Seriously folks... they make some cool stuff for kids that would be pretty cool for adults, too.  Unfortunately, Fisher Price doesn't make it's "Rainforest Jumparoo" to fit me.  The pictures below show Sophie in her first Jumparoo experience.  You'll notice that I didn't bother to include a video of this event, but that's mostly because there's not really a whole lot of jumping happening just yet.  Part of the issue is that her feet don't reach the floor (even on the lowest height setting), so we have to put a pillow under her feet.  Also, I don't think she quite knows how to jump.  I suspect that it won't take her long to figure this out because she really likes to "stand" now, so stay tuned for a future video of a jumping fool. 

 

The other two pictures below depict two other quasi-important milestones.  First, we're finally putting her into the Baby Bjorn facing out (which requires a decent amount of neck control) and she really likes to be able to look around when we walk around this way.  Second, I'm finally giving in to the notion that, like all little girls, she's going to like princesses.  The day that I visited her future daycare house, the little girls that I met could name all the Disney princesses in under 10 seconds.  It's inevitable... we can't escape the princess culture, so I'm embracing it and her smile indicates that she's happy.  :)

It's 90 degrees in Sacramento folks.  The locals love it, but I'm pretty close to turning on the air conditioner.  Fortunately, it still cools off nicely at night, so the house cools down and stays relatively cool all day.  Sophia is using this heat wave to show off some skin in a few of her skimpier outfits.  The brightly-colored skirt and tank combo below is particularly flattering to her skin tone, I think, and she is already asking to bare her midriff (see picture).  Will have to limit her exposure to MTV and Access Hollywood I guess.  I suspect that her dad would prefer that she grow up to be a nice respectable Mandy Moore type rather than the next Brittany or Lindsay.  :)

Well, Sophia recovered from her shots and was in a good enough mood to pose for a few pictures to commemorate her two-month birthday.  I put her next to her pink pig so that we can track how big she's getting.  Her one-month picture is also below so that you can tell the difference.  She didn't manage to stay awake, but she sure has gotten longer (3 whole inches!).  I know how much you guys like the videos, so I also posted a video that shows her finally developing a little hand coordination.  She's not quite grabbing things successfully at this point, but it won't be long now.

Not sure where that quote is from?  C'mon you 70s/80s TV junkies... surely you know!  I'll give you some help... check out this video -->  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqukCoL5axE.  Another hint:  This is basically what happened to Sophia today at her two-month doctor's appointment when they gave her three immunization shots.  It's the Incredible Hulk, of course!!!  A sweet baby sleeping happily on the doctor's examination table was transformed instantly into a raving lunatic when a nurse put a needle in her unexpecting and chubby little thigh.  I should have filmed the ordeal, but then I realized that the transformation of Dr. David Brannon into the Incredible Hulk was a reasonable approximation to the event.  :)  Her eyes flew open, she let out a scream, and then she practically SAT UP!  Let me paint a clearer picture.  She's laying on her back on the table (asleep), Esen is holding her legs straight by holding her at the knees, the nurse injects her in the thigh, and the "infant" with abs of steel practically pulled herself to a seated position.  The nurse said, "Wow... never seen that before.  I'll remember her and her strength for the next visit!"  And that was just the first shot... :)

 

The good news is that she survived and is sleeping peacefully again now that she is safely back in her bouncy seat.  She passed the rest of the examination with flying colors... doctor said that he couldn't find a single thing wrong with her.  I suppose I should also give you the measurements.  She weighed in at 12 pounds and 4 ounces (75th percentile), is 24.5 inches long (100th percentile), and the circumference of her head is 15 inches (75th percentile).  For those who are less statistically inclined, let me provide a brief explanation of the percentile rankings since lots of people will quote these things to you (and we will also share this info after each doctor visit).  Consider this: If you randomly chose 100 baby girls who were all two months old and you lined them up according to weight (i.e., baby #1 weighs the least and baby #100 weighs the most), Sophia would be baby #75.  Another way of saying this is that she would weigh more than 74 of those 100 two-month-old baby girls.  Likewise, if you lined them up according to length, she'd be longer than all of them, or if you lined them up according to head circumference, her head would be bigger than 74 of them.  So, what we have here folks is a very long baby with a sizable cranium who is certainly *not* skinny.

