A strawberry's first Halloween

And it looked like this...only sleeping in a stroller as big brother Logan trick or treated for the first time.  

Sleeping Through the Night

Once upon a time Megan Rose slept 7 hours straight in one night. Then she didn't do it again. The very next night, in fact, she only slept in 3 hour stretches. Happily sh ditched that trend quickly and returned to one decent 5 hour block coupled with a 3-5 hour 2nd sleep stretch.

Last night, however, she slept for 8. Yes, 8 hours. Granted she may not do it again any time soon and granted she didn't nap well Saturday and was rather cranky by end of day, but it was 8 hours just the same.

Now if only she'd do it in her crib without the car seat. ;)

Proof Megan smiles. Not quite sure how we managed to get her to do it as if on cue, but hey, let's just go with it. This is what her happy little self looks like just before she breaks into the full faced glow that her big toothless smile.  

Ahgoo means I love you

Megan coos now. She does it as she smiles at you. Talk to her long enough while she's making eye contact and she'll break into one of those big, heart-warming full-faced smiles and say "Goo. Ah-goo." Say it back to her and she laughs then repeats herself.

I remember when Logan was Megan's age he made the same sounds, especially that ah-goo. He said it a lot, which is not surprising in retrospect since his mouth hardly stops moving now. Well I told him that when Megan makes that sound she's saying"I love you" in Baby Talk. Since then he'll try to provoke her to say it. He follows our lead - I mean yeah, its cute to hear her baby voice so when she's staring at you, you start to tell her she's a pretty girl (something she usually smiles for. Esteem issues? I think not.) and then you coo at her hoping she'll return the favor. Logan quickly jumps in with a forced high pitched voice repeating the sound "Ah-goo." When Megan finally rewards him with a giant smile and that sound she just melts him. He excitedly smiles a big proud smile and says with complete satisfaction "She LOVES me!" And the thing is, she does. Just watching the way she follows him with her eyes, stares at him intently as he holds her or talks to her, the way his songs really do seem to soothe her sometimes, the way he can provoke her big full-faced smile - its clear, this little girl loves her big brother.

Determination

Here's a photo of Miss Megan determined to get that head up as high as she can all on her own. She was about 3 weeks old in this picture. 

Laugh And The World Laughs With You

She laughed. Yes, I swear it. She did. I have no idea what set her off because I've not yet been able to replicate the event, but she did laugh.

Yesterday, when Logan was out with Grandma and Papa and Daddy was off painting the bathroom, Miss Megan and I had some quiet, uninterrupted quality time. I held her in front of me - her head resting in the palm of one hand with her body lying on my forearm. Her big blue eyes focused in on my face as she studied me intently. With my other hand I tickled her belly and then walked my fingers up her chest making a small "boop, boop" sound before I touched a finger to her chin and then to her nose. That's when she did it.

Little, one-day-shy-at-the-time of 5 weeks, Megan broke into a big full-faced smile and let out this content, happy, full bodied "Ah heh!" A laugh. A little, baby laugh.

Hold your head up and other stuff

Miss Megan has gained quite a good bit of control of her little head. Sure, she's still a wee bit floppy, but get her up on your shoulder and this girl will hold herself up from the chest up looking around until she gets bored. If you prop her to sit she will hold her head up and look around. If you put her on her belly she'll lift her head up and check things out. She's got a way to go before she's got complete neck control but boy has she come a long way in a month!

She is also determined to roll herself. We watch her do this from time to time as she lays on the changing table or the floor. She gets an entire shoulder up off the ground and uses it to pull a decent amount of one side over so that she ends up tipping almost to the opposite side. Then she grunts a lot and gets frustrated as she flops back down on her back.

Megan also makes an array of sounds now. Ahhs and oohs in response to conversation directed to her or just sounds to let us know she's awake and paying attention to something in her line of site.

Finally she's become a hair puller - not mine, hers. I've already written that she hsa a decent head of hair for her age. Well lately she's been finding it for herself. She reaches up her hand, grasps hold and then yanks hard. Sometimes she'll even make herself cry. The poor kid has gotten a littel red spot on her scalp from the hair pulling. I just keep prying the chunk of hair out of her hand whenever I can.

