teeth may be coming soon

Last time I went to the store, I picked up some Hyland's teething tablets, just in case I needed them sometime in the near future. And today, I picked up on a few teensy signs that she may possibly be teething. The center of her bottom gum almost feels rough, but I can't remember if it feels that way normally or what. It's definitely rougher than the outer edges of her gums, though. Then this evening I changed a poopy diaper, and it was very slightly greenish and very slightly mucousy. And the past couple of days she's been a teensy bit fussier than normal, but I only noticed that b/c I am with her all day. Even her daddy can't really see any change in her temperament. So maybe some teeth are on the way. I'll have to keep an eye out for any more changes.

For now, though, I'm enjoying her toothless grins:

visit with the inlaws

I had a good visit with the inlaws this weekend. Felt sorry for my poor MIL though. She's been suffering from frequent UTI's and had one over the weekend... laid her up on Sunday with a 102 degree fever. (39 celcius). She'll have surgery this summer to make some repairs to that area. Hopefully the infections will stop then, too.

I took both the wrap and the pouch, intending to use the pouch on my travelling days since it's quicker and easier to pop her in and out than the wrap, and to practice w/ the wrap while visiting. But I never got around to using the wrap. I did get LOTS of comments on the pouch though. L is a quiet baby who usually just looks around at things. Today on the way back, I stopped for lunch and set my food down on a table, then walked back to get some napkins, passing a guy who was sitting close by. On my way back to the table he said to me that he thought I was pregnant w/ a baby's face printed on my shirt... until he saw L move her head. What a start that must have given him. :P

On that same lunch visit, I was sitting in a back corner so I could feed L a little privately. I was soon joined by another breastfeeding mother (she w/ a 2 month old) who also had a toddler. I was pretty much finished by the time she sat down, but we chatted for a bit. I didn't feel like my 5-hour drive was very long at all after hearing her trip... El Paso, TX to Ohio. She said it was going to have taken her 3 days by the time she gets to her destination.

L's newest "trick" is sucking on her bottom lip. Sometimes she just does that, and sometimes she talks while she's sucking on it. It's a good way for her to blow a bunch of bubbles. :P Over the weekend we visited the church that hubby and I went to when we lived there, and everyone said that she looks like hubby. :P Maybe our next baby will be a little mini-me. But that's a long way off. I'm still enjoying this one and trying to give her all the attention she deserves. :)

My next few months are going to be VERY busy. I have another trip planned towards the end of this month, then in May I'm going camping for a week (in cabins w/ showers and utilities... no tents in the woods for me, thank you very much. lol), then in early June I'm going to Indiana, then in late June back to OK to help out MIL after her surgery. Hopefully I can rest a little in July and then possibly make a trip to my family in August. Hubby's sister is arriving from Japan for a visit in August so I'll be able to coordinate a visit w/ her too around the same time.

So if you don't see a blog from me until after August... that's why. :P

babywearing

Since L is my first baby, of course I've been taking tons of pictures of her, then using the memory card to easily upload them to my computer and from there share them online or get prints from Walgreens or whatever. Unfortunately, though, I don't always remember to put the memory card BACK into the camera, and I can't remember where the cord is to get pictures straight off of the camera. It's a bummer, too, because some of those pictures were so cute and I finally caught her BIG grin on camera. She was in a good mood so I made her smile and got it! Oh well, she is so smiley that surely there will be other opportunities to catch it again.

I've borrowed a wrap from our local NINO group, and a pouch. I already have a mei tai and a ring sling of my own. I used the sling when she was tiny, and the mei tai when she got a little bigger and the sling (being a one-shouldered carrier) started to get uncomfortable. But now that she is so good at holding her head up, I want her to face the front when I carry her. I can do that in the sling, but it starts to hurt me after an hour or so. I can put her in a wrap (basically a long piece of cloth) in the same way, and that will hold her on two shoulders. I also want to carry her on my back eventually, but need a LOT of practice and instruction on that. I did manage to get her on my back by myself today, and wasn't unhappy w/ the result.

Yesterday hubby and I went up to the state Capitol to support the pregnant moms who went up there to be presented on the Senate floor in support of midwifery. Our senator loved L and gave her a kiss on the cheek, and let us say why we were there, but then went on to tell us all the "issues" she was having to "think about." Well, L apparently didn't like what she had to say, because twice she spit up right onto the carpet. And of course I didn't have my burp rag with me. It was only little spitups though so no harm done.

