Why I Love This Book

An excerpt from "I'm a Manatee" by John Lithgow:

With my wit, sophistication, and urbanity,
I dignify my watery domain.
No one near will ever hear me use profanity,
Because a manatee has his image to maintain.

I'm a manatee,
I'm a manatee.
I keep my reputation spick and span-atee.

No difference between my face and fann-atee
A stately manatee,
That's me.

My How You've Grown

Roxi turned .5 on December 5. Even though she's technically still a wee babe, she seems closer and closer to being all grown up to us. Her personality shines through more every day. She's getting so big. And, well, she's a bruiser.

She bounces in her exersaucer. Screams like a banshee when she gets excited. Grabs hair with wild abandon. Smacks tables. Rolls all over the place. Wedges herself into amazing positions in her crib. Chomps on anything in a 2-foot radius. Gets bored with toys, locations and activities. In short, Roxi is keeping us on our toes. We love it.

In celebration of her half birthday, Roxi had sweet potatoes for the first time (which she seemed to like as well as anything else) and went to the doctor the next day for shots and a check-up. We were pleasantly surprised to find that there were flu shots left, so the girl got a bonus prick in addition to the normal immunizations. She was a total trooper about it, crying only for a few seconds after her 3 shots and then giving her nurse a big hug.

Not surprisingly, Roxi zipped through her check-up with flying colors. Dr. P told us she was doing great and we were doing a great job raising her. I felt like we'd won a Nobel Prize.

So, without further ado, here are the latest stats:

• 16.2 pounds - in the 50th percentile
• 17.5-inch head circumference - in the 90th percentile (plenty of brain room)
• 27.5 inches long/tall - off the charts ... she's as tall as the average 9-month-old

Good thing we're already fans of basketball.

We got our first big snow last weekend - 10 inches or so. Naturally, Roxi needed to explore. As far as Rob and I could tell, her only reaction was BRRRRR. Look out for snowball fights and sleds ... next year.

Snow bunny!

Gobble de Gobble

Roxi spent her first Thanksgiving in Indianapolis surrounded by family: Grandpa and Grandma Wessel; Uncles Tom and Randy; Great Aunt Glenna; Great Uncle Charlie; [here's where my knowledge of proper geneological terms runs out] great cousins/second cousins Kim, Dale, Eric and Diana, and third cousins/some flavor of cousins Brittany, Ryan, Krista and Kyle. With the exception of Grandpa and Grandma, these were all new people to the sweet girl. She drooled on, pulled the hair of, laughed with, sat on and had more fun than should be allowed with everyone.

Though all Roxi got was her usual diet of formula, rice cereal and peas, the rest of us chowed down on the biggest spread I have ever seen. Capital deliciousness.

Roxi also had the chance to spend a couple hours with Rob's long-time friend Asit and his two boys Seren (4) and Kieren (1.5). We had a hard time believing that Roxi would ever be that big, mobile, talkative or hysterical, but Asit assured us it was true. Oh, and Roxi got her first kiss from a "boyfriend" - as we were preparing to leave, Seren asked, "Could I kiss your baby?" (How cute is that?) To which we replied, "Of course!" And so the girl got a smackeroo on the top of the head.

Every Tuesday afternoon, Roxi and I head over to a friend's house for playgroup, which consists of rolling around on the floor (for the little ones) and swapping stories (for the big ones). The best part for the half-pints, it would seem, is getting to slobber all over somebody else's toys. Way fun. The moms try to keep their slobbering to a minimum. This picture is from 2 weeks ago. From left to right are sweet girls Josie, Ryland and Roxi (who was feeling warm that day and had to ditch her overalls).

Dig my cool friends.

Sunday, November 21: Hello carrots!

Sunday, November 14: Welcome to peas (mixed in with a little rice cereal for extra yums).

You said a mouthful.

By the Numbers

A quick summary of Roxi's day:

• 5 outfits
• 2 naps
• 32 ounces of formula
• 2 tablespoons of rice cereal
• 1 tablespoon of peas
• 2 enormous poops
• 1 playgroup

Sweet Sounds

Roxi is a long way from talking - in a language that we understand, anyway. However, her repertoire of sounds is expanding all the time. Lately she has started repeating syllables, such as ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. She even said da-da-da a couple mornings ago. Wish Rob had been around to hear it because I haven't gotten a repeat performance since.

