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December 2002 |
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Pictures Index |
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December was a big month for Maggie! She met most of Daddy's family for the first time (Uncle Tony lives in town and had gotten to meet her before), she sat with Santa twice, she got some new toys, she had her first bottle, she was baptized, and on top of all that, she continued to be unbearably cute! |
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First Bottles |
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It is generally recommended that breastfed babies don't receive their first bottle until they are about a month old to avoid sucking problems (the way a baby sucks while nursing is totally different than the way they suck on a bottle, plus the milk comes out much faster from a bottle which can make a baby impatient and frustrated at the breast if nursing isn't thoroughly established yet). So on December 1, when she was exactly one month old (this was a coincidence - we aren't that uptight!), she got her first bottle of pumped breast milk. Daddy gave it to her to help lessen the confusion. She actually did have some trouble switching back to the breast after that first bottle, but we realized that that was partially because we actually put a nipple on the bottle with too fast of a flow! After that, it was smooth sailing. Three days later, she took her first car trip to see Grammie Sally, Grandpa John, and Nanny in Chicago. When we arrived, she was starving, so Grammie got the pleasure of feeding her the bottle I had brought along. I'd like to take this moment to do a little free advertising for Avent. Their pump, the Isis, is wonderful, their bottles and nipples really are easier for a breastfed baby to eat from, and when I had some trouble with my pump, their customer service replaced the part, no questions asked, and got it to me in under 48 hours! Who says customer service is dead? |
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New Toys |
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On our trip to Chicago, we picked up two new toys for Maggie. This swing, the Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium Cradle Swing, was a gift from Grandma Mel and Great Grandma Carmen, and I can say that, hands down, it is the most important piece of baby equipment we own. From about 3 weeks old until we got this swing, around six weeks old, Maggie barely napped. She might sleep for 15 minutes, but then she'd wake up screaming. Since we got this swing, she naps regularly and easily, as you can see in the picture on the left. But it's not just good for sleeping - the globe and mobile that come with it entertain her endlessly. You can see how entranced she is by them in the picture on the right. And now that she is older, some of her most exuberant grins and laughs come while staring at the globe and mobile! Ironically, we thought the first one we got was broken because the motor was so loud, so we didn't use it for two weeks until Grammie Sally could bring us a replacement. We then discovered that that was just normal for the swing. We considered returning it until we found that the repetitive white noise actually helped Maggie sleep! Ah, the unexpected discoveries of parenthood... |
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This is the other new toy she got on our trip to Chicago, an awesome playmat from Gymini that was a gift from Grammie Sally and Grandpa John. When we first got it, she was only entertained by it for a few minutes at a time (although she loved the mirror!) and in fact she often fell asleep under it, but as she has gotten older, she has really come to love it. Just like her swing, it now garners huge smiles and sometimes more than half an hour of entertainment. |
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Maggie's First Christmas |
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Maggie was fortunate to spend her first Christmas with all of her aunts and uncles, grandparents, and great grandparents, except Great Grandpa Jim, who couldn't make it all the way from Minnesota. |
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On the left, Maggie meets Grandma Mel for the first time, and in the center, she meets Great Grandma Carmen. On the right, she snuggled up on Great Grandma Carmen for a nice nap on Christmas Eve. |
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With Daddy and all of her uncles. |
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On the left is a picture of Maggie's first visit with Santa, at a fundraiser for Nate's work. In the center, she slept peacefully on Daddy's chest during the whole long wait to see Santa at the mall. And, as you might have already deduced, on the right: Maggie with Mall Santa. He's a lot less scary looking than Santa's helper at the fundraiser. :) |
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On the left, Maggie expresses her approval of all the gifts under the tree - she must know how many of them belong to her! - and on the right, she expresses her dismay with the paparazzi who just won't leave her to her privacy. But look at all those gifts!!!! |
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General Cuteness |
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Does it get much cuter than this? Cuddling with Daddy. |
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Although Maggie certainly got much more alert and awake during her second month, it certainly didn't keep her from being sleepy a lot! |
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