Making great progress

Well once again I've been slacking on the posts so I figured I should check in and give my monthly Paige update. She's been doing really well and seems to make progress with her development every day. Although she's going on 14 months and still not walking, she's certainly getting close. She cruises along the furniture and will easily walk with push toys or while holding our fingers. She can stand on her own for a few seconds and is also getting close to getting in a standing position from the floor. She gets into a tripod position with her butt in the air but just hasn't figured out how to actually stand from there. So I'm really happy with how she's doing and I think that moving into the next room at daycare has been a huge help since she's the only non-walker in the room. I would imagine she'll be running around in the next few weeks.

She still isn't saying much other than her babbling but it seems like her first consistent word is MORE. She does a modified sign for More by clapping her hands and always says Maw, Maw. Perhaps she's already developing a Boston accent with that pronunciation? Jake seems to think she's saying a lot more than this one word but that's really the only one I think she has down. I don't think we've been consistent enough with the signing because she really doesn't do anything other than More and the occasional All Done.

Paige is also a big fan of reading now although she only really likes books that she's familiar with which is a bit of a bummer for Mommy, who would love to add some variety into the mix. Her favorites are Good Night Moon and the Maisy Books which she could read over and over again. But I won't complain because I think it's wonderful that she loves reading. So that's about it for now, nothing too exciting but she's definitely in a fun stage, learning every day.

Graduation to Penguin Room

Paige spent her first week in the Penguin Room, the 12-24 month toddler room. She actually did really well. I had a lot of anxiety around the transition since they sprung it on us with little notice and I really didn't feel she was ready, considering the fact that she's already lagging behind in her language and gross motor skills. On top of that, I was concerned about the large amount of change she was already experiencing having just moved the week before. I spoke to the Goddard School about it several times and they assured me that it was be more of a transition because she would start and end her days with the infants before all of the rooms combine.

I called to check in the first day and they told me she was doing quite well and was so excited when she went outside with all the other kids. Apparently they try to take the infants out but it's not a consistent part of their schedule whereas this group goes out twice a day, weather permitting. She's the only one in the room who isn't walking but she scooted on her butt down the hall and was so excited to join the team. At the end of the day, the brought her back into the infant room and she screamed until they finally brought her back to the Penguin Room...I guess I didn't need to worry!

She only took one nap there although I'm still putting her down twice at home. I think she's almost ready to drop the morning nap officially. While I like the additional time I have to myself, it will be nice to open up my schedule since there's so little that can be done between two naps and three meals. I'm really hoping that her move to this room will also help her advance with her gross motor skills. She just started cruising on the furniture a bit which is really encouraging. I'm thinking she may hit the walking stage right at the average age of 14 months which would be fabulous. Even Diana, the EI therapist, admitted on Friday that it is unlikely that she'll ever crawl. Glad we're all finally in agreement on that one. So we'll see how things progress but I'm definitely optimistic about her improvement.

Officially a toddler

Wow, it's been almost six weeks since my last post...shame on me. We've had tons of drama going on with our move to the new home so this hasn't been high on the priority list recently. But now we're in the new house so I thought I'd catch up a little on Paige's updates.

We had Paige's first birthday party on August 16th and it was a very small affair, only family in attendance. My parents, Hannah and her family and Martha came down for the festivities so we hit double digits if you include Paige. We were surrounded by moving boxes but it didn't seem to get in the way of Paige enjoying her day. She was really cute with the presents, loved ripping the paper, especially the tissue paper. I made the mistake of tearing a huge piece off of the very large present from Hannah and this seemed to scare Paige and sent her into a meltdown. That was really the only thing that bothered her the whole day. As I suspected, she did not touch her cupcake so we have no cute pictures with frosting all over her face. Oh well, that was to be expected. She had on a really cute dress and looked adorable. I'll try to post pics on the blog in the next few days for those of you who haven't seen them on Facebook.

