For now, here’s some raw output from the Baby Activity Monitor app that I’ve been using on my iPhone to help track Elliott’s day. The app isn’t perfect, but it’s hella sexy and beats pen and paper at 3 in the morning any day of the week. Who doesn’t love digitzed data?! I’m not taking any more time to argue with wordpress and my theme about how this table can/should be displayed, so if it looks a little wonky, that’s why. Don’t blame the app :)

Here’s what 6 days old looked like:
(ignore the “0.00 oz” – that’s for bottle feeding)

2010-06-08 – Activity Logger Report for Elliott
Time Activity Duration Amount Notes
23:28 pumped just over 1 ounce left breast only
23:04 Diaper Pooped
22:58 Slept 1:01 hrs
22:46 Burped possibly some spitup as well.
22:36 Ate from Right Breast 21 mins 0.00 oz
20:47 Slept 1:43 hrs
20:34 Ate from Left Breast 9 mins 0.00 oz took a nap break
20:25 Diaper Pooped & Peed
18:55 Slept 1:29 hrs
18:51 Burped
18:35 Ate from Left Breast 20 mins 0.00 oz
17:39 Slept 56 mins
17:38 Burped
17:16 Ate from Left Breast 22 mins 0.00 oz
14:58 Diaper Pooped
14:44 Slept 2:16 hrs
14:33 Ate from Right Breast 10 mins 0.00 oz
14:20 Diaper Peed
13:11 Slept 1:04 hrs
13:10 Burped
13:00 Ate from Left Breast 10 mins 0.00 oz just to sleep, but got hind milk
12:55 Diaper Peed
11:17 Slept 1:33 hrs
11:12 Ate from Left Breast 5 mins 0.00 oz
10:25 Diaper Pooped super runny. greenish yellow.
10:10 Ate from Right Breast 15 mins 0.00 oz got to the hind milk!
10:01 Diaper Peed all over the table
10:00 Diaper Peed
07:45 Slept 2:00 hrs
07:34 Burped
07:19 Ate from Left Breast 13 mins 0.00 oz
07:11 Diaper Pooped & Peed both while changing wet diaper
07:10 Diaper Peed
04:53 Slept 2:17 hrs
04:52 Burped
04:30 Ate from Right Breast 21 mins 0.00 oz one burp break
02:58 Slept 1:30 hrs
02:44 Diaper Pooped & Peed runny and seedy
02:43 Burped
02:37 Ate from Left Breast 20 mins 0.00 oz includes 2 breaks and one diaper chg.
00:00 Slept 2:35 hrs

How are we doing? Just fine, and better every day. The first trimester is my least favorite and I’m looking forward to being free of it. The extra B6 has really taken the edge off the nausea, as has taking 2 progesterone pills at night, instead of spreading them out at 8 hour intervals. That 4pm pill ruined my whole evening. Still, there’s always a slight undercurrent of discomfort in my belly and it takes something seriously tasty to push past that wall. I’ve been struggling to keep my weight “up” this time. Instead of gaining a couple of pounds, I’ve actually lost almost 10. Most of that was due to a bug I caught that left me sick and seriously dehydrated for about 36 hours, but I wasn’t exactly “eating for two” before then. Thanks to a very feast-filled Thanksgiving, I’m only about 5 pounds down from where I was when the pregnancy started. There’s very little doubt that by the end of the Christmas season, I’ll be back on track, if not a bit ahead.

Between all the vitamins, supplements and general meds I’m taking, I’m up to 11 pills a day (6 in the morning and 5 at night) and some of them are mighty beasts. This gets pretty annoying. Also annoying is the continued aversion to garlic-like smells. Eating something with a bit of garlic (or chives or leeks) in it isn’t so bad, but if it’s the only “note” in the air, I can’t handle it. On the flip side, I haven’t had many cravings. I went through a week of loving hamburgers and a night where I inhaled 3 pieces of Long John Silver’s fish, but I haven’t run up against anything as powerful as I experienced last round.