The best part of the learning process is watching/listening to her perfect a new sound. Last week it was coughing. We were a little concerned that she had a cold she was coughing so much. But nope, she was just teaching herself how to make that particular noise. This week, it's heavy breathing. Roxi kind of pants like a dog (without the lolling tongue) and then gives us this big smile, as if to say, "Check it out! That came from me!"

Sassy Girl

As expected, Roxi is living up to her spunky name. She shows more of her personality every day, and it's hard to keep up with all her new tricks.

Oral fixations. Babies explore everything with their mouths. I've been told this many times and now I get it. Everything in Roxi's world is on its way to her mouth - toys, furniture, clothes, cats, whatever. She has recently discovered the joys of her vibrating teether. It's a Winnie the Pooh beehive that buzzes when she chomps on it with the proper force and placement. The expression on her face the first time she successfully made it vibrate ... too hysterical for words. Roxi has also become a drool monster. Slobber everywhere, man. All of the above are signs of teething, but Rob and I haven't felt any yet. It would be pretty early - the average age for the first tooth is 7 months - and I understand that teething symptoms can start 2-3 months before the teeth actually break through the skin.

Motor skills. Roxi can roll from her back to her stomach now ... and does so constantly. She's been accidentally rolling from her stomach to her back for a while now. She still hasn't figured out how to pull that maneuver on purpose though, so she gets stuck on her tummy from time to time. I was awakened by rhythmic grunting at 3 a.m. the other night, for example. Roxi had somehow busted out of her foam sleeping triangles, flipped herself over and gotten stuck. I found her on the opposite side of the crib from where she started. A sign of things to come, methinks!

Roxi has also developed a very targeted kung fu grip. She can grab just about anything, and let me tell ya, it's no easy feat to get her to let go. I'm going to have to get a buzz cut, and Rob's glasses have been close to disaster more than once. The cats have learned to give Roxi a 2-foot buffer zone - except for Teton, who apparently doesn't mind having his fur grabbed.

Bright eyes. The Roxster had her first eye exam a couple weeks ago. Seems early, huh? But our eye doc routinely does infant examinations to catch problems early. There weren't any. Roxi passed all the tests with flying colors and was impressively tolerant of all the various lights being beamed into her eyeballs. Her vision is good, and her eyes are working together, tracking well and sending the proper information to her brain. Barring any trouble, she won't go back for another exam until she's 3. Since both Rob and I are blind as bats, we fully expect glasses and/or contacts in Roxi's future. But my brother somehow escaped his inevitable genetics with perfect vision so I suppose there's some hope for the girl.

Data processing. Every detail, texture, sound, action, smell and taste is a vitally important piece of information. This is the impression I get when I watch Roxi. She studies everything. We took a stroll to the farm down the street yesterday; she stared and stared and stared at those animals. The chickens were especially fascinating to her.

Roxi will be 5 months old tomorrow. Perhaps we will celebrate by torturing her with her first taste of green beans.

Like, boo.

Roxi was a parrot for Halloween this year. She got to show off her killer costume at Rob's work Friday and to our neighbors Sunday. We were impressed with how little she messed with the hood on both occasions.

Roxi wants a cracker!

Hangin' with dad the day before Halloween.

Roxi's first pumpkin carving experience. She didn't get to use any knives, of course, but she did enjoy squishing the guts. The hard part was keeping her from eating them.

The final product - Rob and I were less than impressed with our efforts initially, but our feline gourd looked pretty decent with a candle inside.

Reilly gets in on the action.

Halloween rules!

Gotta dig the spiffy new fleece coat for the chilly fall air. Roxi is also sporting her koala slippers that her Uncle Tyler got for her in Australia.

To our delight, Roxi still loves books. We usually read to her twice a day - several books during morning playtime and one before bed (as in this picture).

A new toy! Rob and Gamma Rose picked out this super cool exersaucer for our on-the-go girl. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the bottom is like an inverted frisbee. So when Roxi shifts her weight it moves - turning her into a giant Weeble Wobble. She loves being upright and pushing off with her legs, so this is big time fun.

