Looking Good

Feeding Abby solids is definitely an adventure. I've found that she eats best if I sit her in my lap, but it's difficult to see what I'm doing. I usually start her in the high chair and move her to my lap when she gets fussy. She prefers baby oatmeal to rice cereal, hated pureed butternut squash, but loved pureed sweet potatoes. That's all we've tried so far. I just introduced sweet potatoes today. She ate well over an ounce, which is her best feeding yet. Making homemade baby food has been so easy so far. The only problem is that I now have a ton of squash ice cubes in the freezer. Oh well, I'll try to feed it to her again in the near future.

Abby's looking so much better today. She's still congested and coughy, but her eyes and nose quit running. See...









I can't seem to find a straight answer on when a baby's eyes are supposed to change color. I've read they should be done changing by 6 months, but one website said 9 months, and another book said up to 1 year. Abby's almost 6 months and her eyes haven't changed yet, so I'm hoping they'll stay like this. Well, they have gotten a little green around her pupil, but it's so faint that you can only see it if you look at her in the right angle with the right light, all while patting your head and hopping on one foot.

When did your baby's eyes change color?

Snot-Nosed Kid

My baby has her first cold. I feel so terrible for her. Her eyes are so red, puffy, and teary. Her nose is runny and congested, and she has a horrible-sounding wet cough. At least she's not running a fever. It started yesterday with a dry cough, but when she woke up in the middle of the night, it sounded congested-y. She's been taking regular naps, but she doesn't sleep very fitfully. She also has a difficult time eating because she can't breathe. She doesn't seem to feel bad, but she looks awful. She's been in great spirits all day.



















By the way, the dress she's wearing is a 6-9 month size.

Dance Monkey, Dance!

Abby gets bored so easily these days that I keep having to find new ways of entertaining her, or we have a meltdown. It's exhausting! I try to rotate her toys every so often, so she has something new to look at when she gets bored, but her favorite toy is me. She loves to ride on my calves (I lay her facing me along my calves so her face is between my knees while I'm laying on the floor), play with my fingers, and grab at my face. Even her Exersaucer only entertains her for a few minutes at a time.

We (finally) installed the new car seat in the car over the weekend. I'm so happy that it fits! I've been worried about it not fitting in our car because the seat's so big. We installed it without the detachable base, and there is actually more room now than with the infant seat. We went to the grocery store after installing it, and just took the infant seat with us to use in the cart. That worked pretty well. At Target today, I used one of their carts that already has a baby seat attached. I won't be doing that again! The straps were stained, and didn't fit securely enough. I think I'd like to get a Buggy Bagg instead. A lady at Target had one of these, so I stopped her to ask her about it. It completely covers the cart seat, so there is no worry that Abby will try to chew on the rail since no one ever cleans those seats. Plus, it's great right now while she's not ready to sit unsupported because there's a detachable pillow that gives her the extra support she needs. Finally, it would be a lot more convenient than taking the infant seat everywhere because it would take up a lot less room in our car. Now, to convince Damon.

We moved from rice cereal to baby oatmeal yesterday. Abby much prefers the oatmeal. She still didn't eat very much, but she did seem to enjoy it more. I bought a butternut squash and some sweet potatoes to cook up for baby food, so we'll be trying one of those in a few days.

5 Months

Abby is now 5 months old. I wish there was a button I could push to keep her from growing so fast. Her cognitive and motor skills have improved so much this month. I think there have been more changes this month than any other yet. She found her feet, which she loves to put in her mouth the second unbutton her to change her diaper. Apparently, naked feet taste better than clothed feet.


She is constantly reaching and grabbing things now. It’s amazing to watch because she examines her newfound object (you can almost see the wheels turning in her brain), turning it around and around, before putting it in her mouth. She can even grab a different object with each hand as well. Abby used to love to look at herself in the mirror while sitting on the bathroom counter (while I held her up), but now she’s more interested in all the stuff on the counter than the mirror. She hasn’t tried to reach for anything yet, though, because there is nothing close enough for her to make the effort. She has also discovered the joys of splashing in the tub. There’s more water outside the tub than in by the time bath time is over!







