Crusty-Bun

We spent most of the day hanging out with Gramma and catching up on things. It felt really good to be back in Wisconsin again. I especially like being on the farm. Tim's parents custom designed their house which has a wonderful character. It's also very relaxing to be there. Gramma Rachel attacked Aoife's cradle cap with a comb and managed to get most of it off. She was starting to turn into a fish with all those scales. We waited for Grampa to get back from work to meet her for the first time. We were all excited. Grampa to a great likin to the "little pixel" as he calls her; appropriate for her generation I think!

Wrecked Bun

Traveling with Aoife was not as bad as I had imagined. We left pretty early in the morning without too much trouble, and took the BART to SFO. She slept the whole way there, and even though we left early enough, we just made it to the gate in time to board. The plane was packed with people, and we were seated toward the back by the toilets. Aoife slept on the take off, but soon awoke before drinks were being served. It didn't take too long to get her fed, changed and settled into a sleep again. Then, she slept for the rest of the flight. We managed to watch an episode of House M.D. I got very excited as we arrived to Minneapolis airport. We called Gramma Rachel when we arrived, and she told us that she'd be arriving shortly. We were waling to baggage claim when Gramma jumped out at us and scared the living daylights out of me; it was so funny. She was way too excited to see Aoife and had come early. We drove the three hours home. Aoife got a bit more fussy towards the end of the trip, but when we got home she collapsed into a sleep as much as we did.

Snuggle-bun

Yesterday was rough, so last night I decided to use this miracle blanket to swaddle her. She loved it; she slept from 9pm to 4am, and so did I! I thought she had outgrown swaddling, but I guess she still needs it. I was so relieved to get that much sleep. Tomorrow we are leaving for Wisconsin, so Tim cleaned the house today while I looked after Aoife. She's still a little fussy today, and I'm wondering if maybe she's a little bit sick.

I managed to finish making Aoife's dress tonight!!! I'm so happy and so proud that I accomplished it. I have a lot more respect for how clothes are made now. It was pretty grueling at times, but I enjoyed the challenge.

Well, gotta finish packing. I'm probably not going to write for a while, but I'll be keeping a journal the "old world way"-on paper. So, wish us luck on our journey.

Tiger..errrr

Aoife got a package today and inside was this beautiful outfit sent by Gramma Moose. There was also a hat and a little onsie inside. My sister, Erin, drew a really great portrait of Aoife; she's very talented. My littlest sister, Michelle, also drew a montage of Aoife for Aoife. They are both hanging up in her nursery. Aoife was very fussy today. We had a difficult night last night. She was up since 3am tossing and turning. I was so exhausted by morning. Tim took care of her for a couple of hours while I got some shut eye.

We bought a portable swing off of craigslist today. She seems to like it, but needs to get used to it. She is absolutely in love with her caterpillar play thing. Her best friend in the whole world is the little butterfly hanging from it. I hope the swing helps in settling her as much as the caterpillar does.

yoga-bun

The weather is pretty cold here in the mornings. It is now summer time so that means that the fog rolls into the bay in the morning and sticks around until the sun burns it off; it is then very hot. It's very hard to plan your day with weather like that. Aoife and I went to our baby yoga again today. Again the babies and mama's did dome poses which Aoife seemed to like. There was no electricity at the yoga studio today which meant that we didn't get to listen to music, but the women were still going around beating the deep sounding drums. I think Aoife was a little scared at first of the drums, but after a while, she began to like them. I was happy that she stayed calm so that we could do the baby massage. They gave me some coconut oil; I took off her clothes and diaper and I rubbed her whole torso down. Next, we rubbed down the right leg in a twisting motion. Then, we rotated the joints and rubbed down the leg again. We then did the same to the other leg. After that, we did bicycle legs to the waist and then pushed the legs up to the head. Then we rubbed their bottoms! We did more torso rubbing's targeting different organs. After, we turned them over on their belly and rubbed down the back. Finally, the babies got dangled in the air by their feet. I wasn't comfortable doing that, so I just put her upside down on my legs. It was so much fun, and Aoife was smiling the whole time...she LOVED it! I think I'm going to start doing this at home; it was fun for me too. Aoife was fussy after I dressed and fed her, so one of the helpers took her for me. I was able to finish off doing the rest of the yoga while Aoife slept on a bed of pillows. I felt bad waking her up to go home, but she fell asleep in her sling again, and I put her down when we got home. What a successful day indeed!

