Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Zoey's had a great first Halloween, although much to my regret, no trick or treating this year. Next year I can get fat(ter) off my daughter's candy haul; this year, we contented ourselves with watching Zoey enjoy another Baby Einstein video - World Animals. Z loves monkeys, elephants, lions and fish, but for some reason the girl hates giraffes. Must be the freakishly long necks. It was amazing to watch her react with coos and squeals to the video - she's not really supposed to be this "interactive" yet.

Zoey and I also had a very extended conversation today. I did most of the talking. Well, all of the talking. And it was all in a gibberish that I don't quite understand (I hope I didn't promise her someone else's homeland in baby-ese). But who cares, my daughter held eye contact with me, and broke out some what-are-you-talking-about-dad smiles. Who needs Charleston Chews after that?

Enjoy the pictures and videos below. Happy Halloween!

Update 11-3-07Zorry about the dead videos below, Google Video is being stupid. Go You Tube! I'll have the second one back up as soon as YT finishes processing it.

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Globetrotter.

We got a call from our landlord on Sunday telling us that he had a couple who wanted our apartment, but only if we could be out by today. We had planned to trek up to the Clair on Wednesday to clear out, but with the opportunity to save half a month's rent, we figured Monday would work just as well.

Two things. One, Zoey had a rough night Sunday night, needing to be held to sleep. So she slept great. Mom and dad, not so much. Two, if you ever find yourself moving out of a third floor walk up, and possess decent homeowner's insurance, just burn the damn place down. Boy did those stairs suck.

But we're all out, and Zoey was great during our ordeal. The girl LOVES the car, and slept like a champ on the ride up and back to Marlboro. She also was a trooper as El and I spent the day gathering up all the crap we swore we already gathered up. Too much crap. Zoey was quite content watching the action from one of our floor cushions, eating when she got hungry, giving a coo when she needed some attention, and doing all of the other baby things babies do (think: the end result of eating).

Since the weather was a bit chilly, we bundled Zoey up. The only problem is, this girl HATES hats. She hates socks, pants, and the Red Sox, as well, but hating hats was the problem du jour. Our cleaver parent solution? A hooded sweatshirt. As you can see from the picture above, though, Zoey is tiny, and her sweatshirts are big; hence the Rocky Balboa, "I'm coming down to the ring" look of our daughter. She didn't mind a bit, being the chill babe that she is.

We all slept well last night, although El and I may both need back-e-otomies after a gazillion flights of stairs.

Anyone know of a good ranch style house on the market? Preferably one with an elevator.

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Sleepless in Marlboro

So needless to say: SLEEP DEPRIVATION has set in....
Even though Z sleeps through the night, with the occasional wake up for feedings, poopie diapers, or other fun surprises, she is letting us snooze from 1:30 am to about 9 ish. Sometimes she opts not to sleep and then the fun really begins.

Zoey is adjusting to her pack -n- play (we are easing her into the whole thing). We added a fun new mirror to her crib, which she just loves. Daddy spent about 40 minutes video taping her looking at herself in the mirror. She is just too much (& too cute). Enjoy the videos.

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Adventures in Parenting

Zoey had a great night. She got her cry on around 10pm, worked it all out by 11, and slept soundly through the night except for the couple of times we woke her to feed her. What a great kid! It probably helped that we wore her out yesterday with her first round trip car ride. We're still moving the last of our junk (i.e my clothes; hence the same red t-shirt in all the pictures I'm in!), so we went up to Montclair yesterday morning, spent a few hours cleaning out stuff, and Zoey was just awesome. She loves the car like most babies, and slept through most of the time we were in the apartment.

Last night we set up a play mat with all sorts of ocean related stuff, and Z loved it. This morning, it was a vibrating bouncer, and she loved that, as well. Heck, this kid loves the sponge baths we've given her. She is enjoying each new experience we throw at her.

One thing Zoey is enjoying that daddy isn't so much is her new found use of her hands. Now don't get me wrong, I still have every intention of her stepping on the mound of Yankee Stadium some day, so her discovery of her hands is a pleasant step in that direction, but she seems to have settled on grasping and pulling daddy's chest hair as the best use for said hands. Ouch! I may have to wear t-shirts until she finds a better use for those little grasping fingers.

Anyway, Zoey and El and I are all doing great. We seem to finding a bit of a routine, even if it's leaving us pretty exhausted. We've manged to go out once a day to run some errands or pick up food, and that's been a great mental relief for us and for Zoey. Enjoy the video we took this morning of Z in her bouncer, and the slew of pictures below, including Zoey in her crib.

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Quick post.