 

OK... I'll take some pictures to mark the two-month point and post them later.  She's sleeping so peacefully right now that I don't want to mess with her.

There's a reason that I haven't been to the grocery store with Sophia until today.  Truthfully, I've only been to the grocery store a few times at all since she was born.  There's a good reason for that, too... I have a phenomenal husband who not only cooks and cleans up, but also procures the food beforehand.  So besides the fact that Esen has really stepped in and taken over the grocery shopping, the reason I haven't played the "baby+groceries" game is that it terrified me.  Why?  Well, let's say your baby suddenly decides she's hungry.  Where are you going to go to give her a little milky snack?  You can't just leave your cart and head out to the car, you know.  Where are you going to go if she pukes all over or has a diaper blowout?  Ditto.  The bathrooms in grocery stores don't generally have baby changing stations or breastfeeding chairs... most other shopping locations do have these things (making them only slightly less terrifying to a new mother).

 

Despite my fears, Sophie was a near angel in the grocery store.  Still, moving all the groceries from the cart onto the conveyer belt and then eventually into the car was surprisingly hard.  That elusive can of tuna that rolls to the bottom of the cart is damn near impossible to reach when you have a chubby baby strapped to your chest (especially if you're inclined to *NOT* wake her up in the process).  Carrying in groceries?  Also kinda tricky.  You bring the baby into the house first, but after that you have to weigh calming her screaming against the ice cream that you know is getting soft in the trunk (you know *I* chose to save the ice cream). 

 

All is well now... Sophie is fed, the meat is marinating so that Esen can take it right to the grill when he gets home, and I am drinking a beer.  Hey, I *had* to open one to make the marinade... I figure I might as well drink the rest.  :)  I think today's experience has made me happy to return to baby-free grocery shopping... or maybe I'll just let Esen do it all.

 

On an unrelated note, I went to a La Leche meeting today (that's the breastfeeding support organization).  I generally like the women that I meet there... they are not at all preachy about each woman's decisions (very live-and-let-live atmosphere).  Two things about today's meeting were a little alarming.  First, I ran into one of my former students.  I'm used to talking to her about supply and demand... it was a little bizarre to be discussing nipple pain with her.  Second, I discovered that most of these women MAKE THEIR OWN BABY FOOD... as in, pureeing carrots and mangos and everything else under the sun that they can buy at the farmer's market or Whole Foods.  Can you people please chime in and tell me that it's ok if I don't make all of Sophia's baby food once we get to the point that she's eating "solid" foods.  I mean, I'm all for good nutrition, but can't I just rely on Gerber or Beechnut or something?  Please people... I won't sleep tonight if I start to worry about how I will go back to work full time AND also make all of her food from scratch.  Thanks in advance for your support.

 

Finally, I'm posting a couple of random pictures for all you junkies who come here just to get a look at the girl and don't want to hear me prattle on and on about grocery store trips and homemade baby food.  The second picture is Sophia's interpretation of the papal hat.  :)

This is what it looks like when a nice, sleeping baby wakes up HUNGRY!!

So in the past week, we've tried a couple new recipes.  When I look at the pictures now, they look very similar from the outside (also, they were both prepared in the same dish), but they're completely different.  The first, which we tried on Easter Sunday, is a ham and gruyere souffle (see the pictures with me).  It looks delicious and impressive, but the taste was just OK.  Perhaps it would be better in individual souffle dishes so you get more of the brown crusty goodness.  I might experiment with this recipe a bit more or maybe we'll never make it again.  Depends on what becomes of the pages that I tore out of the magazine that contained this recipe.

 

The second recipe came out of a Turkish cookbook that Esen bought me for my birthday this year.  The dish is called Perde Pilavi... translation: curtain pilaf (see the pictures with Esen).  The exterior is phyllo dough and butter; the interior is rice, vermicelli, meat (we used chicken), dried apricots, toasted almonds, and onion.  I believe the name "curtain pilaf" comes from the way in which you fold the layers of phyllo over each other once you fill it with rice.  After baking in the oven, you invert it on a plate to get this beautiful golden brown creation.  Unlike the souffle, this looks delicious and tastes even more delicious.  When you people visit us, we'll be serving this!

