4 Month Check-up and Cereal!

4 month Check Up and Cereal!
Today was Ellie's 4 month check-up. She did great. She was 11 pounds 4 ounces which is 10th percentile and an almost 3 pound gain over 2 months. She was 23 1/2 inches long which is 25% and her head circumference was also 25%. The doctor is happy with her growth and said she was a perfect 10! (we've known that all along) She had 2 shots which she was a real trooper for. The first one is less painful and she hardly cried at all. The second one she cried for maybe 5 seconds and then was happy to be picked up and loved. The big news was that the doctor said she was close enough to the 12 pound mark to start cereal. Yay!


So of course Jason stopped on the way home from work and picked up a box of rice cereal. It actually went okay. At first she didn't know what to do and spit it out all over herself. I really didn't know cereal would be soooo messy. I don't know why, I guess I just didn't think about it. I bought a new Bumkins bib because I saw Vera's and loved it. Unfortunately Ellie is really into the slippery fabrics and so she just wanted to hold on to her bib and get it into her mouth. This unfortunately made it pretty useless. She had cereal in every crease of her neck, all over her clothes, of course all over her face...it was so funny! After a few minutes she seemed to figure it out. I'm pretty sure she actually swallowed some :) She was making chewing motions which they say is a good sign and it seemed like not all of it came back out. Apparently it gets better every day so we'll see.


I'm hoping the cereal will help curb Ellie's appetite in the afternoon. It is hard to breastfeed and go back to work! I have done really well until this week and for some reason I have not been able to keep up with her eating at all. I talked to the lactation consultant and she gave me a few tips and also talked to Jesse for some tips. It is so nice having a sister that has just been through this! So this weekend my plan is to drink a lot of water, sleep, pump and nurse like crazy. I'm going to try the Fenugreek herb too....any other suggestions are welcome!!! I'd really like to not have to use formula yet but I'm also not going to go crazy and stress myself out over this. Luckily the doctor was very helpful with keeping the whole situation in perspective for me.

Unfortunately tonight she started acting like she wasn't feeling great. I think she had a little bit of a fever from her shots and she didn't even want to eat which was very strange (the first time ever). So we cuddled up and slept in the recliner for a few hours. Poor girl. I gave her some tylenol and she finally ate about 11:30 and seemed to feel much better. It is so sad when you see your baby feeling bad.

4 Months Old!

Ellie is 4 months old! She is so much fun right now, she smiles and squeals and is very interested in the world around her. Today I was looking through some of the gadgets we had to use when she was first born to help her gain weight...it is so strange because it feels like it was so long ago that she was born. It really is amazing how fast she has become a little person. She is not a blob anymore!

Highlights of the last month:
-Ellie is expressive! This last month she has developed the whine...which is quite pitiful. If I stop nursing her for just a second she goes into a full blown, heart wrenching whiny squeal thing that makes Jason want to buy her a pony. It is so amazing that babies can learn so quickly how to get what they want! It isn't all sad though---Ellie has gotten very good at letting us know when she is happy with the biggest grins, squeals, and the start of a laugh.

-Ellie moved to her room and started sleeping through the night this month. She sleeps in the big crib and doesn't seem to mind at all. We love the 8-9 hour stretches of sleep! Often in the morning we hear her cooing and talking to herself. When we go in she is so sweet. She looks up and gives us the biggest grin. It is awesome. One of the very best parts of my day.

-Splashtime! Bath time is now play time...Elle's favorite activity is to arch her back and try to get her whole body in the water...which is difficult in an infant tub. She kicks her feet and generally gets me and the whole kitchen soaked. She LOVES the bath. She even has sort of stopped crying when she gets out, that is if I wrap her up very well so that she doesn't get cold and hold her for awhile before attempting to put the diaper on. We can't wait until she is sitting up enough to use the bath chair that Vera brought us. I think it is almost time to bring out the bath toys!

-Floor time- Ellie enjoys spending time on the floor looking at her toys. Playing with toys if she can bat or kick them. She is starting to try rolling over so it probably won't be long. Tummy time isn't her favorite but she doesn't mind small doses.

-Size 1 diapers! We just made the big transition to size 1 diapers. They are still a little big around her legs but the N's are getting too small. We are still using cloth when we are at home as much as we can.