CHOMP

Culinary Delights

Saturday, October 16 was Roxi's first foray into the wonderful world of solid food. I was all gung ho to start giving her chocolate bars and steak sandwiches, but instead it's just going to be rice cereal for a while. Rice cereal is fine, flaky stuff. Not unlike powdered milk. And depending on how much formula (or water) is added, it's the consistency of cream, thick soup, oatmeal or pudding.

Roxi's first "solid" food meal was more like serving her formula on a spoon, but it sure was fun. She didn't really take to it - cried nearly the whole way through. However, that was my fault because I didn't take the edge off her appetite first with a bottle. Now we know the drill: bottle first, then cereal. And now she seems to like it.

She's been eating about 2-3 teaspoons of cereal at one meal a day (she's down to 4 meals per day now). Her Gamma Rose was visiting last weekend and helped perfect Roxi's preferred consistency - less like gruel, more like thick pudding. We'll probably move on to more exciting and colorful things like green beans and bananas in a few weeks.

She looks so grown up sitting in her feeding chair with her bib. Like she could strike up a conversation about fine art and nibble on some hors d'ouevres. She looks less sophisticated once the cereal comes out though. Why swallow it all when you can spit some out and smear it on your face, after all? What fun is a bib if you're not going to use it? My favorite childhood picture of my brother Lee is one in which he's sitting in his high chair, covered from head to toe in chocolate pudding. I think of it - and him - every time Roxi eats.

We're taking a short break from the cereal right now because Roxi is going through a slow eating phase (again), and it's more important for her to eat all of her formula - packed with vitamins, iron and whatnot - than dabble in cereal.

She's also been stubborn about napping and we want to see if solid food might be the culprit. I doubt it has anything to do with the cereal though. Roxi has started to learn the power of crying, and I think she's just testing the limits when naptime comes around. Feisty! It's hysterical.

Here comes the train ...

Mmmm, mmm. Rice cereal is good stuff ... to wear.

Not EXACTLY solid food, but Roxi is starting to really enjoy some toe chomping. Her bulky cloth diapers prevent her from doing this when she's dressed. So she relishes the changing table time. For some reason, her left foot is tastier than the right.

Big Girl Stats

Roxi got her 4-month checkup this week, and she came through with flying colors. First, I must reiterate how much Rob and I love our doctor. He's such a sweetheart ... in addition to being a fine medical professional. Dr. P told us Roxi is beautiful and couldn't be doing any better. See why we like this guy?

Anyway, here are the latest numbers:

• 13 pounds, 12 oz. - in the 50th percentile for weight
• 25.5 inches - in the 90th percentile for length
• 16.5 inches - in the 75th percentile for head circumference

Dr. P told us it was normal for bottle-fed babies to lag a bit behind their breast-fed peers in weight at this age and that they catch up later. Not that Roxi's weight is considered low right now, but we can probably expect her to jump up in the percentile in a few months. Her height, on the other hand, may well stay ahead of the curve throughout. Tall girl.

Roxi was also given gold stars for her developmental milestones: holding her head up, bearing weight on her legs, smiling, using her eyes in tandem, rolling over one way, cooing and "talking", reaching for objects, successfully grabbing objects, sleeping through the night, etc. She's apparently right on track. The books I'm reading say the same thing, but it's much nicer to hear it from the doc.

The shots were the same as last time. Three big wonkin' needles. However, her reaction was much better this time. Roxi barely cried and had only a mild reaction to the vaccinations. She had a low-grade fever for the first night and was slightly cranky the next day. No big deal. Rob and I are constantly amazed at her good behavior.

This is Roxi's favorite game: "flying" with her dad. Rob lifts her over his head slowly and she laughs all the way. You can see how strong her neck, back and legs are getting!

Roxi's patented frog face. She's concentrating very hard on her play gym chicken ...

Playing with her super fun beach toys. Mmmmmm, tasty.

The left thumb is a one-way ticket to sleepyville.

Here's Roxi on her first official playdate. She appears to be saying, "Hey, check it out!" to her bud Hailey.

