Saturday, March 19, 2011
Eye Color
Guess what?! Evie's eyes are different colors! Yes, her right eye is blue and her left eye is green...at least for the moment. I thought it was my imagination at first, or the way the light was hitting her eyes. But after noticing this in many separate settings, I had to accept that she's...heterochromatic (yeah, had to look that one up). We'll see how long this lasts - pretty cool! I'll try to capture it in a photo so you can see for yourselves...
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Weeks of Big Milestones
Evie has been leaping firmly into the world these past few weeks! She feels like a little girl to me now, no longer the beautiful, porcelain doll of her first months. She locks her eyes on me and clearly communicates her needs. She's more active in general - especially in the mornings from nine to eleven - which means that she's napping regularly. She takes a nap at eleven in the morning and again at three in the afternoon. She's asleep by seven in the evening and only wakes up twice during the night - once around midnight and again at four-thirty. At seven she's wide awake and ready to play. Sometimes she hears the other children on the block getting ready for school and wants to go outside on the porch and watch the action. One day we'll be rushing to get her packed up and in the car - probably with just as much chaos as we hear from our neighbors!
The biggest news of the past two weeks is that Evie has had several important breakthroughs! Or, according to her pediatrician, she's reached three major milestones: Rolling over, grasping objects with one hand, and the development of binocular vision (i.e. depth perception, gazing intently, and accurate tracking). This is all very exciting for her proud mother of course. I think it might also be kind of exciting for her, although in some ways she's getting more frustrated than before. Now that she's really focusing on what she wants to grab, and has the depth perception to accurately aim for things, she becomes quite peeved (and sometimes injured) when the object doesn't go from her hand to her mouth quite as smoothly as she'd intended!
One of the most important 'milestones' Evie reached was when she was with her Auntie Becky doing "Tummy Time" on Sunday (2/6)! Here is a video taken just after the event!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
A Reasonable Bit of Quiet
"Try to arrange things so that you can have a reasonable bit of quiet every day" .
Evelyn Underhill
Evelyn Underhill
We're back! We've had many happy surprises since our last posting, starting with Evie's Papa arriving unexpectedly at our doorstep on Friday night - all the way from New York! This surprise was both weird and wonderful. Because Boris has always felt ripped off by his many trips to California without seeing one Redwood tree, we took our little bean on the road to Northern California to see the Sequoias in Grandpa Dick's neck of the woods. As all of you know, Evie has been born into a family of Redwood lovers and it was just pure joy to see her big eyes grow even wider as she took in these quiet giants. Her little body relaxed into mine as I carried her for the first time in the 'big girl' Baby Bjorn on the many trails throughout Pt. Reyes. She insisted on being carried face forward (usually babies under six months face the parent). She giggled and kicked her legs as we walked. It was supremely delightful.
So, because I know you've all been in suspense from our last posting, let me report the results from the Flax Oil trials without further delay: After a very nonrandom, uncontrolled two week study, we have concluded that Flax Oil has cured Evie of her intestinal distress. Yes, you heard that right. Evie is no longer pushing obsessively for several hours each day. Her poops are slip, sliding away! With that said, we are on to the next challenge: Teething.
With her pooping problems behind her, so to speak, Evie is now focusing on her gums. She is stuffing both hands into her mouth and staring at me in bewilderment. Then her eyes narrow and she starts grunting and drooling. Eventually her eyes well up and her tears mix with her saliva as her look turns to...what I can only call... betrayal. Her little mouth, once the center of comfort and pleasure, has become a throbbing, bubbling cauldron of unexpected torment. Poor sweet noodle! If anyone has any home remedies for teething, feel free to share. I don't want to give her any of the numbing ointments because I've heard they contain yucky chemicals and don't work very well anyway.
Now that we're home and back into our routine, the posts will return to their daily schedule. Your comments are very fun and much appreciated. Stay tuned for the next installment in the adventures of little Evie.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Will Flax Oil Smooth Things Out for Evie?
