25 Weeks!

Dear Jorie,

This week you took your first trip out to Westfield to visit your great-grandmother. You did very well on the trip out there, I think you slept the entire car ride. You were as charming as always during dinner and right up until it was time to go to bed. Then you just. would. not. sleep! Me and your father did not get much sleep on Saturday night!

Your great-grandma Ross was really happy to get some time with you, and really enjoyed holding and playing with you. You seemed to have a good time playing peek-a-boo with her and just sitting in her lap looking cute.

On monday we went to our friend Farley's annual holiday party. You were in rare form, giggling and smiling at all the people. There was a chorus of "Awwww"s that followed us everywhere we went. Our friend Stephen got to meet you for the first time. He was properly in awe of you, although he was very unsure about holding you! I think he was afraid he'd break you.

Last night at the Ross family dinner, we gave you Carrots for the first time. You reacted the same way you did when I fed you sweet potatoes for the first time, you made the "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME?!" face and squished them out of your mouth. But you did eat a couple of spoon fulls, so I'm confident you'll get used to them and learn to love them just like you did with the sweet potatoes. I'm not sure what we'll feed you next, but I'm looking forward to it!

I love you so much baby girl.

Thanksgiving, new foods, and a street fair, Oh my! 24 Weeks old!

Dear Jorie,

I know I'm late writing this week, but it's been a busy week. Last Thursday was Thanksgiving, and your father and I had four whole days in a row at home with you. It was great to be able to spend so much time at home with you. I really missed just having that morning time with you when you're in a good mood and want to cuddle.

Thanksgiving was great, we got all of your grandparents together over at Grandma and Grandpa O's, and you had Sweet Potato for the first time. You really did not like it at first, I'm not sure if it was the taste or the texture. They weren't as sweet as the pears you've been eating, and they were definitely less soupy. We had to give up after a few spoonfuls, since you just kept squishing it back out of your mouth. You were more than happy to gulp down the pears I brought with us though. We gave the Sweet Potatoes another try that Saturday, and you liked them better the second time. You've been eating them with just as much gusto as the pears since then. Next up will be carrots!

That Saturday your father and I went to the mall and got ourselves new phones, and since then we've been having a great time taking lots of pictures and movies of you! Your father even took a really cute movie of you "playing" the keyboard. He's very proud of your budding musical talent! Another really adorable video we have is of you doing "baby fist bumps" with mommie and daddy, and laughing hysterically every time.

Tuesday night at your Grandma & Grandpa R's, you had a great time playing with the "piano" toy on the bouncy chair. You've gotten the hang of hitting almost all the different buttons, so it'll say the different colors, and you've realized there are bits at the top that spin. When you would hit the keys we would cheer and you would give off one of your adorable cough/laughs.

At Grandma and Grandpa O's on Wednesday, we set up some toys hanging over the pack'n'play. You were so cute playing with them. You've gotten very good at grabbing things. You love to pull them in to your mouth and sometimes to move them from hand to hand.

The rest of this week has been busy for your father and I, but nothing too exciting for you, except for last night! Last night we went to the Park Ave "Open House", they had all the shops open, a Christmas tree, a guy doing ice sculptures, and some horse drawn carriages. There were carolers, a couple of bands, and even somewhere you could get your picture taken with Santa.

I carried you in the Baby B.jorn turned around facing out for the first time. You were all bundled up in some fleece footies and your warm coat with the bear ears on the hood. You seemed to have a good time walking around looking at everything. You got a big kick out of the horse and cart, I'm not sure if it was the big moving thing or the lights on it, but whenever you saw it you would hoot and wiggle excitedly.

It's been an exciting week, baby girl. We still have the excitement of Christmas to look forward to! I love you so much Jorie-bear!

23 Weeks Old!

Dear Jorie,

I'm sorry I've been horribly delinquent in writing these letters to you. It's hard sometimes to remember to stop and write a letter about all the little things that are going on. Life moves so fast now, and I don't want to forget any of it.

After I wrote the last letter to you, me and your Father decided that it was time to start you on solid food. So on Saturday the 10th, one day short of your 5 month birthday, we mixed you up your very first batch of oatmeal. You looked so small in the big highchair! You really seemed to like eating, and you were way neater than I was expecting. We fed you 1 oz of oatmeal every night that week in addition to your normal breast milk and formula diet.

This past Saturday we added pureed pears to your menu. You loved the pears! You sometimes would get a little frustrated at us for not feeding you faster and you would grab at the spoon and try to put it in your mouth. It's so adorable. You lean towards us with your mouth open and make little "aaah!" noises if we take too long getting you the next spoonful. We started you off with 1 oz of the pureed pears and have moved up to 2 oz. You gobble it down happily now, you're a total pro at this eating thing! The best part of this is that you've finally started to really fill out. I'm hoping that when we go to the doctor for your 6 month check up, you'll be back on a normal growth curve. This week is Thanksgiving, so I made you some pureed sweat potato for you to eat with the rest of us. I'm planning on feeding you some of that and some pears so you get enough to eat and
                                          aren't jealous of the rest of us and all our food.

