Over the Moon for Milk

Milk Drunk

One of my very favorite posts about breastfeeding is from Joanna Goddard a fellow mother my age who lives in NYC.  In this blog post  she describes the things that surprised her about breastfeeding as well as how much her son Toby loves milk: 

"Babies are completely over-the-moon about milk. It's so, so, so adorable how much babies love milk. Toby would get so excited before feeding; he'd root around trying to find the boob. He'd frantically move his tiny head around, like, where is it, where is it...he'd find his fist and suck like crazy...and then be like, oh, wait, that's not it....where is it....YES, here it is!!!! And his eyes would basically roll back in his head, he was so happy."

Like Toby, Iylah is also "over the moon" about milk.    After a feeding we often joke that she's completely "milk drunk";  floppy body,  half asleep, eyes rolled back... totally drunk!!   Who knew milk could have such a powerful effect on babies?

One of my favorite photos of Iylah "milk drunk" 

A Mix up 

A few weekends ago Brede was walking Iylah around the nursery showing her various toys and nursery decorations.    He showed her this gift from one of her Aunts, a stuffed mouse from "If you give a mouse a cookie"

What does this look like?  Think out of the box... beyond a stuffed mouse....  what could it look like to a baby?

How about this view?  Does that help? 

Drum roll please.....

 This looks like...... A BOOB!! 

 Iylah immediately sized the mouse and began sucking its nose thinking that she'd find milk!   Silly baby, that's probably not going to work out so well for you.  

 I love you little drinking buddy. 

Iylah's onesie that reads "Late Night Drinking Buddy" 

Retail Therapy

What do we do to entertain Iylah (and mom)???  Shopping!!! 

There are many shops that Iylah hates: J.Crew, Banana Republic, Magic Beans...she tends to fuss and cry in all three. BUT this afternoon I discovered there is a store that Iylah REALLY likes:  

Anthropologie is not just a store.  It's a smorgasbord of very interesting sights, smells and textures.  Iylah was in her front carrier (perfect for exploring) so I walked her around the store and we talked about colors, texture, household items, art etc.  

Here are some of things we explored:

Colorful coffee mugs with high-contrast owl pattern

The conversation went somewhere along the lines of : "Check out at all of these are fancy coffee mugs.  This is an orange dotted one.. this one is green  "Here's an owl... Can you see the owl's high contrast pattern?" I probably sounded like an idiot (if anyone was even listening to us) but I didn't care.  I was teaching Iylah and we were having fun. 

Broom art...  fascinating for Iylah to both see and touch.

I don't even know what to call this...  the stairway forest? 

We also smelled all the candles.  Baby's actually have a very keen sense of smell.  The iPhone App from Baby Center suggests a developmental "smell the spice rack"" game.  My spice rack is not very extensive, nor do I actually hang out in the kitchen so I figured a little candle smelling would be just as enlightening....

"What is this thing?  Can I eat it?"

 "Hmmm... I think I'm getting the hang of this.  Yes, this is definitely jasmine with slight hints of nutmeg -  wait, wait, .. I'm getting hints of something else...hmm...vanilla?...  Yes. This is jasmine nutmeg vanilla!!  Delicious!"

Overall, the shopping trip was a huge success:

• Iylah was happy exploring new textures, smells and sights
• Mom was happy shopping at one of her favorite stores
• Dad was happy making phone calls to catch up with family while waiting with the stroller outside of the store.  He was also happy that it was too hard for mom to actually try any clothes on while Iylah was in the baby carrier (hence limiting potential shopping damage).  

Iylah exhausted at the end of the trip - shopping is hard work! 

A big thank you to Dad for being so very patient while we shopped!   We love you.   

~ Iylah & Mom

  

Fall is upon us

It is Sept. 22nd -  the first day of the Autumnal Equinox

Fall is definitely now upon us in Boston.  The days are growing shorter, the leaves are starting to turn and it's getting  pretty darn chilly on my morning walks to Au Bon Pain with Iylah.   It seems like just yesterday when it was early summer and we were celebrating Iylah's arrival into the world.   How time flies...

