Cutest in the world

Tonight Hans and I took a little video of Zaia Bee waking up from her nap. It’s pretty much the cutest thing in the world.

Update with photos!

Since I’ve been so bad with photos the past few weeks, I’ll post an entry low on the text and heavy on the photos.

Zaia has been delightful lately. She likes to lay on her playmat and stare at the toys, she coos and smiles and wiggles like a mad little worm.
She also has a lovely 5-6 1/2 hour sleep during the night .. followed by a feeding and another 3 hour stretch. (sometimes another 3 hour one after that too)… so if i’mgood and actually sleep when she does, I’m fully rested! love that.

She’s a bit gassy and is recovering from a rather intense case of baby acne.. she’s now dry and scaley but on the mend.

ok, who needs all these words. on with the photos! (most of these photos are from Thanksgiving or right around there. She turned 5 weeks old 2 days after turkey day)

I love this one of her conversing with my mom

check flickr for more photos

video:

One month old

Today is zb’s one month birthday! We can’t believe she’s already a month old. It feels like we were just at the hospital a few days ago.

Today was her one month pediatrician appointment. She is now 8 lbs 12 oz and about 23 inches. She’s in the 20th percentile for weight and 95th percentile for height! We’ve been given the go-ahead (and in fact some pressure) to up what we feed her. I had felt like we were feeding her so much for a newborn! but in fact, she needs more. She’s got high metabolism and is a tall skinny baby. (although she’s seriously rounding out and her legs are chunking up)
We thought at first that her hair was thinning, but now we’ve decieded it’s actually that her head is growing and so the hair is just spreading out over a larger canvas.

My laptop came back a week earlier than i’d expected, so photos and video to come soon.

Zaia had a shot today and after screaming bloody murder for 30 seconds, she was fully over it. She really has an adorable pouty mad face when she cries. Also we learned a new swaddle and today she had her long nap in her basket and not on one of us, which is a first in the past weeks. She would do so in her first week or so, but since then not so much. We’re hoping this is a trend we can continue (rather than just a side effect of having a shot.. overwhelmed and tired baby)

She’s been fussy the past few days, but overall she’s been a pretty easy baby lately. Sleeping well at night and easy to unfuss during the day (she loves her playmat and being bounced). It was a bit exhausting having to wear her all the time, but she does look really sweet sleeping inside the sling.

dead computer

My laptop died yesterday. There may be no zaia bee blog posts til after thanksgiving. I’ll try to post photos from Hans’ computer sometime this week,but i can’t promise!

laptop is at apple being fixed!

entering week 4

I’ve been very bad with the camera and video this week. Part of that is because if it is daytime, zb wants to be held constantly.. even when asleep. (although this afternoon I finally got her asleep in the sling and was able to transfer her to her basket which i’d placed in the dark of the laundry room in front of a running dryer. I’ve actually been hands free and baby free for about 1.5 hours now! crazy!)

So i only took two photos, one of which is really fuzzy and poor quality. and there’s only one video that I felt was worthy of blogging. I’ll post them near the end.

Zaia has been wonderful at night .. sleeping in a long stretch at the beginning and then medium length stretches after that. She eats and then goes back to sleep. During the day she eats and then is often up for a few hours fussing or just being alert. (or both) I suppose I would prefer a good night sleeper over a less fussy day baby any day!

We’ve gone to visit friends and on a walk for ice cream (for mama, not baby!). She’s getting more and more alert and focused with each day. I love having her on my lap and she stares up into my face with this fascinated “i know you!” expression on her face. (the video i’ll end with has an example. along with the lovely spit up that is a regular part of our life these days)

She’s definitely growing.. and her baby acne seems to be fading away.

She’s entirely in cloth diapers pretty much, at this point. She sure does go through them at a rapid rate!

Hans has started back at work part time this week, and we did ok on our first day alone!

