Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Walking, Rocking, Finger Sucking, Bouncing, Swaddling, and Brasilian fight-dancing

things have been interesting. techniques for getting Irene to settle down have been varied and different ones work at randomly different times. she really isn't that fussy of a baby (and we are spoiled) but still, she has her moments when she needs help to settle down. I think the most successful method (consistently) is the pinky finger in her mouth; HOWEVER, the most entertaining has been Aunt Rachel's technique of bobbing, swaying, rocking and swinging all in one motion. I joked with her that it reminded me of capoeira, the Brasilian "art" of dancing/martial arts/game that sort of looks like two folks "bobbing and weaving" around with one another in a big circle.

In other news, it was great to have all the grandparents here for the birth AND the luxury of having NANA stay for another 2 weeks after! She was a GREAT help and we appreciated having her. Rachel also came down, which was super fun! (and not boring at all!) and now we're expecting the grandma-to-be-named-later (probably GiGi) this weekend...after she leaves CJ and B will be coming down from MN for a week of sun, pool, baby, and bbq...later in August, NANA will be back and then Shannon and Irene will be heading to MN for a week. stuff has been busy but very fun. we love having visitors and Irene loves meeting everyone.

check out the new pix

7 comments:

Claessens Family said...

Shannon, you look WAY too good to have had a baby 3 weeks ago. It's so unfair!

Anonymous said...

In my defense, on that particular day, Irene was quite irritated with the world, and accomodated to motion very quickly. I had to keep changing it up to keep her calm. Anything to make my tiny, baby niece happy. On that note, I wonder how long I can continue to call her my tiny baby niece? Follow the progression of a nickname. Tiny Baby Niece -> TBN -> T-Bone. I like it. But Giant Joe will probably not.

Anonymous said...

so you told Jo about "giant jo"? how did that go over? I think we might train Irene to give all her aunts/uncles funny nicknames...that would be fun.

we forgot to mention bouncing on the big green ball as being another surefire method of calming her down.

not to be confused with contests to see who can balance on the big red ball utilizing various body parts (only hands and feet. only knees. one hand one knee. etc)

Shannon DOES look great! :-)

Anonymous said...

giant joe is funny is funny. and so is t-bone. but we're going with sparky. we had a pact!

Anonymous said...

does the B-R-B still exist or has it been sold off with all the other valuable 407 basement items. what else are you going to play stations with. you cant get rid of all the basement stuff. it will only come back to haunt you as your kids grow up and wonder about your past. you could have stockpiled hours and hours of free time as your kids got lost in the basement room fiddeling through all your old junk, i guess now youll just have to pay attention to them while they are bored at the grandparents house. yeah, well i slept with your wife.

Anonymous said...

candy. lots and lots of candy.

my childhood memories of grandparent's house included chocolate (and yogurt) covered raisins, hard strawberry candy filled with juice (?), and various other kinds of hard candy that I thought only existed at their house. you never saw it at stores, had never heard of it, and only ever at it there...

"sparky" can still be your special nickname for her. we won't try to stop you...

Anonymous said...

No grandchildren of mine will ever be bored at my house - there will be a plethora of entertainment going on 24 hours a day. We can go to the lake and climb on the rocks; or set up obstacle courses in the back yard; or make cookies, play with legos, or if all else fails to satisfy, I'll send them down the hill to the creek to see what they can find there to provide hours of entertainment. Or who knows - there may be forts and swimming pools in the back yard along with hammocks and fractals.