Ariella - Snow Angel!

We had our first snow of the season a week ago, and I dressed Ariella up in 2 layer of pants, 2 layers of shirts, a winter coat, socks, boots, and gloves! We were only outside for maybe 5 minutes. But, Ariella made a snow angel, and I pushed her on her little round snow sled down the hills in our backyard. Fun times for her first snow!!!

I feel soooo much better today!

I've been in a bit of a funk lately. Ariella's had a cold for the past 4-5 days, which has meant stressful crying in the morning when I go to clean her eye (clogged tear duct which is really bad during a cold) and clean her nose. Also, for the past 2 weeks, she had stopped sleeping through the night and was waking up to eat once or twice a night!

Last night, though, Ariella slept from 9:30pm to 4am! And, there was no crying in the morning when I had to clean her eye (which was MUCH better) and her nose (which was also MUCH better). The reason - we bought a Vicks warm air vaporizer thing. We had been using a cold air humidifier (which is what the doctor had recommended the first time Ariella had a cold - she's only been sick 2 times so far), but it wasn't doing anything really. So, I asked Tyree to get this one on the way home.

I feel soooo much better today! It's amazing what a little extra rest and a non-stressful morning can do. :-) So for babies with stuffy noses/cough/cold, if you don't have the Vick's warm air vaporizer, give it a shot. It was like a miracle thing for me.

Ariella Meets Santa!

Last night we went to a Winter Social hosted by our local school system. Ariella was able to meet Santa, and he was a huge hit with her! After a short time of just looking at him in fascination, she started smiling and laughing. Then, she and I posed as snowmen. It was a fun party. There were a lot of older children (2 years old and up), so it was hard to find babies her age to try to meet other parents. I did see a lady from the playgroup that we attended last Thursday, though. It was sponsored by the same group. Hopefully as I go to more of the play group meetings, I'll be able to start to make some parent friends. It meets about twice a month.

Our Shutterfly Christmas Card 2010!

Here's what we decided on!

Scarlet Script Frame Christmas 5x7 folded card

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My "Me" Day

I'm on my "me" day today. I took a vacation day today, and I went to open aerial trapeze class and practiced my routine 4 times! Then, I got dry ice and shipped off my 2nd and probably final milk donation - 265oz. On the way home I stopped and got the oil changed in the car. Now I'm home, just pumped and am watching some tv, just relaxing and wrapping some Christmas presents! It's been a wonderful extended Thanksgiving holiday.

Thanksgiving!

For Ariella's first Thanksgiving, I decided to go all out and make a full Thanksgiving dinner. The turkey and whole dinner came out amazing! I had one of those turkeys with the buttons that pop up once they're done. Ariella had turkey, green beans, and homemade cranberry sauce. She went to town with the turkey and green beans. She picked it up with her hands and put quite a bit in her mouth.

She made the funniest face with the cranberry. I guess it was too tart for her. I mixed it with apple sauce, but I guess without added sugar, it wasn't that great. But, I liked it well enough, so it didn't go to waste. She's really gotten the hang of eating with her hands. She ate a lot of turkey and green beans! It was very exciting.

I also made gravy, stuffing, scalloped potatoes, creamed spinach, canned cranberry sauce (for Tyree and his mom), and apple pie (pre-made, just had to bake it)! It was a full morning of cooking, but it was well worth it.

Holiday Cards - Shutterfly

We haven't traditionally done holiday cards, but with Ariella here this year, we're extremely excited about making our cards to send out to friends and family.

I immediately thought of using Shutterfly to make them, since that's where I've made Ariella's photobooks in the past. Here's the most recent one that I made:

Click here to view this photo book larger

Then, for Christmas, I made 2 ornaments:

Blank Project Pewter Ornament

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and

Blank Project Ceramic Ornament

Unique party invitations and greeting cards by Shutterfly.

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Now it's time for the Holiday cards. I think I'm going to do this one:
Scarlet Script Frame Christmas 5x7 folded card. I think it's very classy, and it lets me use 2 pictures - 1 main picture on the front and another on the inside of the card. Plus, I can add a personalized message.

I also made a desk calendar for Tyree for a Christmas present (Ssssshhhhhh! Don't tell!)

It's so much fun doing pictures and making picture projects since we have a baby! I can't wait to see how our Christmas photo cards turn out. There are so many choices to choose from, and it's so easy to upload my pictures. The hardest part is going to be figuring out which pictures to use. Ariella is beautiful in all of the, so it's going to be hard to decide. :-)

Ariella's 9 Month Doctor's Appointment

We had Ariella's 9 month appointment Saturday. She's 28 1/4 inches (75%), 19lbs 7oz (50-75%), and head circ 17 3/4 (50-75%). The doctor says she's growing perfectly and very proportionally (yay)!

The scary part of the appointment came when the doctor was examining her. She said that her inner labia was entirely fused! Inside I started freaking out. But, the doctor said it was not a big deal, very common problem caused by hormones. She said I would just have to use a cream once a night until it opened, and then use vasoline on it once a night for 2 weeks.

Ariella also had 3 shots, 2 vaccines and the 2nd dose of the flu vaccine. She actually did very well with them, although she's been a bit more fussy than normal for the past couple of days, and I think it's because of the vaccines (poor baby girl). There was no mention of wanting to do any blood work.

The doctor said I should switch Ariella from bottle to sippy cup by 12 months. Also, by 12 months, her BM intake should go down to 12-16oz (not so sure about that). And by 12 months she should be fully on table foods (not so sure about that either). But, overall it was good.

The prescription cream turned out to have a $50 co-pay (yikes), and then at night before I used it, I figured I would read the warnings, side effects, etc. A huge yikes! The first sentence on it was that it can increase the risk of womb cancer and cancer of the ovaries! Other risks include increased risk of heart disease, stroke, blood clots, etc! The medicine is premarin vaginal cream. I did NOT use it yet.

I called the doctor's office today. She said that the side effects listed were probably for the oral form of the medication or for larger doses. She said that an alternative to the medication would be that they could open it in the office by pulling it apart (no thank you). She said that it should NOT be left as it is, that she would develop bladder infections, UTIs, etc. She said that the worst side-effect she's ever had (which has been very rare) is that one baby developed breast buds while on the medication. Our phone connection wasn't that great, so we got cut short. But, I essentially got the info from her that I wanted to ask.

This all seemed pretty consistent with the research that I did online, although online many sites advised just leaving it alone, but the doctor seemed very adamant that it open (maybe because it was fully fused?). So, I guess I'm going to use this cream, unless some magical solutions arises. This is the first time I have really disliked being a parent. I'm so afraid that I'll make a bad decision that will really hurt Ariella. With my family history, I'm very wary of cancer. I wish Tyree would have participated more in this decision, but he has pushed it on me, so I'm just going to have to do the best I can. Hopefully this is the correct decision.

