank God for my mom who is willing to drive 3.5 hours anytime to see her granddaughter or my Christmas decorations would consist only of the boxes of Christmas decorations scattered around our house.

I was asked, when complaining about how much work it was to put them up, why I would even bother- after all, I have a new baby, and who is coming to my house to see the decorations anyway??
BUT, I LOVE CHRISTMAS and NEED my decorations, so to me, it was worth it :)

Saturday was the last step in decorating our house: we needed a tree!

We told MiniM.E. we were going to get a tree and she was so excited that we managed to snap a few good photos of some excitable smiles (or maybe I was just making really stupid faces and talking in a ridiculously high-pitched, sing-song voice... you'll never know...).

 And then she was SO excited that she fell asleep.

Sleeping doesn't last very long anymore, so after a few minutes we were ready to head out.

We decided on Ellm's Farm for our Christmas tree this year because you got to choose and cut your own.  They had trolley rides out to the farm and hot cocoa and cider and donuts and most importantly, reindeer!!

It was everything it promised to be, with the exception of the reindeer.  Turns out they were no longer living.  SO SAD!!!  Especially because I wanted a picture of MiniM.E. riding on one.  But I guess they probably would have allowed that anyway... sounds like a law suit waiting to happen.

It was a very Christmassy great time.

We found our tree and Bob cut it down

We tied it to the car

And enjoyed some hot cocoa, all while MiniM.E. slept, even through the photo op at this um, awesome? train with a hole cut-out for faces...

Yesterday, MiniM.E. put the first two ornaments on the tree!

SO CUTE!!

Alright... fussy baby- must go!!

Christmas Pictures

Can I just state how obnoxious it is that babies can be so super cute in person, but as soon as you press the shutter button on the camera something happens and they stop looking cute.  (or maybe its just my baby)  Seriously, now that MiniM.E. is smiling, all I want to do is capture the adorable-ness.  However, I get this instead:

Not that that's a terrible picture... it's a cute picture of a smiling baby, but it doesn't look ANYTHING like MiniM.E.

So my camera is filled with a lot of bad pictures.  Which, I have to say, made taking a Christmas for Christmas cards very difficult.  

Here are some of the best photos from the first session...   I didn't choose one from this batch for the cards because I decided against the green-striped outfit.  

A good smiling picture!!

I've realized that the best photos are sleeping photos.  Sleeping babies are the best kind of babies for taking photos (and enjoying while being a stay at home mom) so for "Christmas-Card-Photo-Session-Two" we opted for a sleeping MiniM.E.