It's been a good run

I've decided to close up shop on the blog so this will be my last post. It comes with mixed emotion because I've loved blogging for the last 3 years. It's been such a great outlet for me to jot my thoughts, document all-things Eloise and rant here or there.

But in order to really keep up a good blog, it requires more time than I can dedicate right now. Add in my love/hate relationship with my semi-broken camera, and let's face it, I'm just not really that good at blogging anymore.  And honestly, it bums me out. This was my outlet for so long to talk about Eloise's antics, about the house building process, about working part time, about getting a full-time job, about the baby whisperer, about our debut with baby jogger running and racing, and honestly, every single moment in between. We've laughed. We've cried. We've seen hilarious pics and of course, some scary ones.

So with that said, all good things must come to an end and so today is my last post on The Vails Blog. I've researched turning this blog into a book so that Eloise and I may cherish it forever. I'll get to that eventually because, yes, those services do exist.  And so the meantime, I'll leave you with a standard post that includes stats about Eloise, and of course, another race report.

Eloise's 2 year Dr. appt was Friday and so let's share some stats...

Weight: 29lbs 9oz - 75-90 percentile
Height: 35 inches - 75-90 percentile
Head: 47 1/2 cm - 50-75 percentile

My grandma Ellie, who shared with my mother, once said that in order to know what height your baby will be when he or she grows up, you double their height at 2 years. I've mentioned this before. Well, here we are and I have to say, I'm a little shocked at what height it is now expected of Eloise......5'10"!!  Are you kidding??

Now let me fully disclose exactly how this height measurement was taken and the real experience of what it's like taking a 2 year old to the Drs. office.  Phew. We get there 15 minutes early, per the automated voicemail instructions. And 4 seconds after arrival and after they give me a stack of paper work to fill out, there is a nurse waiting to take us back. In the mean time, Eloise is scaling a chair that she has dangerously placed in front of a giant fish tank so that she could get a bird's eye view. Well, no one wants to be called back too early especially when they have pages of paperwork in front of them and when Eloise just got her chair in the perfect position to see Nemo. Alas, we both followed instructions and scurry behind the nurse. Or rather, I followed the nurse and Eloise ran around like a maniac from the "healthy" waiting room over to the "sick" waiting room and back again screaming "fish, fish, fish" between them both and not listening to me for even one second.

Clip board in hand, purse on my shoulder, I scoop up a screaming child and drag her back to the room.  Just prior to entering, the nurse says, "now that you are a big girl, Eloise, you can get up on the scale so we can get your weight and height?"  Huh. I'm thinking to myself, let's see how this goes.  So of course, it doesn't fly. Eloise wants to see the fish, is pissed that I've just torn her away from the coveted tank, and is not getting anywhere near that giant silver and white monstrosity. Not a chance.  I pick her up, knees buckle. I pick her up again and she straight boards it to the point where all I can do is lay her flat out on the ground.

Ahhhh.....yeah. "Um, she's not really going to go for that scale so can we just go into the room and do this the "baby way?""  I get a look from the nurse and we carry on.  I strip her down to just her diaper and sit her on the "baby scale" so I'm pretty confident the weight is accurate as she had to sit still long enough for the numbers to stop blinking. Then the nurse says, "ok, lay her own on the table and I'll measure her", which I've always been skeptical of from appointment one. Anyway, she's busts out the yard stick, puts Eloise's squirming, screaming head up against the wall and measures. Therefore, I think 35 inches is a bit long. So you heard it hear first, my daughter is not going to be 5'10" when she gets older. There is just no way.

The rest of the appointment proceeded as painful as you can possibly imagine. She screamed all the way through the nurse, then all the way through the Dr. What did she want the entire time?? "Mommy, fish, fish, fish." "Mommy, pee pee pants. Change my diaper. Change my diaper. Mommy, pee pee pants. Fish, Fish."  Phew. The irony? She gets a shot at the end of the appointment and so of course, when we leave she has ZERO interest in the fish. Lord.

Anyway, there are the stats and the Dr left me with the message that, "screaming 2 year olds are a hazzard of the business."  Great. Thanks.

In regards to running races...I went sans baby jogger this weekend and ran in a pretty cool race on Friday night. It was the China Gove 5k and started at 9pm. I've heard of "twilight" runs but have never done one and so it was definitely a bit of an experiment for me. I didn't know when to eat, when to warm up, what to think of a pitch black race with 600 others. All in all, a very interesting event.