It is with hesitation that I welcome the fall. It's been amazing to watch Iylah grow into a "baby" vs. "newborn" (more on this in another post later) so in some ways the passage of time is welcomed.  However, fall also means that my maternity will soon come to an end and brings a new urgency for investigating child care and job options for Brede.

A few pictures to welcome the fall:

Festive fall planters on 3rd street near Kendall Square.  Aren't the pumpkins in the planters a unique touch?

 Iylah wearing her fall / winter hat.  I love how the hat is almost as tall as she is!   

Happy fall everyone!!

1st Year Survival: Thank you note tips

My mom recently sent over a packet of family heirlooms - photocopies of wedding announcements, news articles, old family letters, etc.

I was particularly struck by this letter from my Grandmother aka "Mamacita" who unfortunately passed away just before Iylah's birth.  I literally JUST finished up that last of my thank you notes today so this letter really resonated. It's amazing how some things don't change...  

Helpful tips for thank you notes:

1.  Have each of your baby shower guests pre-address thank you card envelopes with their name/address.  A good girlfriend did this for our baby shower in Colorado and this was sooo amazing.  It really expedited the process of tracking down addresses and ensuring that we didn't miss anyone / any shower gifts.

2. Keep a running list of all gifts as you receive them.  This seems like a no brainier but we received a lot of items in the mail.  When you are running low on sleep in "newborn haze" it can be hard to remember who sent what...

3. Tackle as many thank you notes as you can BEFORE the baby comes along. Once baby is here it is much harder to squeeze in extra time.

4.  Persistence - tackle a few notes a day and before you know it you'll finally have finished up your thank you's by the time your child is two months old!! Lol.





Thank you to everyone for our AMAZING baby treasures and my apologies if you are just now receiving our note of thanks.

It all depends on your point of view

A Dog's Perspective

Over Labor Day we drove through Connecticut to visit one of my very good friends from MIT and her husband.  It was amazing to catch up, introduce Iylah, and just hang-out. 

Here is a fun photo that she shared during our visit:

I love the mothering instinct of this Golden Retriever - and the caption so accurately captures what he's probably thinking!  

Iylah sure wishes she had some wet puppy kisses to comfort her when she's crying (hint to Brede... Iylah might just want a puppy... no?? ;) )

Perfume de milk

A New Scent 

One of my favorite quotes from the September 2013 edition of American Baby Magazine.  A Celeb Retweet from @beverleymitchel:

"I'm rocking a new scent these days.  It's called perfume de milk.  It's pretty special"

I couldn't agree more.

Evensong

My Evensong

The term "evensong" often refers to an evening prayer.

My evensong is enjoying crisp, cool summer evenings by taking a walk down my favorite pathway - the "bumpity-bump" bridge (so named because Iylah loves the "bump, bump, bump" her stroller makes as it rolls over the bridges' evenly spaced wooden slats).

These evening walks are one of my very favorite parts of the day.  A time to escape from the house and ho-hum of daily life, take a break from the feeding and changing routine of newborn parenting and be reflective and bask in the company of those that I love.

Iylah - all snuggled in, ready for the evening walk 

...and away we go down the "bumpity-bump" pathway

Evening shadows fall on the city of Boston across the Charles River

Brede taking in the view... 

Returning in the dark 

A peaceful end to a busy day.   What's your evensong?

Smile: You're on camera

Brede and I love photography - it's a hobby that we both share and enjoy together.  We are by no means professionals but we enjoy shooting together at every opportunity and documenting our adventures. 

We make a pretty good team. I usually find/frame creative shots and then Brede executes the shot technically (I'm still learning this part)... 

A few years ago we invested in a our first digital Single-lens reflex (SRL) camera - a Canon EOS 60D.  It's been one of the best purchases we've ever made.  

 

So when Iylah came along we just couldn't help picking up our camera for our first baby photo session. Here are the results: 

So sleepy....

I love how wrinkly her skin is...  our Pediatrician explained this is pretty common and a by-product of loosing weight in the weeks after birth

So very small....  she also loves to curl up in a little ball (as if she's still in the womb)

Our subject was happily content one minute...

But not so much the next minute...

Back to sleep at last...    so peaceful