5 weeks old!

Aoife and I had a pretty lazy morning. We woke up really early, but we pretty much snoozed until lunch time. We had lunch and then packed ourselves up to go out for the day. We took the Bart to downtown Berkeley and checked out a few bookstores. Cody's came back to downtown Berkeley again, but I don't like it as much as the old Cody's. We then went to visit Daddy at lab. I had somehow forgotten that once I brought a baby to work that everyone would swarm around trying to get a peak at little Aoife. It was fine though. Tim and I took a walk around campus which is beautiful this time of year. I miss going to college sometimes, but I'm also glad that I'm done with it. All the students looked pretty stressed as it is the time of year for finals. We went back to lab and Tim's boss and a few other people hung out with us for a while. I was pretty tired when the whole thing was done. Aoife and I went home ate, and Aoife slept for four hours. It was strange, but I guess she must not be getting a lot of sleep in the moby...just quick naps. Tim and I even watched a movie!

No Daddy!!!

This is what happens when daddy changes her diapers via FREEZING cold hands! Poor thing. Aoife was a tiger this morning. I'm don't know why, but she grunts really loud in the morning at around 4:30am and doesn't seem to stop until one of us wakes up. She was not happy with me this morning at all. I didn't get a smile from her until around noon. We usually wake up next to each other and talk and smile before I get up to change her diaper. She was pretty fussy all morning even when I took her for a walk. Sometimes I think she misses Tim because when he comes home at night, she's always an angel. Tim bought us some flowers, and he spent the evening talking to her and asking her questions. She seemed perplexed by the whole ordeal.

Aoife and I had a wonderful day today. We went for our daily walk around the neighborhood. I ran into our landlord; he's from Poland and is quite a character. He told me that she looked very big and told me not to eat beans and spicy food. Funny guy. We spent the day playing games. She likes the game where I cradle her between my legs and raise her nose to my nose. It makes her smile and she likes being upside down. We also spent time exploring her hands and feet. She still doesn't realize that they are hers, so she can't control them yet. She flails around so much. She did seem to pay a little more attention to her hands today. By the end of the month she'll have more control of her arms and legs.

Beautiful Day!

Today was another gorgeous day. Tim made us strawberry pancakes this morning. We spent the morning reminiscing about the time we first came out to California and how things have changed so much for us recently. We're really settling into the bay area now. It is a very difficult place to assimilate to since it is hard to find communities to belong to.

Dorrie came to get us at around 12:30pm. We went over early because Ansel was leaving for Washington State again to work as a firefighter. I'm glad we went earlier than planned because little bun get very fussy in the evenings. Aoife really liked it there. She spent time with Dorrie and Dave without too much fuss. Dorrie made us some chickenburgers and asparagus for lunch. And for the piece de resistance Dorrie baked : Rhubarb and Strawberry pie a la mode! Delicious!!! Here is Dorrie cutting the pie. We spent the rest of the afternoon in Dorrie's garden. She has a wonderful garden filled with native California plants that she planted. Aoife liked the sun too, but it got too hot for her and she enjoyed having Dorrie hold her by the breeze coming in the front door. It was a wonderful afternoon and we said goodbye to Ansel until August.

Dorrie told us about a recent trip she has made to the mormon temple's family history center where she found an ancestor who sailed on a boat from Belgium in the 1800s. This sparked additional discussion of Tim's family history including Hans te Neues whose family apparently farmed in Germany near the town of Neuss on the Rhine river in the NW of Germany in the 1600s. The theory is that this name eventually permutated into Nice and is the origin of Aoife's last name! I guess the three of us will have to visit Nuess, Germany sometime (I checked on Google Maps and it does still exist)!

One Month Old!

Aoife celebrated her month old birthday today. Here she is getting ready for the day by taking her very first bath! (at home) She didn't mind it at first, but i think she was in shock. Eventually, she realized what was going on and didn't like it at all. Her skin turned bright red and her little chin quivered. I really felt for her. We quickly dried her off, put her clothes on, and wrapped her up nice and warm. Within seconds she dropped off to a deep sleep in her co-sleeper. She usually doesn't fall asleep in it anymore. We were surprised that she fell asleep for hours. I guess that was way too much work for her.

