2 months old

This post is a few days overdue, but as Mike said, punctuality has not been our forte of late.

Alyssa was 2 months old on Tuesday! She is not fitting into many of her newborn clothes and we have been curious as to her height and weight. I had to take her to her 2 month check up yesterday to find out!

She now weighs 11 pounds, 7.5 ounces (up 3 pounds, 3.5 ounces from her 2 week checkup) and is 23 inches long! Her weight is in the 64th percentile, height in the 71st percentile (will she be tall like Daddy?), and her head circumference is in the 46th percentile (so she does not have a big noggin like I did... proudly in the 80th or 90th percentile as a munchkin according to my Mom!)

According to Dr. Forte, Alyssa is performing all of the 2 month milestones... holding her head up, recognizing Mommy and Daddy, getting excited at feeding time, pushing up when placed on her tummy, smiling, and cooing.

The poor baby had to have 3 shots and one oral vaccine. She did not like them, but recovered quickly and was back to her sweet self for most of the afternoon.

photos

A Big Week

I had planned to write about Alyssa's first overnight just after it happened, but that was a week ago. My parents graciously offered to babysit overnight last Saturday night so that Mike and I could have a date and a full night of sleep (even though my Mom had injured her back when they got back from vacation the week before). We had a great time... we had dinner in Wake Forest and saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (GREAT movie. Our favorite of the series so far).

Time got away from me as we started back to work, and Mom ended up with a ruptured disc in her back that required emergency surgery on Wednesday! She went home from the hospital on Thursday and is working on the recovery process as we speak (or, as I write). Alyssa and I spent the day with her on Friday and watched some movies. We got to entertain Mom a bit with one of Alyssa's new tricks... imitation! When she is fully awake, she enjoys copying our smiles and sticking out her tongue.

Just hit 100+ comments!

Well, technically, the Harke Herald received its 100th comment a week ago, but promptness hasn't been one of our best qualities as of late. Considering that the blog has been online for just a little over 4 months, that's roughly 25 comments left per month!

Just think how exciting it will be for Alyssa once she is old to enough to comprehend just how interested everyone has been in her life. The ability to attach these thoughtful comments to names (and faces *hint hint*) will, in my opinion, help her to appreciate everyone who has been following our blog. So keep those comments coming!

Oh, and here is a gratuitous random photo of Alyssa in her swing:

Smiles for Mommy

Everyone tells me that kids grow up way too fast. That the baby stage flies by, seemingly in an instant. I understand this and, trust me, I am in no rush for her to grow up. I like to hold her and style her hair the way I like and have her wear what I pick out without an argument. There are, however, many milestones that I am really looking forward to.

For starters, I have been anxiously awaiting Alyssa's first smile. We have seen the grins that doctors say are "gas-related" since the day she was born. But I am talking about the ear-to-ear, happy-go-lucky, I like what just happened kind of smile. We have been lucky enough to see them more and more frequently since the Thursday before last. Until this weekend, though, I had been unsuccessful at catching her with a camera.

Please allow me a Mommy bragging moment here, because I think this is just adorable!

Daddy reflects on his first two days alone with baby

I really meant to write this post yesterday, but I don't think I've ever been more tired in my entire life. Jennie returned to work on Monday, leaving me in charge of Alyssa ... *gulp*, alone!

You see, Jennie and I decided early on in her pregnancy that we would do whatever it takes to ensure that our baby wouldn't have to go to daycare. Much to my surprise, both of us managed to work out new schedules at our existing jobs to allow for that (thanks very much, CENT and Sir Walter!)

Anyway, I'm now the official caretaker on Mondays and Tuesdays. I somewhat expected that this new responsibility was going to be challenging, but I never would've thought that it would be more exhausting than the paying job.

The strange thing is that I didn't really have any trouble with the stuff I was expecting problems with. Diaper changes were nasty but manageable. Alyssa swallowed her vitamins without the threat of a projectile counterattack. Nap times were frequent and encouragingly lengthy. I don't even remember her crying for more than a couple of minutes or so.

