Baptism Sunday

This past Sunday, March 29th, we celebrated Lauren's baptism. My parents came up from Florida for the occasion, and we had a nice weekend.

Lauren did so well throughout the whole morning. She didn't take a nap before church like I had hoped, so I was a little worried about how she would do, but she was a perfect angel. She always cries when strangers hold her, but for some reason (Divine intervention?) she didn't utter a sound when I gave her over to Pastor Joanne for the sacrament. Lauren just stared at Joanne as she gave the blessing with water, marked her forehead in the sign of the cross with oil, and walked her around the sanctuary as we all sang Jesus Loves Me.

Mason, on the other hand, wasn't so well behaved. I had talked to him all morning about how to behave standing up at the front of the church. I even show him his own baptism video so he would have an idea what was going on. I was hopeful when I saw how nicely he was sitting in the chair beside me when the service started. But just as soon as we were called up front, he started running around in front of everyone. Pastor Joanne even had to stop what she was saying to tell Mason that he either needed to sit down or stand still up there with us. He sat down on the front row, but got up again. That's when our music minister came over to sit down with him. I was of course embarrassed and felt badly that the pastor had to stop in the middle of the whole thing. I should have expected it and just took him to the nursery as usual, but I figured it was a family moment and he needed to be there. Oh well.

Here's a picture of us with Pastor Joanne. Joanne is an interim pastor at our church, but we just love her and hope that she stays at our church permanently.


Here's Lauren in her baptism gown. This gown was made by her great, great Aunt Chris and cousin (twice removed) Elaine. It's quickly becoming a family heirloom. Both my nephews (my brother's children) were baptised in this gown before Lauren.

In a new tradition at our church, (starting this past Sunday) this banner is hung at the front of the church for all baptisms and for the celebration of Jesus' baptism. It bears the name of all the people baptised at our church since it's inception.

Here's a close up of Lauren's name at the bottom. Mason's name is near the top of the picture. (Jan 21, 2007).

Finally, another new tradition was started at our church Sunday. All children who are baptised receive a beautiful FaithChest which is handmade by members of our congregation. Lauren received the very first one. It is used to hold special items in a child's life beginning with mementos from her baptism and any other special things given to her by parents, grandparents, friends, etc throughout the years. She will take it with her when she leaves home and will always have the things to remind her of people who helped her grow in faith.

The chest contains the candle lit on the alter during her baptism, an album to mark special occasions in her life, a children's bible, a prayer blanket knitted by members of the congregation, and her certificate of baptism. The chest is absolutely beautiful and it is such a wonderful new ministry in our church.

I'm so very proud of my little girl. We are truly blessed to have her in our lives.

New Milestones

Lauren has hit a few milestones over the last couple of weeks. At 4 1/2 months she's now steady enough to play in her activity center:
She can sit up on her own for about 30 seconds:

And she's great at getting up on her elbows during tummy time:

She has also started rolling over from front to back.

But my favorite thing lately is how much she loves watching Mason. She is entertained by him more than anything else. And no one can make her laugh like he can. I'm trying hard to get a video of the two of them together, and I will post one if I can ever get it in time.

Four Months Old

Lauren had her four month check-up at the doctor's office this week. Dr. Smoak said she looks great and is above average on her developmental milestones. Here are the stats:

Length: 24 3/4in (60th percentile)

Weight: 15lbs, 13oz (90th percentile)

Head Circumference 41 1/4cm (60th percentile)

Another doctor visit means another immunization. We're doing a somewhat altered schedule so she got a DTaP shot this week. I've never liked getting shots myself (who does?) but I hate watching the kids get shots even more. She did pretty well though... only cried for about 30 seconds. She stopped as soon as she saw the nurse leave the room.

Here's Lauren giving Pooh a kiss, taken on her four month birthday:

A Message From Lauren...