This past Sunday was your Aunt Becky's baby shower, and you were once again the hit of the party. Even with a couple of other babies there to share the spotlight, you were in your element, getting passed around and soaking in the adoration.

Recently you've figured out you can roll to get somewhere, and your Great Aunt says you rolled clear across the room on Monday. You're also getting to be an old Pro at assisted sitting, it won't be long before there's no "assisted" necessary! You're still working on sitting up, but luckily for your father and me you haven't mastered that yet. We still need to transition you to sleeping in the crib!

You've been going through spates of not sleeping well lately, which has been hard on your father and me, although last night you slept the whole night through. You woke up in a great mood, and were being really cute for your Grandparents before I left for work today. It was really hard to leave you today. You were being very cute with your smiles and laughs, and were playing happily with all the toys that were hanging over the pack'n'play. I'm looking forward to having four whole days home with you.

I love you so much Jorie Bear. You amaze me every day.

21 weeks old!

Dear Jorie,

So not long after I wrote the last letter, you got your very first fever. It's apparently a common side effect from one of the shots you were given. It topped out at 101.3, which isn't that high, but me and your father were a wreck until your temperature came down. You were a little grumpy but mostly just sleepy. Me and your father woke up and took your temperature ever couple of hours all night, and the fever started coming down around 6am, much to our relief.

There really isn't much to report other than that, life is chugging along as normal. Which is to say, busy, but nothing that notable. Me and your father have been trying to work on getting you used to the crib a bit, so we can transition you soon. I'm still not looking forward to that.

You don't really know it yet, but yesterday was a very important election, especially for you little girl! There was a presidential election where one of the candidates was backing certain political factions that were pushing things like the "personhood amendments" which would effectively end the legal use of birth control, and repealing the Lilly Ledbetter act, which guaranteed equal pay for women. It was scary for us women out here for a bit there, but luckily enough of the country kept it's collective head and that candidate was not elected. In fact, during the same election a few more states ratified marriage equality laws.

Sometimes I wonder what you will think when you look back at the time I grew up in. My hope is that you will look back on the laws I lived under for most of my life with a kind of wonder and horror that we ever restricted a women's right to choose what to do with her body or a person's right to choose who to marry. Oh baby girl, I hope so strongly that you will grow up in a world much more fair and free than you were born into. I hope with all my heart and soul that when you grow up and get a job, your lady parts wont matter one bit to someone hiring you, and will be no one's business but your own (and whomever you share your life with.)

Last night I caught a glimmer of hope that that might be a true future. I love you baby girl. Grow up strong and proud.

4 month doctor visit

Dear Jorie,

We went to your 4 month doctor visit today ( a little late I know.) You charmed the nurses again with your big smiles and the doctor was impressed with your strength and alertness.

You measured 24.5" long and weighed in at 10 lbs 14 oz. The doctor showed me on the growth curves how you are ahead of the curve on length, but way below the curve on weight. She told me to keep an eye on it, and to think about starting you on solid foods early.

You also got some shots today. I know they hurt, and I'm really sorry about that. When the nurse did the first shot you turned bright red and then started bawling. You calmed down a little when I held and rocked you, but you started crying again while I was getting you dressed and into your car seat.

You were a little fussy all the way home, and even a little fussy while I nursed you, but as soon as you were finished nursing and cuddled up against me you drifted off to sleep. Right now you are sleeping soundly in the Mama.Roo, all bundled up and cozy under the blanket I knit you.

I'm going to try to put off starting you on solid foods until at least your 5 month birthday, because some studies have shown an increase in allergies when foods are introduced early. You're only about a week away from 5 months old anyways, so I think we can hold out for that.

I love you Jorie bear.

20 Weeks Old!

Dear Jorie,

This week was an exciting one. There were hurricanes and Halloween costumes. There was a relatively laid back weekend and a busy-as-normal week.

This Monday and Tuesday were dominated by Hurricane Sandy bearing down on NYC. You don't know them yet, but we have a lot of friends that live down there. Me and your Father lived there for four years. So we know and are very fond of many places in the city that took a lot of damage. A couple of our favorite people up here (Lisa, Alex and Ezra) are from NYC as well, so they shared our shock at seeing some of our old haunts underwater. Luckily, all of our friends came out the other side ok, with no major loss of property so far.

Wednesday you got to go to your Grandma and Grandpa O's early because of my work schedule, and you got to stay there all day, instead of only for a few hours. They said you had a great time playing with sir prance-a-lot, a stuffed horse toy that they rigged to hang over you while you're in the bouncy chair there.

