Reflections from an early rising, chatty, growing Bean

The Bean had us up early today -- 3ish, 4ish, and at the 5ish hour with her screaming so the neighbors down the street could hear, I determined it was time to bring her upstairs.  Since coming upstairs and getting all dolled up for a morning of mirror gazing and pacie obsessing -- she's been a very happy Bean.  She's chatting it up, sucking on her hand, gazing at the morning news on TV, and reaching out for her Winnie The Pooh.  Despite Andi chatting it up, I tried to lay down and go back to sleep.  As I laid on the couch, my mind flashed back to our time up at Doernbecher's and all the people that helped get us here.  Four months of people that filled our days and nights, most of which made a lasting impression on us.  Well, the Bean probably doesn't remember them, but they definitely made a difference.  Andi has yet to complete her second wave of thank you cards, ...lazy lil' Bean, ya know?  But, our hope is to send proper thank you's around to the various groups in the hospital, with an update on how our lil' Bean is doing.  Given the scale of all the good that place has done for us, a simple 'thank you' card seems silly.  But in our four months there, the nurses, med students, and even the Doc's said that they see the kids when they're sick, but rarely get to see them when they're healthy and doing well.  I think the reward in what they do is probably seeing how much they help make a difference, and seeing a kid doing well.  I'd like them to see how much better our teething, chatty butter bean is doing today.

Next week should be interesting.  We have a check-up with our pediatrician, we meet with a feeding specialist, get our first hearing-aid mold, and have an inital meet & greet with an occupational therapist we will be working with as well.  Also, the hope of help is looking more promising as I have two people we're meeting with to possibly help us with the Bean.  I don't know how that is going to work, as one works and one goes to school, but least it's something!  I noticed yesterday that I've been walking around with four fingernails painted one-layer of red polish, with the remaining digits plain jane.  It's now day three of the partial manicure, and I have no idea when I'll get those remaining fingers done.  What's most odd about this scenario is how little I seem to care about it.

The Bean has since fallen asleep, and I'm wide awake thanks to my best friend these past few months, super strong coffee. Oh well, it's Friday and that means, after watching the Blazer game tonight, the Bean and I will likely make it an early night. Oh, I also just realized that I've failed to mention that the time has come for me to finally remove the 'newborn sleeper' from the Bean's pack-in-play - which is her downstairs bed.  She's grown too long and too big for it.  This is a huge milestone in my mind, as she used to be a tiny speck in her sleeper -- her head too small for the head-stabilizing pillow.  Yes, this is a big deal.  Here's a crackberry photo of the pack n' play after I assembled it.  The 'newborn sleeper' is the item on the right. All we need to say to that is, 'see ya later, sucka!'  ;0)