Grace at 4 1/2 months

Things happen so fast. Two big milestomes this week.

1. Grace learned how to roll from her back to stomach. It happened for the first time on Tuesday while I was at the Toyota dealership getting my oil changed. I had a blanket on the carpet in the waiting area and she flipped right over. Now she does it like it's nothing. I haven't seen her go from front to back in a while, but I guess new things are more exciting.

2. We started solids tonight. Her first meal was Rice Cereal and it was really watered down, but she loved it! She kept getting really excited and waving her arms around and trying to grab my hand. She didn't spit much out either, so I count it a success. Here's a picture.


She's looked surprised all day. We stuck a bow in her hair and got this picture.


And for your viewing pleasure, check out Grace in her new shades.

GWO 8

I have just returned from my first post Grace GWO away from home. Boy did I miss her. However, it was a wonderful weekend.

Thursday evening Samara and I hit the road just after 6 p.m. Unfortunately, I had a bit of a headache, but I suffered through and we made to Erica's at about 9:30 p.m. Indiana time. We watched Survivor that Erica TiVo'd as we do every year at Erica's house. We didn't stay up too late. Since Samara is 8 months pregnant, Erica and Eric gave up their bed and I shared it with her, so I slept awesome all weekend.

Friday morning we got up at a reasonable town and went out to breakfast. We decided to stay in our PJs and went to Target shopping. I got Grace a couple of 9-12 month outfits that were on sale. We had lunch at Moe's which is a up-scale fast food Mexican place. After that we went to the pottery painting place. That's one of my favorite activities. After pottery we headed back to the house to shower and get ready for dinner. We dressed up a bit and had Italian at La Scala. Very yummy. After dinner we went home and just hung out until bedtime.



Saturday we got up and again had breakfast out. We came home for a little while and then headed to the mall for a couple of hours. Again, Grace got a couple of outfits on sale. For dinner on Saturday, we cooked at home and it was awesome! We've decided that we think it will become a new tradition. Saturday evening was full of just visiting, and after dinner we watched some exercise videos and realized we need to work on that in the future (at least I did).

Today we got up early and headed home. We made great time and got back into Columbus at around 11:30 a.m. Grace missed me, so I spent most of the day holding her. I swear she grew up while I was gone. For the most part she was good for Eric, but I think she missed me and today has sort of been acting like she doesn't feel good. I think she may be teething. Her cheeks are all red and hot and she's drooling tons, plus she's been a bit fussy. More update on her in a minute.

Day 2 - The Sleep Project

Friday night we started the sleeping project. I bought Dr. Ferber's book "Solving Your Child's Sleep Problems." It's probably a good one to have. I just needed the Chapter on Sleep Associations, but it also talks about bedwetting, sleepwalking, nightmares, etc. Anyway, after doing the reading we have decided that the main reason Grace is having trouble sleeping is because of her pacifier. She uses it to go to sleep, but if it falls out in the middle of the night, she can't use it to go back to sleep so she cries and we have to help her. The only solution, since she can't keep it in her mouth all night is to teach her to sleep without the pacifier. So far we're only doing this at night and luckily she doesn't use the pacifier during the day unless she's sleepy, so I think once we break her of it at night, day will be pretty easy and then we won't run the risk of having a 2 year old that walks around with a pacifier in her mouth constantly.

Anyway, I followed the doctors advice and fed Grace around 7:30 p.m. after a bath. We put her down at about 7:45 p.m. and she fell asleep by 8:00. This was before I figured out we couldn't use the pacifier though, and I sat in her room until she fell asleep. Then as I continued to read, I figured out what I did wrong. She gave us a chance to correct it at about 8:30 p.m. when she woke up. Dr. Ferber suggests using a progressive waiting technique. The first night you wait 5 minutes, go check on the baby briefly (2 to 3 minutes max) and then leave while the baby is still awake. You then wait 10 minutes and check again, then 15 minutes, and then 15 minutes every additional time. If they wake again during the night, you start back at 5 and repeat until morning. Since we didn't give her the pacifier, it took Grace 45 minutes of crying to fall back asleep. She then woke up another 3 times during the night, but each time fell asleep in under 10 minutes (I did go check on her a couple of times, but never twice in the same waking). She woke up a 4th time at 4:20 a.m. and didn't fall back to sleep. I got up at 5:30 a.m. and started our day. Eric let me nap later Saturday morning.