After I picked you up, we went home and got you dressed up in your Ladybug costume and took you out to show you off. We visited your Great Grandparent DeGraffs, Your Grandma and Grandpa O's, Your Grandpa R's, and then we went to see your Grandma R and Alex and Lisa over at the community space. You had a great time in your costume, you seemed to really enjoy it, I think it was because it was nice and warm! This picture was taken at our last stop by your Grandma R. You were starting to get a bit sleepy by that point, but you still gave big smiles to everyone (even if they were hard to catch on camera!)

I love you so much baby girl!

19 Weeks old!

Dear Jorie,

Oh man baby girl, this was a busy week! Between your Great-Grandma Ross, your Great Aunt Jean, your Great Uncle Howard, and Your Uncle Chris all coming into town this weekend, and my company having a fall picnic, we were VERY busy.

Your father was sick on Friday, so we really didn't do anything on Friday, But Saturday we made up for it!

Saturday morning we headed out to Long Acre Farms for the TLF Graphics company picnic.  You got to see a lot of the people I work with again, and you gave everyone big smiles. You got to pet a goat, but didn't seem very interested in it. So I pet the goat and held you up so you could look at it. I don't think you were very impressed, since the goat was smaller than our dog.  The owners of the company gave everyone a voucher for a free pumpkin, so after lunch we headed down to pick one out and get some pictures of you with the pumpkins. You were not very amused by the pumpkins, but you sat very nicely long enough for your father and I to snap a couple pictures before we picked a pumpkin and headed home.

Your father and I spent Saturday afternoon, after we got back cleaning up the house so it was in tip top shape for when your Great-Grandma Ross and company showed up to see it. Your Uncle Michael and Aunt Becky showed up too. They all ended up sticking around and having dinner at our house, which your Great-Uncle Howard cooked. I think he used ever dish we own (we really don't have enough dishes for a dinner party!) I don't think everyone left until close to midnight. You were, as always the life of the party. Everyone loves you so much! Your Great-Grandma Ross brought you a couple of new toys, one of which was a rattle with a teether on one end. You were very happy to chew on that for a while.

Sunday we went to brunch with the Ross side of the family at Mario's. It was an amazing buffet, and when you were hungry, they were nice enough to let me nurse you in an office, since they didn't have anywhere else private for me to feed you.

After brunch we headed over to my parents house and you got to meet your Uncle Chris for the first time. He was really excited to meet you, and was a little too boisterous when he first held you. He yelled at one point and you just burst out crying. It's the first time any of us had seen you react like that! Luckily you calmed down really quick and he was careful to be calmer the next time he held you.

Your Uncle Chris lives in Chicago, and is the source of all the Chicago sports stuff you have now. He brought you a giant Bully the bull (the Chicago Bull's mascot), and a Cubs piggy bank. We made sure you were wearing the Bull's outfit he bought for you way back before you were born. The picture of you sitting with the giant puffball of a stuffed animal your Uncle got you is one of my favorite recent pictures of you. 

We also picked up the little crib shoes you're wearing in a few of the pictures this weekend while we were running around getting gifts for people. They were $3 and they're awesome. They stay on your feet (and hold your socks on), and they're made out of a cool oriental silk fabric.

You are sitting up very well lately. Although you still can't get yourself into a sitting position by yourself, you can sit propped up for a long time. You are still enthralled with your feet, and spend a lot of time pulling them up to your face to look at. Enjoy the flexibility while you have it baby girl!

You're rolling around very well now, although you don't actually roll over too often, unless we put you down on your tummy. You're tolerating tummy time a lot better now, but you still get to a point where you just don't want to be on your tummy anymore, and you either roll over or start crying.

When you are on your tummy, you can arch your back up really high so your head is way off the ground and you can look around. You almost got your knees under you while you were doing that the other day, which makes me think you're going to skip all the rolling junk and just move straight to the crawling. I can tell you're anxious to be able to get around on your own, but you have to be patient baby girl, you'll get there soon enough!

Another thing you've been working on is vocalizing. Recently you've started making a loud "Aaaaa!" sound. It's almost an angry sound, but you smile after you make it. You've got quite a range of volumes going on now, and can get very expressive with the sound of your voice. You can most definitely let us know when you are unhappy with us, but my favorite sound is your squeaking laugh. Sometimes you even let off a bit of a snort!

You're working on doing raspberries, although you can't quite figure out how yet. You stick out your tongue, and then open and close your mouth. It's really cute to see you trying, and I know you'll get it soon!

Oh baby girl, don't be in such a hurry to grow up. I know you're impatient with yourself, I can see it in your frustration when you want to do something you can't do yet, but your father and I would be happy if you would slow down and stop getting so big so fast!

It really seems like I blinked and you got bigger. I went to work and came home and you were older. Some days I feel like I'm missing so much of your life, so I try to enjoy all the time I do get with you. I know the days of being able to carry you around and snuggle you while you nap will be over way before I'm ready.

I love you so much Jorie-bear.