I Survived the Three Month Growth Spurt

Lauren turned three months old on January 13. A few days later, she hit her three-month growth spurt and turned into an eating machine. We're talking nursing about every 1-2 hours around the clock. I was getting up with her about 5 times a night. To make matters worse, it coincided with a really busy period for Dave with work. He's been working really long hours lately, so I wasn't able to count on him for much help. To make matters worse, I've cut back on coffee because it seems to affect Lauren's tummy, so I couldn't even count on that to get me through the day.

Thankfully though, my little glutton girl seems to have slowed down a bit. She's sleeping much longer stretches again, and I'm starting to get a little sanity back. Even though she's waking up at 5:00am (or even 4:00 lately) I'm still feeling a little better now that I'm only getting up with her once a night.

Since it's been a little while since I've posted any pictures, here are a few of my favorites from the last three weeks.

In this last picture, taken on the day Lauren turned three months old, she's wearing a dress made by her Great, Great Aunt Chris, and First Cousin (twice removed) Elaine. It was smoked by her Grandmama (my mom). They all did such a wonderful job, I wanted everyone to see how nice it looks.

A Few Random Updates

Some of the latest happenings in the Roszak household...

Lauren has recently taken to sucking her thumb. I'm rather surprised since I didn't encourage it, and I've never been able to get her to take a pacifier. It's cute for now, but I'm not looking forward to having to stop it later if this is something she keeps up.

The other day, Mason started calling me 'Mama' instead of 'Mommy' all of a sudden. I don't mind, but it's rather funny how these things change. He also started calling Dave by his name instead of 'Daddy' not long ago.

I think Lauren has hit her three-month growth spurt because she's been waking up several times a night to eat lately. She went to sleep at 9:30 last night but was up at 1:45, 4:00, 5:00, and up for good at 6:15. It's not helping that I've had to lay off coffee because it seems to make her cranky. Therefore, I'm a bit sleep deprived. Yesterday, I went to the bakery to buy some bread and left it sitting on the counter. It's been about six months since I've gotten a good nights sleep.

This morning while we were watching inauguration coverage, Mason "called" up Dave at work on his toy phone and said: "I'm watching Obama and playing with Mama's eyebrows. Love you. Bye bye." He was right on both counts.

Like a Weed

Lauren is growing more and more every day. I can't stop her. Dave often comes home and says that she got bigger since he left for work. She's outgrown her baby acne so she is looking less and less newborn. She's also sleeping better (knock on wood) and for the past two night has had a 7-hour stretch before she wanted to eat. I was able to sleep from 10:30-5:00 twice in a row - woo-hoo!

She's such a good-natured baby. Quite the opposite of how Mason was. She will sit in her bouncy seat or swing way longer than Mason ever would. She likes riding in the car and will usually fall asleep. She rarely gets upset unless she's gassy (which happens once in awhile since she's still a once-a-week pooper) or Mason bonks her head. Most of the time she's just content to just sit and watch what's going on.

My new favorite thing is that she's starting to laugh. I've been trying to capture it on video, but I can't seem to get the best of it in time. Here's what I've gotten so far.

Two Month Check-Up

Lauren's two month visit with Dr. Smoak was today. The latest length and weight stats are:
22" - 50th percentile
12lbs, 15oz - 90th percentile

Yep, still a big baby. Dr. Smoak thought she looked more like 4 month old than a 2 month old but said she looks great. He's still not concerned that she's not a pooper, (she's only pooped three times since our last visit a month ago) so we'll just keep going with the flow at this point. We did have her first two vaccinations today (we're on a somewhat delayed\altered schedule) and of course that was the worst part. She only cried for a few seconds though, and hopefully there are no ill effects.

A Star is Born

Last night our 9-week-old little girl was the star of our church's annual Live Nativity. She of course played none other than Baby Jesus. Each year, the newest baby in the congregation usually gets the honor of playing Baby Jesus, and by default, her parents play Mary and Joseph. So of course Dave and I joined in to complete the Holy Family. Dave even grew out his beard so he would look more authentic. But having the youngest baby in the church wasn't our only qualification - we also have experience. Two years ago, Mason, who was then about 8 months old, was Baby Jesus, so Dave and I were reprising our roles. (However, this time, we didn't have any lines to memorize.)