She also went to her 12 month appointment at the pedi and all was well there. She was almost 22 pounds (63%), 30 inches (79%) and I forget the head size but it was 85%. I had no idea her head was that big. The dr was shocked to hear that she's such a bad eater given her size so I guess I have nothing to worry about there. She had her worst reaction yet to the shots, spiking a 103 fever the next morning and was completely inconsolable for most of that next day. Other than that, it was a pretty standard appointment. I guess the other good news were her ears looked great, with no fluid or anything else to report.

I guess that covers the recent events since my last post. We're settling into the new home and Paige loves to scoot all over the huge amount of space we have now compared to the old house. She constantly climbs the stairs from bottom to top so I have to keep a close eye on her as soon as I see her heading in that direction. Time to get some gates up! Well, stay tuned for updated pictures and I'll try to update more frequently now that we have all of this other drama behind us.

A successful appointment

Paige had another appointment with EI on Friday. I was very anxious about having this session because I had some concerns that had been eating away at me for the past several weeks. Because of her lack of responsiveness to her name, I started to get paranoid about other things. I was worried about the fact that she hangs out in her crib and never cries when she's awake and I also feel like she sometimes "spaces out" mostly when she's in the stroller. I spoke to her occupational therapist at the start of the session and she didn't seem concerned, especially about the crib issue. She said this was likely to be part of her personality. After working with her for an hour I asked her what she thought about her from a development standpoint. She said she had absolutely no concerns at all, not even a slight one at the back of her mind. She did say she would be honest with me and tell me if anything ever did concern her which is really important to me. Phew, a huge weight lifted for now!

Overall Paige is at a really fun age. She's changing every day and it's so much fun to watch her learn things. She now loves to play peek-a-boo and constantly covers her face to start the game. She waves, claps and even "dances" while sitting down if fun music is playing. We thought she had started saying kitty but now it seems like she says cat...either way, she seems to be getting close to saying some words. She definitely understands things and can point out a cat in a book or her butterfly and tiger at her high chair. She still isn't really picking up on the sign language so I'm not sure if that will ever progress. I really cannot believe she'll be a year in less than a month!!!!

First EI appointment

Yesterday we had our first appointment with Early Intervention. The vast majority of the hour and a half was dedicated to paper work that we needed to complete for the services. We discussed the goals for the next six months and answered all sorts of other questions about Paige, our family, etc. Our occupational therapist, Diana, did spend some time with Paige and gave us some good tips. In terms of her gross motor skills, she's having us do some "sit ups" with her because the main concern seems to be her lack of core strength. We basically lie her on her back and hold her legs down between our knees. Then we put our hands out for her to hold and she just automatically pulls herself up. I thought she was pulling her until she had me try it but Paige does all of the work. We also have her sit on the floor in a different way which she hated so that probably won't be much fun doing that on a regular basis.

We also talked about her lack of imitation with the language. I recently had noticed that Paige was completely unresponsive to her name and we discussed this as well. In the evaluation they had noted that she had responded to her name and the Goddard School also says she turns when she hears it. However, when Diana was here I showed her how, no matter how many times I said it, she didn't respond. She found it strange but wasn't too worried about it. She said she sees so many kids and she doesn't think she has any major problems, just needs a little push in both of these areas. She also suggested that her chronic ear infections this winter could have temporarily impacted her hearing which may also be the cause of her being behind in this area.

Overall I felt pretty good about the appointment and I think it will be really good for Paige. We're going to meet every other Friday and she may also do an occasional visit at the Goddard School which would be really helpful as well. While I'm still a bit worried about the name issue I think it will probably be fine since she's so social, happy and interactive otherwise.

Other than that, we've been plugging along through this terrible summer weather. Paige did well on the Cape despite the fact that it rained almost every day and there was little for us to do but sit in the cold damp house. She didn't really know what to think of the beach and wasn't a big fan of the sand. She also hates wearing a hat which makes it challenging to be in the sun for any length of time. Hopefully the weather will turn around soon so we can spend some more time outside and at the playground!

