margaretyagan

I got up for the day around 6:00 and as usual on a Sunday, Dad got up to hang out with me while Mom got to sleep in a bit.  We came downstairs and immediately started “exercising” — which is what Dad calls the various physical development drills that he puts me through every day.  I then played in my jumperoo while Dadquickly threw together a meal that would eventually be Mom’s and Dad’s lunch.

As soon as it struck 7:30, we headed out on our first errand, which was to Home Depot, where we bought two fire alarms (although Dad can’t seem to find them now; maybe we left them in the shopping cart!) because Mom is convinced that the ones we have in our house don’t work.  After that we went to a Bank of America ATM so Dad could make a deposit and withdraw some cash for Mom.  Finally, we went to Whole Foods to buy some fenugreek for Mom.

We were so productive on our trip that we were done with errands before Mom would want to get up, so, not surprisingly, we headed out to Starbucks (Dad had thought ahead and brought his computer!) where I took a nap and Dad got some work done.  When I woke up we headed back home where Dad gave me a bottle.

Dad went for his morning run (on our treadmill) and I hung out with Mom upstairs in her room while she packed for her upcoming trip.  They ate lunch, I took a nap, and eventually Dad and I headed out for another set of errands. 

I hung out with Mom most of the evening … until 7:00 when all of a sudden Mom got into a funny-looking car and with a really sad look on her face gave me a kiss and rode away!  I could tell Dad was really sad, too.  I was tired and so was a bit cranky.  All in all, it wasn’t our best evening.  To cheer me up, Dad decided to take me for a walk.  To cheer himself up, Dad made our first stop Letizia’s Bakery, where Dad bought a chocolate chip cookie.  We looped all the way around to Chris’s house and back just in time to walk in the door a few minutes before my bedtime.  I fell asleep for the last leg of the walk, but I quickly woke up when I realized there was a bottle in front me.  I got my vitamins, changed into my PJ’s, and had my bottle before falling asleep around 8:25.

I know this is going to sound like a broken record, but my Saturday morning went pretty much like all of my previous ones.  I woke up at 6:00 and spent about an hour doing my morning workout with Dad.

Our errands that morning took us first to Carter’s where we shopped for new pajamas (the one’s I am currently wearing are size 3 months — and I’m huge!).   Mom and Dad tend not to buy me many clothes (since I seem to get so many gifts!), but somehow I ran out of PJs.  The ones Dad picked out are pretty cute — even approved my Mom.

After Carter’s we headed out to Target. Conveniently, I fell asleep on the way.  Dad placed me ever-so-delicately in a cart and I didn’t wake up until after we checked out.  Mostly, Dad bought stuff that Mom needed for her upcoming trip to Europe.  We got done so quickly and we wanted to stay out of the house as long as possible so that Mom could get work done, so our next stop was, shockingly, Starbucks.  Dad and I sat outside and I took another nap while Dad wrote a bunch of emails.

We eventually got home and I was so excited to see Mom again.  She fed me and then I hung out with her while Dad discharged some groomsman responsibilities for his pal Chris.  After I ate lunch and took a short nap, it was time to run errands with Dad again.  We ran by Whole Foods (to get some stuff for Mom and to look for crawfish and crab meat) and then hit our usual grocery store, Dominick’s.  We ran through the store a bit more quickly than usual and got back home in no time.

Mom stopped working and the three of us hung out for much of the afternoon.  Dad and I took a walk to Oberweis to get their favorite dessert in the world, a chocolate and peanut butter milkshake.   By the time we got home it was time for my bath — which Dad gave me — and then Mom fed my supper and put me to bed.

Friday morning was pretty fun.  As usual when Dad’s home, he hung out with me until about 7:00 when Nana took over and he went down to his office.  My morning was pretty uneventful though the weather allowed us to spend a little more time outside than usual.

During the summer,  Mom gets to work a half-day on Fridays, so Nana and Grandpa get to head home right after lunch.  They headed out a bit earlier than usual since I was taking a nap and Mom had already told us she was on her way.

Mom brought a lot of work home that she had to take care of this weekend, but since Dad was busy, she relaxed and hung out with me, which was great.  Friday afternoons are one of my most favorite times of the week because I get such quality time with Mom!

