What is the deal?

I know people mean well, but what is with the over 70 set insisting that my baby eats too often and that I need not to  hold her so much? I have been told multiple times, since week 2, that I am spoiling her by giving her hugs when she cries and that when I breastfeed what baby "really" wants is a pacifier... (big holiday get-togethers are great for cranky babies and unsolicited baby advice...)

Question. Are people like this in the States too?

I guess I need tougher skin but these "helpful" comments, which are usually under the breath but loud enough to hear over baby's crying and at particularly vulnerable moments feel just plain mean.

ok. Had to get that off my chest...

THANK YOU GRANDMA MARY!!

Yes, that's Luna's nose bottom right. 

Miracle at Via Corelli, 6

Eva slept 5 hours IN A ROW in her cradle!! Wooo hooo!

Up to Birth Weight.

So, our little porker had two weeks of growth in one weekend. They tested the scale about 10 times after that and it appears to be correct. Now we get a week off before having to weigh her again... So that's our gift from Saint Nick for today!

Meeting Santa!

She slept most of the afternoon. 

She did wake up long enough to have her picture taken with Santa (a.k.a Daddy) and her best bud, Giulio (she even let him wear her hat). Look for other pictures of the party on Facebook since blogger distorts them sometimes... Click This.

Getting ready for Eva's FIRST CHRISTMAS PARTY!!

Too bad it's much too cold to run around in onesies, because Eva sure has some cute ones. Like this one with the snow globe! 

 I guess that means that some of our best outfit shots are going to be changing table pictures (yes, that is my washing machine under there!)... Eva hates getting changed but once she's dressed, all is well. See below.

In fact she spent most of the Christmas party like this! 

What does it take to fatten this girl up??

Ok. She's breast feeding, she's formula feeding, and she's STILL not gaining weight. Now they have upped her formula and we have to weigh her again on Monday. Still not up to her birth weight after 24 days. UGH! At least it wasn't JUST me. The formula doesn't cut it either. Today with her new 30g more of formula she looked like she was DRUGGED at the end and has been sleeping ever since. Oh, and today she is actually sleeping in her little bed (as in she saw me put her in it, didn't just WAKE UP THERE) and barely put up a fight. Is baby maturing? She sure seems to be after yesterday's breakthrough.

So she seems fine. Sleeps, seems satisfied and all that, but the scales are not working in our favor. Last week she had a nice weight gain over 2 days but now after a week she is still the same. I totally don't get it, especially since she's eating more than before.

Nice to be fixated on weight at an early age, though. Yikes!!

It's a MIRACLE!

As you can guess from my lack of posts, this Mommy thing takes up a lot of time. In fact, I have started working again here and there and it's nearly impossible to make plans because I just NEVER KNOW how long it's going to take to get things ready with Eva. Today's miracle is that she actually put herself to sleep while I was taking a shower this morning!! Here's proof:

 I know. I can hardly believe it myself!!

The first day I started teaching again (one class a week, on Mondays from 5-7pm for the time being), I put Eva in her Mei Tai carrier and she slept the entire time. She loves it in there because it's nice and warm and when I walk around it rocks her right into LaLa Land. This week I left her home with Cristian and they took a nice long nap together. I missed her like crazy of course, but I was happy that I could leave her home if he's there.

As you can see from her outfit, Eva is really turning into a Daddy's girl and he is nuts about her too. This is from his birthday last week.

You can see her Fuzzibunz washable diaper peeking out from underneath her "I love Dad" onesie. For those of you who asked or are curious...We are very happy with them. They do leak a bit here and there, but Girlfriend is on a liquid diet, so there is an industrial quantity of pee. Also, if you wet your diaper, it's supposed to get wet. I am a little suspicious of those diapers that you can wet a thousand times over and not feel any moistness at all. That, to me, is strange, and possibly not helpful when it comes to potty training (I know that you never feel wet at all but you should stop using a diaper and pee into this bowl instead. Why? Because I SAID so!!)

Other FAQs:

1. Is she GOOD? 

Yes. She is good. We're the ones who have some learning to do. 

2. Does she sleep at night? 

Yes, and No. This is variable. The first week she slept almost the entire night, but that wasn't necessarily good because she also needs to eat about every 3 hours in order to gain weight and grow (which she wasn't doing that first week at home). Now I try to keep her up a little later so I can put food in her belly and then she sleeps from about 1am to 6am. But sometimes she wakes up and eats, sometimes not. 

3. Where did all that hair come from? 

Um. Her dad? 

4. Will that hair fall out? 

They say that it will and then new hair will grow in. It doesn't show any signs of thinning so far. 

5. What are all those white stains on Cristian and your shirts?

Oh that's spitup.

More later. The princess has broken her slumber...