Six Month Check-up

On August 22nd Grace got her third round of vaccinations.  She was a trooper but I felt extra bad because she was already miserable with a cold.
On that day she was 13lbs 3oz and 25 3/4 inches long. Being 7th percentile weight and 50th height makes pants hard to fit.  They are either too big in the waist or too short in the legs.  Not a big deal in the summer, but winter is coming.
She is perfectly healthy in every way which is great.  Doctor was even happy enough with the weight gain this month that we can stop going every month for weight checks which is also nice.
We were all excited about no more shots until a year, and then he said she'll need a flu shot which is given in two doses so she'll have to get one at eight months and one at nine.
He recommended we start solids now, which I delayed a week as we were traveling, but will start tomorrow.  We'll begin with rice cereal, then oatmeal, then multigrain, then move on to orange vegetables.  We'll start twice a day and then at her eight month check up see if it's time to up it to three times.
I think she's ready, she loves to chew on things and is always watching us eat quite intently these days.  Also sitting in a high chair is not a problem now.
I'm sure Bailey is going to really enjoy this stage!

Six Months/Where did my baby go??

Up until one week ago I still had a baby.  Then she turned six months old.  The changes this week have been incredible.  I have a child now.  Wee babe is gone.  That made me cry.  It's too fast!  I'm not ready for this independent creature!

I put her in size two diapers today.  She probably needed them a week ago.  We had some major poo explosions this week on clothes.  She's wearing 3-6 month and 6 month clothes still.
She still can't sit on the floor completely on her own but she can sit on laps and in chairs and she can push herself over and pull herself up again no problem.
I just stopped swaddling her for bed because she rolls over even swaddled now.
She started reaching for people this week.  Today she even gave me a hug.
She can easily pull her soother out and put it back in, she's reaching for everything and can play with toys now.  She can grasp with both hands and move items from hand to hand.  She's also just started throwing things.
I put her in an exersaucer for the first time and she entertained herself for 45 minutes.
She's practically crawling.  The movement is all there, the bum just isn't completely up in the air but she can motor around pretty well.  Time to childproof I'm thinking!  If we stand her up holding under her arms she'll take many steps.  Her legs are strong.  She likes to stand.
She's vocalizing more and more and I'm even starting to hear things that sound a bit like words.  The laughing is easily received these days.
Even if she's crying, which she mostly only does if she's hungry or needs a change, if she sees someone looking at her she'll crack a huge smile.  She is quite a charmer.  She has the biggest, sweetest gummy smile.  I'm dreading teeth for more reasons than one.  It could be soon too.  EVERYTHING goes in her mouth and she is chewing hard.
She loves dogs.  She is fascinated by Bailey but also loves to look at any dog I found out this week.
And lastly, I'm about to start her on solids.  Rice cereal first, twice a day.

I'm amazed by her every day...and it's a fun age now to play with her but I still miss my wee babe in arms!  Every stage is great, I just wish it would slow down a bit!!

Happy Fourth of July!

3 month picture

05/22/14

                                                                        

One year ago today...

...we found out we were expecting a little one.  We were both pretty shocked, and I was pretty confused on how I felt about the whole thing.  Two days later the nausea started and thus ensued ten weeks of that and immense sleepiness and then several weeks of terrible headaches.  None of that helped me feel better about the whole idea.  But then I saw this:

and I started to feel better, and then the idea, as well as my belly, started to grow on me. 
Now I have a beautiful, easy going, healthy sweet baby and I wouldn't change a thing!  What a wonderful surprise my Grace turned out to be.

Four Months Old

I see I haven't updated in a month...will try and change that!

