Sunday plans.

Today was the Heart of the Beast's May Day parade in Powderhorn Park, which is about six blocks north of our house. We were going to picnic with friends in the park, watch the parade, and then enjoy everything the park had to offer.

But we had a change of plans, thanks to the weather - instead of the beautiful, sunny day we'd hoped for, we had grey, overcast skies with intermittent showers, and wind gusts over 50 mph. We actually lost power for a while, thanks to tree limbs on power lines.

So instead of a picnic and parade, we stayed inside, read books, and played with toys.

All in all, we had a very nice Sunday... once the power came back on.

Six months!

Maisie's six month birthday is tomorrow! Although she was almost born on the 2nd, so I am writing this entry today.

To celebrate, she'd like to pull your hair!

Pulling hair isn't her only new skill, although it seems to be a favorite. She's also eating quite a few different foods, and is actually now quite a fan of the mesh feeder. She's constantly rolling over back-to-front. This gets to be a problem sometimes because she doesn't really have front-to-back rolling yet, and she's woken up a few times on her tummy which is quite upsetting to her - and to us, because we have to get up and roll her back over. She's almost sitting up by herself now too. She uses her hands a lot and has gotten very good at getting things to her mouth. And, most fun, she's very social and will smile and laugh at just about anyone who smiles at her.

I can't believe Aaron and I have had Maisie for six months! It seems not as long - but at the same time, I can hardly remember what our lives were like without her.

Shopping with grandma

Maisie and I went shopping at the Albertville outlet mall with my mom today. We went to five different stores and bought her a bunch of clothes for the summer, fall, and winter.
But as it turns out, all that shopping is exhausting.

Baby legs

I bought Maisie some legwarmers.

They're actually special baby legwarmers, called "babylegs" which I ordered from the Babylegs website. Totally ridiculous, I know! But I love them!

You can see the website has lots of reasons why babies should wear babylegs - easy diaper changes being tops amongst them. But mostly, I think, they're just really, really cute.

Kitty Interlude 2

Yo yo, blog. Yo yo. My day started out kind of pitchy today, dawgs. First thing of course, I like, wake up, POW, sunny and sweet as always and shuffle my diaper into the kitchen to find me some, I don't know, coffee and eggs or something. So picture it, there I am, just woken up, gettin some grub when I get this tickly sensation on the back of my neck, you know. Somebody watchin.

But of course, mom and her pet bigfoot are still asleep, so I sorta just laugh it off. But then I look up.

Maisie out.

Giggles

Why is Maisie laughing?

Because I am tickling her tummy?
Because she has figured out this sleeping through the night thing, so now we're all well rested?
Because she's looking forward to eating more pears?
Because it's finally, finally spring?
Because she rolled over for real yesterday?

Who can say... they're all good reasons!

A new way to eat.

We went to Iowa this weekend to celebrate Maisie's cousin Max's second birthday! We'd hoped to post lots of cute pictures here of the two cousins together... but we forgot our camera at home. If anyone sends us pictures, though hint hint Auntie Clare!, we will share them!

We returned to find that Leah's friend Erica sent Maisie a mesh feeder! This is a cool little item you can see if you click here. It is actually something we'd talked about getting for her, seeing as how she wants to get so involved with her solid food.


We put some very ripe, sweet pear chunks in it, figuring that'd be fun for Maisie. At first, she wasn't entirely sure what to do with the feeder.


She remained skeptical that it was supposed to go into her mouth, but obliged us. (This was a little strange, because everything else goes right into her mouth these days!)

We thought she would like it, but...
the mesh feeder was decisively rejected!

We ended up mashing up the pear and feeding it to her that way, which she enjoyed. We'll try the mesh feeder again some other time; I think she will eventually like it, but it just might take some time.

Thank you, Erica!!

Thank you, Easter bunny!

The Easter bunny found Maisie at my mom's apartment. She got a number of toys in her basket, including a roly poly yellow and red clown that she thinks is the coolest thing ever.

