Learning fast

My baby is almost one and a half. Her auntie visited for one week and now she recognizes her and funnily enough shows affection to her by hugging the phone, but was very shy in-person. It was nice to have an extra set of hands and feet to assist with baby.

I can’t believe what time has done. Now my little one points to the diaper when there’s poop inside or even a considerable amount of pee. She’s learning “yes” and “no” in nods and shakes of the head. A few weeks ago she figured out how to say “bye bye” and waves her hand. Her favorite thing to do right now is try to jump off the ground and twirl around in circles. For songs, her favorite has been Itsy Bitsy Spider with all the hand movements (of course) but “Wheels on the bus” and “Twinkle Twinkle” are all-time favorites too. She loves to randomly blink her hands to imitate the sparkles of stars.

She does not like to get ready for naps or bedtime, but she’ll still do it without throwing a tantrum (unless she really wanted to continue doing something).

It’s nice to be able to communicate with my darling more. She also understand much more, and recently has been taking me by the hand and leading me to where she wants me to be to get something for her or play a certain game.

It would be nice to slow down this moment in time, as well as be able to return to it.

Scratches, bumps, bruises, blood

For weeks now I’ve been wanting to record what’s been happening with my little girl. I want to write it on paper too, but can’t seem to locate my notebook so here I am.

For a few weeks now our little girl has figured out our laps are very comfortable to sit in. It has become a place of rest for her. I realized this when one day she just backed up against my leg and sat down on me without warning. I felt all of her weight suddenly plop onto me. It was the cutest and funniest thing to happen in a while, and it still is. I need to make sure I’m positioned right so no one gets hurt (including mommy).

The best is when I’m sitting Indian style and she sits down in the center, ready for me to read her a book or bounce a ball. It’s great because I know she is more calm and focused when she’s sitting in my lap.

It’s also her way of telling me that she feels safe and secure sitting there. Sometimes it’s the best place for her to be when she just wakes up from a nap or she’s tired and wants some peace of mind.

Another development is that she now will throw very short tantrums if she doesn’t get what she wants. It begins with some whining, then slowly laying down on the ground, and then an increase in volume until it hits a high note and then she stares at us as if to say, “I’m upset. What are you gonna do about it?” It’s funny but not. If it involves a tangible object, she will throw said object like a frisbee. She does this with my cell phone when the screen goes black because I turned it off and now it’s useless to her and she does not like that. I’m still working on discipline methods with her. Some just don’t work at all.

With mobility and being able to speed walk comes all types of lessons in the form of bruises, blood, and bumps. Two incidents have happened within two days and it hurts when I failed to catch her or help her avoid the injuries when they actually make her cry. Our baby is a tough one with a high pain tolerance. She only cries if it’s painful. I’d say only 2 out of 10 times she’ll actually cry after falling or hitting something. Just going to continue praying for protection and good health for my baby girl. We have a long way to go.

Simply strong

For about a week now our daughter has been clapping her hands more often. When I sing to her she claps her hands. It is the cutest thing. She also understands when I say, “Claps your hands.” and she does it.

This morning during breakfast, I decided to give her whole strawberries to bite. Our little girl knows how to use her chompers. I’ve been teaching her how to bite down on food and I think she finally gets it. It was amazing to see chunks of strawberry gone when I pulled the fruit back. It seems like a big victory.

During playtime I’ve noticed that there’s starting to be some kind of structure of her play. She has specific things she wants done for a lifesaver toy versus a shape sorter toy–they all have their place. I secretly record her when she’s concentrating on the objects. I’m also figuring out what she’s trying to do with the pieces.

We went to the doctor yesterday. She seems to be putting in more effort to breathe. Turns out she’s been fighting a cold while keeping everything the same. No fever, no coughing, no acting out or crying. It seems she has a strong immune system. Pretty sure she got it from her dad.

All of these milestones and she’s not even one year old. Every day I am amazed by this little beautiful person.

