Aaron's 4 Month Check-Up

Big guy was 27 1/2 inches long (99th percentile) and weighed 15 lb. 10oz (dropped to 68th percentile in weight). His sister wasn't that big weight-wise until she was 6 months old, and not that tall until she was 8 months. He's a big boy! Will try to upload pictures sometime soon -- my computer and blogger are not getting along right now.

21 Weeks Old

My Emma is 21 weeks old today!

She's been sleeping 2-3 hours in her crib at night after we do our bedtime routine, which gives me time to do a few things like crochet and get paperwork done. I take her to our bed after that because I'm not ready to give up the co-sleeping yet, but it's nice to have the free time.

We got our first "uh-oh" call from daycare today. Apparently the primary caregiver grabbed another baby's bottle (they use the same type we do) and started feeding Emma from that bottle. Emma drank an ounce before the caregiver noticed, and apparently she freaked out. This happened at 11am, so they had to file a report, call the mom of the baby whose bottle they used (to ask her if she had any medical issues or diseases that I would need to be aware of -- she said none), and they finally called me at 2pm. (I also wonder if they knew I would be upset, so they delayed?)

In any case, it was breastmilk. I'm upset, of course, but I didn't freak out and the poor caregiver was so upset and crying because she knew I had been upset about feedings before and she knew I was off of all dairy because of Emma's sensitivity (and this mom is not). Ultimately, I told her that I would be more upset if it were formula! But since it was breastmilk, it really wasn't a big deal. Well... it is, but it's not. I don't know if that makes sense.

Dancing Emma

This morning we were listening to the "classic" rock station (the one that plays 80's music) and Daddy was having a good time with Emma. I think she was enjoying herself too! :)

Pictures!

We had a really nice day today. Emma went and visited one of my facilities again, and had a great time with the staff and residents. She got a little cranky at one point because she was hungry, so we went ahead and ate in the car, then ran our errands. We also stopped by the office to drop off my paperwork and she could show off to the gals there. She's amazing me every day with new things she does!

Here she is earlier this week in her high chair, thank you Aunt Dianne and Cousin Debbie!



And into the mouth the monkey goes! :)

At 20 Weeks...

*We're now using the high chair, and she loves being "on level" with us.

*She wants sooooo badly to drink from cups. She's learning to drink from her sippy cup.

*She wants to stand! And when we're holding her up, she tries to step forward.

*Daddy is our FAVORITE person right now. He always gets a huge smile.

I hope to get some pictures uploaded soon... she's growing fast!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day... to all the Mommies of living angels as well as angels in heaven.

I'm truly blessed this day. Woke up with my Emma next to me, and breakfast in bed (thank you Daddy!) as well as a 2 1/2-hour nap with my Emma! It's been a good day.

Here's a couple of videos I shot yesterday morning while all three of us were having fun. Emma loves to "fly" with Daddy, and she gets a kick out of seeing herself in the mirror!

Recent Pictures

Emma playing Peek-A-Boo with the burp cloth on Friday.


I snuck the camera up on Emma, since she won't pose for it anymore, and caught her and Daddy playing in the bedroom upstairs. I love the look on her face!


From this afternoon, Daddy & Emma studying Arabic together.

Yay!

Quick post as we're heading out the door, but Emma was 13 pounds, 10 oz at the pediatrician this morning! She gained almost 1 whole pound in two weeks... which tells me how sick she was before. The ear infection is completely gone, yay!

Plus, Momma is back down to the lowest weight she's been in a while -- I hit the low that I hit when I was pregnant and lost those 10 pounds.

We're a happy family. :)

Thankfulness

I'm very thankful to everyone's support through this daycare thing. I talked with the primary caregiver again, and had a much more productive conversation with her. I really feel like Emma doesn't want/like bottles and is just struggling with them at daycare, and she isn't fussy there like she is at home when she's hungry. Plus, she's now reverse-cycling, so for the last two nights she's eating 6-7 times in between when we've gone to bed and gotten up. It's a lot for me to be up that often, but it's worth it to make sure she's got enough to eat. I'll update tomorrow after the ped appointment with her weight.

Over the last few days, she's really been eyeballing the cups that Joe and I have been drinking from, and actually reaching for them a couple of times. I remember reading that it's easier for babies to drink from a cup than from a bottle, so today we put some freshly expressed breastmilk in a cup and gave her a little bit. She was SO happy. She sucked it right down. Took it much better than she would a bottle, and after two sips, she was done. I know I can't ask daycare to use a cup, but it's nice to know that Daddy has another option.

