I had more trouble than usual getting Nina to go to bed tonight. Usually I nurse her, swaddle her, put her down and within a few minutes, she’s asleep. Tonight she started crying and was not placated by tummy rubbing or “earthquake bed,” so I had to pick her up and rock her for a while. This is the view from the rocking chair. Seeing it reminded me of the nights when she would wake up and take an hour or sometimes two to get back to sleep. I did a lot of staring at that lit window across the way. Now she sleeps until morning on most days.

I think she may be moving toward an earlier bedtime. She fell asleep on her own around 8:30. I woke her up for a bath and feeding and bedtime at her usual 10:00. Tomorrow I’ll try putting her down for the night a little earlier and see what happens.

So far, the big event this week for Nina was our trip on Monday to Inwood, to see Yishane and Tashi. It was the first time the babies met since they visited us in the hospital, and everyone had a great time (except for a brief moment when Nina cried after Tashi bopped her on the nose with a plastic star; but no harm done, and Nina quickly went back to playing on the floor; link to the video here). Nina liked Tashi’s safari-themed playmat so much that she was allowed to take it home with her. She’s been enjoying it since.

That night, we stopped in at Nina’s first party – celebrating our friend Ruth’s 50th birthday. Nina got lots of attention and chilled out for a while in the back bedroom. She met a celebrity astrologer who said that she’s bound to be a talkative Gemini!

On Tuesday, Nina had her 2-month checkup. She had to get four injections, which she bore heroically. She cried hard but recovered quickly, and then she fell asleep in the stroller on the way out. She now weighs 11 pounds 12 ounces and is 22.75 inches long!

I had grand plans to read a bunch of books during my maternity leave. But it turns out that books and caring for a newborn don’t mix, at least for me. I read one book – White Noise, by Don Delilo, and have gotten part way through another novel, The Loser, by Thomas Bernhard. I’ve also read chunks of various baby-related books. That is about it. I need books that are good for my newly shortened attention span; books that I can read in fits and starts. I found a good one at the bookstore the other day. It’s also going to help me appreciate baseball better. It’s called Watching Baseball Smarter. I just started it, and already it’s cleared up a lot of confusion. My goal is to be able to listen to baseball on the radio and really be able to imagine the game. Nina will likely have no trouble with this once she’s older. Today, she played on the bed with John while they listened to a Mets-Reds game on the radio together.

Nina’s had a lot of firsts this week. This is a photo of her first picnic, in Prospect Park. It was a hot day but a beautiful, cool evening. Nina only got fussy once, and I calmed her by wheeling her stroller in circles on the grass. This weekend, she had her first subway and train ride when we went out to Long Island. She slept pretty much the whole way. Speaking of sleeping, she’s been sleeping a lot (pretty much through the night, with some long naps during the day) but also staying awake for longer periods. So her sleep’s becoming more concentrated. And for the past week or so, she’s been doing a lot of what John and I call “conversing” — funny cooing noises that she makes in response to us looking at her and saying something. The noises sound sort of like a pinball machine. It’s a lot of fun to communicate with her in this way.

Nina also smiles all the time. When she does wake up in the middle of the night, she breaks into a big smile when I go to pick her up.

Aunt Ann’s Baby Dress

Nina had a busy, fun day. First, we had a fashion show of Feltman Brothers dresses that Ann wore when she was a baby. Then, Nina and I attended a Mom and Baby yoga class. Nina was the youngest baby there – most were between 3 and 6 months – but she did great. She was awake and hardly fussed, and she seemed relaxed by the whole thing. She snacked a couple times and stared at the woman next to us.

Tonight was beautiful so we took a walk on the promenade, with Nina in Daddy’s sling. Then we came home and Nina went to bed. We’ve learned that we can put her down awake and she’ll go to sleep, but she needs us to turn off all the lights and step out of the room. Otherwise, she gets distracted by us or by things like her Mets mobile.

Nina’s getting increasingly interested in her surroundings. The Mr. Met crib mobile’s been fascinating her for the past several days, often so much that it distracts her when she’s trying to go to sleep. Before this, she hardly noticed it. She also really enjoys the fish mobile on her swing and her black and white animal cards.

I try to keep Nina awake ahead of her 10 PM bedtime, so last night I read her some books between nine and 9:30. She really seemed to like the Madeline book. She was quiet the whole time I was reading, and she was lying on her back staring at the pages. I think the pictures were bold enough in that book to catch her eye. It’s about little school girls in Paris. I had forgotten how beautiful the illustrations are. So far, Nina dislikes Goodnight Moon. She cried when I tried to read this. It is kind of a strange book. There’s something a little creepy about that green room.