Our friends Kristina, Mary, Martin, and Linda came over for a late lunch to celebrate with us. They brought some Thai food with them...yummy! Aoife had just woken up in time to be admired and held. She actually smiled at them. She has changed so much this past week. Linda and Kristina also noted how much she had changed since their last visit. She is acting more and more like a baby not a newborn.

This is what I have to do at lunch time to get away from Aoife to make lunch and put myself together. I have to put my night gown on my stuffed pig and place it next to her. It seems to work for about an hour until she realizes that it's not me. This is how she sleeps with me at night. She can't bare to be separated from me unless she's with Tim. She manages to wiggle her way over to me, and if my back is turned, she taps my back to get my attention so that I'll turn around and snuggle with her...so sweet!

IN the business of creepy toys!

Okay...the elephant looks just bizarre. I'm going to have to go at these toys again. I'm going to switch frog eyes and bear eyes, and do something different with the elephant. I'll probably just stitch his eyes.

Aoife and I had a good day today. We went for a walk to buy diapers and chocolate(don't tell Tim). The weather is starting to warm up here, and we're in for a hot weekend coming up. Maybe we'll have a picnic at a park. There is a really cool park by the Berkeley marina; it's really beautiful. There are scenic views of San Francisco and North bay. Many people also go there to fly kites. I think she'll be old enough before we leave for her to fly a kite there.

On Saturday some friends are going to visit; they are going to bring us lunch. Aoife will be a month old! On Sunday we are going to Dorries house to celebrate her "monthness".

Happy 4 week Birthday!

Here's Aoife (the rock star) singing happy birthday to herself. Right there she's hitting the high note...a great achievement for such a young one.

She's laying on the fabric that I got to make her dress. I just looked at the pattern and am very confused....I need a Gramma around here.

Today we took a walk around the neighborhood, but Aoife got a little fussy, so I had to make it short. She was good all day, but when evening came, she got fussy again. I wonder why that is??? Tim went to an MLB (baseball) game tonight (Twins vs. A's) with some of his friends; it was to celebrate Maggie's birthday. He had a good ol' time. I'm glad I didn't have to go; boring!

cute or scary?

Aoife and I took a walk to the fabric store and bought some eyes for some toys that Gramma Rachel crochet, and I sewed together. We couldn't find small eyes, so Rachel bought some buttons, but I didn't think they looked as good as I thought they would, so I got these big eyes. I think he looks cute, but Tim says he look scary. Aoife doesn't really have an opinion about the situation. Rachel knit an elephant that I also got big eyes for too. She made a big frog and he looks fabulous except he doesn't have a mouth right now. I got some fabric at the store and I'm planning on sewing a dress, but we'll see how Aoife is for the rest of the week.

Smiley Bun

Aoife and I had a wonderful day today. We took a walk in the morning to Berkeley Bowl (the coolest grocery store in the world!) I got a couple things there, and we walked back. I had lunch and then Aoife and I fed and spent the afternoon talking to each other. She is really smiling now when you talk to her. She likes to be sung to and kissed on the cheeks. She's such a cutie.

We took the bus to Janaki's class. A crazy woman got on and started yelling at the invisible person next to her. Janaki gave us a big hug when we arrived and she weighed Aoife. I left her clothes on, but Janaki weighed her at 9lbs! I couldn't believe it, she's growing too fast. Janaki set me up on her couch and she put Aoife on my chest. Janaki talked to her a little bit and Aoife smiled really large for her. I've never seen her smile so big at a "stranger". After a while, Aoife bobbed her head around and made her way down to the right side and latched on and went to town! Fabulous...no more pumping! I was so happy that she was latching on properly and did that cool head dance. We weighed Aoife after the feeding and she gained 1.5oz.

Tim showed up and we told the class our birth story. It felt like yesterday that we were sitting in the class listening to someone else's birth class. It was a lot of fun to tell our story since it was quite an adventure! We wished the women good luck and headed home for bed.

Belly button!

Aoife's belly button is completely healed! It's a cute little smiley one.

