The Baby Page - Lila's First Year
If you're new to this page, and you want to read about my pregnancy, go to this page and read backwards. If you want to read the latest about Lila, you'll need to go to her main news page. You can read about her first year on this page and her second year here. Start at the bottom to read it in order.I've password protected the bulk of the new photos of Lila (my daughter) from 2004 forward. If you're a stranger to me, you'll still be able to see occasional photos on her main page and updates about her on this news page, but the great majority of the new photos will now be restricted to my family and friends. I hope you can understand. It's one thing to have my life on parade, but it's another to have my daughter's out there. If you're a friend or family member who has forgotten the password I sent you, or if I missed you when I went to send it out, and let me know and I'll get you the info you need immediately!
10/21/04
Lila is just a hair away from being a year old. Let's just all pause and reflect on that.I've been remembering (I would NOT call it "reminiscing") about her birth and what all was going on roughly this time last year. I can't believe that she's already been in our lives for a year. On the one hand, it seems like she's been with us forever. On the other, that we've only had her for the blink of an eye. I feel so lucky to have her in our lives, and to have so many loving friends and family members to share her with. On that point, I guess she's lucky, too. Thanks, everyone!
OK, so on to the updates. If you're only here for the photos, you can skip down to them now.
On the health front, both Lila and I have been well, YES WELL, since our last update. Let's toast to health! :) It means much more when you have a little perspective on what having a sick child is like.
I don't know her weight or her length this month; she goes in next week for her one year checkup, shots and bloodwork. I'll know then, and maybe I'll put an update up, or maybe I'll just wait until next month. Speaking of bloodwork, we had her hematocrit redone (testing her iron count/red blood cell count) since it was low two months ago, and it's "perfect". They're recommending that we continue on with her supplements, especially since she's so picky now with her eating, so that's what we're doing!
She's going through a thing where she's not saying any words anymore. Mom said that normally, you'd worry a child like that was losing her hearing, but we can tell Lila has excellent hearing, so we've decided she's just storing it all up. I think she's going to be one of those babies who suddenly starts talking in sentences. She really doesn't say "dada" or "baba" (for "bottle") or anything like that. These days, she says "mama" for just about everything. :) Lucky me. :)
Hugging and kissing are both on the rise, especially to her baby dolls (she now has three, as of her birthday party) and to her stuffed animals. She loves it when her stuffed animals kiss each other, or kiss me or Lane. We're going to Storytime at the library every week now, and she's loving it. She claps and tries to dance and loves the "teacher". We tried to go to a puppet show yesterday, but she was both too young and too tired, so we left early. She does, however, have her very own library card! We check out books every week!
She has a new upper tooth (top right lateral incisor), bringing her Grand Tooth Total to five. Don't put your fingers in her mouth; she'll bite you. :) We've actually had a few incidents where she's bitten my stomach or shoulder HARD and I've fussed at her and she's cried, she's so sensitive to my feelings. What's very interesting is that both times I fussed at her, she then pointed to my own mouth and then to where she bit me, indicating to me that I bite her in the same places, and it's funny then, so why isn't it funny when she bites me? Seriously, that's what she's saying, whether you believe me or not. So now we give kisses where we used to nibble, and we've had no further problems.
Her eating has improved again, but she'll still only eat what she can pick up on her own. She has serious "texture issues". She'll poke something with her finger, and if she doesn't like what it feels like, no way is she going to eat it. We have discovered the wonder of the omelette. I can put almost anything (peas, carrots, ham, chicken, spinach, broccoli, etc) into an omelette and she'll eat it. One of my mommy friends turned me on to veggie pancakes, where I shred raw squash, zucchini, sweet potato, eggplant, etc into pancake batter and she has no idea! By hook or by crook, we'll get those veggies into her! She's also now condescending to eat warm food. I'm not sure she's happy about it, but she's doing it!
She is still understanding so much of what I say. Now that she understands that things have names, I can name something once, maybe twice, and she will remember it for weeks. She's sleeping more and more at night (close to 12 hours) and her bedtime seems to be moving earlier and earlier in the evening (now between 9:30 and 10), but she's still known to stay up as late as 11:30! :) She's a night owl, like her mommy and daddy!
She loves to hold the hose when she plays in the doggy pool. She loves to watch the radar on the weather channel. She went through a phase a few weeks ago where she kept sticking her arms and legs through the bars of her crib while she was sleeping and then waking up crying. (Thank goodness that's stopped.) She's started sleeping curled up around two blankets we put in the crib. She LOVES baby dolls of all kinds. She can now put three different shaped blocks through their matching holes in the top of her Fisher Price toy. She can now climb up on the sofa when I'm not watching. She can't walk yet, but she's taken one or two steps on her own before sitting to crawl. You can see her actually THINKING about walking from time to time. She has also discovered her nose, and will often stick her finger or her thumb into it. We're trying to get her focused on her ears instead, but so far, no luck!
Because Lane and I are going to be out-of-town for her actual birthday weekend (this coming weekend), we had her birthday party this last weekend. It was well-attended by family and friends and she received WAY TOO MANY gifts. The running themes seemed to be Elmo (puppet, talking doll), puppets in general, clothes and musical instruments. She could now, truly, start her own grrrl band. She has two sets of maracas, two sets of castanets, a drum (with sticks), two keyboards (one is actually sort of a synthesizer!) and two tambourines. I tell you, she's SET!
