Things To Look Forward To

After the semester ends I'm ....

Getting a massage
Getting a pedicure
Getting a haircut and color
Get my eyebrows waxed
Going to Vegas
Going to visit Karen in Pittsburgh
Go eat at a buffet
Take Alex out and see the world... poor sheltered child.

... in no particular order.

Final Stretch

Please oh please let both Ryan and I survive the next 6 weeks or so.  Right now, we've barely spend anytime together, much less any quality time with Alex.  He'll graduate this May, and I'll have finished my first full term semester... and if I don't talk myself out of it, one more semester to go.  Our schedule consists of very minimal (if at all) amount of free time.  For him, it's wake up, maybe take Alex to my mom's, go to work, go to school 2 days a week after work, and maybe go back to work, come home and work on school work or work work.  For me, it's wake up, if Alex is still here feed her, play for a little bit, morning nap, then when she wakes up, take her to my mom's, come home and do school work or chores, go pick up Alex, or if it's Tuesday go to school and get Alex at 10:30PM or on Thurdays go to school and pick her up at 7:30PM, come home, feed her, bath time, nurse her, and time for bed, then make/eat dinner, sit down and do more school work, then go to bed around 1AM (or later).  Somewhere in there, I fit in a shower.  Sometimes I forget to feed myself and occasionally I have forgotten to brush my teeth in the morning.  :)  We forget to feed Daisy once in a while, but you can never forget to feed the cats.  They won't let you forget.

I need to get cushions for my dining room chairs...

At Daddy's Office

Yay!

It's amazing what can happen over a couple days when mommy's not around.  Alex now takes the bottle and gulps it down.  She even took it from me tonight.  When I got back from NYC, I nursed her but apparently I didn't have enough for her.  She was wide awake, fussy, and sucking her hands.  After I warmed up the bottle, she actually drank all 4 oz.  She saw the bottle and opened her mouth.  That's amazing to me.  Tomorrow I'll have to go out and buy a couple more Tommee Tippee bottles, these things are great!  Only 2 parts, no leakage, and she doesn't gag.

Big UPs to my mom and Ryan for taking care of her this weekend and getting her to take the bottle.  And major thanks to Kristen for watching my baby while the hubbies went mountain biking.  I really appreciate it.

My Hero

Nap Time

She doesn't like to perform for the camera.  She stops whatever she's doing once she hears the beep.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh4TR3cU0vg

Sensitive Child

She is such a sensitive baby.  If you talk to her in a scolding manner, harsh tones, frowns, etc... the look on her face is heartbreaking.  She stops smiling and just stares at you with her big brown eyes.  Then her mouth starts to turn down... and if you continue, it starts to quiver and her eyes will gleam.  Eventually, she'll cry.  It's actually kinda fun to watch, but so sad too.  I guess discipline her in the future will be easier right?  :)  She's a cutie.

Oh, and she startles really easily too.

Bottles Update

It was promising... it was.  She took it a couple times from my mom.  And now she won't anymore.  Sigh... oh well.  Next weekend, I'm going away.  She'll have to drink from the bottle or be hungry.  I just feel bad for Ryan who has to deal with her.  I hope they survive. 

Tommee Tippee

We have the Dr. Brown bottles and Avent. This morning I put some milk in an Advent bottle and let her play with it. She chewed on it but didn't cry. I think it was more due to the fact that she wasn't hungry and I wasn't forcing it on her. She went to my mom's for a few hours while I went to school.  When I checked on her later I was told that she ate some solids and took about an ounce from the Dr. Brown's bottle (tricked again, BTW.)

I went to Babies "R" Us in hopes of finding a couple different bottles to try with the dear dear hope that Alex will miraculously take the bottle again. The baby business must be booming... bottles are expensive. I saw in a standalone rack a brand called Tommee Tippee. Curiosity took me over and I noticed that the nipples were what I wanted to try. Wider base and shorter nipple, they were soft and resembled closer to a real breast than anything else that I've seen. What the hell, so I got one. I also got a Breast Flow bottle to try. Again with wider base, soft nipple but it had a harder piece in the middle. Supposedly it makes the baby suck like they do on the breast. Anyhow, when I got back to Alex I put a couple ounces in the Tommee Tippee bottle and let her play with it. She gummed it and milk got into her... or onto her. Oh well. Anyhow, when she got tired, my mom was actually able to feed her with the bottle. She took down 3 ounces, and only cried for a few times at the beginning. And no gagging like she would with the Dr. Browns. My mom said the flow is too slow... otherwise she would have drank more. I did buy a faster flow nipple to go with the bottle but ended up buying the wrong type. But it's looking promising. Of course, I haven't tried feeding her yet. But that's ok, as long as SOMEONE can feed her I'm good with that. But then... that's also try one. We'll see if she'll continue to drink next time from the bottle.