Mom suggested that she and Dad buy take-out for dinner, so Dad strapped me in the Baby Bjorn and we took off on an exploration.  We first walked by Skewerz, but Mom wasn’t too interested.  Then we checked out Flash, but it seemed a bit trendy (ie loud).  So they ended up at Santullo’s, where they each got sandwiches to take home.   I got to sit at the high-chair with Mom and Dad and throw things on the floor as they ate.

After they got done eating it was my turn, and I jumped in bed soon thereafter.

So, the highlight of this week was that Uncle Danny was around all day on Monday and he had gotten enough work done over the weekend that we got to spend a lot of time together.  It’s also cool that he’s been taking so many pictures!  After a couple weeks out of the limelight, it feels good to be in so many pictures again.

Since we depleted the store of milk in the freezer, I’m now taking about 80% of my milk from Mom and about 20% of my milk from formula.  It’s working out great, since there’s never a worry about running out and I’m still primarily getting the good stuff.

Dad couldn’t be around today because he had a screen test for a TV show!   Dad on a TV show?  That can’t be a good idea!

Uncle Danny took off Tuesday morning and the rest of the week was pretty much back to normal. It was a really hot week, so I didn’t get out to the park quite as often as Nana and I would have liked, but we had to be more diligent about going out early in the day or right before Mom came home.

This was a remakably busy weekend!  First, it’s Mom’s and Dad’s fifth anniversary.  Just think, if they hadn’t found each other, I wouldn’t be here!  So, I’m pretty excited about that.

Saturday started off, as usual, hanging out with Dad.  Dad has a morning workout program that he puts me through to make sure my physical development is keeping up.  Once we did that, Dad took me outside (which I love) and I watched him do a bunch of yard work (a “bunch” relative to our pretty small yard!).  I had never noticed this before, but there were two dead evergreen bushes right next to our front door.  Dad knew that Mom wanted those taken down, but he didn’t have the necessary equipment…so, we took a road trip out to Home Depot and bought a hacksaw.  We got back and Dad sawed down the bushes and threw them out.

Mom came down and fed me and after a nap and lunch, Dad and I took off for our weekly trip to Dominick’s.  But the highlight of the afternoon was that I went to my first concert ever at Wicker Park Fest.  Which band did we see?  One of Mom’s and Dad’s favorite: Bishop Allen.  We saw a bunch of friends there: Reshma, Chris, and Monica, but Mom was stressed the whole time — she was afraid that the loud music was damaging my ears!  As soon as Bishop Allen’s set was over, Mom sprinted away with me while Dad went up and talked to Christian.  (Woah, how many people have their own Wikipedia pages!?)

Sunday morning was a bit unusual.  Dad and I started with my usual morning workout, but instead of taking off for Starbucks, Dad tossed me in the car and we went to have breakfast with Christian at Swim.  Christian was really nice and fun.  I now know a rock star!

Sunday afternoon brought even more new friends, including Charu, Kurt, and Jui.  They were so nice and fun.  Charu is a doctor (Mom and Dad have sooooo many doctor friends!) and gave Mom and Dad another lecture (I mean, opinion) that they should be more aggressive with my vaccinations.  Charu & Kurt just got married (days after getting engaged!) , so there were lots of stories being bandied about.  Jui seemed totally scared to hold me, but eventually proved her maternal skills by making me really comfortable and happy!

Uncle Danny was around all weekend, but he was mostly working on his own research.  He stopped by, hung out with me, and took lots of pictures, but I didn’t get a ton of quality time with him (yet).

Tuesday was a bit stressful, because Grandpa had to have a minor outpatient surgery.  Both Mom and Dad tried to rearrange their schedules to be home, but Dad had three big meetings in New York and Mom had three meetings she had to be at in the office.  So, Nana and I were troopers!

Grandpa hopped a cab to the hospital very early in the morning.  I ate with Mom and then after my first bottle of the day, Nana packed me up in my carseat and for the first time, drove with me in the car!  We parked at the hospital and Nana carried (by the way, me + my car seat are pretty heavy!) me all the way up to the waiting room.  This was my first trip back to Northwestern Hospital since I was discharged from Prentice on March 13!

