Operation Spoon Feeding

Tonight was the first day of Operation Spoon Feeding. Mia is growing increasingly hungry and formula just isn't cutting it. So, her mother and I decided to experiment with spoon feeding her a bit of rice cereal. Results of this first attempt? Massive Failure. I'm not sure what exactly Amelia thought the function of the spoon was, but in no way did it occur to her that this was something she should eat. She focused so hard on it that she kept going cross-eyed. Then, as quickly as we could put the spoon in her mouth, she began spitting out cereal. If I had to guess, I'd say we got a total of 3 mashed up grains of rice swallowed. The other 99.9% were all over her chin, bib, and clothes. There was one silver lining to all of this. She did seem to enjoy herself during this trial run. So, hey, at least we have that going for us. We will carry that momentum into Phase II of the experiment and try to give her a taste of peas. Wish us luck!

Growing Pains

Watching Amelia's daily growth is truly an amazing luxury in my life. She has grown from a tiny newborn that needed us for everything into chubby baby girl that only needs us for 99% of everything. So, maybe she isn't exactly doing her own laundry yet, but she is starting to do some minor developmental things. This has actually become a blessing and a curse. For example, recently, she has become very adept at using her hands. This is wonderful because there really isn't a better feeling than when she grabs hold of your finger while you are snuggling her. However, this same motor skill allows her to repeatedly pull her pacifier out of her mouth and then subsequently scream about this dire situation. Also, she has begun speaking, mostly baby talk with what I believe to be a little Spanish thrown in for effect. So, while it is hilarious when she just keeps talking and talking as if she is holding court, it stops being funny when she decides to do it at 4 a.m. - for an hour. And this brings me to her last trick...she has finally grown to a point where she doesn't like to get swaddled to go to sleep. This, I assure you, pleases all of the grandparents as they all feel swaddle blankets are straight-jackets' evil stepsisters. It actually makes me happy as well because she does look more comfortable and relaxed while sleeping. Yet, as you may have guessed, there is a downside. Now that her arms, also known as weapons of mass destruction, are free, she continually scratches her face in her sleep. She goes to bed with a cherubic angel face and wakes up looking like she spent the night on a steel wool pillow. This concerns me for a few reasons. First, I love her and don't want her to get hurt. Second, the fact that we can clip her fingernails in the afternoon and they have already grown enough for them to scratch her by that night is creepy to me. Lastly, and maybe most importantly, I am concerned about my standing with the Department of Child Services. Let's be honest, after I dropped her on her head, they probably put me on a short list of suspected abusers. The last thing I need is her showing up to daycare looking like she just fought a bobcat. So tonight, to combat these problems, Mia is stylishly sleeping with two long, red socks stretched over each arm. They may not look the best, but if they keep her from pulling out her pacifier, waking up to chat, or gouging at her face all night, they are going to become bedtime staples.

Einstein? Really?

So, we have started watching the Baby Einstein videos. I suppose they are attempting to mimic what it would be like if you were playing with your baby. Perhaps, they are showing a montage of items that stimulate babies' brains. All I know is when I think of Einstein, I think brilliance. When I think Baby Einstein, I think "this must be what a bad acid trip is like". It literally goes from clowns, to kaleidoscopes, to toy dogs doing back flips. It is even creepier than those little puppets they had on Mr. Rodger's Neighborhood. As long as Mia likes it(she can't get enough), we will continue to watch it. But, at the first sign of boredom by her....I'm sending that freaky mind trip to the DVD store in the sky.

Sometimes I hate math

On my way home from work tonight I began thinking about how little time I get with Amelia. This led me to thinking about the immense amount of time we have tied up in our daily lives. So, when I got home I did a bit of rough math....

...over the course of the average person's life, they will be at work or sleeping approximately 37 years - basically half their lives. Drink that in. Now, go cry.

No place like home?

In my parents' generation, families stayed together. In the small towns they came from, "together" meant several generations living on the same street, if not the same house. However, it is not uncommon for today's American family to be scattered from coast to coast. While I have never lived outside the Southeast, it has been over a decade since I have lived in the same state as my loved ones. With the addition of Amelia, this has become a more pressing issue. It seems as though Meggan and I are in a struggle, in the broadest sense, of prioritizing where we want to live personally vs. the available living options near family. It's not a simple story as we are not a couple who met, fell in love, and moved away from the hometown we grew up in. That's easily solved - move back. In our case, we met while living in a city that was foreign to both our families and have subsequently moved to another city with no relatives. So, without getting into the fact that Meggan and I have jobs, a house, a future school for Amelia, etc. yet there is zero contemplation from anyone to consider moving here to be close to us, let's just say for us, moving near family will require a major sacrifice of one kind or another. There are very few cities that are up for debate due to our careers - and none of them are cities we would consider moving to if family was not in the picture. Our families don't live in the same city, so there is the obvious dilemma of the zero sum game...moving closer to one means moving further from the other. Ultimately, we would love to live near both families, near the beach, in a large city with career opportunities and is a good place to raise Mia. Unfortunately, this is going to take the formation of a new city in the South or an even bigger miracle - total relocation of us and our families. Since neither of these seem likely, I'm not sure what we are going to do with the mounting desire to live near relatives and the stress related to the hurdles of that prospect. In the meantime, I'll just keep hoping we win the lottery so we can live here, there, and everywhere.

Another one bites the dust

Sophie has been at it again. The older Mia gets, the worse Sophie acts. She is still incredibly sweet and loving with the baby...but, once we leave the house, she turns into Cujo and eats anything she can. Today's unfortunate victim - a tube of ChapStick.

I'm not sure if dogs get dry lips, but Sophie should have soft, supple, kissable lips for weeks to come. Thank goodness.

MISSING

MISSING: - Founder and Co-blogger to Barberbabble.

Meggan created this blog, in part, to help us chronicle Mia's early life. I decided to post a few times just to be a part of it. I have focused more on fatherly posts and some other random ideas than Amelia in particular and I would imagine it will continue that way, if not diverge further. However, Meggan has taken another approach....she stopped blogging! I believe she has 3 posts in the last 3 months. That is hardly enough to entertain our mass following of roughly 2 readers. If any of you see Meggan, please give her a hard time about not showing up on the blog she started. After all, we don't want Amelia to look back on this blog and only see one side of the story.