Tumbleweed

This last weekend was quite the momentous one for Calista.

On Saturday, for the first time, she didn't spend the entirety of her bath screaming! Part of it, yes, but not the entire time! Bath time has not been a pleasant experience for us, so we've been doing it as quickly and infrequently as possible. The funny thing is, it's not the nakedness that bothers her, she doesn't mind getting her diaper changed or hanging out without anything on. It's not the temperature of the water that bothers her, we've experimented with warm to slightly warmer to slightly colder, and nothing makes it better. No, it's the actual wetness that bothers her. I took a bath a few weeks ago, and Calista started to fuss and get hungry, so Kyler stripped her down and brought her in to me to eat. While she was eating, she was very careful to keep her feet out of the water, pulling them up whenever they started to slip in again. She is anti-wetness. Well, at least her bath on Saturday wasn't just her screaming the whole time... makes for much happier parents and a cleaner baby.

On Sunday, she did a couple of cool things. First, she rolled over... from tummy to back and from back to tummy. Not consecutively, but in the same day is still pretty cool, huh?

Second, she totally giggled! I thought she might have previously, but now I'm positive. Kyler heard her, too, and he agreed. And what did my darling daughter laugh at? Me. Dancing. There's got to be a joke there, right?

Witching hour is come

I meant to add these yesterday, and then I threw up 4 times. Some things went on the back burner. Thankfully, Calista was as good as I could possibly expect while I was sick, happy just to chill on her playmat or my chest except when she was hungry. No stressful fussiness, just chill. Thank you, baby.

Now, on to the important things: Halloween pictures of Calista! I'm not sure these need a ton of captions, they speak for themselves!

Skeleton baby!

With Sven!

Sucking on the black cat!

With Daddy at the ward party!

Count them: 1, 2, 3 skeletons with Mommy!

Our "pumpkin."

Happy Halloween, everybody!

Fights of the One Less Travelled

So, for my Master's thesis, I'm going to be interviewing people. Lots of people. For a long time. This has presented the problem of how on earth I'm going to transcribe dozens of hours of audio into text, so I can then code and work with it in a quasi-scientific fashion. One thing that's clear is that Windows 7 Speech Recognition is not the solution to that problem. It is, however, unendingly hilarious.

This brings me to the first part in our indeterminate-number-of-part series entitled: (Mangled) Poetry Corner, brought to you by Windows 7. In this episode, we bring you Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken, as dictated by me and filtered through the artistic lens of Speech Recognition. First, the original poem:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Epic, is it not? Still, Windows 7 shows Robert how poetry should be done:

Two roads diverged from the deal would
End sorry I could not travel vote
End the one traveler, while nice to a
And more than one as far as I can
Two word Pentium reform

Then took the other, has just as there
And having perhaps the better claim
because it was grassy and wondered where
Well as for that passing their
There were none really about the same

Envelope that morning only way
Believes those that can't run black
Alike at the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leaves on Two-way
I found that I should ever come back

I shall be telling this was assigned
Some were teaches me his hands
Two roads diverged in wood and I
Fights of the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference.

Bravo, Windows 7. Bravo.

Wanted: a drunk Laban

Monday night/Tuesday morning, the baby who has been amazing at sleeping for 6+ hours at a time, thus causing me to only wake up once during the night for the past few weeks, stopped being my angel child. 
She went to bed at 9, woke up screaming at 12:30. I fed her and went back to bed. At 3, she woke up again. I know she can last longer than 2.5 hours without eating, so I gave her a pacifier and went back to bed. At 3:30, she's screaming again. I gave her back the pacifier, and stayed on the chair in her room for a few minutes to make sure she's falling asleep. She woke up again at 5, at which point I gave up and fed her. I'm hoping that this will last her until after Kyler's alarm goes off at 7. Yeah... no. She's up at 6:45, and I try to just give her a pacifier... she is not having it. So, I feed her and go back to bed. Around 8, I wake up, convinced I heard her crying, but I don't hear anything for a bit so I begin to wonder if I imagined it. Wait, nope, there it is. I get up and go into her room to discover the reason I didn't hear anything for a bit: Kyler hadn't left yet, so he was trying to quiet her without waking me. Thanks for the effort, but it didn't work. She doesn't want to calm. I feed her, again, and she doesn't seem to want to go back to sleep. Kyler stays for a little while, and we put her on the couch on one end, while I curl up on the other end... and she eventually goes back to sleep for a little while. 