 

Sophia is also pretty psyched about all this culinary experimentation.  They say that the more varied my diet is, the more developed her palate will become to different flavors via the breastmilk (potentially making her a better eater once we introduce solid foods).  We'll see about that... there aren't too many kids who aren't picky eaters at some point.  There are lots of folks out there who think that I have to watch which foods I eat because I'm breastfeeding, but the current line of thinking/advice among doctors and lactation consultants is that almost anything in moderation is fine.  I haven't had any trouble with eating spicy foods or a beer / glass of wine, so I continue to eat and drink what tastes good to me and tell myself that that makes me a good mother.  :)

 

Since you guys come here to see pictures of Sophie (not our dinners), I've included a couple of cute pictures of her from this past week below as well.  The first two were taken in her crib where she's spending a little bit of time each day.  There's a mirror mounted on one side that she is starting to have some fun with.  Esen took the last picture this morning as she was being smiley with him.  He was mocking me for her outfit... she slept in the tan onesie and it was chilly this morning, so I threw on the pink pants that were right near her basinette.  Perhaps not the best combination, but I hadn't had my coffee yet.  Although I don't have photo evidence, please keep in mind that at the time of this criticism, my dear husband was wearing red shorts and an orange t-shirt.  Not exactly the stuff of fashion models, you know?  Hopefully, Sophia won't follow his lead in color combinations.

Well, little Sophie is 7 weeks old today and pretty much too big (that is, long) for most of her newborn clothes.  Such a shame... I hate to put all those cute things away already, but I can't justify putting her in them when she can't fully straighten her legs!  In some cases, her little feet barely even fit in the foot part of her onesies.  She's starting to wear some of the cute little dresses that she's gotten (see pictures below for a cute little denim number from Jenn Paris) and hopefully she'll stay in this 3-6 month size for much of the summer.  I make no guarantees, however, given her weight gain history.

 

We experimented with giving her a bottle last night (of pumped breastmilk, not formula).  We wanted Esen to be able to feed her so that I can be away for more than 2 hours at a time.  I'm not talking about running off to Vegas or anything... I just need to be able to attend a meeting on campus and not worry that Esen is left home alone with a screaming, starving infant.  As you can see by the picture below, Esen got her to drink a couple of ounces, but there was a lot of crying and comforting in between.  She wasn't too thrilled with the idea, but I suspect she'll come around quickly (especially when I'm not around and she's hungry).  So now it's my job to keep a small milk supply in the freezer for this purpose.  Be very, very glad that I didn't also include a visual image of that oh-so-fun process.  To give you some idea of what it feels like, I've attached one last picture.  :)  Breastfeeding is pretty glamorous stuff, huh?  Perhaps some of you will remind Sophia later in life that her mother loved her and valued her health so much that she was willing to become a milk cow.  Moooo....  (or, as they say in Turkey, Meuuuuu....)  :)

I've got to admit... when you've got a little baby girl, the urge to dress her up in a silly, frilly dress and take her to Easter Mass is pretty overwhelming.  The dress was a gift, so it's not like I even went out and bought such a thing (although I might have done just that).  And despite this cute little dress, Sophie slept through the entire mass tucked into her sling with only a bit of fluffy dress sticking out.  She was pretty damn cute (see pictures below), but nobody else saw her except us.  :)  Esen didn't just pose for the pictures, he joined us for church, too.  I suspect that I won't be talking him into another mass any time soon (except for perhaps her baptism)... he looked pretty bored.  And I was too.  Why is it that the big important masses (Christmas and Easter) always feature the oldest and most boring priests (who also mumble sufficiently that even a native speaker has to struggle to understand what he's saying)?  Since Christmas and Easter really brings in those of us who stray the rest of the year (my friend Jodi calls these folks "Chreasters"), why not have the most dynamic and likeable priest deliver the sermon?  That way, some of those Chreasters might actually come back.  Oh well, I'm probably not going to change much in the Catholic church, huh?

