three months of mae

Happy three months, baby girl!

This month brought lots of firsts for Mae... first flight, first visit to the beach, and first visit to Lake George. She also let out her first laugh while we were at the mall with Grandma. We had taken a short break from shopping to feed and change her, and she let out a little yelping laugh while we played!

She first rolled from her back to her tummy just a day shy of 11 weeks, and she rolled from tummy to back on Monday! She had been working at rolling from her back so hard the previous few days and getting pretty frustrated by her shoulder being in the way. Then one day, I laid her on the play mat and walked into the kitchen to get a snack. When I came back to check on her, she was on her stomach... and very unhappy about it! I don't think she considered the consequences of rolling over... more tummy time! She doesn't love it, but she is getting a bit better at tummy time and even smiles sometimes! She also likes when I lay on my back and place her on my shins like an airplane.

Over the last couple weeks, Mae has become much more interested in toys. She reaches out to grab them and tries to shove everything in her mouth. She's gotten a hold of her feet a few times, but hasn't managed to pull them all the way to her mouth yet!

She has really discovered her voice and makes lots of new sounds. I think she learned some words from Oliver last time we visited, since he is so vocal!

Instead of sucking her thumb, Mae prefers to suck on her forearm. She still refuses a pacifier, but she can really go to town on her poor wrist, even to the point of leaving little baby-sized hickies! I let her latch onto my arm while trying to settle her down once, and she left quite a bruise on me!

I'm going back to work in a few weeks, so we've been trying everything to get Mae to take a bottle (different people, different temperatures, different bottles, different locations, different times of day, etc). Auntie Em FINALLY had success getting her to take a bottle while we were at Lake George. She's such a pro. Now we know she CAN take a bottle but is just incredibly stubborn about it. Dan was successful this week too, though it was pretty emotionally exhausting for both him and Mae. We'll have to keep practicing!

Though she's hitting her development milestones, Mae is having some digestive issues and weight gain troubles. I've eliminated dairy and soy from my diet per the recommendation of her doctor, and she seems to be doing better. I have a lot of practice with the dairy-free diet because of Dan's allergy, but soy is in soooo many things! Oh well, maybe this will help me lose a bit more of my stubborn baby weight. (Probably not, since I take this as an opportunity to buy every dairy/soy-free dessert I can find at the grocery store!)

Yesterday we traveled for a girls night with Kelsey, Mom, Emily, Aunt Ruthann, Erin, and Courtney. We had so much fun at dinner! Mae was very well behaved, and it was a fun way to celebrate 3 months!

money pit

Time to resolve that cliffhanger from my last post! It's the only way I could make this entry about home repairs slightly more exciting. Well, that and the hilarious photos I'm about to share. I promise you won't regret reading this once you make it to the end.

While we were traveling, Kathy stopped by our house to feed Charlie and kindly alerted us to the fact that our house was 87 degrees even though the thermostat was set to 75. Charlie probably loved it, but I was a bit worried that our house would quickly exceed Australian desert temperatures and threaten my delicate pet store birdie. Days have been extremely humid with the temperature reaching the low 90s; I even saw 111 with the heat index! Kathy whisked Charlie back to the comfort of her house, while I scheduled the AC repairman for Thursday morning. This meant we slept Wednesday night in our 88 degree house after returning from our vacation. With a huge box fan and all the windows open, we managed to get it down to 82 degrees the next morning before the temperature started rising again. Ugh.

Thursday morning, the repairman confirmed we needed a new unit (scheduled for installation Saturday). Then, the electricity in the upstairs bathrooms decided to protest the uncomfortable working conditions and ceased operation. I scheduled the electrician and then we escaped to the refuge of Kathy's air-conditioned basement.

Friday morning, Dan met the electrician back at our house. One hour and $200 later, he confirmed that we are idiots and reset the GFI outlet that had tripped in our closet. Who knew there was even an outlet hiding there behind the clothes?? At least it took him an hour to find it so we got our money's worth from his service fee. (I bet his standard rate is $100 but he penalized us for our house being 91 degrees at the time. I can't blame him.)

Friday evening, we made the most of our impromptu sleepover and had a fun night of grilling and watching the Olympics with Kathy and Jason. We had wayyyy too much fun posing Mae at their basement bar while Jason snapped these ridiculous photos. Even Mae was cracking up. Although, she could be screaming her face off and would still smile and laugh as soon as she saw Kathy, who Jason nicknamed "the baby whisperer."

Dan captioned this one: "Hi, Welcome to Mae's. Can I get you a drink?"