I failed to post anything on the blog about our week in Vermont, the last week in June. We went up there for John to attend a workshop at the Center for Cartoon Studies, which he also attended last summer. We rented a beautiful house in South Woodstock, and Nina and I relaxed at home while John honed his drawing skills. Nina was a great little traveler, sleeping very well at night in the ever-so-useful Moses Basket. I don’t have time to go into detail about our trip, but there are photos here on our Flickr site.

Nina came home from Vermont with a nice souvenir — a new book by our comic-making, children’s-book -illustrating friend Alec Longstreth. It’s called Alec’s Animal Alphabet, and I’ve posted some illustrations from it above. You can find Alec’s blog here.

Nina is now six weeks old. Here is a picture of her with her grandmother Geri during the Fourth of July weekend visit. Shortly after this photo was taken, Nina slept through the night for the first time, from 10 PM to 6:30 AM. I was shocked when I got up and looked at the clock. Yay, Nina!

She seems to get cuter and chubbier by the day. I’m not sure how much she weights (we’ll go to the doctor on July 22 and find out) but I can tell she’s getting bigger and longer. She’s graduated from Newborn to Size 1 Huggies, and her arms look like little stacks of marshmallows. She’s increasingly alert, and when she’s not sleeping or nursing, she likes to gaze at people’s faces. She also enjoyed walking around Grandma’s backyard, looking at the bushes and taking in the fresh air. I don’t mean that she herself was walking, of course (that’s not for another week or so). Rather, she took her stroll held belly down in the crook of someone’s arm (mine or Aunt Colleen’s), facing out. This soothes her tummy and also gives her a good view of the world.

She got to meet lots of relatives and friends during her weekend on Long Island. Below is a photo of her meeting her Great Aunt Nina. She also met Great Uncle Nick, Great Aunt Pat and many others. Aunt Liz and Uncle Jim also came by for a visit.

My friend Kristen in Athens has a baby due on Halloween. She was asking me about baby products, so I decided to put together a list of the stuff that we’ve found most useful so far.

Stokke crib – expensive but we love it. Works well in our small space and rolls around easily so that we can put it right next to bed, etc.

Dutailier Glider + Ottomon – I once hated these bulky looking gliders but have come to love our Dutailier. It’s really comfortable and great for soothing the baby, nursing and relaxing. And it doesn’t look nearly as big and ugly as I thought it would. In fact, I like it. They have a ton of good fabric to choose from, as well as different designs, some more compact than others. Spend the extra $$ and get the memory foam and recline function.

Chicco keyfit carseat + Snap n Go

Contoured changing pad that attaches to dresser + Boppy changing pad cover – no need to buy changing table!

Pee-wees Disposable Multi-Use Pads — waterproof disposable sheets for changing pad, etc. Very useful

Skip Hop Pronto changing pad – turns any bag into a diaper bag

Happiest Baby on the Block DVD – watch before you have the baby, as you will use it as soon as he/she is born

The Miracle Blanket for swaddling – we used the Kiddopotamus SwaddleMe swaddling blanket until she was about 5-6 weeks, as it was better when she was very small

Diaper Dekor Plus

Boppy pillow for nursing. It also has many other uses (baby can sit in it, behind Dad’s head when he’s napping on couch, back support, etc.)

Carter’s receiving blankets – we throw these over her when she’s napping; might need something heavier for winter baby

Cloth diapers for burping – you need more of these than you might think

Flannel pads with vinyl interior for the crib – she spits up during the night; with this, we don’t have to change the sheet

Fisher-Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium Cradle Swing – big and plastic-y; exactly the kind of contraption I didn’t want taking up precious space in our one-bedroom apartment. I also worried about using the swing as a surrogate parent. But sometimes – like when you’re sitting down to dinner and the baby is fussy – you really need the swing. We put her in it and she calms right down and often falls asleep. And she is mesmerized by the attached fish mobile and lights.

Bebe au Lait nursing shawl – I tried covering up with a receiving blanket at first, thinking that a $35 nursing shawl was a waste of money. But the blanket would usually fall off or Nina would kick it off, and I’d be sitting there exposed. The nursing shawl is great because it attaches around your neck, and it’s made so you can see the baby while you’re nursing. It also makes a nice sun shade when you drape it over the Chicco in the stroller.

A thermos – we have been using warm water to wipe Nina’s little bum (although I think we need to switch to something more powerful soon). We keep a thermos of warm water by our changing table.

Lansinoh cream for the first couple weeks of breastfeeding – essential!

Nina met her oldest (as far as we know) relative during a Fourth of July visit to Grandma Geri’s house out on Long Island. Great-Great Aunt Marion is 95 years old. She was like a grandmother to John when he was growing up, so she was very excited to meet his daughter. Nina fussed when we tried placing her in Aunt Marion’s arms, but she was very happy when John held her and Aunt Marion stroked her foot. Marion’s real name is Margaret, just like Nina’s middle name.