She can kick it and kick it all day long, and it never falls over!

You can see my mom trying to show her a little stuffed duck, but she wasn't interested. As long as she could kick that clown, she was happy!

The Easter bunny also left her some chocolate and jelly beans in her basket, but Aaron and I took care of that...

Smiles!

Maisie is a really happy, smiley baby, but you couldn't tell it from the pictures I post. Every time I try to take a picture of her smiling and laughing, she gets super focused on the camera. That's why she always looks so intense in her pictures. It's too bad, because she's got a super cute gummy grin.

I caught a bit of a smile today, though.

Isn't it adorable?

Fun with food, part 3.

And now, more of Maisie eating.

I'm sorry to keep posting these pictures of Maisie eating, but I find them so hilarious and cute! I hope you do too.

As you can probably tell, today's food was peas. She enjoyed eating them almost as much as she enjoyed smearing them on her chair. This weekend we'll introduce another food... maybe avocado? I'm not sure yet, but I do know we'll be moving these eating sessions out of the (carpeted) living room and into the (hardwood floor) dining room. If we don't, it'll only be a matter of time before our carpet starts collecting bright orange and green stains!

One great thing about starting Maisie on solids is that she's now truly sleeping through the night in her crib.


Boy, I really hope I didn't just jinx anything...

Fun with food, part 2.

We always use a bib when we feed Maisie solids.

But I tell ya, sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't be easier just to feed her naked. Then we could put her right in the bath, and we wouldn't have to do quite so much laundry.

Rock and roll!

Maisie's been working on rolling back-to-front for about a month now... and I think she's finally got it!

We were over at Caroline's house today when Maisie decided to escape a diaper change. In her past attempts at rolling, she would contort her body into a "C" shape, like you see here, but she never figured out how to get her top leg over. It would just waggle around in the air behind her until it pulled her back over, or until she got tired and relaxed back onto her back.

But today, she figured out the leg!

She still hasn't gotten quite all the way over onto her tummy yet. But it won't be long now!

Fun with food

We've been enjoying introducing Maisie to solid foods. Her first food was rice cereal, followed closely with bananas. When we feed her bananas she says MMmmm while she eats. It's pretty cute.

She's really been enjoying the cereal and bananas, so we decided to try another food today... sweet potatoes.

They were a hit!

We're not sure what to do next, after she gets used to sweet potatoes... maybe peas? Pears? Apples? Squash? She enjoys fruit but we've heard that giving babies fruit first makes them picky eaters. But on the other hand, she enjoys it and eats it up!

So, what did little babies you know like to eat?

Maybe... FINGERS?

Seriously, though, leave a comment and share your thoughts on first foods.

Morning mayhem

Our weekday mornings tend to be pretty hectic. Aaron has to leave pretty early to catch his bus, so he gets up early. He doesn't have a lot of time, so I get Maisie and myself ready, then drop her at daycare and head off to work myself. It's a lot of rushing for both Aaron and I, and I usually end up forgetting something in my rush to get Maisie and myself out the door so I can get to work at something approaching on time. I get as much ready as I can the night before, but there's always something.



So sometimes when Aaron wants a little extra sleep, and I want a little extra help in the morning, he helps me get Maisie to daycare and then I drive him to work.

This is so nice. One of us can entertain Maisie while the other has time to drink some coffee, brush his or her teeth, make sure lunches are packed, and all those other things that sometimes just don't happen in a morning rush.

It gets me to work about a half-hour later than I normally arrive, and doesn't work every day. But sometimes the non-rushed feeling in the morning is totally worth it.

Supporting doulas

Yesterday was a fun first: Maisie's First Lobbying at the Capitol.

She and I attended a session of the House Health & Human Services committee to support a bill that adds doula care to the Minnesota patient's bill of rights - apparently some hospitals only allow a laboring woman to have one support person with her, so she can't have a doula if she has a spouse or partner who's also there. This would require Minnesota hospitals to allow laboring women to have both a doula and another support person with her.

