bumbo

day 352:


this seat is called the bumbo baby sitter... a really stupid pun if you ask me.


at any rate, i thought i would take it out and try it today.


maeve is a little small for it still, but it amazes me that she is already big enough for it to kinda work.


and to see her sitting there with no help from me made her seem even bigger than she really is. i'm glad i get to spend the next 6 weeks at home with her. i don't want to miss any of this!

go sox!!

day 351:


maeve, tim, and i are watching the sox - yanks.


well, maeve just fell asleep, but she is showing her support by wearing one of her sox outfits.


as much as i want my daughter to be her own person, i would be sad if she were a yankees fan.

the yankees are everything that is wrong with the world...


i would rather she be a royals fan than a yankees fan.



but we'll see. only time will tell. and for all i know, she may not even care about baseball at all.

the great outdoors

day 350:


i have been wanting to try out the bike trail in east longmeadow for some time now...


so when tina called and said she was babysitting maison and that she wanted to get together, i knew just the thing.


we took the babies for an amazing walk.


the trail is really nice. 


and honestly, it was great to get outside. i feel like i have been cooped up inside the house for awhile and i was beginning to go stir crazy.



and it was nice to have tina there to keep me company. 

batten down the hatches

day 349:


there's a hurricane coming.


this year has been crazy for weather. maybe it's global warming...


first we had that ridiculous 20+ inches of snow. 

then we had a tornado. in a place where it is virtually impossible to have one.


then we felt part of an earthquake that hit VA.


and now this. 


tim went outside to try and save the tarps on our woodpile. griffey went with him... and weirdly loved it out there. running around all over.


maeve and i stayed inside.

nap time

day 348:


we like to sleep here on mullen road.


i feel lucky that maeve only gets up once in the night to eat now, typically around 4am.


of course i could count the 8am feeding as "middle of the night" because i don't get out of bed and start my day then... i go back to sleep till around 10 or 11.


you know what they say... sleep when your baby sleeps.


and apparently griffey listens to that advice too.

book club

day 347:


as you know, tim and i love to read. 


and you also know that i was excited to start maeve's book collection... and hopefully her love of reading.


so tim and i have started reading to her. 


we had been planning all along to read to her all the time, and then the pediatrician mentioned that there are tons of studies that say that babies that are read to turn out to be smarter and higher paid adults. 


if we weren't dedicated to reading to her before, we sure are now.

monthly picture

day 346:


i totally stole this idea from a girl i know, but it's super cute!


i ordered these stickers online, they start from newborn and go to 12 months old.


you're supposed to put one on a onesie each month so you can see how big your kid gets. 


we are a little behind because i didn't see this until just the other day. so we won't be able to do the newborn shot, and the one month is really a month and a half, but we will get on track now!


also, they say if you put the baby in the same spot, with the same toy each time you take the picture you can really see how much she changes.


so here she is, on the couch, with her new toy! (this came in the mail today from a friend in jersey)


let's see how big she is next month!!

couch potato

day 345:


i felt bad that the house is being taken over by stuff for maeve and nothing for griffey.


so i bought her a bed. well it's more of a couch... for dogs.


let me say... she sat on it for all of two minutes and then spent the rest of the night on the couch... for humans.

lift your head!

day 344:


i was trying to get a picture of maeve lifting her head up. like all parents, i wanted to show off how awesome my kid is...


but as soon as i picked up the camera she stopped.


but the best part about putting maeve on the floor is that it only takes a few seconds for griffey to come over and investigate.


after a while, maeve got frustrated. she started crying, but she lifted her head for the camera!


and griffey decided that she would console her by licking her ear.



i'm not sure that it helped at all. in fact, i'm pretty sure it just made maeve even more ticked.

the girls

day 343:


as you have seen on previous blogs, griffey likes to nap in the sun.


and since maeve came around her things seem to be everywhere.


but that doesn't bother griff. 


so the two girls just hung out together. 


maeve, loving her swing... griff, soaking up the sun.


yeah, i'd say it was a pretty good day.

getting big

day 342:


well. i can't seem to get enough of maeve.


lately she has been looking all around. taking everything in. she's starting to recognize things and respond.