We started right on Main Street in downtown China Grove (picture a very small NC town) and we ran straight out to the country, went around a barrel (I kid you not) and then ran all the way back. If we had any light at all, it was only in the "downtown" part where there were a few street lights. Otherwise, all you saw were the few runners right in your path. So the chance of looking at your watch and seeing what kind of pace you were running was out. You just ran it, which in hindsight is good for all of us. Enough with being strapped to the ticking numbers on a watch all the time.

Anyway, not looking at my watch and just going on gut proved to be a good thing for me as I ran a 19:29 (6:16/mile pace), which was my fastest 5k since I started back at this racing thing a few years ago. I was pretty psyched with my time. Also, I was the 5th overall female. Despite being a country race, there were some really fast chicas that showed up from CLT so 5th was the best I could do. Believe me, I'm completely fine with that, and totally stocked with my time.

And so with all of that, I must bid you adieu and say sayonara. Together, we've had a really good run with this blog. We've grown both physically and emotionally. We've had good times and trying ones. What 2 years has brought to our lives is truly amazing. And thankfully because of this blog, we've all had a first had look at how much craziness and joy one little baby can bring to your life. It's truly amazing to me that 2 years ago today Eloise was in my arms for the very first time. It was today that I looked into her eyes and said, "I love you more than life itself, Eloise Claire. I promise to love you more today than I did the day before."

It was today, 2 years ago, that I had no idea how I was going to do it but I knew I was going to be the very best mom there was. I was going to do whatever it took to ensure that you, Miss Eloise, were always given the opportunity to enjoy the best in life. The day you entered my life the light in my heart has never waned. Miss Eloise, I thank you for all you've taught me. Because of you, I'm more patient, more kind, more real, and much more appreciative. I never take one second for granted because each moment I have with you is better than the one before. As I said, and I'll say 1 million times more, I love you more than life itself, Miss Eloise Claire Vail. Now and always.

Love,
Mommy

18-month birthday

The Monkey's 18-month birthday was last Saturday. I'm a pinch behind on things here. 

Stats first...

Height - 32 inches - 75 percentile
Weight - 25.2lbs - 75 percentile
Head - they didn't measure it. I guess at this age they just give their noggins a once over. Hers probably looks in proportion to the rest of her. Lol.

In regards to height, my mom has always told me (as relayed to her by her mother) to double a kids height at their 2nd birthday and that is how tall they will be when they are full grown. If this is true, then the Monkey will be as tall - and much more likely - or taller than her mother.  32 inches x 2 = 64 inches, which is what her mother is. 5' 4". So if she's not to grow even one 1/8 of an inch more between now and June - obviously totally unlikely - then we'll be the same height as me. But I'm putting my money on a "taller than her mommy Monkey".

The Drs appointment was fine. She had one Heb B shot and that was it. Per usual, she was very brave and handled it well. The Dr was pleased with the milestones she's reached thus far. Gave us the heads up of what to expect in the coming 6 months - major language development period - and to continue enjoying our Monkey as much as we have.

She also asked if we had a potty for her yet, which we don't. She said it was time to start introducing her to it and talking about it so I'm off to get a potty asap. I've already been talking about it - "come with Mommy to the potty." "When you're a big girl, you'll go pee pee on the potty." But she doesn't own a little potty so we're off to get one. I had actually read this somewhere else - to start potty "training" (even though it won't be full blown training. more like "potty talk" as I'll take her there when I go potty, continue talking about going potty, etc.) at 18 months. With the Drs reinforcement of this 18-month idea, I'm going to try it. It certainly can't hurt to have one here for her to discover and get to know. I guess the premise of all of this is that starting at 18-months, kiddos begin to know/feel the sensation of when they have to potty and also, can start verbalizing it.

Last bit from the Dr. After prying her mouth open, we all discovered the Monkey is literally getting in 5 teeth all at once.  Haven't I always said I blame everything on teething?  She's actually been fine but I don't know how.  She's really working on some serious chomper action in there.  After these 5 come in, she'll be close to having her full set of baby teeth.

Other non-Dr-related updates on the Monkey at 18-months.....this week in particular has been a big one for Eloise.  I've noticed quite a few changes with her and what seems to be major developments. I'll number them.

1) Individual play - the Monkey is getting much better at entertaining herself with playtime. This week in particular. She's completely fine discovering her toys on her own, creating fun little activities for herself and needs little reassurance or entertainment from me or Mike. We can even step out of the room for periods of time (which is entirely new) and she doesn't chase after us. In weeks/months past, she'll want us to create fun games or lead playtime and stepping out of the room was unheard of. So it appears she's developing her own sense of play and also perfectly fine doing this on her own.

