Cyber Monday means a new blog post...

...It also meant scoring a few footed pjs for Alaina for $8. Not too shabby. We've almost reached the end of Alaina's hand me down and gifted clothes and are finally having (/getting?) to buy her wardrobe.

Last week started off pretty well. I think we were all excited about a short week.

It's important to note that Alaina still is not sleeping in her crib. She just hangs out in there a bit during the day sometimes. Otherwise, we wouldn't keep the toys in there. 

On Monday afternoon, I peeked in on the daycare cameras and saw Alaina just hanging out (I started humming "All by myself"). At this point in the day, there were only 3 other kiddos and they were all sleeping. Shortly after this, they were up and Alaina took a nap. The penguin behind her is her favorite thing at daycare. Apparently it makes her laugh hysterically.

 

Lately she has been very into wanting to hold her own bottle at daycare. I demonstrated this to Chad. She still prefers when we give her the bottle, which is good by me. I like the cuddle time.

Unfortunately, we got a call on Wednesday that Alaina looked like she might have pink eye and I needed to come get her and take her to the doctor. Her eye has been yucky on and off for the duration of this cold and it had looked particularly bad (somewhat swollen, matted shut upon waking). However, the whites never had any redness or pink to them. But her teacher noticed some redness when she woke up from her nap so off to the doctor we went. We weren't able to get in with her pediatrician so we just went to our clinic's walk-in office. Fortunately she does not have pink eye. However, she did have a double ear infection! I felt bad but she hadn't shown any obvious signs of ear infection and she has been pretty happy. But maybe that was why she had been a little less interested in food lately and it could explain the fever spike we had seen the previous week (though that just lasted a few hours). Anyhow, we immediately started her on an antibiotic that we are also hoping knocks out this remaining cold. We go back next Wednesday to make sure her ears are clear. Alaina is taking cefdinir which has a really interesting side effect of making her dirty diapers brick red. Fortunately I had been warned about this but it was still pretty alarming to see! So there is your PSA in case you or a loved one is ever placed on this antibiotic.

You can see in this photo how swollen her eyes look. Poor thing.

She was pretty tuckered out after the visit to the doctor. She was so good there! She stayed occupied in the waiting room for over half an hour and she only got fussy when they looked in her ears and swabbed her nose. We had to wait for her prescription so we went to visit Chad at work. By the time we got home, she had fallen asleep in her car seat which almost never happens. Madeline wanted to check her out when we got home.

Thanksgiving was pretty low-key. My dad was going to visit but he ended up getting whatever bug is going around in Kentucky (I hate this time of year with all the viruses going around!!) so he ended up not coming. I made dinner and our friend Ricki came over. It was fun. I always miss family at the holidays though. Especially my grandparents, since they were always a huge part of my Thanksgiving growing up and as an adult.

Alaina has renewed interest in food again. She is just not a fan of carrots, it seems. She had sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner. Yesterday we introduced green beans and she was not impressed! I mixed them with oatmeal later and she seemed less offended by them. Here is a video of her first taste.

In general she just seems to be feeling better. She was always happy and smiling but she seems to have a bit more energy. I'm so hopeful this will knock out the cough/congestion as well. But we are glad she is feeling good. Last night she stole the burp cloth off my shoulder and started waving it like a flag. This made Chad and I laugh pretty hard, which she thought was hilarious. This set off a laughing fit of all three of us, feeding off each other, lasting for at least 5-10 minutes. At one point she got mad that the laughter stopped and did what can only be described as a "Hulk" move by scrunching up her face and pushing her fists together. Which of course set us off again. It was, without question, one of the best moments we've had as a family. In the end, I was crying with laughter and Chad's side was killing him. I wish someone had been filming it.

You'll have to settle instead for a video of her being ridiculously silly before bedtime.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Lots of stuff to post soon but just wanted to send out love to our family and friends. Everyone knows what Chad and I are most thankful for this year.

I wish I was clever

I frequently run out of titles for blog posts.

Things are just chugging along. We are starting to get excited about the holidays. Though, frankly, I'm getting a little nervous as well since I've had a course release this semester and have had a very flexible schedule. Next semester I am teaching a graduate personality assessment course. Fortunately I have taught it once before but I'm still a little worried about when I will find the time to get everything accomplished! I'm also itching to get back to cooking and baking but haven't yet figured that one out. I am still blown away by moms who feel back to normal a few weeks/months (/years?) after the baby is born. 

 

Our house continues to pick up every little bug that daycare has to offer. This weekend I had a really sore throat, headache, congestion, and cough. I am really hopeful that Alaina and Chad are spared. So far so good...

 

The most exciting part of our last few weeks was that Chad picked up the Wii U he preordered. This is his combination birthday/Christmas present. Fortunately he also had credit at the game store so he got it for about one-third of the price! Score. He also bought the new Mario game. Alaina doesn't really watch any television but Mario caught her attention. This was very exciting for Chad.

While Alaina hasn't had any teeth pop through yet, we do think she is teething. She is a drool monster and loves to gnaw on anything. She did spike a fever one day last week (it never got above 100.8, and I was checking her every 30-45 seconds...) and she wasn't eating very well. Last night she was pretty irritable. Tylenol has been our friend. We do need to pick up some Ibuprofen, especially if it is teething. I'm also thinking about making some teething biscuits (or picking some up at the store). The zyrtec really hasn't seemed to help her cough that much. :(

Alaina is still learning to drink from her cups. She is obsessed with my water cups. Though she is more interested in gnawing on the lid.