For those of you who know the 'ins' and 'outs' of Evie's daily life (the puns are just endless on this topic), you know that her biggest troubles are with her ongoing colon negotiations. I have had my own troubles trying to get a grip on the situation. Most of the time, it seems that gas is the culprit. When she really screams in pain, it's clearly gas that's hurting her. But the rest of the time, when she's not screaming in pain, she displays other signs of discomfort.
For instance, she kicks her legs up and down and draws her right leg in towards her chest and back out again. She digs in when in her swing and/or stroller, squirms and turns bright pink. These are all signs of constipation. But according to her pediatrician, and all the baby books I own (plenty, I assure you), Evie isn't constipated. She has plenty of bowel movements and they are of the right...well, texture...no, I guess consistency is a better word here. Anyway, it's a mystery, and a very uncomfortable mystery at that!
So, the dreadful westside Mommy & Me group did provide me with one valuable piece of information. The leader of the group, who I actually like a lot, explained to me that certain extremely tuned in, sensitive, conscious and bright babies (those may not have been her exact words but I knew what she was trying to say), can become easily fixated on their inner workings in the first several months of life. After around 4-5 months, they start to be able to differentiate between the feeling of food in the colon versus food in the bowel and they stop pushing all the time. This made a lot of sense to me because I've noticed that I can often distract Evie from her push fest if I provide her with something interesting enough.
I started doing more research on the topic and found that Dr. Sears - one of the many Dr. Sears of the family of Sears pediatricians (attachment specialists among other things) - recommended Flax Oil for the overeager pusher. One teaspoon a day in the midday bottle is supposed to smooth things out. So, off to Whole Foods I went and $20 later (no joke), I had a small bottle of organic, filtered Flax Oil (with DHA & Omega-3).
Stay tuned for the results. In a couple of days I will be able to report if this latest treatment has yielded anything of interest. In the meantime, if anyone has any comments or suggestions, feel free to weigh in!
For instance, she kicks her legs up and down and draws her right leg in towards her chest and back out again. She digs in when in her swing and/or stroller, squirms and turns bright pink. These are all signs of constipation. But according to her pediatrician, and all the baby books I own (plenty, I assure you), Evie isn't constipated. She has plenty of bowel movements and they are of the right...well, texture...no, I guess consistency is a better word here. Anyway, it's a mystery, and a very uncomfortable mystery at that!
So, the dreadful westside Mommy & Me group did provide me with one valuable piece of information. The leader of the group, who I actually like a lot, explained to me that certain extremely tuned in, sensitive, conscious and bright babies (those may not have been her exact words but I knew what she was trying to say), can become easily fixated on their inner workings in the first several months of life. After around 4-5 months, they start to be able to differentiate between the feeling of food in the colon versus food in the bowel and they stop pushing all the time. This made a lot of sense to me because I've noticed that I can often distract Evie from her push fest if I provide her with something interesting enough.
I started doing more research on the topic and found that Dr. Sears - one of the many Dr. Sears of the family of Sears pediatricians (attachment specialists among other things) - recommended Flax Oil for the overeager pusher. One teaspoon a day in the midday bottle is supposed to smooth things out. So, off to Whole Foods I went and $20 later (no joke), I had a small bottle of organic, filtered Flax Oil (with DHA & Omega-3).
Stay tuned for the results. In a couple of days I will be able to report if this latest treatment has yielded anything of interest. In the meantime, if anyone has any comments or suggestions, feel free to weigh in!
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Ducks and Egrets
Evie and I had so much fun at Kundalini yoga yesterday! It's just fantastic. Of all the Mommy & Me activities I've signed up for recently, I had the lowest expectations for the yoga. I couldn't imagine how it would be relaxing to do yoga with a bunch of crying babies. But, I've been totally surprised to find that my favorite activity of the week is Kundalini by far. Evie spends the two hours we're there smiling, laughing and trying to sing. She kicks her legs and stares unabashedly at the gorgeous yoga instructor with the long, blond hair. It's really funny! Two women noticed how attentive Evie was to the instructor both times we went. Yesterday during introductions I told the instructor, "Evie seems to really like you", and she replied, "We have a deep connection, this is true".