The bill would also require Medical Assistance to cover doula fees. The idea is that not only is it better for the laboring woman to have a doula, but it's also a cost-saving measure - women who have doulas at their births have fewer epidurals (which are expensive), fewer c-sections ($10-20K more expensive than a vaginal birth), and are more likely to successfully breastfeed (less expensive than formula, and results in healthier babies) than women who do not have doula care. So, covering doula care for low-income women should result in lower costs to the state.

We had a doula at Maisie's birth and we know how valuable her support was. It would be so wonderful if every woman could have that kind of support in labor and delivery.

But lobbying is hard work, and it tuckered Maisie right out.

Spring is here!

Today didn't start out too great - Maisie has been fighting a cold for about two weeks now (a little less than Aaron and I have had it) and woke up with a phlegmy cough. So Aaron stayed home with her, and we took her in to the doctor.

Turns out she has a head cold, but her lungs are clear, so that's good news. Her doctor thinks she'll be on the mend soon, yay! (I hope that means that Aaron and I will be getting better soon too!) Also, she now weighs 14 pounds 8 ounces... she is growing so fast!

Then when I got home from work we all went for a stroll around the neighborhood, because it was a beautiful day.

This picture was taken in our front yard; the tree we're standing under is the one that you can see on the left side of the second picture from the snowstorm just a few weeks ago (the March 4 post). And now, no snow at all!

Visit with Grandpa

Maisie's Grandpa Greg came to visit her today!



We haven't made it back down to Iowa since Christmas, and it was a nice day, so he and Peg drove up and spent the afternoon with us. We visited at home for a while and then had lunch at the Longfellow Grill. We had a very good lunch - I really like the food there - and Maisie fell asleep in Peg's arms shortly after this picture was taken.

It was a very nice visit!

Fingertips

My dada always tells me, "Don't eat me! That's what fingers say!"

But they are so delicious! How can I not eat the fingers?? I try to avoid them, but I cannot.

Plus, I work so hard to get them in my mouth... once I finally get them there, I'm chowing down!

You want a knuckle sandwich? I say YES!

Ummmm yumm yummm.

Something new...

Now that Maisie is four months old, her pediatrician has given us the go-ahead to start introducing her to solids.

Today, she tried her first solid - rice cereal.

(It wasn't actually all that solid.)
She seemed to enjoy it, although she was pretty confused at first as to what was going on. She definitely liked chomping on the spoon. About half of what she ate ended up on her bib, clothes, and face. Good thing we had a bath on the agenda for later!

hey, good lookin'!

Maisie's 4 month well child appointment was on Tuesday.
She's 13 lbs, 24.5 inches long, and her head circumference is 16.75". This is all 50th percentile, 75th percentile, and 75th percentile respectively, which is the same as at her 2-month appointment. They really watch to make sure that she's growing at the right rate - staying on the same percentiles - rather than looking at the absolute numbers.

At four months, Maisie loves to be read to. She really enjoys being talked to, singing, and dancing. Her favorite, though, might be looking in a mirror.

catching up

It's been so long since we updated, and so much has happened!

First, we got a snowstorm! It was really beautiful; despite living in Minnesota, it's been a long time since we had a real blizzard.

Here is a view of our street looking west, along the side of the house. You can see the bushes that border our yard. This is the long side of the yard. You can also see our blue garage, that needed to be shoveled out.

The second picture is the other side of our lot, looking south. It also had to be shoveled out.

Sometimes a corner lot seems like a good idea, and other times? Not so much. We had two snowstorms, each of which dumped about a foot of snow on us. We're still shoveling out from the second one. It happened while I was in DC for a conference so I have not yet had to shovel, ha ha!

Also, Maisie turned four months old yesterday! She has gotten really drooly in the past few weeks. In this picture, she's showing off her newfound ability to blow bubbles - one of her favorite activities.

Just sitting around.

Maisie has a cute little chair, called a Bumbo.