I'm also trying to remain thankful that I have a job and a home to come to after work. Things got slow at work again, and whenever my hours drop below a certain point, I begin to worry about making ends meet.... but what goes down, must come up at some point. I imagine I'll be worrying about being too busy next week, lol!

On a side note, although I didn't post yesterday, I didn't forget my second angel's EDD yesterday. She would have turned one year old, and I miss my little fighter that only made it 7w3d. I am thankful I've got her sister here with me, and that she's watching over us.

Daycare... Again

I feel so frustrated, and maybe I have no reason to be.

Emma took 2 bottles in the 9 hours she was at daycare today. Or rather, I should say they gave her 2 of the 4 bottles I took. The primary caregiver wrote a long note on the back of her daily sheet, stating that it was against state licensing rules for them to wake up Emma for a feeding (which I had asked them to do if she went longer than 3 hours), and also that she didn't seem interested in feeding when they offered.

So in 9 hours, she took 6 ounces of milk. She had four wet and two poopy diapers while she was there, so I'm not worried about that as much as her weight. Again. If she's eating like that there, is she *really* getting enough from me while she's home?

Thank goodness we have our follow-up appointment with the pediatrician on Friday. I'm going to ask about whether that's ok or not in terms of how long she is going (she went from 7:30 to 11:15 without food, and then from 11:15 to 3:45 without food again. I fed her when we got home at 6pm). If it's not, I'll have her write a physician's note, state licensing rules be darned.

I was going to take a picture of her in the cute little outfit that she wore to daycare and post it too, but apparently she had a blowout at daycare. Second day in a row! Have I mentioned how much a HATE disposable diapers?!?!

I love my little girl... I just want what's best for her. Hopefully I'm not being too over-protective.

Emma's Glow Worm

When Uncle Dean visited us in Washington, DC, he brought Emma a present -- RattleWorm's more self-assured cousin, GlowWorm! She really loves that GlowWorm, she'll smile and calm down when it plays (of course, she won't do it on camera, but I tried!).

Emma's Feet

Bad Day

For all of us, but especially Mommy & Emma. My cough/sore throat is getting worse, to the point where swallowing has become a chore. Emma's rash is worse, and she's been really cranky all day. She's only slept for 30-45 minute periods, and in between is very fussy. She's eating every hour, but only latching on well for about 4-5 minutes, and then she'll pull off, try to get back on, and this goes on for 1-2 minutes before Mommy's had enough since she's hurting me. Ironically enough, Daddy's finally feeling better. Who knows.

In any case, I caught a few cute moments to share. Happy May Day everyone!

Playdate!

Emma had a playdate this morning. We met with another Mommy and December baby at a local park, and walked while wearing the babies -- she had a baby Bjorn (very nice!) and I was wearing the Moby. Her little one is sooooo much bigger than Emma, so strange to see a baby that big born after her! But it was fun and the babies hit it off... what time they were awake, anyway.

She's had a rough week. Between the ear infection, the snotty cold that's continuing, and today an odd rash that showed up (maybe from the heat? It got to 80+ today), my poor Emma is just not feeling great. But she is still giving us smiles and laughs, which warms my heart. I wish she'd gain a little weight though, that would make me feel much better.

Hopefully I'll get some pictures tomorrow!

18 Weeks Old Already?

I'm a bit baffled about where the time is going. How can my little angel already be 18 weeks old? In two months, we'll be celebrating her first "half" birthday (our solution to the fact that her birthday is so close to Christmas). I don't want my baby growing up so fast!

We did finally get a start date for our #1 daycare that we wanted. We'll transfer her in June, and start full-time there ($248/week). Expensive, but totally worth it for two reasons -- one, the 3:1 infant to teacher ratio (rather than the 5:1 she's at now), and two, we can use our cloth diapers. I know she'll be sad to leave her teacher and the babies she's learned to love at her current daycare, but I hope she'll adjust. It'll be a bit of a challenge for us as it will now take me an hour to take her to/from daycare, rather than just the 20 minutes it takes now. We'll see how it goes.

She is feeling better -- we're half-way through the antibiotics. Today at daycare she apparently was a VERY happy baby! And she had a fairly good evening. Once we're done with the antibiotics, we're going to go back to our bedtime routine and try to get that started again, with more crib time in the evening.

I've been negligent about doing pictures since she's been sick, so I'll try to do a few this coming weekend!

Emma's Laugh