margaretyagan

 I got up earlier than usual today — around 4:30 — after tossing and turning for about an hour.  I was so restless that Dad got up a couple times in the night thinking I was ready to eat.  Dad made the mistake of checking his email while he fed me and got so distracted that he couldn’t fall back asleep after I drank about half of my bottle.  After Dad left, I whimpered for a while before Mom got me up.

I ate a lot today and slept much less than I have been, especially less than yesterday at Dad’s office.  I pooped twice — making Mom’s day, and peed on my changing pad while Aunt Claire was changing me.  I took a bath and then took a walk with Mom in the Baby Bjorn — the first time I’ve been in it with Mom since I rejected it several weeks ago.  I love being able to see in front of me while we go out for walks.  I overheard a lot of strangers saying nice things about me, which always helps!  I ended up going on another walk with Aunt Claire, but this time in my stroller where I couldn’t hear the passers-by.

Dad didn’t come home for dinner (he was at happy hour – but what’s more happy than me?), so it was just me and Mom at home (Aunt Claire was on a Crazy Blind Date!).  Just as I was finishing supper with Mom, Dad came home and slobbered kisses all over my face.  I was still hungry, so Dad gave me a quick mini-bottle before putting me to bed around 9:30. 

I got up around 5:30 and everything seemed like a run of the mill, normal day.  While I was eating my bottle, Mom came out and said she had a really bad headache.  Dad jumped at this opportunity to take me away — literally.  He had been telling Mom for a few days that he wanted to take me into the office for a few hours a day or two a week so that Mom could get some time to herself.  She had protested before, but she wasn’t really in the position to this time.  So, at about 6:00 am, Dad put me in my stroller and wheeled me out the door.

We took the train down to his office, just as we had on Monday and we stopped at Starbucks, too.  We got up to his office and he got me all set up.  My car seat on his desk, a play mat on the floor by his chair, and Dad wearing the Baby Bjorn allowed me to be constantly on the move to suit my every whim.  At about 8:00 I got hungry and Dad gave me my second bottle of the day.  I played a bit longer and then finally got tired at around 8:30.  It was then that Dad realized he forgot something VERY imporant — my miracle blanket.  For the first time in my life, I got to see Dad’s creativity at work as his eyes darted around his office looking for something that could even come close.  Finally his eyes lit up as he saw the sweatshirt he got when he was a guest on Matty in the Morning.  Sure enough, the sweatshirt worked so well that I took the longest nap of my life: 4.5 hours.  I got up, Dad fed me my third bottle of the day, and Aunt Claire came by to take me home.

As a special treat here’s some rare footage of me smiling, laughing, and playing:

The rest of my day was pretty uneventful.  I spent the afternoon with Mom and Aunt Claire.  Dad finally got home and we all hung out for a while before I went to sleep around 8:30.

I woke up around 5:30 and had a half-bottle with Dad.  I didn’t really go back to sleep and Mom entertained me in my bouncy chair for a while.  I finished up my bottle around 6:30 and then settled in for a good two-hour nap.  Aside from the fact that I pooped twice today, which is borderline miraculous, the big news was that I had one of my fussiest nights ever.

Dad got home a little early — around 6:00 — and Mom, Dad, and I took off just a few minutes later and headed to Uncle Chris’s and Aunt Jennie’s apartment, ten blocks north of us.  As soon as we walked out the door, it started raining like crazy.  Luckily, my stroller’s retractable roof has a pretty tight seal and no water dripped in on me.  Mom and Dad weren’t quite so lucky, but at least Mom remembered to bring an umbrella. 

When we got there, I was in pretty good spirits for the first ten or so minutes, but then I got jealous that everyone else was drinking wine, so I started being a bit difficult.  At first it was manageable; Mom and Dad carried me and consoled me pretty easily.  When the food came they tried to put me in my car seat on the floor next to the table, but I wasn’t getting enough attention, so I let them hear about that, too.  Dad gave me a bottle during dinner then once dinner was over, the four of them (excluding me, again!) planned to play a game of some kind (Taboo, I think) and so I played a game of my own: scream and refuse to calm down. 

Mom carried me around for a while and then Dad took me into the guest bedroom and tried to get me to fall asleep.  Ha!  I’m not falling for that.  Finally he gave up and Mom held me while Dad and Uncle Chris played Pass the Pigs.  Finally, I rested a little bit and I cooled down a bunch (I mean that literally; the air conditioning made a big difference!).  I was in a good mood and I played around on the floor with everyone and we all had a fun time at the end of the evening.

Mom, Dad, and I walked home.  I ate and fell asleep almost instantly.

I got up at 6:30 today and had my bottle with Dad.  I stayed up for about an hour before taking my first nap of the day at 8:00.  I got up just before Mom was heading out to yoga.  Dad decided to take me to work for a few hours today.  We left the apartment at 9:30 and walked as if we were going to Whole Foods, but when we got to 59th street he carried my stroller down a bunch of stairs into a whole other underground world.  We got on a train with a blue A on it and hung out with a dozen other people for about three minutes before getting off.  We stopped by Starbucks and then headed up to his office. 

