Wow!  [Cliche] I can’t believe it’s already been 2 months!  Well, today is technically two months and 4 days but really, who’s counting? ;)

A lot has happened in two months – obviously – so here’s a little round up…

Stats

– At birth, she was 18.5″ long (and weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces.

– At her 2 month appointment (yesterday), she was 23.75″ long (90th %ile) and 10 pounds, 12 ounces (30th %ile).

Activities

– At birth, she did…nothing.  Besides eat, sleep, and fill her [adorable cloth] diapers (yes, we used them as soon as we got home from the hospital).  Duh.

– At 2 months, she is still eating, sleeping (way better!), and filling her [adorable cloth] diapers [that I still love].  She is also…

• discovering her hands by holding them in front of her face and staring them down,
• enjoying flirting with the bottom of a toy’s feet that hangs from her “activity gym,”
• working on holding up her head both in a sitting position as well as while on her tummy,
• paying attention while we read books,
• smiling at us occasionally (increasing more day by day!),
• and even recognizes the voices of family members through Skype!

For more on activities, check out this little video of her “playing” in her activity gym.  It’s really just little over a minute of a baby laying on the floor uncoordinated-ly waving at toys while looking at them…nothing too exciting really unless you haven’t gotten to see her do it in person!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbEXLqVC2gc?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

Anyways, you can get caught up (sort of) by looking at pictures or watching this video to at least see where she’s been and what she’s up to now.  Other things to get updated on include the saga of her fussiness…

What the fuss? (ha ha get it?)

– At birth, she was totally awesome, slept a ton (even at night which was great!), ate well (let’s just say I’m a milk machine and she could tank it down), and was pretty content.

– Around the end of week 3, the projectile vomiting began.  Tube-of-liquid-coming-straight-at-you-out-of-her-mouth projectile vomiting.  And then screaming.  Lots and lots of screaming.  This colic-y stuff went on for a good week before I stopped drinking milk.  The projectile stopped but the screaming kept up.

– After a week of being off milk (around the beginning of week 5) she was still screaming when she ate so I went to the lactation consultant.  She definitely wasn’t having trouble getting milk – she tanked down 3 ounces in 4 minutes – but it was something about the milk (obviously).  Sooooooo she suggested I stop dairy all together.  Boo.

– Around week 7 – having been dairy free for nearly 3 weeks – the screaming during eating stopped minus a random episode here and there at the end of a long, overstimulating day.  This still holds true…hooray!

– Here we are…week 9.  I miss dairy SO MUCH.  Okay, I really just miss cheese.  And baking with butter.  But I think I could live with coconut milk chocolate ice cream and almond yogurt.  But you really can’t replace sour cream or cheddar cheese on piping hot chili after a cold afternoon walk.  Eventually, right?  Right.

– As a side note, thankfully sleeping hasn’t been part of this fussy saga.  She has slept pretty darn good the entire time minus only taking 30-45 minute naps during the day.  She currently sleeps for 5 hours (i.e. 8:30 – 1:30), eats and gets her diaper changed, sleeps for 3 and a half hours (2:00 – 5:30), eats, and then sleeps again for an hour or so (6:00 – 7:00).  Pretty awesome for 9 weeks old.  Now if only we can stretch that 3.5 hour stretch out to another 5 hour one and I would be GOLDEN.

What about her parents?

Oh, you mean we exist?  I thought it was all about Serafina now. ;)  Ben is back to school – we actually visited him today ‘cuz he has to stay after to get a bunch of catch up work done because of his terribly paternity leave sub.  He’s doing well and loves being a dad.  It really does make my heart leap in my chest when I see him holding her or hear him in the other room with her just talking away (and her coo-ing and squawk-ing back).  God really does put you together with just the right person to not only be your spouse but to also be the father of your children.

I’m doing pretty well too.  My body is working its way back to what it was before pregnancy – still 10 pounds up from my pre-pregnancy weight but I’ve decided I really don’t care as long as I feel good and can fit into my pants.  Which I am very close to doing.  And she’s only 2 months old.  I am coaching the middle school rowers at ERA which is super fun.  It gets me out of the house and I get my gotta-be-in-charge-of-something out of me.  I also am doing the bulletin for church as well as back to leading worship once-ish a month.  I love this and am so grateful to go to a small enough church they let me up in front sometimes.

All this said, we love being parents and couldn’t imagine life without Serafina.  We are grateful for the people who have helped get us started off on the right foot by providing meals, cleaning our house, keeping us company when we were too exhausted to get out of the house but needed more adult interaction, generously gave us hand-me-downs, encouraged us to keep doing our best as parents, and checked in on our marriage, not just on the new baby.  And who could forget the dog…thanks for those of you who have doted on Maya when we’ve been too tired to! (BTW the cats don’t really care…)

Please keep praying for us as we continue to navigate the path of parenthood especially as relationships of all kinds (spouse, parent, family, friend, coworker, etc) keep changing as our family grows.

Hope you enjoyed this update!  Email me if you want more details on anything.  I’ll try and do an update like this once a month or so…we’ll see how I do!