i was trying to get her to smile at me...


but she reserves those for special moments.

reunion

day 341:


we went to a longo family picnic today. my cousin tiffany decided to get all of use crazy longos together in one place.


it was nice to see everyone. i don't see that side of the family too often. my uncle john even came up from south carolina for the event.


of course, maeve was a hit. she didn't do much... just sat around... but she got a lot of attention.

smh

day 340:

howard mann was right. we can't keep 'em out.


the birds just keep coming back into the wood stove.


we are up to bird number four.


and griffey realized what's happening.


she heard the bird in there today. and then proceeded to spend the entire day staring/licking/whining at the wood stove.


i wouldn't lie to you... it was literally the entire day.


you can even see (in the first picture) the drops of her saliva gathering on the hearth. 



the only thing that made her stop... trying to catch moths, which are on the outside of the window. and she is still doing this right now.

family time

day 339:


originally we weren't going to be able to go on vacation at all. we weren't sure when maeve was going to make her grand entrance, so we made no vacation plans.


but since maeve came early, we were able to spend a few days in maine after all.


so maeve got to hang out with her cousins, her grandparents, and her aunt and uncle.


we had a blast. it's too bad we had to leave early, but we are glad we got to go at all.

beautiful day

day 338:

today was a beautiful day.


we spent all day sitting on the beach. reading. swimming. just sitting.


grandma held maeve so i could have a chance to read uninterrupted. she slept in the shade all afternoon. i think she loves the beach already.


it's hard when i'm sitting relaxing to get motivated to take out my camera. sometimes i just want to sit and do nothing. but the photographer in me can't.


so today i took a few of my "artsy" shots.

the little girl is my sister-in-law's niece. and she is just adorable! 

first beach day

day 337:


a child's life is full of firsts.


and today was maeve's first trip to the beach.


unfortunately it wasn't that nice out. it was super cloudy (although that was good for keeping her out of the sun) and it was kinda sprinkling.


but she didn't seem to care.

uno!

day 336:


when it rains on your vacation you have to find things to keep yourself from going stir crazy.


uno is the perfect game.


my favorite part of tonight's uno was watching nick play. he is just learning how, so it is so cute when he gets into it.


he gave up at one point because he didn't think he was ever going to win. so uncle tim offered to play a hand as a team...



and wouldn't you know, they won. then nick didn't want to play the next round... i don't blame him. it was almost time for bed... you gotta go out on top! 

vacation

day 335:


first night. we are all reading.


well, maeve is sleeping, but that goes without saying.


the weather is not going to be too nice, so looks like we may spend a lot of time reading.


and that is just fine by me.

taking it easy

day 334:


after a few "exciting" days, we decided to just chill today.


well tim did yard work all day, but me and the girls took it easy.


there was plenty i should have done, but what would be the fun it that?






and as a photography side note (since this is supposed to be a blog about learning how to use my camera)... i know that griffey is blurry, but i had my aperture set too low and by the time i changed it the moment was over. i have a better picture taken after this... well, it is in better focus, but maeve isn't looking at griff. i liked the moment in this one better. so i posted the better moment, not the better picture. because sometimes it's not about how great the quality is, but how great the moment is. to me photography is about capturing special moments.

night out

day 333:


tonight we went to sheri and scott's for game night.


maeve came.


so did maison.

you know you're getting old when your night out has babies involved.

playing catch up

tuesday, august 9th - day 330:


today started out like any other day.


my parents came over for a visit. my dad was helping tim in the kitchen. i was getting the camera ready to capture him electrocuting himself (which didn't happen).


then later that night, i got the scare of a lifetime. maeve was having trouble breathing. she took three deep breaths in, like she was gasping, trying to catch her breath. and started to turn pale. i rubbed her back a little and she started breathing normally again. the whole thing lasted only a few seconds, but it seemed like forever.


long story short, we ended up taking her to the hospital and after ruling out a lot of different things they said they would still like to keep her overnight for testing, which at this point was 6am on wednesday.


wednesday, august 10th - day 331:


they hooked maeve up to a machine to monitor her heart rate, breathing, and oxygen levels. this machine is programed to beep if any of her levels are not where they need to be. 


