Photo Update

I don't have much new information to provide about Kate. She continues to eat, sleep and poop. She hasn't learned any new tricks to tell you about (she's having a hard time mastering rolling over despite our two-a-day training sessions, and her reading seems to be at least several months off).

So at the prompting of one of my sisters, I've decided to give the people what they want: more photos of our little munchkin.

My mom arrived on Sunday and has been a great help, just as Devoted Wife's mom and sister were last week. Having someone else to help around the house is really nice, particularly someone who thinks that you've done something great by bringing something beautiful into the world. Of course, sitting on the couch uploading photos from your camera to the internet while your mom scrubs the toilets in your house is not an easy thing to do. It is, however, easier than scrubbing the toilets yourself, so I struggle through it.

Grandma Benson loves to hold her 14th grandchild. In a couple of months their No. 15 will be born, with 13 of them under the age of 4!

Kate's favorite position when you put her on her stomach is to pull her knees up to her belly. I was searching for the right word to describe this position, and DW informed me it is the "fetal position." Hmmmnnn. Should have figured that one out.

One habit we're trying to cure her of is falling asleep while eating. She will eat heartily for 10 minutes or so and then start drifting off. We have to do a halftime break to wake her back up (change her diaper, change her clothes, dance the merengue, etc.) so we can get her to eat enough. Otherwise, if we let her sleep she'll be awake in 30 minutes screaming for more.

Bath time has turned out to be a surprise for us. As I mentioned in a previous post, Kate really likes the feel of the water on her hair. She squirms around while we're giving her the sponge bath, but when we pull out the sprayer from the kitchen sink and rinse off her hair, she settles down and just lies there in our arms while we spray her head. The look on her face doesn't say "This is great!" -- its more like, "Of all the things you could be doing to me right now, this is probably the least objectionable." But given her response, I've decided to add swimming to her training routine once her umbilical cord has dropped off. I think I see some potential there.

She's also a champion hiccupper. She gets the hiccups after nearly every feeding, and DW says she was a frequent hiccuper in utero. They only last for a few minutes and sometimes even seem to calm her down. We'll take what we can get. DW has learned for herself what we already knew to be true: feeding a baby can be a painful process. 'Nuff said about that one.

We've had a few visitors so far and have loved seeing friends and family who have trekked from far and wide to see our little Kate.

More to come when I can get her to learn a new trick . . .