Two Months Old!

Babybison is two months old today! She has changed a lot since her one month milestone, but in many ways is still the same. Still tall and skinny though developing new fat rolls and bigger checks every day. She now can successfully breastfeed. She smiles frequently though still not directed at anyone in particular (I tell her if she directs her first true social smile to someone other than me, she is in trouble). She's a good eater, an okay sleeper though nowhere near "through the night" and is still very easy to comfort and basically a content baby. She's learning how to put herself to sleep. She still spends most of the night in the stroller due to spit up but is getting in naps here and there in the crib which is a step in the right direction. She has met all three of her great-grandparents, and most of her aunts, uncles and cousins. She's been to the zoo, the aquarium, and on numerous runs with Mom and Dad.

My maternity leave ends this week- I had 9 weeks at home. I'm definitely ready to go back but am worried about the amounts of caffeine I'll need to consume to function at work. We are so, so lucky to have my mom coming in to watch Zooey for the summer. I am really amazed and so, so grateful that my mom wants to dedicate her summer to helping us raise Zooey. It will be so good for our little girl to get one-on-one nurturing from the best mom I know.

The newborn sized outfit we brought her home in finally fits!

On the exercise front, things are coming together nicely. I had an awesome tempo run last week (7:52 pace for 3.1 miles!!), and am starting to feel a little stronger with consistent strength work-outs. Swimming is happening but needs to happen more frequently and for longer durations. I look forward to getting back to spinning next week! I have the feeling between Zooey-care, out-of-town visitors, and training, not to mention going back to work, the next few weeks are going to FLY by. I'm trying to convince Adam of the importance of us taking a vacation this fall with Zooey before the whole first year of her life flies by without us having the chance to really enjoy her! I'm so looking forward to when she starts smiling and interacting! The rare moments where she is calm and alert now are great but they are still pretty infrequent and fleeting. After all she's only 6 weeks old in "preemie time".

So what has babybison been up to? In the past month, she's met a bunch of her family members including great-grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. She has spent quality time with her grandparents on multiple occasions. Zooey continues to enjoy running in the jogging stroller. She loves motion and noise. She is also very interested in light and does focus a bit on some colors and lines. She occasionally will make eye contact with us and definitely smiles and coos when she is happy or entertained but has not had a true confirmed social smile yet. Seems like she's waiting until I'm no longer her primary caretaker to give out that reward. (What a stinker!).

Zooey with Cousin Maya

Zooey with Great Aunt Kathy

Zooey with Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Monson

Zooey with Great-Grandpa Monson

Zooey and me with Cousin Gwyn at the Shedd Aquarium

Zooey now has a clear awake and alert state that can last up to a couple hours. On Father's Day, she treated us with multiple long awake, alert and content phases and multiple long naps- the perfect combo to enjoy her but still get some work done! She now will sometimes wake up and keep herself entertained a bit before alerting us to her needs- she used to always wake up crying because she was so hungry, but now that she's taking in more food at a time, she can sometimes play for a while before eating. She definitely knows our voices, and looks around for us when we come to fetch her from the crib. Today she grabbed onto and shook a rattle for a good 5 minutes. She had no idea what she was doing which was pretty funny, but she kept hearing the rattle as she moved her arm and was clearly puzzled. We do the requisite tummy time (as recommended) and practice walking (which, btw, no one recommends but is hilarious, see photo). We also tried on her noise canceling headphones to prep her for concerts in the park this summer at Pritzker Pavilion:)

Tummy time success!

"Help, Mom what are you doing to me??"

Rockin out to silence.

Post-tummy time melt-down.

Sleep is still an issue and I expect it will be for a while. Apparently (according to my baby book) I slept "through the night" at 4 weeks. Anyway you look at it, Zooey is nowhere near "sleeping through the night". She still needs to eat at least 3 times, but if the doctor says we can (based on her weight) we might try a bit of sleep training to get it down to 3 times (as opposed to the 5 or 6 we're sometimes dealing with). The consequences of her not sleeping through the night are painful as shown by this photo of an exhausted Val reading Lancet Oncology with a perfectly content DAY SLEEPING Zooey. Hmm...sleep AT NIGHT, little girl. AT NIGHT!!

While she certainly is a lot bigger (now 7 lb 13 oz!) than she was when she was born (and she's so tall she wears 3 month clothes!), and she has made some clear developments, she doesn't seem all that different than when we brought her home. I expect the next month will bring dramatic changes, especially because I won't see her all day everyday so the differences will really stand out.

Zooey at two weeks with bison.

Zooey at two months. She finally fits in her
"coming home from the hospital" outfit!

Zooey helped us celebrate Adam's first Father's Day yesterday. We had a little picnic in the park and Zooey was fun and interactive for a good hour, which was great. She really enjoyed being outside in the shade without the stroller covers between her and the wind and birds. One of Adam's gifts was a photo of Zooey right after her birth which provides a nice comparison to her now.

Hi Dad!!

Family at two months.

That's it for now! Stay tuned for month three!!