2 month round up

We are still here! The past two months have been a whirlwind of activity. I got up to speed with my work, Wyatt started his job, we all went to visit Great Grandpa Stoltzfus and life is happening. Rather than bore you with words let me share our last two months pictorially.

happy i'm 3 months old!

hands are FASCINATING!

Molly got herself a sweet rocking chair

family photo for daycare purposes

Molly meet your Great Grandpa 

Happy Birthday to me!

splish splash

Molly's first selfie!

I can't believe you are 4 months either!

exploring the mundane.

Helping Nancy win Rook.

I'll leave you with a hope and goal of blogging more regularly,
Jeanette

Diary of a Stay-At-Home Dad

Jeanette went back to work on Monday, which meant Molly and I got to hang out all week.  I'll be home with her for 6 weeks until my new job starts in September. 

So, what does a stay-at-home dad do all day?  I'm glad you asked.  Here are some highlights from the past week, reconfigured into a typical day.  And yes, if you're wondering, these are all things that happened this past week.  For convenience I've left out a lot of eating, sleeping, pooping and staring at mobiles. 

9 am:  I sing Molly a medley of a bunch of James Bond theme songs, culminating with her providing some key background vocals on "Nobody Does It Better" and joining me for the full duet on "Goldfinger".  She already has good taste in Bond songs!

11 am:  It's not too hot, so I strap Molly into the ergo and take a walk to the library.  Here we are ready to go.

We have a nice walk.  Also, women seem to go out of their way to be very nice to me.

2 pm:  Molly and I watch Antiques Roadshow.  She seems very interested in a stunning Rockwell Kent painting of a Greenland landscape.  We decide that when she gets $150K she can buy it.

4 pm:  It's time for some interactive play, so Molly and I do a dramatic reading from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (which I've been reading).  In light of her dramatic range, I offer her the part of Brutus.  Here's a scene from Act 5, with me taking the parts of Antony and Octavius:

ANTONY
Make forth; the generals would have some words.

OCTAVIUS
Stir not until the signal.

BRUTUS
Ooooh, ooooh,  uuuuuuuhhhhh.

OCTAVIUS
Not that we love words better, as you do.

BRUTUS
Aaaaaaahhhhhh.  Oooooooooh.  aaaoooouuuuhhhh.

ANTONY
In your bad strokes, Brutus, you give good words:
Witness the hole you made in Caesar's heart,
Crying 'Long live! hail, Caesar!'

5 pm:  Jeanette gets home.  My work here is done for awhile.  It should be an interesting 6 weeks!
 

Ode to the VIsitor (Round 2)

In the last month we've had two more rounds of visitors, and Molly and her parents have been really grateful for all their help!

On June 14, Molly's aunt Julia arrived on the train all the way from Indiana.  She stayed around until we all went to Pennsylvania the next week to see the bigger Stoltzfus clan.  Molly had a great time with Auntie Jules, who was just a little apprehensive at first, but was a baby pro in no time.  Julia also helped weed the garden and cooked a bunch of meals that are waiting in our freezer til we go back to work.  Here she is with the Mollster:

On July 4, Nana and Papa Feeler arrived from Florida for a weeklong visit.  They spent their days with Molly -- sitting on the porch swing, taking her for stroller rides, and making up silly songs.  Papa got lots of great photos of Molly, which have already been shared far and wide, and Nana got lots of rocking time in and made us a nice dinner.  Here are some pics:

Life before google (a 2 month round-up)

Molly is officially 2 months old. Go us!!

For those who don't know, I'm a notorious googler. I google EVERYTHING. Need a recipe? google. Can't remember where that actor is from? google. So naturally my solution to baby quandaries is google, google, google. A few days back Wyatt jokingly mentioned looking back at our google searches for the past two months. Boy oh boy do these searches bring back fond memories of tired nights and a bit of desperation. I think that's what most people call new parenthood!

Care to read between the lines and dive deep into Molly's first two months? Proceed with caution and a bit of humor. Prepare yourself for lots of searches regarding breastmilk, pooh and crying.

• one day old nursing constantly
• Cluster feeding
• how to heal from c-section
• Recovering from a cesarean delivery
• when to start pacifier
• What should I know about giving my breastfed baby a pacifier?
• newborn won't stop crying
• nausea after c-section
• how much do week old babies eat each feeding
• orange dehydration crystals in baby's diaper (multiplied by 6 searches)
• similac newborn amount
• pumping breast milk only
• got pump
• medela pump bra
• medela pump washing instructions
• bottle or nipple to prevent hiccups
• How do i stop my 1 week old babies hiccups?
• best nipple to prevent hiccups (multiplied by 6 searches)
• sid stastics
• awkward pregnancy photos
• does a stronger suction on a breast pump get more milk?
• breast pumping tips
• breast pump rentals
• homemade diaper solution
• nipple cream for breastfeeding moms (multiplied by 7 searches)
• one week old doesn't like to sleep on back
• signs of silent acid reflux in infants
• how to wash babykicks prefolds
• best detergent for cloth diapers
• how to wash thirstie pocket diapers
• how to treat stretch marks from pregnancy
• first father's day gift
• newborn dairy allergy
• attachment parenting
• do you have to warm breast milk before feeding
• exclusively pumping breast milk pump schedule
• how to wrap a moby
• breastmilk infant poop
• How to freeze and unfreeze breastmilk
• how much milk does a six month old drink
• average length to breastfeed
• how long do americans breastfeed?
• when do baby start being colic
• infant green mucus pooh (multiplied by 4 searches)
• how long do newborns sleep

You get the idea. Obviously google has helped because Molly is growing and happy! Her head is big, due to her awesome brain, she's not the tallest of kids but she is plumping up quite nicely. 