What did cause me some grief were the feedings. Apparently, daddy's bottle isn't quite up to par with mommy's ... er, bottles. Between the problems with flow control (... don't ask), a too-powerful-for-its-own-good bottle warmer, an exploding bottle liner, and Alyssa's passion for eating, I'm afraid I'll never equal mommy's feeding time prowess.

The other major issue was that, in spite of Alyssa's overall good behavior, I just couldn't relax myself long enough to enjoy what little spare time I had. Everyone says to nap when the baby naps, but I'm too much of a deep sleeper to take advantage of that luxury.

So, instead of chilling out while she slept, I spent the entire time doing household chores that I've been putting off for weeks. Oh, and I also started up my new exercise routine of jogging, aerobics, and weight-lifting (as if I really needed another thing to tire myself out with). And throughout all of this activity, I constantly paused whatever I was doing to make sure Alyssa was still there, still dry, and still breathing.

So, having put in my two days of daddy-baby time, I've got nothing but extreme respect for all stay-at-home moms and dads. How Jennie managed to make it through 6 weeks of this, I'm not exactly sure. But then I remember the smile that Alyssa flashed at me while performing the diaper-changing ritual yesterday, and I think I understand.

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho…

It's back to work I go! Actually, I started back to work from home on Thursday. It went really well! Alyssa wanted to be held more and more as the day progressed but I was still able to get all of my work done. Tomorrow I will be back in the office to work for the first time since the day I went into labor. Yikes! I hope I can handle the 10-hour days after being up for night feedings. Mike will have his first full day alone with Alyssa, so wish him luck, too!

Happy Birthday to my sister Ashleigh! Yesterday was her 22nd birthday! She came over for lunch and cupcakes with Alyssa and I and then we went to The Factory in Wake Forest for shopping and painting! We spent a few hours painting pottery and passing Alyssa back and forth. She was awake for longer yesterday than any previous day!

Happy 4th of July

From our "Little Sparkler" to you, have a great holiday!

Alyssa’s big first month bash, part 2

While Mike's Mom was in town, Alyssa and I were in for a surprise! My Mom (aka Tula) threw us a baby shower at her house! We were all invited to her house on Saturday morning for "coffee and cake," supposedly so that Pam could see the new house. When we arrived, there were a bunch of cars parked out front!

Lots of my friends were there and we received lots of beautiful baby gifts... Alyssa's closet is full to overflowing, and she has some of the cutest accessories for her very girly room. She received her first piggy bank, a silver dollar for the year of her birth, an adorable table and chair set (just her size!), and some of the sweetest baby clothes I have ever seen.

Mama (her great grandmother on my side) painted more animals to go with the giraffe (you can find the picture of this in the Handmade Baby Gifts post). I'll post pictures of these soon... my Dad is working on a way to hang them, and we have designed Alyssa's bathroom to match. It is so cute!

Tula and Seanachai gave her a very sweet board book for her Daddy to read to her, and he is very excited for a new volume in her library (Goodnight Moon is already getting a little boring!) One of the most special gifts she received was a baby- sized gardening set from Seanachai. I think he is already planning what he will plant with his little helper!

I don't have pictures from the shower yet, but I will hopefully post some later. In lieu of those photos, I will share one of my most favorite photos so far... we played with Alyssa on her gym on Friday and had a great time with her!

Alyssa’s big first month bash, part 1

Over the past few days, two major events occurred relating to Alyssa. Jennie is going to cover one of the events in her next post, so I'll concentrate on the other one: Grandmother Harke (or "Grammy", as she wants to be called) flew in from Texas to meet Alyssa for the first time.

From Wednesday the 27th to this past Sunday, Grammy spent nearly every moment with her first granddaughter. Thankfully, this included changing some nasty diapers. Grammy even babysat Alyssa on Friday night with my brothers, so that Jennie and I could go out for a dinner and movie (Ocean's Thirteen, which incidentally wasn't too shabby).

Oh yeah, and Grammy came bearing gifts. Lots of gifts. You see, my mother has always wished for a girl in the family, so that she could buy lots of girly stuff. Now that Alyssa is here, she finally has her chance to go crazy (sorry, dad). I'll let Jennie discuss the specific items, since they relate to the other event I mentioned in the beginning of the post.