Belle in November

Belle turned three months old and she's really enjoying life. She smiles and sings along with Mommy and Daddy. Yesterday was Peter, Paul & Mary night. In November, Belle made her first trips to Jericho and Avon to see her grandparents' houses. She celebrated her first Thanksgiving and Uncle Jeff's and (Great-)Grandpa Leon's birthdays. Belle also was introduced to the arts. She attended the WPHS production of Much Ado About Nothing and an a capella concert and watched Pirates of Penzance with Dad.

Rolling rolling rolling

At seven and a half weeks, Belle rolled from her belly to her back during tummy time, the video of which is available on this blog. At about ten or eleven weeks, she stopped rolling onto her back because tummy often digresses into hand sucking time (she lowers her hand to take a break from the stretching and find her hand, which she immediately puts into her mouth). Play mat time has progressed and she can now touch and sort of play with the toys dangling above her. She has started rolling from her back to her side en route to her belly. She hasn't made it all the way onto her belly yet, but she is doing some great half-rolls. In addition to rolling, she can maneuver her body around such that if I lay her down with her toward toward one end of the play mat, she can rotate herself to have her head at the other end. She is making great use of her play mat and rolling and turning and playing and smiling and cooing. Belle's progress is a joy to watch.

Belle quotes Shakespeare

Between enjoying (a few scenes of) a live performance of "Much Ado About Nothing" and this onesie (a gift from a fellow WPHS English teacher), Belle is nearly a Shakespeare buff at the ripe old age of 3 months :)

Belle's growing, but still small...

While examining 'older' pictures of Belle, Craig and I noticed how her tall she's grown and how long her hair is now. But, she's still a tiny person. One of my fun activities is singing to Belle while we look at each other and ourselves in a mirror. Belle smiles and coos as if to try to sing along. I noticed today that, when we are eye to eye, her whole face fits between my eyes and the bottom of my nose; so cute and tiny.

Belle's growth

Since I am rarely more than five feet away from Belle every second of every minute of every hour of everyday, it is difficult for me to notice growth. Craig pointed out the other day how much space Belle now occupies in the stroller bassinet. The day of her naming, when she was four days old, Belle was swaddled in the bassinet. Then she looked like a gold fish in swimming pool. Now, at a whopping 2 feet tall and three months old, she looks nearly squished in the bassinet! See you yourself:

Belle 9/2/10



Belle 11/28/10:


Belle 11/29/10:

Belle is three months old

Home with Belle all year!

It's official: I extended my maternity leave and will be home with Belle through the summer. Let the good times roll! Update: Belle just pooped to celebrate the good news. She must be so happy to spend 9 more months with me!

The only real full-time job

On the drive back to NYC after Thanksgiving, we saw a great bumper sticker: "Motherhood: the only real full-time job." SO true....so true...

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Tri-Ceps enjoyed Thanksgiving in Avon, Connecticut with Grammy Hilary, Grampy Elcon, Uncle Joe, Aunt Carla, and Gaga (Great-grandma Maxine)! We saw friends, sipped apple cider, giggled and enjoyed spending time with family. Also, we paid our respects to Belle's namesake. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

What I'm thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving from Avon.

Mommy's afternoon off

Craig made lentil soup from scratch and homemade chili then played with Belle while I enjoyed my first manicure and pedicure in months (since my mother was here during Craig's first week back at work after Belle's arrival).  What a relaxing and indulgent treat!  To come home to a delicious meal and a cuddly baby made the excursion all the more delightful.  Thanks, Craig, for being husband and daddy and chef extraordinaire! :)

The Happy TriCeps

Mommy catches up on sleep

Thanks, Daddy, for letting Mommy sleep a bit!

Sometimes the box is more interesting than its contents

Though in this case the contents are pretty adorable...

Belle contemplates a career in law like her Daddy

A most surprising and generous gift

Craig, Belle and I have been overwhelmed by the generosity of our friends and family in welcoming Belle to the world. So, remember our Korean dry cleaners and how I have become friendly with the Korean couple who run the establishment? Well, our last batch of dry cleaning came back to our building with a gift from the dry cleaners to baby Belle. The card is appropriately written all in Korean wishing Belle health and happiness and an appreciation of Korean culture:)

Two more firsts for Belle

Belle tackled the MTA on Friday! Strapped to Mommy in a baby carrier, she took the 1 train southbound to the crosstown bus and then the 6 train uptown to another crosstown bus. She seemed to enjoy the adventure and spent both rides looking all around at the excitement. It is quite funny that Belle rode an airplane halfway across the US before she rode the New York City subway downtown. It's similarly hilarious that Belle stayed in two hotel rooms in Texas before she spent a night at either of her grandparents' homes. ANYWAY, Belle also attended her first concert today! The JCC has great family-friendly programming ever Shabbat afternoon in the winter. We took her there this afternoon to hear a Stonybrook University coed a capella group sing in the lobby of the JCC. She sat attentively on her daddy's lap and smiled and cooed to the music. She is a real music lover at only twelve weeks old! There are many exciting 'firsts' when you're not quite three months old :)