Bagpipes Are Loud

This is one of the many new things Roxi learned today when she attended her first parade. It's homecoming weekend here (at Colorado State University), and the parade those wacky CSU Rams put on is pretty impressive.

Roxi and I strolled the few blocks to the beginning of the parade route this morning and got a primo spot. I think Roxi was most fascinated by the bright yellow CAUTION tape separating the crowd from the participants, but she definitely looked up whenever something booming came by. There were several marching bands (one that included bagpipes), fire trucks, amplified singing groups and Shriner cars - all of which caught her attention. We watched for almost an hour before heading home again. I think there was at least another hour's worth to see, but a girl needs her beauty sleep ... and her bottle.

2nd Time's the Charm and Frog Facedness

Roxi attended her second wedding last Saturday. You may recall that her first wedding was a rather quick and unsuccessful appearance. This time, however, she was a peach. Well, actually a pineapple - she wore a very cute pineapple dress ensemble from her Mimi. The bride was quite lovely, too, but Roxi was the most beautiful one there in my humble opinion. Anyway, we all had a great time. Roxi was having too much fun to nap, so we did have to leave to avoid a total exhaustion meltdown. But she was a party girl for more than 5 hours straight. Ya can't ask for more.

The latest trick in Roxi's playbook is making a very deliberate frog face when she's thinking. Her lips squish together and it almost looks like she's chewing. Her little brow furrows and she seems to be focusing so HARD. She's been doing this a lot when she "plays" with her blocks lately. She just stares and stares, face all froggy and hands getting ever more accurate with their aim.

Roxi will be 4 months old next week. I have mixed feelings about her doctor's appointment. On the one hand, I can't wait to find out how much she weighs, how long she is, where she falls on all the growth curves, etc. And as usual, we have a long list of questions to ask Dr. P. I'm most interested in hearing his opinion on when to start solid foods. But the bad part is ... she'll be getting shots again. So we're anticipating a few more days of crankiness and fever. Oh well, it's necessary and good in the long run. If only those needles weren't so dang huge.

Hands, Hands, Hands

It is just amazing to me how much more control Roxi has over her body every day. If the learning curve stayed that steep into adulthood, we'd all be levitating acrobats by now.

The random arm flailing has been replaced by specific batting, reaching and grabbing. She still thwacks herself in the side with her right arm when she gets excited (does this mean she'll be right handed, we wonder?), but you can see her brain working most of the time trying to get her arms where she wants. Such concentration in her little face. That expression used to be a sure sign of pooping. Now she's getting thoughtful about all sorts of things. Though pooping is still right up there, of course.

Her fingers are much more dexterous as well. Roxi's Mimi got her a stuffed beach bucket full of little stuffed toys, and they are just the right size for wee hands. Her favorite at the moment is the tiny clam, which is bright yellow, makes fun crinkly sounds when handled and has a mirror inside. She puts the death grip on that puppy, and it makes her day when she can successfully bring it to her mouth.

Other things Roxi likes to grab are: the chicken in her play gym, the clothes of anyone who is holding her, her clothes - particularly sleeves, Teton (our big, black cat - the only one of our cats who will get close enough for extended periods of time), my hair, Rob's goatee and, well, OK ... just about anything now that I think about it.

Roly Poly

I finally saw Roxi in the act of rolling over. Hoo boy, she's a swirly girl these days. Anyway, she achieves her back-to-stomach motion by wedging one of her feet between the crib slats and giving a kick. Our friend Scott noted that she must be very advanced to already be using tools to achieve her goals. But with a dad like Rob, I would be more surprised if she DIDN'T start using tools at an early age.

The funny thing is that she doesn't roll from her stomach to her back. She's done that on a few occasions, but not regularly. Nowadays, when we put Roxi on her stomach for exercise, she does quite the opposite. Instead of working her neck and back muscles by pushing up, she puts her head to the side and sucks her fingers. If we let her stay like that, she'd put herself to sleep. Very cute, but not useful for muscular development.