Unfortunately, babies aren’t allowed in the post-op room!  So, although we hoped to be able to go in and see him, but we were waiting for him as soon as he discharged.  Luckily, he seems fine!  Nana, Grandpa, and I drove home and by 4:30, everything seemed back to normal; soon thereafter Mom was home.

Wednesday and Thursday weren’t nearly so exciting.  Uncle Danny was supposed to arrive Thursday night, but unfortunately he got stranded in St. Louis and didn’t make it in until Friday morning.  Dad had a meeting downtown Friday morning and Mom worked from home, so there was a lot of family around!

On Friday evening, Mom & Dad had dinner plans with Chris, Monica, and Kyle at a local restaurant, which they came back raving about.  I liked it because Mom drank wine! 🙂  How did Mom & Dad get to have a nice dinner with friends?  Uncle Danny was on duty — which, since I was already asleep for the night, pretty much just meant he had to stay up and make sure I don’t wake up! 

Why the title?  Well, there are only a handful of photos taken of me during this stretch — probably the least photgraphed three days of my entire life!  So, to satiate my fans, here’s the photo album from my 4th month:

http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf
It was a fairly standard weekend.  The usual morning hanging out with Dad, the obligatory trip to Starbucks, and the weekly grocery shopping trip to Dominics.The most exciting part of the weekend was our trip to Oak Brook to hang out with three of Mom’s and Dad’s friends, Audrey, Muriel, and Seth.  Of course, what was most exciting for me was that Muriel & Seth brought their daughter Naima, who’s just a few months older than me!  We made friends very quickly and I can’t wait to have a real play date with her soon!

I got up Monday morning and had my usual breakfast with Mom.  But something seemed different!  I couldn’t tell exactly what, but I eventually discovered that Mom was going to spend her first night (in fact, two nights!) away from me.  She had some important meetings with Wal-Mart to help save the world!

Mom had done such a good job storing up milk in the freezer that it looked like I might be able to make all the way until Mom got back on Wednesday night without breaking out the formula.  Since I had so much of Mom’s milk stored up, my eating schedule was almost as exactly like it was when Mom was around, except that instead of the nursing four feedings with Mom, I got all 8 or so of my daily meals by bottle.

Dad was around Monday and Tuesday, so my night-time routine was also exactly the same (and I even got a bath on Tuesday).  Monday was uneventful — just the usual fun with Nana and Grandpa Yagan.  I even slept pretty well for Dad — in fact, that night I slept all the way through the night and he didn’t even have to get up once (except he got to start his Tuesday at 5:00 am).

Tuesday was a lot of fun, but nothing too new.  I started getting hungry for my last bottle at around 7:00, but Mom left strict rules to stick to the usual routine as closely as possible, which meant that I wasn’t supposed to eat until 8.  The thing is, because I usually eat half my meals nursing with Mom, we don’t know exactly how much I eat on a given day, so it has been tricky to guess how much frozen-milk-from-a-bottle to eat throughout the day.

Anyway, Dad distracted me on his bed for about 25 minutes and then he gave me the world’s longest bath, all in the interest in amusing me until 8.  Well, he did it and after my bath I got some milk that Mom left me.

I couldn’t let Dad have two easy nights, so I woke up at ate around 3:00 on Wednesday morning.  Dad had a business meeting so he had to catch an early plane.  Nana was up early and we had a fun day together.  Mom was getting in after my bedtime, and I know Mom and Dad really wanted me to get through the day without resorting to the formula.  We came sooooo close, but I ended up needingabout 3 ounces of formula.  I know I can’t drink Mom’s milk forever, so it’s probably a good thing that I got started.  Nana mixed it with “real” milk, so it didn’t even taste too different.

Mom brought tons and tons of milk back with her from her trip (thanks, Mom!), so I was back to all Mom’s milk as soon as I woke up on Thursday.  All in all, the week went really smoothly (thanks Dad, Nana, and Grandpa!).

I got up at my usual time in the morning and played with Dad while Mom slept in a bit.  A bit unusual, though, is that I took a pretty long nap in the morning.  By the time I got up, I noticed that the grass in our yard had been mowed — meaning I might get to spend more time outside this week.

