just an update to let everyone know that we have indeed survived the christmas holiday! we hope you enjoyed your time with your families and friends. sorry i missed posting last week. i actually had a “24″ themed post rolling around in my head; as she turned 24 weeks on the 24th. but with it being christmas eve— well we even got too busy to do that.
we had a nice christmas. jovie’s gramma, grampa, & uncle nate came to visit on xmas eve. we had xmas here. The Mr. was fantastic in helping make breakfast & dinner. on friday, we went to g’ville (to g’ma & g’pa’s) to break up our first trip to columbia to see my family & my bff. spent the night in our first hotel & back thru g’ville to home on sunday.
truthfully, she handled things a lot better than expected. christmas morning she even participated in opening one or two gifts herself. we spent the day hanging out. i guess i’ve learned what 2 cokes can do to a baby. xmas night she didn’t feel good (oops) & was up every 2-3 hours!
so while in g’ville, g’ma & g’pa let us go out to dinner. she apparently cried like crazy for about 45min. it was hard calming her down when we came home, but finally after about 15min, she did. & then slept with no problem.
the next day we went to columbia to meet a zillion people & have xmas with my family. we knew it would be difficult. no ability to put her down for a nap and all that jazz… she did sleep in Daddy’s arms for about a half hour. since she was being held (and held and held), she did fine with all the people around. surprisingly, after a long day, she was in a very good mood on the way to the hotel. i got her to laugh most of the way there.
she did better than we thought she would sleeping in the hotel. and the drive from cola to g’ville wasn’t too bad. there she napped & i fed her (then i got to go eat lunch w/ The Mr.’s parents while he stayed home with her). we even took a 30 min. walk w/ her in the carrier before we left to come back home.
car rides are not the most fun w/ jovie. on the way home, i had to sing and entertain her for literally 2 hours. without stopping. i did the “name game” with her for everybody in our families. that’s including spouses and her cousins (60people on my side alone)… that’s a lot of “banana fana”.
we’re all glad to be home in our own cribs and are even more glad to know that we are not going to be traveling again anytime soon.
i guess the highlight is that santa brought jovie a baby einstein dvd (we’ll watch later) & an exersaucer. she’s still deciding if she likes it.
last tuesday, jovie was 22 weeks, 6 days, & 13 hours old when The Mr. & i finally were brave enough to take her to a restaurant. we took her to chick-fil-a because:
- i was dying to try the chocolate mint shake they have
- we knew it would be a quick eat
- she IS a georgia girl*.
she did very well! and santa cow even came over. she didn’t care at all. we weren’t there even 30 minutes. & by the end she needed dad to distract her with toys. but it was a VERY GOOD start! normally her first experiences are scary to her. we’ve been trying to go out a lot to get her OK with being in the car. and it’s worked. and she’s been much better lately, but still- it coulda gone either way!
we’re not really the “take our baby to restaurants” type. so these experiences will likely not be a common occurence. however, it was very nice that she cooperated. i have hopes she’ll continue to cooperate next time i want that DE-LISH milkshake! annnnnd, since we’ll be in columbia, SC in a few weeks— Rush’s, here we come!
*there are 3 things i’ve noticed that happen when you live in GA.
you like chic-fil-a
you like coke… real coke. not just the southern term for ALL soft drinks. because, yes- it’s true. when you offer a southerner a coke, they’ll ask “what kind?”
if you were not already a fan of a particular team, you like the braves.
god we’ll miss Pushing Daisies! the words in italics was my little homage.
speaking of counting…. jovie STILL loves the song “five little monkeys”. i routinely use this as a distraction from whatever may be bothering her. we find it pretty funny that she can be mid-cry/scream/fuss & when i begin singing it, she instantly calms down. of course, when i stop at, oh, monkey #3, she fusses again. so i start again & she stops again. should i be teasing her like this for my own amusement??
other distractions she still enjoys: itsy bitsy spider, and “apples & bananas**”. she smirks when i begin with “i like toooooooo eat, eat, eat…”. which shows she may recognize it enough to anticipate it. a random thing i do to distract her is i play with my hair. i’ll comb it w/ my fingers & put it in a ponytail… she’s fascinated. not sure if the’s the hair or the hands & what they can do.
i also find it interestingly funny that she is still perplexed by my laugh. which we do more & more.
**apples & bananas is the funnest song out there. i’ve introduced it to my first graders, as well as 2 of my nieces/nephews… if you’re looking for a new fun song to sing to your wee one you should try this one. [i noticed the link only used long sounds; can use short sounds as well]
we have been parents for 21weeks (and a day) now. we’re still alive. and we even smile sometimes, too! this last week was a lot of fun.
as mentioned before, we were a little nervous about the thanksgiving holidays- and more specifically the trip itself. it all ended up just fine. with some trepidation we ventured out for a 3hour drive. she did well at first. even went to sleep on her own w/o the screaming of the stone mountain trip. she woke up around the time we were stuck in traffic and wanting to be fed. after we managed to find a spot to feed her, she did get impatient and screamed the last HOUR of the trip. once it was evident she wasn’t going to go back to sleep (the reason for said screaming), The Mr. & i entertained her with the alphabet song. i know my ABC’s in sign language, and she was pretty enthralled at my fingers. that was the last 10min before arriving.
that was the only stressful HOUR of the trip. my biggest concern was that she wouldn’t be able to sleep in new surroundings in a portacrib. but she did just fine! & there were plenty of people there to hold her.
we had some playtime, where she got to show off her skills of squealing & smiling. she was in a new swing she seemed to like. got to explore a new bouncy seat that had toys closer to her to play with. we took a walk w/ gramma & grampa. we got to watch grampa’s fish. we even got to all eat as a family; and not in shifts. she stayed in the bouncy seat during dinner.
the ride home was (thankfully) less eventful. we kept waiting for the screams, but she never got over-fussy. all in all she did well.
this past week, we’ve enjoyed some other firsts:
the squealing i mentioned. she’s always been a screamer. but now she does it for conversation. JOY.
she learned how to blow raspberries. which gives her more drool to work with.
she has finally discovered yiminy (one of our “kittens”). she watches him as he walks by or wags his tail nearby. with this, yiminy has paid a little more attention to her. i’ve noticed he comes and sniffs her a little more. or sits close to me while i am feeding her.
saturday, The Mr. & i witnessed her rolling over (again in the crib!). it was quite unexpected, and when we both cheered for her, she didn’t seem to mind or get startled. she just stared at us (upside down). i can only imagine what she was thinking.
sunday, we actually had very real laughter, and even caught it on video!
she’s trying to get used to her babyseat. that’s hilarious to watch. she puts both arms out like a tightrope walker for balance.
here, i leave you w/ a picture of jovie with gramma. (i never cleared it w/ gramma for me to post pics of her; but surely she won’t mind- all you see is her hair. thus, she can keep her anonymity. we wouldn’t want everyone at the library to hound her for autographs.)
Posted by mpotter 
Posted by mpotter 
Posted by mpotter 