It's OK though, she's getting plenty of exercise in different ways. She loves being carried upright, so she can look over our shoulders - into mirrors, at the cats, around the room, whatever. Roxi is taking it all in these days. She turns her head to follow things with her eyes and ears. She also can sit up (with gobs of assistance) and now prefers that to laying in her play gym. She also digs being held up "standing" - she can support her own weight for several seconds at a time. Her legs get unpredictably wobbly though, so we're a ways away from marathon training.

Breaking New Ground

There are so many new stories to tell about the Roxster ... it's a bit overwhelming. So I'm going to do this laundry-list style:

Saturday, Aug. 28

• First plane ride - Roxi was a dreamboat for both legs of the trip. She didn't cry a lick. Rob and I discover the beauty of family restrooms in airports (kudos to St. Louis and RDU).
• First pseudo-train ride at the Denver airport (the one that goes between terminals). First rental car ride in a snazzy PT Cruiser (a free upgrade).
• Roxi meets Uncle Ray for the first time and has a happy reunion with Aunt Christa in Durham.
• Roxi meets Mimi and Uncle Tyler and has a happy reunion with Granddad.

Sunday, Aug. 29

• Roxi meets Uncle Lee and gets her first taste of North Carolina sun.

Monday, Aug. 30

• Roxi meets Great Nanna and G-Daddy Warren, and Great Uncle Hal. We all celebrate Granddad's birthday at dinner that night.

Wednesday, Sept. 1

• First celebrity sighting - actor Chris Noth (we know him best for his Sex and the City role of Mr. Big).

Thursday, Sept. 2

• Toes in the Atlantic Ocean! Roxi is a natural.

Friday, Sept. 3

• First flat tire - the PT Cruiser takes a small hit, and Roxi supervises while Rob and Uncle Ray put on the spare.

Saturday, Sept. 4

• Roxi meets Gigi, G-pop and Great Aunt Pat, and has a happy reunion with Nanna.
• Dinner is a magnificent occasion, with Gigi, G-pop, Nanna, Uncle Lee, Aunt Christa, Uncle Ray, Great Aunt Pat, Rob and I all enjoying steak together. Roxi, no doubt overcome by the number of people in attendance in her honor, cries during most of the meal.

Sunday, Sept. 5

• Roxi meets buddies Joey and Jack (nearly 4) and Tobin (almost 1) as well as their parents: Chris, Amy, Scott and Stephanie. It is magical mayhem.

Monday, Sept. 6

• First breakfast at Elmo's in Durham with Aunt Christa and Uncle Ray. We feel sure Roxi will partake of Elmo's many times in her life.
• More plane rides - Roxi is an angel baby again. No crying. Lots of laughing.

Tuesday, Sept. 7

• Roxi rolls from her back to her stomach all by herself. She was supposed to be napping in her crib, but instead she flipped herself over and wiggled around. Go girl!

Thursday, Sept. 9

• First play date with pal Hailey, who is the daughter of Dola and Shannon. Dola and Shannon, in addition to being good friends, threw our baby shower before Roxi was officially on the scene (and we, in turn, threw theirs).
• Dinner party at John and Reaghan's, who recently got engaged.

Friday, Sept. 10

• First cold. It was bound to happen sooner or later - we had a long string of good health. We went to the doctor after a night of coughing (on Roxi's part) and sleeplessness (on Rob's and my part). The prognosis: most likely a virus. There's not much to be done. She can't take a decongestant because she's too young. However, it's really not that bad - just a head cold. So we have the humidifier going and have her sleeping in her car seat in her crib to keep the yucky stuff draining. Roxi, true to form, is getting through it with a great attitude. She's her normal cheery self for the most part.

Saturday, Sept. 11

• The cold is better already. Seems to be nearly gone during the day and a bit worse at night, which makes sense. So aside from not sleeping through the night (Roxi had been consistently snoozing for 9 hours straight previously!), it's basically business as usual around here. Our girl is such a good sport - even with a cold.

Roxi is sporting her best "Yarg!" pirate face here. She has recently started reaching out for things (toys, fingers, whatever) and exploring them by cramming them in her mouth. Here, she's in the process of chomping on her good buddy Monkey.

The picture is grainy because it was taken without a flash at night (didn't want to wake the sweet girl). This is our latest attempt to even out Roxi's lopsided head. So far, so good: she seems much more likely to look left these days. And her head looks a bit rounder ... though Rob and I might just be seeing what we want to see.

