It's hard to believe that E is 8 months old already.  I feel like we just brought her home from the hospital yesterday.  I can't believe that she's learning to talk, learning to crawl, and attempting to pull herself up to stand.  Where has the time gone?

She still has no teeth, but that hasn't stopped her from eating a lot of interesting foods.  Most recently, she has discovered a love for tofu.  I just chop a bit off a large block and she has a grand time!  I've also introduced her to teething biscuits.  She really likes them, but they're very messy.  I have to give them to her when she's naked, and then take her straight to a bath.

She still travels backwards when crawling.  I don't know how much longer that will last.  The other day, she figured out how to get herself back to sitting from the crawling position, and that has helped her with forward movement, so she's been sticking with that for the moment.

We've been using some sign language with her, hoping that she will be able to communicate with us soon, before she can really talk.  We've been using the signs for "more," "milk" "mommy," and "daddy" fairly consistently, as well as "sleep," "book," and "baby" and a few others that I realize I know as I talk to her, a little less consistently.  Starting this Friday, there will be a four-week series of singing and signing at the Beaverton Library for free, so we put that on the calendar.  It should be a fun time!

We purchased our tickets to head east at the end of the month.  This will be E's first time on an airplane.  We got nonstop flights, and surprisingly, they were the least expensive!  Still, it's 6 hours in an airplane.  Whatever will we do?  Perhaps if we keep her up all night...

Teething Pains

Teething Pain for E = nipple pain for mom.  My daughter is using me as a teether.  I didn't realize until last night, how sore I am.  I've started using the lanolin that I got when I started breastfeeding on my nipples again.  Last night, as she slowly gnawed on my nipple, I said "Oh, stop that!  That hurts Mommy!"  She stopped, looked at me, smiled, then went right back to doing it again.  I've been sticking my finger in her mouth to break the bite when she does it, but I think I'm going to have to get a little more serious now, since that's not working.  I certainly don't want her thinking she can do that to me once her teeth have cut through.
And when will those teeth come?  I feel like the kid's been teething for months!  I will not be surprised if five teeth sprout all at once.  In fact, last night when she was chewing on my finger, she was doing a ton of chewing with her top gums, not just her bottoms.  Oh boy!

Another one of her favorite chew toys is my cell phone.  I have learned the hard way that it doesn't make a good chew toy.  I now cannot talk on my cell phone.  There must be slobber, spit-up and other gunk in the speaker, so that when I call someone, it sounds like I'm in a cave on the other side of the world.  I now can only use my phone with the hands-free device.  Luckily, it should still be under warranty, so I'll be taking it to the cell-phone store today.

Also with the chewing comes the total disdain for pureed foods.  E will have none of that.  I now have to feed her small chopped morsels of food.  Her favorites so far are pears, peaches, peas, olives and avocado.  She had some cod the other day and seemed to enjoy that as well.  For snacks, I give her Pirate's Booty (a puffed rice & corn snack made with spinach & kale), freeze dried fruits and snap-pea crisps.  These new foods make diaper changing fun!

On the crawling front, she is still moving backwards, but gets her belly off the floor much better and more often.  She is beginning to figure out how to move her knees under her body, and once she has that, all she'll have to do is figure out how to coordinate it all.  That should be no problem.  She has no problem moving herself around the living room, even if she's going in circles.

I feel so fortunate to have such an easy going, happy child.  It sure has made this parenting thing a breeze.

Teething, Crawling, Eating & Playing

TEETHING

This week has been crazy for poor little E.  She's been super moody and fussy, as we await the emergence of those two bottom teeth.  She chews on everything, my fingers being her favorite, and wakes up in the middle of the night screaming.  It's so sad to watch her go through this.  We've tried everything - frozen teethers, teething drops, teething tablets, and now we're on to vanilla extract.  Our next door neighbors mentioned that, and it seemed to do the trick last night.  And still we wait...

CRAWLING

E began this week (3 days ago) moving her body on the floor like a windshield wiper while on her belly.  Yesterday was Paul's birthday, and for his birthday, E scooched herself backwards on her belly about 8 inches.  So just in the past few days she's been doing super on her belly, pushing herself up and getting her belly off the floor.  Who knows, by the end of the week, we may have a crawling baby!  Of course, she still cries when you put her down there.  I'm never sure if it's because she's frustrated that she can't move or if her teeth are bothering her.  If only she would talk...