Abby will be crawling before we know it. We can’t keep her on her back at all anymore. She rolls onto her stomach the first chance she gets. She can really get her butt up in the air in a modified “downward dog” too. She’s on her knees instead of her feet, with her face pressed into the floor. She hasn’t quite figured out how to get on all fours, but it’s coming. She can wriggle around on her stomach too. This morning, I put her on her back for a nap, but she instantly rolled. When I peeked in on her, she was still on her stomach, but facing the wall. The next time she was finally asleep, and facing the outside of the crib, so she had turned 180 degrees since the last time I checked.


We’re getting better with solids. She won’t eat a full ounce yet; a few teaspoonfuls and she’s done. I may try a veggie next week to see if she prefers that to rice cereal. She does well for the first few bites, but it doesn’t take long for her to get fussy.

Abby babbles constantly while blowing drooly raspberries. The front of her clothes are always soaked with drool. She hasn’t figured out consonants, but she thinks it’s hilarious when I repeat “maaaamaaaa” over and over in a futile attempt to get her to say it. Her favorite game is still having us blow in her face. If she’s fussy, that always brings a laugh. She also loves to stand, and when we give her zerberts on her belly. She will grab our heads and giggle in delight. Her laugh is the sweetest sound we’ve ever heard.

It's time to start packing up her 3-6-month clothes already. All of her snappy undershirts and some of her sleepers are becoming too snug. We weighed and measured her last night. She weighs 16.5 lbs, and is somewhere between 26.5 and 28 inches long. We measured her 3 times and came up with 26.5, 27, and 28 inches. I think she's around 27-ish inches because she was 26.25 last month.

Crying It Out

Maureen asked how letting Abby “cry it out” has worked for us, and I have to say it’s been a great success. There was one night where she cried for about an hour, but most nights it was no more than 45 minutes. Before CIO, she would wake up fussy 30-45 minutes after falling asleep. She’d also wake up several times during the night. The very first CIO night, she woke up once, and has since only woken up once or twice a night. She cried for a little over a week before finally stopping. Now, she may fuss for a few minutes, but that’s it. And, she’s no longer waking up right after she falls asleep. We have had a couple setbacks, though. Friday and Saturday nights, she woke up in the middle of the night and would not stop crying. We ended up bringing her to bed with us Friday night. Most nights have become so easy, though. Last night was the best night yet.

Nap times have gotten much easier too, since Abby started sleeping on her tummy. She will fuss half-heartedly for about 10 minutes before falling asleep. She’s consistently taking 3 naps a day for at least an hour each.

If you do decide to let Connor CIO (he’s so adorable, by the way!), I highly recommend “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child.” It’s a great sleep book in general, but Dr. Weissbluth does push “extinction,” as he calls crying it out.

Solids

We took the plunge on Saturday, and started Abby on "solid" foods. It wasn't nearly as messy as I'd expected it to be, and she seemed to like rice cereal. The new textures of the cereal and the spoon were a bit strange to her at first.

Abby slept through the night last night! She slept from 8 to 7:30 this morning. She did wake up once around 1ish, but she was back to sleep by the time I had a bottle ready. We haven't fed her cereal since this first time because I got busy with homework yesterday, so I don't think it's related to that.

First bite


"Daddy, WHAT is Mommy feeding me?!"

Sunny Days, Chasing the Clouds Away....

It's been cloudy and rainy for about awhile, and the day or so that has been nice has been super windy. It finally cleared up yesterday, so this morning Abby and I went for a walk. We had to take advantage of it because it's supposed to start raining again tomorrow, I think. Hopefully the weather will hold up, though, because we are planning on going to Manito Park tomorrow.





I think Abby looks like my mom in this photo.

