margaretyagan

So, Dad has a new nickname for me, “Jello Jiggler Maggie Miggler.”  First I was “Miggles” and then “Miggler” and now I’m associated with a synthetic food product peddled by Bill Cosby.  I got up for my bottle much earlier than I have been — around 3:15.  Dad did the honors and got me back to sleep quite quickly.  I made up for my early snack by sleeping all the way until 7:00.  I ate again at 8:00 and then we went to Whole Foods — not to buy groceries — but to meet Aunt Caroline (aka Carrie), friend of Mom and Mother of Lil’ Diego. 

After we got back and ate, Mom and I had some fun playtime together.  She taught me lots of new tricks, including situps and pullups.  I’m also getting really good at rolling over (with help!), but at least I’m starting to figure out which parts of my body need to move to get me going in the right direction.  I hung out in my bouncy seat and in the activity mat and Mom read me a few books…and of course, I napped a bit.  Then Mom started not feeling well (what’s up with my parents lately?  3 of the last 5 days, one of them has been conked out?!) and so Dad came home a little early. 

As soon as he got home, we intermingled playing together and cooking together (well, I would watch him cook).  We read four books together and even did the hokey pokey!  I was shocked that he didn’t make me do any tummy-time at all, but I think that’s because he wanted to keep me as quiet as possible so Mom could get some sleep.  Finally, Dad pulled out an old trick, waiting until I was just about to fuss about being hungry before distracting me with a bath.  I love my baths and never complain about getting one, even when I’m hungry. 

As soon as I got out, I ate with Mom and then sat in my bouncy chair and watched Mom and Dad eat dinner.  I played with Mom a bit after she was done eating and then had a snack and turned in for the night, around 9:15. 

 I woke up at 5:30 for my overnight bottle and man (or should I say, “baby”) was I hungry.  I downed 4.5 ounces of the good stuff and then fell back asleep until 8:00.  Mom and Dad decided to get off to a super-productive beginning and we went straight to Whole Foods for our weekly grocery trip.  But, when Mom got my stroller ready she lined it with a water-proof pad.  Why?  I hadn’t pooped in over three and a half days.  (It’s officially a poop watch after three full days have passed with a back-door expulsion.)  She was in fear that I would have a blow-out at the store and explode all over my stroller.  But not to fear, the trip to the store went off without a hitch.

After we were home safe and sound, I finally let loose and let out an avalanche of bowel movement.  Dad was so happy – he even made up a cheer for me.  After eating lunch around 11:30, Aunt Isabelle came by and the four of us went out for brunch.  First we tried to go to Le Pain Quotidien, but there wasn’t much room for me (with stroller).  Then we tried to go to Alice’s Teacup, but didn’t want to wait an hour for a table.  Finally, we made it to Josie’s — the same place we had Mother’s Day brunch last weekend.  On our way to brunch, we ran into Mom’s old friend from Stanford, (and Olympic gold medalist) Sarah.   I don’t know much about probability, but running into a very close friend who lives in Minneapolis on the Upper West Side of Manhattan seems crazy.

Brunch was fun and uneventful and we headed back home in a sprinkling rain (but I was covered up, of course).  I ate a snack and before long, Uncle Mac came by to visit.  He held me like a pro!  I look even smaller than I am compared to him.  After he left, Dad got a pretty bad headache (again!).  He wanted to give Mom a break from taking care of me, so he took me into the bed with him and curled up next to me.  I was wide awake, butI knew that Mom and Dad could really use some peace and quiet, so I just hung out in the dark and made little noises.  After about half an hour, Mom fed me and we hopped in bed for the night, around 9:00.

Since today was a Saturday, Dad had no plans to wake me up for my bottle.  But unlike the previous three nights when I would have slept well past 5:30, this morning I started fussing at 5:00.  I had my bottle at 5:15 and then fussed around before eating again (with Mom) at 6:00.  After I ate, Mom stayed up to write some emails and she put me in bed with Dad for a nap before I ate again at 8.

