Before I Forget

Here's the report from Phaedra's 2 month appointment to the doctor:

Weight: 9lbs. 11oz. --10th percentile
Length: 22 and 1/2 inches --40th percentile
Head circumference: (I didn't catch the actual measurement) --5th percentile

Everything else: Healthy, healthy, healthy!

She's about the same as (if not a little smaller than) Eleanor was at two months, which surprised me because I thought Phaedra was bigger.

She got all her two month shots, and Eleanor got a flu shot, so it was quite a day!

Some people have wondered about the little red mark on her forehead. It's a birthmark. It wasn't there when she was born; it showed up a week or two later and has gotten darker since then. It's nothing to worry about, and it will probably fade completely by the time she's five. It's not because we hurt her head somehow.

I was Tagged

Haley tagged me a while ago, and I keep forgetting to do it, so here you go:

1.) Go to your Pictures folder on your computer.

2.) Go to your 4th folder.

3.) Get your 4th picture.

4.) Tag four people.

This was when we went to get our Christmas tree last year. We're riding the "train," sitting on hay bales in the cold. I can't believe what a baby face Eleanor still had! I love that tradition we have of all going to the Christmas tree farm to get our tree. I can't wait to do it this year!

P.S. I'm not going to peer pressure anyone into doing the tag this time. If you want to, go for it, but leave me a comment telling me you did so I can check it out.

GrosgrainStore.com Grand Opening & Giftcard Giveaway!!!!!!!!

GrosgrainStore.com Grand Opening & Giftcard Giveaway!!!!!!!!

Here's a link to the store: GROSGRAINSTORE.COM

It's about time for some Halloween pictures, wouldn'tcha say?

This year, I really wanted Eleanor to be something for Halloween that she could get excited about. I thought about fashioning some sort of Wall-E or Eve costume since she loved going to her first movie this year, but the logistics of that just ruined it for me. Too much work. I tried asking her what she wanted to be, but she didn't remember last year well enough to know what I was asking. She'd give me great, useless answers like, "hair costume." Although I maybe could have complied with that request, it would have been a bit weird.

Inspiration finally came during lunch one day. Like many other days, she was pausing during eating to growl at me, and like many other days, I was pretending to be scared while groaning inwardly about how many times a day I am growled at and still need to pretend it's actually fun (some days, I don't even pretend. I just tell her to stop growling and eat-- boring mommy that I am). The growl was followed by the question she had been asking me all too often (probably because it made me smile the first time she asked it and I was able to answer her question instead of having to give my fake petrified reaction) of "Dinosaurs do dat?" It dawned on me that the girl who loves growling so much and talking about dinosaurs just might enjoy being one for Halloween.

So, we looked at some costumes online, mostly to see what I might find in stores. We saw that Old Navy had this cute dragon costume, and it was an acceptable alternative for her. Tracking down the costume turned out to be a bit challenging, but with the help of Uncle Mike in Albany, we managed to get one in her size. Note to self: figure out costumes earlier in the month next time.

If you ask me, it was worth it. She was so excited to get her dragon costume, and she wore it almost every day until Halloween (so we got a good half a month of use out of it).

On Halloween, we rushed through dinner to visit a few of our neighbors before going to the trunk-or-treat. That took a bit longer than expected, and we were later than we had hoped to be in leaving for trunk-or-treat. I thought it started it 6, and we got there just before 6:30. Well, it turns out that I was wrong. It had started at 5:30 and went until 6:30, so it was ending just as we got there. We had even invited Michael and Lucero to come along and share in our disappointment. (SO sorry, guys.) So, we caught a few cars that hadn't left yet, and I desperately handed out as many blow pops as I could so we wouldn't get stuck with them. Luckily, the kids weren't as disappointed as I was; they didn't know the difference. And, at least it wasn't our only plan for the evening.

We moved on to Grandma Matthews' house, or "Tudio Grandma," as Eleanor calls her-- because she has a studio, pronounced without the S in Eleanor speak. Once there, we took the kids to a few well-known neighbors, and then got them settled in for a movie in the playroom while we got to enjoy apple cider and tacos- yum!

They watched a Winnie the Pooh Halloween movie that Eleanor hadn't seen before. You could hardly get her to look away from the screen the entire time.

But I did manage one picture of her face.

I was going to be really creative and put Phaedra in a dress so I could get a picture of them together, the dragon and the "damsel in this dress." But, I ran out of time, and it wasn't very practical for the trunk-or-treat, so I just put her in these cute Halloween jammies and called it good. Maybe next year. . .

Two Months Old

My little Phaedra was two months old on Sunday, which is when I started this post. Ah well, such is life.

Here are some pictures from the past month:

Sometimes, I rock "two ones" in the chair before Eleanor's nap. When it's time to put Eleanor in her bed, I set Phaedra down on the chair for a minute while I take Eleanor to her room and give her loves and kisses. Phaedra was awake when I put her down, but when I returned, this is what I found.

Bathing beauty. Look how her hair curls up when wet.

Watching Daddy sleep.

"Play with me, Daddy!"

My matching little girls.

• Phaedra is smiling and interacting more each day.

• She has just about mastered getting her hands to her mouth to suck on a fist. It's so fun to watch her concentrate as she stretches out her arm, raising it above her her head and touching it to her face as she slowly lowers it to her mouth. Other times, it goes straight there, but she still has to think about it every now and then.

• After some debate on the issue, we tried offering her a binky. She's either not interested or has no clue how to keep it in her mouth. Either way, it makes her mad most times. I guess she made that decision for us. Car rides will be more difficult, but it will save us headaches later on.

• She finally stopped pooping in small installments, so we aren't going through 100 diapers a day. (I know everyone is interested in her pooping habits.) Now we're in the blow-out stage. She lets out so much at a time with so much force, I don't know if there's a diaper in the world that could hold it all in, but I'm still looking for one. I'm going to try size 2 diapers as soon as we finish the pack we have.

• She seems to be growing faster than Eleanor did, but I'll know for sure when we go to her doctor appointment. I swear she's as big as Eleanor was at 3 months. Side note: You notice how everyone asks you how much your baby weighs? I never have an answer for that. Our scale at home isn't that accurate, and I don't take her to the doctor's office every day just to weigh her. I could tell people how much she weighed at the last appointment, but babies grow so fast that it's irrelevant within a week or two and you're back to not knowing how much they weigh. I wish I had a better answer for that question besides, "Um, I don't know right now." It doesn't annoy me that people ask; it just annoys me not to have an answer.

• She is a pretty good sleeper. She has some trouble going down at the beginning of the night, often going to sleep, getting put in her bed, and waking within a few minutes. But once she quits that pattern and actually stays asleep, she sleeps for a good several hours before waking to eat. She falls asleep eating or being burped and goes right back into her bed. Then, she sleeps in most mornings (something that never happened with Eleanor, at least not as a pattern).


• Her favorite way to fall asleep is swaddled in a blanket --arms out, thankyouverymuch-- being held facing out, basically drooping over your arm.


• She's really pleasant when she finally gets up in the morning, smiling and cooing at me while she's on the changing table and being surprisingly patient in relation to being fed.
• She is fascinated with her older sister, and will track her around the room as she jumps, runs, or carries on whatever shenanigans she's up to at the time.