Please see the notice above about the password protection on her new photos if you haven't already. For those of you with the password, you can see new photos of her beginning here. There are a TON of photos, something like eight pages, but a lot happened this month!! :) (Plus, we're making up for last month!!)
9/21/04
Lila is practically 11 months old! The last months have brought some serious excitement/experiences. Just a few days after my last update, I became ill with a serious virus that I then gave to Lila (Lane, fortunately, was spared). This is a pretty long update, so if you're only here for the photos, you can skip down to them now.Lila ran high fevers for five days, 103.5 - 105.4 degrees, from a Wednesday to a Sunday, with the worst days being Thursday-Saturday. She ran low-grade fevers off and on for following three days, Monday to Wednesday. At its worst, the fever caused delirium dreams, chills, and we suspect, a mild febrile seizure (very frightening). She went to the pediatrician on the Friday (one of her worst days) for a battery of tests, including x-rays and bloodwork, and it was determined to be FUO (fever of unknown origin), probably related to an undetermined virus. Because of the lingering cough we had, my GP (not Lila's doctor) told me a few weeks ago that he thought it was a relative of the whooping cough virus, and that it was going around. He said Lila's vaccinations wouldn't protect her from it, and that he thought that's what we had. ?? Who knows? Whatever it was really wasn't fun for anyone.
We medicated her aggressively with alternate doses of ibuprofen and acetaminophen the entire time (we feel ibuprofen was more effective and longer-lasting). Also, every hour and 1/2 or so, we placed Lila (with me) in a lukewarm bathtub, with water just below her chest, for twenty or thirty minutes, with me sponging water on her head and shoulders the whole time. When her fever was over 103.5, she cried like we were killing her, but her fever would always drop 1-2 degrees after each bath, so it really helped. None of us slept very well for several days, our medicinal and bath schedule was so stringent.
Fevers of over 104 caused her to cry uncontrollably, but under that, and she could usually sit and play or at least just sit quietly. At no time was she lethargic or non-responsive (thank goodness), and she also continued to drink water during this time. She had very little interest in food or nursing, and lost weight during this time. When we weighed her on her 10 month birthdate, she had only gained four ounces - but she still grew 1/2 an inch. At 10 months, she was in the 35th percentile for her weight and the 80th percentile for her height. We were very lucky she wasn't vomiting or having diarrhea, or I know we would have ended up in the ER getting IV fluids. We almost had to go that Saturday night (as per orders from my pediatrician), but fortunately, her fever stayed beneath 104, so we didn't need to go.
We had gotten extremely concerned when her temperature went over 105, but our pediatrician said that there's really no difference in level of concern of fevers of 104 versus 105. They're both equally alarming.
Fortunately, after almost three weeks of not feeling well with fever and a cough, she and I began to emerge from the cocoon we had built at home and to get back to the world. The side-effects of this illness were that she quit trying to stand on her own or trying to talk for several weeks. We also stopped nursing, something that really upset me for a while. I had really wanted to go for 12 months or longer, but after she pretty much only drank water for two weeks, when she wanted to nurse again, my milk production was so low that she was too frustrated to continue to try and I didn't want to force her. I'm feeling better about things, but it was hard to go through at the time.
Lila also developed a RAGING case of separation anxiety, months late (it's usually 6-9 months). I couldn't even turn my back on her in the same room without her going ballistic. I think it's because we were together 24/7 for three weeks, leaving the house only to go to the doctor. Even in the night we were awake ever two hours or so. LUCKILY, this passed after about three weeks, which is nice, because it made even doing simple things like laundry difficult, because I couldn't gather clothes and take them to wash without her panicking and screaming.
Since the illness, she's gaining ground again. She's standing like a champ, and can stand and squat to pick something up and then stand again. She's saying "Lila" clearly over and over and over again, as well as trying to say "hello". FINALLY, she's starting to put things INTO boxes, as opposed to just emptying things. She's giving hugs. (That's the best part, take my word on it, WAY better than kisses.)
She now has four teeth, with the new arrival being her upper right-hand side. Her top teeth are HUGE and you can really tell they're bothering her, because she chews her fist, her fingers, our legs: anything she can get her mouth on.
As for feeding, she will no longer eat anything I feed her personally; everything must come from her own hands or from a spoon she is personally controlling. I'm also SO GLAD (haha) that I hand-made so much of her baby food, as I did when she was first starting solids, since now all she'll eat are hot dogs (turkey dogs, low sodium), grapes, lima beans and from time to time, scrambled egg with cheese. Yesterday, she ate some watermelon. I think she's trying to give me a nervous breakdown. She went from eating anything and everything I offered her to eating almost nothing. For a while, I was making her tiny meatballs made with lentils and hormone-free beef with tomato sauce, but now she won't touch those either. Tortellini, one of her old favorites, is now, apparently, poison. Say it with me now: this is a phase, this is only a phase.
She also likes her food, and her water, ice cold. If her eggs are warm, she won't touch them, but let them sit in the fridge overnight and she'll be much more inclined to eat them. She likes to stick her hand into large glasses of ice water and just grin and grin. I guess she'll like winter!
She's now "mugging" both the dogs and the cat. She'll corner them and fling herself on top of them, all the while chorteling gleefully. She was in her bedroom while I was fixing her lunch today, and I heard her talking to herself in this particular way, so I went back to see, and she had pushed Pumpkin into a very small corner and was, it appeared, licking his side while she threw herself on him. He was pretty happy to be rescued, and I gave him a pile of treats for not scratching or biting her. :)
Her level of comprehension (as opposed to communication) has increased exponentially this last month. I can say so much to her and she understands. You can believe this or not, but she can easily identify 15 or more different books by name and retrieve them on command, and she knows probably the same number of her toys by name. She can identify people from photos and is starting to understand the concept of "soon". She LOVES to show me her tongue.