Picture of baby me and Ariella wearing the same dress

My mom/grandmother made me a brown velvet dress that I wore as a baby. I still have the dress and just got pictures of Ariella in it this weekend at her 9 month photo shoot. My husband merged my picture with one of hers. I think it's so neat that we wore the same dress. She's a bit younger than I was when I wore it. I was a bit over a year old in that picture. I was a much smaller baby than Ariella. But, it's very neat to look at the 2 of us side by side.

There's another picture as well that really shows how we have the exact same mouth as well as some other very similar features. I love that she's starting to look like me!

Pics of Ariella's First 2 Teeth

Ariella finally let me get pictures of her first 2 teeth. She does NOT like showing them off. I realized that the trick is to let her "gum" my finger while I use the other hand to pull down her lip - lol.

It melts and breaks my heart at the same time...

This morning I was leaving to go to work. I went to give Ariella a kiss and to tell her to have a good day. She held her arms up, reaching out to me. It melted my heart. I picked her up and gave her a great big hug. Then, I set her back down (she had been sitting, playing with a toy with Abuela). I told her to have a good day and turned and left. It made it so hard to leave, though. I keep picturing her with her arms stretched out to me. Sigh... This is definitely one of the hard parts about being a working parent.

First Tooth! (And, 2nd tooth)

Ariella cut her first tooth overnight on Halloween night! It was the bottom front left tooth. It was quite exciting to see her 1st tooth. It's still only about 1/4-1/3 of the way in, though. I didn't realize it would take so long to come in. And, now she has a 2nd tooth (the bottom front right tooth) that just broke the surface over the weekend. My little girl is growing up. So far no problems with nursing (yay).

Halloween!!!

Here are some pics from Halloween. Originally, she was going to be a strawberry for Halloween night (since it's a warm costume), but then I needed a cooler (temperature-wise) costume for a daytime birthday party with a Halloween theme (enter the Sleeping Beauty costume). I'm glad I got pics of her as the strawberry earlier, because on Halloween night when I went to put her strawberry costume on, the zipper came right off in my hand! Oops. So, she was Sleeping Beauty for Halloween trick or treating (and, no, she didn't eat the Nestle Crunch bar - lol). I dressed up, too, as a spider queen thing. Originally, my dress had 2 shoulder straps, but along the way trick or treating, the strap on one side broke. It was definitely the year for Halloween costume malfunctions. At least my costume worked well with only one strap. We had a lot of fun, though. All of the neighbors just fawned over Ariella. And, we even went through a "haunted garage" that a neighbor had set up. She had a lot of fun - not scared at all! :-)

Trip to Louisiana

Ariella had her first road trip during the last week of October! We went down to Louisiana so that she could meet a bunch of our relatives for the first time (and so that we could attend my neices' Halloween-themed birthday party).

I was concerned about the drive (especially since I breastfeed), but Ariella was a gem. She nursed several times when we stopped for gas/food, and we fed her solids while in the car.

We were able to see quite a few sets of relatives on both sides of the family. We also were able to go to the park with my brother and his kids, and the birthday party was a lot of fun! I even took Ariella on this gigantic blow up slide that they had rented. She had so much fun.

Here are a few of the pictures from the trip:

1st Official Swimming Lesson

Ariella had her 1st "official" swimming lesson on Saturday. We had a lot of fun. She was the only baby that had done any kind of underwater swimming before. There were 8 babies in the class, all right around her age, give or take a few months.

We started in the very shallow part (maybe 1 1/2 feet deep) of the pool and played with toys for a while. And, we got to know the other moms and babies. Then, we sat in a single line and had the babies practice kicking and then "scoops" (scooping water with their hands). Ariella was quite good at both.

Then, we went into the deeper water (maybe 4 feet deep?) and went around this pathway that looped around. The first time, we just went through however we wanted. The second time, we went through with the babies on their backs. Ariella was amazingly comfortable on her back. A lot of times at home, she didn't necessarily like being on her back in the water. And, then the 3rd time they were supposed to be on their tummy going around. These 3 loops were the perfect time for Ariella to get to do her underwater swims. So, that worked out well.

After that, we stood the babies up at the side of the pool and had them "jump" in. So, this was another good place for Ariella to practice going underwater. I think most of the babies didn't go underwater at all. Then, we made our way to the "vortex", which was a circle area of the pool. We all made a big circle and sang "Wheels on the bus" while we did motions with the babies. And, then we sang "Ring around the rosie" while moving with the babies. Next, we took the babies up to this twisty water slide. I was wondering how that would work because if I sat Ariella up and sent her down, she would surely hit her head. So, I just laid her on her back, and that seemed to work. The instructor caught her at the bottom, while I came around to get her. She was slobbering all over the instructor's shoulder when I got there - hehe. And, then she grabbed the instructor's necklace when I went to pick her up. Lol!

After that, we had the babies blow bubbles in the water. I wasn't sure how that was going to go, since we had never practiced anything like that. So, I put Ariella's face in, and she blew major bubbles! (This impressed the instructor a lot. Actually, the instructor was pretty much amazed with everything she could do - her kicks, scoops, blowing bubbles, and underwater swims. I guess most babies come in with no swimming experience.) Then, we played with toys in the shallow part again and socialized until the time was up.

All in all I think this will be a wonderful way to keep up her swimming progress. I'm not sure that she'll really "learn" much swimming in this class. But, she'll get to practice everything we learned over the summer. And, she'll get to socialize with the other babies (which is very important). And, we'll both get to have fun. Oh, and the pictures here are from the pathway where we did the 3 loops.

Parents As Teachers Visit

We had the Parents As Teachers program visit last night. The lady did Ariella's vision and hearing screening, which both came back fine. We talked about how Ariella has been doing. It sounds like she's doing great, even though she's not crawling yet. The lady played some games with her and gave us some suggestions for things to do.

We're supposed to put toys just out of reach to encourage her crawling/moving. We're also supposed to let Ariella practice with the sippy cup each day (I think Tyree's mom has just been holding it for her to drink from). And, we can play peek-a-boo games to teach object permanence. Singing and rhyming are good, too.

She said that Ariella is hitting the age where separation anxiety might come about pretty soon. And, she should be saying mama, dada soon. And, a goal for her is to get from tummy to sitting on her own. So, she'll be having lots of new things in the near future.

The lady also game us a pamphlet with some instructional sessions that they have. And, there's also going to be a Christmas social in December that looks like fun. There aren't nearly as many sessions as last year (budget cuts), but there are still some things. I'm glad the program was continued. We'll see her next in January!

Fall and Halloween Pics!