Here's a few of our favorites...

Throw a tutu on it....

Yes, for all you Portlandia fans, that's play on "Throw a bird on it".

Anyways, this past Sunday Wyatt and I were a bit undecided about walking the two blocks to church. Molly was battling a bit of a cold, Wyatt was recovering from a cold and, well, I was just lazy. In the end we....

threw a tutu on it and ventured out.

Not too shabby for a last minute decision.

Short commute to church...yet another reason why I'm loving living in Hyattsville!

A means to an end

While sitting, yet again, in traffic on 270 this past Sunday afternoon I was struck with an epiphany- I like car traveling the same way as I like being pregnant.

Let me explain.

My pregnancy with Molly was not riddled with problems or scares. It was relatively easy and I'm thankful for the ease but I didn't love it. I know there are women who glow and adore growing the bulging bump. For me, I wondered at the miracle growing in my body while also wishing the parasite (yes, I am a horrible mother for saying that) would allow me to have a beer with dinner or buckle my sandals. So I didn't love pregnancy but I knew I would love what was growing- Molly.

Now for traveling...This past weekend Wyatt, my sister Julia, Molly and I set out to meet up with the rest of my immediate family at a sweet campground in Pennsylvania (shout out to Shenango RV Park). The 6+ hour trip really stretched Molly's previous car rides of 30 minutes. The outbound trip was trying. There was traffic, there were tears and screams, Google maps guides us in the wrong direction, blah, blah, blah. In the end we arrived and had 3 wonderful days surrounded by family (see pictures below). Looming in the very near future was the trip back. The trip back was a different story for Molly. She slept most of the car ride- yeah!! However the traffic was horrible. So as I sat in the backseat thankful for a sleeping baby while Wyatt so patiently navigated the bumper to bumper traffic two thoughts spun through my head:

1. Why don't they widen these darn roads from 2 lanes to 4 lanes?
2. My epiphany- I enjoy traveling in a car the same way I enjoyed pregnancy. The journey isn't much fun but it is the mean to an EXCELLENT end.

I explain this knowing that I will travel many, many miles to thoroughly enjoy the vacation at the end of the journey and, who knows, may even endure another 10 months of pregnancy for a Molly sibling.

For me the end is so much sweeter when there is a bit of uncomfortableness in the journey.

As promised here are some photos from the weekend. Enjoy....

 

Swinging with the Happiest Baby on the Block

So Molly has been alive for over one month. Score one for the parents!

Over the past four weeks we have grown to know our little nugget... when she's hungry, has a dirty diap, needs a nap and so on. At the beginning of the month we had no idea what we were doing but I think we are getting better because of these.....

Molly enjoying her swing.

Welcoming the early morning hours in style

Let me explain. About a week ago, Wyatt and I were dumbfounded when Miss Molly Mae would freak out for 1-2 hours at a time. Sometimes the freak out happened in the morning, sometimes in the evening. Thankfully never over the night time hours. We thought it was gas- so we bought some baby gas relief medicine (didn't work). We thought it was because she was hot or cold- so we added or subtracted layers (didn't work). I'm blaming the sheer desire for mental relief, I broke down and bought a swing.

You may say, "But a swing is a good purchase, Jeanette!" Indeed it is but in my bullheaded nature I was bound and determined to not be bombarded with baby things throughout the house thus no swing. It's amazing what a lack of sleep combined with mental and emotional anguish can do to bullheaded, and I admit a bit ridiculous, beliefs. So we have a swing and Molly enjoys it.... when she is already sleeping.

However we still need to endure the freak out to get to the sleep. We were getting closer....

She still freaked out and again with my bullheadedness I refused to believe this had to her's or our life for the next 2-3 months. So thus started a quest for solutions. Through research I stumbled across a resource, "The Happiest Baby on the Block" which laid out the 5 S's plan for calming an infant. The 5 S's are based on the belief that humans are born 3 months early, due to head/brain size, which means to calm them it is best to mimic the environment in which they should still be a part of, the womb. (Sounds like hooey, eh?) Written by a seasoned pediatrician gave it some credence but I remained skeptical UNTIL we tried it and IT WORKED!  She freaked out and we calmed her, and calmed her quickly. It was amazing and energizing. She freaked out again and we calmed her again.

As a new parent, it's empowering to have the confidence to calm your babe.

Oh and the second swing purchased last week was a great porch swing. Every morning the first rays of sun tell Molly- WAKE UP!! thus it's time for one of us to join her as she welcomes the day. When it is my morning to start the day with Miss Molly, I find myself drawn to the porch swing. We swing, she smiles and enjoys the breeze. It's growing to be my favorite time of the day. Our neighbor, Judy, has named the swing the Mollyfier. (hahaha, get it? That Judy is so clever!)

So that's how the Feelfus family is swinging into having the happiest baby on the block. It also doesn't hurt that we are the only ones on the block with a baby so defacto we have the happiest one!

Oh and not related to this post... here's a few of my favorites from our one month living room photo shoot. I'm told she is cute but obviously I have mom-goggles on.