Early Intervention

Almost a week has passed since Early Intervention came for their assessment of Paige. The entire appointment was very overwhelming for me so I can only imagine how Paige must have felt. Three women arrived (a nurse, a PT and someone else) with clip boards, bags of toys, etc and started doing all sorts of things with her. Although they came to evaluate her gross motor skills, they actually tested her in all areas. While they told me not to listen to what they were saying to each other about how she was doing, it was hard not to start feeling paranoid when they were constantly commenting on the various things she wasn't doing. They did assure me that they were testing both above and below her level so they expected her to be unable to perform some of the tasks. After about an hour of poking and prodding her, they were finally finished with the testing and I was able to put her down for her nap, a well earned one since she seemed exhausted and fussy after this rigorous hour of tests.

They concluded that she did qualify for services in the areas of both gross motor skills and expressive language. Although she makes the various consonant sounds, she doesn't repeat them if you do that at her so that was why she was behind there. They said that it's very common for someone who is behind in gross motor to also be behind in language since they're concentrating so much on the motor skills so they fall behind in language. In order to qualify she needed to be two months behind which they said that's about exactly where she was. However, they considered her a 9 month old even though she was only 3 days away from being 10 months which means she is closer to three months behind in these areas. So I'm a little disappointed that she is so far behind but I also know that it is not indicative of any long term problems and it will be nice to give her that extra boost she needs so she can catch up. We are supposed to hear from them in the next week or two and then we'll start appointments, probably every other week.

Other than that, she is doing really well. She is down on the Cape with Jake for the week so I'm flying solo up here in Franklin. She hasn't been sleeping really well down there for her naps so she's been a little bit fussy but overall she's doing fine. He took her to the beach but she wouldn't keep her hat on her head so apparently it was a very short visit. They were there the other day and she didn't know what to think of the sand. She put her thumb in her mouth after touching it and didn't seem to like that result! Otherwise, we're just plugging along, getting close to her one year birthday already...wow!

Early Intervention

So a woman from Early Intervention called last week to discuss Paige's gross motor skills.  After asking many questions, she felt she should be assessed.  She didn't necessarily think she would qualify for services since she would need to be three months behind to qualify.  Part of me is disappointed that they think that she may even be close to three months behind but if they do feel she needs a little help, I'm happy they're coming in to check her out.  She still isn't moving on her own at all, other than some scootching in circles on her butt.  If I try to put her on all fours, she just falls to her belly and immediately rolls over onto her back.  Anyway they come in next Friday so we'll see if that goes anywhere.  They did say if she didn't qualify they could give some tips on how to help her which is good to hear.

We did take Paige out in the bike trailer after I last posted.  She did so well and really seemed to enjoy it.  We rode for 20 miles on the bike path and she didn't make a peep the entire time.  I would ride up beside her to see how she was doing and she was just hanging out, sucking her thumb and looking around.  I think that's what we're actually going to do with her this weekend when we have the open house and need to vacate the premesis.  

She's made great headway with the food.  She loves her Cheerios and chunks of string cheese.  We haven't gotten much further than that but it's still a huge improvement over just a few weeks.  Now I just need to figure out more things to give her that she might like.  She doesn't seem interested in anything that's slimy at all...grapes, pasta, etc.  She won't pick them up but if I disguise them in hummus or something else she will usually eat them.  We still get the occasional gagging.  

I do believe she's about to get her top four teeth.  The pedi said she could see them coming in and she was very irritable tonight so I think they must be about to cut.  She's really been very easy going through this phase which has been a great relief.  Now I'm looking forward to how she'll do with two weeks away on the Cape!

