Hello!

Sorry its been so long. Work is definitely keeping me busy, but that's a good thing!

So what's new...

Well all the mom's and babies from the childbirth class I attended finally met up! We had only seen pictures of eachother's little ones, so it was nice to see each of them in person. It was even better for me to in a sense "compare" babies with everyone else, so I could see how gnomette sizes up. Surprisingly (and I'm not sure *why* it surprises me) she was perfectly average! Some babies were fatter, some skinnier, and some were even about her size! She's completely normal! Good to know- very reassuring.

I also went to the dentist this week. Ugh.

Right now gnomie is sleeping on her boppy on my lap and snorrrrrrrrrring away. She's so funny.

Good News/ Weird News

Well she did it! Tonight no sooner had I placed the gnome down for tummy time, she was lying on her back with what I swear was a smug look of satisfaction that seemed to be saying "take that, tummy time!" She just rolled right over like a little slinky! It wasn't a full circle yet, but she keeps doing it every time I put her back on her tummy!!!

Now for the not so good. I have recently begun to notice sometimes when her hand is behind her head she is pulling on her own hair. I'm afraid she's going to rip it all out or hurt herself. All references I've seen to hair pulling in babies online is either pulling other peoples hair (which she also does but I don't care about) and hair pulling in toddlers, which doesn't help. Gnomette will only be 12 weeks this week.

Getting There.

The gnome's progress in regards to tummy time is astounding! After not really playing on her tummy much this week, she had two sucessful tummy times last night and this morning. She is now all of a (the?) sudden able to hold herself up on her arms and her head up straight, facing outward!!! I for one am amazed- I thought it would never happen!

As if that weren't cool enough, she has also started to push to the side and can lie on her side. She is thisclose to being able to roll from her upright tummy position to her back. I am going to make sure she has tummy time daily now so she can get the rolling down, asap. I don't want to push her, but I do want her to develop on schedule! Thankfully now that she can hold herself up, tummy time has received a much warmer reception, too!

In other growth news, I am proud to say the gnome has outgrown all her 0-3 stuff, and is now able to wear all the supercute size 3-6 clothing waiting in her closet, including the dresses her mommy bought her from gymboree (they were on clearance, with coupons, gift cards and on ebay, 'cuz mommy isn't made of money, you know...). Today she is wearing the cutest coral-colored dress w/ butterfly and flower embroidery. Yesterday she wore a yellow dress with tiny bees! I am even bidding on another 3 gymboree dresses, including one from the "girl dtective" line that is sooooo cute.

Tag!

Nissa tagged me, so... Here's how it works

1) Link to the person who tagged you.
2) Post the rules.
3) Share six non-important things / habits / quirks about yourself.
4) Tag at least three people.
5) Make sure the people you tagged KNOW you tagged them by commenting what you did.

A. I hate most words with the "oo" sound.

B. I am fascinated with the inner ear.

C. I still have weekly nightmares that I am failing Hebrew

D. I once annoyed my mom's a-hole boyfriend so much he left her and moved back to MN.

E. I never told my MIL that my then 6 month old puppy peed on her decorative bed pillows.

D. My husband and I call eachother horrible, horrible names as terms of endearment.

That's what I *can* tell you- at least on here... Since this blog has a whole 2 readers that I know of, Sarah you're "it" again.

Comfortable.

So the other day when my in-laws called, my MIL also mentioned something that I didn't give much thought to at the time. I was telling her about how the gnome has been sleeping through the night, and she asked me, "Is she still sleeping in the bedroom with you?" and I answered yes, and she replied "Well you need to start putting her in her crib now- she's ready."

Okay, so, I was kind of annoyed, but its okay, because I don't really care what anyone else thinks. The gnome doesn't sleep in our bed- she has a bassinet, which wasn't cheap, and I feel as though I should get my money's worth out of it, because her crib will turn into a twin bed eventually. Anyways, it holds babies up to 20 pounds, which the gnome is nowhere near, so she's fine in it, and even though she's been sleeping through the night, she sometimes wakes up and fusses and its easier to reach over and help her than having to get out of bed and find her. Also, when she starts teething she will likely start waking up again,, I'm told, so this is by no means a permanent thing.

Co-dependence day.

I am having a rare moment of insane frustration right now. I got up at 8, fed the baby, bathed her, showered (not the hair and in less than three minutes), spent some time with my husband taking care of his "needs", and now it is almost 11 and I've had no time to actually eat breakfast. I am one of those people who wakes up ravenous and MUST eat immediately or things go south pretty quickly. My husband promised we'd go to breakfast since I'm out of cereal anyways, and per his usual MO, he took his sweet f'ing time getting ready, and now the baby will need to eat in twenty minutes, which means we don't have time for breakfast or to go to the store and get more cereal. As a result, I will get breakfast around NOON.

NOON.

I blame my husband for this and quite honestly I want to punch him right now. To make matters worse, I've had no food, and am really wondering how exactly my body is going to produce any milk since I haven't eaten since about 6pm last night. So the baby probably won't be satisfied anyways, and will need to eat for a full hour. Great. Great, great, great. I asked him if I should go to the store and get the cereal myself, but he said we could go out, so I stayed in.

Men!

Two steps forward, two steps back.

Developmentally speaking, the gnome is ahead of the game in some areas, and noticeably behind in others. I'm sure they're all my fault, but now I'm beginning to panic a little. For instance, the whole "tummy time" thing is not really her forte. She fusses and cries whenever I put her on her belly, so she doesn't really go on it for very long. This has naturally set her back in the whole 'holding her head up on its own' department. She is doing okay sitting up when I prop her up in my arms and her head seems pretty sturdy then, but a woman from my childbirth class circulated a picture of her baby pushing herself up with her arms, and she's only about two weeks older than the gnome! Damn it! I guess I have to do more tummy time with her or something. What have I done?? I know you're not supposed to "compare" your child's progress to another, but how can you not?

On the flip side, for the past three nights the gnome has only gotten up ONCE each evening! ONCE! Last night she slept from about 10 pm to 5 am, and that was the only time she got up! Of course, I should be rejoicing, but part of me is worried that she's not going to get enough food now.

Why is parenting so hard???? Gah!

In other horrible news, my husband's company is having some financial difficulties (seems no one is buying their software at the moment) and they're talking layoffs. Since he just took this job when he was laid off in December, he'd probably be on the short-list of the first employees to go. Great. It was scary enough when I was pregnant- but no money and an infant? Not good. I guess I'll have to get WIC or something, or go back to work full time and he could watch the gnome. We'd be homeless, but at least I'd have trustworthy childcare. Okay, I am not going to stress out about this. I am not, I am not, I am not. Think happy thoughts! Yeah, I'll think about babies, white wine and puppies. The finer things in life.

The cutest thing!

Last night the whole family (dogs included) was lying on the bed just hanging out. I was lying with my back inclined and knees up, and had "miss-gnomer" sitting on my belly with her back inclined along my legs. She was sitting propped up, staring right at me, when suddenly she started smiling. As if that weren't cute enough, suddenly, out of nowhere she squealed with delight while she was still smiling!!! She only just started the squealing this past week, but to see it along with a smile AND directed at me was just too much cuteness to handle! And too prove it wasn't just a fluke, she did it two more times all in plain site of my husband.

It's those kind of moments that make my life in general completely worthwhile.