She has an EXCELLENT memory, one that spans at least three weeks that we know of. For example, she saw this vent at my mom's office that was turning, and she got all excited about seeing it turn. When it turned off, she kept showing us that it was off. Over three weeks later, when we went back to the office for the first time since then, she showed it to us again and wanted us to turn it on.
She is very observant. She shows me when I change my hairstyle or have fresh color or am wearing mascara or lipstick or earrings. She says "ooooo, ooooo" and pokes whatever it is.
I'm starting to give her choices of one item over another, and she'll indicate her choice by pointing. She LOVES to choose and is delighted that her will is influencing the world around her.
She's loving to swim and to go to the park and to swing. She will launch herself from a sitting position on the side of the pool into my arms over and over and over again. She's fearless!
We've made some wonderful new "mommy friends" with little girls close to Lila's age. (Amanda, wonderful Amanda, introduced us - thank you, Amanda!) We're meeting once a week to go to a park or swimming or whatever. As it get cooler, we'll go to museums or each other's homes, etc. I think it's great!! I made some good contacts through my birthing class, but no one that worked out to be a friend I see on a regular basis. I think it's really good for Lila to have this kind of contact with kids her age, and I know it's good for me too!!
She's growing like a weed. She grew 1/2 an inch this last month. She is now solidly into the 12 month sizes, length wise, and RAPIDLY gaining on the 18 month sizes. This week, she weighed 20 lbs and was 29 1/2 inches in length. This is the 40th percentile on her weight and the 80th percentile for her length.
As for me, I've managed to get my weight down now to one pound below what I was at my "average" pre-pregnancy weight (before the "Carnaval Diet"). Comparing myself to measurements I took when I was approximately the same weight I am now, here are my stats:
What has happened now is that I am "thick" around the middle. I'm looking more like myself everywhere but around my waist, where most of the weight has settled. Hopefully, as I continue to shed the weight, that will lessen. I'm actually pretty excited about finally seeing some progress - you'll see it below mostly in my lower body and chest.
I have new photos in the "going down" set where you can watch me lose weight: front animation (going DOWN), side animation (going DOWN).
Please see the notice above about the password protection on her new photos if you haven't already. For those of you with the password, you can see new photos of her beginning here. Because of our being sick for so long, there aren't many photos of different things, but I put several photos up of the SAME events to make up for it. :)
8/4/04
Lila is just over nine months old and time continues to speed by. She is literally changing week-to-week, sometimes day-to-day! The development that is going on during the months since her birth is just amazing. Mom reminds me that this is an unparalleled time of change and growth, mentally and physically, in Lila's life. When I think that just a few short months ago, she was still mastering sitting and using her hands, it's truly amazing.Lila can crawl like a run, so fast you can hardly believe it. She can walk easily holding onto furniture and can go from one item of furniture to another (like from the sofa to the coffee table). She is standing alone for periods as long as five seconds. She always seems surprised to be doing it. :) She can wave, clap and has just learned to give a "high five". Next trick: blowing kisses.
Babyproofing, phase one, has been completed. There's a gate on her nursery door, all bookcases are bolted to the walls, all cabinets in the kitchen and in the rest of the house are childproof, and the drawers she can get to are latched. We did leave two cabinets in the kitchen, containing only plastic containers and pot lids, available for her to open and take stuff out of to play with. She loves it!
She has THREE TEETH, that's two new since last posting. The new arrivals are bottom right-hand side and upper left-hand side. She can really CHOMP now! She can feed herself very well by hand and is now working on using a spoon. VERY MESSY. Lots of food on her eyebrows and in her ears. :) And BOY, does she hate to have her face cleaned!! She's going through a thing now where she doesn't want me to feed her, which is really slowing down her meals and is making a big mess. She only really shows enthusiasm these last few days for hot dogs, raisins, tortellini with marinara sauce and cooked chicken. Cereal is losing its charm, apparently. I tried to give her cottage cheese the other day, and she acted as though I had totally tried to poison her and actually DUG it out of her mouth with her fingers. I wish I had had a camera!
She is still trying to talk, and in addition to trying to say "mama", "dada", "bird", "hello" and "good", she has added "thank you" (no, we're not kidding). Lane swears that the other night she said "bow down!" while wielding a spoon.
She remains extremely curious. The poking has stopped somewhat and has been replaced by rabid "pointing". Point at the sky, point at the moon, point at what she wants. Say "oooooh, oooooh". :) She now understands very clearly "Lila, look", "Lila, may I please have XXX", "Let's take a bath" and "Lila give me a kiss". Her kisses are still open mouth affairs, full of wetness. Once, she kissed me while eating a cheerio and tried to shove it in my mouth!! She throws the baby ball for Pitter and Grits regularly. Pitter is SO HAPPY.
She can now point with great regularity to identify the following: Pitter, Grits, Pumpkin, Edie, the moon, the light, the fan, books, her binky (pacifier), her bottle, "Kissyfish" (a stuffed toy), Mommy or Daddy's nose, Mommy or Daddy's ear, Mommy's bellybutton (Lane's hair confuses her, we think), Mommy or Daddy's tattoo, Mommy or Daddy's feet. She has one toy that has four stuffed birds in it. We have named them "Monkey Bird", "Toucan", "Red Bird" and "Blue Bird". She can identify them one by one as we ask her to pick them up. She has three pigs of various sizes and knows that they are pigs (but not yet their sizes) and can pick them up when we ask her to.