Belle's first play

Belle and I went to White Plains High School on Thursday, November 18 to see my friend and colleague Doug Cronk direct students in a production of "Much Ado About Nothing." She slept through most of the production's first act and then ate just before intermission. She was awake, alert and an angel during the second act. She watched intently and quietly (and adorably, I might add). Belle's namesake (my grandfather Bill Fradis) would have been delighted that Belle's first theatre experience was a Shakespeare comedy, and he would have been proud by her behavior during the show, as if she was really enjoying the Shakespeare. And since she's my daughter, it was the first of many plays Belle will enjoy. Belle is quite cultured for an eleven-week old!

Eureka

My golly. Her thumb, Belle has found it.

Pictures will be forthcoming.

Mommy Sleeps

This is the article that Seren referenced:

No matter whether moms breast-fed, formula-fed or did a combination of both, they got the same amount of sleep and considered themselves equally exhausted. Score one for the breast-feeding advocates, who hope this study gives women on the fence another reason to commit to breastfeeding, which conveys well-documented health benefits for baby — and mother. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends babies be exclusively breast-fed for six months and continue to receive breast milk for at least a year. (More on Time.com: Breast-Feeding: Not Just for Women?)

Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2010/11/08/breast-feed-or-formula-feed-in-terms-of-sleep-its-a-wash/

Will I ever sleep again?

I am sure many new mothers wonder if they will ever sleep again. I began this journey confident that I will, of course, someday sleep again. I mean, I was an infant once and now I am capable of sleeping through the night. However, recently (very recently...last night, in fact), I started to give up hope that Belle will actually ever sleep through the night. She is just over 11 weeks old and her sleeping pattern has grown shorter and not longer this week. She wouldn't fall to sleep until nearly 10pm last night, and then she was hungry at 12:30am. We were up again at 3:30am, 5:15am and 6:30am. Craig read somewhere that new mothers get an average of 7 hours of sleep a night. I have yet to meet, or even hear of, an actual real life mother who sleeps that much. Still, I was content when I was getting 6 hours or so. This waking up 3 times a night is tough and it is making me lose faith that Belle will ever actually sleep more than two hours straight. It has therefore occurred to me may never ever sleep again.

My last sleep (8/30/10) before I returned home with Belle.

Another perspective on "Sorry-Grateful"

Another (less-poetic) way of examining our Sorry-Grateful perspective on kids (the lyrics are to a song from Sondheim's "Company" examining marriage) is this Slate article. In essence, married people are happier than unmarried people, but married people with kids are less happy than kid-less adults. That's right: parents are less happy than kid-free couples. Kids cause stress and sleep deprivation. Kids costs money and strain relationships. Kids requires sacrifices and are a 24/7/365 responsibility.
So why do we have kids? Because we're suckers for the cuter, gentler moments, like this:

Yup, that's basically what it comes down to: we're suckers.

"Mothers are all slightly insane"

I first read J. D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye when I was a freshman in high school. Holden notes that "mothers are all slightly insane." I totally get it. It's not that all women are insane, or even that all women who choose to experience the roller-coaster of pregnancy and the trauma of labor and delivery are insane. Rather motherhood tugs at a woman's sanity. I can't remember the last time I slept through the night. Between runs to the bathroom during pregnancy and late-night/early-morning feedings, it feels like the last time I slept more than three hours straight was years ago. And the things I say and do to get my cutie-pie Belle to smile sound sort of nuts, and certainly would be cause to have me committed if taken out of context. For instance, Belle was being a tad fussy and it was time for our walk anyway, so I bounced her around while I prepared us both to go outside and sang, "We're going to take a walkity-walk. Yes, we're going to take a walkity-walk. Oh, we're going to take a walkity-walk. A walkity-what? A walkity walk!" So, yes, I agree that "mothers are all slightly insane" and I totally admit to my insanity being a bit more than than slight...

A face only a mother can love? I don't think so!

Is Belle the most beautiful baby girl in the universe? Of course! But I'll admit to being a tad biased being that I am her mother. But does she have a face only her mother can appreciate? Nope! We proved that last week. Belle and I were running errands when Belle got a tad fussy. I picked her up and was walking home holding her in one arm and pushing the empty stroller with my other hand. Not one but TWO women of different ages stopped me to tell me what a beautiful daughter I have. One was impressed by how alert she looked, holding her head up well and looking around at the world as we walked down West 86th Street. Another commented on how her face was not a baby face and how she appeared more mature than the average two-month-old. I am very proud of (and enamored by) our beautiful Belle : )

Sleeping

It's happening.  Belle is developing a sleep pattern.  When we put her down between 6-8pm, she'll stay mostly sleeping until long after we go to sleep.  This has happened for the past week or so.  Hopefully, it'll segue into one wake up per night and then sleeping through the night.  We're also learning that when Belle's sleeping, let her sleep.  Don't pick her up or mess with her.  It's good for us to have this pattern.