Two Months Old

To celebrate Aoife's two monthness, Tim and I went to the baby brigade at the Parkway this evening. The baby brigade is a time when the movie theater(cinema) is open for babies and their parents. The Parkway is a very unique theater; it has comfortable couches and tables. They serve pizza, sandwiches, beer and wine. Tim and I went to see "Baby Mama". It was such a funny movie about a woman who hires a surrogate to carry her baby. Tim and I ate some nachos and drank some beer. Aoife was so quiet the whole time that I had to keep checking her to make sure she was okay. She slept in her sling for the whole bus ride and movie. It was a lot of fun to be around so many other parents with their babies; the movie theater was packed.

Here is a picture of me in front of the theater waiting for the bus. You can see the sling that Dorrie likes so much. So, that was Aoife's first trip to the movies!

Moo-bun

Aoife looks so cute in this Wisconsin cow outfit. Tim cooked some pancakes with strawberries this morning. Then we went to Emeryville to do some errands. We first went to the Public Market of international foods and had some Korean BBQ. I ran into one of my co-workers, James, who I hadn't seen in months. He's a really great guy. We then went to circuit city to get a digital TV converter box. Our coupon for it arrived last week. After that, went to get a balance ball (a modern day rocking chair), and finally to Trader Joe' for some groceries. Aoife was really good the whole time. She really likes her new sling which is good because it is what we are planning to use on the airplane on Friday. We are all very excited about going back to Wisconsin soon! I hope Aoife will enjoy herself.

Is this a tooth?

Today was cold and gloomy, so Tim and I really didn't do much. I got started on sewing her dress which has such complicated instructions. I need a sewers dictionary to figure out what they are trying to instruct me to do! Thank God for the internet. Aoife was pretty fussy today and was drooling like a dog waiting for his supper. Here is a picture of the suspected culprit. Could this be a tip of an incision tooth? It's hard to touch, but it could also be nothing. Yesterday, I made an appointment with the Pediatrician for June 10 to get her shots. I'll ask her then what it is. I also weighed her yesterday, and she is now 10lbs 8 oz!

Big-Bun: I'm good at holding my head up.

Today was invigorating. We went to post-natal yoga at Yogalayam and had a great time. I used to go there for pre-natal yoga which was a pretty small class, but post-natal was huge. There were at least 20 other mama's, and they all seemed really nice. First of all we did some sitting-moving poses with baby, and then the mama's did some breathing techniques. Aoife started to get fussy, so one of the women came around with a hand drum and started to beat it around her. Aoife seemed to like it, but eventually I could tell that she was getting overstimulated by everything around her and started to bawl. I took her out to another room where I could bounce on a balance ball to calm her. We missed out on the baby massage because she fell asleep in my arms. After everyone was done with their massage it was time to feed. Aoife and I went back in; I laid her down on her bed of pillows. The mama's then did some standing yoga and stretches. We finished up with a song. Afterwards, I felt replenished. I can't wait for next week when I go again.

Later that evening, Dorrie came to be with Aoife while Tim and I went to Mike's graduation ceremony. The ceremony itself was pretty boring like most graduations are, but Tim and I skipped the first part to eat dinner at a Thai place. It felt good to once again have time to ourselves even though it felt pretty short to us. We went home after seeing Mike graduate and hung out with Dorrie a bit longer. Thank you SO much Dorrie!

Happy Birthday Gramma Rachel

It's Gramma Rachels birthday today! Today, I decided to go back to work to introduce Aoife to my friends and students. I didn't tell them that I was coming to surprise them. As soon as Kate saw me, she squealed and ran over to me and gave me a huge kiss. It was lunch time so all the teachers were free. Pretty soon I had a huge crowd around me. It was very exciting for Aoife to see so many faces. It felt very good to be back there after being away for so long. I really miss Kate, Kelly, and Sara. We talked a lot about babies and caught up on the gossip. I also got to see some of my old students. A lot of them had left, but there were a couple still there. I had lunch with Kate and Kelly, and we had a fun time. My boss came and sat with us too for a while. Aoife started to get a bit fussy so I gave her lunch too. I kept saying that I needed to go because my bus transfer was running out, but I didn't want to leave. I was invited to one of my old students presentations, so I checked that out for a while. Then, I went down to the offices and hung out with Kate some more. I"ll be going back to work the end of June. I'm excited to go back, but I hope I don't get too tired.

8 weeks!

Happy 8 weeks Aoife! Tim bought us flowers, and me some tuna rolls. She's so big and active now. She can differentiate between familiar voices now and looks to see where they are coming from. Today, I was talking to Aoife when Tim started humming. She immediatley turned her head to see where he was. When she found him, he came over, and she gave him a great big smile. She spends a lot of time watching us talk to her. Even though she can't speak she still tries to make vowel noises after we have paused. It's really cute to watch.

