Day Care

Eliana started day care this week so that both parents could go back to their work places full-time. By all reports, she LOVES it there. The teachers said they’ve never seen a baby smile so much on their first day. Today, she was causing smile chain reactions; she’d smile at another baby, that baby would smile back, Eliana would smile harder, other baby would smile harder….

Mommy went to go feed Eliana, and she didn’t want to leave the teacher’s arms! Apparently she gets held a lot, and there’s all sorts of new toys to play with, and she gets read to. After a day and a half, Eliana is even sitting up better; as of this past Sunday, she’d flop right over if you tried to prop her up, but this morning she stayed upright for a good 30 seconds or so before whining (I think she was stuck upright!). Her teacher said she sat up for a minute or so today, too. It might help that so far Eliana is the youngest in the class by far; the others are already fairly mobile, and one (over a year old) is standing. So maybe peer pressure will take effect. And maybe it’ll go the other way, and they’ll all be more smiley now that our happy baby has joined them.

Six Month Birthday

That’s right. Eliana turned 6 months old today.

Trouble Brewing on the Horizon

I missed a milestone by being at work today, but apparently a storm is about to crop up.

Eliana rolled over for the first today today.

Eeep.

Dry Needling

In my last entry, I mentioned that I had received acupressure as part of my muscle spasm treatment, but I could have sworn it was really acupuncture. At today’s physical therapy appointment, though, the trainer gave it another name: dry needling. If you’re at all squeamish, particularly where it involves needles, I wouldn’t read much further. In case you don’t read further, let’s say I’m healing well and leave it at that.

Ow

Today turned out just a bit differently than I imagined it would. Yesterday, I was back at work after a four day weekend. I even managed to get myself to the gym for the first time since the baby was born. I tried to take it easy, doing my usual 30 minutes on the elliptical machine, but at a lower speed and intensity than I used to do, and no exercise machines.

This morning, I woke up at 3:30am with pain in my back near my shoulder blade so intense, I couldn’t move at first.

Various Eliana Updates

Eliana hit the 6 week mark today, so I thought I’d give a few updates.

Belated Birth Announcement

A little over a week late, but we’ve been a bit busy, and I’m pretty sure every “regular” reader of this blog knows the news already, but for completeness sake:

We’d like to announce the arrival of our baby girl, Eliana Frances, on 26 February 2008 at 12:34pm, weighing in at 6lbs, 10oz. Everyone is doing well, if lacking a little bit of sleep.

If I start writing about her more often, I may start a separate blog of her own; for now, though, stories shall go here.

You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown

I probably should have announced this a little earlier, but I’m currently in a musical taking place in Catonsville (tonight was opening night, hence my comment about being earlier). Location and ticket prices for You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown can be found at the website for Heritage Players, the group running the show. The show is basically what it sounds like: if you’re familiar with the comic strip, the random scenes in the show will be familiar.

I’ve done several musicals with this group in the past, but haven’t been able to for a while. This year their scheduling works out such that I can take part. I’m in the orchestra, in case you’re wondering (I don’t act). Performances are Saturday nights at 8pm and Sunday afternoons at 2pm through November 18th.

It’s A….

Girl! We had our first major ultrasound today, now that Rina’s at the 20 week (halfway) point. Everything looked great; heart rate was fine, estimated weight was fine, pictures all looked normal. It was highly amusing watching the baby punch or kick Rina at random, especially after the technician prodded the belly a few times to wake her up so she’d give a profile shot. I’ve never been able to pick out what’s what on an ultrasound picture before, but having movement first and a technician there to explain what we were seeing helped tremendously. Pictures are up at the website.

Cruise Vacation

During the first week of September, Rina and I took our third cruise. In the past, we’ve flown to Ft. Lauderdale and sailed to the Caribbean. This time, we found a ship leaving from Baltimore, so we took advantage. A long summary post follows.