Hana Gets Some Special Mail

Hana received her first postcard today, from her friends Naomi and Andy. It came from Hanalei, Kauai, Hawaii - the place she was named after - which makes it very special. Hopefully we will get to take her there one day so she can see it in person.

Naomi's Bday BBQ

New Discoveries

Everyone has been telling me how neat it is when they finally discover their feet. Hana has decided to do that, but in a non-traditional way. For the past few days, she has been doing this weird thing while sitting on my lap - it's like she's trying to do a nose dive forward. So this morning, I let her sort of do that while holding her just to see where she was going to take it...and she leaned all the way down and stuck her big toe in her mouth. :)

Pics

Above:

"I met my Grandma Wendy!!"

"Watch me put both fists in my mouth."

"Daddy wants me to learn how to do the dishes."

"I'm getting a bath with Mommy!!"

"We're going where? To Naomi's BBQ? YAY!!!!"

9 Hours

Hana slept 9 hours straight last night. Unbelievable. This is following several nights of 7 and 8 hours of sleeping straight through. I'm trying not to get too attached to this behavior, because it's bound to change, but we sure are lovin' it!

Mindfulness Mini-Reunion

Tonight we went to SF to visit with the babies from our childbirth prep class! Above are some of the pics. Hana is the second oldest of the group, and she was the oldest one at the reunion. As such, she appears giant - it's hard to believe she was newborn-sized just a mere 2 months ago.

Just before we left, Hana had a bit of meltdown, which happens when she is overtired. We knew going across the bridge would put her right to sleep, which it did. When we got home, we couldn't decide whether to take her out of her car seat or not, so we left her. An hour later she was still asleep. I reluctantly decided I needed to take her out to change her diaper and put on her PJs. She slept right through the diaper and clothing change!! I put her in her crib, still fast asleep. We are sooooo lucky we have a good sleeper! (knock on wood)

Playing on the Deck

It Didn't Work :(

The gentian violet treatment didn't work. *sigh* I am left to conclude that the pain is caused by her clamping down when she nurses. I have tried to retrain her - jaw muscle massage, pulling her lower lip down while nursing, warm water on the cheeks - but she seems intent on gumming me. We might need to see a physical therapist or we're going to have to do more pumping and bottle feeding than I had planned on, especially when her teeth come in (yikes!).

Otherwise, she is doing great. 13 pounds 7 ounces, and 24 inches long! She is above 95th percentile for height and length, but only 50th for head circumference. Apparently, body growth comes from nutrition, but head size is genetic. Guess Pete and I have small heads. :) Because she's gotten so big, she is approaching the weight limit for her playard, which is where she's been sleeping. So this weekend we assembled her "big girl bed" (the crib) and she slept in it last night for the first time in our room. She must like it because she slept 8 hours straight from 11 pm to 7 am. It's the first 8-hour sleep I've gotten since her birth.

More Pics

When I Am 2 Months Old, I Shall Wear Purple

(on my face)

Hana and mom are undergoing a last-ditch effort to treat thrush, after trying many other things that have provided no relief (oral prescription for mom, cutting out sugar and bread, probiotics, etc.). We're not sure if that's what we have, but mom is in enough pain that she's willing to try just about anything, including dyeing her daughter's mouth bright purple with something called gentian violet, which is supposed to be one of the most effective treatments around. Above are some pics of purple lipstick girl. The dye wears off in a few days (we hope!).

Mommy Got a New Camera!

Above is the first picture - Hana getting a bottle from Dad.

Vaccines - Ugh

Today Hana had her first vaccines. She had to get three shots! Two in her left leg and one in her right. She did NOT like it. The nurse gave her Sweet-Ease beforehand, which is a little sucrose on a pacifier, to distract her from the pain. It might have helped a little but she still screamed bloody murder. It took her awhile to calm down. In fact, she was so upset at first she couldn't even nurse, which means she was REALLY upset. We gave her a little baby tylenol and a few minutes later it was like it never happened. Pics are post-vaccine.

Still Growing

Hana now weighs over 13 pounds at 8 weeks of age. She is nearly off the weight charts - above 95th percentile. She doesn't look fat to us, only baby chubby, but what do we know? And we haven't fed her a drop of formula, just breast milk. It makes me wonder if she's been sneaking Newman's O's in the middle of the night. (Her dad has been known to do this, so maybe she inherited this gene.) Whenever we go somewhere with other babies, she is the size of the 4- and 6-month-olds. This Friday she'll get weighed and measured at the doctor, and we'll see what she recommends. I can't imagine how we could feed her any less - we only feed her when she demands it - and it doesn't seem that she even eats that much! Often, but not for long at each feeding. She's a good spitter-upper, too, so it's hard to imagine where all the chub is coming from. I've definitely got my money on the midnight cookies.

More Smiles, and Hana's First BART Ride

Pics

First pic is Pete and Hana rockin' out with their rattles. Second and third pics are an attempt at capturing that cute smile that always seems to come right after you put the camera away. In these she's wearing her adorable sweater from her friend Elizabeth! Last pic - the cheeks. Oh those squirrel-ly cheeks.

Blood Draw #2

Hana and I are in a study of moms who take Remicade for ulcerative colitis during pregnancy. As part of the study, Hana has to get her blood drawn once a month until her Remicade blood levels go below 1.4. This will also let us know when it is safe for her to get some of her vaccines, because Remicade can suppress her immune system (people with suppressed immune systems cannot have live virus vaccines - namely, rotavirus, which she would otherwise get at 2 months). Today she had her second blood draw. It was torture. She screamed the loudest I've ever heard and the tech was slow in getting the needle in and the blood out. It was probably only 1 minute, but it felt like an hour to hear her yelling in pain and fear like that. She is still wearing her gauze pad and tape around her right elbow. :( Hopefully she will not hold it against mom and dad that we are subjecting her to this. She recovered fairly quickly when offered some milk straight from the pump, and now she is sleeping it off in her carseat in the living room. Next week she has to have a few of her vaccines, so I suppose there will be more howling and more tears from her parents.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Hana, as usual, has had a busy social calendar this past week. On Sunday she went to the antique fair in Alameda with her buddy Izzy. Today we went to the breast feeding support group. I asked the lactation consultant if it is possible to over-feed an infant this age (she is nearly 12 1/2 pounds - almost double her birth weight at 7 weeks old). She said, "Well, if you were formula feeding I would suggest cutting back a little, but since you are breast feeding and that is protective against obesity, just go with it!" I am told that I was quite a chubby baby as well, so perhaps it's in the genes.

After group, we went to the Japanese garden in Castro Valley which was small but very pretty. Hana laid out on her blanket in the pagoda looking out over the koi pond. She loved watching the fishes and turtles, and also the reflection of the water on the pagoda ceiling. When she's happy she smiles and laughs and kicks her legs and waves her arms, which she did for about half an hour at the gardens. After a short-lived melt down on the car ride home (apparently I wasn't driving the exactly 57.2 miles an hour that her majesty requires), she recovered, took a nap, and then went to a block party where she met a bunch of neighbors. She napped in the bjorn again at the block party and was so pleasant this evening!! It seems the evenings go much better (i.e., less colic) when she gets some naps in later in the day, so we are trying to encourage that.

More pics to come soon.

Sung to the Tune of Row, Row, Row Your Boat

Scream, scream, scream, and nurse,
Poop and pee and poop,
Laugh and smile and shake your rattle,
Then scream and nurse then sleep.

Sleep. Finally! :)