2) Kissing/affection/attachment to mommy is waning - Couple of things here all grouped together. I believe staying at home with Eloise has created a situation where she's VERY attached to me. It's been a good thing/bad thing for obvious reasons. Unless I was completely out of the house though, she'd freak out if I wasn't there with her. Even when she was spending time with Daddy. Mike didn't take it personally. Of course it was just a phase but it was just an all-around bummer. Anyway, since Mike's parents were here last weekend, the Monkey has really taken a turn. She was great with Grandma and Grandpa all weekend and has also been great with her Daddy, creating their own special bond. And all with or without me in eye or ear shot.  Awesome! In addition to this, the Monkey is now becoming much more affection.  Remember my "kiss Grandma and Grandpa goodbye" post....she's been giving us warm, loving kisses and hugs all week. Melt my heart, Monkey Girl!  Lots of thumbs up for this change!

3) Language development - the Monkey is getting crazy good at words. I often get asked how many words she knows - including the Dr. asked us - but really, she knows a lot. An actual count? I don't know. And I don't count them as words she knows until she uses them in context but bottom line, she knows a lot. And also, even as of this week, she's getting really good with 2 words together and/or 2 syllabol words.

Lastly for language development, she's really quite articulate.  Just this week she started saying "hot dog." No more will she "arf" at me when she wants a hot dog for lunch. Now she knows the words and uses them. She just busted right out with this one this week and I'm telling you, she says it as clear as day.  So crazy! She's not used "hot dog" ever until this point and now it's like she could order her own at Johnny's Lunch!

I won't list the full list of words she's added to her vocab but some fun ones to note - she's getting great with her colors and letters and even knows some numbers. For her ABCs, she knows from A through H, then sometimes she'll pop out an M or an N.  She also knows the numbers 8 and 9. And for colors, she knows yellow, blue, green and orange. We're working on red but for now, it's also orange. They're so close:)

I guess as far as sizes....she's definitely wearing 18-24 months only. Nothing smaller and actually, she sports some 2T stuff already. Also, her feet are a size 5. Her feet are kind of small for her size but maybe they'll have their own growth spurt over the next 6 months or so.

Yes, we're still dragging multiple monkeys around this place (and the grocery store, and the library, and the....).  Mimi is the love of her life and honestly the one who comforts her first when she's hurt herself. Example - she falls, and as the tears are flowing, she's saying Mimi, Mimi, Mimi as I'm trying to hug her, kiss the boo boo and tell her she's going to be ok. All the while, she's pushing me away and completely 100% focused on finding Mimi. When she does, thumb goes in the mouth, crying stops, and all is right in the world again. I don't take her personally. I promise.

Stairs - she still needs assistance both upstairs and downstairs but she's getting really good at climbing them. And we practice multiple times daily.  She wants to use the railing to help herself, which I'm glad about. Only bummer, it's a couple inches too high for her. Yes, I've seen the kids railings you can put up but we're not going to do it. Instead, we'll keep helping her. But she's getting there.  Maybe another inch in height and she'll have them down pat.

Sticks, trains, dirt, cars, airplanes...the tom-boy Monkey continues. Airplanes in particular right now are a big deal.  Well, airplanes and helicopters.  She can't get enough of them when they fly by our house throughout the day  Thankfully we're on a pretty busy flight pattern and also, we're near a road that gets surveyed for weekday traffic hour updates.  Therefore, airplanes and helicopters galore makes for one happy Monkey.

Ok, orange chair shots....I got them this time! And I really took this on her actual birthday. It's just taken me this long to post them.

Friday's update

Today was finally the Monkey's 15 month Drs appt. The one they rescheduled on me and then I missed. Yes, today was the make-up match.  Here are some stats..

Height: 30 1/2 inches - 25th percentile. She's shrinking!  No, not really. And I've said this before, the "lie the child down on the table and bust our the yardstick" measuring technique really doesn't seem accurate to me but whatever. It's what they do.
Weight: 24lbs 1.5 ounces - 70th percentile.
Head Circumference: 47 cm - 75th percentile. And the head keeps growing. Lol!

The Monkey's in perfect health. We met with the head nurse practioner today - we flip flop between Judy Osbourne and Dr. Amy Ryan and today's appt was with Judy - who said Eloise looks and sounds great. She's right on track with where she should be developmentally. She's growing in a "great trajectory" according to her chart. She's on schedule with all of her shots - 2 more today.  Hep A and the Flu shot (I went ahead and got her the Flu shot, which includes H1N1 in this year's batch. Smart.)  My concerns about her eating and her teeth were null and void.  Eating - she's just a typical 15 month old. She'll eat when she's hungry and I'm not to become a short order cook, which I'm not (mostly). I only freak out and start whipping up 10 meals when she's literally consumed nothing in a day (which has only happened once).  Otherwise I offer her 2 or 3 things and if she doesn't eat, we move on.  As far as her teeth go, Eloise wants to brush them herself and that means they aren't getting brushed. I let her play with the toothbrush for a bit but then I try to run interference so that I can get in there and actually brush them. Problem is she locks that little mouth shut. I've gotten creative though and we now brush them in the bathtub at night, which is helping. She's distracted and laughing and I can give those teeth a few good swipes.  The morning brushing is still a challenge as my independent little Monkey wants to take care of her teeth all on her own. I'll keep working on it.