Today, we went to the baby fair. We got a car with city car share and drove there. Aoife was fussy in the morning so we couldn't make it for the classes that I wanted to go to. The fair was pretty small and it catered mostly to pregnant women which was really disappointing. There were a lot of really cool booths for things. One interesting booth was about a midwifery center that opened up for the Mayans in Guatemala. Gramma Rachel was telling me a story here about a clinic that she worked at in Costa Rica when she was a new nurse. She was telling me of a mountain woman from a small village who came to their clinic with a very sick newborn. The cord was infected and the woman had used coffee grinds to try to heal it. They could do nothing for the newborn and sent her the closest hospital which was far away, and the baby died. I think it is wonderful that a new clinic for pregnant women is opening in these remote areas because there is such a high infant mortality rate in developing countries. Here is the website for the center: Clinicas Maya

Our childbirth instructor Janaki Costello was at the fair, and she gave us a big hug and was admiring little Aoife. She asked us to go to her class tomorrow to tell her new pregnant class our birth story. She is also a lactation consultant and will check out what's going on with feeding on the right side. It was so nice to see her again; I really miss her great class. So, tomorrow will be very exciting!

Books and Toys

Today was a great day! I slept okay last night, but as soon as the sun peaks in the window, she's wide alert and up mommy must get! Today the weather was great, so Tim and I took a walk to a garage sale. Most garage sales are hit or miss, and this was definitely a gold mine. There were a lot of children's books all of which were 50cents. We also got a bunch of finger puppets for Aoife pictured below. I talked to a midwife who was part of the sale and she said I looked great for just giving birth three weeks ago! On the way back we hit another garage sale and found these wooden blocks! We got them for $2.....such a fantastic deal. These blocks are in the stores for $40 usually. She'll have hours and hours of fun playing with these. I love toys like these that are simple yet provide bountifulness hours of entertainment, variety, and imagination. Aoife was peaceful in the moby wrap and didn't stir until we got home for lunch. We went out again in the afternoon to the library. Again, as soon as she was in the wrap, she was out like a light, and was good for two almost three hours. I love having her snuggled close to me. Tim and I got some baby development books at the library to understand what's going on in Aoife's life.

Tomorrow is going to be another big day for we are going to a baby fair. They have a couple of parenting workshops that we hope to make. One is about sleeping habits and the other is about present moment awareness. I hope to run into the other mama's and papa's from our birthing class.

Fussy Bun

Tiger Aoife reared her head again today. I was so exhausted all day from not getting enough sleep from the previous night. She was awake since 4am and was pretty fussy until 9pm. Thank God Tim came home and was able to take care of her for a couple of hours while I took a bath and decompressed. I think we were both tired of each other. It didn't help that I didn't take her for a walk today, but I was too tired to do that. I'm going to pledge from now on to take her out at least for an hour.

Thank you Great-Aunt Lisa

Thank you Lisa for the wonderful clothes that you sent little Aoife. The socks already fit her huge feet! I can't imagine her getting big enough to fit these clothes.

Today was a very good day for both Aoife and I. She slept for almost five hours last night! Amazing! She really likes sleeping on her daddy; she looks so tiny on him. Sparrow Aoife and I spent most of the morning in quiet alert time, so we had a lot of time to socialize with each other. She is smiling often now when she is in this mode. She is also making good eye contact and it looks like her eyes are going to stay blue. Her eyes remind me of my sister Michelles when Michelle was a baby. She is developing a rash on her cheeks; it makes her look older like a teething baby.

After lunch, we went for a walk. It's another beautiful day today. I love wearing her in the moby wrap; it's so much better than pushing her in a stroller/pram. The neighborhood looks so beautiful as all the plants are blooming and the cherry blossoms are out. We went to a gardening center and looked at expensive exotic plants. My body feels really good finally. I managed the walk without getting to sore at the end. Tim came home early tonight because he has a baseball game tonight. When Aoife is old enough, we'll go and watch him. His team bought Aoife a Twins (baseball team) outfit, so she's got the outfit, just needs to get fat enough to fit into it!

Happy 3 week Birthday

Today was Aoife's third week as an air baby. She has changed so much in three weeks. It's hard for me to tell sometimes, but I know that she has grown a lot because a lot of her clothes don't fit anymore, and she seems to be fitting into clothes that were way to big for her a few weeks ago. Boy, were they not kidding when they said they'd grow like weeds!