9 months already

Lots to report since my last post which was several weeks ago. Paige is doing really well and seems to be changing on a daily basis. She had her nine month appointment earlier this week and is doing well on the charts. She weighed in at 18.12 (50%) and 28 inches (75%). I don't know her head size but it was between 75-90% which she said was a good thing because it indicates that her brain is growing, something a mom always wants to hear about her child! We talked quite a bit about her gross motor skills and the fact that she's not crawling, pulling herself up to stand, pushing herself into a sitting position from lying, etc. She wasn't overly concerned but did offer to call Early Intervention to set up an appointment since it takes a while to get one. She felt like she should be doing these things by 10 months and if she was we could just cancel the appointment. I haven't heard from her so I'm not sure where that stands. Paige does move herself around quite a bit in the sitting position so I guess that's something.

We also discussed her eating situation and she encouraged us to move her to three meals at regular meal times that we have and also to cut back on her formula. She suggested focusing on Cheerios for finger foods and adding pastina to her baby food to add texture. I haven't tried the latter yet but she did start eating the Cheerios today. It's really hilarious watching her gum them and I was able to capture it on video, one of many reasons why she'll be cursing me in years to come.

We also had her ENT appointment yesterday so it was quite a busy week with the doctors. We went to Children's in Waltham and they were wonderful. She had a hearing test which was quite interesting to watch. She sat in my lap and music came out of speakers in the corner of each room and it also lit up with a stuffed animal in a case by the speaker. She almost always reacted and she did well even when they put headphones on her, even though she fought those a bit. So given the fact that she passed that test and it's the end of cold and flu season they recommended waiting on the tubes and just keeping an eye on her. I'm assuming we won't have to consider tubes until next winter, if at all. Fingers crossed that we won't have to go down that path at all.

Other than that, we're enjoying the spring weather that has finally arrived. Jake bought a ridiculous jogging stroller so he has taken her out in that a few times. We actually plan to take her in it today on the bike path because it also hooks up to a bike. We'll see how she does with that but I think she'll enjoy it. I can't believe I'll need to start thinking about her first birthday soon...where does the time go?

Ear drama continues

So unfortunately we're continuing to battle the ear infections here which is quite the disappointment.  Only a few days after her last dose of antibiotics, Paige's eyes started to look bad again so I brought her back to the pedi assuming that it might be pink eye coupled with an ear infection.  Sure enough, puss in both ears again. :(  So they're now giving her shots of antibiotics to fight this thing!  Our next step is to bring her to an ENT at Children's in Waltham. They are supposed to be wonderful there and the dr we're seeing comes VERY highly recommended.  While I didn't want to go down this route, at this point, I'm ready to do whatever is necessary so she's not on antibiotics all the time.  So it's three weeks until the appointment...fingers crossed it goes well and there is no hearing loss.

In other news, we think Paige is finally about to get her first tooth.  Jake and I can both feel the sharp edges in her lower gums and it's very hard to see anything since she likes to stick her tongue out whenever I try.  However, from what I can tell they haven't actually cut through the gums yet so there may be some challenging days ahead I'm guessing. 

Speaking of temperament, Paige has been very happy, more like her old self recently and I'm wondering if it's due to the fact that we're really fighting these infections whereas before I didn't know they were there until they had gotten bad.  We struggled with the reading before bedtime a lot but this week has gotten better.  She loves touching the books that have things for her to feel (i.e. fur on animals) and still insists on flipping the pages.  We're still not mobile and she's not really showing an interest in any table food.  She likes to chew on the teething crackers and the carrot wagon wheel things but won't take any regular food.  So she just seems to be taking her time in some areas although she continues to learn every day which is really fun to watch!

On the mend

Boy I've been slacking on the blog posts but there really hasn't been a lot to report...more of the same actually.  Paige has still been battling her ear infection but I think we're finally seeing some improvement.  She had a terrible case of pink eye that wouldn't go away so I took her to the pedi after 10 days of it and it turns out her ears were on fire...bulging, pussy, etc.  So they put her on her third round of antibiotics and said if that didn't take care of it she would need a shot to get rid of it.  I had all fingers and toes crossed when I brought her back to check them on Friday and all is looking good!  There's still a little bit of fluid but all of the awful puss and redness was gone so I think she's finally getting better.  Phew!  They wanted to see her again in a month which is when she goes back for her nine month appt anyway.

