Morgan & Erin Dahl

Erin landmarks

I gave her a bottle for the first time about a week ago (right around 5 weeks) in preparation for trying to get Molly back to work, which she did for an afternoon last Thursday (at about 6 weeks). The first 7 hours alone with Erin went a lot easier than the first time with Morgan did, probably mostly due to my own comfort with it. We did a few reasonably normal feedings (as opposed to drawn out unsuccessful attempts to get her drink from a bottle), she napped well, and was generally pretty cheery.

I’ve been going back to work on and off since week 2, mostly hitting important meetings for a total of about 15 hours/week. I expect both Molly and I will go a bit more in coming weeks, until she starts daycare on July 2!

Finally, Erin took her first trip outside the D.C. area last weekend (at 5 weeks), she went to Richmond, VA for a picnic for her Grandpa Wetzel’s retirement.

Erin photo catchup

Erin has now received visits from all the grandparents and, of course, spent lots of time with Morgan and mom and dad.

One month old!

Erin’s one month birthday was actually on Sunday, but we had the one month appointment today. I was waiting for that to make my post.

First, the doctor’s appointment. He was super pleased with all her progress.

• 8lbs 15oz (50th percentile). She’s been gaining about an ounce per day.
• 22 1/4″ height (95th percentile)
• 14 7/8″ head (80th percentile)

So all of that is great news. He asked us if she is meeting our gaze for a few seconds (yes) and grabbing our finger when we place it in her hand (yes). He seemed to think her color was great and that her legs/hips were very flexible. Basically, she got an A+ from the doc.

Second, my own impressions of her progress. She has really changed a lot even within the past couple of days. Her legs have loosened up quite a bit. Rather than keeping them in a ball in front of her, she has started to spread them out and around your body when you hold her (like a big kid would when you put them on your hip). She has just started making a cooing sound over the last couple of days. It really is her first non-squawking/crying sound. I’ve only heard it a couple of times so far, but it is definitely there. I think she tried to crack a smile for me yesterday, but that is the kind of thing you can really only identify for sure after she’s done it a couple of times. And we’ve crossed a huge threshold in terms of sleep (I hope). She has slept for a pretty good stretch (at least 4 hours) each of the last two nights. Last night she slept from 11 to 5:30. I slept that whole time too. It is stunning what 6 hours of sleep can do for you when you’ve been getting 2-3 hour stretches for a month.

In other news, she seems to have the standard touch of baby acne and (at least so far) she doesn’t seem to be losing her hair.

Bathing firsts

Not surprisingly, Erin was not a fan of the sponge bath system.  Frankly, I doubt anyone is. It strikes me as cold and unpleasant. But that is the route you have to go until the umbilical cord falls off. Her umbilical cord did finally fall off (around 2 weeks old I’d guess). But there was a bit of a sore spot left in its place, so we didn’t do a proper bath until this morning. Erin seemed to enjoy it. Or, at least, she didn’t hate it. As it turns out, I don’t fill the tub anywhere near enough to get close to her bellybutton, so there was really no reason to wait so long. But I hadn’t realized that was going to be the case.

And, perhaps needless to say, Morgan loves helping with the bath. She’s a great big sister.

Here are a few pics of the sponge bath and today’s ‘real’ bath.

Morgan’s school work

Morgan brought home a pile of new work from school the other day. She continues to do really well with her addition. They’ve also moved on to subtraction (she’s been doing this for a while now, I just don’t think we’ve mentioned it here). And, she’s been improving on her writing. She brought home a worksheet where she copied “Morgan Dahl” and “My baby sister is Erin.” She also brought home a worksheet where she would trace and then also write separately a bunch of 3 letter words (set, wet, pot, hot, etc.) Pretty cool!

Morgan’s first little league game

Morgan joined Alexandria Little League (her first outside-of-school organized activity) this year, and had her first game Saturday. They start 3-4 year olds on kickball to learn the fundamentals.

A new addition — Erin Beckett Dahl

Molly, Morgan and I are pleased to welcome to the world Erin Beckett Dahl (3 days old).

Birth weight: 6lbs 12oz
Birth length: 20 3/4″
Birth head: 13 3/4″
Born: March 29, 2012, 11:47pm
Delivery: 3-4 intrepid nurses and (late in the game) a wandering resident, about 2-3 minutes

Everyone’s well.

Christmas and singing

Morgan’s first successful visit to Santa since 6 months old, at her school’s Christmas party, making cookies with Grandpa Wetzel, a full set of stuffed Dora and friends from Dahls, a new bike, getting the motherlode from Santa (the apple was her favorite), silly hats with cousin Caroline, and last but not least… the one thing she wanted most of all… an orange soccer ball.

Also, snuck into the Christmas post because of her somewhat humorous command of the song (despite a false apparent disinterest in this particular video) at the end. Those music lessons are starting to pay off!

Thanksgiving at Outer Banks

We invited both families (Grandparents Wetzel, Grandparents Dahl, Aunt and Uncle Angie and Andy and Uncle John) to the Outer Banks (NC) for Thanksgiving this year. A great time was had by all, and Morgan had a blast playing with cousin Caroline; also featured is newborn cousin Ben.

Halloween

Various Halloween festivities, including:
* What was supposed to be an outdoor block party, turned into an indoor party in our house
* Halloween celebration at school, including trick or treating in her daycare’s office building
* Trick or treating on Halloween night