Yay!!!!

Baby A has finally rolled over (belly to back). We are so happy she did it when we both were home. Funny enough, Chad missed it the first time because he got sucked in to drama on America's Next Top Model...which is his least favorite show of all time. No worries though, I flipped her over and she did it again for him. :-)

Mom of the year

I will not be winning this award anytime soon (along with a no-show in the category of wife of the year).

Next week I am leaving my not-quite six month old to go to a conference for work. Originally the plan was for Chad and Alaina to come with me because it's near his family so it would be a chance for them to hang out with him and the baby. However, we were going to drive and it was going to cost a lot more in hotel stay, gas, dog sitting expense, and Chad's lost wages. Plus a 16+ hour trip (one way!) with a baby sounded pretty terrifying and we wouldn't have even gotten to spend that much time with family.

So we made the difficult decision for me to go alone.

I don't want to go. Especially if she's still sick.

Chad is starting to get nervous, too.

I know she won't remember. And it will be good for her to hang out with her daddy. But I'll remember. And so will Chad.

How can I leave this sweet face?

The week(s) of the sick

Alaina still has this cold. Poor baby. Honestly though, she mostly seems unphased by it. Her nose is really stuffy, especially in the mornings. I use the bulb aspirator and at night she gets saline spray. She also has coughing fits, mostly in the mornings and when she gets up from a nap. She's had a couple more 'cough til she throws up' incidents, one of which was tremendously bad. Almost comical--though not in the moment. Chad took her back to the doctor on Thursday. Since it had been three weeks, they prescribed amoxicillin. Trying to figure out ways to give it to her was a challenge but thankfully we got some great suggestions from friends on FB and we think we've found a system that works. Our current system involves convincing her to open her mouth (easier said than done), squirting a small amount under her tongue to make it harder to spit out, and blowing on her face to cause her to swallow. Only 8 more days of this...I joke that she is keeping the sickness on purpose to keep stalling her transition from the rock n play in our room to her crib in the nursery.

Because she's had a cold, she's also been less interested in eating and she even lost a few ounces. The doctor was not at all concerned (one look at her rolls and you can see why...) but of course this still worries me and brings back bad memories of all the anxiety and obsessiveness I had with her weight the first two months of her life. Her appetite seems to be coming back though. So that's good.

Unfortunately one sickness was clearly not enough for this house. Last Sunday/Monday I was really sick with a 24 hour stomach bug. I could barely nurse or hold Alaina. Chad was really great about completely taking over. I felt awful about it but I canceled everything at work and sent Alaina to daycare. I don't know how stay at home parents handle illness! Fortunately by Tuesday morning, I was back to normal (thanks to Ricki who brought medicine!). And even better, neither Chad nor Alaina got it. She is very happy about this, too. :)

However, Chad has been dealing with his own major cold. His allergies have been awful and he also probably has Alaina's cold. He got a cortisone shot yesterday so we are hoping that helps some. He's always cheered up by her funny noises, though.

Daycare has been going fantastically well. The teachers say she has adjusted. She is (for the most part) napping really well and enjoying watching the other kiddos. There are a few toys there that the teachers say make her laugh so hard she cackles. My life is so much easier knowing that she isn't miserable during the day. You can see below that she's hanging out in a seat, watching her little friend, Nathan.

I have some other things I'd like to mention--mostly related to (surely normal) feelings of incompetence at home and at work--but I'll save those for another day. Instead, I'll end with how cute she is. Still no rolling over (her cousin, Sam, who was born just a few hours earlier can now roll front to back and back to front!) but she's doing a great job sitting up unassisted for short periods of time (before toppling over in a fit of giggles).

Sick day

So I mentioned in the last post that Alaina had a bit of a cold. Thursday night her coughing was much worse but she mostly slept through it (Chad and I not so much...). I got up a couple of times because I worried she was getting strangled on spit up. But she seemed fine.

Friday morning I nursed her for about 15 minutes and suddenly she just spit up all over us. Four times within a few seconds. I was soaked and so was she (so was the boppy pillow and the glider). But once we got her changed she seemed just fine. She was laughing and playing. I fed her for another minute or two and she seemed okay. But a few minutes later when I laid her down, she did the same thing again. She had a couple of times where her face turned red and she almost seemed to have dry heaves. But otherwise, just a happy little girl. Of course her doctor's office wasn't open yet. I called the daycare and they recommended keeping her home. Apparently there was a stomach bug going around though none of the infants had gotten it. Once the pediatrician was in, I went ahead and made an appointment. In the interim, she just slept while I worried unnecessarily. And she got lots of cuddles and holding. Sorry, daycare folks.

