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.
Monday, August 16, 2010
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...
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Ariella's First Word! (Well, maybe not)
This morning, Tyree was cutting Ariella's fingernails. She was squirming around as usual. He was telling her "stay still". To our surprise, she said something that sounded like "ok"! We both paused and looked at each other. And, I think Tyree asked me "Did she just say ok?" Lol! I'm sure it was just a coincidence and probably doesn't really count as her first word, but it was super cute.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Baby Exercises!
Aside from walking at lunchtime at work and swimming with Ariella, I've been doing "baby exercises" for the past couple of weeks!
This consists of 3 different exercises:
Pliates Planks - I hold Ariella sitting on my lower belly while I do Pilates planks (where you push your pelvis up to form a bridge - it's to exercise the thighs and butt). I've been doing do 2 sets of 10 - counting out loud.
Crunches - Ariella remains sitting low on my belly while I crunch up. I do 2 sets of 10, again counting out loud.
Baby Lifts - I do 10 baby lifts where I lift her up into the air (essentially a shoulder press straight up).
I count each time out loud, and she just looks at me kind of strangely through a lot of it, but then sometimes she smiles and squeals. It's fun to watch her reactions. And, maybe she'll learn how to count from 1-10. I do it maybe 3 times a week. But, I like it because it's something interactive with her (so, it's not like I have to find alone time to do it). I also tried doing baby curls (to exercise the biceps), but it didn't really work very well. It was hard to hold her - although in retrospect, I think maybe I was doing it wrong. I was holding her horizontally across my arms. Maybe I should have held her upright like with the baby presses. I'd just have to stand up to do the baby curls. I might have to try that again.
This consists of 3 different exercises:
Pliates Planks - I hold Ariella sitting on my lower belly while I do Pilates planks (where you push your pelvis up to form a bridge - it's to exercise the thighs and butt). I've been doing do 2 sets of 10 - counting out loud.
Crunches - Ariella remains sitting low on my belly while I crunch up. I do 2 sets of 10, again counting out loud.
Baby Lifts - I do 10 baby lifts where I lift her up into the air (essentially a shoulder press straight up).
I count each time out loud, and she just looks at me kind of strangely through a lot of it, but then sometimes she smiles and squeals. It's fun to watch her reactions. And, maybe she'll learn how to count from 1-10. I do it maybe 3 times a week. But, I like it because it's something interactive with her (so, it's not like I have to find alone time to do it). I also tried doing baby curls (to exercise the biceps), but it didn't really work very well. It was hard to hold her - although in retrospect, I think maybe I was doing it wrong. I was holding her horizontally across my arms. Maybe I should have held her upright like with the baby presses. I'd just have to stand up to do the baby curls. I might have to try that again.
Long time since my last post - lots of updates
Wow, I haven't posted in a long time! Work has been crazy for the past several weeks, but it is settling back down. Ariella has continued sleeping through the night, so it appears to have stuck. Our air conditioner went out a few weeks ago, and I was afraid that was going to mess her up, since we had to go sleep over at Tyree's mom's house. But, she did great! She's going to bed between 7:30 and 9:30pm, and she stirs around 4am (which is my sign to get up and pump). And, then she eats between 5 and 5:30am.
This past week, though, she's started waking up more (although she doesn't eat when she wakes up - I just give her the pacifier). I'm wondering if it's because her bassinet is getting pretty small for her. We're going to wait to do the transition to her crib until the Fall (when it's a little cooler - our air conditioner is "fixed", but it's under powered). If she wakes up more than once at night, I move her from her bassinet into her boppy pillow in bed with us. She usually does fine after that.
Ariella's been progressing with a LOT of things! She's sitting up unassisted for longer periods of time (maybe 4 seconds rather than 2 - lol). She's really working on mastering that. She likes to be upright. She's started laughing a lot. She had laughed a couple of times previously, but yesterday she laughed so much! She was on my lap in a chair in the study, and she apparently found our dog Merlin to be extremely hilarious! Tyree had his iPhone right on the desk, so we were able to get lots of video of her laughing.
She's continued to enjoy her swimming. A couple of times she didn't really enjoy it, but I figured out why. Her little tummy is too big for the swim diaper to come over it! The weight for the swim diaper is 16 - like 28lbs. She's under 17 lbs. So, there's no way we can go to the next size. So, what I'm doing now is folding the diaper down so that it sits below her belly. That worked well the last two times. She was back to smiling and squealing with delight in the water. She's also progressing with her underwater swims. I'm actually letting go for several seconds, and she kicks herself up to the surface!