She has now tried carrots and applesauce. She will eat both but neither are very exciting. Green beans are probably next. I hear that most babies HATE green beans so that should be interesting.

I also introduced her to the mesh feeder. Basically it allows her to eat big chunks of food that she might otherwise choke on. She just sucks it through the mesh. I gave her some frozen pears in the feeder yesterday. It took her a moment to figure it out but then she loved them!

 So much for self-feeding...

One of my favorite things these days, surprisingly, is when she wakes up in the middle of the night to eat (I prefer when she wakes up at 10:30, right before I'm going to bed actually). I know I could wake Chad up some nights but I hate doing that and the bonus is, now she does this adorable thing where she falls asleep the second she is finished eating. Given that she never just falls asleep these days, it is bliss. She just goes limp and makes cute faces and I just stare at her before putting her back to bed.

Lucky number seven...

...months that is. Little girl is growing so fast! She is so very interactive and fun. She's currently trying to learn to clap and wave (doesn't have either down yet) and is in 6-9 and 9 month clothes. We introduced her to a cup with a straw, which she loves (but doesn't totally get). In terms of food, Alaina is totally loving pears. Yesterday we gave her avocado for the first time. She really did not know what to think. She loves food but was conflicted by this odd texture and taste (I don't like them either so I can't really blame her...). Once I added some pears to them she ate it up. Tonight I mixed the avocado with oatmeal which she also liked. I'm thinking her next food will be carrots. I expect that she will love carrots.

Unfortunately Alaina is still coughing pretty bad. We did a week long trial of claritin but it never got better. Now we are trying zyrtec. If that doesn't work, we may come to terms with this as a virus that is just taking forever to get rid of. Overall, she acts normal except for the cough. Her voice is totally back now.

Reaching the seven month mark also means we hit seven months of nursing. I've had a few people ask how that is going so, briefly, we have started the weaning process. This has been a really difficult decision. Some days it makes me really sad but (most of the time) I know that it is best for our family. Things are going really well though. I may be able to eat normally for thanksgiving and I have enough frozen that we will probably make it to 8 months with her getting some milk each day. Knowing that she is thriving and also starting to explore new food makes this (a little) easier. She's still totally a momma's girl. In general, if I am holding her or hanging out with her, she is happy. Daycare continues to go really well. There is a brand new, 8-week old baby who just started today. We are hoping his cuteness wears off soon so Alaina will still get plenty of cuddles. :) her cuteness has clearly not worn off.

Happy birthday, Chad!

6 month (+3 weeks) appointment

Alaina had her "6-month" appointment on Friday. It ended up being almost a month late. She had a couple of immunizations and her well child check. She weighed 16 pounds 11 ounces and was 26 inches long, both of which are hovering around the 50th percentile. We talked about her cough and the pediatrician said we could do a nasal swab to determine if it was a viral infection but really all that would do is put a name to it. We discussed the possibility that it's allergies and decided to do a trial of Claritin. We started the allergy medicine on Sunday and so far we have seen no difference in the amount of coughing. She handled the shots well. She was a little grumpy Friday night but Tylenol and cuddles seemed to help. Unfortunately, she only got the Rotavirus oral vaccine, Hep B, and the flu shot so we have to go back in a month for additional immunizations. :(

She woke up too early on Sunday morning though and didn't want to take a long nap so we played in the bed for a little while before having to get up.

A few people have asked so I'll just update that she is doing great at daycare. She loves her teachers and seems to have fun. She really enjoys the other kids. There is an 8-week-old starting on Monday so Chad and I just hope that Alaina will still get tons of love and hugs even though the teachers will be fighting over holding the itty bitty baby.

She's just too funny.

Over the weekend, we introduced Alaina to a "sippy" cup with water. Oh my goodness, she loves it! She doesn't really get the concept but she loves that cup. I've also ordered one with a straw for her to try. In terms of food, today we started pears. We took a little break from solid food early last week just because of all of the Halloween craziness. So far, she has still only had oatmeal, sweet potatoes, and now pears.

The latest development is the beginning of a fear response. She had previously showed slight clinginess when entering a new place or seeing new people but really no strong reaction (and she is easily held by anyone). However, an interesting thing happened this weekend. A couple of months ago, I got her this Fisher Price Bee that's antennae light up and has little phrases ("Be a bee!"). She seemed to really like it. But then when she and Chad got sick, I put several of her toys away to disinfect. Well, I hadn't gotten around to pulling that one back out so I did that this weekend. She is now terrified of it! When it lit up, her little face just fell and she didn't know what to think. Like any good psychologist, I am gradually exposing her to this bee so that she doesn't grow up with impairment related to this experience! She's okay touching it if it is turned off or if I am holding her. Mostly she just looks at it suspiciously. Hilarious. She is having similar reactions to the vacuum cleaner.

Happy Halloween

Tuesday evening we went downtown for a Halloween celebration (along with about 8,000 other people!). They had inflatables, food stands, games, and trick or treating at local businesses. We just strolled around, looking at all the other people in costumes. By the time we got home, Miss A was conked out. Too much excitement.

Alaina's daycare also had the kiddos dress up for pictures and they made a craft. The craft (her first!) is a spooky ghost made from her footprint! :)

  

For Halloween night,  Alaina, Ricki, and I handed out candy to the neighborhood kids. It was fun! She liked watching all the people come by.

 

Here are a few additional shots of Alaina in Halloween gear before going to school.