The Sleepy Idealist: November 2013

Well, the Harper has made it to two months - whew! Somehow it still surprises me that I'm able to keep this little thing alive. I mean, I don't know, the whole thing is just surreal. Anyway, I think I've officially reached photo / video obsessive stage. I take waaaay too many! It's just hard not to when taking care of her is what you do all day and she's cute and you don't want to forget all these little things. Here's what's going on with her / us:

Sleeping:

- She still sleeps about the same amount during the day, but is a little more fussy about going down. What I mean by that is that before she would just go down without so much as a peep a lot of the time and now she fusses a bit. Though she still doesn't full on cry usually.
- She doesn't sleep quite as well in the carseat / stroller anymore.

At Barnes & Noble

- If we're home, she usually naps in the swing. I've noticed that if we try to get her to take a nap while holding her (both in our arms and in the carrier) she wakes up more and just cat naps, but if she's in the swing she'll get a deeper sleep. As a result, when she sleeps somewhere else I get a little excited and take a picture:

I thought she looked so little laying on the big bed.

She tends to move her head back and forth while she sleeps, which tends to result in this.

- At night she is still a great sleeper. Usually she sleeps from 9:30ish - 5ish, though it can be anything from 8:30 - 10sih til 3 - 5ish. She is not much for schedules so far.

Here she is after having just woken up for the day, just smiling and chatting to herself.

Eating:

- She is all over the place with eating. Sometimes she eats every 2 hours (or less), sometimes she'll go 3 1/2 (during the day). Sometimes she eats for 7 minutes and sometimes 40 (even though I always try to get her to have a full feed). Sometimes she is really squirmy when she eats and sometimes she barely moves and falls asleep.

Often if she falls asleep while eating she'll start to smile in her sleeps and will keep doing so after I take her off.

Her smiling after eating: http://youtu.be/Q644Nz_L_tI

Ironically, she starts frowning / whimpering / crying in her sleep toward the end of her nap, when she is starting to get hungry. What can I say, girl likes to eat.

Her frowning at the end of her nap: http://youtu.be/BMIVeItdb7M & http://youtu.be/h7ADkEZwqUk .

- I have gotten better at nursing, so that now I enjoy it way more!
- I still love burping her. She either snuggles or bobs her head around. Both are cute.

Awesome face.

Playing:

- Harper loves it when people talk to her. She will almost always smile at people when they do (if she's fed and not tired).

http://youtu.be/uN8OynYMbdA

- Every single time I sing musical scales to her she gives me tons of smiles and tries to sing along.

Me singing scales to her: http://youtu.be/ybykrhD9K6M & http://youtu.be/xOzdZykEU4M (sorry for the bad filmography on this one!)

- She loves being read to - both having children's picture books read to her and just listening to us while we read aloud from adult books.
- She still enjoys her playmats.
- She likes to look at herself in the mirror.

This toy has a mirror on it.

- She hates tummy time, but looks ridiculously cute while doing it because she gets this total serious face and looks like she's concentrating really hard on something.

Doing tummy time: http://youtu.be/Bs6_9qQtDO4

- She loves it when daddy counts in Chinese to her. She starts squealing REALLy loud. Her squeals are probably my favorite thing. Last night he was counting to her after her bath and I could hear her squealing loud and clear all the way in the bedroom. To give you an idea, I can't even hear Tom when he is calling to me if I'm in the bedroom.

Other:

- Every morning when she wakes up for the day I put her in her bassinet and push her around the house with me while I make breakfast, eat it and shower. Usually she falls asleep at some point in the process. I also use the bassinet to carry everything else I need to take around the house with me.

- I tend to keep her in the carseat / stroller when we go places since I have to put her in the carseat anyway and if I take her out she wakes up. But if she's already awake I often put her one of my carriers.