Happy, happy girl! 

Firsts

Roxi went to her first wedding on Saturday. She looked adorable in her white and pink dress with wee white sneakers to match. I snapped a photo on the way out the door, which turned out to be good thinking. She was a sweet little angel right until the ceremony started. And then, whoa. The girl cried and cried. Rob removed her from the area (it was an outdoor wedding on CSU's campus). She seemed to calm down afterwards, so we went inside for the reception ... where our darling girl proceeded to wail. Roxi already knows how to make an entrance, it would seem. Needless to say, we bagged the whole affair. Signed the guest book on the way out so at least the bride and groom would know we were there, stopped at the liquor store and Big City Burrito on the way home for sustenance and then enjoyed our burritos and large martinis while Roxi slept happily in her swing.

Then, on Sunday, and this makes me giddy just typing it, Roxi said "mom" for the first time. I swear. Rob was right next to me and heard it, too. Of course, she had no idea what she was saying. Roxi has become quite the babbler of late, and "mom" was just one of the syllables that came out. But it was crystal clear, and she paused a bit after saying it - and before launching into her next nonsensical soliloquy.

The hard part lately has been evenings. Roxi has been screaming consistently for the past several nights, sometimes for several hours. It nearly brought me to tears last night. I have a new appreciation for parents of colicky babies. Anyway, the crying seems to be gas-related. She arches her back, shoots out her little legs and wails. We were concerned that it might have something to do with switching to formula, but the crying only happens in the evening. I broke down and called the doctor today. Rhonda, his wonderful nurse, recommended giving Roxi gas relief medicine in the afternoon and again in the early evening. If that doesn't do the trick in 3-4 days, she said to put 1 1/2 teaspoons of dark Karo syrup in her afternoon bottle. Interesting, huh? The Karo syrup apparently helps with constipation. This story might already have a happy ending though. No screaming so far tonight. Fingers crossed ...

Making the Scene

A random assortment of things to blog today ...

Roxi went to her first picnic today. No three-legged races or tug-of-war for the sweet girl yet, but she seemed to have a nice time at Rob's work soiree. She got to hang out with her friend Lucas (the son of work buddies who is 2 weeks older than Roxi), and Rob and I got to eat BBQ and hang out. It was the perfect day as well - 70 degrees and sunny.

The pump has officially been retired. Roxi is on formula now. And though I still wish so much that breastfeeding would have worked, I am happy to have lots more time to play, read, bathe, laugh with and generally spoil my daughter. Not to mention how happy I am not to have to hook myself up to that infernal machine several times a day (mooooo). So, Roxi ended up getting 9 weeks of breast milk, and I've decided to get over the guilt and make peace with that. Here's the weird thing: I had lots of stored milk in the freezer, which I thought would result in another week or so of feedings. However, it didn't agree with Roxi. It gave her gas, made her cry and came back up on a couple of occasions. Freezer burn, I guess. The formula, on the other hand, is sitting with her quite well. If anyone hears of coupons or special offers on Enfamil, I'm all ears :)

And ya know what they say about formula resulting in stinkier poo than breast milk? All true.

Roxi is really starting to get control of her hands. She routinely reaches out for our fingers and her monkey toy. You can tell she wants to stuff everything in her mouth, but she hasn't quite figured that out yet. Though she has gotten pretty close to shoving her entire fist in there. Maybe this means she'll be a dentist ... or a fire eater.

We're getting close to the beautiful day when Roxi sleeps through the night. She went nearly 6 hours last night, and is getting more and more content to hang out in her crib after she wakes up - giving her parents a few extra minutes of shut-eye. Lovely child!

And last but not least, a self-centered note from the mom: I fit into a pair of pre-pregnancy jeans this week. They used to be loose and now they're a bit tight, but STILL.

Wordy Rappinghood

First, an addendum to the last post. Roxi did indeed experience some after-effects from her immunizations: a low-grade fever for 2 days and general fussiness. The Tylenol we gave her for the fever also seemed to make her sluggish and sleepy. So she wasn't our normal sunshine girl until today. Saturday night, in fact, I took her to Urgent Care because she cried for a half hour straight. Now, I understand that babies cry, but Roxi had never screamed so loud for so long before ... and I got scared. The diagnosis? Gas. The very sweet nurses and doctor were polite enough not to call me an overly paranoid and ridiculous mom (at least not to my face).

