A Month of Happenings

Man oh man, I'm behind on updating this thing! I guess I'll just dive right in:

Eden officially turned 3 months old yesterday, November 1st! We celebrated by keeping her up way past her nap time and when she finally succumbed to exhaustion we went for a walk and got caramel apples and chocolate-covered honeycomb pieces. Yum! I just can't believe 3 months has passed already. Since the last time I posted she has had her first round of shots, giggled for the first time, learned to roll over from her back to her stomach (she could already do the reverse), begun to show a real interest in playing with toys (ok, mostly in chewing on them), been to a pumpkin patch, dressed up as an elephant, and become the proud owner of a brand new Christmas dress!

It is so much fun to buy her cute clothes. I thought I would really have to talk Peter into buying the dress with the rationale that we need it early for the Christmas card photo, but the second I made the suggestion he was ready to go. We actually went through the Macy's infant section together comparing all the cute dresses and discussing the pros and cons of each. There are surely few things in this world more fun than watching my husband seriously and carefully debate between a rose-colored dress with embroidered flowers and a satiny red Christmas dress, both in sizes that are still too small to fit many of Eden's teddy bears. (I couldn't find a picture of the red dress online which is too bad because it is the cutest thing ever and what we finally decided to buy.)

Eden took her shots like a champ. She screamed when the nurse put the needle in her chubby little legs then immediately quieted down when Daddy picked her up. Previous to that she had been smiling at the pediatrician and nurses and not complaining a bit about the exam. The nurse who gave her the shots said it was the worst part of her job. I can definitely believe that!

The first giggle happened a few nights ago when daddy was playing with her and tickled her neck. We now proceed to act like fools on a regular basis to try to get her to giggle again.

Eden's learning to roll over onto her stomach feels a bit like a mixed blessing. We're glad that she's showing another positive sign of physical development but I kind of wish she would have waited awhile on this one. She now immediately flips to her stomach anytime we place her in her crib or co-sleeper to sleep, which as all new parents are told time and time again, is a big no-no due to the risk of SIDS. It only took about two naps though for me to realize there was no point in trying to constantly flip her back over, so now we just let her be and pray even harder for her health and safety. I do sometimes think the whole SIDS thing is over-emphasized to new parents. I definitely believe in health education (that's what my undergraduate degree is in after all), but for something that is relatively rare and for which there is little anyone can do about, it sure gets a lot of press. All of which results in a lot of temptation to worry - but I'm determined to not give into it!!

We took Eden to a big pumpkin patch a few weeks ago and that's where she wore her elephant costume for the first time. Peter posted some pictures on his blog. She also wore the costume on Halloween for a little trick-or-treating and children's parade in the town of Sierra Madre. Those pictures (as well as pictures of me carving my first pumpkin ever) are still on the camera, but I'll try to get some posted soon. She wasn't too fond of her costume at the pumpkin patch (but it was in the 90's then, so who can blame her), but she seemed content enough to wear it all through our Halloween events, while strapped to Peter's chest in the baby bjorn. She got lots of comments from passers-by on her cuteness and was the only baby elephant I saw in what must have been hundreds of children.

I had a bunch of other things that I wanted to mention, but as I've been working on this post in spurts between household tasks and taking care of Eden, I've forgotten most of them. So I think I'll just go ahead and put this up and hopefully find time to post more often as the other thoughts and events come back to me.

Happy November everyone!