Tomorrow going to go visit my ILs since the last time we saw them, we basically just spent the night en route to other destinations. This time I'll get to spend a little more time with them. I'm looking forward to the visit. :)

i've heard of getting an eyelash in your eye... but

Ok so every so often, L will have a random eyelash in her eye. Her eyes don't get red and she doesn't act like it's bothering her, so I usually just leave it be. Well this morning after church, I was letting a lady hold her, and we were talking. Then the lady says to me "Oh she's got an eyelash in her eye." I say that yeah, she does that every so often. But then L turned her face to me, and I saw what was going on. I'd never seen anything like it. A good-sized clump of 7-10 of her upper lashes towards the outer corner of her eye were folded down right where they join her lid, STUCK to the surface of her eye, and then "tucked in" to her lower lid. It really looked like it would hurt so bad, but this didn't look like it was bothering her in the least. Even so, I wanted to move them out of the way. I ever so gently tried stretching her eyelid, so the lashes would "pop" out of her lower lid and back into place. Well, her lashes are SO long (like her daddy's), so these gentle stretches were doing nothing. Plus the lashes were wet now, which made them adhere even more firmly to her eye and become very resistant to popping back into place. But finally, with a little more gentle manipulation, I was able to free the rogue lashes. I wish I took a picture first but didn't have my camera with me. Must remember to take it wherever I go. lol

fit to be tied (and dyed)

I am SO excited! We cloth diaper L, and had been using Fuzzi Bunz, but she is about to outgrow them. I was not dissatisfied with them, but they use snaps and I can't really get as good a fit as I could with velcro. So, we got some prefolds and separate covers to use for her next size in a month or so. But, the Fuzzi Bunz are all kinds of beautirul bright colors, and the new diapers are so bland comparatively. So, hubby said that we could tie dye them. :D :D :D :D Everything I've read online said that it wouldn't affect the absorbency, etc. So I ordered a bunch of dyes and supplies today and can't wait until it comes in so I can have fun! I have 48 diapers to dye. (I also bought several silk scarves that I'll be dyeing also, for L to play with when she gets older.) I'll definitely post pictures when all is said and done... unless all I make is a mess. lol. :)

raspberries and giggles

Well, "almost" giggles anyway. It's just now thinking about being spring here, so L has usually been in a onesie and a sleeper. I was changing her diaper the other day and had to change her onesie too since there was a little leak... but it was very warm in the room so before I put the new onesie on, I blew raspberries on her tummy, and she grinned SO big, and even half-laughed a few times. She's still too little to bust out with a big belly laugh, but even the few little ha ha's bring me such delight.

When she was first born, she felt SO teeny in my arms (but then would look huge when we passed a mirror). Now that she's 3 inches longer and almost 4 lbs heavier, and is holding her head up and smiling and really SEEING me, she just feels so nice in my arms. I just want to hold her and sqeeze her all day. And somehow I don't think she'd mind if I did that. Motherhood is definitely agreeing with me. :)

first shots, playing with her tongue

Well, I went the other day to write a blog entry and got a BIG message saying that they no longer offer free blogging accounts and that your blog will expire at the end of the year. :( So, I asked other message boards I'm on for opinions as to what would be a good site to blog on. This site won, hands down. :) I spent the last several days moving two years' worth of blog entries to this new spot. Finally finished this morning. It was actually a good thing, overall, because I got kindof tired of the way the old one looked and acted. :P I hope to be able to put more links and pictures in there now.

Lydia's doing fine. She was 3 months and 1 week at her appointment, and weighed a whopping 11 lbs 2 oz and was 22.5" long and had a 15.5" head. Shots were NOT fun. The rotavirus one wasn't too bad since it was oral, but while I was giving it to her she had a look on her face like "ew gross, mom, WHAT are you trying to feed me? This isn't milk!" Then came the regular shots. She screamed from the pain of the first poke, and before she could recover from that wound, she screamed even harder (I didn't know that was even possible) at the second and third pokes in the other leg. But then 20 seconds later she was fine. I didn't even nurse her, just rocked her a tiny bit and she was quiet and looking around. I took her home and she ate and went down calmly for a nap. She seemed to be doing OK so I hadn't given her any tylenol yet. But then she woke up 2 hours later SCREAMING. I gave her tylenol then even though she didn't have a fever since she was obviously in pain, but even after the dose, she still screamed for an hour before she was halfway calm enough to nurse. She didn't scream like that again, but 5 hours after the first dose I gave her another dose, and took her temp right before that second dose, and it was 101.5. The office had asked me to call if her temp got over 102. It was bedtime by then, so I took her into bed with us and she nursed and slept all night. In the morning, her temp was down to 99.5 and she was in much better spirits (started smiling and cooing again) so I didn't give her any more tylenol after that 2nd dose. And now that it's been several days, she's acting like she's never had any shots at all, but I didn't know she'd wake up screaming in pain like that. Most everyone else on here who mentioned baby's shots say that "they did fine" or "they only cried a little bit" so I'll probably mention DD's reaction at her next appointment.

