Friday, November 20, 2009

Baby Yoga

Happy Friday, everyone! In honor of the impending weekend, Michaela and I decided to try something new and fun today. At one of my baby showers I was gifted a yoga-for-babies DVD. It looked interesting, so I spread out the yoga mat and popped it in. What should have been an indication to me right away was Kenji's reaction to the menu screen. It pictured a cute little baby sitting in what is apparently "baby ready for yoga" pose. Kenji took one look at the TV and began growling fiercely, fur standing up all along her back. I tried to reassure her that the baby was not actually dangerous, but Kenji would not be convinced and I had to put her outside.

But back to the DVD... the intro has a professional yoga mother with every highlighted hair perfectly in place talking about how these exercises encourage bonding (great), help babies' digestion (Michaela doesn't have much of a problem with this) and take "nearly twice as long of naps" as they do without the yoga routine (greater still!). As we followed the short routines along with the mothers and their beautiful, sweetly cooing babies on the screen, I began to notice a disparity between the TV babies and my own. My own refused to bend her knees and thus form the "chair pose." She began cackling mischievously as I encouraged her to do the chair pose, and stuck her legs out even straighter. While TV babies looked lovingly at their mommies, Michaela began to wiggle and complain, looking as if she would rather be elsewhere. During what was supposed to be calming and soothing for the babies while they lie on mommy's tummy and listen to her heartbeat, Michaela began grunting and started scooting her way up towards my face. I put her back on my tummy and she courageously began the climb again. When all was said and done, Michaela was crying, not cooing. It also turns out today wasn't the day for the double-length nap. It took her 45 minutes to calm down and then she only slept for another fitful 45 minutes. Hmmm. Maybe we'll try again another day, or maybe we'll stick with our own exercise plan.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

The past few days have been full of excitement. For example, today Michaela and I took our first trip to the car dealership together to get the oil changed. Thrills and excitement for everyone. On another day, the natural-born shopper in our family revealed his true colors by bringing home a cute Blazers onesie outfit. (A sidenote: I figured out that bibs really are helpful for something and not just fashion accessories. They make quick work of substantial baby drool.) Thanks to her daddy Michaela was able to strut her stuff and cheer loudly for her favorite team...although she's not allowed to watch any TV, so we had to give her the play-by-play so she would know when to yell and/or cheer. Look how cute my favorite Blazers fans are! Aunt Abbey and Uncle Dave came down for a weekend visit, and Michaela was spoiled by being held (a lot). She doesn't seem to mind. The grim face in the picture isn't an accurate depiction of Michaela's feelings, I'm sure. She grinned at Abbey a lot, too! We also had the fun of going to our friends' home for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner together - something we hope to make a tradition. This year we are all blessed with the addition, or impending addition, of children. Thanksgiving next year is going to be a noisier, messier, but just as joyful affair.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Three Months of Mommyhood

Over the weekend, Michaela reached another milestone - 3 months of age! Adam and I are also celebrating. We figure it should be easier from here on out - or at least less sleep deprived, right?! So, at 3 months, what is Michaela doing? Well, as seen above, she loves to show how strong she is... she can support her entire bodyweight on her stiff little legs. She is also proving to be a little thumb-sucker. Don't let the sleeping angelic face fool you, though - right now she has awakened from her all-too-short nap in the next room and is screaming her head off. I'm trying to tell myself it's just because she misses her mommy. Lastly, Michaela participated in her first game of Bunco on Sunday. Granted, after being oohed and aahed over for about 15 minutes, she proceeded to fall fast asleep on my shoulder, but no one should take that as a commentary on how exciting Bunco is.