Smiling eyes

So Megan smiles. She's been doing but this is the first chance I've gotten to write about it. Of course I can't get her to do it for the camera no matter how much I try to convince her it'd be worth her while. When she does smile she uses her whole little baby face. Her mouth opens wide to show off her unadorned gums. Her round little cheeks raise up making the whole smile itself seem larger and her eyes smile. They crinkle and squint just so that you know she's truly content and happy. Lots of things get her going - the sweetest thing to see though is that smile she flashes at her big brother. He just melts everytime she does it.

Nearly One Month In

Figured I'd take the time to do an update while I had the time to do an update. :) On Tuesday we will have been a family of four for exactly one month. Its odd really, because most of the time its hard to remember life without our littlest member...yet when I stop and think about it being really a full month - well gosh, she just doesn't seem that old to me yet.

I'm afraid saying this (or at least putting it in writing) will jinx me but screw it I'm doing it anyway. Megan is a great night sleeper so far if you get past the fact she won't use her crib. ;) The girl refuses to sleep flat on her back. Instead, at least for now, she sleeps in her car seat next to my bed at night - we're working up the courage to transition her to her own space. ha! But sleep, now that is a good story. She likes to give us one decent stretch of sleep each night. It's typically a nice 4 hour block either between getting settled into seat or from meal to meal. Last night though, she ate at 8:30 and drifted off as she did so. I climbed in bed at 10 fully expecting to be woken up within the hour or two if I was lucky. Instead I got to sleep until 2am. That was a good 5 hour sleeping block for Megan. She settled back in about 45 minutes later and then woke at 6 for her breakfast. I do think the fact that her brother prevents long napping stretches throughout the day has helped in this quest. She gets in one or two 2.5 to 3 hour naps during the day. The rest of time she cat naps because Logan is busy hugging her or turning on some kind of musical something or other on her swing or her bouncy seat. . .or he's just being his typical nosey two year old self.

When awake, her favorite position to be in is sitting up. Not that she can, of course, but she's determined to fake it. If she's fussy and not hungry, you're best bet is to sit her on your lap leaning against you so that she appears to be sitting or to sit her facing you supporting her under her armpits. Either way will settle her down & allow her to be nosy. She turns her head from side to side when seated or just let her big eyes get as wide as can be as they move from object to object. I discovered today that the little imp is actually attempting to pull herself up to a seated position. I had my hand under her head with her upper body lifted to a slight angle. She kept pulling her head up from my hand hard enough to pull her shoulders along just a wee bit. She'd grunt and groan as she did it and make this face of pure determination. I keep telling her that she needs to wait several months before she can actually do such a thing, but she's in denial. ;) She also does that neat trick where she locks her knees tight on occasion as you attempt to mock sit her. Apparently she likes to pretend she can stand too.

She gets her head around well - still floppy necked and not quite ready to hold her head high on her own all the time, but she can lift her head fairly high and keep it there for a spell when she feels like it. She loves to be up on a shoulder, belly against you, as she lifts her head from you and turns it from side to side. She's not a total tummy-time hater to date and seems to almost like that she can get her head up on her own when she's on the floor like that. She'll last about 15 minutes on her stomach before she starts yelling to be picked up or at least turned over. When she's on her belly she'll wiggle worm her way from one part of the blanket up several inches toward the other. She does this by pulling her legs in tight to her and then thrusting them out straight. I'm sure the whole involuntary limb movement helps her, but hey, it seems to make her happy because when she's inching herself along she lasts much longer on the floor. When she's on a shoulder she wiggles herself all around. The girl can fidget. She tosses her head back if she's tired of being in that position - forcing you to adjust her. She squirms from shoulder to crook of elbow...I swear sighing as she gets herself snuggled in to her new position. She's also starting to make that cute little "ahhh" sound when her folks talk to her. She stares at you as you speak and responds with soft little noises - something she even seems to wait her turn to do.