She is SO LONG, it is CRAZY how long she's getting. She grew ONE WHOLE INCH this last month. She is now solidly into the 12 month sizes, length wise. Last week, she weighed 18 lbs, 11oz and was 28 1/2 inches in length. This remains the 50th percentile on her weight and is up to the 80th for her length.
We try to go swimming once a week. We've found a wonderful shaded wading pool where we're meeting new friends! She LOVES to be outside. We don't go as often as we should out into the yard because of mosquitoes and the heat, but as the weather gets nicer in October, we'll spend lots of time there, I just know it!
She is the happiest baby ever. Everyone comments on how happy she is. They say "that's the happiest baby I've ever seen!" And they're right. She loves life, loves people, loves going places, unless it's too many places in a short time and it's hot outside. Then the carseat becomes a challenge, but other than that, she's so thrilled about everything. Her temper has subsided. We think that she's adjusted to being told to "stop" or to being denied something she wants. Now she only has problems if she's really tired or hungry.
We survived another cold. This one came from the daycare at my gym. I've started working out again as I can, and my gym has a wonderful daycare. Unfortunately, the first time I took her, she got sick, then I got sick, then my mom got sick. It lasted almost two weeks!!! Fortunately, she wasn't extremely sick, just congestion, cough and a little diarrhea. I don't know what I'll do the first time she's REALLY SICK. :( I hate to see her feel ill at all, even a little bit.
Still no sign of separation anxiety or stranger anxiety. I'm optimistic!!
She LOVES to share. I think that's why one of her early words her is "thank you", since I say it to her every time she gives me something, which is pretty often. :) She likes to share toys and food. Just the first time the other day, we saw her keep a toy that another child was trying to take from her. Lila was all "I'm just going to keep holding onto this, you can try to take it". She didn't get upset, she just frowned and held more tightly.
OK, so this is the bragging part....At our nine month pediatrician appointment, I was telling him all the things Lila does and understands, and he said, and I quote: "We have a lot of expectations for children as to what they can do and understand at certain ages and Lila is blowing all those expectations off the charts. It will be very exciting to see her grow up." I sort of jokingly said to Lila, "Do you hear that, Lila? You're brilliant!", and the doctor replied "But she really is". !!! We were really excited to hear that, even though you know we'd love her no matter what, but it's nice to know that she's not having to struggle with some of the things other kids struggle with (we'll have DIFFERENT struggles, I just know it). We have been very blessed.
Physically, the doctor said that she's "perfect". We had to do bloodwork this time around, and Lila took the blood draw like a champ. Her iron count came back one point shy of the low end of "normal" range, so we have to start her on iron supplements and increase her iron rich foods. This is going to be a challenge, considering her current attitude toward food!!
Please see the notice above about the password protection on her new photos if you haven't already. For those of you with the password, you can see new photos of her beginning here. Not too much has gone on this month, but we still got some cute photos. OF COURSE. :) Enjoy. See you in a month of so.
6/10/04
Lila is seven and 1/2 months old. I never thought time could pass so quickly or that things could change so much in just a few days. Lila is crawling ("cross crawling" for those of you who know the term - it means "SUPER CRAWLING", using alternating arms and legs together) and "pulling up" on furniture and in her crib. (It is SO FREAKY to come into her room and to see her standing up in her crib!!) She can easily go from a crawl to a sit to a crawl again. (Babyproofing will begin ASAP!) She has learned to wave hello and goodbye and we're on the VERGE of getting her to clap.She has a tooth, on the bottom left-hand side! She can feed herself crackers and tiny bits of hot dog and other meats. We're almost positive she has said "bird" and "hello" and possibly "good" for "good morning". She's TRYING to talk REAL BAD. Sometimes, she sings. :) Really, she does. It's totally different from her speaking voice. Ask Mom. I'll try to get it on tape. Sometimes, we sing to each other. She sings something, and I repeat it. She sings something else, and I repeat it, and on and on for many minutes. It's fun!
She is SO SQUIRMY now. We can't change her on the changing table any longer, but have to use the floor. It's a struggle to keep her from rolling over and looking at what's behind her. She loves to be upside-down. She'll arch herself backwards over our knees and hang upside-down and look at everything behind her and just laugh and laugh.
She is SO CURIOUS and wants to know where, what, how, when and she wants to touch everything. Months 5-6 were the months of "GIMMIE" and this is the month of "poking". Everything MUST be poked with her finger.
She is SO LONG, she's only an inch away from what they call 12 month sizes, but is still, weight-wize, in the 6-9 month area. Two weeks ago, she weighed 16lbs, 13oz and was 27 inches in length. That's 50th percentile on her weight and 75th for her length. WHO IS THIS TALL BABY?!?
She continues to be extremely strong. She palmed a large apple with one hand the other day and also picked up a two and one half pound weight with just one hand! She can practically chin herself on the "pulls" to her dresser drawer. RARR! She's Warrior Princess Baby!