She is looking at more things now. She had a couple things that she liked to look at such as the wall hanging in our living room. She's aware of many more things in the house.

Life is starting to get more easy with her. It's not as chaotic around here, and I'm finding myself having more free time that I use as wisely as possible!

Smelly-Bun

Aoife was very difficult last night. First of all she stayed awake from 1pm to 10pm and then she woke me up every two hours last night. I was so completely exhausted this morning. I don't work well at all with such little sleep and down time. Anyways, I was changing her diaper today and noticed that she smelled really bad and is probably very dirty. She's drooling a lot for some reason and her neck and hands get sticky, so I gave her a bath. She was quite shocked at first of feel of water. I guess she had already forgotten her last bath. Then, she seemed really happy, but I think she got cold and was pretty miserable when I took her out...just like her momma. But it put her into a deep sleep, so now I have time ot get things done.

Green Eyes

I called my mom today to see what was going on with the fam. My mom told me that she couldn't tell what color eyes Aoife has. Her eyes do seem to look different in different lights and photo's, so I got a really good close up of her eye. They are blue on the outside and green around the center. I'm not sure if they are going to change brown or not, but for now they are this color. Sometimes they are blue, or grey, or green...Tim said one time they looked purple (crazy!).

We took Aoife to Berkeley Bowl today to test out her new sling, and it worked pretty well. She was making some funny noises while I was walking with her because she is laying on her side as oppossed to being upright in the moby. I think this sling will work best when Aoife is already pretty tired because would be quite easy for her to wiggle out if she wanted.

Bumble Feet

I've been wanting a carrier that I an quickly put Aoife in for short trips and around the house, so today we went to a garage sale in our old hood. The sale had a lot of baby carriers and I picked out a New Native baby sling. It's just perfect to put her in. I was so happy, and it was only $2! We went shopping and then went back home.

One of Tim's friends came to visit us today. She'd seen Aoife before, but not outside of the moby wrap. It was a good visit, and she was very good with Aoife.

I pulled out Aoife's little bumble bug booties today. They look really cute on her, and she likes to stare at them. Someday, I imagine that she'll kicked her legs wildly trying to grab them.

First BBQ

Our friend, Martin, is going off to Hong Kong for the summer, so we decided to throw a BBQ at Tilden Park to celebrate. We had tons of great food such as ribs, pulled pork, jalapeno poppers, korean meat, and Mary baked an awesome chocolate mousse cake. It was Aoife's first BBQ, and she was really good for us. She loved looking up at the big sky, so we set her on a blanket to look up at for almost an hour. Our friends told us that her hair is getting thicker. It is getting thicker on top, but it is also growing back on the sides too. It was a very good day, and I'm glad we managed to get out into nature for a few hours.

Quack-Bun

Today, I decided not to leave the house. I was so scared yesterday that she would get heat stroke or something. She was so sleepy all morning, but couldn't get into a deep sleep. I actually was missing my alert girl and was happy when she finally decided to stay up long enough to play be played with. Our friends got us a fancy plastic bath tub for Aoife, so today, I decided to test it out. It has a little hammock that you attach to the sides. It is really cool because then I can just set her in the hammock without my arms getting tired. She LOVED it. She splashed her legs as much as she wanted and smiled the whole time. She still doesn't giggle yet, but if she could she'd be doing it today. I had to finally take her out because the water was getting too cold, but she could've stayed in there for hours. Here's a picture of her in her duck towel.

It's Hot! Sweaty-Bun

Aoife's not sure what to make of this hot weather. We decided to have lunch with daddy today. So I wrapped her up and off we went. When I got to downtown Berkeley, I felt like maybe i made a mistake leaving our home. It was so very hot, and I felt bad because Aoife was wrapped up in the moby. Wraps are not good for hot weather. She didn't seem to mind and was asleep most of the time. Tim and I ate at a Turkish restaurant which was delicious. It reminded us of the food we had in Greece. Aoife got fussy towards the end, so we left and got some Gelato. I LOVE gelato. I got the deadly chocolate and Tim got pistachio. I felt like I'd left the earth it was so delicious. Aoife and I went home and i gave her a sponge bath. She enjoyed it so much. She layed naked for a long time just kicking her feet and smiling. She spent the rest of the day in just her diaper. I gave her another sponge bath in the evening and spent the rest of the night fanning her...what a QUEEN!