EATING

E is an eating champ (or was, before the teething issues began).  Her favorites these days are pears, avocadoes (specifically, guacamole), apples and garlic mashed potatoes.  Today I bought some Veggie Booty and gave her some (of course, I broke them up even smaller than they come because she hasn't had anything but purees up until now).  She picked them up with a pincer grasp (thumb & first finger -- special ed teacher in me showing), and fed them to herself.  She LOVED them!  That's good, because they are a healthy snack food, made with corn, rice, spinach and kale.  Yep, my daughter eats kale.  I will never let her know what is in Veggie Booty, lest she decide she hates it and never eats it again.

PLAYING

Two great things have happened this summer.  #1 Our pool opened; and #2 we bought a bike trailer.  Now we can have summertime fun with the Belchigator.  We have taken her on one trip in the bike trailer - to the Beaverton Farmer's Market.  We had to take a few breaks, but I'm sure she'll get used to the contraption soon.  We've been swimming in the pool twice since it opened last weekend.  E loves the pool!  We put her in her little innertube floaty, and she kicks herself around!  It's hysterical to watch.  Today when we were in the pool, she began splashing with her hands.  I think that soon we'll be able to synchronize the two, and may have an olympic swimmer on our hands!

Eating, Crawling, Sitting

It's hard to believe that E has been in our lives for half a year.  In some ways, it feels like we brought her home just yesterday, and in other ways, it's hard to imagine what life was before she arrived.  It's so much fun to watch her personality come out.  She is such a happy baby, and we feel blessed for that.

She has been sitting up extremely well since she was four months old.  In the past two weeks, I've been forgetting to put the pillow behind her more and more since she topples less and less.  She is gaining great core strength.  I've watched her rock backwards, just inches from the floor and pull herself back up to sitting fairly easily.  She's also figuring out how to catch herself with her hands as she begins to lean too far to one side.

She still hates to be on her belly for long periods of time.  She will roll over sometimes, but typically resorts to screaming and putting her head down, face first, into the floor, waiting for us to rescue her.  She can be a bit of a drama queen at times.  I think she just prefers to be upright.

We began solids at the beginning of the month.  So far, E has tried pumpkin, butternut squash, acorn squash, pears, applesauce, potatoes, carrots and avocados.  She loves pears and butternut squash and doesn't care much for potatoes or carrots.  Her diapers are quite a sight, too!

Still no teeth yet, but her gums are raised and she chews on everything she can get her hands on.  It should be a matter of weeks, or maybe even days.  We'll see!

Six Month Well Baby

Today was E's 6 month well baby exam.  She's doing well - in the 75th percentile for height and weight.  The doctor also approved her for riding in a pull-behind bike trailer, so when we are ready to make the big purchase, she's good to go!

We had a little vaccination snafu, which made Dr. Kawahara very upset.  Probably because she's the one ultimately responsible if I were to be severely pissed off.  It seems that at the last well baby exam, E got the polio vaccination instead of dTaP.  The alternative vaccination schedule that we had decided on had never made it into her chart, so what I thought was dTaP, was really polio.  Luckily for Dr. Kawahara, my main concern is the amount of vaccines at one time, not necessarily the particular vaccine.  Of course, if this had been HepB, Chickenpox or MMR, I may have reacted a bit differently.  She was originally scheduled to get polio at 9 months, so we just changed the third dTaP to that appointment and everything is fine.  I had also brought a copy of the vaccination schedule with me today, so we got it scanned into her online chart so we won't have this problem again.  So today we had dTaP and HIB.  E didn't react at all to the dTaP shot, but the HIB made her scream worse than any other time before.  I nurse her while she gets her shots so she has something happy to do when the pain comes.  Last month when she got her first HIB, she was a little upset, but she was able to go right back to nursing.  This time, she didn't seem to care that there was a boob in her mouth.  Poor baby.  Once the screaming finished and she went back to nursing, all was right with the world again.  We set up our appointments for 7 month vaccines and 9 month well baby, then went to the grocery shopping before coming home for a nap.  She's never had much grogginess with vaccines, so I'm sure she'll nap her usual 45 minutes today.

Until next time...

Mother's Day

Yesterday was my first official Mother's Day.  It very well may beat out Halloween as my favorite holiday.  I had total strangers stopping me in the street to wish me a happy Mother's Day.  You don't even get that on your birthday, unless you're wearing a sign.  That was pretty cool.