Also, this weekend I tried the "baby ice cream". I got the idea from a mom on a newsgroup of Feb 2010 moms on a thread regarding ideas for using frozen BM. Essentially, you blend up frozen BM and serve. It was fun overall. I wound up wasting a LOT of milk, though, so I wouldn't advise anyone do this unless you have a big frozen surplus that you want to use. I essentially ruined an entire 5oz bag because I should have let it thaw more. I let it thaw just enough to be able to get it out of the bag and into my Power Chopper (like a Magic Bullet). Shortly after I started to blend it, I smelled a burning smell. The motor could not handle it. So, then I tried moving it to the regular blender. It did chop it up, but when I was taking it out, it smelled horrible! I guess it still had the burned smell from the chopper.
So, I dumped that out, washed the blender, and then took out another 5oz bag to let thaw longer. After like 30 minutes, I put that in the big blender. It worked with no burning this time. So, we got her in her high chair and Tyree had the video camera (this was a big deal since it's the first time she's eaten anything with a spoon - waiting on solids until 6 months). She ate several baby spoons of it! She didn't spit anything out. A little bit did run out of her mouth, though. It seemed to me, though, that she started to get frustrated that she couldn't eat it faster, but Tyree was worried that she was getting brain freeze. So, we stopped the baby ice cream, and I nursed her. Fun experiment, but she ate maybe .25 - .5oz, so that was a lot of wasted milk.
Ariella had her 3rd photo shoot on Sunday. We did lots of family pictures, too, with it. I had been hesitant to do yet another picture session so soon, but she really changed between the 3 1/2 month pictures and now (5 months 1 week). Here's the link to the pictures:
http://gallery.joannajackson.com/v/baby_jackson_i/sears_photos_july_25__2010/
There's one where she's sitting up with her legs crossed. She looks like such a dainty little lady!
After the photo shoot, we went out to lunch at Houlihan's. This was Ariella's first time at a restaurant! We've been nervous about taking her to restaurants. Granted, she's not really a fussy baby normally, but I would hate to spoil other people's meal if she were to start screaming. But, she did great! We were hoping she'd just sleep the whole time - nope! She was awake the entire time. I did bring a bottle of breast milk for her, though, and I fed her throughout our meals. There was another table close by, and a little boy (maybe 2-3 years old) was crying quite a lot. Even with that, though, Ariella didn't cry at all. We were so proud of her.
This past week, though, she's started waking up more (although she doesn't eat when she wakes up - I just give her the pacifier). I'm wondering if it's because her bassinet is getting pretty small for her. We're going to wait to do the transition to her crib until the Fall (when it's a little cooler - our air conditioner is "fixed", but it's under powered). If she wakes up more than once at night, I move her from her bassinet into her boppy pillow in bed with us. She usually does fine after that.
Ariella's been progressing with a LOT of things! She's sitting up unassisted for longer periods of time (maybe 4 seconds rather than 2 - lol). She's really working on mastering that. She likes to be upright. She's started laughing a lot. She had laughed a couple of times previously, but yesterday she laughed so much! She was on my lap in a chair in the study, and she apparently found our dog Merlin to be extremely hilarious! Tyree had his iPhone right on the desk, so we were able to get lots of video of her laughing.
She's continued to enjoy her swimming. A couple of times she didn't really enjoy it, but I figured out why. Her little tummy is too big for the swim diaper to come over it! The weight for the swim diaper is 16 - like 28lbs. She's under 17 lbs. So, there's no way we can go to the next size. So, what I'm doing now is folding the diaper down so that it sits below her belly. That worked well the last two times. She was back to smiling and squealing with delight in the water. She's also progressing with her underwater swims. I'm actually letting go for several seconds, and she kicks herself up to the surface!
Also, this weekend I tried the "baby ice cream". I got the idea from a mom on a newsgroup of Feb 2010 moms on a thread regarding ideas for using frozen BM. Essentially, you blend up frozen BM and serve. It was fun overall. I wound up wasting a LOT of milk, though, so I wouldn't advise anyone do this unless you have a big frozen surplus that you want to use. I essentially ruined an entire 5oz bag because I should have let it thaw more. I let it thaw just enough to be able to get it out of the bag and into my Power Chopper (like a Magic Bullet). Shortly after I started to blend it, I smelled a burning smell. The motor could not handle it. So, then I tried moving it to the regular blender. It did chop it up, but when I was taking it out, it smelled horrible! I guess it still had the burned smell from the chopper.