8 Months Old!

Ariella has hit the 8 month old mark! Here are some of her latest firsts:
- Sitting unsupported
- Monkey slap (clapping both of her hands onto her belly at the same time - looks like a monkey)
- Clapping (although still fairly sporadic)
- Standing (while holding onto something, has to be put into the standing position, though, she cannot pull up to standing yet)
-Lots of new foods - green beans, beef, pumpkin, green peas, peaches, chicken, gerber puffs (even showed the pincer grasp - but she hasn't self-fed yet)
-Sleeping longer, sleeps until 5-6am most nights

More Kashi Lean!

I had Kashi Lean Cereal for dinner again last night, and Ariella really wanted some. Since she did fine with that one piece, I figured she's not going to choke on it. I wound up giving her 6 little puffs total! Granted, it doesn't sound like much, but she's a baby, so proportionally it was a nice little snack for her.

She nursed very well at her first nursing session after I got home. She only nursed a little at the 2nd session, though. Tyree theorized that she might have wanted more solid foods. I think her eating/sleeping patterns are starting to mature. She didn't eat this morning until 6:30am (although she stirred earlier, and I still had to get up around 5:30am to pump). But, it will be interesting to see how things go with that in the coming month or so.

Ariella's first "real" solid food

Ariella has done great with purees and mashed up foods (avocado and banana), but I had been hesitant to get her something like puffs because it shows those are for crawlers on the package, and she's not crawling yet.

Well, a day or so ago, I was eating Kashi Lean cereal for dinner. Ariella was EXTREMELY interested! I asked Tyree if he thought it would be ok if I gave her a piece of my cereal. He said, sure! (Although, I'm not really sure why I asked him, since he doesn't really have any knowledge of baby food - lol).

I picked out 1 little puff of the cereal and sort of sucked the milk off of it (since I heard no cow's milk until 1 year old). And, then I put it in her mouth. I expected her to spit it right out, but instead, she started gumming it! (She has no teeth yet.) It was quite exciting. I kept expecting her to choke on it or something, but she did great! I'm going to have to get some of those puffs next weekend. I think she's ready for some finger foods!

Ariella on the Trapeze!

Here's a picture of Ariella on the trapeze from her My Gym class last night. She's be doing a trapeze routine with me in no time!

Our Weekend - Moving and Swimming

This weekend was pretty full. On Saturday we helped a friend move out of her apartment. It was several hours of carrying things downstairs and onto the moving truck. We brought Ariella's exersaucer with us. She did great with that. And, we also had her reading videos for her to watch. I nursed her before we left the house, 1 time while we were out, and right when we got home. And, I fed her a jar of squash while we were driving to the new house to empty the truck. It worked very well bringing her with us, and we were still able to move a lot of things.

On Sunday, the big event was swimming! It's probably the last time we're going to be able to go before the pool is closed. But, that's ok because her swimming lessons start on the 23rd. So, it won't be too much of a gap.

Ariella still has the congestion/runny nose! The swimming helped to clear out her sinuses, and then I did the California Baby cold/flu congestion bubble bath afterwards. She was in good shape after that. But, this morning she was all stuffed up again with the runny nose and occasional cough. Sigh. How long is this going to last? Poor baby. At least she's still in excellent spirits for most of the day. Just sometimes it gets to her, and she still despises the nasal sucker thing.

Fitness and Trapeze Info

If anyone is interested in keeping up with my fitness/trapeze endeavors, I'll be posting about that in my fitness blog. I had kept extremely detailed logs in that for a couple of years, but now my life is focused on Ariella. I figure I'll post there after each trapeze class. So, if you'd like to follow along with that journey, here's the link my fitness blog:

http://joannafitness.blogspot.com/

Trapeze!

In the year or so before i had Ariella, I was heavily into fitness. I learned how to ice skate. I even took an ice hockey class after regular ice skating lessons! I was going to a rock climbing gym. I was doing weights several times a week. I did yoga and pilots at work. I trained for and ran in a 5k race. But, my main physical interest was the static trapeze - yes, like in circ de soleil. All my other activities were mainly just to help condition me for the trapeze. I took 2 sessions of classes, along with additional private lessons, and for each session, I created and performed a trapeze routine. It was a very challenging, yet exhilarating endeavor. But, of course, once I got pregnant, all of that stopped.

My husband still has his hobby. He goes to guitar lesson once a week. He also does guy's night out every so often. But, I've been in super Mommy mode, which has been great, but I really need a little "me" time. Several of my friends had told me this, but it's been so hard with scheduling time for myself, especially because of breastfeeding.

At my request,my trapeze instructor had kept me on her email list. She emailed out about an aerial choreography class on Thursdays from 5pm to 6:30pm. This is actually pretty ideal. I'll go into work a little early. I'll add an extra pumping session so that I can leave an extra bottle for Ariella, since I'll be home late those days. But, it's workable! Tyree is thrilled for me, which is great. And my instructor said she'd love to have me in that class. So, I'll be creating a new routine dedicated to Ariella. I can't wait for her to see me perform in December!

My Donated Milk Has Been Used!

I hadn't heard anything from the milk bank, so I sent them an e-mail yesterday to see if everything had gone well with the blood tests and the rest of the forms from my doctors. I got this response:

"Hello Joanna,

YES! We have everything and you should have received a donor acceptance via e-mail (sometimes it ends up in your junk folder). In fact we have processed and used your milk and it is in a baby’s tummy by now.

Thanks you so much!"

This made me so happy today. It's awesome knowing that a little NICU baby was helped by my milk!

My Gym

Last night Tyree and I took Ariella for a free trial class at My Gym in Chesterfield. She had soooo much fun. I was surprised that all the little babies in the class had both parents attend with them. It wasn't just mommies. Ariella was the youngest in the class. The next youngest was 9 months old, and then the rest were 12 months or a little older. So, she was the only non-crawler there. But, she was still able to interact with everyone, and she did pretty much everything. She loved the social aspect of it all. The class was 30 minutes, and it flew by.

We started out with circle time (sitting around in a circle), and we did some stretches (more like moving arms up and down, twisting from side to side, etc) with music and songs led by one of the instructors. It seemed like the 2 instructors were a married couple who might have been the owners.

Then, we branched out for some free play - they had a trampoline that I sat on and bounced Ariella on. There was a ball pit, which she enjoyed - especially when some of the other babies were in there with her. There were rocking horses and swings, which she had fun with.

There was this giant hollow barrel made out of padding that we put Ariella inside. I rolled it along, and she rolled inside of it. That was big fun. It was maybe 3 1/2 feet tall, so I couldn't really see her while I was rolling her, but Tyree kept telling me that she was liking it. In fact, her told me to roll it faster. Lol!