Last night, she started to get fussy early, so we got her all ready for bed, I fed her, and she fell asleep. We put her down, turn on the fan, and shut the door, and hope this is it for a few (maybe 6 or more? Please?) hours. An hour later, she is screaming, and a pacifier is not cutting it. Fine, I pick her up and she seems to want to eat, so I try to do that. She won't stay latched, though! I try both sides, back and forth, and she'll eat for a minute and then start to scream again.  I'm singing songs to her, because that's the bedtime routine: sing songs while she nurses in the dark of her room. I sing "Nephi's Courage" because my mom said it was one of her favorite primary songs: "I will go; I will do the things the Lord commands. I know the Lord provides a way; he wants me to obey." I start bawling because I'm trying to do what the Lord commands, I'm trying to raise a family and love my daughter and she won't. Stop. Screaming! Where is this way the Lord provides? Where is my drunk Laban?
And then Kyler comes in. Since Calista's bedtime routine focuses on nursing, he can't help so much generally, at least after she's in her jammies, but he heard me crying and was worried. He takes Calista and goes into the other room with her, trying to get her to calm down as she continues to scream for the next hour. Finally, she is started to get drowsy, so he comes back in and puts her in the crib, and we shut the door and go to bed.
And, apparently, I have my answer: Kyler is my help, Kyler is the way. He is my drunk Laban.


This morning, I'm still exhausted from the last two nights. Calista slept a little better last night, only waking up twice before Kyler brought her in again. Not as good as she had been doing (why is my baby regressing?), but better than the night before. I am still so tired, emotionally more than anything. Then, I lay down on the floor next to my daughter, and she looks over at me and smiles, cooing and babbling away. 

And I know I wouldn't trade her for the world, or for all the sleep I could ever want.

Happy Baby+Good Sleeper=Happy Mommy

The baby girl is three months old today! She is growing up so fast - basically none of the 0-3 month clothes fit anymore, time to store them for the next one! 

Calista still loves sucking on her hand and pacifier, and will also grab your finger or a washcloth and bring it to her mouth to suck on if given a chance. She also is still (mostly) enjoying tummy time, though she does get frustrated after a while because she can't see the world, I think. She lasts on her tummy long enough to turn around in a full 360, and she always turns counter-clockwise. I wonder what that means?

She is starting to really sleep for 6 or more hours at a stretch at night (except for last night, but let's not talk about that), which I definitely don't mind. We are still working on getting her to take naps, but if I had to choose, I'd rather have Calista sleep at night than during the day.

Pictures from the last month that haven't been included anywhere else...

She fell asleep on my lap. Isn't it the sweetest picture?

Trying to get a good picture of the "I (heart) Africa" shirt my boss bought her... in Africa.

It's daddy-daughter nap time after General Conference! 

Yeah, this sleeper doesn't fit anymore. It's been washed and folded and packed in a bin.

In the swing at the park! She's actually a little bit grumpy and fell asleep on the way home. Like I said, I don't quite have her on a nap schedule.

Leaning over in the bumbo! She still loves to sit in it (well, until she gets grumpy), so I do the dishes or eat dinner with her just chilling in the bumbo. Yay!

I've decided this outfit is going to go in the storage bin, too. The dress especially is so much shorter than it was when she first put it on!

I tried to get a picture of her staring and kicking at the toys, but when I came over, she looked up at me instead. Apparently I'm more interesting that toys that make noises when they move.

Standing up! She'll be walking in no time! Or, ha, not.

Three months old today!

The grand cloth experiment

Kyler and I decided that if, when we moved to Calgary, we had a washer and dryer, we were going to give cloth diapers a try. We do have a washer and dryer (yay for not using quarters!), so we bought some in a variety of cute colors... and white.

This is what they look like:

They are pocket diapers, so they have a super-absorbent insert. The actual diaper is lined in uber soft fleece, and the outside is water resistant or whatever, so no need for plastic covers. They also have adjustable waist and leg sizes, and snaps for closure, which means I also don't need to worry about poking myself or my wiggly baby when it's changing time.

So far, we are very happy with them, especially at night. 

We still use disposables when we're out of town, and they are what we have in the diaper bag for anytime we need them, but we are buying way fewer diapers, which makes us very happy. In the long run, these diapers will be cheaper, which we definitely like. Plus, the idea of all those disposable diapers in a landfill... uck. 

Don't tell me I'm crazy or that I'll change my mind. If you think I'm crazy, at least be happy that the "crushed berries" color pictured is cute. I like cloth diapers, and I think that we will stick with them. And, if we don't, I also don't want to hear any "I told you so"s. 

Japanese stuffing

A week ago Monday, it was Canadian Thanksgiving. Why on earth they have it on a Monday, and not a Thursday which basically guarantees Friday off (and thus a four day weekend), I don't know. Crazy Canucks. Not really the point, though, I suppose?  P.S.: Blogger says "Canucks" is spelled wrong. Is it not a real word in the Google-universe? Weird. The point is, we went down to Raymond and spent a some time with friends and family, which was nice. Definitely one of the perks to living so close to Kyler's family.