Grace just had her four month birthday and Doctors appointment.  She is still small weight wise, 6th percentile, 11lbs 10oz, but is 52nd percentile height at 24 5/8 inches.  This girl is long which is making clothing interesting.  We're into 3-6 month stuff now and even wearing some 6 month.  I put some 3-6 months pants on her today, they were pretty big on her waist but shorter than her legs!
Doctor said she was A+ in all areas.  Her eyes are straight, he was impressed with how well she was holding up her head, heart, hearing, all good.  As soon as he opened her diaper she peed so he said "good urine output I see".  So the weight is steady gain if not large gain, so he is not concerned.  I think she looks healthy, we just have ourselves a svelte little girl.  The second round of vaccines were traumatic once again, but this time I knew what to expect and was able to hold her hands and talk to her.  As soon as she ate/cuddled for a few minutes she calmed down and despite being a little needier the next day she had no other ill effects.

Grace has been able to roll over back to front easily for almost a month now but is still having a bit of trouble front to back.  She has done it several times, it just doesn't seem to come as naturally.  She can stand up really well with us holding her and can keep her head and upper body up for long periods of time now.  We had to buy her a bigger mat for rolling practice.
She has also been experimenting with her vocal chords.  Getting some pretty good shrieks these days.  Very talkative, especially in the last two weeks.

Today was Grace's first Canada Day.  Since I am first generation born in Canada she is automatically a dual citizen.  All I need to do is fill out some paperwork to get a certificate that says so.  I was hoping to pose her on my giant Canada flag but it sadly is nowhere to be found so here are the shots I got of her onesies given to her by Canadian friends.

All in all she's a super happy girl, an absolute delight.

Almost three months old?!

I can't believe my little girl is almost a three month old (or that I have to go back to work next week).  There have been an amazing amount of changes in the last three weeks that tell me that it's true though.

We officially had to retire all the newborn clothing last week.  Her growth curve was off at the last appointment and I think we and the Doctor will have to get used to that for now.  Grace has definitely gained weight since her last appointment and has a much chunkier appearance overall (after gaining quite a bit in week nine, Michael said to me "are her legs swollen??" to which I replied "no, she just got fatter like you wanted!" and she's getting much heavier (I've found my arms weights, today was day one of a new regimen, I think I'll need them!) but her real growth has been in her height. 

I read somewhere (and can't find it since) that infants generally gain about 3/4 of an inch in the early months.  Grace has been on more of a 2 inches a month curve.  It would appear she's taking after the Creen side of the family in that.  Therefore, sleepers that were too big two weeks ago are already almost too small, but the 3 month pants while long enough, are too big around her waist.

It was tough saying goodbye to some favourite outfits that were so cute on her.  The one was so tough for Michael that I ended up getting the same one in 3 months and 6 months so he can enjoy it a bit longer.  She's his little strawberry bum.

We've continued doing tummy time twice a day.  She is so close to being able to roll over.  It's actually starting to frustrate her that she can't.  She has the basic mechanics down, I'm sure it's just a matter of time.  She's trying really hard to move forward to, so I'm thinking we might have to childproof our house sooner rather than later!

On May 8th at precisely 1:39pm she laughed for the first time.  Daddy got some good ones out of her later that day but she hasn't done it a whole lot since, not for lack of trying.  She vocalizes a lot though and imitates the sounds we make which is super cute and encouraging for word production later on. 

We've been reading books more lately which has been fun.  She seems to enjoy it and calms down from fussiness.

So Grace will be three months old in two days.  Looking forward to the next three!  Many more changes to come.  Sitting up and rolling over will probably be the next milestones!

10 weeks old

This week Grace was ten weeks old.  After weighing a bit small at her eight week appointment, we are no longer concerned, she's been eating like crazy, so far as I can approximate from our scale she gained at least 10oz in less than a week.  I'm pretty sure she's gotten longer too.

There have been a lot of milestones and new developments.  Babies are amazing, one day she just starts doing new things.  On Thursday she laughed for the first time.  It was so cute.  She hasn't done it since, not for lack of us trying, but I'm sure it will happen again soon.

Yesterday she went to her first cook out which was her first substantial amount of time outdoors.  I don't think she quite knew what to make of it at first.  I bought her some sunglasses but they are still a bit big.