Dad was pretty tired and Mom decided to take me for a walk to get some breakfast so he could get some more sleep.  Our first stop was the bagel store at 72nd Street Bagels where we ran into Uncle Chris (Coyne) and his friend Petar.  We walked for a couple blocks with them and then Mom sat on a bench outisde Central Park and ate her bagel while she talked on the phone with Grandma Sherry.  I of course, slept through all this.  Then Mom called Grandpa Jim and we stopped by Starbucks on the way home to get Dad his favorite drink (caramel macchiato).

After we got home, I ate and played with Dad before all three of us left the apartment.  Dad and I walked Mom to her yoga class and then Dad and I walked to Central Park.  I was still asleep, so Dad pushed me through the park while he talked to Nana Haifa and Grandpa Yagan.  We went to Starbucks (my second trip of the day!) and Dad did some work on his laptop (while neglecting to actually buy anything).  We went to The Food Emporium to buy some milk but when we went to check out, Dad realized that he had forgotten his wallet.

We hung out at home for a couple hours (during which I ate twice) and then we headed for my third outing of the day!  This time we went to LensCrafters to pick out a new pair of glasses for Mom.  She spent about an hour trying on a bunch of different glasses.  Dad kept suggesting crazy outrageous frames and Mom kept picking out super-conservative ones.  Then it was Mom’s turn to forget something: her prescription.  Dad and I ran back to the apartment to get it.

Mom and Dad had been talking all day about giving me a bath today.  But they kept expecting me to poop and they figured they’d hold off on the bath until the poop.  Well, sure enough, 8:00 rolled around and I still hadn’t pooped.  So Dad gave me a bath (and Mom was convinced I’d poop in the bathtub).  I came out all fresh and clean, had a quick snack, and fell asleep for the night.

Dad woke me up again for my overnight bottle, this time at 5:30 am, after he took a shower and got ready for work.  I only drank about 2.5 ounces and then was super-wide-awake.  He had to take off for work, so he put me back in the crib as soon as I showed the first signs of drowsiness.  When Mom came by crib to check on me, I made her day by smiling back at her for the second day in a row.  I didn’t really fall back to sleep until after Mom gave me the rest of the bottle and I half-nursed with her.  I took a two and a half hour nap and gave Mom a chance to catch up on some sleep, too, since she woke up with me as soon as Dad left for work.

I had a pretty fuss-free morning and afternoon.  I played a lot with Mom, did a lot of tummy-time, and “read” a lot.  I took a bunch of short naps in the afternoon, even though Mom and Dad are concocting some master plan to consolidate my sleep time.  Ha.  We couldn’t leave the apartment at all, though, because it was raining all day.  Mom had planned to take me to Dad’s office while she went to yoga, but those plans got cancelled.

Dad got home at around 6:30, right before I had dinner with Mom.  I ate a huge snack at 8:45 and Mom and Dad thought they’d go ahead and put me to bed for the night, but I was still starving.  I tossed and turned (figuratively, folks, not literally) until about 9:30 (while Mom and Dad had some celebratory Fragolino).  Dad pulled me out of my crib and gave me two ounces of milk in a bottle and I fell asleep almost instantly.  By the way, I haven’t pooped since Wednesday night, so if tomorrow come and goes without some movement, we’ll be on another poop-watch!

So, for the second day in a row, I was rudely awakened by Dad for my “overnight” (though now seemingly “early morning”) bottle.  I only drank 2.5 ounces before falling back to (noisy) sleep.  I made Mom’s day by smiling at her when she came to get me out of my crib at around 7:00 for breakfast.  I kind of got bored half way through eating and Mom put me in my bouncy seat while she pumped.  While I was amusing myself, I noticed that Minnie Mouse’s nose looks an awful lot like…a nipple!  Sadly, it’s a whole lot drier and tastes nasty!  Mom saved me by letting me finish the bottle I started a few hours earlier.

I essentially spent the rest of the day eating.  I ate 12 times today!  In between my every-two-hour feeding schedule, I napped, fussed, ate, and had some tummy-time.  Mom had mat pilates and we met Dad outside the yoga studio.  Dad and I went to Central Park, as usual.  I was in now mood to play, though, and I just slept while Dad talked to one of his friends from junior high. 