The Saturday before Thanksgiving, we spent time with Kyler's friends and also went to the Japanese Gardens in Lethbridge. Kyler's mother had passes, but she wasn't going to use them before they closed for the season, so we decided to walk around. It was beautiful! Not terribly huge, but pretty. There was even a wedding party taking pictures... I'm sure they got some good ones!
Calista had been enjoying the sling-carrier earlier in the day, but she was not liking it while we walked around the gardens. So, we (mostly Kyler) carried her instead and she was much happier.

She and I in front of the pretty waterfall.

Kyler and Calista with the Friendship Bell.

Baby profile with pretty background!

Absolutely beautiful, with all the fall colors! Wow!

Sunday and Monday we spent hanging out with family, and of course, eating really good food, including the best stuffing I've ever had. Maria did a good job!
Two random pictures of those two days:

She is wearing a bow and nothing else! Okay, so she has a diaper and is all wrapped up in a blanket, but still... Funnily enough, the bow didn't actually make it to church... she kept pulling it into her eyes and then getting mad that it was there, so we decided to nix the bow.

Baby toes! Who doesn't love baby toes?

The hazards of headwear

So, I went in to Calista's room, because I heard her making little noises and decided she was done napping. She wasn't screaming or anything, but definitely not asleep. I walk in to find this:

I started laughing and then I told her, "Sorry, but I have to get a picture of this. I'll be right back." She didn't seem to mind my laughter too much, but I do think she was happy when I finally decided to fix the bow and pick her up.

Not completely crazy

I have had a couple of interesting dreams lately.

Last night, the dream consisted of me trying to catch a flight... somewhere... and I was running late, and then I found out that my flight had left early, and the incredibly old man at security wouldn't let me through and there was no one to talk to about getting another flight... I was grumpy and stressed, and when I woke up I felt that way for a second, until I realized it wasn't real.

A few days ago, I had a dream that Calista started talking. Not crazy, completely unrealistic talking, though. In my dream, her first word was "hi," followed by "yay," "yeah," and "no." All easy, one syllable words. Maybe it's not a dream, but a premonition... since she still is quite a bit too young to talk. Coo, yes. Squeak, sure. Real words? Not on your life.

The baby girl is not talking yet.

Calista cooing... and so much more!

Two months ago today, I was in the hospital. It was a long day, and I'm glad it's over - partially because it means I now have a beautiful two month old baby! She has grown so much in the last two months, it's amazing. She is so entertaining and beautiful, and we love her so much. Now, for some pictures of Calista, because I can... and because my mother will love them.

Four weeks old

This is while we were sleeping on an air mattress, while in the process of moving. Not an ideal situation, let me tell you. But, hey, it's a cute sleeping naked baby!

One month old

I feel like this picture deserves a really good caption. Sadly I don't have one. Anyone want to come up with one?

Five weeks old

Kyler and I are still sleeping on the air mattress - actually it's our only piece of furniture, so we're living on it all the time. Isn't this a cute picture of Calista asleep in Kyler's arms?

We have furniture! Calista is asleep in her crib (yes, she's on her tummy. We don't let her sleep that way all the time. Let's move on.) and I thought the angle of her hand was really funny.

Six weeks old

Sadly, this outfit doesn't fit anymore. But she sure was cute in it!

This is her passport photo for the next five years. Sorry, Calista!

Seven weeks old

Ready to go to church! Calista had a bit of a cold, so her eyes are a little red, but I still think she looks adorable.

Tummy time!

The outfit she wore to the US Consulate, to apply to get her passport. The receptionist-type person said Calista looked so cute and that she loves it when people dress up their babies to come visit - it makes the people at the Consulate feel special!

Calista has started grabbing onto things more, like the sides of her changing table or the crib, as above. She also has starting turning, so sometimes when I come in after she's woken up, she's at a 90 degree angle from where we put her down. Silly girl.

She's starting to be able to use the bumbo. She's still a little wobbly, and starts to fall over after a few minutes, be she likes it until then. Plus, she just looks so dang cute in it!

She is starting to notice the things around her more, but she still doesn't really grab at them, unless it's accidental while she's flailing around. Calista enjoys looking at them, though, so we let her have her fun.

Eight weeks old

Kyler got Calista dressed one Saturday, and this is the outfit he picked out. He claims he didn't notice what it said until after he got it out of the dresser, and by then, he didn't want to pick another outfit... too much effort to grab something else out of the dresser!

More fun in the bumbo! This time, I put my gloves on her hands to see what she would do. Nothing really, as it turned out. She didn't really care.

More sleeping baby! How can one go wrong with pictures like this?

2 Months - today!

I asked Kyler what she should wear today, since she was two months old. He said, "Something that says 'I love Mom' or something." All right, whatever you say!

We'll see if this works... this is a video of her today, cooing and kicking and having a good time. Enjoy!

Calista is such a joy to have around, even when she's fussy and crying - which is generally only when she's hungry, dirty, tired, or having a bath, so no complaints there. We love her so much.