Of course by the time we made it to the doctor's office she was totally fine. The doctor was glad to see her though since she said that long of a cold can sometimes lead to ear infections. However, her ears were clear. The pediatrician said Alaina's tummy was probably just upset from all the increased drainage from her cold. She said to give her saline nasal spray and pedialyte. Of course Alaina hates both. Since she was feeling better, I brought her with me to work for an afternoon meeting. She was so good. :)

We haven't had any more vomiting episodes and she mostly seems better. However she has refused several bottles. But she's having enough wet diapers and she seems to have good energy. One of her eyes has been pretty yucky though.

Daycare update

This afternoon I had several very pleasant exchanges with the owner of the daycare. She even commented that today was a better day and she was very sweet with Alaina. Given all the complaining I did earlier, I felt like it was important to note the positive.

5 month video update

I totally forgot that I haven't been posting videos lately. Here are a few from the last three weeks.

Alaina LOVES the puppies. Especially Madeline. We are trying to teach her early to be gentle because she really just wants to grab their fur and pull (and given she does this to my hair, I know firsthand that it does not feel good at all!). Video taken August 24, 2012.

Here she is doing a rocking/lean. The video is not terribly exciting.

She loves her Exersaucer.

A little tummy time, plus reaching for fun toys (video taken September 9, 2012).

Alaina is totally into her feet. Even when she's mad, they can keep her entertained for a second (video shot September 11, 2012).

Happy 5 months

She's just so stinking cute.

Last night she weighed 15 pounds and 15 ounces. This past weekend I pulled out her 6-9 month clothes.

Things are going pretty well. This is her third week of daycare. It's been a tough adjustment for her but we are hoping we are on the upswing. Frankly, in my opinion one of the owners has made it more difficult than it should be. The first few days, Alaina had trouble staying asleep once placed in the crib so it was constant up/down with little actual sleep. The teachers have all said this is normal and part of the adjustment process. The owner, on the other hand, greets me with "it was another rough day." What am I supposed to do with that?!? I also feel like she has been trying to tell me she doesn't approve of our parenting choices. She has asked on a number of occasions if we hold Alaina all the time and if we let her cry. First, we don't hold her "all the time" but we do hold our baby. And we don't plan to change that. Also, we do let her cry--sometimes it's unavoidable. But we don't let her cry excessively. And that also won't change. My personal choice is, at least at this time (and likely forever) that self-soothing skills aren't best learned by excessive crying. Developmental and attachment research suggest that babies grow up to be independent and well-adjusted when given lots of support. Anyhow, even if we chose the "cry it out" method, advocates of that method suggest it shouldn't be used until after 6 months old. Finally (and perhaps most importantly), none of this is the owner's business. We are paying a substantial amount of money each week for them to find the best way to care for Alaina. They should respect our wishes and never question our choices, as long as we are providing her with proper care. Anyhow, that has been frustrating. But the last four out of five days, Alaina slept great and was really happy (which leads further credence to my opinion that she just needed time to adjust, not that we are making poor parenting choices). Interestingly, on those days, that owner had little to say (no greetings of "it was another fantastic day!"). But the teachers have been enthusiastic about how well she's doing. And we love her teachers. Everything about the daycare, beyond the one co-owner, is really fantastic. And she seems to be doing great. It's fun that she seems to be excited when I come pick her up in the afternoon. She just smiles and kicks her little feet. Adorable.

In terms of development, she's still "talking" up a storm and loves blowing bubbles and laughing. No rolling over yet. She's just a lump of love. :)

Alaina did pick up a little cold her first week of daycare. It seems like it lasted forever. She's still a little stuffy, poor thing. But mostly she's happy all the time.

We are taking steps to getting her moved out of our bedroom and into her crib. Teeny tiny baby steps. We have set up the video camera that will be going in her room and I am adjusting to the fact that it does a pretty good job keeping me posted on her movements and things. We are waiting for the filter to come in for her humidifier. The next step is to get her to actually stay asleep in the crib...it's a process. Maybe before her first birthday she will regularly sleep in the crib. :)