Baby Zae is still perfect.

Sure enough, almost four months into her life the Zaeby is still a dream child.  She is sweet, content, increasingly good at self-soothing, and transitions fairly easily among her (still mostly family) caregivers.

One handy new trick is sucking her fingers.  For a while it mostly took a lot of luck for her hand to wind up close enough to her mouth for this to be accomplished, but in the past 2 weeks or so she's become a pro at manoeuvring the pointer and middle finger (almost always of her right hand) into position.


Also, on Nana's birthday (May 17) she rolled over (front to back... and then back again) for the first time.

Like Mazie at her age, she seems to have developed a strong preference for being able to see out into the world... the Ergo carrier doesn't work as well anymore, but she's pretty consistently calmed by being carried facing forward.  She has also become increasingly interactive, giving lots of big smiles and starting to show an interest in toys.  Her big sisters have really enjoyed this.  Mazie has been fairly adoring and content with even the "cute blob" phase, but Athena has seemed eager to be able to play a bit more.  It won't be long.

Zae also had her first big adventure recently: we rode on an airplane to North Carolina!  It was a great trip.  Ahya came with us, and we stayed with the Smiths for a week while I met with Duke friends and colleagues and then attended the RWJ Health and Society Scholars Annual Meeting in Chapel Hill.  It was a great meeting, and I was so grateful to Ahya for being Zae's constant "attendant" for the entire trip.  Ahya was actually one of about four grandmothers milling around the conference with young babies, touring around Chapel Hill and then popping in so their mommies could feed them and send them on their way.

During the week we also squeezed in a trip to Greensboro to see the Archers (neighbors from my childhood days in New Jersey)...

and lunch at Fearrington Village with Great Uncle Dave and Great Aunt Geni.

It was wonderful to spend time with Matt, Allison, Tobin, Evan, and Lauren, and so sweet of them to share their new home with us for a week.  The kids were very enamoured with Zae and each doted on her in their own way.  Lauren was particularly amusing... one of the first things she did was to grab one of Zae's hands and (to her credit, fairly gently) do a "You're hitting yourself!  You're hitting yourself!" routine.  This would have been funny on its own, but it happens to be EXACTLY WHAT ATHENA DOES with Zae (see above note about wanting her to be more interactive).  Lauren also has "fast running shoes" like Athena and seemed to have a similar energy and passion overall.  It will be interesting to see how they interact during our trip to Maine in July!

Speaking of Athena, she had a dance performance this weekend.  Here is the lovely ballerina.

Zae has moments when she looks like Athena, but her similarity with Mazie seems especially strong these days.  Case in point:

Zae (age 3.5 mos) vs Mazie (5 mos)

A Scene from the Bedroom

It is 4 am.  I am roused from my slumber by a naked three-year-old, who is standing over me in bed.

ATHENA: Mom, can you help me put my underwear back on?

After a little wrangling, this task is accomplished.  The three-year-old nestles herself between me and her father.  Now awake, I get up to go to the bathroom and then insinuate myself back into the family bed (between the three-year-old and the blissfully sleeping infant).  The relevant question occurs to me.

ME: Athena, why were your undies off?
ATHENA: Because I couldn't get them back on.
ME: Okay, but why did you have them off?
ATHENA: Because... I was trying to put them back on, but it was... (she pauses and then enunciates) difficult.

Caleb is also awake by now, and we are both trying (not too successfully) to stifle our laughter.  I try to think of another way to phrase my question, but my mind is still sleepy.

ME: I see.  But I'm trying to understand why you took your undies off in the first place.
ATHENA: Because... I wanted you to put them back on.

Parents are both laughing out loud now.  I ask the child if she's ever considered putting crab apples in her cheeks.  "What?" she asks.  "It's a literary reference," I tell her. "What?" she asks again.  "I love you," I tell her.

Upon a bit of follow-up questioning, she reveals that while she DID go potty before her bath at bedtime, her bed is somehow wet, and that this is why she needed to change her underwear.  Mystery solved, we all go back to sleep.

Spring Hike

With the kids on Spring Break this week and me still mostly on maternity leave, today the three girls and I went on an almost 5 mile, 4 hour hike.  We hiked from the top of Vassar Dr up to NCAR, had a picnic at the top of the hill... 

and then walked through NCAR and down the back of the mesa to the Skunk Canyon trail and back around.  Athena started drooping up behind NCAR before we started making our way down, but a well-timed promise of frozen yogurt was all it took to energize her for another 2+ miles!  Mazie was a huge help, holding Athena's hand most of the way down.  The two of them were calling each other their "bestie sisters" -- anytime we would stop (which was a lot) they would do a little "bestie sister" cheer and then hold hands and continue walking.  

So proud of them and really excited that they're old enough to do long hikes!  Before we know it Zae will be trotting along next to them.

Mazie's First Grade Concert

On March 19th we were entertained by a first grade concert at Mazie's school.  Pretty darn cute.

She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain

This Land is Your Land

La Raspa (Mexican Hat Dance)

Athena Can't Hear

While Athena's handled her transition to middle child fairly well overall, she's three and has been asserting her independence and strong will on a regular basis.  A few weeks ago I was getting really frustrated with her for ignoring me -- I would ask her to do something like put on her shoes or brush her teeth and she just wouldn't respond.  Then I noticed her saying "What?" a lot, and eventually it occurred to me that maybe she actually wasn't hearing me very well.  So I took her to the audiologist and it turns out she does have some mild (and thankfully temporary) hearing loss due to a combination of wax and possibly fluid in her ears.  She and Mazie both had ear infections shortly after Zae was born, so this is probably a lingering effect of that.  The doctor referred us to the head and neck surgery department to get her ears flushed out, but unfortunately I couldn't get an appointment until the end of April, so for now we're all just talking louder and trying to be patient with her!  

The Zaeby is almost 2 months old...

And she continues to be perfect.  Smiling more and more, tracking people and toys with her eyes, and getting chubbier and stronger all the time!  Her checkup is next week so I'll update her stats then.

Of all the gifts she's given us, one that I'm very grateful for is her incredible sleeping skills.  Last night she set a record, sleeping from about 10:30 pm until 6:30 am in her co-sleeper next to our bed.  While that was an especially long stretch, she's been doing 5-6 hours pretty consistently every night, and then she wakes up and nurses and goes right back to sleep until we all get up in the morning.  As a third time Mama I'm very aware that these things can change at any time, so for now I'm just grateful to be an unusually well rested mother of a 2 month old!

Smile!

Just like her sisters, Zae started to smile right around her one month birthday.  She's still sleeping most of the day (and continues to sleep great at night, too), but has gotten more interactive during her awake periods.  Definitely a dream baby.