Future Thumb Sucker? And the Milking Robot!

Anna's due date was Sunday! Aug. 24th was to be the day! (Although we were told she would be delivered at 39-weeks, it is still kind of a big deal.) Anyway, yesterday, Aug. 25th, made her ONE MONTH OLD! Instead of being all sentimental and mooshy gooshy, let's just say she is a totally different baby from the one we knew in NICU and even the one we brought home from the hospital. She is gaining cheeks (on both her face and her rump!) and little tidbits of her lovely personality shine through more and more everyday. For the record, and *knock on wood*, she is a terrific, laid back, chill bubbies who only cries when she is hungry or chilly, like when she frees herself from the swaddle and kicks off all of her blankets at 4 in the morning. Her late-night wake ups are typical of babies who want to eat every 2-4 hours, and we have yet to be deemed Jedi Knights, err Princesses, of breastfeeding, but we are much more than young Padawans. We are doing really, really well though.   

One thing I've noticed lately is that Anna loves to soothe herself by rooting for her little baby hand and popping it into her little baby mouth. It really is the cutest thing, to see her find that hand and just start sucking away at whatever finger she decides is for the taking at that particular moment. I am concerned though that by becoming a thumb sucker she is destined for "buck teeth" and expensive braces. Isn't that what they say anyway? I figure I will wait and see where this all goes. Gabriel had his blue blanky, she just might have her lil' thumbs. However I am rooting for the pink blanky... 

So one thing that is really funny and a running joke around here are the two recent additions we've had to the Gutierrez home. One is my breastpumping machine that is set up in our sun room-turned-"boob room" where I do my thing when necessary.

The first time Gabe saw the contraption in use, he says, "Look at that robot!" I laughed so hard I almost fell off the chair. Going with it, I replied, "Yes honey, it's a robot." Taking it a step further, he asks me, "The robot go on Mommy's chest?" 

"Yes, Gabe, the robot goes on Mommy's chest."

"Why?"

"Well, the robot gets milk for Anna from Mommy's chest."

"Wow! The robot goes on Mommy's chest and gets milk?" His voice rises as the question goes on and he finishes, a huge smile on his face that he understood what was going on. 

So now, when I disappear for 10 or 15 minutes, he tells Dadda, "Mommy is with the robot getting milk from her chest, Dadda."

The second addition is ANOTHER freezer, now next to the breastpump. When Anna was in NICU, I was pumping for 10 days straight, and well, there was a lot of milk that had to be frozen (good for 3-6 months I may add) and the freezer in the kitchen was overflowing, literally.

So now, our former sunroom is no longer a place to "sun" or "read," it is merely a "breastpumping room" complete with a milking robot and a freezer for storage. Can we get a big ol'  Welcome to Parenthood?? 

These stories are going to be priceless one day, I know it.