The day started out the same as usual - Paul & I got up, he took a long shower, I followed, thinking I would run out of hot water.  Then I got the Belchigator ready for church.  Paul was lounging on the couch.  I scanned the living room, looking for two socks that matched and found some next to the TV.  I got them on the kiddo, then asked Paul if he was ready to go.  He said we didn't have to leave just yet, so I got him to scoot over on the couch so I could snuggle with him and E.  Mind you, all this happened in the span of about 10 minutes.  We sat on the couch for another minute or two, and then I saw them - two giant gift bags on the floor, inches from where I had been standing.  How the heck did I miss that?  I thought it was magic, because typically, I'm a present hound.  I can sniff one out pretty quickly, and then I must open it immediately.  Paul thought that maybe I changed, and wasn't quite as crazy about presents.  My mind probably just couldn't comprehend the fact that there were presents waiting for me, so it chose not to register them.

From Paul, I received the cutest metal planter - made to look like a dog.  He also informed me that a plant comes with it, but he wants me to pick it out.  Now I have to decide what I want.

From E, I got a box of Godiva chocolates.  I'm trying not to eat the whole box in one sitting.  It's very difficult, but I want to savor every one.  So far I've had a couple raspberry filled chocolates, and a dark choclate ganache, and a white choclate wafer.  It's divine.

After church, we had brunch at Sweet Tomatoes, then we took a walk down to the Tigard Farmer's Market.  The Tigard Farmer's Market is lame compared to Beaverton, but it was a good walk, and I got more strangers to wish me a happy Mother's Day.  We came home and E took a three hour nap at 6:30, and when we went to bed at 10, she complied, even though at 9:45 she was wide awake and full of squeals.  So to the end, it was a perfect Mother's Day.

Sunny Days

It's so nice to finally have sunny days again.  We can go for walks, work in the garden, or just hang out on the back patio.  This weekend, we found a really cool disc golf course, had a picnic and were able to eat on the patio at the McMenamins down the street.  E loves riding in the stroller.  She looks around, giggles and squeals with delight.

Teething is the biggest issue these days.  We are waiting patiently for those teeth to erupt.  We can feel them below her gums, and when we do that, she gnaws on our fingers.  In fact, she gnaws on just about anything she can get her little hands on.  When we pull the chilled teething rings out of the fridge, she gets this crazed look on her face, which is followed by happy relief once the teether is in her mouth.

Her naps are changing as well.  Over the past week, she has been increasing her nap times from 30-45 minutes to 1-2 hours.  That has been nice.  Of course, we still never know when her long naps will strike, so we have yet to be able to do anything productive during naptime.

She's sitting up amazingly well, and rolled over with determination and planning on Friday.  All the other times she's rolled over have been by luck or mistake.  Mostly, she's been pissed being on her belly, tenses up her arms and wham-o, she's on her back.  This time, she was on her belly, saw a baby next to her, turned her torso toward him, then swung her legs over.  It was pretty cool to see.  To reward her, I put her back on her belly so she would do it again.  This really pissed her off and she put her face on the floor and cried.  She's a bit dramatic, this one.

She's getting very interested in our food at mealtimes, and her tongue-thrust reflex has lessened, so we'll be trying out some solids soon.  That should be a fun time!

Five Months

So it looks like I'm updating once a month, and if I end up getting cut off to change a diaper or nurse, I won't even finish my thought on an entry.  I will try not to do that, but life with an infant is living in the moment.

This month has been full of fun events!  E is sitting up well, her Grandma & Grampa Galli came to visit, and she has begun teething.  When those pesky teeth that wake her up in the middle of the night will show themselves is the mystery.  Until that time, we have frozen pacifiers, teething rings in the fridge, and homeopathic teething drops to get us through.

We're in the home stretch for solid foods, just waiting for her to grab ours to let us know she's ready.  I made a bunch of baby food with some friends of mine, and we have a bunch waiting for her in the freezer -- carrots, pears, green beans, pumpkin & squash, broccoli, chicken and potatoes.  It will be fun to take pictures and videos when she starts in on those foods.

Spring has finally come to the NW, so we're taking more walks, which E loves.  On Saturday, we spent the entire day outside, playing disc golf and walking.  Not once did she act like her teeth were bothering her.  She is an outdoor girl!

Four Months Already?!?!

First of all, I can't believe it's been nearly a month since I journaled.  Secondly, I can't believe E is 4 months old already!  It's gone by so quickly.  I'm just happy that I don't have to go back to work until July, so I get 4 more months to hang out with her and watch her grow.