We also did some things with the instructors. The lady taught us how to help Ariella do a forward roll. As part of that, the lady played with Ariella, grabbing her feet and such. She had Ariella laughing and squealing! Several of the other parents looked and smiled at us, and some commented on how happy a baby Ariella is. Then, they had us put Ariella on her tummy on this big teeter totter like thing. The other babies crawled across it, but Ariella still had fun doing what she did.

The most surprising thing was that Ariella had her first trapeze lesson! I thought for sure that was only going to be for the older babies, but the instructor said that she could do it. We watched one of the other babies, and the instructor held her hands to the bar and swang the trapeze back and forth. It was quite impressive. I was a little scared to let her do it, thinking it was going to hurt her shoulders. The instructor held his hands over hers on the bar, while Tyree and I held her (yes, we both held onto her - Tyree under her arms and me under her butt - lol, I was a bit scared of this one). Then, we lowered her down slowly and gently and then let go. So, she was actually hanging (with the instructor holding on top of her hands)! Then, the instructor moved the bar slowly back and forth. I'm still not sure how it didn't hurt her, but she seemed to enjoy it. She had her wonderous look, like she was taking it all in.

Then, the lady instructor did a song with puppets and counting, in which Ariella was quite enthralled. It was definitely a successful night. We were able to talk with some of the parents. It was just the first time, so I'm sure that we'll get to know them better as the weeks go on. So, Monday nights will be the My Gym class, and then they have free play on Tuesday nights. We're going to that tonight, so we'll see how it goes.

There's one other interesting thing. We were talking with the mom of the 9 month old. She had quite a number of teeth! The mom said she had gotten them all in the last month or 2 and that it seemed like the teeth came emerged in pairs, and they seemed to pop in overnight. There were no teeth the night before, and then there were teeth the next morning. Well, last night I dreamed that when I woke up this morning, Ariella had a mouthful of teeth! They looked a little strange, too. Luckily, she's still toothless, though. But, that was a funny dream.

Sick!

Ariella had her first bout of being sick. Luckily, it wasn't anything serious - just a cold. I took her to the doctor's office Friday the 10th, and the pediatrician said that it was just congestion in her sinuses. Her ears looked clear, and her lungs were also clear. The pediatrician said that it was good that I brought her in, though, because a lot of times you can't tell where the congestion is without the stethoscope.

She reacted to being sick mostly by being extra tired, and she cried a little more. But, mostly she was the same happy baby - just very congested and with a cough.

The doctor said to get a cool mist humidifier and to use a saline spray up her nose and then suction it out.

Tyree and I were sick too, me more than him. I actually had almost no voice for several days!

I'm happy to say that we're all well now. I'm glad Ariella made it through her first time being sick with flying colors.

Swimming!!!! (With Underwater Pic)

I finally found my underwater camera, so I was finally able to see what Ariella looks like when she's swimming underwater!

She loves swimming so much. It's a shame that Summer is ending. But, I signed us up for some swimming lessons at the Renaud Spirit Center (part of O'Fallon, MO parks and recreation). We'll be going Saturday between 10:25am - 11:05am. I hope we'll meet some other fun babies and parents. Her lessons will run from October 23rd through December 11th. It's 7 classes for $46 (non-resident price), so it's quite inexpensive compared to all of the other options that I found.

Adventures in Milk Donation

I've figured out that St. Louis is NOT a good city for breast milk donation. I've collected quite a freezer stash of milk, so I thought that I would look into donation rather than trying to cycle it out with the fresh milk for Ariella before it would get too old. After doing quite a bit of research, I found that there is nowhere local in St. Louis that accepts milk donation, which left only remote options. My pediatrician's office also did research and recommended the Mother's Milk Bank. It's based in Colorado and is a non-profit group that uses the milk for pre-mature babies in the NICU.

After doing an initial phone screening and filling out maybe 5 pages regarding health questions, etc (they are VERY thorough), it sounded like I qualified. They shipped me a box to pack the milk in, as well as some materials for a blood draw, and some additional forms. To ship the milk, I had to pack it in dry ice and had to ship it out the same day, overnight.

I scheduled my appointment to get the blood drawn (luckily my obgyn office agreed to do it for free since it was for the purpose of milk donation). Then, I went through the task of finding dry ice. Many cities sell dry ice from local grocery stores, Walmart, or FedEx. But, not St. Louis (at least not in any of the dozen or so places that I called). I was left with the option of a specialized ice store in Olivette (which is about 40 minutes from my house, but luckily it was not too much farther than my obgyn office).

All that was left was the FedEx store. I was lucky that I called, because not all FedEx locations ship dry ice (since it is classified as a "dangerous good"). The closest location for it was in Earth City, about 30 minutes from my house.

It was going to be quite the busy day - obgyn office, FedEx, home, doctor's appointment for Ariella (since she was a little sick), then home to pack up the milk, then to FedEx. But, I figured that it was all workable, even though it had required quite a bit of planning. The next obstacle came when I arrived for the blood draw. I gave the tech the bag with the materials (vials for the blood, instructions, etc). The problem was that the instructions called for 2 pearl topped vials and 1 gold top vial. However, there were 3 pearl top vials (no gold top). I called the lady at the Mother's Milk Bank, but I got her voicemail. It was so discouraging. I was thinking I'd have to call it quits and either try again another time or just give up. I was out of the office and almost to the elevator when the lady from the Milk Bank called me back. I went back in and let her talk with the tech. They worked out what they needed to do (luckily), so I was able to get the blood draw done. Then, Ariella and I waited for about 40 minutes while the blood samples had clotted and then were spun in the centrifuge.

The dry ice place went smoothly. I found it with no trouble (good directions from google maps). It was $.75 per pound, with a minimum of 6 pounds, but they didn't make me take the 6 pounds (the instructions said to use between 3-5 pounds in the box). Regardless, it wasn't expensive. We had Ariella's doctor's appointment after that (which I had to re-schedule for an hour later, since the blood draw took so long, but luckily they were accommodating). Her appointment went well. Her congestion was NOT in her lungs, so it was just a routine type of cold. Then, we went home and I packed up the milk, blood samples, and dry ice. I was able to fit 45 5oz bags in the box. I had more milk that I could have donated, but that was all that would fit.

Then, I was off to FedEx. That went smoothly, too, except for the part where they asked me for the monetary value of the package. I had no idea. I told them what it was, and they didn't make me name a value. In my opinion, the breast milk is priceless.

The next day, the lady from the Milk Bank called me and said that the milk had arrived. It was still frozen and still had some dry ice left. Yay!

Yesterday, though I got a call from the pediatrician's office saying that the form that was faxed to them needed to be sent to the obgyn, that they can't fill it out. I had filled out 2 consent forms - 1 for the pediatrician and 1 for the obgyn. All I can figure is that the milk bank mixed them up when sending them to the 2 offices. So, I sent an e-mail about that. I'm sure it will all get worked out, but it has been a process!

