Happy (Belated) 4 Months (Corrected)

Saturday February 3rd was Hallie's four-month adjusted birthday. It was a momentous occasion on several different fronts, and Hallie celebrated the day (and the fact that it was preceded by not one, but two, record-breaking eating days) with a nice tub bath and some serious splashing. A bottle later, our little girl was all tuckered out and needed a nice long nap. Even though she was napping, there was no way she was going to let go of her beloved cannula:



While she was napping, her Aunt Laura, Uncle Bryan, Grandma Sandy, and Cousins Hannah and Adam came over for a visit. Here's a nice picture of the little cousins:



Hannah was so excited about seeing Hallie that she could hardly wait for her to wake up. It took a long time to convince her not to arouse the sleeping baby.

Hallie did finally wake up and, boy, was she glad when she found out that everyone had come over just to visit her. Adam was pretty amazed (and just a tad bit envious) that Hallie also had a binky. She spent a bunch of time in Aunt Laura's lap, sometimes sharing the spotlight with Hannah and Adam:



Grandma Sandy got to hold Hallie for the very first time. She was thrilled to see that Hallie was a whole lot bigger than she had been in the ICN:



Immediately after everyone took off, Aunts Renee and Kim came over. This ushered in the second big event of Hallie's (and our) day: we were about to leave Hallie and go out to a really nice dinner to celebrate my belated birthday. Back in the old days (like last year), we used to have something called birthday club. Renee, Kim, Sharon, and I would surprise the birthday girl by taking her out to drinks and appetizers followed by dinner. The birthday girl never knew where she was going, just when. That was the excuse we made for visiting some of the best restaurants in town (including Morimoto, Brasserie Perrier, Django, Matyson, the City Tavern, the Ritz Carlton Grille, and a few that have--alas--closed between then and now). Hallie's arrival, but even more importantly, her continued use of oxygen, made this a hard tradition to continue. Can you imagine the fireworks prompted by a baby on O2 and a few well-placed and festive candles? Anyway, Hallie preempted our celebration by re-enacting D-Day (Sharon's birthday) baby style: she held her own version of the Second World War by deciding that she was, under no circumstances, eating. Ever. So Renee and Kim, lovely Aunts that they are, brought in a nice dinner to us and we gobbled it down between Hallie's bottle-oriented protests.

This time it was going to be different. Before she could say "geh!", Hallie was in the swing and we were dressed and headed out the door:



Sharon and I had a lovely dinner at Susanna Foo and remembered why they have such a great relationship when they repeatedly finished each other's sentences. Here's some photographic evidence of the night on the town (and we promise that this is not photoshopped):





My belated birthday, it appears, was celebrated just in time, because today (and perhaps beginning as early as the 4th quarter of yesterday's Superbowl 41), Hallie has resumed her eating strike. It appears that she is teething in earnest this time (hence the huge quantity of drool, her propensity to stick everything--especially our fingers--in her mouth, and her generally despondent demeanor). Let's hope she gets those darned teeth already; Hallie (and us!) deserve an eating break that lasts longer than, say, a two day period!