All else was good with the appt. It was at 8:30am so both of us rolled in there in our PJs. I feel like an 8:30am appt doesn't require a change of clothes.  And so PJs it was.  Oh one other tid bit from the appt. Eloise is drinking too much milk. Still. Agh!  She went from 60-64oz (I know, that's crazy) to 30-32oz after I dropped her and now they don't want her to have any more than 16-20oz in one day. Unreal. The one thing I know - no matter what - that she'll consume and they say she's still drinking too much. Also, I'm to change her to 2% if I want. She's not overweight and there's "much debate about Whole Milk vs. 2%" so really it's up to me. I'm going to change to 2% after this last gallon is gone.  We'll see how things goes as far as dropping the daily ounces because she really drinks her milk. (or as she calls it, her "Dorrrrrrrr" because she gets milk in her Dora cup.)

In other news.....our yard is getting completely dug up today, new soil is being put down and then seed and straw to follow.  Laaaaaaa.........aaaaaahhhhhh!  FINALLY we are getting our much complained about yard fixed. I've promised to be this neighborhood's all-time best waterer with my double-watering-shift-per-day when Mike's out of town and I swear, if it kills both of us, this yard will be plush, and green, and beautiful in no time.  Now a little bit of praying that we lose this insane 90+ degree weather so the grass actually wants to make an appearance and we're good to go.  Next on the yard list......getting a tree planted in the front yard. We're making progress, people. We're making progress.

Tomorrow is the 5K for the little girl with cancer. I'm a pinch miffed by the packet pick-up times and locations but somehow I'll make it happen. I have 2 options. 1) Drive to nearly the South Carolina border tonight sometime between 5 and 7pm and pick up my packet.  Which means I need to drive at least 45 minutes to the burbs to pick up my race number, and really that translates to 45 minutes plus all of the additional minutes I sit in rush hour traffic on a Friday night.....all during the exact same time I typically feed Eloise, bathe her, and put her to sleep. OR.......2) I get the packet tomorrow morning before the race starts sometime between 6:30am and 7:30am, which is also not convenient because as I've said before, I clock my pre-race time to the minute so that I don't have Eloise in the stroller for too long.  Major sigh on both of these sh*tty options.  I'm torn on what to do because sitting in rush hour traffic with a baby who will have had to eat an early dinner and go without a bath and possibly be put to bed after her bedtime sounds just as bad to me as running a 5K with a straight-backed screaming baby who wants nothing more than to NOT be in a 5K race strapped into a jog stroller.  Can someone just Star Flight that race number to me, PLEASE??? Thanks.

Ok, so I believe that's it for this Friday and our update. The Monkey is sleeping and when she gets up were going for a brutally hot run (the only time we could go today).  Have a great weekend!

1 year appt - stats

The Monkey's 1 year Drs appt was today and so I've got stats to fill you in on. Here it goes:

Weight: 21lbs 3.5oz - 55th percentile (Right on par with where she has been so sadly she's not the chunk baby I thought she was growing to be:)

Height: 29 3/4" - 70th percentile (I'm a little suspect of their measuring techniques when it comes to the Monkey's height. Pushing her head up against the wall and pulling out a yard stick just doesn't seem likely to give very accurate results. Especially with all of her hair. Was her head really up against the wall??  Anyway, if these numbers are correct, she's grown exactly 10 inches since birth.)

Head: 46 1/4 cm - 80th percentile (She now has a big melon??)

In addition to the standard measurements the Monkey had 4 shots. Yes, the dreaded MMR was a part of the mix. And come to find out the MMR is 2 shots. But actually, I'm over all of that hub-bub. The (former) Dr. who claimed the MMR shot caused autism has officially lost his license to practice medicine due to having zero scientific basis.  The Lancet completely retracted it's original story. And his claim was totally different than Jenny McCarthy's, which was about the preservative Thimerosal that is no longer even in vaccinations. But I will give the former Doc a serious A+ on creating a full blown international panic on whether or not we should all be vaccinating our children.  After his original claim, the MMR vaccine dropped to all time lows worldwide. There were even outbreaks of mumps and measles recorded, 2 diseases that had essentially been erradicated from this planet.  And that was more than a decade ago but it's a topic that still stirs up extremely heated debates today. Man alive. I'll tell you, I need to learn some new PR skills from that guy. 