Night 2 - Saturday night. I spent all afternoon on Saturday out shopping with Grace and Samara. I fed Grace at a little after 3 p.m., but she fell asleep while we were out and missed her 6:00 feeding. I got home just after 7:00 and held Grace off until I could quickly eat some Wendy's. Then I decided to feed her at about 7:15. She was hungry! She ate just over 7 ounces. Then we went upstairs, took a bath, got into her pj's. Daddy read her 3 stories and we looked at her pictures of Grandma's, Grandpa's and aunts and uncles. We layed her down at 8:15 p.m. and left the room. She cried. Day 2 progressive waiting times increase by 5 minutes. 10 minutes for the first wait, then 15, then 20. She fell asleep at 9:17 p.m. I left Eric with the monitor and went to bed at about 11:30 p.m. Eric came to bed at 2:30 a.m. and said she hadn't woke up yet. At around 4:00 a.m. I woke up and checked the volume setting on the monitor. At 5:30 a.m. I started wondering if she was breathing. I held off until 5:45 a.m., but then I quietly sneaked into her room and made sure she was still breathing. Yep, just asleep. I went back to bed and we heard the first cry at 6:10 a.m. Eric told me to wait 5 minutes. I did and she stopped crying after 1. At about 6:15 she started making awake happy noises. I got up to get her and was greeted with a smiling well rested baby that just slept through the night!

I'm not saying we're completely done with the night wakings, but I have a feeling we're pretty close. Yeah! Finally, some sleep. Ok, I need to finish getting us ready for church now.

4 Month Doctor's Appointment

Grace's doctors appointment yesterday went very well. She got her second round of shots, although she didn't like that very much at all. She calmed right down as soon as I picked her up afterwards though, until she got a glimpse of the nurse, and that bottom lip stuck right back out.

Back to the beginning. She weighed in at 15 pounds 13 ounces (90th percentile). I thought she'd hit 16, but apparently my scale at home rounds up (or her diaper weighs a few ounces). I don't weigh her naked at home. She is now 24 1/2 inches long (just above average).

I had a lot of questions this time. I started off asking about our sleep issues. I told the doctor our normal schedule, including that she sleeps with me after waking, and that I haven't been feeding her at night. She thought it was good that Grace goes to sleep without being rocked, held, or while taking a bottle, but she thought the fact that she usually falls asleep on the couch with us rather than her crib is a problem. She isn't used to going to sleep in her crib, so at night when she wakes up, she doesn't want to go back to sleep in her crib. She told me to change up our evening feeding schedule, so she eats just before bedtime around 7:30 or 8:00, so when she's done we can just put her straight to bed. We're eliminating the 9:30 p.m. bottle. I'm not sure exactly how we're going to do it. I think she may need to start eating more at other meals or something, because it will be hard to get an extra bottle squeezed in during the day. We've also been given the go-ahead to start trying to get her to sleep in her bed (including a little crying). We've decided to start tonight. No more sleeping with Mommy. I've bought Dr. Ferber's book and haven't read it yet, but we're going to "Ferberize" her. According to the book it should work in less than a week. We'll see.

Next I asked about starting cereal. Dr. H thinks Grace is "thriving" on formula and is eating just about what she should at this time, so she's in no rush to start it. However, she thinks we'll need to before her 6 month appointment. We're supposed to watch for cues like eating more frequently or larger amounts at a time. She currently eats between 30 and 36 ounces a day. If she gets up to 40 or so, it'll be time for cereal.

We asked about the flat spot. It's normal and shouldn't get much worse now that's she's sitting up more and is generally more active. We're supposed to keep her from spending too much time on her back while awake by using a swing, bouncer, jumper, etc.