I think I've found my kind of yoga with Kundalini. It feel more like dance and uses the whole space of the room. There's always beautiful music playing and the poses are set to the beat of the drums in the songs. We do a lot of work in a large circle around the perimeter of the room - which is great. It's kind of like a 'feel good', seventies style experience - lots of scarves and flowing tapestries hanging on the walls - love, beauty, openness as key tenets of the practice. I still don't know anything about it really - the history or teachings. There are lots of paintings and photos of a Yogi Bhajan and the Sikh Golden Temple in India. It's interesting...I'm going to find out more. Evie honestly just loves the music and dancing around the room. She looks like she's having SO much fun.
Last night Evie slept for twelve hours straight! It's just one more thing to add to the "totally random" list I've realized comes with babies. There are very few absolutely predictable behaviors with these little people. They're changing every second and what worked marvelously one day - to help Evie pass gas for instance - is a brilliant flop the next (as Grandpa Dick can attest to). So, who knows what happened last night. It's possible that the Kundalini yoga did it. Perhaps the music and energy relaxed her and the yoga tired her out. I thought about waking her after 8-9 hours to give her a bottle... but I chose to go back to sleep and relish the random instead.
This morning she woke up at 8am - so civilized - and we had breakfast outside on the patio. I'd like to say we did that because it was a beautiful day, but actually it was because I left the water kettle on the stove too long as I was changing and dressing Evie and the water evaporated causing the metal to begin to melt down and fill the house with a toxic odor. Go Mommy! So, I opened all the windows and we took our morning meal under the trees.
Evie started to get a bit cranky after that so we set out on a walk of the Venice canals. From our place, it's just a few blocks to the entrance to the canals. Evie can usually be cheered up by a walk, or else at the very least, she will fall asleep. We entered at the Carrol canal and walked south. Crossing a steep white bridge, we spotted a family of egrets sleeping in and around some canoes. We stopped and watched them for a while. A family of ducks came along and woke up the egrets who spread their long wings. That's when Evie noticed them for the first time. She spent several minutes staring at one rather dirty looking egret in particular who was sitting on the bow of a small boat. He kept his wings spread out wide, as if trying to intimidate, yet, he seemed a bit wobbly somehow. I wondered if he kept his wings out like that to try to keep his balance. Anyway, if he'd been a duck, he'd have been considered an odd duck for sure.
After some time, a big orange cat came around the corner from a smaller branch off the grand canal. He slowly approached the ducks and egrets. He was very sure footed and clearly knew what he was doing. I wondered if Evie was going to notice him. On a side note, I was reading an article put out by the UCLA Baby Lab - a world famous research lab working on infant development, mostly visual coordination and language acquisition - on four month old babies and how much they can actually see. I was surprised to read that the researchers at the baby lab believe babies of four months can see at least twelve feet away and have developed, or are completing the development of, depth perception. Anyway, check out the baby lab if you can. They have an excellent newsletter that anyone can subscribe to: http://www.babylab.ucla.edu/ So, back to the orange feline...well, as could be predicted, kitty used his stealth approach to elude the birds until he was just two feet from our friend the wobbler egret. Then he pounced! Well, he fake pounced actually because he didn't seem to want to board the boat. He jumped as close as he could to the canoe while remaining on land. The wobbler egret didn't even flinch. I was hoping he'd make a big fuss and fly off so Evie could watch him use his wings for something other than trying to keep himself upright...but, no such luck. Clearly this is a morning ritual between cat and egret. We were just lucky to have witnessed the dance as we made our way through the canals.
Evie was, and is in general, most interested in plants. If I park her stroller facing a bush, she is content to check out the leaves and flowers for hours. I have to be careful though because once I was sitting enjoying my coffee when a jogger stopped to ask if I knew who 'that child' belonged to. When I told her she was mine, the woman asked, "Why did you push her into a bush?" These pesky do-gooders! I understand the concept that a child belongs to the world, but honestly, I wish people would mind their own business sometimes. You can't believe the advice and commentary I get just walking to my car. Hey, if I want to put my baby in a bush, that's my business - Evie happens to love bushes!