The neatest thing though is to watch her respond to Logan. The moment she hears his voice she does what she can to move her gaze to him. Of course sometimes she does this with her eyes so wide open you can see the white part above the iris. We're thinking this is her way of saying either "Oh YAY! Its that cool kid that likes to sing me songs!" or more likely "Holy crap! He's back!! Someone quick, pick me up and save me from the ensuing squishing hug or the slobbery wet kiss or poking tickle he's about to give me!"

Speaking of her irises - so far she's a blue-eyed babe. The color has moved from that dark deep newborn blue to a lighter more true blue eye color. Still plenty of time to change, but since I'm a green-eyed girl with one green-eyed parent and one blue-eyed parent and Bruce has blue eyes, I'd not be surprised to see Megan's baby blues stick around just like Logan's have. She also has the same exact shade of strawberry-blonde that Logan and I have. There features are not identical, but close enough when we look back at Logan's baby pictures that there is no doubt they are siblings.

She's growing like a weed. She added a pound from her hospital discharge weight by her 2 week Ped visit. Looking at her now she looks bigger than she had at that visit just a week and half ago. the little knit cap they had on her head in the hospital is now too small for her and she's officially out of newborn size diapers and comfortably into size 1s. We don't get to the Ped until a 2 month visit (the 2 week covering our 1 month span) so I have no idea what the gal weighs today. Poor thing has just come through her first head cold care of Daddy's work. All 4 of us had it but luckily Megan seems to have the most mild case. She still seems to have an occasional stuffed nostril from it, but she does not need her little nose to be shot up with saline and then suctioned out prior to each feeding as she had. That stage lasted only two days thankfully.

Who says I can't. . .

Someone forgot to give Megan a list of the things she should be able to do at 3 weeks old and what should wait for later. Given her choice, Megan's most favorite position to hang out in when awake is sitting up. Yes, the girl is dying to sit. No, she can't do it on her own. Yes, her head is still in that flop stage and so she's likely to have it slip forward on her as she does her best to look around. Yet that's not stopping her. She'll yell and grunt (not cry mind you, she gets mad more than she gets wound enough to start wailing) until someone props her up and then she stops her noise and just looks around - her eyes as wide as she can get them. Her head control has improved dramatically and so she gets a decent amount of time in just turning her little noggin from side to side checking things out. Then, if you're holding her in front of you facing out, she'll lean in to your chest in that sitting position as if she's just hanging out on the sofa.

She can also scoot fairly well already. Put her on her belly and when she's done working her darndest to get her head up as high as she can and peak around from side to side, she'll press the side of her face hard to floor, pull her legs in as tight as she can get them and then straighten them out pushing off the floor and nudging herself forward. I've seen her work her way across the blanket a few times like this.

2 week visit

Megan had her first offical appointment with the doctor's office. She's doing very well and has offically gained nearly a pound since leaving the hosptial two weeks ago. At birth, Megan weighed 7 1/2 lbs. When we left at 2 days old she was down to 7 pounds 4 ounces. As of today she is 8 pounds 1 ounce.

She does have a slightly herinated belly button - or whatever its medically correct terminology is. Nothing really of major concern. The doctor poked at it and said it went in very easily and is relatively small in comparison to some of the kids they see. It should resolve itself by the time she's 5 - if not we'd have to talk about surgically repairing it. She also had a bit of a yellowy, oozy spot where the cord stump fell off yesterday that showed some excess scar tissue gone awry. The doctor just poked at it with a stick full of something or other to cauterize it. No more oozy belly button. Other than that she's doing beautifully. She wasn't very happy about lying on her back on the exam table, nor the actual exam...or the shot she got. She did, luckily, cease crying with some gentle rocking and cuddling.

Logan came with us (and Daddy) to the appointment so we could sneak a flu shot into his arm. He handled the shot very well actually and seemed almost more upset over the fact that Megan was upset than his own discomfort. The good big brother that he is was not at all happy to see his little sister crying.

Megan Rose at just 4 days old. This is her first "annual" black and white photo for the hallway gallery. 