Dad made me a little playmat out of an oversized pad of post-it notes and one of my blankets.  He brought enough milk for two bottles and gave me the first one pretty soon after we got to work.  We played for a bit while Dad tried to get some work done and then finally I took a long nap from 11:00 to 1:30.  I had an entire conference room as my nursery to sleep in, which is much more space than I get when I’m at home in my parents’ room.

After I got up, we played for a bit and made another Starbucks run.  At 2:00, Dad gave me my second bottle.  I amused myself while Dad worked until about 3:00 when we headed back home.  We met Aunt Claire at Rite-Aid and “speed-walked” (Aunt Claire’s term) back home so I could eat with Mom before meeting her friend Lorri in Central Park.

Just as Mom, Dad, and I were getting ready to head out of the apartment, Dad suggested that we try the Baby Bjorn — but facing outward.  I’ve never gotten to face out before because it requires a pretty strong neck, especially with a head as big as mine.  Dad convinced Mom to let us give it a try, with the caveat that he’d keep his hands near my head in case my head started flopping around.  We met Lorri and hung out in Central Park for a little more than an hour.  She’s so nice!  I took a little nap and then she held me for a bit before we headed back home.

The big event at home this evening was a Memorial Day Veggie Burger Cook-Off between Dad and Aunt Claire.  Well, really beween Dad and Whole Foods, with Aunt Claire having the responsibility of choosing a frozen veggie burger from Whole Foods to compete against him.  Aunt Claire picked the All-American Burger, while Dad cooked up the Ultimate Veggie Burger.  Dad won!

For only the second time in the last month, I took three naps over 1.5 hours long.  Mom and Dad are clearly trying to consolidate my day-time sleep and while today wasn’t perfect (I also took three cat naps), it was a big step forward.

I woke up at 5:45 and noticed something was a bit off.  Dad was a bit slower than usual getting his act together.  I guzzled down my bottle, but even though I was all ready to play, Dad was clearly sleepy and he put me back in my crib.  As usual, he didn’t bother to get me sleepy and so as soon as he got back in bed, Mom heard my whimpers and she got up to play with me.

After I played with Mom for a couple hours, she brought me to bed with her and soon after Dad got up and took over.  After Mom got up, I overheard Mom and Dad strategizing over how to consolidate my daytime sleeping into three regularly-scheduled naps.  Sheesh, it’s not good enough that I sleep about 9 hours a night?

Then Dad, Aunt Claire, and I went to Whole Foods for our weekly shopping trip.  It was pretty uneventful and much less chaotic than usual since it’s a holiday weekend.  After we got back and I ate lunch then Dad went up to Uncle Chris Coyne’s apartment and Mom, Aunt Claire and I went to hang out in Central Park.  Mom got pissed that people were drinking and smoking around me, so we had to cut our outing short.

Dad finally got back from an intense game of Pass the Pigs and as soon as he got home he picked me up from the bed, where I was resting next to Mom, and popped me back in the stroller to go hang out with Isabelle in Central Park.  We sat in the shade and it got chilly pretty quickly, so though I left wearing but a onesie, I was quickly bundled up in a sweatshirt, socks, and a blanket.

We got back home around 7.  I ate, hung out, and ate again before turning in for the night around 9:00.

I woke up at 5:45 and had my bottle with Dad.  I was starving and drank about half of the it in no time.  I was in no mood to go back to sleep, though, and Dad was more than happy to play with me.  I was in such a good mood — as I usually am in the morning — and since it was a Saturday, Dad could enjoy it with me!  I had finished the bottle and then Dad gave me a bath.  By this time, Mom and Aunt Claire were up too.  I took a nap and then we all headed out to meet Mom’s & Dad’s friend Al.

For the third week in a row we tried to go to Alice’s Tea Cup, and this time we were successful.  I slept through the whole thing while everyone else enjoyed his or her delicious breakfast and yummy tea.  We detoured through Central Park on our way back to the apartment and then Dad hung out in the lobby with Al while I went upstairs and had lunch with Mom.

Mom and Claire headed out to “sister and me” yoga class while Dad and I headed out to Central Park.  We found a good plot of grass in the sheep meadow and camped out.  I exercised for about half an hour (pull-ups/sit-ups, log rolls, running in place, leg lifts, etc.)  Then I took a half-hour nap and went back to exercising.  Every time the sun went behind a cloud, it got chilly and when the cloud passed by it got really hot.  I definitely got more sun today than ever before.

