. . . daycare & the violent poo

Babymama has been negligent in updating this blog over the past 2 weeks, but with good excuse. It was babymama's first week back at work and baby-adorable's first week at daycare. Baby-bravest did great, and babymama did pretty good, too, though managing the morning time is a daily task of herculean proportions. Babymama has decided that in order to really streamline the process, she needs a personal assistant, a part-time nanny, and a maid. Babydaddy disagrees, but mama feels certain she can win him over eventually.

The first day of anything is pretty important, and since 'you only get once chance to make a good first impression', babymama wanted to make sure that baby-stylish looked great for her big day. Averie's debut outfit was an adorable purple flower-print onesie with matching pants and purple socks. Mama even picked out a matching bib in reverse color print to coordinate and sort of tie the whole outfit together. Baby-cutest looked the cutest, and mama knew that she'd be the hippest looking baby in her class. Alas, her look was only to last for a few hours - the impending change of clothes would be necessitated by the emergence of the violent poo.

As new parents, babydaddy & mama receive a lot - A. LOT. - of advice and plenty of cautionary anecdotes from other parents on how to grow up baby-adorable. Everyone who shared a word or two from their own child-raisin' experience also warned us about the über-poo. 'Get ready', they cried. 'It's coming, and it's coming fast and furious', 'That stuff travels', and 'Just wait' are just a sampling of the phrases that fell from multiple tongues as we anxiously awaited the arrival of this legendary diaper surprise.

It took awhile to get here. In fact, it took a lot longer than we were told it would take. But it did arrive, and in what can only be described as a violently explosive manner. We like to call these events, 4-diaper changes, as that's usually the number of diapers it takes to get the whole mess cleaned up. They don't happen often . . . at least, until recently.

Baby-stinky-dirty broke her teachers in right-fast on her first day of 'school'. She didn't take her time warming up to them or letting them get to know her. She oh-so-sweetly and indescribably-adorably (like those modifiers?) smiled and cooed as her teacher held her for the first time, and then she demurely (at least babymama hopes this is the case) threw down the violent poo. Babymama knows this for sure because baby-poopie-bottom came home in a brand new outfit, borrowed from the daycare, even though mama put 3 extra outfits in her daycare bag.

As previously noted, the violent poo was once a rare occurrence. These days, however, it seems to happen more regularly. At least once every 2 days, baby-fashionable comes home in something other than what she was wearing when she left. Babymama is not sure if this is a result of the new activities in baby-stinky's routine or if those cute little Pampers are too small, but one thing's for sure: all that poopin' wears a girl out.

See baby-new-clothes after her very first day of daycare. Also pictured is her favorite car toy, Ricky the monkey.

. . . the ballpark sans nachos

Every good babymama knows that the best part of attending sports events is the nachos. This is true of every sport and sport-like exhibition from football and basketball to hockey and baseball. While football games typically have the best nachos, those available at the Sand Gnats' games are pretty good, and babymama has been excitedly waiting to share this special treat with baby-adorable.

Saturday night, daddy and mama took baby-adorable out to the ball-game (sing it) with some friends. Babymama did not eat any nachos (dairy doesn't agree with baby-gassie's tummy), but she, daddy, and baby had a great time anyway. Babymama was a little warm from the refreshing mojitos our friends Bret and Adrienne served earlier in the evening and she forgot to break out the camera, so there aren't any photos from baby-sporty's first baseball adventure. Mama did, however, take some pix while daddy was up hangin' in the A-T-L, so you can see baby-sleepy pretending to nap while she and mama wait for that sweet daddy to come home.

. . . le langue et le petite singe

In recent weeks, baby-licky has become more aware of her tongue. At first, it was just this cute little thing she did on random occasions. The cuteness began with a slow, shy smile and then a sudden flash of pink as she stuck her little tongue out at whoever happened to be looking. Now, however, baby-adorable is truly enjoying the taste of nearly everything she can maneuver to her mouth, and with her newfound grasping abilties, (ta-da! Superbaby is here!), that's a lot of stuff to cover with drool.

Her most favorite things to lick are her tummy-time boppy . . .



her little monkey toy . . .



and daddy's hand . . .



We are told by our books, our pediatrician and various other sources that this licking, or "mouthing" is good and means that baby-brilliant is getting smarter and smarter with each lick. Wonder if now's the time to work on finding the answer to that age old question . . .

"How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop?"

. . . her rectus capitis posterior minor & major

Baby-strongest spends more and more happy time on her tummy each day, thanks to the amazing baby boppy and her strong muscles. Yes, her rectus capitis posteriors (major and minor) are working hard to hold up that adorable little head.


Baby-healthy is also getting longer. We hesitate to say "taller" (since she can't stand yet) so maybe vertically-larger is the best description. She's almost as long as her little leaf mat. Her last official height (length) check had her ranked in the 75th percentile. Babymama is so proud and happy that baby-tallest will be able to reach for the top shelves without a step-stool.

Now both of these growth milestones are phenomenal, but the absolute best measurement of all is the one that counts the length in inches of baby-sweetheart's feet. Her feet are long. 'How long?' you ask. 'Long,' says babymama. They are over one third (1/3) the length of mama's feet. 'And just how long is that?' you ask. 'Three and one half (3.5) inches,' says mama, whose own feet measure nine. Really. She's got some long, long, feet. And long, long toes. But aren't they cute?

. . . the ice and some tummy time

Everyone who knows babydaddy knows that he loves hockey. Best hockey of all? The fierce, 5-time national champion Golden Gophers of the University of Minnesota. Second best hockey? Any well-played ice contest between any two teams that we can actually see on our home cable. So, it should surprise no one that baby-sweetest also loves hockey - (probably because of all the white and fast movement) - and spends a lot of time experiencing it.