A lady from one of the newsgroups that I am part of gave me some perspective, though. She wrote, "That's really a great thing you are doing with your milk. I did the math, that's 225 ounces!! You may feed a sick or premature baby for several weeks singlehandedly!" Even though it's been quite a pain going though this process, it is an amazing feeling knowing that I was able to do this for some little babies.

Day at the Zoo

Sunday we went to the zoo! It was me, Tyree, his mom, Ariella, my cousin Dave, his wife Lori, and their 2 boys Spencer (5) and Holden (3). Ariella had so much fun looking at all of the animals.

We started at the Children's zoo where she was able to pet the goats, and we slid down a tube slide through one of the water exhibits. We saw so many animals - elephants, camels, bears, giraffes, etc. We had a hard time getting Ariella to turn away from the animals for the pictures - lol! She loved watching them.

We road the train, which was fun (although it was a long wait). Probably the highlight of the trip was the carousel. Ariella absolutely loved it! She even held onto the pole like a big girl. She road on a seal that went up and down. The second the ride started, she got extremely excited. She loved the wind on her face, and stuck her tongue out to "taste the wind", as I call it. She squealed with delight. It was so amazing to experience with her.

We were at the zoo for most of the day. I hadn't expected that we would be there quite so long. I had packed one bottle of her milk, along with a full jar of pears. I wound up nursing her as well in a discrete location, which worked out fine. I couldn't have asked for a better time at the zoo.

City Museum

Saturday we went out to the City Museum in St. Louis. For those of you who have never been to the City Museum, it is more like a gigantic museum of fun than a traditional museum. On the outside, there are all of these areas to climb on - large metal wire enclosures 4 or 5 stories off the ground. And, on the inside there are all of these different areas with activities and places to explore. It's also where I took my static trapeze lessons.

We started out exploring these caves and tunnels on the first and second floors. Ariella and I went with David and the boys, climbing through everything. It was challenging for me at times to get through some of the areas while carrying Ariella, but I didn't want her to miss anything!

Next, we went outside in the climbing area. It was almost like a gigantic tree-house, with wire enclosures, slides, etc to go through. In the picture above, Ariella and I were way up on that wire enclosed bridge. It was probably 4 or 5 stories high. Also, outside was the ball pit. The boys LOVED the balls. Ariella had fun playing with one of the balls, and she took a little break to eat with Abuela.

After that we went through the inside of the museum. One of the floors had a gigantic circle of sponges. We wound up having a mini sponge war, throwing the sponges at each other. Holden built a tower of sponges. Some other people had spent a long time in there. They had actually enclosed a person completely in sponges.

On the next floor, where I had my trapeze lessons, the boys went on a small train ride. Unfortunately, Ariella couldn't go because I was too big for the train. But, she took that opportunity to take a little nap. She also napped while we went through a part of the museum that had all kinds of remnants from different historic buildings in St. Louis. There were statues, door knobs, etc - just lots of interesting things.

She woke up when we got to the skateboard park (only instead of skateboarding, the kids were running and sliding). I took Ariella through that, and we did quite a bit of sliding. Then, we sat down and watched the children for a bit. Ariella was fascinated! She also found it very funny and was laughing and laughing! I don't think she's ever laughed that long before.

It was definitely an amazing place for her to go.

Labor Day Weekend

I had the most amazing weekend! My cousin David, his wife Lori, and their two boys Spencer (5) and Holden (3) came to visit for the Labor Day weekend, and we had so much fun in St. Louis. Spencer and Holden were so cute! They had so much energy. Spencer has just enthralled with Ariella. He loved holding her on the sofa and playing with her. Holden was a little bundle of energy, too. He did so well when they went swimming Sunday night. He was able to jump right into the pool - no fear.

They arrived late on Friday night around 11pm, so Ariella and I were pretty much sleeping. Saturday we intended to go to the zoo, but it was so crowded in Forest Park that the parking lots were full. So, we abandoned that plan and went out to the City Museum - which turned out to be tons of fun. Sunday morning we went out to the zoo early and stayed there for most of the day. Sunday night the boys and David went swimming. Then, Monday Lori, me, and the kids went to the park and then we had a BBQ. It was a weekend full of fun. More detailed posts to come about the City Museum and the Zoo!

Attachment Parenting

I did a bit of researching, and it doesn't look like it's such a horrible thing if we just keep doing what we're doing regarding her sleep. Honestly, having a baby wake once overnight isn't so bad. I think Ariella is right in the middle regarding how she's doing with sleep. Our pediatrician made me question her progress, but I need to realize that this is the same pediatrician that wanted me to supplement with formula for no medical reason at week 4.

It looks like babies go through phases (one of which is in the 6th month) where they wake in the middle of the night. This can be because of learning new skills or because of the introduction of solid foods. So, it looks like baby sleep patterns are not consistent. Scientific studies have even been done, demonstrating positive long-term effects of sleeping in the same room as your baby. The babies are very independent, less stressed, and well-adjusted.

So, I'm going to continue enjoying those baby cuddles!

http://www.llli.org/FAQ/cosleep.html
http://www.nd.edu/~jmckenn1/lab/longterm.html
http://www.naturalchild.org/james_mckenna/cosleeping.pdf
http://www.breastfeeding.com/reading_room/co_slepping.html

Epic Fail on the Crib Transition

So, the crib transition didn't work out as planned. It was too much change, too fast. I think we'll just have Ariella stay with us until she's 21. Lol! On the positive side, she slept all the way through until 3:30am. (So, no 1am wake-up.)

Crib Transition Tonight...

We were going to do the crib transition this weekend, but my cousin called me to let me know that they could come visit! So, the choice was to wait until after that or to start tonight! I figure if we start tonight, that will give her 4 nights to get used to things. Hopefully she'll be doing pretty well by then. She used to sleep very well in her bassinet in our room until she outgrew it, but by then it was too hot, and Tyree said that we wouldn't move her upstairs because our air conditioner wasn't working all that well.

Now, it seems like it's not too hot at night. Plus, it's definitely time. The doctor said that she should be sleeping longer than she does. Besides that, she's started regressing with her sleep, waking up at 1am! She needs to learn how to put herself back to sleep at night. I'll miss snuggling her at night, but I think it's time.

So, we're going to start a whole night-time routine. I "think" it's going to be dinner (for all of us) at the table at 7pm. Then, we'll have playtime. At 7:45pm, I'll nurse her. Then, I'll take her to her room and we'll read a book. So, around 8:15pm or so will be bedtime. Maybe I'll do some baby massage, too. Wish me luck!!!!!

The Park!

On Sunday I took Ariella to a park that is just around the corner from our house. For the first time, she got to do the infant swings, she road this horse on a spring, and we went down about 5 different slides.