Damon's Worst Fear

Damon is so scared of Abby sleeping on her stomach for fear of SIDS. She's old enough now that she's rolling over that it's ok to let her decide how she wants to sleep. Besides, there's not a whole lot we can do about it. Plus, when we were babies, parents were told to put babies down to sleep on their stomachs because of the fear of choking. Abby's been sleeping on her side a lot lately. It's pretty funny because she will have both of her arms straight out in front of her (one on top of the other), and her legs look like an open pair of scissors with one way back and the other way forward. She only rolls over completely when she wakes up and gets upset. This nap is the first time she's rolled over on her stomach to sleep.



It used to be that I could lay Abby down on a blanket on the floor, and load the washing machine real quick without her going anywhere. Today, she rolled from her back to her stomach to her back to her stomach again, ending up halfway across the room! Well, maybe not that far, but she rolled off the big blanket I laid out.

I'm grounding Abby until she quits growing. Every day it seems she discovers something new, and I just can't keep up with all the changes. She rolls over from back to front with ease now, and she gets her arm out from under her so she's flat on her tummy. She also has no difficulty rolling back onto her back once she's on her tummy. But wait, there's more! Now that she's mastered rolling over both ways, she is starting to bring her knees in and push her tushie up in the air for a second or two. Next thing I know she's going to be on all fours, then all hell will break loose because SHE WILL START CRAWLING! She already wriggles around so much on her tummy that she ends up scooting backward. It's time to start childproofing the house.

She also figured out what to do with all that drool she makes. She's constantly blowing raspberries now. So cute! All day long I hear "bbllllllzzzzzzzz." It's so funny when she does it while upset. It's hard to take someone seriously when she's playing with her drool. She thinks it's hilarious when I do it back to her.

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day came early in our house. We decided to celebrate yesterday instead of today because tomorrow is the #1 busiest day of the year for restaurants (dads don't cook). I was surprised to find that out when I worked in a restaurant. I always thought New Year's or Valentine's Day would be the busiest, but it's Mother's Day. That's why I would prefer to stay far away from any restaurant today. It didn't matter much anyway because we decided to stay home instead. Abby has been really crabby the last few days thanks to her teething.

I got a couple of great presents yesterday. Damon and Abby gave me an awesome digital camcorder, so expect to see more movies in the future. Abby also gave me a present herself. She rolled over back to front unassisted! She did it several times and she would get her arm stuck under her, but she did manage to untuck it once. She even rolled back onto her back once!

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms, grandmas, and great-grandmas out there!

Odds and Ends

We decided to let Abby “cry it out.” We started last Friday thinking that neither of us would get much sleep, so it was best to start on a weekend night. It has worked really well so far, despite being the toughest thing we’ve had to do as a parent so far. The most she has cried is an hour. From that very first night on, she has only woken up once every night around midnight, with 2 exceptions. Tuesday night she woke up twice in the night, and last night she woke up at about 10:40. Last night, she fell back to sleep at 11pm, and slept until 5:30am! She hasn’t even been really crying in the middle of the night after I put her back down. It may take her 15-20 minutes to settle down, and she sometimes whines a little, but that’s it.

Abby is constantly grabbing at her feet now. The first thing I see when I go to her room in the mornings is 2 feet straight up in the air. A few days ago, she seemed to discover what she’s been grabbing. She’ll grab one foot with both hands and pull it forward enough for her to inspect it, as if it’s the most amazing thing she’s seen. Yesterday, it finally made it into her mouth.



I tried to take a picture of her putting her foot in her mouth, but every time I tried, she’d become distracted by the camera. This was the best I could do.



She’s also getting better at sitting up without being propped up. She can only stay sitting for a few seconds at a time, but it’s progress.



“Look, Ma. I can do this one-handed.”



When we bought her car seat and Exersaucer, we also bought kiddie bowls and spoons, and a couple sippy cups. We experimented with the sippy cup, but she’s not really interested in it yet. She’d only hold onto it if I put it in her mouth, but then she wouldn’t suck, just play with it in her mouth.