Now for photos & video
sadly the photo I took of hans is of poor quality. sorry about that

interim update

I apologize for delays in updates! zb is all about being held all the time.. even when asleep, so I haven’t had a chance to download the photos off the camera .
Zaia has baby acne, is getting more alert and happy with each day (not that there aren’t lots of screamy cry fests still!) and is pretty much a joy to be around. She loves being carried in a baby carrier like the beco or the sling .. and we go on walks.
Right now she’s been napping in her swing! a rarity… I actually don’t have a baby on me for the first time all day! not that I mind having her on me, she is a cuddley bug.

oops, I hear fussing.
I will come back with a real entry & photos & videos tomorrow!

week 3

Zaia Bee is in her 3rd week. She’s still tiny and sweet but her cheeks are filling out (downright chubby cheeks) and she has more neck creases than she did a week ago!
She’s also been a little less fussy the past few days. More awake alert times without the fussing, which is nice. We can coo at each other and look each other in the eye.
We took her to a friend’s house for dinner and she slept happily in her car seat the entire time we were there. (Meanwhile his baby was wide awake and giggling and SO VERY BIG. at 6 months it’s amazing to think zb will EVER be that big or interactive or heavy)

Today Grandma Cheryl, Grandpa Buzz and Uncle & Aunt Zach and Ayala came for a visit. There was much loving on zb and she was very calm and alert and happy for most (most) of their visit.

(saved this post til following day….)

Now it’s the next day after the family visit and ZB had her 2 week check-up today. (although she’s 2.5 weeks old). She’s now 7 lbs 11 oz (putting her in the 25th percentile for weight) and has grown by 1.5 inches (putting her in the 85% percentile for height!!). She’s a lean baby, and may take awhile to grow into her height.. but her cheeks sure are trying. The pediatrician says she’s growing beautifully and doing well… her health seems good.

Some photos to follow of family visit & some quiet alone alert time with zaia bee. She’s having more and more of those moments. (more photos to be found on flickr)

a sleepy day

Zaia has had a sleepy day. lots of long naps punctuated with food and usually followed by more naps. Right now she’s in her sling and making her sleepy coo noises as she nods off on my chest.

She’s still fussy sometimes and when she is, it’s sometimes for a long time for no reason. but she’s also had a bit more alert awake moments in the past few days.

Yesterday we went to a birthday party in Menlo Park (her longest drive!) where she did very well.. mostly asleep in the sling. Then we went to dinner at her godmamas’ house where they made us raw oysters, tuna poke, an asian noodle dish with shrimp and pineapple.. with glasses of champagne and Jen and Alex followed up that yumminess with Pear Fool which was like a pear pudding in layers with whip cream. Very delicious. a yummy night, just sayin. ZB? she slept. hmm, it’s a theme

We haven’t taken many photos in the past few days.. but there are some videos! there are quite a few to be found on her youtube page (linked to the right where it says “zaia bee has her own youtube page”)

here are a few. One of her alert and awake in her boppy and another of Caryl dancing around with her after we finished dinner (I swear at the end Caryl is NOT about to put her in the stock pot)

Truffle pig

Zaia has a new nickname. We call her Truffle Pig because of how she snorts and snuffles and roots around for food. I think she likes it. I imagine when she’s 12 she’ll especially love her new endearment.

Today we went to a neighborhood cafe for a brownie and a sandwich. The boy behind the counter was looking at me oddly and then said “is there a human in there?” and I opened up the sling a bit so he could see her squished up little sleepy face and he seemed properly awed by her 2 week old awesomeness.

She had her first projectile spit-up today. It was marvelous .. she was sitting on my lap and woo right on the floor. She was unfazed, I must say.

These first few weeks of parenthood are interesting. I feel like we’re always trying to either feed her, soothe her to sleep or worrying that she’s been sleeping too long. In a way it feels like sleep more than even food or diaper changes are the focal point of her life. Feed her and rock her til she sleeps, attempt to wake her with a diaper change when we think she’s slept too long and it’s time to eat again (and thus begin the cycle again). We worry “are we feeding too much?” “are we feeding too little?” “is she awake for too long?” “does she sleep too much?” “are we supposed to be entertaining her somehow more?” “do we talk to her enough? should we sing more?”
I wish she could answer our questions.

Today we read our first book. I read Goodnight Moon while she looked on with furrowed brow. I think she was unimpressed. Especially as soon after she began her monkey screeches of dissatisfaction.

and a few photos. first one of her alert and wide awake but cuddley and quiet (if she’s not in the sling, her head on my chest seems to be her favorite position).
the second of the sunset tonight from the roof deck

baths & slings

Today zaia bee got her first immersion bath (rather than just sponge bathing) and she wasn’t the hugest fan. She turned a little red and fumed and fussed, but pretty soon after she was cooing and rolling around on her back happily. She also got some tummy time on the boppy but that didn’t last long before she was screaming her dissatisfaction. Sadly I didn’t get a photo of tummy time. It’s good for her neck muscles, so i’ll be torturing her with tummy time on a daily basis now!

first a video of post-bath time followed by photos of her fast asleep in the sling right after..