Anyway, the rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Evie played on her gym mat. I'm trying to improve her hand eye coordination, which seems to be lagging a little behind. The gym is a round mat with objects hanging from two foam arches that criss-cross over it. The baby is supposed to bat at, or grab, the objects with his or her hands. In Evie's case, she just likes to sit and stare at them - and sometimes talk to them. She almost never even raises her hands from her sides. It's a little unusual but I'm not worried. Right now she's concentrating on her legs - which are very strong and coordinated!
Okay, enough for today. It's time to start the bedtime routine. I can hear some not-so-subtle sucking sounds from the pink swing. It's Evie's way of saying, "It's time to start getting the bottle prepared". In about fifteen to twenty minutes, those sucking sounds become screeching sounds, which is - you guess it! - Evie's way of saying, "Bring me my bottle NOW!". Who says you need words to communicate?!
I think I've found my kind of yoga with Kundalini. It feel more like dance and uses the whole space of the room. There's always beautiful music playing and the poses are set to the beat of the drums in the songs. We do a lot of work in a large circle around the perimeter of the room - which is great. It's kind of like a 'feel good', seventies style experience - lots of scarves and flowing tapestries hanging on the walls - love, beauty, openness as key tenets of the practice. I still don't know anything about it really - the history or teachings. There are lots of paintings and photos of a Yogi Bhajan and the Sikh Golden Temple in India. It's interesting...I'm going to find out more. Evie honestly just loves the music and dancing around the room. She looks like she's having SO much fun.
Last night Evie slept for twelve hours straight! It's just one more thing to add to the "totally random" list I've realized comes with babies. There are very few absolutely predictable behaviors with these little people. They're changing every second and what worked marvelously one day - to help Evie pass gas for instance - is a brilliant flop the next (as Grandpa Dick can attest to). So, who knows what happened last night. It's possible that the Kundalini yoga did it. Perhaps the music and energy relaxed her and the yoga tired her out. I thought about waking her after 8-9 hours to give her a bottle... but I chose to go back to sleep and relish the random instead.
This morning she woke up at 8am - so civilized - and we had breakfast outside on the patio. I'd like to say we did that because it was a beautiful day, but actually it was because I left the water kettle on the stove too long as I was changing and dressing Evie and the water evaporated causing the metal to begin to melt down and fill the house with a toxic odor. Go Mommy! So, I opened all the windows and we took our morning meal under the trees.
Evie started to get a bit cranky after that so we set out on a walk of the Venice canals. From our place, it's just a few blocks to the entrance to the canals. Evie can usually be cheered up by a walk, or else at the very least, she will fall asleep. We entered at the Carrol canal and walked south. Crossing a steep white bridge, we spotted a family of egrets sleeping in and around some canoes. We stopped and watched them for a while. A family of ducks came along and woke up the egrets who spread their long wings. That's when Evie noticed them for the first time. She spent several minutes staring at one rather dirty looking egret in particular who was sitting on the bow of a small boat. He kept his wings spread out wide, as if trying to intimidate, yet, he seemed a bit wobbly somehow. I wondered if he kept his wings out like that to try to keep his balance. Anyway, if he'd been a duck, he'd have been considered an odd duck for sure.
After some time, a big orange cat came around the corner from a smaller branch off the grand canal. He slowly approached the ducks and egrets. He was very sure footed and clearly knew what he was doing. I wondered if Evie was going to notice him. On a side note, I was reading an article put out by the UCLA Baby Lab - a world famous research lab working on infant development, mostly visual coordination and language acquisition - on four month old babies and how much they can actually see. I was surprised to read that the researchers at the baby lab believe babies of four months can see at least twelve feet away and have developed, or are completing the development of, depth perception. Anyway, check out the baby lab if you can. They have an excellent newsletter that anyone can subscribe to: http://www.babylab.ucla.edu/ So, back to the orange feline...well, as could be predicted, kitty used his stealth approach to elude the birds until he was just two feet from our friend the wobbler egret. Then he pounced! Well, he fake pounced actually because he didn't seem to want to board the boat. He jumped as close as he could to the canoe while remaining on land. The wobbler egret didn't even flinch. I was hoping he'd make a big fuss and fly off so Evie could watch him use his wings for something other than trying to keep himself upright...but, no such luck. Clearly this is a morning ritual between cat and egret. We were just lucky to have witnessed the dance as we made our way through the canals.