(Read this post as if it went up last night around 9pm - Google Video took its sweet time processing the video...grrrr technology)

El and I are exhausted (more on why tomorrow; just know everyone is fine and happy), but I wanted to throw this video up before we hit the hay. Zoey's personality is really starting to shine through as she's awake for longer and longer stretches of the day.

Zoey and I watched a Baby Einstein DVD today (Baby Neptune if you must know specifics), and she loved it. El and I read her books, played silly name-that-body-part games, and stretched the limit of how much fun inventing gobbledy-gook baby talk can be. Suffice it to say, Zoey loves the alphabet recited in a deep frog-like rumble.

Enjoy the video, and I'll post our tales of the inept first-time parent tomorrow.

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What's one week of diapers look like?

Look what Daddy caught!

We had Zoey's second visit to the doctor today for a weight in. She's put on 6 1/2 ounces since last Wednesday, and the docs are very happy. Basically this means she and El are making a fantastic adjustment to breast-feeding. Happy baby, happy mommy, very happy daddy.

We've also discovered that Zoey has a Jekyll & Hyde personality. She loves to be held, by everyone, all the time. But on the days she is held by lots of people for long lengths, she refuses to sleep unless it's on my chest or El's chest. Zoey's happy. Mom and Dad are zombie's (sans the brain eating - we're polite zombies).

So yesterday we held her when she needed comforting, but otherwise had her sleeping in her 1,567,982,345 different beds. Result? She slept in her bassinet for a good chunk of the night, and El and I got a few decent chunks of sleep, too.

Zoey's also an active sleeper. She likes to move, shake, rattle and punch while sleeping. She also mewls and coos a good bit. This is all perfectly normal, but El and I are big softies, so we're lucky if we can make it 3 minutes before one of picks her up to hold her. If you look closely in the pictures you can see Zoey's little pinkie - that's the finger I'm wrapped around. Sigh. I may as well just put the keys to the car in her crib now; saying no to this girl is going to be a tough task for Dad to pull off.

Enjoy the photos from today, and buy some stock in Duracell - at the rate we're taking pictures we're going to go through an 8 pack of batteries a week!

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Did someone say pictures?

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Heavy Metal

As new parents we find ourselves in strange territory. Was that a hungry cry or a "I dropped a load in my pants" cry? Do we wake her to feed her or do we let her sleep and catch some extra z's ourselves? Does the outfit she pooped in need to come off, or did the diaper hold? Is that her "pick-me-up" face or her "I'm trying to poop face?" Yes, a lot of this involves poop.

So with all these new things we're trying to figure out, it sure doesn't help that the major American toy manufacturers have decided to poison my child. Do a Google search for Lead, toys, recall and 3,918 stories pop up. Very comforting.

What's a parent to do? Well, we could whittle all of Zoey's toys by hand from organic, sterilized hickory. Somehow, the numerous college and graduate degrees Ellyn and I have didn't include whittling. Since whittling is out, these parents have decided to keep our child as safe as possible by rewarding retailers who actually care about their customers. Check out EBeanstalk.com and read what they're doing to ensure that their customers remain healthy. We love EBeanstalk for their creative and engaging toys. But we adore them for doing everything they can to keep our Sweet Pea safe.

You'd think in the year 2007 we wouldn't be left wondering what poisons are in our children's toys.

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Technical Difficulties

We're having some intermittent internet problems, so posts may be a bit spotty for the next few days.

Zoey, Mom and Dad are all doing great. I'll try and post more video and photos at the first opportunity.

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The Magic Poop

Zoey has been an awesome baby. She's very mellow, let's us know what she wants, and is quick to settle after we give it to her.

The only issue we've been having is that during her feedings in the early morning (1am until about 9 or 10 am), she's been very fussy. She wouldn't sleep much after feeding, and feeding itself took a bit of coaxing. The pediatrician said it is quite normal for babies to have some adjustment early on as Mom's milk comes in. We're finding a routine for her that works, but being the chill baby that she is, Zoey helped herself (and us) this morning by taking her first poop in about a day and a half. Oh boy did that help her sleeping! Her feedings have been a lot smoother as well.

For a five day old baby Zoey has made a fast adjustment to this living thing. She's lifting and holding her head up, has distinctive cries that we recognize (more or less, depending on how much sleep we've had), and has charmed every nurse she's met. She loves being held, has become content to sleep just about anywhere, and doesn't let noises bother her in the least. A very chill baby.

Below is a video taken just a few minutes ago of Zoey enjoying her first ride on her swing-a-ma-jig. Happy baby? Yup.



And since the first Hiccup video was such a hit, here's a sequel. Zoey is definitely one cute hiccup-er.



And here are some more photos for your viewing pleasure.

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