Veronica Eats Apples

Our pediatrician suggested that we start Veronica on solid food at three months of age. After having had over 20 years of experience in childcare I was worried that three months was excessively early. In addition, with her being a month early, I wanted to hold off on the solid food a little bit longer. At three months, however we began giving her a bit of water on a baby spoon to see if she could swallow. From three months to four months, everything that went in her mouth dribbled right back out. Over the past two weeks, however she has been doing much better a drinking water from a spoon so we decided to try a bit of puréed apple. As you can see from the video, she is a giant eater just like her mom and dad. (Highlights from the video: you can hear Demetrio talking to me and speaking Italian to Veronica.)

Veronica Cuteness

Yes her dad has taught her one of his vices quite early. She like to play with and "taste" the XBoX controller.

Now that the dog is interested in her, she is also interested in him. They are cute together.

Tummy Time!


She is soo cute nude.

Veronica at 4 months and 1 week

We really cannot get her to stop smiling. Click on photo to enlarge. She's best in the morning after a good nights sleep.







My mom is trying hard to teach her to hold her own bottle and to wave, so far she is making progres with holding her own bottle but the waving is not coming along as quickly as she (mom) would like.

He Likes Me, He REALLY Likes Me

I could not figure out how to rotate this video but if you watch it with your head cocked, it's not bad.

Sleep training 101-Part 1

As a nanny, I took care of no less than children from nine families. The youngest two, E and L were both great nappers and sleepers. When naptime approached, I placed them in their cribs awake after a song and/or story and they would promptly fall asleep without crying. "Wow" I thought. I hoped that when I had a baby he or she would also be a great napper/sleeper.

We began Veronica's sleep training when she was just 6 weeks old. We made sure we did not keep her up for too long, we soothed her to sleep in a dark quiet room (in our bed), we fed/nursed her and gave her a pacifier. She had unpredictable naptimes and did not sleep for more than 3-4 hours at a time but slowly her "down" times as well as her wakeful times began to increase. We comforted her when she fussed and did not let her cry. The result is a happy, cheerful, adaptable baby that is capable of playing by herself for upwards of 30 minutes at a time. I can say she rarely cries except when she is tired.

Now that she is four months old, we’ve stepped up her sleep training a notch. We still do the same things we did before but now we enforce nap times. She takes a morning nap, an afternoon nap, sometimes an evening nap and then heads off to bed between 7 and 8 p.m.

We try not to let her doze in the car or in the stroller but also try to be flexible with her sleep schedule. So far, she is doing very well. This week we have been trying to teach her how to self soothe. She has no problems being placed in her bed and falling asleep but she often stirs then cries for attention. When I hear her calling, I do one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, something that makes me question my competence as a parent; I ignore her and let her cry until she gets the rest she needs.

4 Months Old

Here they are: the latest and greatest photos of Veronica. She is growing up fast. Now she has begun to lose some of her old baby hair. She is a tiny bit bald in the back but not too bad.

Her double chin has shrunk a bit as she has gotten longer. Now she is 66 cm or 26 inches long/tall, that's over 2 feet!

She is smiling a lot now and placing everything in her mouth until she gags.

Here she is relaxing in the living room with her toys.

Veronica is 4 Months Old

This little lady is 4 months old tomorrow. Time has really flown by for us. 4 months marks a major milestone in her physical and psychological development. We have begun her sleep training and it is going very well.

Here is a short list of her changes and her new capabilities:

1. As you can see from the photos below, she enjoys stuffing all manner of things into her mouth.
2. She is now interested in the dog and likes to watch him skirt about the room.
3. She likes to look at books and can focus on small things, like the cars passing by in the window below our apartment and leaves on trees.
4. When she does not want a bottle she literally turns her head and spits the nipple out. Same with the pacifier, she can spit it quite a long distance.
5. Watching TV is a favorite pastime and she will focus on it when it is on. We are very careful not to let her watch non PG programs.
6. She has begun putting herself to bed.
7. Her chin bibs are always wet with drool which makes us think that teeth will soon appear.
8. She recognizes voices and when one of us leaves the room she follows with her eyes.
9. Her neck is getting stronger and stronger and she can sit up in our laps with no assistance.

My mom is still trying very hard to get her to wave but there is not much progress, yet.

"Can You Please Press Pause?"

It seems we may never be able to watch a movie in its entirety ever again. Today we attempted to watch Candy (not for the faint hearted) and were interrupted and had to "pause" the film no less than 4 times. We started a film at 5:30 p.m. and it took us about 2.5 hours to finish it.

The first time, Veronica woke up from her nap at 6:30 p.m., then we took her into the living room and played with her a bit while watching two junkies shoot up. (Can I say that on a baby blog?) Needless to say, we did not let her watch THAT.

The second time, Veronica needed to be fed. She nursed for a while before wanting a bottle so one of us had to go to the kitchen to prepare it for her.

The third time, Veronica was due for a diaper change. When her Daddy went to change her, he discovered her diaper was full of both #1 and #2. We decided to give her a bath since she had to have a clean bottom so we could collect a sterile urine sample. (More on this later.)

The fourth time, I had to put her down for bed. She finally went to bed at 8:15 p.m. We opted to start another movie in the hopes of finishing it before she woke up for her next feeding.

As a new mom, Veronica's cries still make me stop whatever I am doing to tend to her. She is my life and deserves all my attention; I keep thinking that I am spoiling her. As she gets older I will give her more and more independence, but for now, I tend to her as if she is the only baby on Earth.

Having a baby cramps your lifestyle. You life changes in so many ways, many major and many minor. Not being able to watch a movie from start to finish without pressing "pause" is a very small price to pay for something as precious as our little Veronica.

Veronica in Venice

Here's a sweet picture of Veronica sitting on Demetrio's lap in front of a café in Venice. Apart from Rome, this is the only other time in Veronica's four-month life that she has spent away from home. The hotel provided us with a little Porta crib but we didn't use it since Veronica is still sleeping in our bed most of the time. When we got to the hotel she spent a lot of time looking around at the walls and the ceiling, I'm assuming she recognized that this was not her home.

We had a rigorous three days of sightseeing and once we left the hotel we didn't bother coming back until evening. She basically slept on the road, (in Venice on the water bus) and in the baby Bjorn. Surprisingly she did very well. The nap deprivation did not do as much damage as I thought it would. I'm sure when she's older she will be much harder to port around. When we arrived back home she caught up on her sleep by taking a few extra naps here and there. A week later she's back to her normal schedule.

Veronica's Sing-Along

Don't bother listening to me singing but turn it up to hear Veronica as she belts out a tune.