She has completed taking swim lessons at a local pool, and is growing more and more comfortable in the water. We wear plenty of sunscreen and a BIG HAT and try to limit our "full sun" time. Mom taught me well!! This is the same pool in which Loyd and I took lessons when we were very young, so it's especially nice. :) After completing her classes, she received a certificate and a patch. She's officially a "starfish". :)
She is still the happiest, most contented little baby I have ever seen. She is SO even tempered, it's amazing. Almost nothing fazes her....unless you make her ANGRY! Lately, if she doesn't get what she wants, she does this high-pitched squeal that is like "ARGGGGGGGGGG GIMMIE THAT IT'S MIIIIIIINE". Mom says that doesn't bode well. :) I'll let you know. We're setting limits now, so she doesn't run our lives.
No sign of separation anxiety or stranger anxiety. I wonder if we'll be spared?!
She is learning how to "share". She takes a bite of something and then offers it to me (or especially to her Granddaddy) and then takes a bite and then offers it back. She likes to offer you her binky. She thinks it's hysterical when someone else has her binky in his or her mouth.
I know that everyone thinks their babies are "advanced", but I believe Lila really is. :) She is already doing all the things she's supposed to master from 9-12 months except for the things having to do with walking. If you say "where are the birds?", she looks to the sky. If you say, "Daddy's coming home", she looks to the door. She knows "Lila, look" and "Lila, stop" (we're trying not to use the word "no" very much) and how to turn on and off the light at the lightswitch. She is already no longer fooled when you hide something you don't want her to have. She knows it's there, it's just not currently visible to her. Her memory is fantastic. For example, my daddy almost always wears a gold cross on a gold chain, and she looks for it immediately each time he picks her up. She likes to look at it and to play with it and she identifies it with him, even if it's been a week since she's seen him. Such is my brilliant daughter.
Please see the notice above about the password protection on her new photos if you haven't already. For those of you with the password, you can see new photos of her beginning here. We've had an exciting month, with her first official "family vacation" and long car trip. She did great. :) We love her.
4/27/04
Lila is six months old. :) TIME IS FLYING. I'm not sure how six months has gone by so quickly, but it has. SO MUCH has happened in Lila's life since we last "spoke"; it seems that she's taken leaps and bounds forward as far as development goes.We've started her on solid foods officially now. We'd tried them before, just after she was four months, but she didn't tolerate them very well, so we put them off another month. Sometime just after my last posting, we began trying again, with much greater success. I am making 99.9% of her baby food myself (HAH to those who said I wouldn't do it) and it's wonderful. She is eating mangos, applesauce, pears, green beans, peas, cantaloupe, pineapple, sweet potatoes, carrots, bananas, rice cereal, acorn squash, plums and probably a few things I've forgotten. The only things I purchase readymade are organic peas and applesauce. The rest I do in my food grinder and store in little cube trays in the freezer or fridge until I'm ready to serve them. Her favorites are mangos, bananas, cantaloupe, applesauce and peas. I've given her bites of chicken and dumplings, cut green beans, custard :), ginger snaps and bagels. She eats these hard little cookies called "biter biscuits" that are flavored with molasses and are HARD LIKE ROCKS so she can nosh on them. Already, when she sees me drinking from a cup, she wants to drink from it too, and she can take small sips of water from my glass. Not TOO much runs down her chest! For a very cute movie of her eating, click here. That noise is NOTHING but her sucking on that cantaloupe. It's crazy!
She can sit up now and can do it pretty reliably without falling down. If she looks up at someone or something, she's likely to topple over backwards, but she doesn't fall forward or to the sides any longer. She is still standing well, and take little baby steps with while we balance her with our hands. She can roll from front to back and can get up on all fours like a puppy and rock back and forth. It's only a matter of time before she either starts launching herself at things like a dolphin or just starts crawling. I'm betting on the crawling. Probably before our next update, if I had to take a guess. We have already lowered her crib mattress and moved her netting so that she won't either pull up and over the side of the crib or injure herself with the netting. Later, when she knows not to strangle herself in it, we'll put it back down. :)
We're trying to move her bedtime earlier. Just when we had started getting her bedtime in the midnight region, TIME CHANGED and we had to start over again. Now she's sleeping beginning at 11pm-midnight and staying asleep until 9 or 10, sometimes 11 if I'd let her. She takes two naps during the day, usually about 2 hours each, then it starts all over again. Now if only she would go to bed between 10 and 11, we'd be GOLDEN. Again, only a matter of time, I think. She's sleeping more and more on her tummy. I put her to bed on her back or on her side, and when she wakes up, she's in a bean on her belly with her knees tucked up underneath her. She's also, literally overnight this past month, started moving around in her bed. I'll put her down in one place, and when she wakes up, she's SOMEPLACE ELSE entirely. One morning I actually thought she wasn't in the bed because she was smushed up in a corner where I couldn't see her right away!
She is verbalizing more and more. She said "kuh" to Edie twice the other morning, and just when I thought, she knows 'kitty', she said "kuh" to her toes. :) She's SO GRABBY. If you stand still for two seconds, she's reaching over your shoulder to see what she can grab. She's gotten extremely squirmy on the changing table and we have to give her her hairbrush to hold and bite on so she doesn't just roll over to see what she can grab.
Her hair is coming in thicker and is white blonde. Her eyes are bright blue. No teeth yet, but still chewing on everything she can put in her mouth. Lots of drool. NOW I know what all the bibs are for. :) She's grown out of everything practically and is into BIG 6-9s or standard 9-12s. She's so long! Her shoe size is almost up to the 1 year size. It's crazy! Where did my little baby go?!