Evie was, and is in general, most interested in plants. If I park her stroller facing a bush, she is content to check out the leaves and flowers for hours. I have to be careful though because once I was sitting enjoying my coffee when a jogger stopped to ask if I knew who 'that child' belonged to. When I told her she was mine, the woman asked, "Why did you push her into a bush?" These pesky do-gooders! I understand the concept that a child belongs to the world, but honestly, I wish people would mind their own business sometimes. You can't believe the advice and commentary I get just walking to my car. Hey, if I want to put my baby in a bush, that's my business - Evie happens to love bushes!
Anyway, the rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Evie played on her gym mat. I'm trying to improve her hand eye coordination, which seems to be lagging a little behind. The gym is a round mat with objects hanging from two foam arches that criss-cross over it. The baby is supposed to bat at, or grab, the objects with his or her hands. In Evie's case, she just likes to sit and stare at them - and sometimes talk to them. She almost never even raises her hands from her sides. It's a little unusual but I'm not worried. Right now she's concentrating on her legs - which are very strong and coordinated!
Okay, enough for today. It's time to start the bedtime routine. I can hear some not-so-subtle sucking sounds from the pink swing. It's Evie's way of saying, "It's time to start getting the bottle prepared". In about fifteen to twenty minutes, those sucking sounds become screeching sounds, which is - you guess it! - Evie's way of saying, "Bring me my bottle NOW!". Who says you need words to communicate?!
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Babini Kundalini!
Evie spent her second full night in her crib. She must have been exhausted from socializing at the Mommy & Me group yesterday because she slept from 7pm to 2am without making a peep! That stretch of time allowed me to start this new blog.
Last night, while Evie was sleeping soundly, I had a dream that I heard the little bean crying. When I entered her room to check it out, I saw Evie in her crib...supersized! She had somehow managed to become obese in her sleep. I leaned over the crib railing and looked down at her, trying to hide my horror so I wouldn't scare her and make the situation worse. She looked up at me and smiled, as always, and I thought, "Well, it could be worse. I guess as long as I can still pick her up and hold her, everything will be fine". I reached down into the crib and picked her up. She didn't weigh as much as I feared, however walking around with her giant torso pressed against mine proved to be a bit awkward...
I think this dream was inspired by a woman in the Mommy & Me group talking about her mother feeding her baby every time the baby cried. The woman was worried her mother was teaching the baby that the only way to soothe oneself is through food, and that eventually the baby would develop an eating disorder. Did I mention the group is in Santa Monica?
Anyway, this morning the sun is out and Evie is sitting staring at the light and shadows in the trees from the relaxing, pink butterfly swing that Nate and Lynn got for her. She's calling to the birds with high pitched tweeting sounds every once in a while. In about fifteen minutes we're going to start the laborious process of loading ourselves into the car to go to our Mommy & Me yoga class at Yoga West - the home of Kundalini yoga in the west! Check it out: http://www.yogawestla.com/
Last night, while Evie was sleeping soundly, I had a dream that I heard the little bean crying. When I entered her room to check it out, I saw Evie in her crib...supersized! She had somehow managed to become obese in her sleep. I leaned over the crib railing and looked down at her, trying to hide my horror so I wouldn't scare her and make the situation worse. She looked up at me and smiled, as always, and I thought, "Well, it could be worse. I guess as long as I can still pick her up and hold her, everything will be fine". I reached down into the crib and picked her up. She didn't weigh as much as I feared, however walking around with her giant torso pressed against mine proved to be a bit awkward...
I think this dream was inspired by a woman in the Mommy & Me group talking about her mother feeding her baby every time the baby cried. The woman was worried her mother was teaching the baby that the only way to soothe oneself is through food, and that eventually the baby would develop an eating disorder. Did I mention the group is in Santa Monica?