7 Weeks

What a beautiful day! We rarely get sunsets this beautiful. Aoife and I didn't do much today; we just took it easy. Aoife's hands are not always clutched closed anymore and when she's flailing her arms she sometimes catches my hair and does not let go! Apparently within the first three months her brain is going to grow 5 cm which must be why she is more awake now taking in the world and learning. It's amazing in just 7 weeks how much she has changed.

Funny Bun

Aoife and I had a lot of fun today. We went to the Library for the baby bounce hour. There were three other women with babies there, but Aoife was by far the youngest. The man who sang the songs reminded me somewhat of Mr. Rogers. He told us Rhymes by using little cut out felt characters that he stuck on a felt board. It was cute. We also did a lot of bouncing and dancing. There were a lot of Rhymes that I had forgotten that he put choreography to. It was fun. Aoife didn't seem to know what was going on. She did stare at a couple of the other babies and seemed to like staring at them as opposed to the mothers. I was surprised at how she now observes new environments. She knows when she's not home. We spent the day playing with each other. What a happy bun today.

Toad-Aoife

Today, I went to my midwife for a check up. Jeri said that Aoife had grown quite large and laughed at the fact that I managed to give birth to Tim's baby! Well, she really does have her daddies head because mommies not doing well down there. I have a lot of exercises that I have to do to get things back in shape. So now every night Tim and I are doing 20 sit-ups. He has to get rid of his belly, Herm, too!

Stayin' alive

Happy Mothers day to me and all! Tim made me breakfast this morning after a tough night. Aoife fed every hour since 3am last night. I have no idea what that's about but maybe another growth spurt. Tim and I washed little buns clothes yesterday, and today I noticed that she didn't have very many clothes that fit her anymore, so I took down the box with older clothes down. I pulled out all the 3-6 month clothes and noticed that a lot of them will fit her! I put her in this little penguin outfit that I bought her. She's adorable in it, but I was quite shocked that she fit into it.

We went for a walk today and decided to have lunch at the Thai Temple close to our house. Every Sunday for lunch, the Thai Temple sets up a huge outdoor buffet. The money they make goes towards the upkeep of their temple. Every Sunday it's packed. The food is authentic and delicious. We ran into our friend Kristina there, and she noticed how big Aoife got. It was a wonderful Mothers day and I felt very special and blessed.

I can play!

Aoife just got big over night. She seems so alert and active that I thought I'd get out her caterpillar toy to play with. We took it out once when she was newborn, but she had no reaction whatsoever. Today however she seemed to have a little bit more of an appreciation for it. She still doesn't quite get it yet, but she was at least reacting to the the smiling faces. She was reaching out for the smiley flower and kicking her leg at another flower. I don't think she was doing this on purpose, but she enjoyed looking at the colors.

Sleepy Bun

We had a very good day today. There seems to be patterns of rough patches one day and the next day everything is fine. Aoife has grown out of being swaddled now so no more burrito bun. She also doesn't like to suck on my finger anymore. She's also starting to not care for her pacifier as much. I guess her sucking reflex isn't as strong as it used to be. We went to the library today in our local neighborhood. I found out that the library hosts a "bounce hour" every Tuesday at 10:15am that I'm going to go to. It'll be a good chance to meet local moms. I'm also going to try the post-natal yoga next week now that I'm "healed".

Thank you Dawnatello!

Thank you faux-aunt Dawn for this ridiculously wicked outfit. She's going to look adorable in it when she's big enough to wear it which will be soon enough. She'll definetely have to wear it when we go to Wisconsin this June. I hope the weather is hot there because we don't get very hot weather here and I miss it.

I was so tired today and it didn't help that Aoife didn't know what she wanted or needed to keep herself happy. I think she's going through another growth spurt. She's growing out of a lot of clothes and is looking more like a toad everyday!

6 weeks!

Today marks a mile stone since I'm supposed to be officially healed now. I think I might just have a wee bit to go.

Some more big news is that Tim got awarded for best GSI this year (graduate student instructor) and they had a "banquet" to celebrate all the winners at UC-Berkeley. So, this meant that we asked Dorrie to babysit for us. It was the first time she was left alone with someone. I felt bad because Aoife was not in the best mood, but she knows Dorrie very well since we see her almost every week. Dorrie made this stuffed toy that Aoife is playing with; it's Mr. Sandman. It's really really cute. Thank you Dorrie. Tim and I felt pretty strange without Aoife with us, but honestly, it felt really good to have some time for ourselves. We ate some fancy hor'dourves and wine. We mingled with people, and ate a ton more. Tim and I had a nice walk home talking about his fancy yuppie world at school. We arrived and Dorrie had turned my tiger Aoife into angel Aoife, and she hung around for a while talking with us. It feels good to have some family around.