We picked up Mom and headed home. Dad had a terrible headache and went to sleep even before I did!  Mom took care of me and Dad and I finally fell asleep at 10:20.

Shockingly, Dad woke me up at 5:00 to give me a bottle.  That’s right, I was perfectly happy, sailing past the seven-hours-of-sleep mark and Dad swoops me out of my crib and gives me a bottle.  Now, I was probably going to get up soon anyway — I drank the bottle in record time.  I didn’t really settle back into sleep so Mom got up with me while Dad was in the shower.  She sound so perplexed when she asked Dad, “So, you woke her up?  Why didn’t you just let her sleep?!”

After some eating, fussing, and playing, I got a bath.  Mom and Dad trying to shift me from two baths a week to three, so I’m going to be even more fresh-smelling than before.  Given my new habit of avalanche-pooping, a little extra cleaning is probably a good idea for everyone involved.  After my bath, Aunt Isabelle came over for lunch.  I was on my best behavior while she was visiting, even sitting with Mom at the table while they ate lunch.

After I ate and napped, Mom did a Tummy-Time-Trifecta.  First, Mom tried giving me a back massage while I was on my activity mat.  Then Mom put me on the Boppy to get some different angles at work.  Finally, she put me on her tummy, which I liked the best.

So, it turns out that tummy-time is a huge challenge for me.  As you recall, my head circumference is in the 77th percentile, but my weight is only around the 41st percentile.  Lifting my head isn’t quite as easy as it should be.  If only I had a little pea-head, my neck would be able to lift it up no problem.  As it is, though, tummy-time could be renamed faceplant time, because I spend most of time face-down in a pool of slobber.

In the interest of mitigating another “poop watch” tomorrow, I filled two separate diapers with my muddy bowels.  Dad likes to pretend he can’t handle it, but he always takes care of business for me.

I woke up with Dad at around 5:00 am to have my overnight bottle.  I’m definitely extending my long stretch of sleep to a consistent seven hours.  I ate breakfast at 7:30 and then played with Mom, took a quick nap, and got ready for our walk with Aunt Jennie.  We took a really long walk around Central Park including my first trip to Turtle Pond.  Jennie held me and we had a really good time together.  We tried to take a shortcut back but we ran into a couple places that had stairs and so we had to backtrack a little bit.

When we got back, I ate lunch and hung out in my vibrating bouncy seat for a while.  I ate again at 1:30 and then fussed a lot for about half an hour…before totally conking out and taking a two hour nap.  I’ve occasionally slept for a couple hours at a time in the mornings, but never before in the afternoon.

So, it’s time to address an issue head-on, if you will.  For a few weeks now, I’ve favored turning my head to the left and have rarely turned my head to the right.  This has caused me to develop a flat spot on the left back side of my head and a bulge on the front left of my head.  We’ve all gotten quite vigilante about forcing me to look right, including my sleeping with a blanket rolled up under the right side of my body.  Stay tuned – I’m going to smooth this thing out.

I got up at 4:45 and ate with Dad.  I never really fell back into a deep sleep again, but I didn’t get up for breakfast until around 8:00.  Mom and I read four books and played in my activity gym.  I was so exhausted that I took a two hour nap before eating and getting ready to go out for lunch.  We went to PJ Clarke’s for lunch — I’ve been two lunch twice in New York and both times at PJ’s!  I got to meet one of Mom’s professors from the Kennedy School.  We came back and hung out at home until we went out for the second time today to go to Mom’s doctor‘s appointment.  Dad met us at the doctor’s office and he and I went to The Food Emporium to buy a lasagna pan (fun, I know).

We met Mom back at the apartment and I had a pretty uneventful evening.  We hung out, I did some tummy-time, and played in my bouncy chair and my swing.  I got really fussy right before bed and actually screamed at the top of my lungs while I was nursing.  Mom and Dad were struggling to figure out why I was so unhappy.  Maybe I was hungry.  Maybe I skipped a feeding earlier in the day.  All these theories.  After I finished everything Mom had to offer, Dad warmed up some milk and gave me a little extra bottle.  Then.  Phhhleeeeeeeeeeeegggggghhhhhhhhhhhppppppppppooooooopppppppppppkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk.  And if you think that sounded bad, well, it smelled even worse.  I filled up my entire diaper with the mud-like poop.  Not the mud like in a yummy mud pie.  No, I’m talking about the mud that runs down the side of a mountain during a torrential rainstorm.  Dad took about 10 deep breaths, held his breath, and took care of (my) business.