Some of her newest developments have been sitting, laughing and blowing raspberries.  She seriously hates to be in a reclined position.  If I put her in her swing or bouncy seat, she will try to get herself into an upright position.  We had been putting her in the swing during dinner time, to keep her happy, but had to put a pillow behind her so she could sit upright.  We finally decided it was time to get a high chair to bring her to the table with us.  We looked on Craigslist for a used one, and the least expensive we could find was $25.  We found a new one for $25 at IKEA, and it's pretty simple and doesn't take up much space.  She LOVES it!  We put her in there for dinner, and she plays with her toys and "talks" to us as we enjoy our dinner without any crying or whining.

We've also begun to put her in the Kelty backpack for walks.  Paul likes it better than the sling.  I think it's because of where you carry the weight.  I like the sling better because I can hold her close to my body.  I'm not sure if she has a preference.  She falls asleep quite easily in both.

Three Months is a Charm

After E was born, many of our friends who already had children kept telling us that we would really fall in love with her once she hit three months.

"But I'm already in love with her!" I would say.  I had no idea what they meant.

Ever since she hit 12 weeks, she's been such a different child.  Her personality is beginning to appear.  She smiles when Paul comes home, and she looks for him when she hears his voice.  She is beginning to laugh.  She doesn't scream every time we put her in the car seat.  She is developing a sense of humor.  She will give me a pouty lip, then when I look at her with concern and say "Poor baby," she'll smile.  She typically does this while sitting in Paul's lap.

She has also begun to squeak like a dolphin.  It's too bad we don't live near Sea World, or I would bring her there to talk to them.  It's pretty darn funny.

We've been going to Itsy Bitsy Yoga, which has been great fun.  It's gotten her to be OK with tummy time for more than 30 seconds.  We also have incorporated it into our bedtime routine so she's much more relaxed when it's time to go to sleep, and she's sleeping for 4-5 hour stretches at night.  She still sleeps only 30-40 minutes per nap during the day, but I'd rather have the long stretch at night.

Last week, I had some friends over with their babies for brunch.  E fell asleep pretty soon after they came over.  When she woke up and saw everyone in our living room, she nearly exploded with laughter.  It was so cute!

The last time I weighed her with my unscientific method of me on the scale alone, then me with her, she was about 14 pounds.  Her next appointment is March 11th.  Typically, babies will double their birth weight by 6 months.  That means she has only 3 more pounds to go.  I can't believe how big she's getting!

Happy Inauguration Day!

Today Barack Obama was inaugurated as our 44th president.  E was due November 3rd, and I lost my mucus plug on election day.  E arrived two days later.  Paul and I often joke that she had to wait to see the election results, and make sure they stuck, before she came out.  Had McCain won, I would probably still be pregnant. 

The Tigard Library hosted a viewing of the inauguration, so I packed up the Belchigator and we drove there to view it on the big screen.   It's hard to describe how I feel about this day.  I'm excited for our future as a country because I think that after 8 years, we finally have a competant president.  But more than that, I'm excited for my daughter to spend the next four, and hopefully eight years growing up in a country where, as a middle schooler from Atlanta said today, "Black people on the news will no longer all be bad guys."  It makes me proud to raise my child in a country where that same kid can say that he wants to be president when he grows up, and know that it's truely possible.  It makes me proud to raise my child, knowing that when she is my age, a black, or brown, or yellow or female president will be no longer be "history in the making," but natural and expected.

E slept through the whole thing, just like she slept through her baptism.  I tried to wake her up to see her new president, but she was not interested.  There was a man at the event with a good camera who took a picture of her with Obama giving his inaugural speech on the TV screen in the background.  I can't wait to see it.  That will be one for the baby book.  I've already printed out the transcripts of his speech and of the poem (written and read by another E) to put into her baby book.

In the midst of my pregnancy, Paul & I often wondered what kind of world we were bringing a child into.  We thought that we might have made a poor choice in bringing a child into the world -- that it was unfair to bring a child into this mess.  Today, I feel blessed that I have a child born in the era of Obama, and I hope that things get better for her, and every child in the country, and the world.

Barack and Roll, Baby!!

Long Walks, Sunny Days...

The weather has been beautiful out here in the Pacific Northwest for the past few days.  It's been a little cold, but it's been sunny.  On Friday, I met up with a mom from one of my groups to go for a walk on the Fanno Creek Trail.  I figured we'd walk for about 30 minutes or so, because that's how long most people walk.  Since we were meeting at the library, I decided to walk there.  It turns out that this particular mom just happens to teach some exercise classes at the gym down the street, and we walked almost the entire length of the Fanno Creek Trail (at least to where it hits Hall Blvd. in Beaverton) and back.  I think it might be 4 miles each way.  Needless to say, it was a difficult walk back home from the library.  I was tired and hungry.  So when I got home, I nursed E and then went to Burgerville.  I figured I deserved it.  She didn't sleep as well that night as I thought she would.  She was up every two hours to nurse.  It was no big deal.  She slept 7 hours Saturday night, so I can't complain too much.