 

We heart blueberries

This is my first blog of 2017. I haven’t been doing well with the updates. I try to keep a physical journal with pen and paper because I think that maybe the internet will crash and I’ll lose all the memories. It’s not easy keeping up with a hardcopy.

Baby has learned to cruise for a good month and a half now, and has been walking along with couch and any furniture that continues where there’s something to hold onto for support. We borrowed a walker from a friend but we’re still getting acquainted with it.

For a few weeks now, baby girl has been throwing food on the ground during mealtime. Just yesterday she learned how to hand items to mommy. When I have a feeling she’s deciding to throw a food item on the ground, I stretch out my hand, palm up, and say, “Do you want to eat it? If not, you can give it to mommy.” She learned quick! She has been handing many non-food items to me as well so it crossed over and she knows it can apply to any object. This really cuts down on the mess I have to clean up later!

I learned she’s experimenting with throwing things. She may not want it at the time but maybe a few minutes later she’ll pick up the same piece of food she threw on the ground and eat it. (Yes, I sometimes pick up food from the ground and put it back on her plate.)

An interesting incident happened yesterday. It must’ve been the circumstances. We had a playdate at our home yesterday and it happened during her morning nap. She was able to sleep for about 40 minutes but woke up and stayed awake. Our friends hadn’t left yet although I thought they’d leave before I put baby in the crib. My child is very alert and likes to know Everything that’s happening around her. The FOMO factor played a little bit into what happened next. So our friends leave but then the lawnmower workers start doing their thing. My daughter just woke up and usually needs physical contact for a bit before she’s worked up the nerve to play alone. The sound of the lawnmower really scared her. They mow the lawn the same day every week and she knows the sound. For some reason it really freaked her out yesterday so no matter what I did she cried… and she cried much louder and harder than usual. My heart broke but I had to prep lunch.

Eventually, with food in her belly she was able to get over it for the most part. But anytime she even heard the faintest hint of a lawnmower she’d lose her shit.

She’s now able to distinguish food flavors and she Loves fruit, of course. She will always choose the fruit over any other food. She’s not crazy about bananas though.

I’m trying out different feeding methods. I did the place all the food in front of the child at once and let them feed themselves so the mom can also eat method. I’ve learned that this stresses my daughter out. She’ll start to swat at her ear and hair. So I limit the quantity and variety at any given moment. Some items are better fed with a spoon and some are better hand-fed while still some are best left for her to use her own hands.

She still loves broccoli and I’m going to milk that as long as possible because she’s already over spinach, unless it’s on top of pizza. She’s crazy about all types of berries, especially blue. I learned tonight that sometimes the way she’s fed certain foods makes it much more fun and enjoyable for her. I always love to see the look on her face when I place a tiny clementine slice in front of her and she picks it up. She gives me the most happy smile as if she’s saying, “Orange! I love this. Thanks mommy! I’m going to enjoy every bite.”

 

Another Wellness Checkup

Our baby girl got another round of vaccinations today, plus the flu shot. It’s a two-parter for babies. We’ll have to go back in a month for the second part to the flu shot.

Her growth has been wonderful, and we are just thrilled! Always good to see the pediatrician and get answers to questions as well as reaffirmations on what we have been doing.

I think the flu shot has caused fatigue. She was extra fussy tonight and kept putting her head down or against something. I think she was overly tired. She fell asleep right when she touched the crib. Sweet dreams my darling.

Messy Morning

This morning I finally experienced the stereotypical baby scenario. Everything that could go wrong did. But it can always be worse so it’s still a blessing to not encounter the things that did not happen. The day is always connected to the previous day(s) so here’s the backstory:

One of our friends just had a baby boy and we visited them last night. They’re not particularly close by and the night turned into a late one. We even had to cut out our baby’s bath and reschedule that for today.

It was close to 9PM when we headed home. Eight PM is already late for our baby to hit the crib. These off-schedule occurrences give me small anxiety attacks. I mentally had to prepare myself. It was a visit for a new baby so I had to just let things slide.