A couple of weeks ago we saw a weird spot under Grace's tounge. It almost looked like a hole. She already has a big enough hole in her mouth, so we didn't want anymore. There isn't one. It was just the bottom of her mouth, but looked like a hole because of the position of her saliva glands.

Grace has a couple of dry spots on her tummy. They are just dry skin and should get better with the weather. They don't irritate her, so no worries.

I can't think of anything else, but it was a very good visit. I'll have to update after our weekend sleep project. Wish us luck!

Four Months Old

Yesterday, Grace turned four months old. I'll give you a good update after her Doctor's appointment tomorrow, but for now here is what "What to Expect the First Year" says she may be doing by the end of the fourth month. I've bolded milestones we've reached.

By the end of this month, your baby
...should be able to:
- on stomach, lift head 90 degrees
- laugh out loud
- follow an object in an arc about 6 inches above teh face for 180 degrees

...will probably be able to:
- hold head steady when upright
- on stomach, raise chest, supported by arms
- roll over (one way)
- grasp a rattle held to backs or tips of fingers
- pay attention to a very small object
- reach for an object
- squeal in delight

...may possible be able to:
-keep head level with body when pulled to sitting
- turn in the direction of a voice, particularly mommy's
- say ah-goo or similar vowel-consonant combinations
- razz (make a wet razzing sound)

...may even be able to:
bear some weight on legs when held upright
- sit without support
- object if you try to take a toy away
- turn in the direction of a voice

I think she's doing great! We're definately hitting all the important milestones. We'll see what Dr. H says tomorrow!

Baby Jeckle and Hyde

We had a wonderful weekend. I got a small dose of the refreshment I get by spending time with my best friends, but it was of course way too short.

Friday I took the day off work and spent it with Grace. I didn't get near as much done as I wanted too, but I did finish the laundry, take Grace by my office to see everyone, find the last ingredients for my shower foods at the organic market, make a cheeseball, and bake the crust for my fruit pizza. I didn't finish the Baby Bingo boards though, so when Erica arrived just after 8:00, we had to go finish them. Grace decided she wasn't going to sleep, so we fought with her a bit. Finally she went to bed around 10:30 p.m. and we followed shortly thereafter.

Saturday was the perfect day. Grace slept until 5:30 a.m. (in her crib) and then when she woke up I kept her in my bed until 7:30 a.m.! Then we got up, had a bottle, showered, dressed and went to pick Danialle up at the airport. We had a little free time for her to play with Grace, and we made the rest of the fruit pizza. We were supposed to be at the shower at noon to help finish the set-up, but we weren't sure how long it would take to get there and we wanted some lunch so we left early. We also got there at about 11:40 and had time to kill. Grace took a little nap before the guests arrived and Samara decided to wake her up. The shower was lots of fun and Grace was an angel. She smiled and played with everyone, ate her lunch quietly, and when she started rubbing her eyes and I could tell she was tired, she went right to sleep on a blanket on the couch. It was perfect. After the shower, Erica had to head home :( Danialle, Grace, and I crashed on the couch for a quick catnap. Then we got up and went to Champps for dinner with Eric, Will, Samara, her sister, brother, and girlfriend. Grace was still perfect. She got hungry after our appetizers and finished her bottle before the main dishes came. Other than that she sat in her carseat, flirted with Danialle, and played with her rattle. After we got home, she took a bath, had a nightcap, and went right to bed. Saturday was the most well-behaved I'd ever seen her.

Sunday, on the other hand, made up for it. She cried pretty much all day. Maybe her tummy hurt or something, but she started crying on the way back from dropping Danialle at the airport, and pretty much kept it up the rest of the day and evening. She'd stop when you held her or when she was eating, but that was about it. She also spit up on me about 5 times though, so maybe she didn't feel well. I was about at my wits end last night when we couldn't get her to sleep before her 9:30 bottle. Finally, she just cried herself to sleep. Wow. What a weekend.

It's Me Again

This week has finally started to settle a bit at work. I've still been busy, but I don't feel like there's no light at the end of the tunnel.

