Duckpond Photography

Some short videos, with the philosophy that just about anyone can make an interesting 30 second video (hopefully myself included).

Anna meets Mary and Emily, takes a bath (just one modest photo here), holds her torso up, and enjoys Daddy time.  These photos are added to an existing gallery, Anna’s Summer.  Anna has also now taken three bottles from John, but hasn’t yet associated it with food and/or just still wants to nurse.  So it doesn’t stop her from screaming yet, but it is at least a way to feed her in case of emergency.

Lucy: “I can’t believe Anna’s already a month old!”

John: “Why is there a baby in our house, and why are you calling me ‘Daddy?’”

Anna update:

Anna’s vision range has expanded considerably in the past week, which has fantastic benefits like enabling her to be happy looking around for a while (without constant entertainment).  She can also have both John and me in her effective field of vision at once.

Our most exciting news is that Anna has begun to consciously smile.  Which makes us smile. Which doesn’t yet make her smile, but will soon.   John and I were both privy to her first smile on Independence Day.  My parents and Megan, my sister, had entertained Anna much of the day while John and I recovered from burnout.  After they left, we had the time and energy for both of us to play with her.  (Often, when one of us is playing with her the other is wasting time doing things like brushing teeth.)  And she smiled at us!  We think.  We thought.  Now we’re pretty sure.

Today was also her first real bath!  Grandma (my mom) brought a waterproof tablecloth and many towels, prepared for a screaming, flailing child.  We steeled ourselves for a very unhappy child.  Anna loved the bath.  Really loved it.  She actually smiled while taking her first bath.  Parenthood is full of surprises.  She did start to fuss once she got cold, but that was ten minutes from the beginning of the bath.  I did manage to get a few pictures towards the end, but for the most part we were pretty busy trying to figure out how to bathe her.  And after all the rubber duckies we received, we forgot to have one in there for her first bath!  Ah, well.

For all of you on the hair-and-eye-color watch, her eyes are still blue (I really like dressing her in her cousin Josh’s hand-me-downs as they have some blue).  Her hair continues to lighten, just as John’s did when he was a baby.  I’m sure the fact that Anna is a summer baby who gets taken outside (albeit shaded) nearly every day helps.

Lots of pictures for you to see!  We’ve got meeting Aunt Megan, Donna, Ann Marie, Michelle, and Granpop Bill and Darlene.  Then there’s playtime with Daddy, a picture on her one month birthday with Mommy, and playtime with Grandma.  Or you can just go to our 2010 galleries here and browse. The below photos are from three different galleries.

So far Anna distinctives include holding up her head from the day she was born.  I think it’s because she had the cord around her neck, but I can only guess.  She also has the very distinct preference of sleeping on her side.  The SIDS prevention recommendation is to put infants on their backs, so whenever we put her down, we put her on her back.  If she’s partially awake, she puts her legs up and, while grunting with the effort, flops herself over onto her side.  Sometimes failed attempts cause screaming.  She does, of course, much prefer to sleep *on* someone.  Grandma’s shoulder has been especially successful, causing a fussing Anna to pass out on contact just the other day.  My Aunt Lynn and Uncle Mike own a big comfy couch known in the family for its soporific effects as “The Sleepy Couch.”  So far we’ve tried out a few nicknames for Grandma’s shoulder, but are at a loss for one that is both descriptive and flattering.  Suggestions?

Anna’s favorite activities are nursing, sleeping on people, nursing, riding in her Ergo Baby carrier or sling from Aunt Megan, nursing, listening to Daddy play the mandolin during family hymn sing time, and nursing.  Her least favorite activities are bathing, having her diaper changed, and changing clothes.  So basically, she’s happy to eat and unhappy about basic hygiene.

During “waketime,” sometimes she likes to be entertained by stuffed animals Mr. Giraffe and Mrs. Bear (creative names they are not–but when you are sleep deprived and are naming an animal while holding a screaming infant, you want something you can remember).  We have seen her (or like to imagine that we have seen her) open her hand to pet Mr. Giraffe’s nose and lift her feet to continue “dancing” with Mrs. Bear.  Like most newborns, Anna likes motion, especially large motions like flying or spinning, or dancing (being danced?) to music.  Her favorite books are anything she has her eyes open for, especially black and white books, and she was quite happy in her “bouncy seat” except for that time she spit up the majority of her 3am feeding in it.  Sometimes talking to her or giving her a house tour or something to look at is sufficiently entertaining to stave off fussing and/or screaming, but she usually demands non-stop stimulation when she’s awake and alert.  This can be rather exhausting for those of us playing with her, but I tell myself that it means she loves learning.  She has also just started (yesterday) being content to sit quietly and watch life go on around her.

Another trick she does is what we call “sleep leaps.”  When she is startled in her sleep, her arms and legs fling outward quickly and forcefully (see the first few seconds of this video of a newborn’s Moro reflex).  If you’re holding her, sometimes this causes a violent change in position, which can be quite surprising as she tries to sleep leap out of your arms.  The first time  John observed this, he said it lent credence to my mom’s claim that I “lept” out of her lap onto the concrete patio (headfirst–explains a lot) as an infant.

We’re looking forward to her first social smile, as right now she expresses her pleasure with a blank stare and her displeasure rather noisily.  For now, she’s terribly cute and quite tiny.  We notice small changes every day.  New behaviors, her hair lightening, dislikes becoming likes, etc.  But you probably came for the pictures.  So enjoy.