The nausea factor is a bit different this time, too. I think that stomach bug reset my gag threshold. I’m extremely sensitive to even the suggestion of throwing up. In fact, trying to “talk myself out of” being sick has resulted in a couple of close-calls over the past few weeks. In fact, recalling the incidents while writing this section has made me a bit queasy.

The last of my minor complaints that I’m fortunate are my only issues would be my belly. I am in a really annoying spot where none of my clothes fit. Thanks to second-pregnancy belly popping, my “real” clothes became completely useless weeks ago. Normal pants are too tight and normal tops don’t reach to the lower-cut maternity pants. Since I’m just barely getting the true pregnancy bump, none of my maternity clothes fit quite right, and some of them are completely out of the question. I picked up a couple of new pairs of jeans since I had very few non-capri pants last time, and just like my body, they didn’t snap back to “mini-bump” size at the end of my pregnancy. Everything contributes to making me feel fat because everything is just a bit too loose and a bit too baggy. Unfortunately, the only solution is to ride this wave until the belly starts coming in.

That’s about it. Squirt and I have a checkup tomorrow where we might be able to pick up a flu and H1N1 vaccine. I haven’t been actively seeking it out, like I probably should, but that’s how I roll. The biggest difference between this pregnancy and last? How laid back I am about everything. I’m not slacking off, but I don’t have my nose buried in pregnancy books, sites, emails either.

Hopefully next month I’ll have a great sonogram report with some gender-related news!

(mini-disclaimer: don’t use my vitamin/medicine regime without talking to your pre-natal care provider first.)

this weekend, something a bit odd happened. we were a memorial day/graduation party and sampling cake. like most deserts, we used the cake and ice cream as a teaching opportunity for the more, please, and thank you concepts. at this point, they’re largely reinforcers. she’d sign “more” as soon as you ask “would you like more?” of anything …except the cake. when we’d asked if she’d like more cake, she lifted one arm in the air and waved it about. At first, we thought she was distracted by something, but she didn’t have any issues asking for more ice cream, just cake.

eventually, we realized what we’d done. one of our family favorite songs is seven by they might be giants. it’s a fun song that repeats the refrain “we want cake! where’s our cake?” several times. in the car, we’ve been encouraging charlotte’s participation by raising our fists in the air and pumping them with great fury.

context is key.

for now, though, you can read about how she locked herself in our bedroom.

she’s been really close for months, or at least that’s the way it has seemed since september. she started cruising and we thought “surely, it can’t be long now.” but her progress sort of stagnated. it’s not a developmental thing (she’s still months and months (and months) away from someone other than her parents being concerned), she’s just working it out at her own pace. she also hates shoes, due to not wearing the much as a baby-baby (even the soft-soled ones). trying to get her to keep them on has been quite a challenge.

i think part of the reason for the delay is how fast she can crawl. for several months, even though she could cruise very well and stand relatively well, she wasn’t really interested in moving forward that way. you could almost see it in her face. she’d think about taking a step and get this look that said “screw this. crawling’s so much faster.” she’d drop down and take off towards her goal. standing was only useful as a stage between sitting and climbing. balance was never a consideration, and it turns out balance is key.

the other “reason” i think is lack of socialization. i’ve noticed over the past year that whenever she’s around someone her size she studies them intently and the next day she can do (or is trying to do) something that she couldn’t the day before. since she’s staying at home with me, she doesn’t have as much exposure to walkers her size to give her the idea that it’s the way to go. at her birthday party, however, there was a 15 month old chasing everyone around and it started to really click for her. maybe it was just that he was getting more attention than her.

at 13 months she likes doing laps around the kitchen with her grocery cart. she’s also interested grabbing your hands and leading you around the house. sometimes she’ll tolerate doing it one handed, but the speed gets her down. she requires lots of cheering to convince her this something she wants to do. we’ve had a few moments where she’s taken a small step on her own, but that’s usually just to fall into someone’s waiting arms. there is no dismount ;)

standing is much the same way. she’ll pull up with ease (and has been for months), but to keep her standing, you have to distract her and/or then cheer her on. she’s up to almost 10 minutes in the same place (assuming there’s something worth watching on the tv) and can even bounce around while she’s up there and compensate with her balance. she’s really good at falling safely, though, which is very important. it’s also a good indicator of how tired she is. sloppy falls means it’s nap time.

a couple of days ago, i nabbed some videos of her current progress:

standing:

pushing a cart:

i’m looking forward to christmas and exposure to her walking cohorts to really finish off the lessons.

so….

no worries. we’re all still here. instead of writing a marathon length-post, i’m going drop a few small ones on you (and hopefully update the site in general) over the next few days. small steps, just like charlotte’s starting to take.

