Changes

Dear Catalina,
Wow, they told us that when you were in this first year, every day would be like you were a new baby; but we haven't really seen that until now.  Well, I should say it hasn't been as drastic--at least not for me.  You are really beginning to manipulate your world now (including your mommy and daddy).  It is so amazing to witness another human being just trying to figure out all the things that we take for granted as adults.  One of your new favorite things is having us switch the lights on and off.  Apparently this is both amazing and hilarious for you.  You have also been enjoying every day objects.  We laughed this weekend because we went to a music festival and brought all these toys, but the things you wanted to play with were our keys, Daddy's driver's license, and the umbrella!  What's the point in toys?

So if you ever want to know, your first music concert was a blue grass festival called pickin in the pines.  You saw Sam Bush as your first headlining act.  Not too impressive maybe for you, but it was a good time. 

For the most part, you are still a very mellow and happy baby.  You've been taking "swim lessons" (really just 30 minutes of play time in the pool), and the other day I dunked you in the water.  You didn't even cry.  You just sputtered a bit and had this cute look on your face--but no tears.  You still haven't quite gotten the hang of splashing, blowing bubbles, or kicking--and our lessons are almost over--but at least you haven't been crying!

Unfortunately, lately we have seen a less-than-mellow side of you.  For the last few days getting a diaper change has oftentimes sent you into a fit of crying.  It doesn't happy every single time, but it seems to be more than 50% of the time.  It is really disturbing because it is a cry that we don't really recognize.  Its not the "ouch" cry or the "I'm hungry" cry, or even the "I'm tired" cry.  This is something new--but it is definitely not a mellow thing.  I have no idea what has happened, but I hope it goes away soon.  It is so terrible to watch the tears streaming down your face and have no clue what the problem is.  Uggh.  I hope we get over this soon.  I so wish you could just tell me.

Oh one more new thing.  This was really funny.  So at the concert your dad and I were snapping our fingers to the music.  Well when we looked at your little hands, it seemed like perhaps you were trying to snap too!  You've done it since then --and its oh so cute.  Of course we'll never know if you're actually trying to snap, but I know your dad will insist that that's what you were doing--so I may as well play along!

Ok baby girl.  Time for mommy to try to get some sleep--you haven't let me get much of that lately!

Love you
Mommy

Half a year!

Dear Catalina,

Wow, how the time flies!  On Sunday you reached 6 months as an independent (well relatively speaking) human.  We celebrated by finally getting around to planting your placenta!  Ewww gross!  Daddy had the hospital save it for us and its been in the freezer all this time.  It is a tradition in his family to plant a tree for the kids.  Dad and I debated for a long while about what type of tree to plant, and we finally decided on a Blaze Maple.  First we cut down all the stupid Asian Elms that were cluttering our backyard (stumps in the picture).  We picked the tallest maple we could find with the hopes that it will be a decent sized tree before too long.  I hope you get a chance to see it grow over the years.  I would like to declare a tradition of taking your picture with the tree every 5th of September--we'll see if I remember.

In other news, the sleeping by yourself thing has been a partial failure.  During the first week it was your daddy that caved every evening.  He would go in to check on you and come out of your room with you in his arms.  Not that I minded--you are quite the cuddler as I've stated before and it is always great to wake up next to your smiling face.  The problem is that sleeping next to me makes you want to feed every two hours or so, which makes for a long night for mommy.  Your father's hope is that eventually, you won't wake up in the night and at that point you will sleep the entire night in your own bed.  I think he's dreaming!  For now, we'll just see how this plays out for all of us.

The other big event is that Mommy found part-time work.  I haven't worked since just before you were born (February 28 to be exact).  This has been both stressful and awesome.  It is wonderful to have had the time to spend with you during these last months, but financially its not really sustainable.  Man, it was really hard to leave you on that first day of work.  Consider, darling, that I have probably only been away from you for a maximum of 2 hours since you were born.  To be honest, I cried while I was driving to work that day.  You, however, had a good day with Daddy and hardly seemed to notice that I was gone!  Well except for the fact that your personal dairy bar was absent.  I pumped plenty of milk, but you don't seem fond of the new delivery methods.  Luckily you're eating some solid food now so you're not starving by the time I get home, but you do seem to feel you need to drink more frequently when I'm around--especially in the middle of the night!!!  Well I'm sure we'll get through this and you'll get over your insecurity about the milk supply.  At least I hope so.

Lately, you've seemed more cuddly even during waking hours.  You seem more ticklish and able to pick up on cues.  For example I've been counting to three and then thrusting you up in the air.  Now when I get to "two" you start to smile and get yourself ready.  I still can't get over how cute you are.  Speaking of, it is 11 pm and I can hear that you are not asleep (in the monitor).  You are just in there talking to yourself--making the little creaky door noises that you make.  It is so funny to listen to you.  I wonder what is going through your head??

Good night, honey.
Mommy