Now that I’m not working, I’m engaging in some creative pursuits. John’s encouraged me to try my hand at comics. This is my first attempt. I actually drew this one back in June, but I didn’t ink it until yesterday. Rather than comics, what I really want to do is write and illustrate a children’s book. I’m going to take an evening class on this subject at SVA, starting later this month. And this weekend, I’m going to take Nina to the Brooklyn Book Festival to hear a reading by Mo Willems, whose books I love.

From the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, via the kitchen of Connie Parker, a delicious and easy recipe. I’m doing more cooking now that I’m home, and it’s getting easier the more I do. My mom is a great cook and has a knack for making food that’s healthy as well as tasty. This was one of her recommendations and I wholeheartedly second it.

Nina’s had a lot going on in recent weeks. Last weekend, she took a trip to East Hampton with Mama and Dad. Here she is in the sundress she wore for the ride out. Later, while Daddy went swimming in the cold bay, Nina and I enjoyed the breeze on the beach. Nina liked lying on a towel, wrapped in a blanket. She did not like having her toes dipped in the water. In addition to sunbathing on the beach, we visited Grandma on the way out and back, and went to see friends on the North Fork: a colleague of John’s, his wife, their flock of chickens — Nina had a conversation with a crowing rooster — and their two children, who are delightful little geniuses. Being out there made me want to move to a small town. On the way home from the Hamptons, we also stopped by the Sullivan’s, had tomato and dill sandwiches and got sunburnt (not Nina, who was inside on her playmat while Mom and Dad baked on the porch).

There have been other important developments in Nina’s little life over the past couple weeks: First of all, Mama lost her job three days after returning to work from maternity leave, meaning that she’s now able to spend all the time she wants with Nina. Nina celebrated this fact by turning over from back to front on Aug. 31 (the final flourish goes out to the folks who fired mommy). She now does this regularly (the flip, sans flourish), but she seems to have forgotten how to flip from back to front. Once she gets onto her tummy, she becomes intent on trying to crawl and starts straining and groaning like someone lifting a piano. She typcially manages to get her bottom into the air, but until the tummy can fully clear the ground she’s obviously not going anywhere. So we’ve got some time until she’s self-propelled. At least a few more months, I hope!

Other activities of late are a Japanese-language “Mommy and Me” class that we’ve begun attending in the East Village at a place called “Nihongo de Asobo”. We went for the first time yesterday, and Nina seemed to love it. The teacher was very animated, singing lots of songs that were new to Mama as well. We’ve also begun developing Nina’s ability to nap in her crib. A summer spent taking walks with Mama and Daddy around Brooklyn Heights has produced a baby that loves to sleep outside in a moving stroller and hates to be confined to a bed during the day. This won’t do once the weather’s colder, so our nanny and I are having to train her. This is rather unpleasant work that requires letting Nina do a lot of crying as we encourage her put herself to sleep. Our wonderful nanny (along with some encouraging words from Mama friend Yishane) has been a real source of support in this effort — I would have given up had it been me alone. Now, after just three days, Nina is taking a morning crib nap with relative ease. I worried about traumatizing her or losing her trust (”I cry but Mommy doesn’t come!”), but I realize that the older she gets, the more difficult it will become to change her habits. I’ve also noticed that having a regularly scheduled nap in the crib seems to allow her a deeper sleep, and thus results in less fussiness. So I think Nina will be grateful to us in the long run…

I popped into the doctor’s office today to have her check out a little dry spot on Nina’s leg (it’s nothing) and - more importantly - to have her weighed. I was eager to see how much she’s grown. She’s now 15 lbs 6 oz and is 25.5 inches long. That means that in less than two months, she’s gained almost four pounds and grown about 3 inches. This solves the mystery of why she’s been busting out of some of her onesies. Mama needs to do some Fall clothes shopping!

We have a lot of nicknames for Miss Nina, one of them being Nina Bee. I think this springs from my intention to one day dress Nina up in a bumble bee suit. She’s also somewhat bee-like insofar as she’s in constant motion, at least when she’s awake. Nina is not a baby that likes to sit or lie still. She also has many, many other nicknames. I assume and hope that the bulk of these will be retired from regular use before she’s old enough to experience embarrassment. But lest we ever forget, here is a list of the standouts: Tummicle, Bellicle, Cuddler, Cuddly Buddler, C. Buds, Billiken, Buddles, Buddlestrum, Happy Bapperson, Baps, Miss Bapperson, Miss Babyhead, Snapperson, Biner, Binerson, and her Daddy’s favorite, for use when she’s traveling down South, Mary Binerson.

I start work on Monday. I am dreading it. Being on maternity leave has been wonderful, and I am so going to miss Nina. Everyone says going back to work is really tough but that it gets easier. So I just have to hang in there, I guess. The nanny worked for us all week - a trial run - and it went great. After a bit of struggling at first, Nina is now a pro with the bottle. Our nanny is wonderful with Nina, and just a generally warm, caring person. She is an angel. We are so fortunate to have found her and to be able to afford 1×1 childcare for Nina.