I decided to take today (Friday) off of work, because we've got a busy weekend coming up. I kept Grace home today and it's been nice so far. We got up for our 6:00 bottle, then after the bottle I took a shower while Grace played. Then we went back to bed around 7:30 and slept until 9. She took a bottle at 9 and we've been playing and doing chores this morning. After the noon bottle we're leaving the house. I'm going to take her by my office to see the people and we're going to the store to get some ingredients for a couple of items I'm taking to Samara's shower. I'd also like to stop by the vet to get some cat food and maybe get my car washed.

Tonight I'm going to make the food I'm in charge of for the shower. Erica is coming in around 8:30 or 9:00 for the night. Tomorrow morning we'll pick Danialle up at the airport and then we're due at the shower around noon. I'm expecting that to be a great time. Saturday afternoon, Erica has to head home, but Danialle isn't leaving until Sunday morning. We'll go out to dinner and probably just hang out.

I've got alot on the calendar for next week. One all day meeting and some training for work. Grace will have her 4 month doctors appointment which I will try to do a really good update on, and one other thing which I can't really discuss here. Depending on what happens with that, I'll bring it up when it can be "officially" public.

GWO is coming up fast and I'm preparing my wallet to buy my skinny girlfriend's dinner. I can't wait to have a whole weekend just to hang out. For Eric's sake, I hope Grace starts sleeping by then. I'm really hoping we'll get some direction at the doctor's for that. We've stopped feeding her overnight, but she still wakes up and comes to bed with me. I'm ready to stop that, but it will probably mean letting Grace cry. Eric's getting a little tired of the couch.

Ok, I've got a couple more things to do before we go out for our errands, so I better go.

Time...It Goes So Fast

Sometimes I feel like time is just slipping through my fingers. I feel guilty about not updating here more often (remember I've been incredibly busy), but when I get a chance to update, I feel guilty for leaving my daughter.

She is amazing. I never could have really imagined the joy that she brings me. While it took a little while, I'm finally coming into my own and getting comfortable with the title "Mom."

A quick developmental update.
- I think she weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 pounds right now.
- She's already getting close to outgrowing some of her 3-6 month clothes.
- We're in Size 2 diapers with Size 3's waiting in the closet (starting at 16 pounds).
- The rolling wasn't a fluke as she'll do it pretty quickly during tummy time.
- Sometimes she acts like she's trying to roll over the other way, but we haven't quite got there yet.
- She's started being "happy" when she wakes up. Even at 3 a.m. she'll lay in bed and talk and coo for 15 minutes or so before crying for you to come and get her (sometimes she'll even fall back asleep).
- Today after her nap I came into the room to find her with her feet in her hands.
- We're still not sleeping all night, but going back to bed with Mommy and a pacifier can delay the bottle until 6 a.m. or later.
- Grace is getting a slightly flat spot on the back of her head that drives her Dad crazy. He's convinced she's going to be permanantly damaged and he does everything he can to get her to turn her head the other way when on her back.
- She grabs everything she can get her hands on and has just recently started putting things in her mouth.
- We pull her to a sitting position often and have just started to pull her to standing. When we do that she puts weight on her little legs and gets a huge smile on her face.

Here are a couple of my favorite things about this stage.
- Grace's big smile when I talk to her.
- The way her Daddy makes her laugh.
- Her soft hair on my cheek.
- Grace's big eyes and her "serious face."
- The way she rolls onto her side to cuddle with me when we sleep together.
- We can't go out in public without someone commenting on how cute she is.

It's crazy how fast she's growing up. I love it, of course. I wasn't all that great at the newborn stage, but at the same time, I'm slightly afraid that I'll miss something or forget. It also makes me sad that my parents can't see it all. We're flying out to see them in a month, but I can't imagine what she'll be doing then. She'll be fun to play with I'm sure, but they are missing the stuff she's learning about now. I probably shouldn't even be writing this (Don't cry Mom!). I guess I just miss them too.

Ok, I hear Grace crying upstairs, so maybe I should check on Eric and see if they are doing alright. I'll see if I can do a better job at posting this week. Work should slow down a bit. This weekend I get to see the girls for Samara's baby shower. I can't wait!