Everything Pitter and Grits does is hysterical to her. She loves to be outside. She loves to pet Edie. Lane and I bought a tent to put up on our backyard to protect us from the sun and Lila and I spend hours in it almost every day on the ground, on blankets, reading and eating biter biscuits. (The dogs LOVE the leftovers.)
She's more and more easily distracted. Even when we're nursing, she throws her hand behind her to see what's there. If I'm reading, she runs her fingers over the book. She touches Edie if Edie is in my lap. HEAVEN FORBID Lane should be in the room talking to me, because she'll turn around every three seconds to be sure he's still there. She's discovered her ears and her head, and she'll spend minutes at a time just touching her head, especially the back where she has a stubbly bald spot.
We've survived her first cold - it was very mild, but still....hot baths, Dr. Singah's mustard bath, a vaporizor and that thing you suck their noses out with (looks like a tiny turkey baster) and "Little Colds" got us through. BIG stars to the steam vaporizor. Her cough only lasted a little over a week! We're also taking her for regular chiropractic care, so that's helping her too. (She got her first adjustment at three weeks! Lucky baby!)
She has officially taken her First Falls, both on my watch! :( Once she rolled off the bed and once off the sofa. Both times she was perfectly fine, but I was pretty upset that I had let it happen!
At our pediatrician visit today, she had grown 1 1/2 inches in just two months! She's in the 45th percentile for her weight (15lbs 12oz) and is in the 75th percentile for her length (26 1/2 inches). The pediatrician said "she is perfect" and is actually "ahead of the average child" on her development. :) Mom agrees that we "knew that already" but it's nice to have it confirmed by a doctor. ;)
I PUT ON 4 lbs this month (I blame Kat) and then have lost it again (thank goodness). I did measure the other day and have lost another inch in my waist (yay), so at least there's some progress there.
Please see the notice above about the password protection on her new photos if you haven't already. For those of you with the password, you can see new photos of her beginning here. It's technically been almost two months since I last posted, which helps explain why there are so many photos. :) Yeah, that's my excuse. :) I'm about to quit caring how many photos I post. I'm making a diary of Lila's life so she can have it someday. Even if no one looks at all this but her, I'm doing O.K. :)
3/12/04
Lila is now coming up on her 5th month (she's 20 weeks today). She gets more fun daily. She loves her toes and to be held over your head like an airplane. She loves it when you pretend to gobble her up on her belly and neck. She has learned to blow raspberries - she just woke up one morning and was doing it! One evening, she did it so much that she looked like a rabid dog with all the bubble foam around her mouth! I have a lot of her noises on tape, and as soon as I remember how to get them online, I will! JR, help me!She loves lights, and will stare at her turning Little Prince light for hours if I let her. Sometimes at night, we have to turn it off or she'll keep herself awake looking at it. She loves the lights over her crib, too, and gets so excited to see them every time we put her down for a nap. She was very sad to see the Christmas tree come down in mid-February (yes, you heard right), but we had to do it! She LOVES to talk to the refrigerator. We don't know why. She also loves the Baby Einstein DVDs. We can put in the Language Lab and she'll sit in her swing and just laugh and talk to the TV. Mom says it's sad we're using the television as a babysitter, but at least we're using something that's helping her develop, right? Sometimes I just have to clean the house, and I need to put her down!!
She is SO STRONG and can stand with nothing but our hands to balance her for several minutes. She actually prefers standing to sitting and will fuss if she's sitting for too long. She wants desperately to be mobile. Mom says I have an aunt who crawled for a few days and then stood up and walked at seven months, and we're all worried that's going to be Lila. Perhaps we should get her a helmet? :)
She is still sleeping like a champ, going down anywhere from 11:45 - 1am and STAYING asleep for 8-11 hours. I think my pediatrician though I was making it up, but I'm not! He says that he hates to give me the bad news that none of my other babies will EVER be like this, so I guess it's good we're only having this one, right? :) Mom says I have "died and gone to heaven" with her sleep schedule, and I agree. When she wakes up on the isolated night where she's going through a growing phase and is hungry, I'm always really surprised!
She is in the best moods in the first part of the day. She'll be awake and just smiling and smiling and be fantastic for two hours, then sleep for an hour or so, then awake for several hours, then back to sleep for two hours, then up usually the rest of the night, with an optional nap in the mid-evening. If she misses either of her first two naps, she is MUCH more likely to be a fussy baby that evening. We deal with a fair amount of evening screaming, but if we can get her to go to sleep, she'll usually be OK. Sometimes, after a long day, she's just overstimulated and we have a hard time calming her down. :( Those nights don't happen but once a week or so, so we're really lucky!
At our last pediatrician visit, she had grown TWO and 1/4 inches in just two months! She's in the 50th percentile for her weight (13lbs 4oz a few weeks ago) and is in the 75th percentile for her length (25 inches a few weeks ago). What a long, tall girl she is turning out to be! Anyone know where she gets that?!?
She is already petting Pitter, Grits, Pumpkin and Edie. She loves Edie, who spends time on my lap in the glider in the mornings when I'm nursing Lila. Lila will sit up and talk to Edie and Edie lets her pet her. It's really quite amazing!
I have lost 2 pounds, but I haven't had a chance to take a photo or measurements, so that will have to wait.
Please see the notice above about the password protection on her new photos if you haven't already. For those of you with the password, you can see new photos of her beginning here.