Mom & Dad were on a mission to get the house in order, so the two of them scurried around cleaning, handing off to one another depending on who needed a second free hand more.  Turns out that I’m not too helpful in increasing productivity around the house.  My biggest accomplishment in the morning was sitting in my bouncy chair next to Dad while he fixed the dishwasher (much to Mom’s shock).

Even more helpful, though, was the long nap I took in the afternoon.  As soon as I got up, we had a family outing to run some errands.  Mom is taking off on a business trip to Bentonville, AR on Monday, so we had to get some stuff for the house and she had to buy a some clothes to wear to her meetings. 

Our first stop was Target, where the big news was that we bought some baby formula, just in case we run out of Mom’s delicious milk that we’ve stocked up in the freezer.  Our next stop was Ann Taylor Loft (little known fact: Mom used to work at Ann Taylor’s corporate office!).

Our our way home, Dad dropped Mom off at Picante, and while she picked up dinner, Dad drove home, unloaded the car, and got me ready for my own dinner.  After we ate, it turned into Dance Party USA, as Dad and I sang and danced to some gems from Will Smith and Sir Mix-a-lot.

Turns out that we weren’t the only ones having a dance party, though.  Both of neighbors we share walls with decided to throw rockin’ parties.  One neighbor had so many people on his roof deck that he put his hammoc on our deck, which Dad discovered when he went up on to the roof to determine which of the neighbors was still blasting music at 3:00 am.

Mom fed me once overnight and then again around 5:30.  Dad took over at 6:00, with the goal of keeping me occupied until 9:00 so that Mom could get a few hours of sleep.  Our first hour was spent playing, sitting, rolling, and standing (well, “standing”).  Shockingly, we then went to Starbucks, where Dad got his usual.  Dad was surprised at how alert I was on the walk.  I was following birds as they flew by and tracking all the people who walked passed us.

Even though Dad brought some work to do, I was pretty impatient, so after about 20 minutes of work, Dad gave up and we continued our walk.  Where’d we walk to?  Another Starbucks!  We didn’t go in, though, and instead headed for the farmers’ market.  Dad tried a couple samples, but we were both intrigued by a vendor who was selling organic baby food!  Now that I’m past four months, I’m allowed to try some solid foods, but Dad knew that Mom wouldn’t be too happy if she missed my first bite of food.

I fell asleep in my stroller and Dad found a place in the part to get some more work done.  I was rudely awakened by a park worker with a really loud leaf blower and we headed home to wake up Mom just after 9:00.

The rest of the day featured a trip to Dominick’s and some cooking in the kitchen while Mom got her stuff together for her trip.  I fell asleep at 8:00 right on schedule…

I’ll be pretty excited when a birthday of mine isn’t celebrated by a trip to the doctor’s office!  Mom got to leave late because she had a meeting downtown and didn’t have to drive all the way into the office.  She got back at 12:30 and Nana & Grandpa Yagan took off for the weekend. 

I saw Dr. Freeman again — she’s definitely my favorite of the doctor’s I’ve met at Town & Country, but I think I’d like to meet even more, especially after today’s debacle.

First, the stats:

I weighed in at 14 lbs, 8 ozs (75%).  So that means I doubled my birthweight two months early!

I’m 24.5″ inches long, putting me right at the median for my age.

My head is still huge!  at 16.5″, that’s also the 75th percentile

I passed all of the development tests (even lifting my head during tummy-time!) and got an overall clean bill of health.  Then came the fiasco.

As it came time to get my vaccines, Dr. Freeman learned that Mom & Dad didn’t want the standard series of vaccines.  Since I had been seeing Dr. Gati in New York, Dr. Freeman had no idea that I was already behind schedule.  Dr. Freeman started lecturing Mom about their decision and eventually made her sign a document saying that she was making a decision against medical advice!

I ended up getting the second dasage of the DPT and  Prevnar vaccines.  When I had gotten shots in NYC, Dr. Gati encouraged Mom to nurse me while I got the shot, but Dr. Freeman mocked that idea, saying that I might kick at the wrong time and cause the needle to hurt me. 

Mom seemed pretty stressed, but we handled it well.  As soon as I got back home I slept pretty soundly…and that was how I spend my 4 month birthday!