Great Aunt Dorrie came over for a short while. She brought a gift from Aoife's first cousin twice removed: Susan Ackerman. She gave Aoife a wrap sack which is a traveling gift sack that travels the world. It started out in Harrisonburg, Virginia. I'll have to send it to someone special. Dorrie also brought another one of her delicious lasagnas. Dorrie came at a bad time for Aoife was going through her tiger hour which seems to becoming a routine at around 6-7pm. Next time Dorrie comes, I hope she'll be able to spend a longer time with her!

Sparrow's back

Sparrow Aoife is back for the day. I still don't think she's feeding effectively. She falls asleep too soon when she eats, but waking her up doesn't seems to help much because then she just suckles. At least I know she's getting enough food because she has tons of wet and poopy diapers and look how fat she's getting!

This morning Tim was so sweet and made me breakfast, but I was to tired to eat it. Later on while I was eating it, Aoife had wiggled over to my back and was bopping her head against my back. It was so funny. She was saying "where's my food?" She was pretty good all day, but she needs constant contact from me which I'm happy to give at this point, but it will become a problem in a few months time. She also threw up for the first time and it scared me because it was pretty curdled and sour. Tim came home for lunch and made me something. It was a nice day. I listened to RTE Radio 1. I like the shows "Today with Pat Kenny" and "Mooney". It keeps my mind sane and informed about what's going on in Ireland. Sparrow Aoife even let me take a nap this afternoon!

Goodbye Gramma

Gramma Rachel left for Wisconsin very early this morning. I woke up with little bun around 9am and then didn't know what to do with her. This was special Gramma time while I got ready for the day. Tim stuck around for a few minutes so that I could eat my breakfast then he went off to work. So we talked and sang, ate, cried, ate, cried, sang, cuddled, and slept. I quickly ran to the bathroom and got myself ready for the day. She woke up and we continued the tiger bun experience. I quickly made myself some lunch..very quickly. Good heavens, Gramma really kept me sane. Aoife was a tiger most of the day, but quietened down by evening, but acted up again at night.

I emailed Janaki today to set up a consultation with her. It almost feels like Aoife has forgotten how to suck properly or something, I'm not sure.
One of Tim's friends came by to visit Aoife. It was very welcomed because she brought us some food: enchiladas. Yummy!!!

Day of the tiger

Sunday, Sunday: dressed in her Sunday best. Today was Gramma Rachels last full day. Her and Tim went to a used furniture store to buy some new furniture to create more storage space in our apartment. Tim picked out a great desk and cabinet. Our apartment looks very smart now.

We started using the cloth diapers this weekend, but I'm not sure that I like them all that much. They are not as absorbent as disposables, but it does hold the pooh better. Tim did some research on g-diapers, so after this month we will probably try those.

Dorrie came over tonight to visit us. She brought with her a bread pudding dessert with strawberry rhubarb sauce and whipped cream. She also brought honey for both Steve and us. She stayed a while and sang to Aoife. Aoife really likes her singing. Thank you Dorrie.

Little sparrow bun showed her tiger side for the first time today. Jeri and Melanie warned us that she will probably change after two weeks and we'll have to learn about her again all over. She cried for ours and hours and didn't sleep and wouldn't eat. I felt awful. I didn't know what she wanted, and it broke my heart. Eventually, Tim bottle fed her her, and she then calmed down for the night.

Golden Gate Park

The weather was gorgeous today: 80 and sunny skies. We hardly ever get weather like this. We rented a car for the weekend and went to Golden Gate Park. We had a picnic, and we let Aoife air out on the blanket. She really enjoyed looking up at the blue sky. She has changed in just a week. She is looking around at things now and is spending more time in quiet alert mode. Her eyes are getting bigger as the swelling seems to be gone. She also has very strong hand movements. She can grasp things with such strength that it worries me when she puts her fingers by her eyes. Her belly button looked really good today; it's healing nicely. We also gave in to the pacifier; my pinky was going to fall off if we didn't use it. Here is a ridiculously funny picture of Aoife with a pacifier and Tim's sunglasses on. After the picnic, we went for a walk around the lake. Then we went to a really great bookstore in the Richmond district called Green Apple. Gramma got Aoife some more books. We then came home because Aoife was starting ot get fussy. It was truly a great day. I hope this weather sticks around for a long time.