Thanks to my arrival, Mom is, well, a mom and therefore is a Mother’s Day honoree.  I should get some props for making Mom a mom, I think.  Grandma Sherry points out that this is the 100th anniversary of Mothers’ Day.  I can’t wait for trivia night at the local pub…Oh, and by the way, I turned two months old today!

Thanks to getting to sleep late last night, I slept until 6:00 this morning.  Mom offered to get up to feed me, but Dad of course did the honors.  Mom got up to pump, though, so we all rang in Mother’s Day half asleep drinking, feeding, or expressing milk.  Now there’s a Hallmark Moment for you.

Mom and I went back to sleep while Dad prepped food for dinner and cleaned the apartment.  He claims to have some other gift for Mom, but for now, a clean apartment is about all she’s got.  I woke up again around 8:30 and Dad gave me a bath.  I actually enjoy my baths.  I never cry and they’re always relaxing.  Dad attempted to use a q-tip (relax, readers, just for my outer ear!), but failed.  Mom ended up filling 3 q-tips with gunk from my ears.  After eating breakfast, Dad invited Mom (and me!) out to brunch.  We first tried to go to Alice’s Tea Cup, but the one hour wait wasn’t really our speed.  So we went around the corner to Josie’s, which was surprisingly spacious and kid-friendly.  We got a table in the corner where my stroller could be parked out of the way.  On the way home, we stopped by Grom for yummy (and expensive!) gelato.

After getting back home, I was kind of fussy all afternoon and evening.   I wasn’t really interested in playing too much.  I slept a lot, whined a lot, and ate a lot.  I didn’t even smile once until about 8:30 when Dad and I played on the activity.  I had so much fun, except for when he put a sock on my forehead and I couldn’t figure out how to get it off!  I ate around 9:15 and fell asleep around 9:45.

I woke up for my bottle around 4:30.  Everything was pretty uneventful except that Dad was a bit careless about making sure I was close enough to sleep before putting me in my bassinet.  Sure enough, he fell asleep almost instantaneously, but I started fussing and Mom got up to play with me for about an hour and a half, until I got hungry again.  Dad finally got up around 8:30 and Mom went back to sleep.  I hung out with Dad for just a little bit before falling back asleep. 

Mom had a yoga class at 12:30 and she left as soon as we got done with our 12:00 feeding.  Dad burped me, packed up my stroller, and headed out to Starbucks.  I’ve noticed that Dad almost never stays in the apartment with me whem Mom’s not around.  I mostly napped while Dad worked, but every time I opened my eyes, I saw another Starbucks customer staring at me and commenting on how cute I am.

We met Mom outside of her yoga studio and we went to Le Pain Quotidien and got some lunch.  We had to take it to because two of Mom’s and Dad’s friends were coming over to visit.  I ate lunch with Mom and as soon as we got done, Uncle Francis and Aunt Amy came by.  They brought me a really cool CD and a cookbook especially for little kids!  Uncle Frank and Aunt Amy were so good at holding me — but we totally forgot to take any pictures!  Now that my neck’s getting stonger, though, I think it’s getting a lot easier!

I ate at 5:00 and then at 7:00 before Mom, Dad, and I went to Whole Foods.  It wasn’t nearly as crazy that late in the evening.  Mom and Dad planned on getting their groceries delivered (for only $4.99) and so bought lots of big, heavy things.  But when they went to check out, it turned out that Whole Foods stopped delivering at 8!  So Dad turned my stroller into a shopping cart and I was carried back in my car seat. 

I ate at 9:30 or so and Mom and Dad planned that we’d all go to sleep after that.  But I was still hungry and I couldn’t really fall sleep, so Dad ended up getting up again at 11:30 and feeding me a mini-bottle.