I'm way behind schedule here. Anna is a new exciting person every single day, and I either don't have the time to write about it, or I just don't take the time because I'd rather be cuddling her. But I write here for myself primarily, but also for her. Someday, I like to think she'll enjoy reading about our first days, months, and years with her. Maybe she'll even learn something about what it'll be like when she has her first child. Or maybe she'll just think her mom's a big dork. That's okay, too.
Anyhow, in no particular order, here are the things everyone must know:
Anna can grasp an object, and she knows it. She has held something in her hand before, if you pried open her little fingers and placed it in her palm. But it was more like a reflex, like how a newborn can squeeze your finger. But now, she really has to be awake and feel like playing, but if you put something (in our case a chopstick) in her hand, she waves it excitedly (in our case imitating Harry Potter) (or like Mike said, "NO, she's Hermani!" or however you spell it.) (And then we took away the chopstick because it's all fun and games until your 8-week old daughter pokes her eye out because you're a couple of immature idiots.) But it's like she can play, and it's so exciting! She also seems to be developing ticklishness and she just enjoys when you poke, kiss or tease her. And I just love her. (Please bear in mind, though, that she's only like this for about 4 minutes a day. The other 23 hours and 56 minutes, she still doesn't care very much about what goes on around her.)
Somebody hurt Anna for the first time in her life. She had her 2-month check-up on Monday, and those were her first immunizations. I guess she did have a shot or two in the hospital when she was born, but I wasn't there to witness it, so it really didn't happen. Anyhow, they had to give her 3 shots, and they told me that the one could cause her thigh to be warm and swollen and she might get a fever. #%!&*$!!! That is a serious shot! And if her thigh is warm and swollen, doesn't that mean it's tender? As in painful? Ugh. So I braced myself, and prayed she'd be calm. And the first shot went in, and her eyes got very big, and then the nurse pushed the plunger, and Anna closed her eyes, threw her head back, opened her mouth wide, and s-c-r-e-a-m-e-d. And then she got jabbed twice more while screaming, and I think I was in too much shock to do much. I haven't a clue how I reacted or what I did. It was surreal. And then the nurse rushed out and I grabbed my poor, arched-back, wailing, betrayed daughter, and I tried to cradle her in my arms, and I pulled her to me and offered my breast, which she desperately took. (At least I was smart enough to keep her hungry because I thought she'd like comfort nursing and she'd have something else to think about.) And I sat there, nursing her as she pulled away every 30 seconds or so to let out a sad whimper, and I cried. Big tears fell onto her naked body, and I tried to make myself stop before I had to go out and face all the nurses and doctors and look like a big crybaby mommy. I was totally not expecting her reaction, but I was totally more not expecting my reaction.
Anna can take medicine like a champ. When I was a child, right up until I was 18 years old, I could not take medicine. I couldn't swallow pills until I was in college (I sat down one day with a box of Tic Tacs, determined to force myself to swallow something and prove to myself that I wouldn't choke to death.) So pediatricians always gave my mom liquid medicine, which generally made me throw up. But that was only if you could force it down my throat. My poor mother. Even that delightful bubble gum flavored antibiotic that my friends bragged about drinking just for fun when we were 8 years old... YUCK. I just couldn't do it. To this day, I can't drink cough syrup because it's too yucky, so I buy children's cough syrup that tastes not-too-bad, but I have to take like 6 tablespoons of it, so each bottle only lasts through 4 or so doses. So I decided to man up about it, and I can now take a half dose of adult cough syrup and a half dose of children's cough syrup mixed up, and I gag it down. Impressive, don't you think? So I was very concerned about whether Anna would be like me.
After the horrible shot experience, she slept for a really long time. Once she finally woke, she cried a lot, and then slept a lot, and then cried more. She would be sleeping peacefully and suddenly scrunch up her little eyes and open her little mouth and a big wail would fill the room, and I'd squeeze her closer to me, and then push her away, afraid that I was hurting her little thighs. Finally, I decided that she was definitely hurting, and even though she didn't have a fever, I gave her some tylenol. I squeezed the little dropper into her mouth, and she looked surprised, and then smacked her lips... I guess she swallowed it, and I was hugely relieved. And then she slept really well for the rest of the day.
But the important thing here is that she can take liquid medicines! Yay!
Last night, from Wednesday to Thursday, May 10-11, Anna slept through the night. I'm supposed to write that in her baby book, so I'm recording the date here so I can't forget. For the first time, she slept from about 10:30 until we woke around 6:00. I wanted to sleep more, but since Mike was getting ready for work and I was awake, I decided to wake her and feed her. Who knows how much longer she could have gone?! But she went back to sleep after that and slept until about 8:30. We have such a perfect dream of a daughter.
Of course, I don't expect her to sleep like that often; she had a pretty bad evening yesterday, and she was exhausted and miserable to be around. I'd rather have a well rested baby that likes to eat once in the middle of the night than a miserable, crying baby that sleeps through the night from sheer exhaustion. But if I could have a well rested, happy baby that sleeps through the night, that will work for me!
I think that's everything. Those are our major developments. Whew. I'm glad I got that all out.