It's hard to believe how much she's grown in just 10 weeks.  I have a pair of shoes that Jim (the SLP I used to work with) gave me that were too big for her at 3 weeks.  I found them this weekend and put them on her and they were too small.   Not that she really needs shoes right now, but still.  It's a bummer.  She can still fit into her 0-3 month outfits, but that won't last too long, and she's growing out of her small gdiaper pants.  We now have her in the medium pants with the small liners.  My firend Janet says that worked for her son when he was between sizes.  She hasn't had too many blow outs since then.

The nice thing about her growing up is that she's cooing more, anticipates activities, and doesn't cry too much.  Of course, she never cried too much to begin with.  We have begun a bedtime routine.  I learned that even though she doesn't really fall asleep until 10 or 10:30, we have to start the routine by 9:00 or she'll do nothing but scream.  We change her diaper, I brush my teeth, then we say goodnight to daddy and give him kisses.  Then we go into the bedroom and read a book.  Currently, the book is Playtime Peekaboo.  After the book, I put the book away, say "Goodnight, E" and turn off the light.  Then I crawl into bed with her and nurse her off to sleep.  It's a good routine, and in the time it takes for me to turn off the light and get into bed (about 2 seconds), she has already turned on her side, ready to nurse.

We're starting "Itsy Bitsy Yoga" this week.  There is a class at the SW Community Center in Multnomah Village.  I'm pretty excited about it.  I think it will be yet another good activity that will help her with self regulation.  The downside is that the class starts at 9:00am.  Who thought that was a good idea?  We're going to have to get up at 7 to make it to class on time.

She has started a new sound, too.  It's a hybrid between a laugh and a squeal.  I've tried to get a video of it, but as soon as I turn on the camera, she's silent.  How does she know this already?

The Zoo & Birth Certificate Nightmare

Every second Tuesday of the month, the Oregon Zoo has $2 admission.  I took E with me and we met up with my friend Tina and her baby, C who is a month older.  She was born October 3rd.  It was a fantastic day.  Because we got there early, there wasn't much of a crowd.  And the BEST part was being able to see the cute baby elephant who was born in July or August last year.  He was so cute!!  It was a sunny day, which is a rare occasion in the Pacific Northwest in the winter, and E & C acted like moles, squinting their eyes and trying to hide from the sun.  I had found a pair of sunglasses for 99 cents at Gymboree a couple weeks ago, so E was stylin' in her shades.  I hope the weather is nice and sunny for next month's $2 Tuesday!

Yesterday, I met Janet & her baby, R (born September 30th) in downtown Hillsboro so we could pick up or babies' birth certificates.  Apparently, Meridian Park hospital is not in Washington County.  It's in Clackamas County.  It would have been nice if someone had told me this at the hospital.  All was not lost.  Janet had R at St. Vincent's, which is in Washington County, and we walked around downtown Hillsboro, which is very cute and quaint, unlike downtown Tigard, which is ugly, drab and inhospitable.  We ate at this super-cute tea house, where the decor reminded me of an old excentric woman.  There used to be a restaurant in Tigard called Pair au dux (I think that's how it was spelled), which reminded me of the same thing.  After lunch, we walked around Hillsboro, visited a cool boutique that sells items made by local stay at home moms.  And then we went to the yarn store, and I was good.  I did not purchase anything, even though I wanted to.  Paul was very proud of me.

Last night was our HOA meeting.  I left E and Paul alone for two hours and they did well.  The first time I left them alone, E wouldn't take a bottle for anything.  Paul was shaking the milk into her open mouth as she screamed.  This time, it was much better.  When I came home, they were sitting on the couch talking to each other.  It was so sweet.  I love them.  At night, when we're all in bed together, the rhythm of their breathing puts me to sleep.  I can't imagine life without them.

Engorgement and Regulation

It was a great idea for Paul to take E for a walk.  They were gone an hour, and she slept most of the time.  When she woke up, she was ready to nurse, but wasn't as fussy as she had been all night and that morning.  She even let Paul take her so that I could take a shower and try to get my engorged left boob to empty.

