The Fi and Vi Log: Time Flies

I can’t believe Victoria is already 11 12 weeks old. Time is just flying by! She’s grown and now spends time on her tummy and smiles a lot and coos and giggles! It’s so fun to watch! She sort of “talks” to us and is really responsive. I’m thinking she is going to be a little chatterbox, considering how articulate Fiona is and Fiona was never this “chatty” as a baby this early. Victoria is such a joy and I’m so glad we have her.

At first I was really nervous about having two kids, but Victoria is easy enough that the three of us, Fiona, Victoria, and I, go places all the time. Last week we went to the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles, where we met Jen and Elliot and Calliope. We go to the supermarket together, the butcher, Climbing Club, you name it. I think it was months before I ever ventured on an errand with Fiona. Victoria has been to Target more times in the last month than I did in the previous year, it seems (a slight exaggeration, of course). I think it’s because everything was so new and scary when Fiona was a baby, plus there was the whole preemie with immature immune system thing, but still. With kid #2, I can’t stay home because I have kid #1 and also because I am so much more comfortable doing things. We do the food shopping often, something that used to happen as a family outing on weekends before her arrival. Now, I take Fiona to preschool and if we need things, I go to the supermarket after, as long as there is nothing else we need to be doing. It helps that she is not very fussy during the day and that she generally sleeps in the car or the Moby. I nurse her in many places, including Target, many different parking lots, and the trunk of the car at preschool. When we go for walks, I take water, maybe a snack (because I am always hungry), and my phone. When I went for walks with Fiona, at first I think I took everything but the kitchen sink.

Like Fiona, Victoria sleeps better in her own space, so she spends most of her night in the bassinet. She eats one to three times every night, depending on the night. For a long time she was sleeping in bed with John and me (actually on either John or me to be more precise) but one night she was kind of fussing after eating and I figured out that she didn’t want to sleep on me, she wanted to spread out. So ever since then, when she eats in the middle of the night, I put her back in her bassinet. I hope this lasts and bodes well for the eventual transition to a crib. It’s funny, when she is awake, I don’t think Victoria looks anything like Fiona, but when she sleeps, she looks exactly like her; same expressions, same habit of spreading out like a starfish, same little sighs. Fiona loves her own bed and I hope Victoria will too.

One difference between the two of them is that Fiona did not really like being carried in the Moby. She loved the Ergo. Victoria loves the Moby and falls asleep whenever I put her in it, even if she is wide awake. Even if I want her to stay awake. It’s kind of handy because it allows me to do things with Fiona, especially outside the house. It’s not so great if we are out and about all day because then she takes longer to go to sleep at night. Fiona was very regular with her sleep hours, Victoria is not. But, Victoria has slept five to six hours in a row many times. So my experience with one is not really helping or informing my experience with the other.

Something they do have in common is sensitive skin. If someone wearing perfume or clothes washed in scented detergent or dryer sheets holds her, her face turns red and breaks out. I thought it was a food sensitivity but after cutting out what I thought was causing the break-out, watching her skin clear up then flare up again with no dietary change, I figured out what it was. I noticed she would clear on the weekends, then by Tuesday look like a teenager. The worst would be Wednesday and Thursday, then it would start to go away again. What happens on those days? On the weekends, we see less of my parents. On Wednesday I go to a nursing support group. Wednesday and Thursday are my dad’s days off. Aha! My mother switched detergent to the one that we use and Victoria’s cheeks no longer turn red when she holds her. A friend was holding Victoria and when she handed her back, the cheek that was against the friend’s sweater was red and blotchy. Mystery solved. Mostly. I’m hoping this goes away. Fiona used to have eczema that we managed with Aveeno lotion. Her arms are still a little bumpy, but it’s mostly gone for a long time now. Hoping Victoria’s system matures before she starts wearing shorter sleeves. In the meantime, anyone who wants to spend a lot of time with Victoria will have to skip the smelly stuff until after they leave.

So what have we been up to in the last month?

Fiona had the flu. It started as a low fever. She sometimes gets them and they go away on their own within a day. This one didn’t and got worse. It lasted for four and a half days. I think it’s the longest illness she ever had. After, she developed a yucky cough. Then Victoria caught a cold. It wasn’t that bad except if she coughed right after eating she would throw up everything she ate. I was sooooo tired by the end of it all, between middle of the night feedings, Fiona waking and not feeling well, and Victoria not feeling well. And stressed because Victoria was only two months old and Fiona was almost a year when she had her first serious illness. And that resulted in the purchase of a nebulizer that we thankfully rarely ever use. I guess that is the difference between full-term lungs and premature lungs.

Fiona excited after bowling:

Fiona and Victoria on the play mat:

Fiona and John watching a movie when Fiona was sick:

Victoria sleeping on Grandpa and Grandma:

And sleeping on John:

It’s funny, she really doesn’t spend that much time sleeping on anyone, it’s just that she falls asleep easily while being held (except at night when we want her to fall asleep).

John and I went on a date on Valentine’s Day. This is what I saw when I came home:

Shh, sleeping baby:

Fiona on the left, Victoria on the right:

Fiona still fits in the Bumbo:

We visited John at work:

Tummy time:

Playing the “drums”:

Sliding down the pole at Climbing Club:

We went to the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles. It was a long drive. Both Fiona and Victoria did very well in the car and at the museum. It was my first major outing with the two of them. Before, I only took them to the climbing gym and to run errands. We met Jen, Elliot, and Calliope at the museum and had a very pleasant day. Before we left Fiona was already asking about seeing them again and going back to the museum.

Fiona was very excited that the Natural History Museum had a T-Rex skeleton and fossilized dinosaur eggs, just like in her Maisy Goes to the Museum book. We have to go back sometime because we never made it to the diorama room to see if they have a wooly mammoth.

We enjoyed tea and cake with a friend and Fiona rode her bike:

We went to a couple of parties. The first was the 100 Days of School Party at Fiona’s school. Her class decided to celebrate being in school for 100 days by having a pot luck in the evening and inviting the parents. I made lumpia. It was a lot of fun to see Fiona with her classmates outside of school and to talk to the other parents. The second was a birthday party at a place that has lots of indoor bounce houses. Fiona enjoyed a blue frosted cupcake. John and I enjoyed talking to the parents of Fiona’s classmates again.

This is the most social class so far. Every student has a birthday party and invited the whole class. It’s been really fun and I know Fiona really likes playing with her classmates outside of school.

Fiona is going to start music lessons next week. We went to an introductory lesson today and she really liked it. We already missed the first two classes, so we were doing some catch up “homework” and she really liked it. I’m glad we have a keyboard at home because it helps with the “homework” (that is mostly circling or coloring things or playing notes on the key board). I’m really excited because parents are expected to participate and I know I will learn a lot too.

Some other things: John and I went on a date for Valentine’s Day. It was nice to be out of the house and dressed in something other than ratty sweat pants or ratty jeans and t-shirt loose enough to nurse in. Also nice to eat a meal that I did not have to cook or clean up. Someone broke the rear passenger window of John’s new car and stole a flashlight. Fiona’s car seat was covered in glass. It’s been repaired and he now parks in the driveway instead of on the street. And we learned that the car does not have an alarm. We were annoyed but also saddened because we think of our neighborhood as being really safe. There are three active duty law officers (two county sheriffs’ deputies and a city police officer) and a retired Highway Patrol officer on our block. I went to Fiona’s school’s jog-a-thon. I am not posting photos because they all have most of her classmates in them.

Here are two photos of Fiona brushing her teeth with John: