Mom Jeans

Hehehe. She loves sitting straight up now, so she holds onto the tray on her swing. She has also been smiling like crazy, usually with her "moon eyes" as I call them. She loooves to get people's attention at Second Cup by fake coughing and then giving them the moon eyes.

She has been rolling over non-stop now, which has been making diaper changes increasingly difficult. She also doesn't understand that rolling over after eating makes her throw up.

I now understand mom jeans. As I have dropped an incredible 40 pounds since July 9th, I have gone through a couple of jean sizes. The problem is that I got a new pair 2 weeks ago, but have since lost some weight. I still need this larger size though because of the baby tummy I still have, so the top is a little mom-jean-esque. Ok, it's not that bad..

Here is an inspirational video:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/55414/mom_jeans/

Today I made Vinegar Coffee

This morning when I made my morning coffee, and leaned over it to give it a stir, I burned my eyes! Apparently Mike had soaked the kettle in vinegar overnight. I thought it was his water from the morning, and I was trying not to be wasteful, so I just reheated the water. The boiling vinegar scent in the kitchen afterwards was not pleasant, and it seriously burned my eyes. I made the coffee in my "New Mom" mug. How oddly ironic.

This was the scene that I witnessed both in the middle of the night and this morning. Actually, as she was trying to fall asleep, she flipped herself over like this as well. Except she was too close to the side of the crib, so as she flipped, her little arm slotted itself in between the crib bars and was dangling down the side. She woke up at 4:00am too, and was looking around on her tummy. When she woke in the morning I figured she would be on her tummy again and I was right. It is getting easier for her to flip herself over.

She is still sick! Sometimes she seems better, but once that little nose is stuffed up, she looks so sick! Not sure how long we can keep giving her medicine!

Yesterday Katharine and I went to the craft show for the entire day without the girls. woohoo! It was fun to be free. Of course we mainly shopped for them, but still soooo nice to get out for the day for the first time. Right after that, Mike and I went to my dad and Maura's house for dinner with my Grandma and Uncle Chris, so I was really out for the entire day! Paige was NOT happy there, she seems to be scared of the basement. hehe.

A few mishaps and an ILLNESS

Oh boy, I started writing this last evening before everything "kicked in". Little Paige was sleeping away and then all of a sudden she started screaming! Her little nose was completely stuffed up. Every little breath was snorkel-y sounding. The problem is that with baby colds they kick in so fast. Once their nose is even slightly stuffed up, it's game over! She first got a cold after Jen's wedding in September after seeing 200 people and being on a plane. That time it caught us completely off guard and we were unprepared. This time we were prepared! There was no sleeping on the floor in Paige's room! We had a nasal aspirator, baby Tylenol cold and sinus, and the humidifier. So, she was able to sleep most of the night, and only woke up a couple of times to be suctioned (which is near impossible with her Chipit sized nostrils) and have a medicine top-up, and then to eat. She's starting to wake up now, so I just went to give her her soother. Her room is like a steam tent, it's fabulous! I know where she got this cold too, because we have hardly been anywhere....at Gymboree!!

This is what I started to write last night:

The last few days have been quiet, except for a few minor mishaps. After explaining to everyone at dinner on Sunday night that I always strap Paige into her bouncy seat if I am not sitting right there with her, I forgot to strap her in once. I went to the bathroom while she was sitting in her seat, and all of a sudden there was an unusual cry. She had fallen out, and was on the floor on her side. She wasn't hurt, just startled. Woops!!

Also, though it isn't technically a mishap, and more like poor judgement, I decided to feed Paige rice cereal. I figured that maybe introducing the cereal would help to stretch out the length of time between bottles, which may help her get through the night. She currently goes about 3 hours between bottles, though she sometimes can go longer. At any rate, the first time I fed her the cereal she sort of sucked if off the spoon. She was able to eat a little bit. Mike tried to feed her that night and she went ballistic. She would have none of that!

So, the next morning I thought I would try again, since she was tired the night before and I hadn't followed the directions on the package perfectly well. Nope. She still hated it. So, we're going to wait a few more weeks. Feeding her bottles and cereal is a lot of work, so I should be happy that I don't need to do both just yet.