Anyway, the Monkey's shots were fast but painful. She cried more than usual and it took her awhile to where I could get her clothes back on and we could leave. Poor thing. I'm a big believer in vaccinations (clearly) but wow, there are A LOT.  They handed me Eloise's vaccination registry on the way out and she's officially current on everything she should be - which totals exactly 23 shots or oral vaccinations year to date. Isn't that crazy?

After our Dr. appt we went out for a run, a steamy one at that and for the second day in a row, the Monkey slept in the stroller. That's really uncharacteristic of her but I'll say today's was 100% related to the shots. It conked her out. Other Dr appt updates - Operation Cow's Milk was approved and was fine to be introduced 2 weeks early. I'll keep weaning her from breast milk and make the full blown cow's milk transition over the next week or so and hopefully with that, not have to bad of a scene to deal with on my own behalf with drying up the ducts. And then guess what??? You won't have to hear about pumping ever again. Hip hip hoooooo ray! I'm as excited as you are. Believe me.

For pics today, I have some that I've been meaning to share of her walking. It'd be better if this was showcased in a video but like I've said before, it's impossible to get. She stops walking. Drops to her hands and knees and crawls towards me all intents and purposes of getting her little mits on that camera so she can eat it. Makes for pretty bad coverage. Sorry.  Nonetheless, here's the Monkey watching daddy and then walking towards me. As far as walking goes, she's at the point now where she walks from room to room - with her hands up for balance which you'll see in these pics - and rarely crawls. It's amazing what just a week has done for her.(The "watching Daddy" pic makes me laugh. He was outside mowing and blowing the back patio and she was mesmerized.) Oh and excuse any of the pics below that are a little blurry.

Friday's update on a Saturday

Thanks to Graham's request - here is our Friday song. Return to Innocence by Enigma. This brings back lots of fun memories - and as I've done this morning, this song was on the "repeat" option on my stereo for quite a few months. (do they even call them stereos anymore? lol!) Thanks Graham!

Well, I was completely off on her weight. She only weighs 18 lbs 7 oz. How is it possible that she only gained 1 oz in the four weeks since she had a cold and was in there? Anyway, that's what the electric scale (probably calibrated just that morning) said so I won't question. She's still eating us out of house and home and she still feels very heavy when I carry her around:)

Consensus from yesterday's 9 month appt, she's our average girl. Of course this means she's average in stats. We all know she's well above average at being our Monkey! Here are the stats:

Height: 27 1/2 inches - 50th percentile
Weight: 18 lbs 7 oz - 50th percentile
Head: 44 1/2 cm - 55th percentile

She also had her last of 3 Hepatitis B shots so that series is done. And they took a blood sample from her to test for lead. I didn't realize they tested for lead but am glad they did. It's more for babies that live in older homes but with the toys (and the amount of books) this baby puts in her mouth, I'd like to make sure she's fine. Are there really toys being sold with lead paint in them? Probably. If they are made in China or anywhere over seas, who knows. Anyway, they will call with the results. And yes, I'm working desperately to break the book eating habit. It's getting wildy out of control. Honestly, it started as a harmless nibble during our pre-nap story time but now that she has 2 bottom teeth, she's widdling holes in books like a beaver. It pains me that I've created this insane habit. I've now lined our story time area with more teething toys than you can imagine. But what does she want?  The books. We'll get there.

I just started "House Rules" by Jodi Picoult and it's about Asperger's Disease (AS). AS is a form of Autism and frankly, both completely freak me out. Even before we had Eloise, if there was ever a story on either disease in the paper, a magazine, online or on TV, I'd stop and check it out. I'm always compelled to read more and more about both and honestly, I don't know where this fixation came from. My heart breaks for parents who have kids with either. I can't imagine having a baby who has no empathy for others or their own ability to feel emotion, can't look someone in the eyes, won't wrap their arms around their mommy and give them a warm hug. I just can't imagine being that parent. Now you can see why I was drawn to this book (and she also wrote the NYTimes bestseller, "My Sister's Keeper", which was made into a movie released last summer. great book.). My compulsion continues to read more about these terrible diseases.

Which leads me to my next subject - vaccines. I'm a 100% believer in vaccines. Eloise will have them all. But with that said, I can't help but admit that I'm scared. The controversy around vaccines and their possible connection to Autism and AS is something, as a parent, I can't ignore. Whether it's rooted in fact or not, I have to read as much as I can and make my own conclusion. I know court cases are being dismissed and families with kids who have Autism are not getting large settlements. Over and over again the American Association of Pediatrics has said there is no connection between vaccines and Autism. But I still worry. I've read all of Jenny McCarthy's books. I think she's funny but of course, I was drawn to them because of her son with Autism.  She even said, the day he got the MMR shot, the spirit was pulled right from his eyes. The MMR shot is given at 1 year. That's our next appointment. And I'm starting to worry.

I get the PR part of all of this. Jenny McCarthy was exactly what that disease and the people fighting for it needed. They needed a celebrity with passion to help the cause. And for that, I understand and respect what Jenny has to say. She's likeable, she's smart and she's passionate about what she believes in and she believes the MMR shot caused her son's Autism.

But then I've also read that the controversy is around the preservative contained in vaccines called thimerosal. Prior to 1988, thimerosal contained mercury.  In addition to this, the amount of vaccines children have been given has been increasing (case in point - Hepatitis B used to be given in 2 shots, now it's 3). The combination of the two meant that kids tested had as much as 100 times more mercury in their systems than allowable.  It's the mercury - Autism connection that has parents up in arms. From what I understand, that's entirely Jenny McCarthy's argument. But then I read that mercury was removed. But was it really removed? Mercury gives these vaccines longer shelf life. Of course they wouldn't lie, right? Is it something other than mercury that is the problem? Are children predisposed to these diseases and the vaccines trigger them? I have a lot of questions. And as I said, it's a controversial topic so I'll continue to follow it. I've got 3 months to figure out what we'll do before the MMR.  She'll have the vaccine, I just don't know when or how.

Anyway, there's my parent rant for this Saturday morning. The Monkey is napping and when she gets up we're going running. Then off to Wendy's baby shower. Another little girl nugget is coming in mid-April!

Here are pics from yesterday's Drs. appt. I had the camera with me because I wanted to get some pictures from her music class (which was immediately following her Drs appt but we were late to so I didn't get pics there). Instead, I at least got some Dr. office pics. You can see the wall paper behind her that always entertains. She did very well with the shot and the needle prick for the blood being drawn (per usual - it's amazing really). It's usually because of the wall paper that helps to distract her. She's a brave little girl.

Odds and ends

Some quick items to jot down before I forget them....

1) Heard about this kids consignment sale yesterday - Kids Konsignment Sale March 13 at the Harris Branch YMCA. More scoop here.

2) When I took the Monkey into the Dr. this past Monday, she weighed 18lbs and 6oz (8 months). This is the first she's been weighed since her 6 month appt. so it was good to finally know.

3) Sleeping at night has been interesting with a sick Monkey. Yesterday, to try and relieve some of her chest congestion, the baby whisperer and I were trying all sorts of tricks and we netted out with a pillow under one end of her mattress. If she stays put while sleeping, it helps stop some of the coughing (post nasal drip is killing her as her nose continues to run like a faucet.)  As I type this, I know it will be the kiss of death but neither Mike or I have gotten this cold yet. Likely helps that Mike is out of town and I'm eating oranges like I have a citrus grove in the back yard.

4) Sadly, running has been a wash this week as the Monkey is sick and I've been really busy. I'm dying to get out there so I may pass up an hour or so of work today and go do 7 miles. If I do this, I need to get going as soon as the baby whisperer arrives (balmy temp of 29 but at least it's sunny.). Running while she is here is counter productive as I need to get work done but it's for my sanity. It's killing me not to run so I need to get out there.

More later...

6 month appt - stats

This morning was the Monkey's 6 month Drs appt and she continues to get stellar reviews. Here's a quick run down of the stats:

Weight - 16 lbs 4 oz (my guess of 17 lbs came up a bit short) - 60th percentile
Height - 26 1/4" - 75th percentile
Head circumference - 43 1/4 cm - 75th percentile

Interestingly enough, one of the first questions the Dr. asked was whether or not Eloise was getting up sporadically at night. Um, yes. Actually she gets up a lot as of late which is crazy because she used to sleep through the night and had been doing so for months. We figured it was teething since she's has what, 10 million teething signs??  Anyway, the Dr. said that all babies go through a phase where they get up at night just to see us. They like to be reassured knowing that we are there for them and that all we need to do is to go into her room, tell her everything will be OK. Eventually she will get over this phase and she'll sleep through the night again. She'll understand that she is fine and that mommy and daddy are close by.  Ok, well what about the endless nights of crazy crying and jaw tugging?  The red cheeks, the swollen bottom lip? The low grade fever and the ferocious biting? Oh - yeah, that's probably teething. Go ahead and give her a teething toy in her crib. Wow. Alright, so starting tonight, (if we feel she is healthy and not teething), we're going to start the "reassure Monkey program" when she wakes up and see how this goes. I anticipate quite a bit of crying from this one. We're to go into her room and reassure her every 5 minutes. Does this sound like sleep training all over again??? Agh.

Other news from today's appt., the Monkey was given two thumbs up on eating solid foods. So rice cereal started today. Once she got up from her morning nap post Dr. appt. I busted out the Bumbo with the attachable tray (product review on this contraption later), whipped up some rice cereal/breast milk soup and off we went. It's soup season! And I'm here to report.....she loved it.  Amazing. I totally thought she'd spit it out, give me some awesome Eloise fuss face and reject any other spoonful coming her way. Quite the opposite went down. I gave her the first spoonful and then another and another and then....get this....she washed it down with a bottle of water!  The Dr. said to start giving Eloise at least 2-4 ounces of water a day and even more if she'll drink it (up to 8 ounces a day is excellent). Really?? I had no idea they should drink water at this age. Apparently the floride is good for their teeth coming in. Makes sense. So the Dr. actually suggested I give her water in a cup. A cup?? Like a sippy cup?  Really??  Anyway, that worked for all of 0 seconds and so I put water into one of her small Dr. Brown bottles and handed it over. We'll revisit the sippy cup at a later date. She knows the bottle and knows there is something good in there so she always lifts it up to her mouth but she doesn't have the "tilt towards her mouth" part down yet so of course, I still need to help her. So cute to watch though. Anyway, she literally took the bottle and drank water. Again, I was amazed. As of now, she's already drank 2 ounces of water today and probably an ounce of rice cereal. Very impressive, Monkey! After 1-2 weeks of rice cereal, we'll start digging into the cornucopea of baby fruits and veggies for this little kiddo. Since today went so well, I'm really excited to get this process started.

Oh, before I forget, the Monkey was yet again a champ in the shot category. She had 3 shots and 1 oral today and really does amazingly well with them. 1 of the shots was H1N1. They didn't have the seasonal flu shot so we have to either call back in a few weeks or take her to CVS or a local flu clinic.  The H1N1 was just the first shot of 2. She'll need to go back in 21 days (anytime after 3 weeks) so I'm hoping they have the seasonal flu shot stocked up at that point so we can get it on the same day. The seasonal flu shot is also 2 shots so again, we'll need to go back. So many shots for such a little baby.

Today's pics and video are of course, of the Monkey eating her first solid food - super delicious rice cereal. I also grabbed a few pics of her drinking out of her bottle, or at least giving it a valiant effort. Oh, notice the towel Mike put down on the floor for her to eat rice cereal on top of. I'm not really sure what he thought she'd do but maybe he was thinking she'd dive into the rice cereal kicking and screaming. Hilarious. As you'll see from the video, she was quite composed during her first solid food eating session. Click here.

Oh shoot - product review of the Bumbo and the attachable Bumbo tray - bad news. She took a few swipes at the tray and pulled it right off. That's not going to work while feeding her. We have yet to purchase a high chair and I was thinking maybe we could get away with not buying one but that's quickly turned into a fleeting thought. The Bumbo is a total bust. She barely sits in that thing to begin with, and so I thought with the tray, it could have a whole new life. Negative. The Bumbo isn't going to work for feeding her either. Maybe I'll find another purpose for that stupid thing. For tonight, I'm going to feed her cereal one last time for the day and try it this go-round in her Hippo chair. The one she used for Thanksgiving. If that works, then we can get away without a high chair for a little bit longer. We'll see how it goes.

4-month appt. - stats

Today was Eloise's 4-month drs appt . She's continuing to grow like a weed and also did surprisingly well with the shots. This appt. included a repeat of the 2-month vaccinations, which was 1 oral and 2 shots. We try to distract her while she is getting the shots but they still hurt her so we hug it out as she has some time to cry. Then we bundled her back up and off we went. In total, the shots and then crying and then leaving was maybe 5 minutes. I'm always amazed at how she handles these.

We returned home to put her down for a nap but she wasn't into it. I have to admit, yesterday's sleep training through me for a loop so now I'm reconsidering - already. I know, 3 days into it and I'm already second guessing the entire process. She still stinks at naps, with or without crying and honestly, this is all really hard for me, and clearly not a walk in the park for the Monkey. I'm going to take today to try and figure something else out as far as moving forward. We need sleep training of some sort but I may go back and try other methods again. Who knows.

As far as the appt. went, Eloise got rave reviews on her progress so far. She's a champ sleeper at night (roughly 7pm - 7am each night), her 2 hours - 2.5 hours of naps each day are adequate for her age. Her skin, ears and eyes all looked great. She performed well in her tummy time task showing the nurse practitioner that indeed she's been practicing and then she showed her how she sits and stands (all assisted, of course). Nice job monkey!

Ok, here are the stats...

Height - 24 3/4 inches - 75th percentile

Weight - 14lbs and 1 oz - 70th percentile

Head circumference - 41 1/2 cm - 70th percentile

Here's the big girl on the porch today.

2 month appt - stats

Today was Eloise's 2 month dr visit. The dreaded 2 month dr appt chock full of vaccines. 3 of them - 2 shots and 1 oral. Lord, I knew we were in for it.

So I was expecting to share with you that the shots were awful and that's what made her cry the entire visit. But instead, the appt was right in the middle of nap time so that was actually the culprit of her 15-20 minute fuss-face meltdown. And - believe it or not - the shots are what helped her stop crying and conked her out for that much needed nap. Made for an interesting morning indeed.

Mike joined us today and thankfully he was there. He was able to rock the baby and try to calm her while I talked to the RN about the vaccines, how the monkey was doing, and get answers to the questions we had.

Questions... 1) Sleepy Wrap for daytime naps - ok or not ok? - "Totally fine. As long as you're ok with it, then it's fine. She'll sleep in her crib for naps when she's ready." I'll continue to try to get her to sleep in the crib during the day time but for now, I'm going to stick to what I know works and it's the Sleepy Wrap.

2) Eating every 3 hours at night - will this lengthen? - "By now, babies are typically going 4-7 hours between feedings. Eloise will get there when she's ready." Good news here, she had a 4.5 hour stretch last night. Also, we are not to be surprised if she does feedings every 2.5 hours during the day. This is her way of "filling up" so she doesn't need to wake as often at night.

3) Tummy time - how much time on her tummy should she have and what should she be able to accomplish/what can we work on? - "5 minutes/day is great at her age. It'll be more as she grows to like it. Moving her head from one side to the other is a great accomplishment - she'll start using her arms more and more as she gets stronger. We should look for her to roll over completely by 4 months. Tummy time is meant to be time for 'car seat babies' to be on their tummies so they don't get flat heads." ...This is when Mike and I looked at each other in sheer amazement....do most babies spend their entire day in their car seats?? Or at least enough of them to win the honor of being called 'car seat babies'?? That is a daytime activity that we haven't tried and likely won't. No 'car seat baby' over here. Ok, so here are the stats... Eloise weighed in at a better than expected 10lbs 11.5 oz. She gained more than 2lbs from her 1 month appt (8lbs 9oz) and puts her in the 50th percentile - a big jump from the 30th percentile at her 1 month appt. Way to go monkey! Her height was 23 inches and the 75th percentile. Another big jump from 50th percentile at 1 month. Awesome! And her head circumference was 39 1/4 cms and 70th percentile - up from 50th percentile. Another 'way to go monkey!' You're growing like a weed! Here is Eloise before we left for the drs appt today. Her neck is getting stronger but she's still a little "bauble head monkey."

 

And then another pre-dr appt video of Eloise talking and playing with her rattles.

 

1 month Dr. appt - Stats

We just got home from Eloise's 1 month Dr. appt. and she's as healthy as a horse. She received rave reviews from her pediatrician Dr. Ryan (who came with her own rave reviews from the Larsons - thanks!). Dr. Ryan is really great. Actually the entire practice has been super so far! Ok, now for the stats... She weighed-in at better than expected 8lbs 9oz (we were expecting 8lbs 4oz), which put her in the 30th percentile. She's eating great and gaining weight great but she's still a little nugget. Her height was 21 and 1/4 inches (she was born 19 3/4) so she's a skinny bean sprout - 50th percentile on height. And her head circumference measured 37 cms, which puts her also at the 50th percentile. She also had her 2nd of 3 hepatitis B shots, which startled her and probably stung a little. She cried it out as we bounced around and checked out the bug wall paper for about 5 minutes and then she was ready to go. Such a brave little girl! Now we're back home and Miss Eloise is already napping (she actually conked out in the car ride home - do shots make babies sleepy? Might be helpful for the dreaded 2 month appt.). She's exhausted from such a busy morning. My next goal is to try and figure out how to get her out of the carrier and into her crib without disturbing her nap. Hmmmm....... (Oh - when we arrived at the Drs office today, she was asleep and had her hands wrapped around Mortimer the Moose. So cute! She hasn't paid any attention to the Moose yet but now she loves it!)