I took the manual pump into the shower with me.  I've noticed that after a shower, my breasts will start leaking, so I figured it might help if I pumped while I was in the shower.  Maybe the warm water would help.  I'd been massaging my milk ducts and pumping all morning, and could only manage to squeeze out an ounce.  The last thing in the world I want to deal with is mastitis.  I've already had that -- during my first week out of the hospital -- and I don't want to do it again.

I got in the shower, pointed the hot water onto my boob and started pumping.  Within a minute, I had filled up the 5oz bottle attached to the pump.  At first I thought it had gotten so full because water dripping down my boob must have gotten into the pump.  When I felt my breast, it was super soft, so it was all milk.  Needless to say, since I was in the tub, I had to pour all that precious milk down the drain.  I wasn't in the most sterile of conditions.  I continued pumping, letting the milk fall into the tub.  I didn't need to pump, really.  When I took the pump off my breast, milk flowed from my nipple like a faucet had been turned on.  It was the sweet feeling of relief.

My boob still hurts a little, probably from the five hours of deep pressure massage.  I hope that heals up soon.

For the rest of the day, E was the perfect baby, playing with daddy while I took catnaps between feedings.  She got really fussy at 9pm, and until I took her to bed with me at 9:30 and she passed out in 5 minutes, I didn't realize it was because she was so gosh-darn tired.  I decided that we would start our bedtime routine at 9pm from now on.  Of course, I also have to create a bedtime routine...

Yesterday we took a walk to Costco with E in the sling.  It took us about an hour.  We pushed the stroller & car seat with us so we could meet Christopher there and he could drive us and our groceries home with us.  She slept the entire way there.  When she woke up, she was a little disoriented, not knowing exactly where she was, but she soon brightened up and spent the time in the store looking around at all the people and lights.  When we got out to the car, she didn't cry when I put her in the carseat, even though her diaper was so full, her outfit got wet.  She didn't cry when I changed her diaper before I fed her.  She didn't cry when she was hungry at 6:30 and our neighbor was still over chatting away saying 15 times "OK, I'm gonna go so you can feed her."  She cried, but she was easily quieted by Paul and her cries weren't nearly close to the same level and desperation as they sometimes get.

She cried when I took her to bed, but then she farted a bunch and destroyed a diaper, so that's understandable.

I took her on a walk to the library this morning.  I think that she needs walks to help her regulate herself.  She was extremely fussy this morning, and has now been asleep for almost 2 hours.  Walks in the sling are like a morning coffee.  She just doesn't feel like herself without one.

Who would have thought that the daughter to two long-distance hikers would need to take walks outside every day to feel normal?  I'm just glad we figured this out early on.  I've decided to take her on a morning walk every day.

Last Night

Last night was a horrible night.  E woke up just about every hour.  She was very restless.  I don't know if it was a delayed response from the vaccination or what.  She would wake up, nurse for about 5 minutes then fall asleep.  All that nursing made me completely engorged and now my left boob is in so much pain.  I pumped 4 oz from it at 2am, and I've been trying to squeeze out some more this morning.  I've only managed 1 oz.  I've put her on it because she usually does a better job than the pump, but she just screams, probably because nothing is coming out.  It doesn't help that I'm sleep deprived.  Paul has taken her in the sling for a walk so she'll fall asleep.  I doubt that she will.  She's probably starving by now and most likely has a full diaper.  I wish they would come back soon.  I miss them.

First Well Baby Exam & Vaccine

E had her first well baby exam and vaccination last night.  She's doing very well - growing like a weed.  She's gained 3 lbs 4oz and almost 2 inches since birth.  She's in the 50th percentile for length, and 75th for weight.  She's also in the 50th percentile for length/weight ratio.

We're doing the alternate vaccination schedule listed in The Vaccine Book by Dr. Robert Sears.  Last night she got the DTaP vaccine.  She did very well.  I stuck my finger in her mouth to suck, so when she got the shot, she just got really red and gave me a look of shock, pain and betrayal, and sucked my finger harder for a little while.  I nearly cried.  It will be harder for me next month when she has to get TWO shots.

She seems to be doing well now.  She was a little fussy at bedtime last night, but she slept well - 4 hours, and then nursed and slept another three.  After that nursing, she slept another two while I took a shower and got some cleaning done around the house.  There's no swelling, and she was a super-happy baby this morning.  We played a little bit and she let out a couple happy shrieks for the first time.  That was really cool!

This afternoon we're going to Starbucks to meet some of the women from our playgroup that we attend at the hospital on Tuesdays.  That will be nice.