Of bottles and blow-outs

Eve is one month old this past week!  Steve and I were marveling at how much we've learned (about parenting, but mostly about Eve) in that time.  We were presented with a human about whom we knew almost nothing, and can now distinguish cries and predict with pretty good accuracy how she will react to something.   Spending 24/7 with someone so dependent on you will do that!  It's been an absolute pleasure.

The parade of guests (very very welcome) continues.  This week, among others, we spent time with 
Ledell Zellers and Simon Anderson (picture of Ledell with Eve below), Leslie and Maple (who showed us how to fold the bigger size diapers to avoid blow-outs, oh boy, was that appreciated!), Sarah and Frances, and Emily and Ike.  People have been very generous about bringing us food these past few weeks, yum!

The elf became a reindeer this week (outfit courtesy Great Aunt Pam).  Like a real reindeer pelt, it's warm and exactly what we needed to go visit my work in near zero temps!   We had a very pleasant visit.  Bonus: Eve slept for an hour or so in my office, giving me time to go through mail and e-mail, and making the prospect of taking her in with me to work one day a week not such a crazy idea.  Here's Sprout in her reindeer outfit.  She likes it fine, but was giving us her opinion of the Copenhagen climate change summit accord. 

A surprise was waiting for us in my office - someone who had attended the estate planning class I teach through UW-Extension had sent this stroller.  I called the shop that sent it, but the person had paid cash and they didn't get her name and could only tell me that it was a class participant.  I have no idea who it is.  It's a nice stroller (umbrella style, folds easily, turns on a dime, has sun/rain shield, all that jazz) and we didn't have one already.

We learned a lot this week.   Eve generally sleeps well at night, but occasionally has spells of fussiness.  I started keeping a food journal to try to figure out if it's anything I am eating.  So far, it appears garlic is not a problem (whew).  I'm thinking cabbage might be.  We all got colds this week.  Poor Eve doesn't seem to be bothered by it too much, but listening to her congested breathing at night was rough on Steve and me!  It took some gumption, but we figured out how to use that nose bulb syringe thingy.  On a more fun note, we also learned how to wear the baby in our sling!  Studies show that babies who are worn regularly cry 50% less. 

Most significantly, Eve and Steve learned how to bottle feed.  Eve took it immediately (and it doesn't seem to have affected her nursing prowess), and Steve was thrilled to be able to feed her.  For me, it's a sigh of relief, because even though I have to pump (so I'm not actually getting out of any work), it does enable me to get away for more than two hours at a time.  We'll continue to mainly breast feed, and keep bottles for when I'm absent.

What a week!   Merry Christmas to everyone (if that's your thing).  We're off to Bemidji for a week to spend time with my parents and siblings.  Wish us luck on what is usually an 8 hour drive!