New Sheets

Gramma sewed some sheets for Aoife's crib. This is the owl material that matches the curtains I made. Today was my first trip out of the house without Aoife; Tim stayed home and looked after her. Gramma, and I went to a lace store down the street. The lace store was amazing. There were so many interesting forgotten crafts that I never knew about. We then went to Berkeley Bowl and got some groceries for our trip tomorrow. Rachel then treated me to lunch. I had my favorite: sushi. I couldn't eat sushi when I was pregnant, so now it is all I think about eating. We went home and found Tim in a frantic state. I guess she'd been crying for fifteen minutes!

Visit to the Midwife

Today was my visit to Jeri. She checked me out to see how I was healing. She said I looked great, but I need to work on some abdominal exercises to get my muscles to come back together: they are still 1 inch apart at the center. She said I can start my post-natal yoga in a few weeks which I'm really looking forward to. There is a yoga studio close by where I went for pre-natal yoga that I like. I like the post-natal yoga because you can do it with your baby in your arms, and it will also be good to meet other mothers.

Aoife had a pretty busy day. After going to Jeri's, we took her to Tim's lab to show her off, and a couple of the girls held her. We took her to another lab to meet Danae, and then finally the last lab where all the girls squealed. Aoife got pretty tired out, soo here is a picture of her passed out after the excursion.

Thank you family

Thank you family for all the cards, gifts, and money. Her great-grandparents Foley (Irene and Da) sent her a gift of money and a cute little lucky charm onsie. Thank you, thank you! My uncle Sean also sent a card and money. My Aunt Terri sent a cute little outfit for Aoife. She's going to have to wait a while to wear it though. I just got another card: from Great-nan O'connor and some cash. We're going to open up this rich little girl a bank account soon. Thank you to all, and I'll be sending cards to you shortly.

Happy 2 week birthday

For Aoife's 2 week birthday Gramma made a lemon pie. Gramma and Tim went to a pretty posh bakery down the street and brought back some delicious pastries for lunch. Tim went back to work for the first time today. I guess he spent most of the time showing people pictures of Aoife! Gramma also went to a farmers market and bought some strawberries, and delicious fancy bread. For the evening, Dorrie and Dave came over. Dorrie cooked for us her delightful lasagna. It was once again delicious. Aoife then attended her first movie watching experience. Dorrie brought over "The Real Dirt on Farmer John". It was an incredible story of an eccentric farmer who lost everything and then earned it back a hundred fold. Tim comes from a long line of farmers, so this movie is special to his family and tells of the problems small farmers are having now.

Aoife's Growing

Aoife's cord clamp came off today while Gramma was cleaning it! Life is so much better for the both of us. I don't have to worry about getting it caught in her clothing, and she doesn't have to worry about hurting it when she's lying on her belly.

Today was her first trip to the pediatrician. First of all they weighed her and measured her. Her weight is now 8lbs and 1.5oz! She's gained a lot of weight in two weeks. She is also 21inches long now. Her doctor, Liz, is very nice and slightly crazy. Liz spent at least fifteen minutes trying to figure out which town in Ireland she had visited in August. She called all of her relatives; all of whom were at lunch. Anyways, it was somewhere in County Mayo where St. Patrick climbed a mountain. I personally think she had way too much Guinness if she can't remember. Liz said Aoife was perfectly healthy and was surprised that we didn't get a home visit from the nurse a couple of days after we went home, and she was also surprised that the nurses didn't cut off Aoife's cord clamp at the hospital. Aparently, Liz was in Ireland for the Rose of Tralee, and we now have a joking fantasy of keeping her healthy enough to enter her into the competition when she is older!

Sleeping and Eating

Today was snoozing and chowing day for Aoife. I think last nights excursion was very stressful for her because she slept a lot all day. Actually we both did.