She had an amazing time on the swing! At first, she was looking down, trying to figure out what was going on. Then as I started swinging her, she looked up and all around. Then, she kept opening her mouth and sticking out her tongue, tasting the wind! She squealed with delight and smiled like crazy - huge success!

Then, I put her on this little horse that was on a spring. I held onto her the whole time (obviously), but she started bouncing up and down on it like she does in her jumper. Also, she actually kept her hands up on the handles. She was so cute!

After that, we went in the play equipment and went down about 5 slides. It was so much fun (and was quite a bit of exercise for me). I can't wait to take her again. Maybe Daddy can come along next time!

Festival of Nations!

After Ariella's doctor'a appointment, we met some friends at the Festival of Nations in Tower Grove Park in St. Louis. We had a wonderful time, and Ariella was exposed to lots of new people, sounds, and smells. There were food booths from countries all over the world. My favorite was the Iranian booth. There was this uniquely spiced chicken with lentil rice with raisins. Ariella and I danced to a Regge band, and we watched some Indian dancers. We stayed for almost 2 hours. It was a very fun day.

6 Month Doctor's Appointment

Ariella had her 6 month doctor's appointment on Saturday morning. It went really well overall. The shots were harder this time, though. She cried a LOT. The previous 2 times, she cried a little, but as soon as I got her over to nurse, she stopped and nursed herself to sleep. This time, though, it took her quite a while to latch. And, then she kept popping off to cry. I felt really bad for her. Either the shots hit some kind of nerve that made it hurt more, or maybe she's just more aware at 6 months. This doesn't make me optimistic about next time's shots. Poor little girl!

Onto the better parts of the visit, though. Here are her 6 month stats:
Height: 27 inches (90th percentile)
Weight: 18 lbs 5 oz (90th percentile)
Head Circumference: 17 inches (75th percentile)

Ariella was a little wiggle worm for her head circumference measurement. The actually had to come back into the room to take it again (because the first measurement didn't make sense with her growth curve). She is growing so big! At least she's in the same percentile for height and weight now, though. She's leaning out a bit.

The doctor seemed pleased with her solid foods progress. She said to do a new food every 3 days. That's about the pace I've been doing. She also mentioned finger foods and then table foods. I think she meant for a while down the road, though. She said the goal by her 1st birthday is to have her on all table foods (but after I asked for clarification, she said it was still fine to be nursing). We're also going to be moving her down to 3 bottles rather than 4 during the day (so, 3 bottles of about 6oz each). And, then we'll increase her amounts of solids over time.

In addition, we'll be starting her with a sippy cup with water soon. I bought 2 sippy cups yesterday (the ones with the handles), so once they go through the dishwasher, we'll do up to 4 oz per day. The nurse said we could do 2-3 oz 2-3 times per day. I've heard the rule of not more than 1oz per month old, though, so I'm going to start on the lower side. And, if she doesn't drink it all, no problem. I'll just leave the cup filled in the morning with 4oz, and whatever she gets though will be fine.

I was a little discouraged at the doctor's lack of enthusiasm over her sleep progress. At the previous visit, Ariella was still getting up 2-3 times a night. This time, she has progressed to most nights going to be between 7 to 9:30pm and sleeping until 3 to 4:30am. But, the doctor said she should be sleeping longer than that - until at least 7am. Sigh... Oh well. I think we're going to do the crib transition next weekend. (If she knew we were still co-sleeping, she would probably have NOT been happy about that. She told us at 4 weeks that Ariella should be sleeping in her crib in her room upstairs and that we might have to let her "cry a little".)

But, Ariella has regressed a little bit with her sleep in the past couple of weeks. Every couple of days, she's been waking up to eat at 1am! She did it last night, too, but I was determined NOT to feed her. So, I didn't feed her until 3am, but I certainly didn't get sleep from 1-3am. She was a squirming little gal! I'm not sure if she was asleep of awake, but she was definitely not still. And, she kept making noises, so I had to keep putting the pacifier back in. And, she kept spitting it right back out and getting unsettled. Who knows? Maybe I should have just fed her.

The doctor checked her hips and her mouth (still no signs of teething - yay!), and when she checked Ariella's belly, Ariella started laughing! So, that was fun. The doctor also evaluated her sitting, which is coming along but isn't quite there. But, the doctor said she should be progressing with that continually, so all was fine.

Overall, a very good visit. Shots were bad, sleep progress wasn't quite good enough, but everything else was great!

Recharged and Scary Sleeping Experience

I am quite recharged from my vacation day. The hemmies aren't totally well, but they're tolerable. I think the lounging did a lot of good. Also, it was great fun to see my friends for lunch. It made me feel more like me (if that makes sense). And, then I was able to take Ariella out in the stroller for a walk around 7:15pm. The weather was beautiful, and it was nice to be out and about with her.

Onto the scary sleeping experience. So, we're co-sleeping because she outgrew her bassinet, and the air conditioning doesn't work well enough for Tyree to agree to do the crib transition to her room upstairs quite yet. And, we tried having her sleep in the pack n play that we moved into our bedroom, but that didn't work well. Around 2 or 3am, I woke to her moving around. I reached to get the pacifier to stick back in her mouth, but instead of it being her head, it was her feet! Her head was where her feet were supposed to be and was under the covers!!! Very scary for me. I quickly pushed the covers off of her and have her the pacifier, and I woke Tyree. He seemed confused as to why I woke him up, so I said "see anything wrong here?". He took a second and then realized she was upside down. And, then I told him that her head had been under the covers. Then, I set her in the correct position, put my arms around her, and then we went back to sleep. Scary stuff. We really need to do the crib transition. I'm glad I'm such a light sleeper these days.

Vacation Day and Scare

I've been enjoying my vacation day so far. I've lounged around watching movies, and I was able to meet some friends for lunch. I pumped my 3 times already for the day, bit MIL is only going to do 3 bottles rather than the usual 4, so I'll have actually pumped enough for the day (didn't do enough Monday or Tuesday, but I had plenty since I pump on the weekend in the mornings).

The scare came when my husband called. He told me that his group at work was being spun off into a small company, and that they were going to become freelancers! Not good. Right now stability is key regarding a job. Being a contractor/freelancer was not good. We were talking about getting his resume ready and such. And, he was going to try to transfer somewhere else in the current company, rather than going to this little one. We also discussed how we would need to transfer our medical coverage to be under me rather than him. About an hour later, he called me back. He mis-heard. He was in the group being transferred within the company. Whew! Huge relief. Granted, it's still a change, but his salary and benefits will all stay the same.

Having a baby has been such a big change already. We really don't want to have to deal with a career upheaval right now. We would have figured something out, i'm sure. He's so talented. But, it's nice not to have to panic.

Vacation Day Tomorrow!