Thank you Gramma Rachel!

Another wonderful package came today for Aoife. What a popular lady! Inside was this diaper/nappy pouch. Gramma Rachel made it out of the lovely owl fabric and frog fabric that match Aoife's crib sheets. Gramma also sent MORE books! Tim has been reading books to her every now and then.

We are going back to Wisconsin the end of May for a few days. I'm terribly excited. Aoife will meet Grampa Steve, Uncle Topher, Great-Grandma Nice, Great uncles/Aunts, Grandma Moose, Grandpa Goose, Aunt Elf, Aunt Mic, and Uncle Mark. I'm hoping the flight goes well. I'm a bit frightened of all the driving we'll do, but she'll hopefully get used to it otherwise it'll be a bit of a nightmare. I can't wait to take her for walks on the farm and show her around Wisconsin!

Thank you Great-Aunt Susan and Gang

Today Miss Aoife got a package and inside was this beautiful outfit. I love the pattern on the little onsie...very cute. Thank you Susan and Gang.

Today Aoife and I took the bus to Janaki's office to drop off our birth class binder. Aoife got a little fussy when we got there so I took her out of the moby. Janaki was having a consultation and heard the commotion outside. I felt bad but she said to make ourselves at home. So I fed Aoife a little thinking that she was thirsty, but she just took a little, and was looking around at the strange new environment. She fussed up again and then I realized that she had a dirty diaper. So I proceeded to change her when I realized that I forgot to pack her diapers. I felt so bad. Her diaper was so wet and heavy. I'm starting to think that pregnancy amnesia sticks around after birth too! So, we packed up and quickly made our way back home. She didn't seem to mind too much and spent the whole bus ride staring at the passing world outside the window. She's becoming more curious about the world outside our apartment.

Urrgg

The photo says everything about today!

Reunion!!!

Today was the day we were waiting for for so long. We met up with our birth class again. It was very exciting. The reunion was in Alameda which required our most extensive public transit experience so far. We took the Bart and the bus which actually wasn't too bad, and we were actually sort of on time. It was at Maureen and Danny's house which is so beautiful and has a Fairy Tale character. It was exciting to finally meet the other babies, and it was quite overwhelming to see so many babies in one space. We mingled a bit and had baby talk. We then had lunch and shared our birth stories with each other. It was interesting to hear the stories since every birth was so different. You can't tell but Aoife was surrounded by tons of testosterone; there were only two girls present. It really is important as new parents to have the support of other new parents and we are lucky to have such a great group of moms and dads to share our experiences with. We can't wait until our next meeting!

Puck

This is my kitty Puck. I haven't mentioned him so far since for the most part he keeps out of trouble. We're not sure what he thinks about his new sister, but for the most part he completely ignores her. he didn't like all the love i had to give him and so he doesn't care at all that I'm so completely involved with Aoife. We still have our moments where he sits on my lap and we cuddle, but he doesn't need so much attention from us. He actually seems to be understanding and is giving us space.

Aoife and I had a scary day. I was sitting in our bedroom feeding her when I casually looked up at the ceiling. What did I see....a spider. Ordinarily spiders do not bother me at all, but this one was thick and black. Last weekend at Dorrie's house, Dave was telling us that black widow spiders exist in our area...very scary. I just about had a heart attack. I watched it for a little while, and it was crawling towards us then suddenly it dropped.....but only a few inches. It made its way back up and crawled faster. I screamed and took Aoife out of the room. She got scared because I was scared. I grabbed the raid and went at him. He died and I was relieved. Later, Tim and I researched it and found out it wasn't a black widow. I felt bad, but I couldn't reach him to catch him in a jar, and honestly if I didn't get rid of him the way I did, I would not have been able to sleep in that room anymore.

Later that night we decided to take Aoife out in her stroller today, and we found it to be a torturous disaster. She really doesn't like it at all. We're going to have to use it when she gets older and when she's too heavy to carry around.

May Day

Aoife and I had a visitor today: Melanie my doula. We went to the nomad cafe for some lunch to go and then took a walk in our neighborhood. It was a wonderful visit. Melanie told me that Aoife has taken on her own unique look compared to when she was born when she basically looked like every other newborn on the block. I'm really starting to see that more myself now even though I spend all my time with her. In the afternoon I experienced my first bout of engorgement. Wow, it really hurt a lot, and it was difficult to take care of Aoife. Tim came home and brought me a cabbage to relieve the pain, and it really truly worked!