Oh! If you haven't seen Lila's FABU Carnaval photos, you really should! These are "open to the public". Enjoy the other pages of photos too, while you're at it! Everyone looked fantastic!
I hope you're all well and I'll talk to you next month or so!
2/1/04
Lila is now entering her fourth month (she's 14 weeks). She is smiling and laughing and is now getting ticklish, which is WAY FUN for me. :) She's starting to notice her toes and feet, but only when we take off her socks or pull her legs out of her playsuits so she can actually SEE them. She's talking more and more and has started to get different tones to her voice. Just the other morning, the dogs startled her, and she had cried about it, but had calmed down. Then she started telling Pitter ALL ABOUT IT in this very "you were bad and you scared me and you need to be more quiet you nasty, loud dog" tone of voice. It was too funny.She's now rolled over TWICE from back to front - and in front of witnesses, no less! :) She continues to get better at rolling from front to back. We have her spend time on her belly several times a day just so she can exercise those muscles in her back and neck. She seems as though she's trying to crawl. If we put something out in front of her, she'll reach for it. She's getting really good with her hands, much more controlled.
She is now, suddenly in the last month, going to sleep between midnight and 1am and STAYING asleep for 8-10 hours. It's AMAZING. Two nights this week, she went to sleep at 11:45!! It feels as though it's been happening forever, but I realize it's only been a few weeks since she was still awake until 3am!! We attended a reunion of our birthing class and NONE of the other babies were sleeping this well; in fact, many were still waking several times a night to eat! SUCK! We're so lucky. :)
No change in her eyes or in her hair. At her weigh-in two or so weeks ago, she was 12 lbs, 1 oz.
I have not lost a single pound, so I'm not even bothering with an animation or measurements. Bleh.
Please see the notice above about the password protection on her new photos. I think it's for the best. For those of you with the password, you can see new photos of her here.
I hope you're all well and I'll talk to you next month or so!
1/3/04
Happy New Year! Lila was 10 weeks old yesterday, if you can believe time has flown so quickly. Lane and I sure can't! Lila is becoming more of a delight every day. She smiles at everyone and just a few days ago, I heard her laugh for the first time. She has a deep, throaty laugh that comes from deep in her belly. She is starting to realize that she has hands that she can control, and has been trying to reach out for things. She's turned over from front to back seven times in the past two weeks, and can hold her head up really well already. She's cooing and verbalizing and we expect her to start talking any day now. Loyd is convinced her first words will be "Uncle Loyd", but odds are they'll be "Pitter, get down!". :)
At her most recent pediatrician visit, the doctor said "You can't get any more perfect than Lila". I would have to agree! She's healthy and happy, already 11 pounds (probably more by now - that was two weeks ago). Her weight is in the 50th percentile and her length is in the 60th (down from 85th percentiles for both weight and length at her one month visit).
She's sleeping more at night, but is still not going to sleep until 2 or 3 in the morning. Once we can GET her to sleep, she'll sleep anywhere from five to EIGHT hours at a stretch. Now if only we could get her sleeping at 1, we'd be pretty happy.
Her hair is still wheat-colored, but appears to be growing in light blonde - I'll let you know! Her eyes are still deep blue, as you will be able to see from the FOUR PAGES of new photos that begin here. She still looks mostly like Lane, but I see a little of me in her now that she's getting older.
The animals love her, especially Grits. Edie says Lila smells funny and makes too many sudden movements. Pitter is still waiting for her to throw the ball, and Pumpkin wishes she'd stay out of our bed in the morning! Xiang just peeps. We have a full house around here, and it's nice to see them all interact.
Personally, I'm feeling better every day. Since my last update, I've dropped another three or four pounds (depending on the day), putting me at 22 or 9 lbs up from my initial pre-pregancy weight, depending on what you consider my initial pre-pregnancy weight.
My measurements have changed since giving birth as follows:
- Bust: UP 3/4 inch (a total of 5 inches since pre-pregnancy!)
- Waist: DOWN 5 inches (still up 5 1/4 inches from "norm") (NOTE that this isn't the belly measurement, but my actual waist. I never could accurately measure the belly consistently, but you can see from the animations that I've lost MUCH more than 4 inches there!)
- Hips: DOWN 1 3/4 inches (still up 2 1/2 inches from norm)
- Arm: DOWN 1/4 inch (still up 1/4 inch from norm)
- Wrist: DOWN 1/4 inch (still up 1/2 inch from norm)
- Thigh: DOWN 1 1/2 inches (still up 1/4 from norm)
- Calf: DOWN 1 inch (still up 1/2 inch from norm)
- Neck: down 1/2 inch (still up 1/2 from norm)
- Shoes: down THREE full sizes - YAY! Still up 1/2 a shoe size, but I'm already wearing some of my looser shoes.
- Fingers (ring sizes): decreased by one 1/2 or more full sizes - I'm still up 1/2 sizes from norm and can't fit in to my wedding rings - but I have hope!
I have new photos in the "going down" set where you can watch me lose weight: front animation (going DOWN), side animation (going DOWN).
Motherhood is wonderful, and I feel luckier every day to have such a beautiful, healthy baby. Thanks for checking in for an update, and I'll see you in a month or so! I hope your New Year brings happiness, luck and good times with friends and family.