I haven't tried the Breastflow one with her yet... since (double crosses fingers) Tommee Tippee seems promising.  Oh please please please work.

After doing some research, TT are new to the US.  They're one of the top baby products in the UK and just recently introduced to US.  There are tons of great reviews.   Man... if these work, I'm buying stock.

Tough Love

I don't know what to do. Over the last couple of weeks, Alex has gone from not liking the bottle but being able to be tricked into it to rocking her until she's half asleep and sticking the bottle in her to not wanting it at all. Bear in mind, this is what my mom has to do. I have not given her a bottle in months cuz she just freaks out. Well... now she freaks out period. She'll only take solids and nurse now.

Today, I dropped her off at my mom's so I can do hw before going to class. At an hour before I was supposed to leave, I get a call from my mom asking me to come to nurse her cuz she was freaking out and wouldn't drink anything. The other night, she was going to spend the night at my mom's so I could do hw w/o any interruptions... at 10:30PM I get the call to come and get her cuz she wouldn't sleep and wouldn't drink anything and had been crying since 8. Ryan had to go pick her up. Sigh... what are we supposed to do? She doesn't take the pacifier and never has.

I think it's time to tough it up. My goal is to take one week and ONLY give her the bottle. I know it's going to be rough... but hopefully I'll have the will power to do it. I hate listening to her cry. Hopefully she'll eventually get tired and hungry enough to take the bottle. And I really really really really hope I'm not traumatizing her for life. Oh poor baby.

Logan Came To Visit

Look at the size... 6 months vs 6 weeks.

Some Videos of Alex

In the past few months... even weeks, she's grown so much. Developed so quickly. From just laying around to smiling, to giggling, to smiling at everyone, to realizing she has hands and picking things up, to throwing things that she picks up, and so much more. I love this child. I love the fact that she smiles at everyone but beams at Ryan and I.

Here are some videos:
Alex meeting Wendy the puggle for the first time. Wendy is really interested in Alex. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCtmpxLW_Ms


Alex playing on the floor. I'm trying to make her laugh. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN_2DUOOpv8


Alex is rolling over now! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU4FIUGENto

Milestones

At 6 1/2 months, for the first time she slept 12 hours straight last night. She's been consistently doing 8-9 hours and occasionally 10 or 11 hours. But last night was a first, 12 hours straight! I hope this continues. Usually she'll sleep a total of 12-14 hours at night.

She also rolls over... if you put her on her stomach she'll do it. She half does it when she's on her back.

She can almost sit up by herself... I think in a few more weeks we'll be there.

She can also do consonant sounds now... especially when she's upset. "Booboobooboboobo" Maybe she'll say "baba" first instead of "mama".

She likes solids and is getting better and better at eating.

Unfortunately, she doesn't take the bottle very well. She also doesn't want to nurse until she's ready... which means when she's half asleep and I've rocked her for a bit. My cue to nurse her is when she sticks her hands in her mouth and eyes are half closed. She doesn't take the pacifier and nothing I can do will make her take it. On one hand I'll never have to wean her of it, but on the other hand she doesn't have anything to soothe her except for me when she's upset. Thanks goodness she's usually a happy baby.

She loves her baths. Putting her in the bath is her cue to start thrashing so all the water is splashed out.

Eczema is a lot better since we've been lathering her up everyday with Aquaphor and lotion.

She doesn't have much of an oral fixation. Meaning... she doesn't really put things in her mouth. She'll take something, look at it, pass it between her hands, look at it more, and drop it. Sometime she'll try to put it in her mouth, but usually it doesn't make it there.

Hope I'm not jinxing myself, but she hasn't gotten sick yet. It's only a matter of time.