Welcome Megan Rose!

Little Megan Rose joined us on Sunday, September 12th at 10:53am. She weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces and was 20 3/4 inches tall. Her arrival was much easier and faster than anyone - even the doctor - expected considering how much help it needed to jump start. The first induction drug (which started at about 8:30 Sat night and is a 12 hour administration) was actually enough to start labor. Around 4:30am Sunday morning I started having contractions and Megan was born just 6.5 hours later. I was about 2cms at 9am at which point the doctor broke my water. Just an hour later we were up to 6cms and thinking that we were going to miss the window of opportunity for the nice man with the drugs to come pay me a visit. Luckily he arrived just moments later with his cart full of fun. A half hour later Megan made her grand entrance after three good pushes.

The last ultrasound tech we saw nearly a week ago was off on her weight guesstimate just barely (only 4 ounces!) but on the hair estimate a whole lot. While not sporting a full mane of locks, Miss Megan is far from bald. The hair she has is fine and dare we say almost long for a newborn falling off the back of her head and on to her pudgy little neck. It curls slightly at the bottom most of the time or around her head in various places when its damp. And while you may need the right lighting or more grown-in head of hair to compare it too to be sure, she does in fact have the same shade of strawberry blonde as Mom and big brother. Still too early to be sure what color her eyes will remain - they are that dark steely blue newborns often arrive with for now. When she's awake she's incredibly alert and focuses in on the voices that she's heard most often from the womb. We've already read a few books starting with "My Big Brother" on her very first day - she stares at me intently as I read to her as if she knows its something special to share. When the book is done she averts her gaze to her exploring what's around me meandering.

Logan adores her and we're hoping its something he continues to do as the days go by. He came to visit us in the hospital Sunday afternoon and without as much as a "Hi Mommy" to me he asked "Where baby Megan!?!" She had yet to be released from the nursery. Once her saw her in her bassinet he started chattering about "My sister Megan" and telling us how pretty she was. She's even cooler in his eyes because she brought him Annie and Clarabel for his Thomas set - something he thought Santa Claus could only bring ("Megan is Santa Claus?!" he asked me at one point.) She also brought him a set of tracks for his trains - which he's now up and playing with as we 'speak.' He's spent a good deal of time this afternoon standing next to the Pack-n-Play staring at her and admiring her hands and feet. He's tickled her and sung for her. He gave her his presents - a bear he picked out and a small soft cloth book he picked out. He showed her the bears nose and mouth after we explained that she couldn't hold the bear just yet only look at it. ("See, bear's nose, Megan. Its cute," he'd say) The biggest hit of his day yesterday was a chance to "hold" the baby. He climbed up on my lap and I helped him wrap his arm around under her just below my arm which supported her head and weight. He was so very proud of himself and gave up holding her only to 'pet' her - something much more fun than merely holding apparently.

D-day

In just 10 hours we will drive over to the hosptial and begin the two step process of the induction that will bring Megan into the world. Awaiting her is a whole group of anxious people including a big brother that walks around calling every toy resembling a human or animal baby "Megan." He'll hug each "Megan" tight to his cheek and say "Ahhh, I love her."

A quick peak at Megan's profile 39 weeks into the pregnancy. This was the best picture we could get printed out because she kept putting her hands up in front of face and creating shadows. This scan was done exactly one week prior to her due date.  

Ultrasound Rundown. . .

The latest in the "pre-birth" photo montage, here's Megan at 33.5 weeks along - just 6.5 short weeks to her due date. These were taken on July 31, 2004. 

Profile of Megan looking a wee bit alien-esque - this one is from about 23 weeks into the pregnancy taken on May 19th, 2004. 

Here's Megan's first ultrasound. It was taken on February 4, 2004 - way before she even had that "peanut/tadpole" look. 

32 weeks and counting

Ms. Megan has yet make her grand enterance. This pregnancy is now offically 32 weeks old and we anxiously await the little girl's arrival. With everything else coming together though - her room, her wardrop, her book collection, etc - why not prepare her blog. . .