“say ‘mama’.”

“dadada”

“not quite. say ‘mama’.”

“dadadadada!”

“mmamma. that’s me. ‘mama’.”

“dadadadadada!”

“mamamamamama”

“h-dadadada!”

“‘mmmmmmmammmmma’. like this: ‘mmmmmmmmmmama’.”

“DADADA!”

repeat until i give up or she gets bored

8:00 am-wake up and eat (often we have to wake her)
8:30 am-head back to sleep (sometimes she doesn’t get sleepy again until 9:30 or so)
sometime between 11am and 12:30pm-wake up and eat again (again, i often have to wake her)
2:30ish(sometimes earlier if she gets fussy or sleepy)-eat some more
sometime between 3 and 5 pm – another nap. usually about 2 hours long.
post-nap: more feeding
8:00 ish: food!
10:30 ish: food!
sometime between 10:30 and midnight: bedtime!

If you’re doing the math, that’s a stretch of almost 10 hours at night between feedings. now you see why we wake her up ;) it’s also only 6 feedings a day. we manage 7 on days where she’s awake for the bulk of the afternoon. this concerns me a bit, what with her small size, but she’s not unhappy and always drinks her fill, so i’m not too worried, at least intellectually.

and now, for posterity, milestone “expectations” from what to expect:

“should be able to”

• on stomach, lift head up 45 degrees passed this sometime during month 2 or so

“will probably be able to”

• laugh out loud she just started doing something that slightly resembles laughter
• on stomach, lift head up 90 degrees if only to escape the evils of tummytime ;)
• squeal in delight most definitely, in the last few days
• bring both hands together to put them in her mouth ;)
• smile spontaneously she’s been smiling at her mobile for weeks, and at me when i lean over her crib for the last week or so
• follow an object.. i’ll spare you the paragraph, but yes, she can track objects

“may possibly be able to”

• hold head steady when upright …since she was maybe 3 weeks old?
• on stomach, raise chest, supported by arms …once or twice maybe? she really hates tummy time
• roll over(one way) she threatens to on the changing table all the time, but again, evil tummy time keeps this one at bay
• grasp a rattle held to backs of fingers for a couple of weeks
• pay attention to an object as small as a raisin …i don’t think so. she’s a bit too enraptured with the world around her to get her to focus on something so small, yet.

“may even be able to”

• bear some weight on legs when held upright *some* weight?! she spends most of her evenings standing on our laps, popping up and down, keeping her balance freakishly well
• reach for an object within the last day or so, she’s started grabbing at the toys dangling from her interactive seat
• keep head level with body when pulled to sitting if she’s awake and not sleepy, she’s got her head held up, no matter what the circumstances. she’s a freak ;)
• turn in the direction of a voice, particularly mommy’s turn? maybe not, but she clearly recognizes my voice. if she’s fussing in her crib and i call out as i’m approaching, she’ll calm down…at least temporarily ;)
• say “ah-goo” or similar vowel-consonant combination she makes all manner of sounds, something she’s picked up in the last few days, but i’m not sure she’s doing any sort of active vowel/consonant pairings just yet
• razz aaaaalmost. she’s a big fan of sticking out her tongue and vocalizing as she drools. i suspect that as soon as she stops drooling through it, she’ll make a mighty noise.

i have to keep reminding myself that she’s not so much “behind” with the tummytime related skills, but that she’s far ahead with the other gross motor skills. she hates the mats and the floor, but ryan’s had some success with her on the couch. of course, this won’t last once she starts to roll over in earnest ;)