So, with all this crappiness, I decided to take a vacation day tomorrow! Hooray!

I'm going to lounge around most of the day and then meet up with some friends for lunch that I haven't seen since before Ariella was born. I really need this break.

My body is broken...

In the early part of the 3rd trimester of pregnancy, I developed hemorrhoids. They were no fun at all, but the nurse told me that they should go away after the birth. Well, immediately after the birth, the were horrible. They finally healed up a couple of months after that, but they've been recurring ever since. I thought I had finally gotten rid of them, but they came back with more bleeding than ever last Sunday night.

I went to the doctor's office about them yesterday, but it sounds like this may just be a problem that I might have forever. She kept emphasizing prevention techniques that I've tried in the past but that don't really seem to work. It was quite discouraging. I did get 2 new prescriptions, and I'm supposed to take Citracel every day for 2 weeks. It's Tuesday now, and they're still not good.

A vaginal birth is supposed to be so much easier for recovery than a c-section. I really wonder in my particular case if this is true. Between the tearing/episiotomy, extra catheter because I couldn't pee soon enough after the birth, and the hemorrhoids, I didn't really feel relatively decent until 5 1/2 weeks after the birth. I wonder if the hemorrhoids would have simply healed up if I hadn't had all the pushing from the vaginal birth. I suppose it doesn't matter now, though.

This is making me really wonder whether my body could even really handle another pregnancy. My grandmother (on my mom's side) had wanted more than 1 child but for whatever reason, she was unable to have another child. And, of course I can't ever know the details of that now, since everyone who would have known is no longer living. I also wonder if my mom ever had issues with hemorrhoids. But, again, I'll never know that either.

I really want Ariella to have a sibling. With my family history (father died at 61, mother died at 59 - both of different types of cancers), I haven't been crazy optimistic about my life expectancy. And, Tyree has family history of heart issues and diabetes. It's very possible that Ariella might have the very same thing happen to her (both parents dying relatively young). If it weren't for my brother, it would essentially be just me - granted, I have 2 cousins and 1 aunt and uncle, but that's pretty much it. So, I would really like Ariella to have a sibling. Hopefully Tyree and I can both live to be 100, but that's probably not the case. If they can come up with a cure for cancer, I'll probably be good. So, maybe I will live to be really old.

I just don't know how much my body can take. It seems like while I've been in excellent health regarding weight, fitness, and eating habits, I've just had a myriad of health issues in the past 10 years - kidney infection, appendix bursting and left waiting in the hospital for a day and a half (long story, very difficult recovery), 2 ear surgeries, tonsils out. It's just been a LOT. Everything with the pregnancy was perfect until the start of the 3rd trimester. Then, I developed the hemorhoids, had a pre-term labor scare, had to be put on meds and no exercise from week 19 to 35.

I'm sure this could all be a lot worse, but I guess my hormones are all over the place, and I seem to find myself having tunnel vision (but at least I recognize that). I just don't know. I really want a 2nd child, though. I would never want Ariella to be alone...

Avocado!

I introduced avocado last night after I got home from work. I rolled the avocado on the counter (read that makes it easy to get the skin off), then I quartered it. The skin peeled right off, as did the stem. And, then I kind of mushed the avocado off of the pit and into a mixing bowl. I added a little water and just mashed it up with a spoon. It took quite a while to mash up, and it was still a little chunky, but I figured that I could mash it up more if needed as I was feeding her.

I portioned out a little bit for her to eat, and then I put the rest into my little freezer cups that I had bought (which as it turns out, they aren't very good - very difficult to close the lids, and one of the lids had a whole in it, so I had to throw that one away. I guess that's what I get for buying the $9.99 set.) The 1 avocado made like 8 portions of 1oz each.

I set Ariella up in her high chair, and spoon fed a little bit of the avocado. It was one of the chunks. It went in and right out. (I guess she still has a bit of the tongue thrust reflex.) Oops. So, too thick. I mashed up the avocado in the little bowl better and tried again. She liked it! I fed her maybe 1/2 of the portion (so, maybe 1/2 oz), and she did quite well with it.

I ate the rest of it, so there was no waste. It was possibly my first experience eating avocado (at least it's the first I can remember). It was quite flavorful - tangy and salty (even though I didn't add any salt of anything). And, it was very rich and buttery. I don't think I could eat too much of it at once. But, I enjoyed it. So, now I can't say that I don't like avocado.

Next up: Pears! (Friday or Saturday)

Milk Issues Are Better

I'm feeling a lot better about the milk issues today. I think my hormones were a little out of whack (they still might be actually). I reviewed my logs, and I did cut out 1 daytime pumping session back on 8/2. So, it's been a couple of weeks with that. My daytime pumps are still really good, though. I think her changing early morning schedule is what has me a little off with my numbers. But, my numbers aren't really much lower than what they used to. It's just the combination of the slightly lower numbers with having to leave even more milk that is the problem.

I think she's getting VERY filled up during the day. Yesterday after I got home, I gave her the avocado (which went very well! I'll have to do a post about that next). And, then she nursed around 6:30pm (only one side and not for very long). Then, she fell asleep and was essentially out for the night! Normally, she nurses two good sessions after I get home from work, rather than the 1 short session. I pumped a little on both sides at 9:30pm since she hadn't woken up to eat, and I got 3oz from that (didn't want to pump too much in case she woke up and needed to eat). And, then this morning around 3:45am, I was able to pump 7.5oz total (again, didn't fully pump both sides because I knew she would need to eat soon).

Of course, this morning, she had 2 huge poopie diapers and nursed 3 times! Go figure... I guess I just have to get used to constant change with her eating. I think I will reduce the amount of her first bottle with the amount of milk that she has in the cereal. That makes sense. That way she'll still have a total of 20oz. I'll start with that and see how it goes, and then I can always reduce her last bottle a little (since she'll get a veggie/fruit after that one). But, with 10.5oz pumped today already, I'm sure I'll have pumped plenty enough today! :-)

I just don't want her getting so full during the day that she doesn't want to nurse much after I get home from work. I'd rather she get more of the milk from me than from the bottles. She can get the solids during the day.

Baby Food Galore!

I've been thinking that I'm going to make some of Ariella's baby food. I'm starting her with avocado tonight (since it's a baby super food), so it will be interesting to see how that goes. I'm going to peel it and stick it in the blender with some water to thin it a bit. Then, I bought these freezer tray/container things. So, I'm going to portion it out into that. I'll keep one out for use right then. I'll put a 2nd container in the refrigerator, and I'll put the rest in the freezer.

Speaking of the container things, I went to Babies R Us yesterday to stock up on some feeding supplies (plus I had coupons to use). I wound up getting the freezer container set, an extra pack of baby spoons, new 6 month sized pacifiers, a teether that brushes her teeth while she chews on it, and quite a bit of baby food. I was thinking that I had bought all organic, but as it turns out, some of it wasn't. Oh well. The avocado I bought wasn't organic. I guess I'll buy organic where I can and won't worry about it if I feed her some non-organic things.