The rest of the afternoon was pretty uneventful, as I just hung out with Mom, Dad, and Claire.  There was a lot of talk about Mom’s and Dad’s big date tonight.  In preparation for Claire’s big responsibility of taking care of me, she went to Starbucks around 8:00.  Mom fed me around the same time and then Mom and Dad took off to dinner and a movie.  They put me to bed before they took off and aside from one minor whimper, I was pretty well behaved for Aunt Claire.

 There’s just not a lot to talk about today:

– I slept.  A lot.  It’s a common response to getting vaccinated that babies sleep a lot more and eat a lot less.  I did exactly that.  I took a three hour nap in the morning and slept much of the afternoon away, too.

– I went on my first walk without my parents!  Well, not quite by myself, I went with Aunt Claire.  Our destination?  The Indian Consulate.  That’s officially the farthest east I’ve walked on the island of Manhattan.

– I exhibited some tremendous hand-eye-mouth coordiation today.  Mom put my frog-headed blanket on my stomach and I grabbed with both hands and brought it up to my mouth, at which point I slobbered all over it.

Dad was late getting home because he had dinner plans with some of his friends from business school.  Once he got home, Mom asked him if he wanted to get me ready for bed, but he did the exact opposite.  He just couldn’t resist playing with me and kissing me a thousand times! 

Today was my fourth doctor’s appointment ever — my two month check up.  Mom and Dad were pretty stressed all morning.  Not only were they worried about how my check up would go, but they also had to decide which vaccinations, if any, I would get.  While Mom and Dad stressed, though, I napped and bathed and had an all-around relaxing morning.

Mom and Dad had consulted with so many people.  Their friends Dr. Ramaprasad (infectious diseases) and Dr. Tolia (pediatrician) both said I should get all of the recommended immunizations.  My doctors in Chicago and New York agreed, too.  But Nana Yagan recommended pushing off my shots until I was older, as did a friend of Dad’s Dr. Johnston-Jones. 

Finally Mom and I headed out to walk to Dr. Gati’s office where we were meeting Dad.   We hung out in the waiting room until we were called in to the exact same exam room where I pooped all over the scale, the floor, and my stroller just a few weeks earlier.  First the nurse measured my length, where I stretched out to a full 23″, which put me at the 61st percentile, down from the 71st percentile I was at a month ago.

I tipped the scales at 11 pounds, 15 ounces — all the way up to the 66th percentile, up from the 41st percentile a month ago.  I can’t wait to sign up for infant sumo wrestling.

Then the nurse measured my head circumference and entered the information in the computer.  My head was so big that she called in another nurse to double-check the measurement.  Luckily the second nurse got a slightly smaller reading, but at 41cm, I placed in the 89th percentile!

So, I’m above average on all three counts.  My height and weight are finally close to proportional and my head just keeps on getting bigger (thanks, Dad).  I hope no one ever gives me a hard time about not lifting my head during tummy-time.  I have a really, really, really big head!

My exam went really well and finally Mom and Dad decided to give me two vaccines: DTAP and Prevnar.  The shots hurt a lot, but Dr. Gati gave them to me while I was nursing with Mom — apparently studies show that’s the most comfortable for me.  The other three vaccines I was supposed to get today I’ll have to get in a month or so.  I expected to be pretty fussy the rest of the day, but really I just slept a lot.

Well, today was an exciting day.  I woke up just in time to have a bit of my bottle with Dad just before he left for work.  I had a pretty uneventful morning, the highlight of which was a pretty big poop I unleashed at around 10:00 am.

At 3:00 in the afternoon I got a huge surprise: Aunt Claire showed up!  It turns out she’s moving in with us for the rest of our stay in New York.  I haven’t seen Claire in a few weeks and it’s so cool to have her around again.

At around 5:00, Mom, Claire, and I took a walk down to Dad’s office.  All this time Dad disappears in the morning and reappears in the evening and I never knew where he went,  I saw Uncle Chris and all the people who work with Dad.  I brought my game face, though.  I didn’t want people to think that I was a softie.

We walked back home together and the big event for the night was the American Idol finale!  It was so unexciting!  In fact, we all (even Claire!) had fallen asleep before we learned which David won.  Tomorrow’s my 2-month doctor’s appointment — which I only know because I heard Mom and Dad talking about whether or not I should get vaccinated.

I was pretty well-behaved all morning, but I fussed most of the afternoon.  I took a tummy-nap, which Mom almost never lets me do, but otherwise our afternoon was pretty frustrating for Mom, especially since the rain kept us trapped in our apartment.

Dad came home in time for Mom to go to yoga.  He started making dinner, as usual, but realized he was out of garlic.  So, despite the rain we ventured out to The Food Emporium to buy a little jar of minced garlic.  You know it’s a slow day when we’re talking about minced garlic.  Uncle Marty came by again.  This was the first time since coming to New York that I had gone two weeks without seeing him.  He was impressed at how fat I was and that I could giggle and stick my tongue out.

I finally said goodnight to Uncle Marty and fell asleep around 9:30.