-Ellie has 2 favorite toys...1) her blue elephant---it hangs from her bouncy chair and she is absolutely in love with it! She smiles at it, she trys to get it into her mouth, she bats at it...the poor green elephant is feeling very lonely. 2) A black and white rattle toy that has little rings on it. I found this toy at a yard sale a few weekends back and thought for 50 cents I'd pick it up and through it in the dishwasher. It was perfect. Lightweight, colorful and easy to hold...that is until Milo chewed it up. Luckily I found a new one at Babies r Us...and she still loves it.

Growing Up

I forgot to mention two monumental events. Last Friday night (4/17) we moved Ellie to her big crib. It was very strange for me after having her beside me in the little crib for 3 1/2 months. Ellie didn't mind at all and went right to sleep. She has now slept in her crib for over a week and we have rarely had to get up in the middle of the night. Every once in awhile she'll wake up and want her pacifier but I actually think she gets to sleep better without the distractions of our bedroom. I kind of miss her but it is so nice to be able to turn on the light whenever we want to.

Secondly, Ellie took a ride in her stroller without the carseat for the first time last week. The straps are a little too big but she had fun anyway. We walked up to dinner at Chipotle and she stayed awake the entire trip just taking it all in.

Camping!

This weekend my parents and Glenn went camping out at Falls Lake. We thought about going but decided not to try spending the night because I had to teach Sunday School and it was so hot! Ellie and I did go spend the afternoon and evening at the campground. I put on her "Little Camper" sleeper (Thanks Vera!), her hat and we headed out. Luckily my Glenn and my mom both had their campers so we had a place to go when we needed to get inside.


Ellie had a great time checking out all the sights. She enjoys being outside and likes to look at the fire. We even had a big black snake visitor...probably about 4 feet long. He was a very chill snake and just wandered around our campground.

It was fun! A good practice round for the next time when we'll try to spend the night.

Jean Dress and Hat

Katy walked in our office today with Elle in this outfit. Before she had a chance to say anything I asked if we could go take pictures. Grandma Sue was kind enough to shoot a picture of all three of us, which we don't have many of, and we got a picture of Eleanor with her. The dress is cute and the leggings are awesome.







I've been a bit under the weather the past couple of days, I keep think it will get better and it gets worse. But I'm excited to be down to the last couple of weeks of school. Ever. Now I get to really focus on the job hunt.

Sniffles and Snorts

Ellie has the sniffles...actually more like the snorts. It is kind of weird because she has had them for almost 2 weeks. It doesn't seem to bother her much but she sounds pretty pitiful at times. I called the nurse to see if I needed to worry about it and she suggested we get some Little Noses saline drops and use the humidifier. She said if she isn't better in another week or if she starts having trouble eating/sleeping to bring her in. Ellie's 4 month appointment is next week anyway so we'll talk to the doctor for sure on Thursday. I'm hoping it is just a little cold and not allergies. Allergies=Bad. I guess babies rarely have trouble with allergies. Jason is sick too...poor thing. He is pitiful and it is a bummer with his finals being next week. His Final Finals! Yay!

We are doing great other than that. Sleep continues to be awesome. Ellie is going to bed between 9 and 10 and waking up at 6. I feed her, she falls back asleep and then go into work right away which means I get there early and off at a decent hour in the afternoon. It makes the whole working situation a lot easier because I avoid traffic and I still get to spend quite a bit of time with Ellie and Jason. I really like having her go to bed a little bit later right now for that reason.

Ellie has discovered the TV...it is freakishly weird. She stares at the TV any time it is on. We really don't watch TV much but when I was home on maternity leave I started watching a little bit when I was nursing. I guess that is going to stop.

Other excitement- Ellie is vocalizing a lot. It is adorable. If she is engaged she just sits and babbles at you and makes silly faces. One of her favorite activities is watching you stick out your tongue which she sits and copies and coos about. I'll try to get a video because it is super cute. She is starting to bat at toys a lot and will hold a toy and bring it to her mouth if you put it in her hand AND she is in an adventurous mood. This isn't really her thing quite yet but we'll give her time...she was a month early :)

Happy Easter!