Daddy gave her a wet towel “bath” and we put her in the crib right after. We went to bed around 11PM.

Then this morning inevitably arrives. Our daughter audibly wakes at 5:30AM. I’m guessing she woke up around 5:20AM but stayed silent. It’s too close to her usual wake time for me to reswaddle and do all that. After taking a minute for myself I pick her up and change the diaper. All is going well. I even have energy, and actually feel awake… like a human.

She’s been eating solids for about two weeks now so we’re still getting the hang of it. All three of us. I haven’t frozen anything but it’s going to have to start because pureeing food while baby is awake equals Bad Idea. This is exactly what happened today. While blending the peas, I believe I exacerbated my darling’s fussiness. She cried more. So guess what mommy did? I fed her cold pureed peas. No way in hell was I going to wait for the food to heat up, and have her suffer through another six whole minutes.

Things just went downhill from here. It was an accumulation of spitup. And it’s not regular baby formula. It had prune juice in it. A precautionary measure I’ve been taking per our pediatrician’s recommendation to avoid baby constipation, discomfort, and tears. I’m sure you can picture dark brown stains on onesies, the changing pad cover, the playtime blanket… it’s just an award-winning mess.

Also, the lighting in our home is seriously lacking which makes it difficult to see things for what they really are. I didn’t even see the diaper rash that’s been forming on my little one until I had her right next to the living room window this morning. Good thing I decided to change her there, for some odd reason. Right after applying diaper rash cream but before completely donning the new diaper she peed. Of course. I caught most of it and nothing was seriously wet so I just closed it up and put her in her crib. No serenade this time. It was 30 minutes past her nap time. She fell asleep when her head touched the pillow.

A vacation including a full-body massage and champagne is needed.

Through the tears

Today was tough. The tiredness hit hard this morning when baby woke a little before 6AM. I must’ve been in deep REM. My husband had to leave for work around the same time so it was going to be just me and baby. I was praying and hoping for a good start. After a not-so-good morning nursing session, I wasn’t going to keep trying like I usually do. It was time for the bottle. She likes to grasp and hold the bottle while she’s eating. She also likes to move her head from side to side. This prolongs mealtime because she’s still getting a grasp of what her hands do and what pushing and pulling does to objects. It was a struggle–nothing out of the ordinary, but this morning I couldn’t deal.

After a good amount of time I checked the level and she didn’t eat as much as I had hoped, that she could’ve eaten in within that time. I decided to just take a moment and hold the bottle. I didn’t want to fight her.

As I stared out the window at the quiet, the sky still a canvas of dark evening blues and greys, I thought about having a nanny or someone to just assist me for even one day out of the seven and how much that would help. My sweet little girl was not making any sounds. She was patiently waiting for the bottle again. I closed my eyes and felt the deep sleep calling but I didn’t embrace it. I accepted this moment in time and continued feeding her. Ironically, she fell asleep when the bottle was almost finished. I chuckled to myself and wished we could switch places. I gave her a minute and then sat her on my lap to burp her. She woke up but quickly fell asleep for just a second before opening her eyes wide and giving me a big smile.

For all her meals today our darling only ate for five minutes on one side and a few minutes on the other. I was So Hoping she’d continue to feed and do one of those drifting off to sleep slow meals. It would’ve been perfect for breakfast because we had an early start but she was rowdy and moving around so much–awake enough to do what she’s been doing more of recently and that’s turning away from me and playing with her toes. It’s not so cute when she’s evading breastmilk to hold her feet, which don’t give her nutrition or antibodies. Sigh… children and their lack of foresight…

It’s just been a domino effect since breakfast. You’d think parents should be able to control their children and get them to do what’s best for them. But it’s difficult when their applying counter pressure with their arms and legs to your every move while screaming the ugly cry. I began tearing up during her dinner from rejection and the thought of her not continuing on my breast. Then I picked her up and sat her on my stomach while talking to her and laughing. Sitting on my stomach always makes her happy so she slowed down her crying and couldn’t help but laugh while crying and it made me laugh even harder. Both of us just laughed with sad tears in our eyes. Good thing we can regroup and try again tomorrow.