But otherwise she really is doing so well. :) Here's a picture of her:



You can see her sticking out her tongue. One of her favorite things to do is "talk" (mostly just an aaaaah sound so far), and when she does this she will stick out her tongue ALL the way, and turn her volume ALL the way up. I am amazed that such loud talking can come out of such a teeny baby. She's so funny, too, because she will just be playing along with her tongue, and then ALL OF A SUDDEN she's at full volume. It's so cute. :) Here's a video:



She finally seems to be grabbing things "on purpose." Her play gym has fishes that dangle from it, and the tails of them are crinkly. She will play on it and "talk" to them, and I'll be over doing something, and then I'll hear the crinkle and look over and she has found a tail and is squeezing on it. :) Her gym is also rectangle-shaped, and I'll lay her down, and several minutes later I'll have to go adjust her, b/c she will have rotated herself 90 degrees around. On her tummy, she can hold her head up decently, and usually does an "airplane" thing where she'll hold up her head, arms, AND legs. But she still doesn't roll over either way yet. OH and yesterday morning I gave her her first shower. :) I got in first and had DH give her to me and washed her, then he took her and dried her off and dressed her. :) She loved it, and it was so much easier than a bath.

on a big sewing kick

I'm still working on my big list of organizing, but I did manage to get my fabric sorted and inventoried, so now I am on a sewing kick before I tackle the rest of my "other" organizing. A few weeks ago I did sew a nursing dress b/c I was tired of wearing two-piece outfits to church. But lately, I have sewn another nursing dress and a matching little baby outfit (complete w/ dress, hat, and little bloomers). Tonight I am also starting a project that may be interesting. I'm making a "twist top" w/ nursing access. I'm on a sewing list and one of the listmembers has instructions for taking a regular pattern and modifying it both for twistiness and for nursing access. I didn't have a suitable plain shirt pattern so I'm using a maternity pattern. If it comes out OK, then I may make a couple more... I had 3 choices of fabric to do it up in and had a hard time deciding.

Baby L is growing. I missed her 2-month appointment due to a clerical error on my dr's office's part, but I was able to take her in and get her weighed and measured. She's now 10 lbs 9 oz and 22" long. She continues to delight me every day.

I'll get to visit family next week. I've been sending my parents weekly pictures of how she is growing, but I've held off the past couple of weeks so they can be "surprised" when I show up in person (by how she looks, not by my showing up... they ARE expecting me. lol). I can't wait. :)

baby girl learns some new tricks

Ahh, I just love my baby more and more each day. She is so wonderful. She's learned a few more "tricks" lately. First one is that she found her thumb and sucks it on rare occasions. But she does so with an open hand instead of a fist, and it looks so cute. I'm used to older children sucking it w/ a fist and the open hand was strange to me.

Another trick she learned is to finally start cooing regularly. She does it w/ a "gargly" sound and is so adorable. And she is also smiling several times a day now, both to me and to hubby. She is such a joy to us and we love her so much. It's almost like she changes day to day at this point. I have to remember to take more pictures before she changes.

I am still active in my work at home thing. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow I'm supposed to take 12 hours' worth of calls for Valentine's day gifts... I'm not sure if I'll make it. There were system issues yesterday and I could only get an hour in, so I need to average 5.5 hours each day. I hope I can make it, but if not I'm not going to worry terribly about it. Hubby and I are going to celebrate V-day on Thursday since Wednesday is church. We ARE taking the baby with us. It's her first Valentine's day so she should get to celebrate too. :)

never thought about "this" part of nip-ing

First off, for those who don't know, NIP-ing is "nursing in public." lol.
So since it's winter and I have a big organization list to do at home (plus I'm addicted to ovusoft and other message boards [l]), I haven't gotten out much. But there is a small local AP group and we try to get together every so often. When the weather's warm we let our kids play at a park and the moms sit and chat. But yesterday it was in the 30's so we went to the mall instead. I brought both a sling and a mei tai since the MT is easier to carry her in, but the sling is easier if she needs to nurse.

So for the first part of the outing she slept. Then a bit later she woke up and I changed her to the sling and got her all situated and we walked and nursed. One of the other laides said "that is so awesome, you can't see ANYthing, it just looks like she's sleeping." This lady has two nurslings and said that she hasn't been able to be that discreet yet.

But the funny part of the story came at the end, when DD was done eating and I was getting put back together. I was trying (in vain) to slip my breast pad back into my bra and since DD was still right there in the sling, I didn't really have enough room. It ended up technically being in the bra, but being waaaay off-center. I didn't worry about it and would fix it later. But one of my other friends saw me struggling to get it in there, and teased me and said "Ma'am what are you concealing there?" pretending to be like a store security or something. :P So I teased back and said "Would you like me to SHOW you?" lol

Not a whole lot else is going on. Our washer needed a minor repair and even though it was out of warranty, they still were able to do a one-time courtesy coverage of it. Hubby's car is in the shop again, hopefully we'll be able to get it back early next week. Lydia is growing well. I made a montage of our wedding/my pregnancy/her birth/her first 9 weeks. http://tinyurl.com/2cpt3y is the link and it is SO cute.