11/24/03
Happy one month bday to Lila! (And happy 35th bday to me!) It's been an exciting and interesting and TIRING month, to say the least. Taking care of Lila is a full-time job, and it takes Lane and me and sometimes family and friends to make it through and to stay sane - THANK YOU to everyone who has pitched in - even if it's only with their thoughts and prayers!! Lane and I are tired A LOT (OK, we're tired all the time), but Lila is starting to smile and to make more eye contact, and that's making it all worthwhile. She's a very, very good baby, and only cries when she's hungry or in pain from gas (or whatever, we're just guessing). She barely peeps when she has a dirty diaper, even! We're very, very lucky. No sign of colic or any other problems, and she's just growing like a beanstalk and getting cuter every day.Her hair is the color of wheat, and her eyes are stormy grey-blue. She has ears like shells and very long toes and fingers. She's very, very pink. She puts out heat like a little FURNACE (Loyd says he gets that from her) and she loves Pitter and Grits, but is partial to Grits, who pays her more attention. Once she learns to throw a ball, I'm sure she'll move up on Pitter's list. :) She sleeps pretty well during the day, in blocks of 2-3 hours (when I sleep too, sometimes!), but at night, she's awake consistently from midnight to 3am and then almost every hour after that. We're up with her for an hour then she sleep for an hour, we're up for an hour, she sleeps for an hour. Heck, I'm tired just thinking about it. :) Who am I fooling? I'm tired right now anyway!!
We're slowly answering the phone again, but all the ringers but one are turned off, so if we're in the back of the house with the baby, sometimes we don't even realize the phone has rung until we see the message hours later. We're keeping a sign on the door almost 100% of the time about "mommy and baby sleeping - please don't knock", even when it isn't true, because you never know when she's going to drop off to sleep in my arms and I'm going to doze, too. Take it when you can get it, I say!!
I am recovering well, not as fast as I'd like, but probably better than I should have expected were I being realistic. I'm starting a new set of animated photos, a "going down" set where you can watch me lose weight: front animation (going DOWN), side animation (going DOWN). I've added a final frame to the "going up" set of photos, so if you're up to downloading them ONE LAST TIME, here they are: front animation (going UP), side animation (going UP).
My measurements have changed since giving birth as follows:
- Bust: UP 3/4 inch (a total of 5 inches since pre-pregnancy!)
- Waist: DOWN 4 inches (still up 6 1/4 inches from "norm") (NOTE that this isn't the belly measurement, but my actual waist. I never could accurately measure the belly consistently, but you can see from the animations that I've lost MUCH more than 4 inches there!)
- Hips: DOWN 1 1/4 inches (still up 3 inches from norm)
- Arm: DOWN 1/4 inch (still up 1/4 inch from norm)
- Wrist: DOWN 1/4 inch (still up 1/2 inch from norm)
- Thigh: DOWN 1 1/2 inches (still up 1/4 from norm)
- Calf: DOWN 1 inch (still up 1/2 inch from norm)
- Neck: down 1/4 inch (still up 3/4 from norm)
- Shoes: down TWO and 1/2 full sizes - YAY! Still up 1 shoe size, but now I have hope I'll get back into my shoes!
- Fingers (ring sizes): decreased by one or more full sizes - also YAY, as I'm hoping to get into my wedding rings again someday (am still up 1 to 1/2 sizes from norm).
My final pregnancy weight increase was either 58 or 45 lbs, depending on what initial weight you wanted to use. Since giving birth a month ago, I've dropped 33 lbs of PURE WATER. I actually lost that in the first two weeks, if you can believe that. (This puts me at 25 or 12 lbs up from my initial pre-pregancy weight.) I haven't lost any real weight since then, but I continue to shrink (I've been taking measurements since the first week after), so who cares about the pounds, right? :) (But if one more person tells me "it took you nine months to put it on, it will take you nine months to take it off", I'm going to scream!!)
I finally put up my birthing story, for those of you who aren't faint of heart. It's long and pretty detailed, so read it as you will, at your own risk!
I've also put up some new photos for you to enjoy. Eventually, the majority of the photos will be password-protected to keep strangers from viewing endless photos of my daughter ("my daughter", doesn't that sound strange?), but for now, here they are! Enjoy, and see you in a month or so!
10/31/03 - Happy Halloween
Happy Halloween from our little pumpkin!
10/29/03
Lane took some photos. Come see!
10/24/03 - THE LILA HAS LANDED!!!
There will be more details forthcoming for those of you with the stomach for it, but for now,Lila was born this afternoon (Friday the 24th) at 1:42pm, weighing in at a SPECTACULAR 9 lbs 11oz and 21 1/4" length. Yes, it's like giving birth to two children. I went into labor sometime yesterday afternoon/early evening, and by 4am last night, I went to the birthing center to learn I was already 7 cm dialated (this is a huge thing, and had she been smaller, I would have given birth to her hours and hours sooner). I began pushing around 9am and by noon they had given me 1 hour to make progress getting her out or I was going to have to go to the hospital. Her heartbeat was steady and strong, which also really saved me from the hospital. It took two midwives, one birthing assistant, and one awesome mom (mine) and one AMAZING husband (also mine) to get me to bring her into life. (It also took 20 stitches afterwards to help me recover, dammit.) Her birth was 100% natural and by far the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. We're home now and I can barely walk on my own, but I wanted to let y'all know what's happened. Lila is the biggest baby I've ever seen. She doesn't look like a newborn at all, she's so big. Already, the 0-3 month clothes are looking small on her!!
This is all for now, as we're going to bed before we have to wake and feed her again around 12:30. Thank you all for your kind words of support, your prayers and thoughts and for everything you've done to get me to this point.
More sometime next week.
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