 

After a nice traditional Easter afternoon nap for the whole family (Suzy included), Esen went to play soccer and the rest of us went out for a walk.  I have to confess (since I've been to church today afterall) that my healthy walk might have just taken me, Sophie, and Suzy to the drug store to buy Easter candy.  Can't let Easter pass without some chocolate right?  That reminds me of the one thing I do remember from the homily at mass today.  Father was talking about the one word that sums up Easter, which we don't hear at all during Lent.  At one point he asked, "Does anyone know what single word sums up Easter?"  I thought, "CHOCOLATE!"  Fortunately, a woman in the front row piped up with "Alleluia" before I could open my mouth to particpate.  :)

 

PS - Thought I'd share a third picture that shows you the little t-shirt Sophia was wearing under her Easter dress.  She's clearly the "Best in Show" winner in the largest cheeks category.  :)

A couple of nights ago Sophia had her first (of many) trips to a microbrewery.  We figure we better start her early if we expect her to know her hefeweizens from her stouts (and also have a discerning taste for good beer).  She wasn’t nearly as excited as her daddy, who had worked all day, and slept through all but the last 20 minutes of our dinner.  I meant to bring my camera to document this important “first”.  I forgot, but fortunately our dinner buds Kace and Walter had theirs along and snapped the picture below.  Nothing says baby book photo quite like “first beer with mommy”.  J  Hey, it’s a stout.  My Irish nurse told me stout is a great source of iron.  I’m just following sound medical advice.

The doctor told us that Sophie would quickly learn to mimic our facial expressions, so I've been sticking my tongue out at her all week.  All that hard work finally paid off... see video below.  (Note to those who don't have kids: this small trick doesn't seem like much, but we've had a little lump of a baby for more than 5 weeks, so the start of some interaction feels like a miracle!)

I'm currently enjoying a nice, quiet house.  It's only 10am, so it won't last long.  Sophia was up around 6:30 (which means that I was up at 6:30, after being up at 4 and 2:30... not a great night for sleeping), but I convinced her to snooze for another hour by bringing her into bed with us.  Her morning play time is really the most fun because she so alert.  This morning I walked Suzy so that Esen could enjoy that time with Sophia.  I left them playing on her bedroom floor and took a video of them after I got back (see below).  She's mostly in a trance from looking at the mobile that I finally got out yesterday.  I haven't attached it to the crib just yet (because there's no mattress in there until it arrives tomorrow), but have attached it to a magazine rack so that she can lay under it... she loves it.  Another shower gift that I finally got out of the closet yesterday is called a "Philharmonic".  It's from the Discovery Store and it looks like a kid's boom box (see Esen's pose in the picture below), but it is much more educational than just that.  When you first turn it on, it prompts you to enter your child's age (in months) and then chooses various audio selections based on the kid's developmental level.  The audio selections, which you can move through kind of like programmed radio stations, include a selection of classical music, international lullabies, nursery rhymes, and so on.  It's pretty slick and I like how the selections will automatically change as she ages (I'm already getting a little sick of several of the songs).

 

FYI, yesterday was April Fool's Day.  Rest assured that Sophia's unibrow was drawn on and immediately washed off.  No babies were harmed in the making of this April Fool's joke.  :)  (This posting was made necessary by at least one friend who believed that Sophia had sprouted a unibrow and tried to say something nice about how she was still a cute baby.  If you also fell for this, please reveal yourself so that we can enjoy the laugh that we deserve.)  One last note: this was Esen's idea... I just thought it was funny enough to go along with.  :)

Well, perhaps you folks remember a while back that I mentioned the hair growing on Sophia's ears (this was lanugo... very common even though somewhat unattractive).  Well, the hair on the back of her ears has basically disappeared, but it seems to have migrated to her ever-expanding eyebrows!  You'll recall that, before delivery, I was afraid of the baby being born bald but with Esen's eyebrows... I guess that fear has come true after all!  (See pictures below.)  It's like those darn eyebrows sprouted up overnight and it looks like it is shaping up to be a unibrow!  We'll have to wait until the next doctor's appointment in about 2 weeks to ask if there's anything we can do about this unfortunate development...