We have been working on her tummy time.  I was doing it just on my chest or in her pack and play, she wasn't super happy about it in her bed but now that we're doing it on the floor it's going a lot better.  Yesterday she figured out how to prop herself up on her elbows and she kept her head up for about five minutes!

I have a feeling we'll need to start baby proofing sooner rather than later!

Easter

Just realized I didn't post Grace's Easter pictures, her first major holiday!  I had thought about taking her to an actual Easter bunny place but their pictures started at $19.99 and who knew how she'd be at that precise moment so I just took some pictures at home and they turned out great.  Thanks to the Hazlewoods for the bunny outfit!

Palm Sunday with the palm branch cross given out at our Church.

 

 

 

 

First Easter bunny, onesie and bib.

The best of the bunch.  Pretty pleased with this one.  She looks so sweet.

Her first dress.

Normally not a big fan of head ornaments for babies but she has so much hair this looked pretty cute.

8 weeks old

On Thursday April 24th Grace was 8 weeks old.  There has been a lot of development in the last two weeks.  She is focusing better, tracking things with her eyes, looking for the source of sounds and grabbing things.  She often holds my shirt or bra strap while she is nursing and has started grabbing her own hair.  She'll probably stop that soon once she realizes it's herself that is hurting her head!

Our favourite new thing is the smiles.  She is now smiling in response to things we do, and they are such wonderful, big, open mouthed delights that there isn't much we won't do to elicit them.  She is just adorable. Along with that is a lot more noises, trying out her vocals and even started to imitate noises we make.  Also super cute.

Yesterday was her two month old appointment.  Her height is good, 22.5 inches, so she is in the 50th percentile there.  She gained a pound and a half, she is 9lb6oz now which he said was not bad, but a bit low compared to her height growth (10th percentile).  It could be because she is starting to move around more, but we requested an extra appointment in a month (usually she would go two months at this point) to get weighed to make sure she is gaining steadily.

To that end I've started pumping a bit.  I need to start doing it more often so I build up a supply, as Mike will need some when I go back to week in less than four weeks now. *sigh*
Also the doctor said that if she still seems a bit hungry after nursing we could give her an extra ounce by bottle.  Today Mike tried to use the bottle and she did a two ounce feed with no problems, so the bottle seems to be a success.  I'm having a bit of a problem with my double electric pump, one side doesn't have much suction, so I'll probably have to call the company.  It's no good if I'm getting better results with the manual pump.

And now the rough part.  This appointment also contained her two month vaccinations.  She had to get one orally and three needles.  Daddy was very traumatized as he had to hold her arms still.  These needles were so long!  I thought they were going to come right out the other side of her leg they went in so far.  We have never seen such a face or heard such a cry from her.  It was pretty awful.  All three of us teared up.  At first we were disappointed the doctor didn't do the vaccines, but it all made sense when the nurse told us that once the children are old enough to remember getting shots they start crying as soon as they see her face.  We don't want our little girl to hate her doctor!  She bounced back fine though.  I nursed her right after and then took her home.  I gave her one dose of tylenol as she seemed a bit extra upset in the afternoon, but I haven't noticed any other adverse effects.  Took all three bandaids off today and she didn't even seem to notice so hopefully that means her legs aren't hurting her.

She is sleeping at night like a trooper.  From week two she was already sleeping for one five hour chunk, but this week we're getting seven to nine hours at once which is great.  Generally she'll sleep for another two or three after a morning feed too which is great.  On the other hand, she's not so great at sleeping during the day, but if I have to pick one I'll go with night!  Trying to get her to nap now, she's kicking up a storm, vocalizing and her eyes are wide open.  Even sleep sheep isn't helping,  It's super cute, but I know she's tired and I'd like to get some pumping done!

So things are going well.  She's adorable and we can't get enough.  Looking forward to some warmer, sunnier weather so we can spend some time outside!