Our First Gymboree

This morning we went to Gymboree Level 1: 0-6 months.

"These classes focus on developing your baby’s interest in the world through sensory exploration. Stimulating age-appropriate activities such as tummy time, flashlight play and infant massage help to build trust and security and emotional connections with others. Parent discussion time at the end of each class helps you to connect with other parents and learn more about your child’s development."

Basically for the duration of the class, the instructor and all of the in-the-know moms sing songs in really singsong-y voices incorporating the word "Gymboree" as much as possible. Seeing as I haven't done anything like this since I was a baby, this was a little difficult for me to get into. We held up things like feathers and scarves for the babies to feel. Paige was the most interested in looking at the other moms and babies. She just wanted to grab the objects and put them in her mouth, which wasn't allowed in the class anyway. Like the instructor said though, babies won't necessarily show interest in all of the objects. She HATED the part where all of the babies were on there tummies looking in a mirror and the instructor was blowing bubbles in the air. I think there were just too many babies in a confined space, and it was overstimulating and scary for her. She LOVED Gymbo the puppet that we danced around in front of our babies faces. She was tired and rubbing her eyes, but loved looking at him. The instructor walked around with a massive Gymbo puppet that gave them all a "kiss" on the face while singing the goodbye song to all of the babies. Paige was the only baby that grabbed the puppets face! haha.

Will we go back? Well, I felt slightly silly, and it was a bit difficult to go there when I knew Paige was ready for a nap. Of the 9 moms and babies there, quite a few of the babies fell asleep, 6 moms (I counted) whipped up their tops for a feeding, and a bunch of the babies freaked out at one point or another. It makes me think these moms just go there no matter what time of day it is, nap time or feeding time, just to get out. I like things to be just right...fed, changed, and awake in order to feel like I'm ready to go to an hour long class. BUT, Paige did seem to enjoy it, she stayed awake because she was entertained, and it did get us out of the house on this cold miserable day. So, we'll probably go back...

My little lobster

Paige has been pinching me all day! Sometimes it hurts extremely badly. Also, she has been pulling my hair out! I even saw her feeling her own hair for the first time, and then pulling it too!
Another weird thing..she appeared to scratch an itch on her tummy...it really looked like that is what she was doing, but it may have just appeared that way.

She has also been holding her feet any time she is not in her car seat, or having a bottle. Any time she is on her back in her crib, or in her chair, she is grabbing her feet.

What another huge leap this past week in accomplishments! I am tempted to pull out the highchair to see if she'll sit in it.

I Witnessed a Roll-Over!

As I was changing her diaper, I noticed she was really flinging herself to the side, so I ran to get the camera. She managed to roll herself to her tummy, but her arm was stuck. She was able to unhook it and it was straight at her side. She got a bit upset at this, so I tapped her arm to remind her that it was there. She then swung it around so her palm was flat on the mattress. A full roll-over! After this she played with the crib bars for a while on her stomach, and then she flipped herself onto her back again. What a feat!

After this, I witnessed her do it again with the next diaper change, but this time much faster. She managed to fully roll over in the time it took me to go and wash my hands and wet some cloths. This time she seemed to be determined to get somewhere and was scooting herself forward slightly on her stomach! I had to grab my baby book to check when they should be crawling! Not for a couple months it says, but then again it also says that at 4 months babies lack significant strength to roll from their backs to their tummies, and that it takes a while before they develop that ability. "HA!" Paige says.

Not that I thought she was close to crawling, but it tells me that it won't be long!!!

Insomnia

Last night was interesting.

Paige was crying at 11:59, 12:15, 12:30, and then 1:30. She was wide awake looking at her wall border. I finally fed her at 1:30, but this was waaay earlier than usual. I just didn't know what else to do to get her to sleep. When I was feeding her though, she clearly had bad gas...probably because she had 7.5 oz of liquids before bed! If she reverts to the 2 x night feeding schedule again (because Mike fed her at 5:45 as well), I am definitely busting out the rice cereal. Hopefully it was just a random night.

