Today CootieGirl got her first round of shots and a general checkup. She’s weighing in at 10 lb 15 oz and is 21+ inches tall. The doc said she’s shorter than most two-month-olds, but only by a smidgen (apparently most 2-mo-olds are 22+ inches tall). But according to all his charts, she’s right on the money and healthy, which is what counts.

He gave her three shots – two in one leg, one in the other. She was not happy and had huge tears in her eyes after that first shot. But when he was done I picked her up and gave her lots of cuddling to calm her down.

Her next bottle is due in 30 minutes but she’s sound asleep in her crib – it’s been a rough couple of hours for her. So I’ll probably let her sleep until 4 p.m. and then wake her up for the bottle. Poor tiny CootieGirl.

We went down to visit CootieMom’s family and friends in Virginia for her birthday. CootieGirl’s first trip down there. She was pretty good until the end of the night on Saturday (CootieMom’s b-day party night.). CootieMom will tell you all about the weekend. I just want to post the photos. That’s CootieMom’s grand dad in one photo, her friend from high school KJ, in another, our friends LP and JHP with the baby in another, and a tired CootieGirl in the back of the car, two hours from home at a rest stop. CootieGirlis crying right now beside me. So here you go with the photos.

We’re off to VA tomorrow morning. In the meantime, here are a few pics to hold all you over. I bought CootieGirltwo pairs of sunglasses today because I couldn’t find an infant-size sun bonnet. Two pairs for $5. Not bad. The first pic makes CootieGirllook like an alien baby.

Aw, I knew it would happen sometime – she’s been hinting at it for a while now, but CootieGirl has officially discovered that she likes to suck the thumb of her right hand. She has it in her mouth right now and is sucking away like nobody’s business.

She has also discovered that if she kicks while she’s in the bouncey seat she will set off the music and lights. She was a little perplexed and about to be scared at first, but then she kicked again and thought it was cool enough to begin a kicking frenzy. Now when it stops making noises she fusses. *sigh* So cute.

And her hair is sticking STRAIGHT UP right now because she has cradle cap and my attempts to wash then brush were not successful since she fidgeted the whole time. She looks like she has an Alfalfa cowlick.

At first CootieGirl only had a few select kinds of cries – but she’s definitely adding to her repertoire. I loved when she added the squeal a couple weeks ago, but now she’s going the gutteral route. Scratchier, more urgent – these cries make her sound just plain pissed off.

Still no tears though. She had never cried to the point of real tears. Unless they dry before I get to her.

CootieGirl and mommy treated me to a baseball game for my first Father’s Day. Actually the tickets were a gift to me for my birthday, but I count this as a Father’s Day gift.

I got sun burned, CootieMom got sun burned and despite our best efforts, CootieGirl got a little sun herself. She should sleep well tonight. Other than the game, we went to church in the morning, and I took my first traditional Father’s Day nap in the afternoon. I think the heat and the beer got to me. 50-cent hot dog day couldn’t have helped.

BTW, the Jackals wound up winning the game, coming back with a run in the eighth and ninth to win 7-6. We left in the middle of the eight when they were down by a run. You can read about the game here: http://jackals.com/scores/recap.asp?ScheduleID=270

Now I’m off to bed.

CootieGirlis in her bouncy seat beside me again, but this time we have the music and lights on it and she is going crazy. She loves it. She can’t stop kicking and cooing. She so desperately wants to be able to touch the hanging things on the Kick & Play, but can’t do it. And as usual these days, she is smiling a bunch too. Let’s see how long before all this stimulation turns into crying. So far, so good. I wish I had my video camera up here right now.

More pics from last night and this morning. CootieMom fed her and brought her into bed with us. I was awake watching TV and snapping shots. CootieMom tried to nap.

Oh, yeah. CootieGirlwas up most of the night. I think she (and I) finally went to sleep around 4 o’clock in the morning, but I’m too tired to remember. I know I fed her at 2:30 and CootieMom got up for the 6:30 feeding. But she’s certainly in good spirits right now.

I really need to work hard to change CootieGirl’s sleep patterns. She sleeps most of the day and is awake all night. Last night at 10 p.m. she was sleepy, but she still kept me up until 2 a.m. with her fussing and general unhappy awakefulness. NOT a good way to be. So today is the first day of The New Plan to keep her up as much as possible and keep her naps short. Right now she’s in the bouncey seat next to me looking out the window. The MINUTE she starts drifting off, I’ll turn off the computer and go downstairs with her and get some breakfast for myself. I’ll put her in the swing while I do this. As soon as I’m done with breakfast, I’ll take her out of the swing and do our morning exercises (her neck control is coming right along). Once we done with that we’ll cuddle for a bit and I’ll let her fall asleep so that I can take my shower once she’s under.

Then all bets are off – since it’s raining today, I’m taking her to the mall for our walk. But I’m hoping that there’s SCootieGirlmuch stimulation at the mall that she won’t sleep much.

And we’ll go from there – I’ll let her take a couple naps, but I’ll keep them to 2 hours tops before waking her up for more playing and exercises. I’m gonna really over-stimulate her today so that by 10 p.m. she’s too tired to hold her head up.

My goal? To get some sleep tonight.

It’s really noticeable now how much hair CootieGirl is losing. She’s got a bald band running around her head, with a bunch of coppery hair on top and her mullet in the back. Poor thing. Maybe I should get her a plaid flannel sleeper so she’ll really look the redneck part.

This morning CootieGirl is all smiles. She’s currently in her bouncey seat up here with me in the attic and she’s perfect content, staring up at me, grinning from behind her pacifier. Occasionally she’ll spit it out to give me a huge grin, then fuss a bit until I put the pacifier back in her mouth, which makes her smile again.

She’s so frickin’ cute.

Her eye is completely healed up – no more mucous! YAY! And her scaly forehead is much improved and hardly noticable unless you are within a couple feet of her.

Now that she’s cleaned herself up, we need to take more pictures. Last night I tried to videotape her while she was entertaining herself in her swing (she coos at the mobile that hangs on the swnig), and as SOON as I got the camera rolling she began fussing. I turned off the camera to console her and she stops. Turn the camera back on, she fusses again. It’s like she KNOWS I’m trying to get a record of her being all cute and is being stubborn.

Boy is she her father’s child.
And her mother’s.