While she has yet to outgrow her bassinet, she is getting to the point where she sleeps with her arms out such that she's touching both sides.  She's not necessarily at the stage where we have to put in the crib, but she's getting there.  Now, we just have to find a time to give the bassinet back to cousin Diana.

A Sucky Battle

Babies have a natural sucking reflex; it's how they calm themselves down.  Only a few minutes after Belle was born, she had her fingers in her mouth: adorable.  However, we're happier when Belle pacifies herself with, well, a pacifier. A pacifier can be temporary because a pacifier can be taken away. My parents tell me that my older brother enjoyed his "babba" until they told him that big boys don't need babbas. With that, the pacifier was gone from baby JoJo's life. I found my fingers early...and often: I sucked my fingers through elementary school. Still, Belle tries to put her fist in her mouth and we worry that it is only a matter of time before she opens that fist and finds her fingers. In the meantime, every time she goes to suck on something, her parents aim to be there to offer her a pacifier. This battle sucks...

Another good line from Prime Time

"Letting morality get in the way of making money...I may as well go and be a teacher."
From the November 11 episode of "30 Rock"

Great quote from "Glee"

"All of us are scarred by high school. Next to our parents, nothing screws a person up more. And people like us, we're stupid enough to come back here and relive that pain everyday."
From the November 10, 2010 episode of "Glee"

Aunt Julie Comes Over

Aunt Julie made a quick visit. She gets to be on the blog. I hope
she made it to her book club.

The Hunt for the Thumb

We've been using a pacifier since Belle was 10 days old. She was cranky, and we thought the pacifier would help. It did and has worked wonders for the last two months. The pacifier sometimes falls out. Most of the time, this is when Belle laughs or cries or simply when she falls asleep. When it happens, she starts trying to put her whole hand in to replace the pacifier. She's getting her hand to her mouth, but she has yet to figure out that her hand is too big for her mouth. We know soon though she's going to figure that her thumb fits into her mouth and that it's good for sucking. We have to stop that. The battle for sucking supremacy is being waged and we want the pacifier to win.

Belle's morning smile= the BEST start to the day

I heard Belle in the bassinet awake and itching to move. I walked over to her and peered in to see Belle. When she caught my eye, she smiled up at me recognizing that Mommy was there. Belle's smiles light up my world.

Belle - Month 2

Click here to view these pictures larger

Belle visits Austin, Texas

Belle's first night sleeping outside our home was on October 28 when we visited Austin, Texas (congrats to Jason and Brandy Schall on their marriage!). Belle was a champ in the flight to and from Austin (thank you, Jet Blue, for giving her a seat!).


We celebrated her second month milestone in Austin (the photo in which she is "holding" her sign was taken in front of the famous University of Texas clock tower).

While waiting for the bats to emerge from beneath the Congress Avenue Bridge, we took a family photo.

It was a wonderful weekend in Texas and Belle proved to be an expert traveler.

Belle's two-month check up

Belle had a pediatrician appointment today. She is in great health and is growing well! Belle is in the ninetieth (90) percentile in height and forty-eighth (48) percentile in weight. In other words, she is long and lean, just like her namesake (and not like either of her parents).
Belle smiled for the doctor on the examination table and even handled her vaccinations like a champ. We are so proud of our growing baby Belle Shoshanna!

hand-knit goodies

Belle is so lucky to have such talented admirers.
The top picture if of Belle in a warm sweater knit by our Australian friend Ros Rogers.
The one below it is Belle in her purple hat knit by Becky Cooke.
Thank you for sharing your talents with our daughter!

Belle and Great-Grandma Ann

A real Halloween treat!

Belle and her play mat: an evolution

Belle received a wonderful gift of a play mat when she was just a few weeks old. We immediately put her on it on her back to 'play.' Well, tiny baby Belle didn't do much playing. She mostly lay there as if she were in her bassinet. Then we started doing 'tummy time' on the play mat. It's been a joy watching her muscles strengthen and grow. Now, at two months old, she is able to hold herself up and even roll over from her belly to her back! Once on her back on the play mat, she has started to actually PLAY! What a pleasure to listen to her babel while she admires herself in the little mirror, and nothing is so wonderful as listening to Belle squeal as she wiggles her arms and legs while lying on the mat. We can't wait for her to begin acknowledging and playing with the stuffed animals dangling above her while she lies on the mat.
Belle has definitely grown from a newborn to a baby. A cuddly, smiley, babbling baby with a mommy and daddy who are madly in love with her.