All about Clarissa!

Clarissa is 6 months old! Here is her life so far in review:

FIRST MONTH

~Favorite Things~: Nursing, being Swaddled, cuddling close and listening to a heartbeat, listening to familiar voices
~Least Favorite Things~: Baths, changing clothes, gas
~Things That Make us Laugh~: The cry that sounds like a question, the octave jump "I'm tired" cry, saying "Hi" with a sigh, snoring
~Important Events~: Visits from family

SECOND MONTH

~Favorite Things~: Being swaddled, looking at trees and angel friends, watching sister, watching the stars and bear on the mobile on her swing
~Least Favorite Things~: Gas, riding in the car
~Things That Make us Laugh~: The octave jump "I'm tired" cry, yelling through her bottle, snoring
~Important Events~: Mommy's birthday, first trip to the Gorge, Grandma Cannon's funeral

THIRD MONTH

~Favorite Things~: Being swaddled, exercising at her gym, playing with sister, smiling at the stars and bear on her mobile on her swing, Being a shoulder Bug
~Least Favorite Things~: Gas
~Things That Make us Laugh~: Her hair that sticks straight up in the back no matter what Mommy does with it and increasingly looks like antennae, Yelling "Ligga ligga" at her bink while trying to go to sleep, snoring
~Important Events~: Visiting with the Schneiders both at their house and ours

FOURTH MONTH

~Favorite Things~: Being swaddled, exercising at her gym, playing with sister, Being a shoulder Bug, a baby massage (riding in grocery store carts in parking lots)
~Least Favorite Things~: Being away from Mommy
~Things That Make us Laugh~: Finding her voice and experimenting with it! Yelling "Ligga ligga" through her bink while trying to go to sleep
~Important Events~: Great Grandma Madison's 90th birthday party

FIFTH MONTH

~Favorite Things~: Being swaddled, exercising at her gym, playing with toys on the floor, playing with sister, holding one parent and looking at the other, bathtime, being a morning Bug, watching a Baby Movie, a baby massage
~Least Favorite Things~: Being away from Mommy, getting stuck on her tummy
~Things That Make us Laugh~: More vocal experimentation, Tasting Mommy's shoulder/generally sticking her tongue out
~Important Events~: Blessing

SIXTH MONTH

~Favorite Things~: Being swaddled, being rocked, exercising at her gym, playing with toys on the floor, playing with sister, playing air guitar with Daddy, pinching Mommy's cheeks, stealing Mommy's glasses, dancing, watching a Baby Movie, a baby massage
~Least Favorite Things~: Her self-designed schedule not being adhered to, getting stuck on her tummy
~Things That Make us Laugh~: Blowing raspberries
~Important Events~: First General Conference

SEVENTH MONTH

~Favorite Things~: Being swaddled, being rocked, playing with toys on the floor, playing with sister, playing air guitar with Daddy, pinching/clawing Mommy's cheeks, feasts (baby food with rice cereal mixed in), dancing, a baby massage, a baby movie, rolling over and over again
~Least Favorite Things~: Her schedule not being adhered to, teething
~Things That Make us Laugh~: Her new range of sounds, babbling in a language that sounds rather German
~Important Events/Milestones~: Thanksgiving, rolling over both ways

EIGHTH MONTH

~Favorite Things~: Being swaddled, being rocked, playing with sister, rolling all over - then scooting - then crawling, feasts, playing with Aunties and Cousins, insisting that she is a Bed Bug (refusing to sleep anywhere but in bed with Mommy while at Amy's for Christmas, a baby massage, a baby movie, playing in the exersaucer
~Least Favorite Things~: Her schedule not being adhered to, cutting her first two teeth. What a relief though when they finally came in!
~Things That Make us Laugh~: Lecturing
~Important Events/Milestones~: Christmas, cutting first two teeth, crawling, saying "Dada", waving and saying "Hi" (she has done both on and off but it starting to be more purposeful about it.

