The Irresistible Chubbiness of Breastfeeding

It looks like an innocent Yelena Flower, but it's really a mimetic Ravenous Booby Trap disguised as a Yelena Flower. (Uh oh, the Booby Trap just stirred in her sling, so we'll see how long I can post. God help me, the door bell rang and then the phone rang.)

Yesterday we ventured out to the pediatrician for Yelena's 1 month checkup. She checked out all dandy. She is now a voluptuous scrumptious 9 lbs., 3 oz. The pediatrician could not get enough of her, repeatedly admiring her hair, cheeks, eyes, chub, and sweet disposition. When she told me the first time she was gorgeous, I said, "We think so, but we're biased." She looked at me conspiringly and, under her breath, told me, "I see newborns all the time and, trust me, she is exceptionally pretty. Some of the ones that come in here are funny looking." The doctor also extolled the chubbiness of breastfeeding saying that fat little breast-fed babies are the best, since they'll lean out when they start romping around and will have healthier metabolisms later in life.

Sunday night we managed to sleep for a whopping 4 hours. Last night she slept ok, but never really fell into deep sleep after her 4:30 AM feeding. She was snacking again when Eli left for work (that's 6:00 AM for all you slackers) and again at 7:15 with no sign of going back to sleep. I wasn't spunky enough to play, so I finally packed her up and drove to the Green City Market, which proved both awesome in terms of veggies (& bread, brown eggs & cheese) and soporific in terms of Yelena. We will now have a Wednesday morning outing there for the rest of the season.

Generally, Yelena is either getting more outing friendly, or I am getting more desperately in need of getting out of the house. We've been going on a daily walk for a while and yesterday we went to Walgreens all by ourselves (wooee!) and then to Romanian Kosher Meat during one of the few mysterious hours in which they open their doors. Tomorrow, hopefully we'll make it to a mommy & baby yoga class, to start preparing our bodies a little better to start dancing again in a week or so. This weekend we went to a BBQ on Saturday and a Sheva Brachot dinner on Monday and she fared pretty well at both -- we're getting good at breast feeding on random sofas.

Developmentally, Yelena is kicking some chubby baby a$$. She is starting to smile responsively, especially when we kiss her cheeks, Daddy gives her a froggie kiss on her tummy and right before she latches on. Actually, if she is not desperate and on the verge of tears, right before she latches on she gets a maniacal grin and then her eyes roll in ecstasy when she gets her milk. She reminds me of the little sister with the sugar addiction in John Waters' Pecker, only instead of drooling for a sugar fix, milk runs down her adorable chin. Make that chins. She is also now following objects with her eyes, somewhat with her neck, righting her neck when it flops in the car seat, and is in the early stages of reaching for objects. You go girl!