It's made of a weird foam material that is really light. The chair weighs next to nothing, but is still somehow firm enough to keep Maisie upright.

The Bumbo is great. Even though she can't sit up on her own yet, it's supportive enough that she can sit in it and play with her toys, which is her New Thing. She really enjoys toys she can grab, shake, manipulate, and eventually get into her mouth.

As you can see, the Bumbo is also super cute!

Maisie is not the only member of our family who enjoys hanging out in the Bumbo.

First walk

Today it was unexpectedly warm: 45 degrees! So when I got home from work, we bundled Maisie up and went for a walk around the neighborhood.



I know it's hard to tell, but really, there is a baby in that stroller!

Because she was born in November, this was the first time she's really spent any time outside aside from hurrying to or from the car. She found the whole experience pretty boring, and promptly fell asleep. Oh well... hopefully she'll grow to enjoy walks around the neighborhood!

3 generations of Carls

I know not everyone who reads this blog gets the Carleton Voice, which is our alumni magazine, so I thought I would share this picture that I sent in, so that all of you can see it...



It's called "3 generations of Carls." That's me ('96), my mom ('67), and Maisie ('29!).

Happy Valentine's day!

We had hoped to get a cute picture of Maisie smiling and laughing, wishing everyone a happy Valentine's day.

But as it turns out, she is totally over Valentine's day. She just wants to sit in her Bumbo and play with her ladybug.



I can just hear her, thirteen years from now, but with the same look on her face... "Jeez mom and dad, wouldya get that camera out of my face already??"

Baby fashion

Before we had Maisie, I knew that babies wore all kinds of ridiculous things. It seems like baby girls, especially, have silly clothes (though maybe that's just what we were looking at...) - they are subjected to garters on their heads, and tons of frills, ribbons, bows, and gathers. We've mostly shied away from the super-girly baby clothes, but still end up with some silliness. For instance, Maisie has a pair of carpenter-style jeans with a hammer loop. A hammer loop! It's not girly, but talk about useless!

But as for my favorite silly baby fashion, I give you:

the track suit.



It's cozy and warm, but really. She looks like she's going to go running or something - in this picture I think she looks like she's doing crunches - when the truth is she can't even roll over consistently.

Keep posting!

Maisie is so mad that we haven't posted to her blog in almost a week!


Don't cry, sweetie! We won't let it happen again!

(Our laptop was down, but now it's better...)

3 months old

Today is Maisie's three-month birthday! We celebrated by braving the cold weather (today's high is negative six!) and going to the Bad Waitress for lunch. Maisie slept through most of it, and Aaron and I talked about everything that happened three months ago at her birth.

Three months old! What a big girl. Maisie loves to look at her mobile and being read to. She also likes bath time and dancing with her daddy. She has started to play with toys - she will grab a cloth rattle or a teething ring and shove it in her mouth. We are amazed at how much she has learned in just three months. (And she's taught us a lot, too!)

Do I look like a boy to you?

Today Aaron, Maisie and I went to the YWCA, where I was asked if Maisie was a boy.


Um, no.

Granted, she wasn't dressed in a super-girly riot of pink, like she is here. She was wearing jeans and a gray hoodie. But even so, I don't think she looks like a boy. After all, I was wearing jeans and a gray hoodie, too!

(I'm not really sure why it bugs me so much that she was taken for a boy, but it really does.)

Three Maisies.

My nephew Dylan is three years old.

This picture is from when we went bowling last week. He can usually get the ball all the way down the lane - it only ran out of steam and stopped halfway down one time.

Anyway, my mom watches him two days a week. She called me yesterday to let me know that on Friday, Dylan had told her that there are three Maisies.

Really?, she said.

Yes, he said. The first Maisie is his doll. (He has a baby doll he named Maisie, and he's really cute with her. You can hold her, but you have to wash your hands first.)

The second Maisy is the mouse, of course.

