Today Senorita Clementina is four weeks old. I am sure that people are expecting some more photographs, so here you go:
The first day that we were home from the hospital, Cooper was bonkers. He had been stuck at home alone during the past two days and although Mom returned in the early evening and spent the night there, this was a big change from what he was used to. Senor CC took him for a nice long walk that first evening, and this helped his energy level immensely. This photo is of the very first time we let him get at all close to her. You can tell that he is just waiting to see if we are going to let him stay there or not. Each day gets better with the dog; we are all learning our new routines and positions in the family.
My brother calls these E.T. Legs. They are very skinny and wrinkly, especially when Sta. Clementina stretches out. She is not a chunky baby yet!
Here is a photo of her in one of her favorite places: on her play-mat from BU. Each day she is usually very alert for about two hours twice during the day, and she will lie on her musical mat and look at all of the hanging toys...and at the crib (it has great contrast between dark and light, which babies can see)...and at the ceiling fan (ditto)...oh, and she loves light, either from a lamp or the windows.
Smiling and laughing are completely random and mean nothing at this stage...although she does tend to do both at appropriate times. One morning Mom was holding her and she kept grinning. This was my best attempt at catching one of her grins in a photograph.
Compared to the photos taken in her first few days of life, it is obvious that she is gaining weight. In fact, I make super-milk. Oh, yes, I do. She gained twelve ounces in eight days. Each nurse(3) and doctor(1) that saw her at her two week appointment asked what I was feeding her, and when I said breast milk, they all said something along the lines of "that's all?", so super-milk indeed.
When Sta. Clementina was two weeks old, her Papa Jim and Aunt Kass came to visit. She really enjoyed spending time with both of them. I love the expression on her face here; she makes it whenever she is trying to focus on something.
Aunt Kass gave her a bouncy-seat while she was here. It vibrates, which makes her open her eyes wide and smoosh her mouth into a bow. Once she gets used to it, she looks like this. Anyone want to make a guess as to what her hair and eye colors will be?
Guga and Papa Jim gave her this Virginia Tech outfit. We are practicing raising our arms and shouting "touch-down!" every day. Sr. CC and I are sure she will be a hokie fan.
Another good purchase was the Aquarium Cradle swing. This one swings forward like a normal swing and also turns so that it can swing side to side. Considering her size, it is a very good thing that we have a cradle-swing; the forward facing option doesn't work so well just yet.
I will try to write some sort of newsletter, a la Dooce, to keep people up to date on Sta. Clementina's developments and to keep a record for us of her growth (since "they grow up so fast"). I don't know if it will be monthly or not, although that seems like a good time-frame to me. I don't intend for this to become a baby-only blog, not that you can tell so far, but I am hoping that once I don't have a baby attached to me all day and night I'll actually have something else to write about. So far, that pretty much sums up my daily activities, though, so for now it is what you get!
The first day that we were home from the hospital, Cooper was bonkers. He had been stuck at home alone during the past two days and although Mom returned in the early evening and spent the night there, this was a big change from what he was used to. Senor CC took him for a nice long walk that first evening, and this helped his energy level immensely. This photo is of the very first time we let him get at all close to her. You can tell that he is just waiting to see if we are going to let him stay there or not. Each day gets better with the dog; we are all learning our new routines and positions in the family.
My brother calls these E.T. Legs. They are very skinny and wrinkly, especially when Sta. Clementina stretches out. She is not a chunky baby yet!
Here is a photo of her in one of her favorite places: on her play-mat from BU. Each day she is usually very alert for about two hours twice during the day, and she will lie on her musical mat and look at all of the hanging toys...and at the crib (it has great contrast between dark and light, which babies can see)...and at the ceiling fan (ditto)...oh, and she loves light, either from a lamp or the windows.
Smiling and laughing are completely random and mean nothing at this stage...although she does tend to do both at appropriate times. One morning Mom was holding her and she kept grinning. This was my best attempt at catching one of her grins in a photograph.
Compared to the photos taken in her first few days of life, it is obvious that she is gaining weight. In fact, I make super-milk. Oh, yes, I do. She gained twelve ounces in eight days. Each nurse(3) and doctor(1) that saw her at her two week appointment asked what I was feeding her, and when I said breast milk, they all said something along the lines of "that's all?", so super-milk indeed.
When Sta. Clementina was two weeks old, her Papa Jim and Aunt Kass came to visit. She really enjoyed spending time with both of them. I love the expression on her face here; she makes it whenever she is trying to focus on something.
Aunt Kass gave her a bouncy-seat while she was here. It vibrates, which makes her open her eyes wide and smoosh her mouth into a bow. Once she gets used to it, she looks like this. Anyone want to make a guess as to what her hair and eye colors will be?
Guga and Papa Jim gave her this Virginia Tech outfit. We are practicing raising our arms and shouting "touch-down!" every day. Sr. CC and I are sure she will be a hokie fan.
Another good purchase was the Aquarium Cradle swing. This one swings forward like a normal swing and also turns so that it can swing side to side. Considering her size, it is a very good thing that we have a cradle-swing; the forward facing option doesn't work so well just yet.
I will try to write some sort of newsletter, a la Dooce, to keep people up to date on Sta. Clementina's developments and to keep a record for us of her growth (since "they grow up so fast"). I don't know if it will be monthly or not, although that seems like a good time-frame to me. I don't intend for this to become a baby-only blog, not that you can tell so far, but I am hoping that once I don't have a baby attached to me all day and night I'll actually have something else to write about. So far, that pretty much sums up my daily activities, though, so for now it is what you get!