In terms of baby food, I got this 16 pack of organic Earth's Best Pears for 20% off of an already cheap $3.99! The caveat is that they expire Oct 20th. So, Ariella will start pears as her next food on Friday or Saturday. I'm thinking that maybe I'll mix her oatmeal with the pears (once she's tried it on its own and likes it). I figure she'll only eat maybe 1/4 of a jar per serving at first, so she'll have to eat pears almost every day for me to use them up in the 2 months. (Ok, so maybe I didn't think that through very well.)

In addition to the pears, I bought Gerber foods, too - organic carrots, organic sweet potatoes, organic green beans. And, then I got mangos and something else (both non-organic - boo). With all this, Ariella has enough food to last her a loooong time. Plus, I want to do yogurt soon, so I'll have to get that (Ooh! I'll bet she might like the pears with the yogurt). All of the food was "2nd stage" food. Granted, she's just starting with solids, but she's 6 months old, so I figure that the 2nd stage food will work. It's just that the 2nd stage food has so much more quantity than the 1st stage foods, so it's less expensive. Hopefully this logic won't backfire on me. I guess if it's too thick, I can always just add some water.

So, I'm very excited! I hope the avocado turns out good. I have essentially no experience with preparing avocado, so wish me luck tonight!

Happy 6 Month Birthday, Ariella!

Schedule Keeps Changing... Discouraged...

Ariella keeps changing up her sleeping schedule, and it is starting to affect my pumping. Previously, she had been going to sleep by 8:30pm or so, stirring around 4am (signaling me to get up and pump), and then she would wake up to eat around 5 - 5:30am, then go back to sleep and wake between 7:30-8am to eat again.

But, her schedule is been weird lately. One day she slept all the way until 5:30am (no stirring at 4am, so I totally missed pumping and had to do so after she ate, which meant much less milk pumped. This morning, she woke up at 4pm, so I stuck the pacifier in her mouth and started to pump. But, she didn't go back to sleep! So, I was trying to hurry my pumping session before she got too upset, but she started crying. :-( Hubby picked her up and changed her diaper, while I ended my pumping session early. It made me feel so horrible that I couldn't just feed her, that I had to be tied to this goofy pump contraption for an extra 5-10 minutes (and should have stayed pumping longer). But, she drinks so much milk during the day 20+ oz, that I need that early morning pump to be able to have enough!

We co-sleep every night now. She was sleeping in the bassinet in our room, but she got too big for it, and she was waking herself up. I moved the pack n play in its place, but she didn't go for that. I guess it wasn't comfy enough, even after I put a big comforter in it, folder up, for extra padding. And, we can't do the transition to her crib quite yet, because it's too hot in her room upstairs. Next year we're probably going to have to replace the air conditioner. Sigh...

My first pump at work didn't go all that well, either. I'm not going to get anywhere near the 20oz that I need (oh wait, I need 21.25oz, since I need 1.25oz for her oatmeal cereal!). Granted, I have a HUGE freezer stash, and I have milk from the weekend, but I need to get back to the point where I make as much as she takes in any given day. I'm still getting over being sick, so maybe that's partially the problem. And, I don't think I ate enough yesterday. I had to work over the weekend, so that was no fun. Work is fairly stressful right now - two difficult projects. Guess I just needed to vent a bit. I'm sure it will all work out. Maybe I can take a vacation day soon - just to vegge...

Eye Doctor Appointment Saturday

In my area, we have a program called Parents as Teachers with the school system. While the lady was visiting, she mentioned that they were recommending vision screening for all babies at 6 months. There's a program called InfantSee, which she said offers free screening for babies nationwide. The website is infantsee.com. I had scheduled Ariella's appointment for this past weekend. Apparently vision problems that could be corrected early if caught early are getting missed (even with the pediatrician base eye screening), so our school district is encouraging all babies to get tested by an eye doctor.

We had a good appointment on Saturday. The eye doctor did a lot of different vision checks. We had been concerned about her right eye still turning in a little, but the doctor said that everything looked good. We talked about Ariella's clogged tear duct, and she recommended massaging it while doing the cleaning with the warm washcloth. So, I'm making a point to do that. But, she said that they normally don't do anything about it, especially at this age. Ariella's prescription was +3, which is apparently perfectly normal at her age. She recommended that we come in again at 3 years old, so no more eye doctors for us for a while. We learned quite a lot about infant eye development. The only thing I should have done is that the timing of the appointment wasn't the best. Ariella got tired towards the end of it, so she got a little fussy. I'm very glad we went, though. And, it was completely free! Very cool program.

Started Solid Foods

Ariella is turning 6 months old on Tuesday, so I started her on solid foods this past weekend. I started her with oatmeal cereal! I did 1 tablespoon of the oatmeal with 1.5oz of breast milk. It came out to a decent consistency, I think. Ariella did very well eating! She didn't make any weird faces, and she didn't really spit it out either. Some drooled out of her mouth onto the bib, but overall a lot of it made it to where she ate it. Tyree took video while I spoon fed her in her high chair. She started to lose interest after we had gone through a little over half of it, so we stopped at that point. I wanted to make the experience positive for her.

We did the oatmeal again Sunday morning, although I only made 3/4 tablespoon of the cereal with 1.25oz of the milk (in hopes of less waste). She did about the same as last time, which was great, and we got through probably about 3/4 of it. It will probably take a while until she eats more. It will be interesting to hear how she did for my mother in law today with the oatmeal. I'm sure she'll do great.

We'll be starting avocado Tuesday night with her, and then Wednesday, mother in law will do that with her after her last feeding during the day. I'm hoping that once she's having 2 solid foods after 2 of the bottles, that we can drop down to 3, 6oz bottles rather than 4, 5oz bottles. But, it could take a while before we can switch to that.

Milestones! Rolling!

Ariella has been rolling over from her back to her tummy now for about 3 weeks (forgot to post about that). She had been rolling from tummy to back for over 2 months. She had been trying so hard to get the other way, and now she finally did it! It was on a Friday (one of my work from home days), and I was on a break playing with her. Normally we let her play on a blanket on the floor, but this time I just had her on the carpet. I noticed she almost had the rolling, so I really started encouraging her. And, she did it! So, I set up my iPhone video camera and got her rolling on video! She did it about 4-5 times that day. It was very exciting. And, then I sent the video to Tyree. He was absolutely thrilled. Since then, she still rolls occasionally for us (my mother in law says she rolls every day for her). For us, though, she seems more interested in practicing sitting and then standing up while sitting on our legs. She's getting big so fast...