Halia at 8 weeks

Halia hit the 8-week mark today.  She’s starting to be a lot more responsive, smiling happily and cooing at us when we talk to her, and especially when we play Mother Goose games with her.  Her favourite one is this:

The moon is round, as round as can be (making circles around baby’s face with a finger)
Two eyes, a nose, and a mouth (point to eyes, nose, and mouth)
Just like me! (tickle baby’s tummy)

Although we have the occasional pre-bedtime cry-fest, they seem to be diminishing in length and intensity.  I suspect Halia is sensitive to some of the things I eat, but I haven’t pinpointed just what yet.  She has occasionally slept for as long as six hours, although since I transitioned her to her crib a few nights ago, she is waking a little more often.  She occasionally sucks on her thumb or fingers, but doesn’t seem to have figured it out as a self-soothing mechanism.  In the meantime, I’m her human soother as she gets boobed to sleep each time.  I don’t mind… when she sleeps well.  But it’s pretty frustrating to nurse a baby to sleep, only to have her wake up again in less than five minutes.  Fortunately, she’s getting a pretty good track record, and even sometimes puts herself back to sleep after waking.  If you’re wondering, yes, I have tried giving her a soother, but she spits it out.  I’ve tried shoving it back in (gently) a few times, but after ten or so repetitions of shove, spit, shove, spit, shove, spit, I figure it’s time to give in.  Besides, she takes in quite a bit of milk when I nurse her down, so I don’t want to deprive her of the nourishment.

Hitting 8 weeks means that Halia is almost 2 months old, which brings with it a new worry.  She’s due for her first round of vaccinations and I’m not sure what to do about it.  I know that vaccine injury is a highly controversial topic.  I know folks who are staunchly against vaccines of any kind, and others who fiercly believe that not vaccinating is extremely irresponsible.  I’m not convinced that Jade’s epilepsy is connected to her vaccinations, especially because her seizures didn’t start until 10 months after her last shots.  But what if it were? I think I’ll ask our doctor about thimerosal-free vaccines (which I asked about before Jade’s shots, but they weren’t available here) and look at doing a delayed vaccination schedule, with more time between individual shots.  Your opinions and advice are entirely welcome, by the way.

Enough of the medical stuff!

Halia has had a pretty exciting time in her short life.  A summary:

• She has been to three Big Band rehearsals, a sound-check, and an actual Big Band gig.  (It was pretty stressful for me to do this, especially the sound check, which Jade came to as weall.  It’s hard to concentrate on playing an instrument when there’s a baby crying for milk and a toddler eager to play with the sound board controls.  At the gig I tore Halia off my breast at least three times when I realized there would be a short piano solo bit in upcoming tunes.  I won’t be playing with the Big Band again until after she’s on solids or at least on a bottle!  Especially without Nai Nai to accompany her backstage.)
• Just before Christmas, my friend Heather hosted a shower for Halia.  It was great because our friends all got to meet the baby (and she, of course, got passed around, which is something I’m usually not a big fan of, but I was okay with it this time).  Happily, we didn’t get tons of toys and clothes we don’t need (because we pretty much have it all); instead, Heather made it a food shower, so our deep freeze. plus a cooler out in the shed (which is staying very cold in this weeks-long -35 weather) is full of prepared meals.  How great is that?!
• Besides her Nai Nai, who was, of course, around for her birthday, Halia also got to meet her Opa, Auntie Nem, and Uncle Mike.  
• She celebrated her first Christmas.
• She got to be the baby Jesus at Christmas Mass.  (I’m so sorry I haven’t got a picture to post — my mom did take some but you know how candid shots in dim buildings go.  Someone looks demented or fuzzy in every single one. )
• She got baptized surrounded by her family on the Sunday after Christmas, also known as the Feast of the Holy Family.

Not a bad resume for 56 days old!

Halia's baptism on December 28

Everyone put a hand on her to share in the moment of her baptism

Halia's baptism dress -- the same one Jade wore for her baptism last year

She also got to wear a sweater knitted for her by Pedro's mom -- isn't it sweet?

The beginning of a smile

Jade tickles Halia's feet

I know this is almost the same shot again, but her wide-open mouth just cracks me up!

This is one from today. The shot with her really big smile came out fuzzy, but this one's pretty cute!

Since my poll showed that the greatest demand was for updates on the girls with pictures (those weren’t all your votes, were they, Marian?) I hope you’re all happy for now.  It’s technically the day after Halia hit 8 weeks now because it’s almost 1 a.m. on Wednesday.  And Michael’s going to be out of town all day, so I get to do the night shift and single parent all day.  Methinks me had better hit the hay…