The upshot of all of this is that Roxi is just super now. Rob and I drove her all over the place today: to brunch at a fun Mexican place in Old Town, to the bookstore, to our favorite second-hand children's clothing store (we were shopping for a semi-fancy outfit for her to wear to a wedding next weekend) and then to Denver, where she met Rob's high school bud Sheryl and her husband Kevin who were driving through town. Roxi was a dreamboat the entire day.

But I digress. The reason I'm typing this post is to document Roxi's first pseudo-words. She's turned into quite the proficient gurgler. And she seems to have picked up a love of Mexican food from her Grandpa Wessel ... if you listen very carefully, she clearly will say "hola" and "guac" among her other babbles. Otherwise, it's a lot of "a-goo" and "ahhh" and "oooo". Rob has requested that we work on "dada" more. I won't be surprised if her first intentional word is "monkey" (her favorite toy to date) or "swingies" (her favorite activity) or "manatee" (the subject of my current favorite book of hers, which I read to her daily). Or she might start with "NO! (insert cat name here)!" - a common exclamation in our house.

What's up, Doc?

Happy birthday to Roxi - she's 2 months old today. And cuter than ever, if I do say so myself. Hey, the doctor even said she was ultra cute, so it MUST be true. Rob pointed out that he is probably equally enthusiastic about his other patients. Always the pragmatist, that one.

Anyway, here are the latest stats:
- 10 lbs., 11.5 oz.: in the 50th percentile for her age
- 23" long: 75th percentile
- 15.75" head circumference: 80th percentile (and no worries about the flat spot on her noggin - it's normal and will sort itself out as she gets older and spends more time sitting up, crawling, etc.)
- A clean bill of health: Dr. P gave her the thumbs up in every category

Plus, Roxi weathered her first immunizations with style ... OK, and some screaming. She got three shots today - two in one thigh, one in the other. The needles were super huge, so I can't blame the girl for being bummed out. However, the nurse was wonderfully quick. Roxi didn't realize what was happening until the second shot, and it was all over lickety split. We popped a bottle in her mouth, and she was good to go. As for after-effects, she's been fussy. But no fever, redness or swelling.

I also have to add how wonderful our doctor is. Such a sweet guy in addition to being a great at what he does. And the staff at his office - especially the nurses - are equally brilliant. We couldn't be happier with our care (he's our doc in addition to Roxi's).

Soggy Shoulders

Hooo-eeee, the chile can drool. When I put Roxi on my shoulder to burp her, she chews on my neck. When she's in her car seat, she attempts to eat one of the straps. Last week, she was laying next to her dad on the sofa and starting chowing on his clothes ... giving "eat my shorts" a whole new meaning for the ol' Tusselwupper family. So there are drooly spots all over the place these days. At one time in my life, I would have thought that was gross. Now, it's precious. Go figure.

Roxi found her feet today; the first time that's happened as far as I can remember. We went to meet Rob for lunch. Roxi was sporting her stripy orange and yellow socks that her Nanna bought for her. And dang if she didn't stare at them for half the lunch. Time to break out the foot rattles, methinks.

August 5 marks the Roxster's 2-month birthday. Instead of a big cake and party, she gets to go to the doctor for her first immunizations. I suspect this will come up in therapy somewhere down the line. Anyway, Rob and I are looking forward to the visit so we can ask the long list of questions we've been compiling and so we can see how much our little peanut has grown. She's already starting to pop out of her newborn (0-3 month) clothes and is getting ever stronger (oy, the girl can kick!). Can't wait to find out the particulars. I'm dreading the immunization part though. Other new moms tell me they cried as much as their babies. Yipes.

As far as looks go, I'm starting to see more and more of Rob in her, particularly in the eyes and nose. She and her dad also stretch in exactly the same way and have the same warm core temperature. I can tell I'm going to be wearing a lot of sweatshirts in the future; I'll be outnumbered when it comes time to set the thermostat. Other physical notes: her nose "acne" has almost cleared up completely, the birthmark on her forehead is about the same, she's developed a bit of a heat rash that flares up during hot car rides, her eyelashes are a mile long and dark now, the Buddha belly is looking good and her head is lopsided because she always looks right. Asleep or awake, she just prefers looking to the right. I've read that this is normal, that most babies favor one side or the other and get funky head shapes as a result, but Rob and I are going to ask the doc about it on Thursday anyway.

Going out to eat has become a bit of a challenge. Whereas before she would sleep through outings, now she gets excited by new surroundings. She doesn't want to miss anything, I guess. This is cool, stimulus-wise, but she ends up making herself overtired and then a fuss biscuit soon after. Think it'll be take-out for us when we want a treat until she gets over this phase.

Good news though, Roxi had her first slumber party and did great. We all went to Boulder and spent the night with good friends Scott and Renee (along with Denver buds Jen and Mike) on Saturday. Cookout, bocce tournament, hanging out, loud outbursts ... Roxi dealt with it all like a champ and slept just like she normally does. Gold star for the girl! This bodes very well for our North Carolina trip at the end of the month.

A Real Page Turner

I've been reading to Roxi almost every day for the past couple of weeks, and today she actually focused on the pictures in the book for the first time. She's been capable of it for a while, but I guess I finally got the timing of the activity just right (post feeding, prior to napping, with a perky demeanor). Her attention span lasted for two books ... not bad!

Clicky McGee

Huge breakthrough last night: Roxi has started to mimic sounds. OK, she's not reciting the Gettysburg Address or anything, but she is clicking her tongue. We think it's pretty exciting. She's been copying facial expressions for a while now, but the noises are new. In fact, Roxi is getting more and more vocal in general. She "talks" to her toys and us regularly. We pretend like we know what the heck she's saying.

Other lovely developments: big smiles, little herky jerky laughs (particularly in her sleep, which is hysterical), reaching for her favorite monkey toy, staring at her hands, birth hair being replaced by a thick peach fuzz (looks blond-ish, but it's hard to tell), eyes still blue, graduating to the next size up in diaper wraps (the cloth diaper thing is going great, FYI) and getting more and more squirmy.

Pumpkin Head

Rob says Roxi is developing a very proper pumpkin head, and I must agree. Pumpkin head, Buddha belly and double chin ... just like a good baby should. In our eyes, she is getting more adorable every day. Please note though that we are more than a little biased.

Roxi got weighed yesterday at my breastfeeding support group. The breastfeeding part of this equation is still not happening; I am pumping milk and feeding it to her via bottle. So she's still getting mama's milk ... just not exactly the way nature intended. Oh well, she's been a non-conformist like that from the beginning: she presented breech late in the pregnancy so we had a procedure done to flip her around, she proceeded down the birth canal during labor only to get stuck at the last second, she came out through the sunroof and now she's insisting on having her food her way. We've got a live one, I tell ya.

Anyway, the upshot of all of this is that she's happy, healthy and gaining weight like a champ. She's up to a whopping 9 pounds, 14 ounces now. Go girl.

Welcome to Roxi Land

My brilliant sister-in-law Christa has introduced me to the wonderful world of blogging, which is essentially online journaling. It's easy and nifty ... and since I type 12,000 times faster than I write, it's the perfect way for me to keep everyone who wants to know updated on the zesty chronicles of Roxi. Thanks Christa!
 
Perhaps I will be on top of things enough to post a new message every day, but probably not. You can count on weekly updates though, complete with new pictures and resplendent tales of sleep, poop, feeding and chewing on things. You know, the staples of babyhood.
 
Roxi will be 6 weeks old tomorrow. I am simultaneously blown away by how short and long that is. I almost can't remember life without her and yet 6 weeks seems so OLD. Anyway, I won't try to recount her life up to this point. The memory of a sleep-deprived first mom is not to be trusted. Suffice it to say that she's a cutie with fully developed bodily functions (use your imagination). She's enjoyed visits from her granddad, nanna, grandma and grandpa, gamma and aunt thus far. And she's really starting to entertain our 4 cats.
 
And so let the fun begin ...