Little ticks and tocks

I think it’s time for me to have more dates with other moms and their babies. I’ve been itching to get out of the house more, yet part of me wants to stick to the schedule as closely as possible. I have the mindset that it’s all about baby’s health and we have to start off right. When our daughter’s schedule is derailed because of an outing or event it causes more fussiness and tears which translates to less sleep for everyone. This bothers me every time. You know that achy feeling that comes when it’s 10PM already and baby’s still awake and moving around because she is beyond tired? And you know she’s wanting to adjust so she’ll wake up at the same time she has been waking up.

Perhaps it’s best to take tiny steps. We can start off with only afternoon outings for the foreseeable future. Difficult, but I’m going to try to be home after 8pm. Time is cruel.

Toes and Solids

Baby has found her feet and love grabbing them when she remembers they’re there. This is really helpful when I’m changing diapers. My wrists were hit hard from carrying her and I’m trying to prevent them from getting worse.

She also has a sixth sense and a powerful radar. One night she was crying and wouldn’t go to sleep. When the crying stopped I went in to check on her but stayed out of her line of vision. She was drifting off but then suddenly turned and stared right at me. I left as fast as I could but she already saw me. Oops!

Our doctor said we can start her on solids now. I think it’s OK to wait another month. I will be researching healthy yet yummy pureed options during this time.

Happy Birthday America

This past Independence holiday weekend was intense for all of us. It started on Saturday morning with a BBQ and Pool party, then family in-town on Sunday through Monday, and to finish it off another BBQ and Pool party Monday afternoon.

Our baby girl had her first pool experience on Saturday. This included changing into a swimsuit, applying sunscreen, dipping with daddy, floating with mommy, and experiencing the sun and humidity. It was a pretty big ordeal. I already knew it was going to throw off her schedule, as events usually do. I opted for a tank top with a sparkly heart and a baby swimmer bottom. Little did I know the sparkles would get everywhere–all over my chest and on our little one’s entire head. It was a pullover. Duh right? I didn’t think about it.

Having sparkles get all over me isn’t great because I’m nursing and carrying her most of the time. We won’t be wearing that piece anymore. Plus, it’ll most likely only fit her for another week or so and I don’t foresee us going into any body of water between now and then. For the next two days I was finding the little buggers in her hair and on her face. They’re mostly gone now Thank God!

I went shopping for a safe baby sunscreen the night before. And did some research on the brands. Target only had Aveeno Baby, California Baby (teeny tiny roll on stick), and Neutrogena Baby. Neutrogena had a lot of active ingredients whose names you can’t pronounce fast unless you’re a pharmacist or doctor. Aveeno is acceptable if you don’t want to dish out lots of moolah. California Baby is top notch but they only had the stick. I would’ve paid for the lotion if they had it. I went home empty-handed and decided to order online. We ended up using a friend’s kids sunscreen.

The heat and sun were scariest. I was concerned about the amount of sun she was getting and being around the grill and not being able to escape the wet warm blanket that surrounds us all during the summer months. My husband gets easily distracted if there’s a lot going on and there was. We were hosting and also trying to juggle the little one.

She was exhausted and crying during her bath after being poolside. I decided to wash her before feeding her. She was covered in sweat, chlorine, sunblock, and other people’s sweat.

Needless to say we decided she isn’t going swimming at our friend’s party yesterday. She was outside for a while but there was much more shade. I dipped her feet in the water for a bit.

By the end of the weekend she was super beat. It took her one hour to stop fussing, crying, and to finally fall asleep last night. Part of me doesn’t want to put her (and us) through that much again, but part of me thinks it’s also good for her to experience what life is really like. It’s not always on the same schedule day in day out.