Last night, while the NY Rangers were playing the Buffalo Sabres, baby-strongest was enjoying some tummy time (see cute video below). Babymama was trying to film in the dark, so she wasn't really watching the entire game. One thing that did stick out as she was listening, though, was the repitition of a name, one name in particular . . . a name that the announcer must've said fifty times. It stuck out because it's a name that babymama also repeats a lot during the day. "Averie, Averie, Averie . . . " except in this case, it's "Avery, Avery, Avery". Hmmm, thought babymama.

Many people ask us how we chose baby-cutest's name. "We just liked it," proud parents always reply. "It was just a name we thought was beautiful," we smile. Suddenly, babymama realizes the truth. She's been duped, and has unwittingly named her baby girl after hockey stars - a player and a coach.

That sneaky Daddy . . .

. . . her first swing, a rose, a sqare, some milk and a pizza

Thursday was a busy day for baby-social. Daddy was on vacation and Auntie Sarah was visiting, so the family took a trip downtown to see the city. Baby-adorable enjoyed her first visit to Forsyth park, where she walked from the south end of the park, up past the newly renovated confederate monument to the big kids' playground so that she and babymama could spend a little time on the swings.

After her relaxing nap on the playground, baby-sweetheart took a stroll through the fragrant garden, and had her picture made next to one of the red blooms. Of course you know which is the most beautiful . . .


Next, Averie, Mama, and Auntie Sarah walked down through the squares to Gallery Espresso while daddy ran back and drove the car down to Chippewa Square. Daddy and Auntie went in to get coffee while mama and baby sat in the square. You may notice that baby-adorable is wearing her sweet, soft pink kimono. Be sure to note how cute it is, because while it appears that baby-smiley is contemplating her hand, that's not really what that little smile is all about . . . and she won't be wearing that kimono for long.


After a change of diaper and outfit, baby-poops-a-lot decided that a snack was in order, so she and babydaddy enjoyed some milk and the view from the Paris Market. Babymama noted how each passing mother smiled at baby-adorable and murmured about how daddy-adorable was so wonderful for feeding that little sweetheart. Babymama agrees.

Finally, baby-no-dairy enjoyed a trip to the Mellow Mushroom, where she watched as babymama enjoyed a no-cheese, no-butter, no-parm-sprinkle pizza. Check out those toes!

. . . recommended exercise from the Scottish government and her first state of emergency

Who doesn't love a moment or two on the tummy? Baby-gassie (remember, the 'ie' makes it feminine) for one. Our pediatrician and the government of Scotland recommend 10 to 15 minutes a day of "tummy time" to help develop baby-athletic's neck and upper body strength, and to help prevent flat head syndrome also known as plagiocephaly.

Now, for sure babydaddy & mama don't want baby-cutest to get the flat head, so we dutifully place baby-fartie on her tummy every day. Only problem is, she hates, can't emphasize it enough, HATES it. Baby-screams-real-loud has a fuse of about 15 seconds when it comes to tummy time, and her struggling parents can handle it for about 2 minutes. This leaves roughly 13 minutes a day of unfulfilled tummy time obligations, and we're only banking this stuff, because that 2 minute stretch isn't increasing.

Luckily for the entire family, the makers of that all-time-best-friend of mama's, the boppy, offer a variety of products designed to make life with baby more comfortable. Babymama already has the amazing Uptown Dots Boppy, but just yesterday, at another (yes, another) trip to baby's favorite store, babymama found the Boppy Tummy Time Play Pad. The package pictured a happy, smiling baby, frolicking, if you will, on her tummy. The package baby looked so convincingly excited that babymama just had to get this special playset for Averie. Last night, we tried it out.


Baby-boppy likes it, and even reached out to grab the teethable (babymama made up that word) toys that are attached to it. Averie spent much of her tummy time licking the boppy, but we figure that's ok because she had to hold her head up to lick the tastiest spots.

This morning, baby-dangerous enjoyed her first day of heightened readiness as Governor Perdue declared a state of emergency for 21 Georgia counties, including ours. Also allegedy burning today: Beach High School. The state of emergency did not affect baby-smells-good's bath or her morning round of tummy time, which progressed well and lasted for the prescribed 15 minutes.

. . . those crazy bugs & officiality

Baby-coordinated gets more so each day and is accomplishing feats of dexterity at the tender age of 10 weeks that even older babies are unable to perform. Take, for example, today's exhibition of bug batting.

For the past several days, baby-brilliant has been eyeing her Bugs on Board toys, but until today, there was no other action. Late this afternoon, Baby-sweetheart, Auntie Sarah & babymama were visiting the Clinique counter at Macy's when Averie began reaching for the dangling bugs.

Everyone present was excited to watch baby-adorable as she stretched every part of her little body, toes included, toward the ladybug and dragonfly attached to the handle of her car seat. She focused, concentrated, and reached, but couldn't quite touch them. Still, she persevered.

A short walk through the mall later, right next to the Dippin' Dots Stand, baby-coordinated made her move. See photos below . . .

Averie studies the bugs . . .



She focuses on her objective . . .



Success! Baby-advanced swats the dragonfly . . . with authority. Who dat think dey got the smartest baby? Who dat? Who Dat?




In other news, baby-official took a trip down to the county's Vital Records office and picked up her Official Certificiate of Live Birth after lunch today.

More accurately and specifically, baby-legal took a trip over to the docs office, came home, pooped out of her diaper, changed her cute outfit, threw up on mama, changed her second cute outfit and then picked up her papers. After that, a short trip to the mall, during which time she spit up on mama again, (hitting her third cute outfit of the day in the process), was the last stop before the grocery store and home.

It was a busy, but triumphant, day for all.