Ellie is growing so fast! This morning I put a dress on that I thought would be good for Easter and it literally came down to her diaper. This is a dress that when she was a few weeks old was at her ankles. Crazy! Needless to say I found another dress in the closet and she enjoyed her day. The Easter Bunny did visit our house and left Ellie a very cute pink bunny rabbit. We went to church and then went to Uncle Alex's house for dinner and an Easter egg hunt...maybe she'll participate next year!

Washington DC

We had a great time in Washington DC last weekend. Friday afternoon was beautiful and so we stopped by our hotel and then rode the metro into the city. I decided that I wasn't brave enough to take the stroller on the metro so I got her suited up in the Ergo (the best baby carrier ever! It is awesome...thanks Jesse, Mike and Vera!) and we hit the town.


We started out at Federal Triangle metro station and walked down past the white house, then by the World War II Memorial, down the mall to the Lincoln Memorial. Then we turned around and walked back past the Vietnam Memorial, the Washington Monument and got back on the metro. We headed to Chinatown for dinner. Ellie did super. We took her out and fed her at the World War II Memorial and then she went back to sleep and didn't wake up until dinner time at the restaurant. She LOVED the metro...no carseat and a jiggly ride! It was a fun but very tiring day. We got back to the hotel and crashed.


Saturday morning we woke up and it was raining :( Jason signed up for a Photo Safari of DC...where you go with a professional all around the city and they teach you about camera angles, composition, etc. so he left early and my mom, Ellie and I stayed at the hotel and packed up. We decided to drive into the city to avoid walking through the rain. We were planning on going to the museums so wanted the stroller. We ended up circling around DC for about an hour with no luck on parking and eventually just parked in the Capitol parking lot. I decided just to hang out in the car and watch people, feed Ellie, etc. until my dad and the girls were done at the museum and Jason was done with his tour. It actually was very nice...we just relaxed and watched tourists take rainy pictures of the Capitol. On the way home we stopped at IKEA and got Ellie some very cool bowls in preparation for cereal! Ellie did super in the car and pretty much slept the entire time and then takes her bottle in the carseat. Overall it was a fun weekend and a great first family "vacation" (if you can call one night that!)

She Sleeps...through the night!

On Sunday night Ellie went to bed at 10 PM and didn't wake up until 6 AM! I thought...maybe she is super tired or getting sick...because she always wakes up around 4. But it is now Thursday night and she has done this every night this week. It is soooo nice. 8 hours of sleep is great!

This week has been much better for me with work which is great. I am so grateful for the flexibility that allowed me to work part-time these past two weeks. From now on I'm working 40 hour weeks but I think it will work really well to go in early and be able to leave early.

Other than that we aren't up to much (don't have time for much!). The house is a disaster...laundry gets done rarely on an desperation only basis :) I haven't swept the floor in 2 weeks so pretty soon I'll probably be able to make a dog hair sweater! We're just taking it one step at a time.

This weekend we are heading up to Washington DC with my parents for a couple of days which should be fun. Ellie's first real vacation-ish trip. I better go pack...it is 1:30 AM and we are leaving in a few hours. Yikes!

It's Finally Friday

It is Friday and we made it through the whole first week of work. I don't think I've ever been so happy to have Friday roll around. I really just want to chill out and be with Jason and Ellie. I'm so looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow and letting Ellie wake me up instead of me waking her up to eat before work.

Overall this week has gone well. Ellie has done really well with my mom but she is having a hard time adjusting her schedule (and we are too). She still isn't really going to bed before 10 and then the problem is I have to wake her up early in the morning to eat. She does wake up one time around 4 am but that means she is very sleepy and not very hungry for the before work feeding. We are trying to slowly push her bedtime forward so that it is a happy medium so that we can have time with her in the evenings and she can wake up to nurse in the morning. Today I set my alarm and woke her up at 3 am and then again at 6 am and she did better...except we both fell asleep in the rocking chair :) By the time I left for work she was asleep in the swing and my mom said she was much happier this morning. I'm thinking she wasn't really getting enough sleep at the beginning of the week which makes her very grumpy! So we'll keep working at it...but I think for this weekend I'm not going to bend over backwards to wake up early.

It has been tough... I won't lie about that. The biggest thank you in the world to my mom who is making it so much better for us.