To prepare Lauren for her role, I nursed her has much as she would allow so she wouldn't be hungry during her big moment. I also made sure to change her just before we went on because she hates a wet diaper. And because we were going to be outside, I wrapped her up in a beige baby blanket, er... swaddling clothes, so she would be warm. After Dave and I were dressed in our costumes, we were all set. She fell asleep as we started walking outside, so I was thinking she was going to be the best, most beautiful Baby Jesus ever.

Sitting down on the bale of hay beside the manger, with Joseph beside me, the angel behind me, the three wise men and the shepherd and donkey looking on, I thought we must have looked like a pretty good picture of the nativity. The congregation started singing Away in a Manger, and just then, she started crying. I stood up with her to try to calm her down, but it wasn't working. I whispered, "Lauren, didn't you hear what they just sang? 'The little Lord Jesus, NO CRYING He makes'!" But she wouldn't stop. She continued crying through the scripture reading and through the singing of Silent Night. It wasn't until we were walking back into the church that she stopped crying and went back to sleep.

Who would have thought a 9-week-old could get stage fright?

Laundry Day

The other day I went up to do laundry while holding Lauren, and I needed to put her down for a minute. I looked around for a good spot, and not wanting to put her down on the floor which hasn't been vacuumed for two weeks, and not wanting to go find the bouncy seat, I just plopped her down on top of the laundry in the basket (which was clean) while I did another load. She didn't seem to mind. In fact, I think she quite enjoyed it!

A Brand New Girl

After six days with no poop, Lauren finally went yesterday. And boy, has she felt like a brand new girl. She has been much calmer than she has in the past few days. I was very thankful for that because I've not been feeling well the last couple days myself. I've had a fever and muscle aches, and it's certainly not easy taking care of two kids while you're sick. Especially when one of them is fussy. I think I'm on the mend today though.

One Month Check-Up

Lauren had her one month check up today with Dr. Smoak. For the family members who might care, here are her stats:

Length: 21 1/2" - 60th percentile (up from 19" at birth)

Weight: 11lbs, 4oz - 90th percentile (up from 7lbs, 10oz at birth)

Head Circumference: 37cm - 50th percentile

Yes, I grow big babies. Mason's always been around the same percentiles too. I guess Lauren is destined to be the same pudgy baby he was. Of course her weight could be affected by the fact she hasn't pooped in three days. (Which, by the way, Dr. Smoak wasn't the least bit concerned about so I will choose not to be either.)

Here's one of our latest pictures showing our fast-growing girl. She started smiling recently and this is the only picture I've been able to get of it so far...

Oh Please Don't Let This Be Colic!

My previously good-natured baby has turned into one fussy little girl. For the past two evenings and again this morning, she has been very cranky and it's been hard to figure out why.

Saturday night I was thinking it was something I ate or drank that she didn't like showing up in my breast milk. Perhaps it was the half-glass of wine I treated myself to. She was acting like she was starving, but after one swallow, she complained. Loudly. Dave tried giving her pumped milk, but so far, we haven't had any luck getting her to take a bottle. It took a couple of hours, but she finally went to sleep after I found a dark corner under our ticking kitchen clock to nurse her while standing up.

Last night she was fussy again, but this time no alcohol. Again she would nurse for a couple of seconds and then pull away angrily. This went on for at least a couple of hours. It seemed to help when I took off her clothes and diaper and gave her a massage. I think she was having trouble pooping. Once it happened, she finally nursed calmly and went to sleep.

This morning was more of the same. Fussy nursing, and she wouldn't let me even sit down with her. Finally she went to sleep shortly before I had to get her up to go pick Mason up at preschool. When we got back she refused to be anywhere except my arms while I stood up until she fell asleep for her afternoon nap. She hasn't pooped yet today, so maybe that's the problem again. I'm not sure what I should do, if anything, to help her feel better, but I hope we get this worked out soon and that it's not chalked up to colic. A cranky newborn makes everyone else cranky too.