And number three?, my mom asked. Dylan said, "Uncle Aaron has a Maisie that moves!"

Here she is, napping instead of moving. The swing used to be Dylan's when he was little... he's such a big kid, it's hard to remember when he was napping in the swing!

Kitty Interlude

Dear blog,

You may be curious as to how my furrier brothers have been behaving since I moved in. Let me tell you! Badly!

They stay up late and get up to crazy cat fraternity hijinks.

Like creating paper bag necklaces in the shape of the fifty states out of my favorite paper bags. Naughty kitty!

(this one is supposed to be Texas I think, although it could be Oklahoma with the panhandle folded towards the camera)


Don't even bother asking them WHY they're making them. You know what they told me? That they were going to some fancy kitty geography or map ball or something like that!
Called the Cat-rography Society, I think.

Also I'm beginning to think they're trying to replace me, or get rid of me or something. They hide like little crocodiles lying in wait for me. Like under my snow suit, or in my favorite car seat.

I just have the nagging suspicion that when I'm not around, they're plotting against me.



Oh well, I'm probably just being paranoid.
Maisie out.

Go Bears!

Even though the Vikings didn't make the playoffs, we're still watching football. We just didn't tell Maisie that her Vikes are out of it, because she looks so cute in her hat.

Go Bears!

Embarrassing habit revealed.

Stop looking at me! Don't judge me! Everyone bites their nails.

So what if I don't have teeth?

Well Child

Today was Maisie's two-month well child appointment. Her weight, 11 pounds 3 oz, is in the 50th percentile, and her height, 23", is in the 75th percentile. These are the same percentiles as at her one-week appointment, so her growth is right on track. Her head circumference, though, has jumped from the 35th percentile to 75th! The nurse said that Maisie must have a lot of brains to have such a big head. We liked her. But then she gave Maisie three shots, so we didn't like her quite so much after that.

But, we got over it.

By the afternoon, Maisie was her smiley self again!

Speaking of which, Maisie's pediatrician (who we love) warned us that our happy baby may not stay that way. He said that four-month-old babies have sudden and dramatic mood swings, and will be cranky and fussy for no reason at all!

Aaron and I were surprised to hear this - we thought we had at least thirteen or fourteen years before we had to deal with that kind of thing. I've heard of a four-month sleep shakeup. But mood swings, really?

What's going on here?

Maisie looks a little confused by recent events...



It's just your dad carrying you around under his arm, sweetie! It's nothing to be alarmed about!

Now that I am back at work, Aaron is home with her during the day. He and Maisie are enjoying getting to know one another, and he takes very good care of her while I'm gone. I am enjoying being back at work... although I miss Maisie a lot during the day. I like that my office is so close to home, though - sometimes I come home for lunch and see Aaron and Maisie!

Maisie's two-month checkup is on Monday, and we're looking forward to finding out just how much she's grown. As you can probably tell from the elbow dimples and wrinkles on her wrists, she's a fat little baby! She has the cutest round little belly. She's also gotten a lot longer recently and has actually outgrown some of her onesies. One thing we're not looking forward to, though, is that she'll have to get some shots. I'm sure it'll be harder on us than it is on her - we know what's coming, and she doesn't.

Hands!

You know what's a ton of fun to chew on?



Fingers!!

Maisie has discovered her hands, and they're apparently delicious! She will shove her whole hand in her mouth if she can get the angle right. If not, she'll happily gum the side of her hand until it's covered in drool.

It makes her very happy!

2 months old!

Maisie is two months old today!


Maisie is growing and changing so quickly! When she's awake, she's much more awake than she used to be. She has become a very smiley, happy little baby who laughs a lot. She is discovering her hands and loves getting them into her mouth - actually, pretty much anything grasped in those little hands goes into the mouth!

She is also getting much stronger and can hold her head up when we support her in a sitting position. She has even flipped over from tummy to back twice now, effectively getting out of the hated tummy time!

The last two months have brought us so much joy. I can't wait to see what the future holds for our little family!