after asking me a million questions and monitoring her closely, they concluded that there is nothing wrong with her.


apparently sometimes infants do crazy things that they can't explain. they have intermittent breathing, reflux problems, crazy skin color issues... they are still trying to figure out how to live outside the womb.


although there is no answer, which is a little disconcerting, the good thing is, there is nothing wrong with her. she is completely normal. and they don't think that anything like this will happen again... but unfortunately, they cannot guarantee it. 


thursday, august 11th - day 332:


finally back at home! maeve decided that after being all cooped up in the hospital, she needed to relax and enjoy a pacifier. 




which she has previously never wanted or taken. we are not against giving her one, she just doesn't, or i guess i should say "didn't", like it.

first slippers

day 329:


my friend shannon gave these to maeve.


at first they were a little big, but now they are perfect!


i absolutely love them. first of all, they look super comfortable. second, they are super cute!

i could go broke buying things for maeve... but i don't have to when i have so many wonderful people buying her things!

unladylike bugs

day 328:

maeve and i were sitting outside watching griffey run around the yard, when i spotted these little bugs at our feet.


at first i thought they were lady bugs, but upon closer inspection, i realized that they were not. they looked like lady bugs with pinchers. like evil lady bugs or something. 

buckle up

day 327:


this is the infamous car seat.


the one that tim and i had a tiny bit of difficulty with on our first car ride.


well, now we've mastered it. and it is a pretty awesome car seat.


today we went to grandma and grandpa's so i could finally try out their hot tub.


they got it right before i got pregnant so i was never able to try it. which is unfair, because as i sat in it tonight, i said to tim how amazing it would have been to sit in it while pregnant. 

easily entertained

day 326:


it amazes me how easily the dog can be entertained.


there was a bug on the stairs.


she stood lifting each foot up to see it as it crawled around her feet.


she was walking up and down the stairs over and over. i don't know if she thought she would find other bugs, or if she lost track of the one bug and was looking for him...


10 minutes later i had to coax the dog back to the living room. 


and yet when i try to entertain her with a toy it lasts a whole 2 minutes before she's bored.



unless of course it is her ball and i am trying to feed the baby... then she never gets bored.

due date

day 325:


i can't imagine still being pregnant... i know i went three weeks early, but i was totally ready to go.


and now that maeve has been here for so long, it is crazy to look at her and imagine what it would be like if she were still in the womb.


it already seems like forever ago that i was worried about her gaining weight... now she eats like crazy!


i can't wait to see her grow up. but at the same time, i want her to stay tiny.


it's true what they say: the days are long, but the years are short. (thanks for that switz)

bird house

day 324:


never a dull moment at the balut household...


yesterday i told tim that there was a bird in our wood stove, but when he got home it was nowhere to be seen.


he had the door wide open and there was no bird.


(you have to look close in these pictures, but the bird is in the bottom left hand corner)

but then today it was back. i don't know if it was coming and going or just hiding, but today when he opened the door, it flew out into the house.


griffey was in her glory, or at least she was until tim put her in her crate, then she was beside herself. she couldn't believe that this was her one chance to actually catch a bird and we were locking her up.


once griffey was secure in her crate, tim captured the little bird and released it outside.

i was a little nicer about getting rid of the bird than i was about getting rid of the mice. i guess i think they aren't as terrible as the little vermin. 

maeve's big day out

day 323:


today we went to visit maeve's great grandma.


she is all the way out in the berkshires.


it took forever to get there, but it was totally worth it.


we made great grandma's day. 

"Smartest Products of the Decade"

day 322:


i registered for (and received) this thermometer.


i had heard that it was good, but i had no idea how good.


the package stated that it was "one of the 25 smartest products of the decade, listed with iPod, Netflix, Blackberry, Google..."


iPod, Netflix, Blackberry and Google?!! that is a pretty amazing group of products. this thermometer is pretty amazing, but as amazing as Google? as awesome as an iPod? as life changing as my Blackberry? 


i'm not so sure.


don't get me wrong, it is great, i just don't know that it is in the same category as the aforementioned products.


we'll have to wait and see.