So, I dumped that out, washed the blender, and then took out another 5oz bag to let thaw longer. After like 30 minutes, I put that in the big blender. It worked with no burning this time. So, we got her in her high chair and Tyree had the video camera (this was a big deal since it's the first time she's eaten anything with a spoon - waiting on solids until 6 months). She ate several baby spoons of it! She didn't spit anything out. A little bit did run out of her mouth, though. It seemed to me, though, that she started to get frustrated that she couldn't eat it faster, but Tyree was worried that she was getting brain freeze. So, we stopped the baby ice cream, and I nursed her. Fun experiment, but she ate maybe .25 - .5oz, so that was a lot of wasted milk.
Ariella had her 3rd photo shoot on Sunday. We did lots of family pictures, too, with it. I had been hesitant to do yet another picture session so soon, but she really changed between the 3 1/2 month pictures and now (5 months 1 week). Here's the link to the pictures:
http://gallery.joannajackson.com/v/baby_jackson_i/sears_photos_july_25__2010/
There's one where she's sitting up with her legs crossed. She looks like such a dainty little lady!
After the photo shoot, we went out to lunch at Houlihan's. This was Ariella's first time at a restaurant! We've been nervous about taking her to restaurants. Granted, she's not really a fussy baby normally, but I would hate to spoil other people's meal if she were to start screaming. But, she did great! We were hoping she'd just sleep the whole time - nope! She was awake the entire time. I did bring a bottle of breast milk for her, though, and I fed her throughout our meals. There was another table close by, and a little boy (maybe 2-3 years old) was crying quite a lot. Even with that, though, Ariella didn't cry at all. We were so proud of her.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Sleeping Through the Night! Yay!
Ariella has been sleeping through the night for the past 5 nights! It's been super nice with the 4th of July holiday. I've been able to nurse rather than pumping (although I've been pumping once early each morning when she stirs (around 4:30am)). But, I stick the pacifier back in her mouth to keep her sleeping until around 5:15-5:30am. She has been having her last feeding between 8 - 9pm. Sometimes she is even sleeping before that, but I make sure to get her up to feed her one last time before she's asleep for the night.
I don't think it's anything that I did specifically. I think she just became ready on her own. I am doing one thing differently, though. I'm making sure she eats more during the day. Maybe the crazy night after she had slept through the night twice in a row was because she was hungry after two days of not eating enough! So, while I've been home, I make sure to nurse her on both sides at all feedings. Even if she falls asleep on the boob, I make sure to take her off, burp her (which wakes her up), and then I offer the other side (which she almost always takes). Then, a lot of times she'll fall asleep on that side as well after actively eating for a while.
Now that I'm back at work, I've increased the amounts that I leave her for during the day. I had been leaving 3 bottles (5oz, 4.5oz, 4.5oz). I had upped that to 3 bottles (5oz each). Now, I'm leaving between 5.5-6oz per bottle. So, between those 3 bottles, 2 nursing sessions in the morning (5:30am and 7:30am), and 2-3 nursing sessions after work, I'm hoping that will be enough. It was a lot easier when I was home all day. I made sure to feed her every 2-3 hours if she was interested, and I tried to feed her when she first started acting hungry (not waiting until she would cry). I'm hoping she'll have enough to eat while I'm away at work, though. I don't really want to have to try to leave an extra bottle (and my bottles only hold 6oz when they're filled almost to the brim, so I can't go any more than that without buying bigger bottles). Plus, it would be a lot of pressure on me to be able to pump an entire extra bottle for the 4 workdays away from home. At least she'll be starting solid foods at 6 months. That can hopefully add a few calories for her during the day.
But, I'm very excited! What a milestone! Keep your fingers crossed for me that she can keep it up!
I don't think it's anything that I did specifically. I think she just became ready on her own. I am doing one thing differently, though. I'm making sure she eats more during the day. Maybe the crazy night after she had slept through the night twice in a row was because she was hungry after two days of not eating enough! So, while I've been home, I make sure to nurse her on both sides at all feedings. Even if she falls asleep on the boob, I make sure to take her off, burp her (which wakes her up), and then I offer the other side (which she almost always takes). Then, a lot of times she'll fall asleep on that side as well after actively eating for a while.
