St. Paddy's

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

4 months

Happy 4 months!

The last two weeks have been the hardest yet. Everything was going great, we seemed to be finally getting into the swing of things and have somewhat of a schedule. Although, she still isn't sleeping consistently through the night…she is up multiple times to have her pacifier replaced and sometimes needs a bottle around 4:30 am. But then I was chosen to go to a leadership conference for Junior League. Nathan and Mom agreed to help me out so that I could go. It was a bittersweet trip. Of course, I was excited to go but it was also the first time I'd been away for so long (3 days). The meeting was in Ft. Lauderdale, FL….and was a much needed break from life and our horrible winter! 

I travelled with three other women from JLCR (Liz, Natalie, and Katie) and we had a great time learning and soaking up a few rays of Florida sun! I saw Mayor Rudy Giuliani in the airport on our way home. We had a rude awakening when we returned! It was -6 when our plane landed. My car BARELY started in the airport parking lot. Ugh! Why do we live here!?!?

Mom and Nathan gave me good Viv reports over the few days I was gone. She was asleep when I returned home that Sunday night (my babysitters reported she slept most of the day Sunday which is unlike her). Monday morning when I took back over baby duty she was really fussy all day. She also felt warm to me but I thought maybe I was just imagining it and that maybe I'd forgotten what she felt like since I hadn't held her for a couple of days. But the fussiness continued, so I took her temperature- 102! I called the pediatrician and they recommended Tylenol. It brought her fever down and she actually didn't sleep too bad that night. But Tuesday was a whole new day. She remained very fussy even though her temperature remained normal. By the end of the day, I was fit to be tied. I was worried she had an ear infection, so of course, I didn't call the peds office until late. We got an appointment for Wednesday morning. Nathan came home from work and she was inconsolable. Her appetite was definitely off as well. I'd given another dose of Tylenol but it didn't really seem to make a difference. We decided to take her to the emergency room. Better safe than sorry, right?!? Of course, about half way there she stops crying and actually falls asleep while we were waiting for the doctor. Even when he woke her up she flirted with him during the entire exam. Her ears checked out fine and we went home….after about 2.5 hrs (I think we were home by 11:30pm). All in all, it wasn't a bad visit and was shorter than we both expected. We kept our appointment with our pediatrician the following day. Again, all was well. She weighed 12# 2.5 oz. So, I guess we have survived our first virus. God help us through teething and when she really gets sick!

Spring may actually be on it's way. The first day it was to get over 40 degrees I loaded her up in the baby Bjorne and Nathan's ski coat and we went out walking. She fell asleep. The snow is just about all melted. Hooray!!

Her hair is getting longer. Ha! 

She went to her first wedding…and wore her first pair of shoes. She was perfect the entire day. There was a short video played at the beginning of the ceremony and we were all so engrossed by it that we didn't notice that her headband had slipped over her eyes! Parent FAIL! But she didn't protest, she just sat there like it was a sleep mask….she didn't utter a peep. I really wish I'd thought to get a picture at the time. I'm guessing that's not always gonna happen :(

I've been so excited for her to turn 4 months…cause we can start to do cool things like eat rice cereal and roll over! So far, 4 months has been off to a rocky start. Here's the reaction I've gotten to the rice cereal...

Apparently, she's not a fan. And she continues to hate tummy time. I did see her roll over once the other day when I had her on my bed, but I think it was a fluke. She's definitely getting stronger but she still doesn't really seem to know she has arms. She loves to stand up. She's stopped 'cooing' and has started screeching and making 'eh-eh-eh' sounds. She LOVES to look at herself in the mirror and frequently 'talks' to the baby she sees looking back at her. I've tried to video tape her mirror sessions…but just like always, whenever she sees the camera come out she clams up. She's found her hands! And chews on them constantly. She frequently gags herself cause she's trying to shove all of both hands in her mouth simultaneously. 

She's eating anywhere between 4 and 6 oz of formula at a time. Her right tear duct remains plugged and so her right eye is still goopy. She still is not consistently sleeping through the night. I tried once again to get her to sleep in her crib as we are both exhausted. Again, parent FAIL. I tried to let her cry it out….I lasted about 20 minutes. So, she's back in the rock-n-play next to our bed. I try to get her to nap in the crib during the day…but her naps only last about 45 min-1 hr. One thing we've actually succeeded with in the last two weeks has been having an earlier bed time. I've been trying to read the baby books everyone has recommended…but who has the time?!? Instead of waiting for her to go down about 10-11 pm, I've started trying to get her down around 8 pm. She's actually gone down much easier than I expected. The 'experts' say sleep promotes sleep. I certainly hope so! 

It got up to almost 50 degrees on Monday. So we went out walking. We walked everywhere we could possibly go! It was beautiful out! We were out about two hours total. She did great…Wrigley on the other hand needs some help walking with the stroller. 

I think I might be able to see some green grass coming up….but maybe it's just my imagination.