Two Months

Dear Neil,

You are two months old today! I was looking at your older pictures and how tiny you were! At the most recent appointment you tipped the scale at 10 pounds! You have put on 4 pounds since birth. The doctor showed us some charts and said you were off the charts in growth. We are so thankful to hear that because we were a little worried about you. When I was at the doctors office, I saw another new born baby and I missed that stage of yours and wanted to have you all over again. Daddy thinks I am crazy and asks me if I don't want you to grow up. I do of course, but yet it is so bittersweet to see you grow and change everyday.



This is what is going on with you now.

1) You absolutely love playing in a mat on the ground. You just lie down there for upto an hour. You make little whimpering noises if no one is talking to you. But you are so happy if someone talks to you.

2) You smiled for the first time this month and we do anything and everything to elicit that sweet smile again. You are not very generous with your smiles at this point, so it is a huge treat to see you smile. It happens usually in the morning and it is a good incentive for me to wake up early enough :)

3) You sleep in the swing also, but only after you have already gone to sleep. We can't put you there hoping you would go to sleep yourself.

4) But you love your mei tai the best, except that you hate it when I take you out of it.

5) You still don't fuss a lot, although you are way more aware and sensitive to sounds and lights. It amazes me though that you fall fast asleep when we are out with you.

6) You attended the Ode to Joy concert and you slept through the entire thing. You have been to almost all of your parents' favorite restaurants.

7) You are really quiet and good at church. Right when the service is ending, you call out ingaaaa (milk) and you make everyone look at you. That was hilarious.

8) You look at the light for a long time and are fascinated by it. But we are very happy that you now know the difference between night and day and you sleep much longer during the night. That is just a great blessing.

9) I read children's bible stories to you every morning during mat time and it is such a fun time!

10) Oh, and you outgrew all your newborn outfits and even the 3 months one are getting snug! You are growing fast.

You are so loved baby, and you were so longed for! I look forward every morning to spending time with you and seeing what new thing you would do. I thank God every day for giving you to us.

Love,
Mama

The day so far

I had been a stay at home sloth long enough. Today was a new day. I woke up at 5:30 to pump. Got 3 ounces instead of the usual 2.5. The day is starting to look good. Briefly thought about doing laundry and dishes and some sundry tasks and staying awake till 8:15 when it would be time to pump again. But then I need my rest if there has to be milk. I keep the alarm for 8:15 and go to sleep. Slept through the alarm. Finally wake up at 10 am refreshed. Justify to myself that I needed that after a bear of a weekend. Still a new day, new beginning. Decide that I will get laundry done today. But first, I need to pump. It is already later than it should be. By then it is 11. Mom insists I should eat a piece of bread at least. I comply. It is 11:15 now and I go to my room so I could gather the clothes. Oh wait, the tub is full of washed baby clothes from 5 days ago which I never put away. I empty them onto the bed. Decide I would fold this and the new load together. About to put the dirty clothes in the tub when I realized that the dried laundry from yesterday was still sitting in the dryer.

Went to the bathroom linen closet to put a towel away. Realized I haven't brushed my teeth today and it is already 11:30. While brushing, also realized that I haven't showered yesterday and day before. (In my defense, hubby was sick with the flu and Mummy was out of town and baby was clingy, so I have had barely time to go, let alone shower.) Figured today might be a good time for a hot shower and hopped in. The shower felt great and I realized I had planned to put the laundry in before showering.

Dressed and came down and took the empty tub with me to collect and put away the clothes sitting in the dryer. I was passing the kitchen when Mom reminded that I have to put rice for lunch. I put the tub down, collected laundry and since it was 12:15 by then, decided to put rice and fry some fish. Looked for a utensil to put rice in. Everything was either in the sink or in the dishwasher. Figured I might as well empty the dishwasher. Put rice. Kept pan with oil for frying the fish. Since sink was full and the dishes unloaded, decided to load it up. Started loading the dishwasher. Baby started crying. Made some formula for him. There was enough of baby's stuff to sterilize. Put all that and started that. Oil got too hot, started frying fish. Came and checked email, facebook. Almost given up on blog reading except for a few friends' blogs.

Had lunch. Time to pump again. Only 1.5 oz this time. In between all this, there were diaper changes, walking around with baby to put him to sleep. It became 2'o clock. Started feeling sleepy already. Thought I should blog since I haven't blogged for the longest time. It is 2:40 now and I wanted to tell you about my birthday gift and share pictures (birthday was 3 weeks ago). I would do all that except...

I still haven't done laundry.

My hands

I love my hands a lot much. They are my bestest weapon. I use it to:

• Scratch onto my face when I get mad
  
• Scratch mommy's breast when I don't get enough inga
• Ball up into a fist and eat it
  
• Pull out my pachifier when mom and dad tries to cheat me into going to sleep when I don't want to.

That is why I hate it (but also love it) when Dad swaddles me so snug that it is hard to get my hands out. But I am really smart cos I still manage to do it and that is why he calls me handini (Houdini, get it?)

~Neil