Kivrin Anne

The Dow Jones closed at 11628.06 when you were born. Today it closed at 8,691.25

We paid $3.46 for a gallon of gas the week you were born. Today it costs $2.39.

These figures would be more interesting and less shocking if today wasn’t only your 2 month birthday.

Dan says that at your four month birthday he predicts the Dow could be at 5754 and gas will be down to $1.32! Happy two-month birthday, Kivrin!

Kivrin and I watched the Illinois-Wisconsin football game on Saturday. Even though she wore her Illinois onesie from Papa Staley and cheered her loudest, the Illini just couldn’t outscore Wisconsin in the second half.

The weather was perfect, the baby was happy and awake, and Dan had an hour for his lunch break, so we headed over to “Boo at the Zoo” at Gage Park to enjoy the day. Wherever we went, we overhead people saying “Oh, look at the cute little pumpkin” (Thanks to Gramma Mary for Kivrin’s outfit!) The pictures turned out great, so I am posting way too many of them…

How young is too young to be exposed to stormtroopers, Darth Vadar and Ironman? Kivrin seemed to like the Stormtrooper best, but his high-contrast black and white costume is practically designed to appeal to newborn babies….

As you can see, Kivrin loved hanging out with Carrie’s parents, who were visiting from Norway, Kansas. We have three pumpkins from their farm, a daddy pumpkin, a mommy pumpkin and a little baby pumpkin for Kivrin!

After all that excitement, Kivrin slept really well that night (which Dan and I appreciated!) She actually slept in past 9 am the next morning.

Kivrin’s hair has really been growing on top – it’s about a centimeter long now. Of course, the back of her head is still…interesting looking…in that way that only babies hair can be…

We found an **excellent** child care facility for Kivrin and I am 900% less stressed about going back to work in a few weeks. The center (Building Blocks) is 6 blocks from the library and less than 2 miles from our house. The infant classroom has two experienced women working in it, and I’ll be able to visit at lunch and breastfeed the baby (which is extra reassuring given that she doesn’t care for bottles).

According to the baby books, faces are still baby’s favorite toy – and in our household, Dan’s face is one of the silliest and most entertaining. Kivrin loves to hang out with her Daddy!

Saturday marked Kivrin’s 8 week birthday and we couldn’t be more proud of all of her new skills.

She’s a champion head-lifter (especially if we set her down with her arms propping her up like that already…) and she’s getting stronger every day.

Now that she can hold up her head sometimes, it is getting much easier to read books together. Dan is reading her a “touch and feel” book about farm animals. Although she sometimes needs some help with the “touching” she seems to enjoy the “feeling” once her hand is on the textured pages.

Kivrin’s ability to grasp and grab is increasing, especially since she is also learning how to put the things she grabs into her mouth (added motivation). She frequently has wet slobbery sleeves now from trying to chew on her hand with limited success.

All of these new activities can tire a girl out — Kivrin has longer stretches of being awake/active now, sometimes over 2 hours of alert fun times before napping.  For mommy and daddy, this extended happy-baby time is really great, but it sure keeps us busy! She’s also much more talkative, cooing and laughing and vocalizing while she plays with her toys or looks at mommy or daddy’s face.

You may have noticed that sometime right after she was born, most of Kivrin’s hair disappeared. I’m happy to report that she has some hair growing again on top of her head, although it is so short that right now it looks like she is sporting a little baby buzz cut. The jury is still out on her hair color, but it seems sort of blondish-brownish to us.

If her Aunt Leigh Anne has anything to do with it, Kivrin will probably start picking out her own clothes around the time she learns to crawl…but for now, I still get to dress the baby, and my choices trend toward practical and comfortable.

Like this hat, for instance — it keeps the sun out of her eyes, doesn’t blow off in the breeze and is even a little bit warm. It’s a hand-me-down from Colin, and I distinctly remember my dad wearing a very similar hat to mow the lawn…but she looks adorable in it!

Another fashion philosophy I have for Kivrin’s clothes is “would I wear it?” — and clearly this picture shows that I would….although those stripes might be a little much for me, I think we both look good in grey and black.

The joys of parenting. Kivrin is still rejecting the bottle and dependant on the silicone shield to nurse. On Monday, while I discussed “Heart of Darkness” with my library book group, Dan watched Kivrin at home for two hours. She wouldn’t take my milk from the bottle and then cried herself to sleep.

On Wednesday we tried again with the bottle before I went to the La Leche League meeting. She’s not taking any milk in either of these photos – for Dan she’s just screaming, and for me, she is smiling and pushing the bottle away. The women at La Leche League are so cool and supportive — it’s great to be able to talk with other moms about these challenges. Some suggestions we are going to try include trying different brands of bottles, and trying to feed her while she is sleepy, upright, or even while walking around with her. The nurses at the Breastfeeding Clinic said that she wasn’t going to starve and she would take the bottle if she needed it – they recommended that we offer a bottle every day, although it is hard to try it that often since it is so traumatic for all of us right now. At La Leche, one person shared that her daughter refused to take a bottle at day care and would just eat all night when reunited with mommy – the fasting equivalent of sleeping through the night, but just during the day instead. Another person’s baby wouldn’t take a bottle and went straight to a sippy cup when she was 4 months old. Everyone agrees that Kivrin is getting plenty of nourishment and gaining weight steadily and that we shouldn’t worry too much about it (but it is hard not to worry, of course!!)

Ella (the little cat) will occasionally walk up and sniff Kivrin’s hand, but generally could care less if the baby is awake, moving around, crying, etc.

Ella does seem to like the baby’s stuff though, especially to sit on it, sleep on it, and claim it as her own. I don’t understand why she is trying to sit in the baby’s boppy pillow…but she is definitely a silly little kitten.

The big cat may never forgive us for bringing home this new “pet” that takes all of our attention away from him. The few times he gets close enough to check out Kivrin, she moves her arm or makes a sound, and he runs away.  He usually watches us all suspiciously from the kitchen doorway.

Hopefully the cats appreciate the relative peace and quiet of having an infant in the house now, because last weekend they got a preview of what it will be like to have a toddler around, and I think the big cat especially is still recovering from the ordeal!!!

I just love the way Kivrin has started throwing her arms up while she sleeps – so adorable. Here she is snuggling with mommy and also Aunt Leigh Anne!

While Kivrin’s cousin Colin and Aunt Leigh Anne were visiting, we all went to The Toy Store storytime for some singing and stories with Kyler. Colin especially liked to shake his sillies out and play “the freeze.” Kivrin stayed awake the whole time and didn’t cry (or eat) until afterwards, so she obviously loved it as well.