Look how big Aoife has gotten! Aoife is only a couple days old in the left picture. She is so tiny in her co-sleeper. It's truly amazing how big she is and how much of a personality she has already! Aoife is starting to make a lot of different noises now. She is razzing. She does this after she wakes up. She is also screaming very loud while she clenches her fists; it so cute to see her get excited about making these new noises. She is also starting to hold her self up by her arms when she sits; only for a second or so. I've also started laying her her in her belly more so that she can build strength in her back and neck. She likes to lay on one of Tim's baby blankets(pictured below) and feel the little wool bits. She's not a huge fan of laying on her belly, but she does get a kick out of looking at herself in the mirror. I read somewhere that a lot of babies go straight from sitting to walking without crawling. The article attributed it to the fact that parents are no longer laying their babies on their bellies because of the advice to lay babies on their backs to avoid SIDS.
Tues-I wanted to see if Aoife would make it to Berkeley Bowl without putting up a fuss. I used the moby wrap and kept her chest to chest with me. It worked. I think facing her out like a kangaroo keeps her from feeling safe. So, now we'll go back to using the moby wrap again which is actually a lot more comfortable now because she is bigger. The sling also started to hurt my shoulder, and it hurt my back a lot.
Wed- I came home to a calm and content Aoife who had spent the whole morning with her Aunt Dorrie. Dorrie brought over a mother goose nursery rhyme book which she had read to Aoife. Dorrie said that Aoife enjoyed it when Dorrie pointed to the pictures in the book. Dorrie had woken up at 3am that morning to bake a chocolate cake for Dave's birthday and had kept a couple slices for Tim and I; it was delicious. Dorrie is very gentle with Aoife. She sings songs to her, and she plays little finger games. We're so lucky to have Dorrie look after her.
Papa shaved his whiskers off; I think Aoife likes it better. On Saturday, I went to a garage sale and bought a little swim suit diaper for Aoife to take her swimming when she is 6 months old. I also got her a carrier for hiking. It's a very light metal frame one with a stand so that she can use it to sit in too. Hopefully, we can go hiking again when we have the time and energy. Tim and I had a tough week last week. This new schedule is killing us. Tim is not able to work effectively at night, and his boss is wondering when he'll be able to work daytime hours. I am becoming more and more drained as the weeks go on, and my ambition to teach is almost nonexistent. It's very bad for Aoife to have two exhausted parents, so we really need to change to a schedule where we are both energetic enough to be interactive parents. We've been looking at options for Aoife so that Tim can work during the day, and the best Tim has found are family daycares. I'm extremely uncomfortable with leaving Aoife so young in someone else's hands, so I'm thinking about quitting my job until she's older. I'm hoping to find a situation where another mom would want me to come to her home to care of her little baby (hopefully around Aoife's age) a few days a week. We'll see how it works out.
We've started to use the G-diapers that we ordered off of the internet. G-diapers are completely flushable and good for the environment. They are pretty easy to use. The only problem is that the liners get stained with poop easily, but they can be washed.
"For the last 40 years there have been but two choices in diapers. Cloth or disposable. That’s it. Now gDiapers offers a third option. Flushable. gDiapers puts waste where it belongs, in the toilet. Not the landfill.
gDiapers have no elemental chlorine, no perfumes, no smell, no garbage and no guilt. In fact, flushables are so gentle on the Earth you can even garden compost the wet ones in one compost cycle, approximately 50 – 150 days. Just think of the standing ovation you’ll get from the planet."
Today, Tim and I went to the Thai temple for some brunch and then Berkeley Bowl for some ingredients for Olive bread. I've never baked a bread with yeast before, so I thought I would challenge myself today. It turned out okay. It was too flat which i think was because of the yeast not being stored properly. Better luck next time. Papa fed Aoife for the first time today. At first, he was reluctant to feed her because he was afraid of jabbing her with the spoon, but he bit the bullet and actually had fun doing it. Feeding a baby is a lot harder than one thinks. Tim managed to get her food all over her face, and at one point it splattered all around her chair. It was so much fun. I'm very skilled at feeding and found it funny to see Tim struggling with getting food in her mouth. Aoife got the hang of eating with daddy and made sure she opened her mouth very wide for him. Aoife loves bananas as you know, and we tried pears, but she hated the pears spitting them out all over the place. I tasted them, and they did seem a little acidic. The last thing on her list of first foods was rice cereal. She likes rice cereal a lot, but not as much as bananas. I feed her every other day, and she gets excited when she's fed. She makes "mmmm" noises and pouts her lips for more. Also when we were eating at the Thai temple today, she was making chomping movements with her mouth.
