Hey!

This is a repost from my other blog, What the!

Smacky has always been a noisy little creature. Especially when (not) settling in for the night, she has a repertoire of squeaks, groans, mouth smacks (hence the nickname), and particular sounds that are similar to a squeaky fan belt or a car turning a corner too quickly.

I've learned that these sounds, accompanied by her punching and kicking the air, usually mean something is amiss. If she's smacking and awake, that probably means that she's hungry (again). Or she's soaked through her diaper, through the towel and onto the bed (again). Or she's cold. It's wonderful that there are so few things that can be wrong at this age, isn't it?

When I leave her on the boppy on the couch to run into the kitchen or the bathroom, if she thinks I've been gone too long she'll give a little frustrated shriek. Hey! The photo above is actually her yawning, thinking about crying, but then going back to her happy self.

Smacky rarely cries. One thing she DOES hate is having her bottom cleaned with a cold wipe. Whoever invented the wipe warmer was a genius!

Saturday Activities

Exercise was the order of the day today. (Well, as much as I've gotten recently, which is not much.)
Smacky mostly rode, which doesn't require very much effort, I must say. Except for bracing herself when we took the stroller over curbs and across the bumpy field at the park.

Gary and I stopped at Laurelhurst park for a brief jaunt and decided to walk over to Belmont for coffee. It's only about 4 or 5 blocks, and when we got there the Belmont Street Fair was in full blast. Lots of people were milling about; we quickly became overwhelmed by the masses and headed to relatively quiet Hawthorne.

Smacky enjoyed some lukewarm milk and a diaper change (enjoyed might be the wrong word for the latter activity) while Gary and I ate our way across the avenue.

Upon returning home, naps were had by all, following an unfortunate, passionate and loud screaming jag by the baby. I even stripped her and checked her for bee stings (yes, irrational, but after you've tried everything, why not try something else?) which proved fruitless. I finally got her to taste a little milk and she succumbed to the comforting and sustaining bottle, which apparently was her desire from the getgo. Lesson learned: even if baby says she's not hungry, try again, because maybe she is!

Baby Power

Aurora is so dedicated to the cause that she even does the baby power sign in her sleep. Wow. That's inspirational.

Waiting for dinner

Here, Aurora anxiously waits for her dinner bottle.

What's taking it so long? Will it be warm enough? Will it accidentally spill on the way from the kitchen?

So many details to worry about for an already busy baby.

Pillow Hog

Thanks to everyone for their help with Aurora's spit-up issue. I've started feeding her less at a time and elevating her head for a few minutes afterwards. Unfortunately, sometimes my pillow gets hijacked and I have to wait to reclaim it. Tick tick tick. . .

Roly Poly

For someone whose ribs I could see, front and back, when she was born, Aurora is filling in nicely. Is it just me or do you count 7 rolls on that arm?

My, what a stylish hat!

What a weekend we had! Saturday we spent the day at the Oregon State Fair, eating everything fried we could get our paws on, looking at the animals, peeking at all the other little babies and finally vowing never to eat anything ever again as we waddled home. My mom went on a flying saucer ride with Arlo and they were both a little green during the ride home.

In typical Oregon fashion, the sun played peekaboo with us and we were chilly in the shade and crisping in the sun every other minute. Luckily Aurora's Great Aunt Laurie had thoughtfully included a sunhat in Aurora's layette, so baby was protected not only with a shade in front but with a neck-saving flap in back. No rednecks here, thank you very much!

Sunday Aurora and I received visitors at my mom's house (aka Granny) at her Coming Out party. She's a little young and she didn't wear chiffon (100% cotton was the fabric of the day) but it was a successful gathering with two neighbors and three cousins visiting.

My mom's favorite cousin Gail was in town from Seattle on Monday, so Gail came over with Great Great Aunt Betty for a visit. We all met at my mom's again and after the visitors left, Aurora worked out with my mom doing pull ups and pushups until her little arms were rubbery. Well, more rubbery than usual.