My big challenge now is pumping milk, and trying to keep up with Nina’s demand. She drinks 5.5 ounces per feeding during the day — quite a healthy appetite. I’m also going on a business trip in early September (to Japan, believe it or not, for a week) and during that time I’ll have to pump like crazy to keep up the milk supply. As much as I love being in Japan and doing work there, it could also be miserable — missing Nina terribly, worrying about her and then having to constantly wrangle with the pump. But I’m determined to keep up the breast feeding for as long as possible. My goal is to get to 4 months, and then I’ll set a new goal. The way breastfeeding is characterized these days, you feel like every extra day of breast milk is directly correlated to your child’s future ability to thrive. So I have this machine, freezer bags, tubes, bottles, etc etc. that are a big part of my life right now. Sometimes I feel it takes away from actual baby time. Pumping isn’t painful but it’s such a production. It may very well all be bunk. How much more does Nina actually benefit at this point by getting breastmilk instead of formula? But when it’s your child, you don’t want to take any chances. And somehow pumping and the royal pain that it is helps alleviate the inevitable guilt I feel in going back to work. And during work it will be a very physical reminder of my other role as a mother.

Nina’s doing great. She absolutely loves people. She stares with intense interest at anyone she meets, and usually gives them a big smile. She likes being outside and watching the trees, dogs walking by, bicyclers, etc. And she’s learning to take a nap in her crib. We’ve spend so much time this summer with her in the stroller, walking all over Brooklyn Heights, that she seems to find that the more comfortable place to nap. Or if not the stroller, the swing. But, with the help of a pacifier, she’s learning to nap in the crib. Our nanny got her to take two short crib naps today and I’ll give it a try myself tomorrow. John is out of town so it is just us girls!

Nina had her first day (just a half day) with the nanny today. It went great - and she took the bottle without a fuss from the nanny. And Nina seems to like her nanny, who’s very sweet and warm. Re. the bottle, she’s now taking it without issue for her first feeding in the AM. Dad gave her a bottle later on after the nanny left, and it was a bit of an ordeal, but she eventually drank it down. We’ll have the nanny give her bottles throughout the day for the rest of the week.

Nina’s enjoying tummy time more, and today - with prodding from the nanny - I put her flat instead of propped up on a pillow, and she rolled herself over onto her side. I get the feeling she’ll be flipping soon from front to back. She’s also really into a seat called the “Bebe Pod” that our friend Allison gave us. It holds her up in a sitting position, like a big girl! She also likes to stand up on her legs while someone holds her. Those chubbers are building some muscle!

She’s also enjoying sucking on her fingers and has recently begun sucking occasionally on her upper lip, which is very cute. She likes being bounced to sleep on the edge of the bed or the exercise ball. And she loves being outside - feeling the breeze and looking up at the trees.

Nina met her Great Granny Nina, one of the women for whom she was named, last week. Granny came up to New York with Aunt Kathryn. Nina was very well-behaved, hardly fussing and showing Granny and Kathryn lots of smiles. And Granny, age 89, took a long walk with us around Brooklyn Heights. She has the health and stamina of someone much younger. Let’s hope that Baby Nina’s got some of those genes!

Nina’s doing great at almost 3 months. We’ve had a busy several days - hence the lack of a blog post. We visited Atlanta and Athens, GA, stopping to see friends and family, including Nina’s grandparents. Nina had no problems on the plane, sleeping most of the way, nor did she mind the hours we spent in the airport due to weather-related delays. We also discovered that she sleeps really well in hotels with blackout shades.

Grandmama and Grandaddy are smitten with little Nina. Grandmama gave Nina a few baths during our stay, which Nina loved. Grandpop put Nina to sleep by bouncing her in his arms. In Athens, Nina got to meet baby Jack Luken, who is just a few weeks older than she is. Plenty of photos are up on our Flickr site.

Since returning home we’ve lost one nanny (she decided she didn’t want to work the hours we’d agreed upon) and hired another. The new nanny starts on Monday. The next challenge is the bottle — Nina has suddenly decided that she doesn’t like it. I guess she’s wised up. We won’t be fooling her with any plastic nipple! Well, she’s going to have to learn to take it. We tried it yesterday and today, and I finally got her to drink from it both times after a long bout of hard crying. For some reason she seems to take it more easily from me than John.

Nina’s become increasingly curious about the world around her. She follows all kinds of things with her eyes, but is particularly fond of faces. Smile at her, and she smiles back. Today she also really enjoyed watching her Daddy cook a fritata.

Nina’s been making better use of her hands lately. She seems closer to realizing that they are part of her body and I think will soon reach out and grab something. Right now, she’s basically just staring at them and using them to bat at things at eye level, as in this video I made.

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.