Rolls of Chub

One thing that I absolutely love about Sophia is her chubby rolls. I've always loved chunky babies, and I would say that Sophia qualifies as one of them. She has those adorable fat rolls on her thighs, several chins, and she's even starting to develop rolls around her wrists. It's kind of funny to me how fat is so cute on babies, but not so attractive on other folks. One of the challenges of having a baby with all of these rolls is keeping them clean. It's pretty amazing the goo that gets stuck in there. Milk drips down her neck, and if its not thoroughly cleaned, can quickly start to stink. We've realized we need to bathe her often so that she doesn't start to smell like a lunchroom trash can. Anyway, I really don't mind the cleaning or the smell; I find those little rolls of chub unquestionably irresistible!

Baby Research Subject

Olivia's funny quote of the week: While taking off her shoes, she said, "Oooh, stinky diaper feet!" Another funny thing Olivia has been saying lately takes place when she wants us to turn on the radio. She says, "Yucas on." This means "Music on." I'm not quite sure why she substitutes a y for the m, or reverses the last two consonants. Sophia has been participating in a research study for bi-polar and schizophrenia. After she was born, I got a letter in the mail asking if I was interested in having her participate in this study. It sounded kind of interesting, and they pay me $30 each time I go. The pay averages out to about $20 an hour, which is pretty good for an unemployed lady like me. Anyway, most of the study is done while she's asleep. They put 7 electrodes on her face and head, and then I'm supposed to figure out how to get her to sleep. Not only do I have to get her to sleep, but I'm supposed to keep her asleep for more than 30 minutes. They need 15 minutes of REM time, and I understand it takes at least 15 minutes to get to the REM stage. The first time we tried we didn't quite make it. She only slept for about 20 minutes. Part of the problem is that I'm holding her. We got all sweaty. I have a hard time sitting still that long, and because she falls asleep so easily I rarely hold her while she sleeps. We've had 3 appointments so far, and tomorrow is our last one until she's 6 months old. The next sessions are at 12 months and 18 months. I'd try to explain what they're trying to determine with the study, but I'm afraid I wouldn't do a very good job. It has to do with trying to determine if an infant is likely to end up with schizophrenia or bi-polar as an adult. I'm glad we're doing it, but I'm also glad we only have a few more sessions left. At least this gives me something to talk about at parties since I don't have any work stories to tell. People don't usually want to hear about how many diapers I changed that day, or how hard I had to scrub to get the dried up applesauce off of the chair leg.

Roll On Over

New Alert: Sophia rolled over for the first time today, the same day that she turned 3 months old!!

Keeping It Cool

For those of you who don't know it, Yale hates the heat, and that's an understatement. Earlier in the summer when our thermostat read 70 degrees, he informed me that he wouldn't be able to do anything all day because he was suffering from heat stroke. Now I will say that he does seem to have a much higher body temperature than me, but heat stroke at 70 degrees??? Anyway, on days when it's really hot we are often trying to find activities that we can do that will put us in an air-conditioned or cooler environment. This past Sunday, we decided to take both kids swimming. Olivia is a big fan of our local rec center. She loves to ride in the inner tubes (which she calls purple bagels). This was Sophia's first time in a pool. I can't say that she seemed to love it, but she didn't seem to hate it either. After swimming we went to the mall to get something to eat, where you could find every other Denver-West suburbanite who doesn't have air-conditioning. Olivia was dying to have some ice cream, so I waited in line at Dairy Queen for 20 minutes only to be waited on by an extremely grumpy DQ worker and to find out that they were out of Reese's, while Yale try to manage ready-for-a-nap Olivia and way-past-hungry Sophia. I don't think we'll be rushing back to the mall anytime soon. Intently watching her hands and feet move has become Sophia's favorite pastime. It's funny how fascinating that is to babies. It's also pretty interesting that it takes them 3 months to discover that these limbs waving in front of them belong to them, and that they have control of them (at least somewhat). I'm beginning to notice an unfortunate pattern with our two children. When one doesn't sleep, neither does the other one. Last week when Olivia was sick and not sleeping, Sophia quit sleeping through the night. Then when Olivia felt better and slept better so did Sophia. Last night Olivia woke up at midnight and 2:00 wanting a snack and to read books. Sophia woke up at 12:30 and 4:00 also wanting to eat. I guess part of being a mom is just accepting that a good night's sleep is rare.

Healthy Toddler and Happy Baby

I'm happy to report that Olivia seems to be recovering from being sick for the past few days. She had what I thought was a pretty high fever. The doctor told me that 101.9 is considered low-grade, but the blue lips, chills, and hallucinations accompanying it didn't seem low-grade to me. Because she wasn't demonstrating any other symptoms and had had the fever for 2 days, the doctor checked for signs of strep, ear infection, and a bladder infection. Checking for the first two were easy, but testing for a bladder infection was not. Because the process needs to be sterile a catheter had to be used. This was one of those moments when being a mom sucked! I hated being the one to hold her down and to see her so scared and hurt. It's no wonder kids can get so angry at their mothers. We're the ones that are right there when all of these rotten procedures are performed. Anyway, it turned out that Olivia didn't have any of the infections that the doctor was looking for. Now that she seems to be feeling better I guess it was just a virus. It's good to have our bright-eyed, giggly girl back in action. Sophia will be 3 months old a week from today. She is at a stage that if I could make it last, maybe not forever, but for a very long time, I would. I'm amazed at how easy she is. She's very laid back and smiles all of the time. When I'm feeding her early in the morning in a groggy fog and she stops eating to give me an ear-to-ear smile that lights up my heart, I think everyone should have a chance to see it. Then I have to remind myself that rarely do other people find your kids as wonderful as you do. But, it really is a great smile. I'm also amazed at how easy Sophia is to get to sleep. At night I just swaddle her, put her in her basinet, and turn on the vibration setting that puts her right to sleep. I never have to rock or walk around with her. And, then of course, I'm completely thrilled by how well and how long she sleeps. We have been very lucky to have two very easy babies.

WHAT A SLEEPER!

Sophia has slept through the night 2 nights in a row! She slept 9 hours last night! Wowee!!!