September fast forward

I have fallen really behind so I am going to do September and October in one entry each and start fresh for November.

Reality Returns:

Life returned to normal when we got back from Maine. Elise had no problems adjusting to Pacific Time. Her sleep went back to normal and she was just fine. Stephanie enjoyed her last week off and enjoyed coming back to work even more. Elise was finally able to start wearing her warmer clothes. We were thinking that she would never be cold enough to wear them, but the weather turned pretty quick. It never rained during September or October, so if we bundled up a little (it was only in the mid to high 70s) we could still walk down to the park.

September 22 – D-day:

In this case the D stands for something “Daycare.” Stephanie finally goes back to work after 4 months off. Elise is finally going to meet some new people that are not family. We made a movie of her first day at daycare. You will never see it because we screwed it up. Elise loves daycare. She sleeps most of the day, but she has always done that. We pop in unexpectedly for random inspections, because we have been made paranoid by the media.

More Daycare:

Elise has made some girlfriends already. Evie, Claire and Remy seem to all like each other and the older girls (they are all older) will actually bring Elise toys to play with. Fortunately there are still the stereotypical boys in the room that crawl in a straight line and if Elise is in the way she gets crawled over. Usually the daycare ladies are there to save the day, but sometimes they are not. It does not hurt Elise because she rolls mostly out of the way, plus she is super tough like her father. Elise is also learning from the older kids. She has learned to roll, attempted to crawl and can almost hold her bottle. They have a mirror near the floor, kind of like a dance practice mirror for babies, that Elise loves to talk to the baby in the mirror in the mornings.

Four Month Check-up:

Another Doctor's appointment and more shots. Elise actually loves the Doctors office. She has not learned to associate it with shot, illness and pain yet. Stephanie had a meeting during the appointment, so Mark and I are going instead. Don't worry Stephanie gave me a list of things to ask. The appointment is going great. Elise is now 50% height and weight for her age group. Her head is only 40% but it is up from her 25% at the last measurement. She is generally very average. We like average. Dr Ward was checking her out when she asked if she can roll over yet and on command she rolled over in front of the Doctor. She may have a small head, but it is stuffed with smarts. During the appointment Elise was getting hungry, but I only have one bottle and I wanted to save it until after the shots. The plan was scrapped because Elise had already made a lunch date and I was late. the good news is that we didn't need it. She was fine about the shots. After the first one she looked at the Medical Assistant and the look conveyed "That really hurt! What did I do to you?" The next shot Elise looked at the Medical Assistant and the look conveyed "One day I will be older and I will hunt you down and will pay for this indignity". Then Elise fell asleep and it was over. Dr Ward was pretty impressed with Elise. She said her motor skills were ahead of the curve and everything else was progressing normally.

Elise's First Flight to Maine

Ok I am bad at blogging. I need to keep this more curent, but I will add a couple of blog entries to get you up to date.

Elise (with Stephanie and Gerry) went to Maine for Labor Day and the Corn Roast. The first flight, Sacramento to Chicago was pretty easy. It was so easy in fact it lulled us into a false sense of security. The second flight, Chicago to Manchester, was rough. Elise was tired of flying and got very fussy. Fortunately she was not one of those babies that cried the entire 3 hour flight. That was mostly due to Stephanie's efforts. Once the flight was over she slept for most of the two hour drive to Maine.

The first day that we were there was the Corn Roast. She slept through the early part of the day. Apparently even babies get jet lag. The family was great with her and they gave us some really good advice. Elise has no issues with strangers and my family is pretty strange.

The next day(s) Nana took over. My mother was obsessed with her new granddaughter. We have seen it before with Margaret, but this time it was my daughter and even more sweet. We were not allowed to take our daughter without my mother's permission. :) Fortunately she let elise go to Boston for the first time. Elise saw Fanuel Hall, the Boston Commons, Boston Gardens and a few other historic places. We also got our picture taken on the site of the Boston Massacre. We also got a less macabre picture site: where Daddy proposed to Mommy. Nana was a bit posesive of elise, but we understand she doesn't get to see her as often as we do. She did try to make up for lost time though.

The flight from Manchester to Chicago was really easy. Elise slept most of it and the businessman that sat next to us said she was perfect. He also said his 10 year old is usually mre disruptive on a flight. That made Stephanie and I very proud. Pride comes before the fall. The flight from Chicago to Sacramento was not good. Elise's ears popped painfully for the first time and she was tired so it was a very long flight. Again we were still fortunate enough not to have the baby that screamed the entire flight. He was about eight rows behind us and that boy (and his parents) were misserable.

All and all a very nice trip that forced us to let go of Elise and trust others with her care. Elise loved the attention and Nana and Pepe loved giving it.

Mommy's comment

I did not even know my daughter had a blog. She's sleeping right now and Gerry is in the shower so I thought I would say a few words. Wow, raising a baby is not easy. We definitely didn't get the Gerber baby, but she is 3 months old yesterday and every day is an improvement. She's smiling and cooing all the time now. Although, she's still the fussiest thing I've ever seen. I spend morning noon and night trying to please her so I'm actually looking forward to going back to work. I'd like to know when this gets easier because it must or else people wouldn't be having children right and left.
Although, she's been pretty wonderful this last week. Gerry and I were able to take her to the mall and we plan on taking her to the State Fair tomorrow. She enjoys looking around which she never did before. When we used to take her out, and it could be anywhere, she would without fail have a meltdown. However, these last few days have been amazing. She even lets me lay her on the floor and she'll entertains herself. She started liking her mobile which I thought was a big deal. Ok, gotta go she's awake. Gerry can update later...Steph

Elise Smiles

Elise has started to smile. I know that this is not exactly new, but she is now smiling when Stephanie and I talk to her. It is the first time that she is actually reacting to us without crying. People told me that it would be exciting, but it is even better than they said it would be. It is always such a thrill to see her looking at me and smiling when I say something. It is even better when she hears me across the room and smiles while she is looking for me.

She has also been VERY fussy the last week. I think she learned the smiling a Mom and Dad trick as a survival instinct. She knows as long as she is cute she won't be donated to Brad and Angelina's rainbow tribe. She has been very difficult to sooth, but everything we have read says that 6 weeks is a growth spurt and this should be the peak of fussiness for awhile. I just hope the peak does not turn into a plateau. I am becoming more and more impressed with all you lunatics that have done this and survived.

She now knows the difference between night and day. She goes to sleep right after a feeding at 2am now, so when she didn't last night and cried and cried and cried it was a bit of a surprise. This morning she was up at 6am and wide awake. Stephanie was not however. Steph was up but wide awake would be a bit of a stretch. I feel very bad for Stephanie, but I am trapped in my cubicle , so I am of now help until this afternoon.

Why Start a Blog

I have been asked to create a blog. I have never been a fan of blogs to be honest; too much information and all of it personal opinion. Today however my mother has asked me for something and I must comply. I will try to update it weekly for the first few months at least, and then I will transition to only when Elise does something that people will want to know about. The last thing I want to do is spend days boring you with Elise's latest bowel movement.