And this one "Errrgghhh. I think that last one was a mistake."

Saturday, Dan met the AC installers back at the house and we were up and running with a new unit by the afternoon. It felt good to finally be back in our home!

So, that's the saga of home repairs for the moment. Oh wait, did I mention one of the toilets is broken? It's always something.

brave or crazy: part 2

Now for part 2 of our whirlwind trip! (Click here if you missed part 1.) We arrived at my grandparents' house around dinner time on Saturday, and the rest of my family arrived around 10:30pm. I can't believe they managed a 15 hour car ride with 6 adults and a 7 week old baby! We thought our 6 hour drive was a huge accomplishment! Oliver and Mae got to meet their great grandparents for the first time.

Sunday, we introduced Mae to the swimming pool and to Lake George. She still seemed pretty unsure about the chilly water!

Sunday evening began the festivities to celebrate both my grandparents turning 90 this year. They both love Jeopardy, so my dad and his siblings prepared and hosted a game made of clues specifically for them. Gramma and Grampa both answered the final Jeopardy clue ("This is what Dorothy thought after she met Al for the first time") with the correct answer: "That's the man I am going to marry!"

The party continued Monday with barbecue, cake, and lots of games including bingo, bocce, and line dancing.

Mae played on a blanket outside during the party.

I love this photo of Oliver, Christopher, Dad, and Grampa... Four generations of my family bloodline all together.

I'm so glad we had the birthday party as an excuse to travel. Otherwise, I'm not sure we would have braved the trip, but I would have been so disappointed to miss out on the beach and Lake George this year!

After our drive back to Philadelphia on Tuesday, we swung by Colleen's new apartment and then met our friends Kierston and Alan for dinner. We finally made it home Wednesday evening... though we only managed to sleep there one night before we had to leave again. More on that later!

brave or crazy

We survived our first family vacation with a baby! Last Wednesday, we flew to Philadelphia and spent two days at Dan's parents' beach house in New Jersey. We left there Saturday morning and drove 6 hours to my grandparents' house in upstate New York where we stayed for another two days. Then we drove back to Philly on Tuesday and flew home on Wednesday. A whirlwind vacation for sure!!

Mae did wonderfully on her first flight... sleeping through takeoff and landing and only fussing a little during the beverage service. (Why are soda cans so loud??) GranE picked us up from the airport, and we arrived at the house mid-afternoon. We were soon joined by Batman (Grandad), Aunt Colleen, and Uncle Tim. Mae donned her "I make a big splash" outfit that Dan bought for her and we set off to introduce her to the ocean.

Thanks to Kelsey, Mae was properly outfitted for a beachy vacation with a little sun hat and an adorable watermelon swim suit. I just melted every time we put her in it! Painfully cute. We tried dipping her toes in the water a few times during our trip and she had the same reaction each time... disinterested grumpiness. Considering it could have been extreme screaminess, I am calling this a win!

Mae loved meeting her Uncle Tim for the first time! They caught up on the news together.

She has a lot of growing to do to catch up to him!

Saturday morning, we packed up all our stuff (how do babies need so much equipment??) and drove to upstate New York to visit my grandparents. More on that in my next post!

tiny clothes

Mae has already outgrown her newborn clothes and will soon be too big for her 0-3 month ones! I'll definitely be sad when I have to pack away her cute little outfits, so I took photos to remember the things she's worn so far.

She came home from the hospital wearing this little denim dress, tiny pink socks, and her handknit hat. She also got lots of use from the newborn yellow dress and leggings, including her first trip to church at 3 weeks.

Her first few weeks were spent mostly in these little footed sleep n' plays and the turtle gown. She was so curled up all the time that her feet wouldn't stay down in the legs of the sleepers. Sometimes I just zipped them right up with her curled up in a ball and didn't worry about the feet!

These outfits were great for outings and lunches. She wore the blue dress on the right to meet cousin Oliver!

This white and gold party dress was perfect for celebrating my birthday this year. I dressed her in the denim dress and yellow stripe leggings from Aunt Emily for our trip to the mall a few weeks ago, but she got so worked up before we left that I undressed her. Then she fell asleep and spent 3 hours in the stroller at the mall wearing just a diaper and a blanket! At least she wore that outfit again for her two month photos.

She spends most of these hot summer days in a short sleeved onesie. Comparing the little newborn ones on the left to her current 3 month size on the right show just how much she's grown!

She feels very sophisticated when she wears her Venezia onesie from Aunt Kelsey.

But what did Mae wear more than anything else the last 2.5 months? This:

About 350 of them!