Anyway, this morning the sun is out and Evie is sitting staring at the light and shadows in the trees from the relaxing, pink butterfly swing that Nate and Lynn got for her. She's calling to the birds with high pitched tweeting sounds every once in a while. In about fifteen minutes we're going to start the laborious process of loading ourselves into the car to go to our Mommy & Me yoga class at Yoga West - the home of Kundalini yoga in the west! Check it out: http://www.yogawestla.com/
Monday, January 17, 2011
Today's Events
Evie slept in her very large crib last night for the first time. She's been sleeping in a bassinet next to my bed since she was born, so the transition to her crib in her own room was quite a milestone. I chose to try it out last night for the first time because my room is stuffed with furniture and clothing at the moment. The night before last, the little bean was sneezing a few too many times and I thought it best not to totally overload her developing immune system with the not so adorable dust bunnies in the corners of mommy's room.
Anyway, she did great. She slept almost through the entire night and didn't sneeze once (she has an air purifier in her room). Mommy, on the other hand, had a little more difficulty. I finally gave up and dragged the mattress from the fold out couch into her room and slept on that. A trip to the store to get a baby monitor should spare me from another night on the floor.
The morning went well. Evie played in her new jumper which is now hanging from her room's door frame. She took an hour long nap, (long for her) from twelve to one in her crib again. Then we went to the second meeting of our weekly "Mommy and Me" group led by Tandy Parks in Santa Monica. There are eleven other mothers and babies in the group. The babies are all around the same age, with four baby girls born during the same week as Evie. I enjoyed the group a little more this week than last. Evie, however, seemed to enjoy the group less this week. We sat next to an adorable little girl named Olivia - called Liv - who Evie seemed to like at first but when Liv rolled onto Evie's blanket...well, it was all downhill from there. I was pretty surprised by Evie's reaction but I guess I wouldn't want someone I'd just met rolling onto my blanket uninvited!
The ride home from the group was pretty difficult. Evie really hates traffic (this is honestly not a projection - she can't stand being in the car unless it's moving FAST), so she'd exhausted herself from crying by the time we got home. She had her bottle and went straight to bed. She's still sleeping!
Anyway, she did great. She slept almost through the entire night and didn't sneeze once (she has an air purifier in her room). Mommy, on the other hand, had a little more difficulty. I finally gave up and dragged the mattress from the fold out couch into her room and slept on that. A trip to the store to get a baby monitor should spare me from another night on the floor.
The morning went well. Evie played in her new jumper which is now hanging from her room's door frame. She took an hour long nap, (long for her) from twelve to one in her crib again. Then we went to the second meeting of our weekly "Mommy and Me" group led by Tandy Parks in Santa Monica. There are eleven other mothers and babies in the group. The babies are all around the same age, with four baby girls born during the same week as Evie. I enjoyed the group a little more this week than last. Evie, however, seemed to enjoy the group less this week. We sat next to an adorable little girl named Olivia - called Liv - who Evie seemed to like at first but when Liv rolled onto Evie's blanket...well, it was all downhill from there. I was pretty surprised by Evie's reaction but I guess I wouldn't want someone I'd just met rolling onto my blanket uninvited!
The ride home from the group was pretty difficult. Evie really hates traffic (this is honestly not a projection - she can't stand being in the car unless it's moving FAST), so she'd exhausted herself from crying by the time we got home. She had her bottle and went straight to bed. She's still sleeping!
All About Evie!
Okay, I'm blogging...this is a first for me! It's time to sharpen my web skills if I'm to raise a child in this digital age. So...as people who love Evelyn, you will now be relieved to know that you will not have to keep hoping her mother will return your calls or emails! You can either check in every once in a while to get an update, or, follow little Evie's every 'movement'. I've been keeping a journal for myself - to track her sleeping, eating and crying patterns - and I realized after I saw the movie Social Network a few days ago that I could share my journal with the whole world, in "real time" - so, woop-dee-doo-doo, here we go!!!!
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