5 months

I don't know what to say right now other than this: If the unfolding of events in the past several days had gone just a tiny bit differently, I could easily have lost someone very precious to me. I am so very VERY thankful that the Lord shaped the way things happened, and prevented things that might otherwise have gone quite differently.

You run a tight ship, Captain Milkbeard!

A little bit of back story . . .

Clarissa was born with a very cute cry. After the ear-shattering screams that Carolyn often blessed us with, it was a welcome change! For the first 2 weeks, her cries raised in pitch before she would stop to take a breath like she was asking a question. I could just imagine what was going through her mind, "What is going on? My tummy hurts and I don't know why?", etc.

That didn't last long, but then she adopted her trademark "I'm tired" cry. I tried not to laugh at her but man most of the time I just couldn't help it. It was a very classic "Ahhh" sound, but it jumped an octave in the middle. If she was beyond tired she would do it several times in a row, with the starting pitch raising after every few repetitions. A handful of times, she did that and then get so upset when she was at the top of her range that she'd kind of "tarzanate" on it . . . kind of sounded like revving and engine. That was truly comical.

I was very sad when that cry stopped. After that one, all of her cries had some sort of "aye aye aye" in it. So we started saying "Aye, aye, captain" to her a lot. Last week while just babbling and playing with me, she said something that sounded astonishingly like "ahoy", which totally cracked me up. Then that same day Craig came to say hi to her while she was drinking a bottle, and in below her ear-to-ear grin, her chin was covered with milk. Craig said, "Ahoy Captain Milkbeard", and we busted up. The nick-name stuck, so now she is both a Bug and a Pirate.

I say that she runs a tight ship because she has put herself on a schedule, and she is very serious about it. She spits up a lot, and since her skin doesn't react to baths the way that Carolyn's did, we bathe her almost every night. Bathtime is at 8:00 and if I am late she yells about it. She likes to go to bed at 9:00, and if I try to rock her or anything beyond that time, she almost always yells and arches her back until I put her in her bassinet. Then she is perfectly happy and goes right to sleep. She does that sometimes for her naps, but not nearly as much. Funny girl.

Our little Captain Milkbeard runs a tight ship indeed, which is really probably for the best because it keeps the rest of us on a schedule as well, and that is something that is beneficial to everyone.

Teething and random medleys

So Clarissa has been teething the past few weeks. She is a total drool monster, and it's so weird because it's her bottom canines that are pushing for some strange reason. A couple of weeks ago she was so funny and miserable that I was worried there was something else going on and took her to get checked out for an ear infection. Turns out it really was just the teeth, and we found out while we were there that she is up to 13 1/2 pounds! Big girl. She recently found her voice and talks non-stop. She is quite the chatterbox, and it is pretty darn cute.

Carolyn is growing smarter every day and is always impressing me with what a dedicated big sister she is, and just generally cracking me up. Often if Clarissa starts to cry and I can't get to her right away, B will say, "Mommy, Clarissa is crying!", then run over there and say, "I got her. You're okay Clarissa, you're okay". B loves to sing and sings all the time while she is playing, etc. She has learned so many songs in the past couple of months between nursery and visiting my Mom that she sometimes gets confused as to what goes with what. For example, "Lead me, guide me, walk beside me, help me find the way. Teach me all that I must do . . . Oh the doo-dah day". Another funny one that I have no idea where she heard is "We will, we will rocket ship (rather than rock you).

Clarissa's latest stats

Our little bug had an appointment today and it's close enough to the 2 month marker that we just got all that stuff out of the way, meaning immunizations. Poor cried harder than I have ever heard her cry and has had a hard day. All things considered though she is pretty cheerful this evening. She is now a little over 7 weeks.

11 lbs 10 oz (up exactly 3 lbs from birth)
22.5 inches (up exactly 2 inches from birth)
head 15.5 cm (up exactly 1 cm from birth)

Everything is on track developmentally, and she is doing just great! Now to convince her to sleep less during the day and more at night . . .

More recent pics