Gramma Rachel went to interplay today with Dorrie and also helped Dorrie do some gardening work. Gramma had a great time. She cooked us a big pot of chicken pot pie which we have already consumed half of! Gramma also did Aoife's first load of laundry. We made a make shift clothes line which works really well. There was plenty of wind to help the drying.

Well, back to sleep now, but first a little snack of milk.

First Outing

Today was Aoife's first outing. Tim packed her diaper bag a little too well. We were only going for a couple hours, but I looked in the back when we got back and saw that he put the whole tub of diaper wipes , ten diapers, two blankets, and two sets of clean clothes! You'd swear we were going to be gone for days! I was wondering why the bag was so heavy.

Anyways, we went to the garden center to get some tomato plants and a bell pepper plant to plant on our "deck". We also picked up some glass feeding bottles which are super fancy, and a couple of little hats for Aoife. After all of that, we went out to a fantastic Chinese restaurant with Dorrie, Dave and Ansel. Aoife was pretty good the whole time, but got a little bit fussy towards the end of dinner, and I was having a hard time feeding her. Not too bad for a first trip, but we are pretty exhausted now.

Pink: it's Aoife obsession of the day.

This morning as I was changing Aoife and talking and kissing her I noticed that she smiled. Thinking that this was gas, I kissed and smiled at her some more. She smiled back. I really think these were genuine smiles. Gramma was holding and kissing and talking to Aoife this afternoon, and Aoife also smiled at her. So, she confirmed that yes Aoife is smiling and is starting to communicate back to us.

Aoife's body skin is peeling and a lot of it came off last night. Her eyes are also turning more and more blue each day. I noticed how much bluer they were yesterday. I think also some of her forehead hair is falling off because her hairline seems to be receding more each day...taking after her papa.

Today we got a package and inside was a wonderful quilt made by her great-aunt Marge (Gramma Rachels sister). It is beautiful and must have taken a lot of patience and time to make. So, today was pink day for Aoife.

Gramma called Uncle Topher today, and he told us of a dream where Aoife went to Wisconsin to visit Gramma and Grampa Nice all by herself : without us!

We had a difficult afternoon today. Aoife was feeding every hour, but I think I ran out of milk. My right side was too sore to nurse on so we pumped it with our electric pump. It was pretty fun to see the milk coming out. So now we have 2oz. frozen and ready to go. Now I really do feel like a cow!

Brave Sparrow

Aoife had a difficult time sleeping last night. She seemed to have bad gas because she was twisting and turning, grunting and squeaking, but no crying. Such a strong brave little sparrow. Tim and Gramma went to Urban ore today to find some furniture that we would like in the living room. They also went to goodwill and picked up some books for Aoifers. Tim and Gramma are going to refinish little buns high chair. So Tim took apart all the hinges and soaked them in lemon and salt to get rid of the rust. Gramma sanded and put a layer of Tung oil on. I guess it needs many many coats of that stuff. It'll look pretty nice when it is done. Gramma is crocheting some cute little toys out of wool that she spun and dyed from her own sheep.

Gramma Rachel Arrives!

Gramma Rachel came today. Dorrie came (with delicious casserole) and picked up Tim and off they went to the airport. Aoife and I prettied ourselves up in anticipation. Gramma fell in love immediately and spent the following hours talking and kissing each other. Gramma even taught little bun how to suck her thumb.....to save momma's soreness. After a snack of Kim Bop, we went for a walk. We wrapped Aoife up to Gramma and she wore her on our walk around the neighborhood. It was nice for me to get out also. I'm starting to get cabin fever in spring! We came back and had some casserole some cake and then finished off the champagne.

1 Week Old!

We slept well last night! She fed twice and went straight back to sleep. She's such an angel so far. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that we are co-sleeping. She feels safe and comforted so we can sleep well at night.

Today is her 1 week old birthday. Since I didn't have a chance to bake a chocolate cake while I was in early labor, we decided to bake it today. I never thought I would have time or energy to bake a cake one week after giving birth, but it was fun to do. We had one of our prepared casseroles for dinner and for dessert we had chocolate cake and champagne to toast the anniversary. Tim and I talked about the birth. I'm still enjoying putting the pieces together.