Seven weeks

It turns out that Erin is a very talented little baby. Unfortunately she has a talent that won't win her American Idol or even America's Got Talent. The other day as I was changing her diaper on the changing table she managed to shoot poop all the way to the wall. For those of you who haven't seen the nursery, that means that she shot her poop about 7 feet and made an enormous mess. What a gal. Looks like we're going to have to do naked baby tummy time in a different location as she can't be trusted to keep her bodily fluids within a reasonable range.

Erin has been sleeping really well for the last few nights. She even surprised me by going to bed by 9:30 or 10 the last two nights. What a treat. She's then up once in the middle of the night and once between 5-6 and then back to sleep until about 8:30. She's also been going back to sleep in her crib in the morning instead of in bed with me and I certainly sleep better this way.

Both dogs needed vet checkups this week, so Laura, Jan and Dean watched her while I took trips to the vet. According to the pictures, it looks like she was naughty while I was gone. Looks like what they say about Grandparents spoiling grandkids is true.

Unfortunately I think that Erin has some thrush. She managed to get a diaper rash in Portland when she was in disposable diapers and we've been struggling to keep it cleared up here. Yesterday I noticed that she's got a white tongue that doesn't rub off. So today we're going to go try to find some gentian violet and make a huge mess trying to get this cleared up.

Speaking of big messes. I was feeling guilty yesterday for not having started her vitamin drops yet so we tried them out. Despite what the bottle says, I don't think that they really have a great fruity flavor because they smell horrid. Erin confirmed that the taste likely matches the smell when I gave them to her. She got the most startled, sad look on her face, like someone had just told her that there was no more breastmilk coming ever, and opened her mouth and let it all dribble out. She then refused to have her pacifier put in her mouth for the next half hour because she was so traumatized. I think that she managed to get some of the stuff worked into her neck folds because she still stinks like vitamin drops. Yucky stuff.

Erin spent a lot more time this week looking at the toys attached to her bouncy seat and swinging her arms at them. I'm not sure that the movement is intentional at this point, but she certainly notices the toys and watches them attentively. She's also managed to find her fist to suck on when she drops her pacifier. She doesn't have the finesse to get a hold of her thumb or her fingers, but she just slobbers over the whole thing. Now she usually has at least one hand/wrist dripping with drool every time I get her out of her carseat. It's also gotten pretty hot these days so I've spent the week trying to figure out a way to keep her swaddled while not overheating her. I think this might be my favorite, but it looks so ridiculous. She smiling even more frequently, but I still haven't been able to catch much of a smile on camera.

Otherwise we had a great week. The weather is nice and we've been out for long walks with the boys. We went to the peds banquet on wednesday to watch the third years graduate and Erin was a perfect angel. I finally bit the bullet and went for my first bike ride of the season. Jan and Dean came over to watch Erin while I went out riding. Man am I out of shape. I met with a trainer in Portland who warned me that I'd probably lost about 5lbs of muscle, but I doubted her until I tried to actually use my legs while biking. I guess we'll have to keep working on that one.

Despite the saying about waking a sleeping baby, there is nothing that Matt likes to do more when he comes home from work. His favorite game to play is "see how close I can get to her before she wakes up." Needless to say Erin never manages to sleep for much longer after Daddy comes home.