I was talking with my friend, Rebecca, the visual artist, the other day. I now forget who it was she was ragging on — some group of geeky or artsy people. She said they had… I think the description she used was, “horribly, ugly home pages.”
I thought that anyone who would offer a critique like that must be pretty proud of how her own home page looked, so I googled her. I didn’t find her home page, but I didn’t really expect to because I mentioned my intent to search her in a subsequent conversation. She said her home page was an “in progress” placeholder at the moment, but that it would be live this weekend! Using my impressive (ha!) deductive reasoning skills, I found said “in progress” page, and to encourage its completion, I’m going to pre-emptively link to it. Click here for Rebecca Strzelec’s home page.
Carolyn and I have started talking about what Christmas “traditions” we should start to institute. For that matter, we’re also talking about how to present Christmas to baby Sam in the future. In many ways, despite the efforts of some true believers, Christmas has become as much a secular holiday as a religious one. As has been noted earlier, I’m hardly a model Christian, despite agreeing with many of the stated (if not demonstrated) tenets of the faith. (How can you love your neighbor as yourself, but invade his country seeking oil under the flimsiest of pretenses?) Nonetheless, Christmas is so pervasive in our culture that it seems ridiculous to try to migrate it back to the winter solstice from whence it came.
I just love moments like the one we just had. Sam had finished nursing recently, and I was holding her in the crook of my arm, her tiny body across my chest and belly. She looked up at me and exercised various facial muscles, including sticking her tongue out. A brief fuss storm washed over her, at the end of which, she had the good sense to close her eyes. She quickly fell asleep in my arms.
No, it’s not my high school locker combination. It’s my daughter’s “percentiles”. We had a visit to the pediatrician today, and among other things, Sam got some measurements taken. At 8lbs, 13 oz, she’s in the fifth percentile for kids her age (~2.5 months). At 21.5 inches long, her length (height?) is in the 15th percentile. I’ve forgotten what the raw data for her head circumference is, but it is in the 25th percentile.
If I’ve seen the movie, the Exorcist, it was a long time ago. As Carolyn will attest, I don’t have a head for movies. But some movies are cultural references as much as they are movies and the Exorcist is famous for the kid’s head spinning around 360 degrees.
Sometimes, I’m afraid that’s just what Sam’s head is about to do. We read somewhere that “80% of babies prefer to look to the right.” In googling the keywords there, I came up with “babies look to the right 80% of the time.” Regardless, Sam “prefers” to look to the right the way I “prefer” to breathe air instead of sulfuric acid. If she so chose, she could easily rest her chin on her right shoulder. I’m not even sure she could look that far left.
A while ago I asked AC if I could occasionally write a guest post on his blog, as I don’t have time to properly maintain a blog of my own. (Even as I write this now, I should be sleeping!) He was kind enough to set it up so that I too can share my impressions of Sam.
In honor of Sam’s 10-week birthday, here are 10 Things I Love about Samantha:
Some days, I’m just not sure I can do it any more. Take this afternoon, for example. When I got up, mom was kinda short with me. When I asked what was going on, she said that she just needed some time to herself, she was weary and frustrated. I gather it was a rough morning. So, I sent her to Wal*Mart on one of the busiest shopping days of the year to buy diapers and other essentials. Can you not think of a better place to unwind, relax and find yourself? But it was either that or stay home with baby while I went to Wal*Mart on one of the busiest shopping days of the year to buy diapers and other essentials.
Today marks the end of using the SNS as a feeding method for Sam. We started it to try to minimize nipple confusion, but still get Sam the calories she needed. At this point, we’re pretty much resigned to continued use of the nipple shield for as long as Sam breastfeeds. This is pretty frustrating, but our various attempts at weaning her from the shield have been fruitless so far.
— Unless you’re a blood relative of Samantha. I which case, pay no attention to that strange, calendar-shaped present under the tree.
*Yes, I know there are only 12 months in the year — Front and Back cover images account for the other two.
Keeping with the “it sounds religious, but isn’t” theme for today, I thought I’d mention our Baby Björn. We’d heard good things about it, so put it on Sam’s baby registry, and then promptly bought it for ourselves, because it looked too good to do without. Sam recently gained enough weight that she’s now above the minimum weight for this thing, so we tried it out today. We got the regular size instead of the extra long thinking that Carolyn would be wearing her, but now we think that may have been a bit silly. It does fit me, though barely. I’m still trying to decide if we should take it back and trade it for the larger one.