I have also discovered a mother's best friend...the slow cooker! How fun was it to prepare an entire meal mid-afternoon while Paige was sleeping, and then just sit back and relax the rest of the day? So fun. I felt like having Chilli since it has been a bit dark and gloomy lately. When Mike came home we went for a walk, leaving the meal brewing away, and returned home and just served it up! I wish I could slow cook every day! The bonus is that there is lots of Chilli for tonight, and we can continue eating it with our movie...."The Interpreter". We have a massive slow cooker, so I may be able to venture into the world of potato/meat thingys eventually. I'll definitely make some soup someday soon.

In case anyone is wondering, I can't blame Paige's fusiness last night on the Chilli, because she only had formula before bed, and not Chilli-milk.

I took Paige to Laura's house today to get my hilites done. Laura and I used to work at Civello together, but now she has her own set-up in her house. Paige was a good girl for the most part, but got a bit fed up since we were there for a couple of hours. It was nice to take her out somewhere, and I definitely wouldn't have brought her to the salon.

When we got back I caught her holding both feet for the first time, and had to snap a picture!

She knows her mommy!

Oh my goodness, was this ever funny!!

My friend Stephenie came over last night to see Paige for the first time. When the doorbell rang I was in the middle of changing Paige's diaper, so I just left her in her crib while I went to get the door. When Steph came in she went into Paige's room ahead of me and walked up to the crib. There was about a half second before Paige began screaming in pure terror!! Steph also has blonde hair and for some reason people used to mistake us for each other when we worked at Second Cup. Paige obviously was so frightened when a different looking mommy walked into the room! When I walked in and started talking to her, she looked at me and then screamed too. She was sooo confused! Poor little cinnamon bun!

I took her to the doctor today for her 4 month check up and shots. She is very healthy with these stats:

Weight: 14.3 lbs
Length: 24.5 inches

I'm not sure about her head circumference since she was NOT happy about having her head measured and I forgot to ask.

This puts her in the 75th percentile. So she is growing like crazy!

She HATED her shots! She went absolutely balistic and was gasping for breath as she was crying. In the car she continued to whimper for a bit until she fell asleep. I gave her some tylenol when we got home in case she develops a fever. She seems ok, but didn't want to have her bottle before she went for her nap. So sad.. :(


The doctor says that if she ever seems to be unsatisfied after having her bottle that we could introduce some rice cereal. She seems to be fine for now, so we'll hold off on that until it seems to be a good idea.

Update: 4:00pm. She has been sleeping now basically since 11:45. She woke up and had a massive diaper and a little bit of a bottle then was sooo mad and tired looking. I put her back in her crib and she fell asleep again instantly! The shots didn't seem to effect her this much at 2 months.

Cottage Weekend part 2!

We went to the cottage again this weekend. There is no snow yet but it is getting colder. I was asked to explain where the cottage is exactly. It is about 2.5 hours Northeast from our house in good traffic. It's located in the "Muskoka" area, about 20 minutes north of Huntsville. My dad has been going there for more than 40 years. It's very cute and cozy, and we don't have running water in the winter, so we have to use buckets of water to flush the toilets, and we heat our water up on the stove. Apparently there are bears up there, but I have luckily never seen one. Not sure what I would do if I saw one! We had a run in with a racoon on the weekend though. It was growling under the cottage and scared me silly. I thought there was a bear on the porch!

Paige was in a bit of a state this weekend. It seems she is trying to change her routine a bit in terms of nap and bed time. So she seems to be angry when she wakes up from her naps. Also, she is clearly teething...we are going through the bibs like crazy! She has been sitting up in her bouncy chair on her own. Her little back is so strong.

She hates being bundled up for the cold weather!

Last night we went to Grandpa and Grandma's house, where Paige freaked out a large majority of the night! Poor little teething girl!

Forget Tummy Time!

I thought that since Paige rolled onto her stomach, that she should surely be able to roll from her front to her back, and she can!

I kept putting her onto her stomach and she rolled over every time, more than 6 times. So it wasn't just a fluke. It is funny because babies are supposed to have, I think, 15 minutes of tummy time a day, but if she just rolls onto her back right away it doesn't really work! I will have to get a picture though of her on her stomach because she is so strong and the front of her body goes straight up in the air and her head is all the way up. She looks like a 6 month old! She is still sleeping now so I will have to wait till later.

We are off to the cottage again today, so I'll try to get some good pics before Monday.