Now that I'm back at work, I've increased the amounts that I leave her for during the day. I had been leaving 3 bottles (5oz, 4.5oz, 4.5oz). I had upped that to 3 bottles (5oz each). Now, I'm leaving between 5.5-6oz per bottle. So, between those 3 bottles, 2 nursing sessions in the morning (5:30am and 7:30am), and 2-3 nursing sessions after work, I'm hoping that will be enough. It was a lot easier when I was home all day. I made sure to feed her every 2-3 hours if she was interested, and I tried to feed her when she first started acting hungry (not waiting until she would cry). I'm hoping she'll have enough to eat while I'm away at work, though. I don't really want to have to try to leave an extra bottle (and my bottles only hold 6oz when they're filled almost to the brim, so I can't go any more than that without buying bigger bottles). Plus, it would be a lot of pressure on me to be able to pump an entire extra bottle for the 4 workdays away from home. At least she'll be starting solid foods at 6 months. That can hopefully add a few calories for her during the day.
But, I'm very excited! What a milestone! Keep your fingers crossed for me that she can keep it up!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Better Sleep Night Last Night
Ariella did better than a normal night last night regarding sleep, although the early evening was strange from the time we got home from work (6:30pm - we were a bit late, normally we're home by 6pm). So, I fed her straight away. She ate from both sides for a decent amount of time - but periodically she would unlatch and scream! So, it was a non-peaceful nursing session. Maybe she was too hungry? Or upset that we were late?
She slept for about 15 minutes after nodding off while nursing. Then she woke up and started screaming again. (And, by that I mean not constant screaming for minutes or anything, but several screams until we could distract her, but then back to screaming when what we tried didn't work anymore.) So, I did different things with her - playing, carrying, rocking, even infant tylenol. I couldn't tell if she was sad, mad, or in pain. Finally I fed her again around 8pm. She ate quite well from both sides. Then, she started screaming again, so we took her for a car ride while we went to pick up dinner. She was asleep by the time we got home. We kept her in her carrier, and put her right outside our bedroom as we started to eat. She woke up maybe 10 minutes later, so we put her in her boppy pillow on our bed next to us. That didn't work - more screaming. So, I picked her up and took her on a walk around the house. Then, I got the idea to put her in her swing! She fell asleep within 10 minutes - no fussing at all. Tyree got her an hour or so later (when we were going to sleep) and put her in her bassinet. She slept until 3:30am! Yay! Then, I fed her (one side) and pumped the other. Then, she slept until 6:00am (fed her again). And then she was up at 7:30am, when I fed her for her last feed before I left for work.
So, it was strange about the screaming, but the night-time was quite peaceful. And, she skipped her 1:30am wake-up time, so yay me! I might have soothed her back to sleep a couple of times, but nothing major. We'll have to see when it's a good time to move her to her crib - definitely not when we have to go to work the next day. Lol! But, I consider last night definitely one of my better sleep days.
She slept for about 15 minutes after nodding off while nursing. Then she woke up and started screaming again. (And, by that I mean not constant screaming for minutes or anything, but several screams until we could distract her, but then back to screaming when what we tried didn't work anymore.) So, I did different things with her - playing, carrying, rocking, even infant tylenol. I couldn't tell if she was sad, mad, or in pain. Finally I fed her again around 8pm. She ate quite well from both sides. Then, she started screaming again, so we took her for a car ride while we went to pick up dinner. She was asleep by the time we got home. We kept her in her carrier, and put her right outside our bedroom as we started to eat. She woke up maybe 10 minutes later, so we put her in her boppy pillow on our bed next to us. That didn't work - more screaming. So, I picked her up and took her on a walk around the house. Then, I got the idea to put her in her swing! She fell asleep within 10 minutes - no fussing at all. Tyree got her an hour or so later (when we were going to sleep) and put her in her bassinet. She slept until 3:30am! Yay! Then, I fed her (one side) and pumped the other. Then, she slept until 6:00am (fed her again). And then she was up at 7:30am, when I fed her for her last feed before I left for work.
So, it was strange about the screaming, but the night-time was quite peaceful. And, she skipped her 1:30am wake-up time, so yay me! I might have soothed her back to sleep a couple of times, but nothing major. We'll have to see when it's a good time to move her to her crib - definitely not when we have to go to work the next day. Lol! But, I consider last night definitely one of my better sleep days.
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