She rolled over!

From back to front! It was obviously an accident and I have noooo idea how she did it, but that is how I found her in the night. She was crying around 12:00 I think so I went in to give her her soother. A few minutes later she was crying again and I went in and felt around for the soother in the dark, got it, then tried to feel on her face for her mouth, but I felt the back of her head! I was thinking what the heck!?? She was crying lying on her stomach, and her arm was fully out from under her body, so it was a full roll over. It is funny though because when I put her to bed last night and had the monitor on as I was tidying some stuff up, I heard scratching noises like a cat almost. I went in and she was scratching her sheets, and I wondered if she was trying to find her soother. She has been taking it out of her mouth constantly. Who knows, but it does seem strange.

It is kind of silly that she takes her soother out of her mouth though, because sometimes she does it and then gets upset. Also, she is rubbing her eyes like crazy when she is tired lately, and sometimes this knocks the soother out. She can sometimes self sooth herself at night and in the morning, because I hear her making noises and then fall asleep on her own. So that is a start..

I think she is teething as well because anytime I give her my finger to grip onto, she pulls it into her mouth and starts biting on it.
We'll see I guess...

Bumbo Seat

Paige has started to like her bumbo seat. I find it so amazing how much she has grown when I compare the 2 pictures. She was 1 month old in the first one, and now she is a few days shy of 4 months!

It is crazy though...she was playing with a toy with her feet. It is a squishy fabric block and she was squishing it between her feet when it fell out of her hands! This must be our primate roots coming through!

Unfortunately she likes watching TV while sitting in the chair, so I really should limit the time the TV is on...

Time Change

I don't have much to say except that I realize how much I am obsessed with routine! This time change has thrown me for a loop! Paige's schedule is all messed up! Now I don't know when I will get a chance to spend hours on the computer! :)

She has been a little spastic since we have kept her up later at night. This may be an excuse though to try to get her to bed earlier. meh.

Cottage weekend

We decided to go up to the cottage on Friday night till Sunday afternoon. The drive up was prety slow so we stopped at Weber's for a quick burger and a backseat change and bottle feed.

When we got to the cottage it was freeeezing, so we had a nice fire and cranked up the heat. By the time Paige went to sleep her room was still freezing, but she managed ok.

Mike spent a lot of time raking the leaves...probably 4 hours or so? I tried to help as much as I could, but I had to have Paige in the Baby Bjorn, so it was a bit difficult. Raking hurts the back in usual circumstances, so it was pretty tough with a baby strapped on the front.

It was actually nice and sunny, so really quite warm.

A few times this weekend we caught Paige sitting up on her own. If she is leaning back in a sitting position on a couch, for example, she will use her little stomach muscles and fling her body forward so she is sitting up on her own. She seems to hate relying on leaning on things. "Don't prop me up!" When she sits up on her own though, she keels over to the side. Wish we had a good picture of it, but not really. The one where she is on my lap shows though that she does not like to lean back!

Laughing fool!

Last night was unbelievable! This is what happened: As we were putting Paige to bed she peed all over her crib sheet. Mike took her without her diaper on and was making her stand on her dresser as I was changing the sheet. I noticed she was staring at me, so I was saying, oh you love your mommy. Mike made her go "weeeeeeee" through the air right up to my face. When he did that she let out 2 laughs, which was neat because we hadn't heard any laughs since the 1 on the day last week. Well, as he did the weeeee thing again, it was as if she had finally discovered how to make the noise, and she was laughing hyesterically every time he did it! And what a fantastic laugh! It is so high pitched! I can't wait till she wakes up today to see if she'll do it again. I'll try to get it on video soon.

We had a fairly good turnout for Halloween I guess?? 35 kids... but that is nothing compared to the old St. Albert days. I had bought 150 candies...

Paige seemed to like that people were coming to the door. Mike made her stand on the floor with a candy in her hand and drop it in a girls bag. The girl thought it was really funny.

We also had a couple of visitors. Craig came by with Amy in her chick costume. Melissa and Jason later came by with Lucas who was coincidentally in the same chick costume! I guess there are only so many costumes for small babies. Amy just turned 5 months and Lucas is about 7 months. Next year we'll get Paige a costume.