Otherwise, she's doing really well and seems to be more back to her happy self.  She continues to change and learn every day.  She enjoys her books and loves turning the pages in the board books which is really cute.  We took another trip to the playground this morning since she loves sitting in the bucket swings.  I also decided to go down the slide with her in my lap and she smiled every time we got to the bottom.  

She's doing much better with the solids now.  She willingly opens her mouth for the spoon which is a huge relief.  She hasn't been very interested in finger foods yet.  We've tried the puffs and she likes to pick them up (good pincer grasp!) but won't put them near her mouth despite the fact that every other object she gets her hands on goes there.  We had a playdate at Suki's yesterday and she sucked on some wagon wheel veggie snacks so I'm planning on picking up some of those.  She also hasn't progressed with the crawling but I'm still ok with that.  I know how much trouble they can get into once they're mobile so I'm just enjoying my freedom while I still have it!

Plagued with illness

It's been a few weeks since I've posted but there hasn't been a lot to report.  Unfortunately we're having another weekend of sickness for Paigearoo.  The poor girl woke up yesterday with her face covered in goop that was coming from both her nose and her eyes.  At first I wasn't sure if it was only coming from her nose and I had all my fingers and toes crossed that this was the case.  We had plans to go to a twins' birthday party which I was really looking forward to since we hadn't seen the girls since they were 3 months old.  However, I quickly realized that this destination would not be a part of the agenda and instead we went for a visit to the pedi.  By the time we got there at 11 her eyes were just oozing with goop and it turns out she has another ear infection coupled with a cold and an eczema diagnosis on her face.  Sigh.   The poor girl really had a rough day and it wasn't until late in the day that the meds started kicking in and her eyes started looking better.  While her nose is essentially a faucet this morning, her eyes look almost normal again and she's in much better spirits.  While I always complain about the New England winters, I've never been so anxious for this one to end.  The pedi reinforced what everyone else has told me which is the fact that it's good that she's building up her immune system early and kids who aren't in daycare go through this when they go to preschool or kindergarten.  Not sure how much better that makes me feel right now but I hope it's true and by the time she's in school she won't be sick very much.  

The only other exciting thing going on is our first airplane trip is booked...gulp!  Jake is working on updating the kitchen over the next few weeks so Paige and I are vacating the premises the next two weekends.  We're visiting Grammy and Papa Tyler for Easter next weekend and then Sue and I are flying down to Philly to see Allison the following weekend before Baby Girl #3 arrives next month.  Wish me luck, hopefully I'll have only positive stories to post after our return!

More sickness

So we're cruising along, just a few things to mention this week.

First we've had a house full of sickies again, except for me.  For the past four days, we've had fevers, coughing, stomach issues, etc.  It hasn't exactly made for a fun weekend.  Sick and irritable baby + sick and grumpy husband = irritable and grumpy wife/mother.  When will the weekend be over?  Boy, you don't hear that one very often, especially where I work. :)

On a brighter note, we had a smooth uneventful swim lesson this morning.  Paige seemed comfortable in the water despite being sick which was quite a relief.  Jake and I had some good teamwork going and we got out of there quickly once the lesson was over.  And thanks to a tip from a friend, we now know that you can tear the sides of the swim diapers to get them off much more easily (thanks Allison!).  

We haven't hit any big milestones recently.  Jake's friend's wife had a baby about six weeks before Paige was born and I saw a video of her on Facebook where she was crawling after the cats.  I proceeded to scroll down his page and saw a video from SIX weeks ago where his daughter was crawling across the living room.  My knee jerk reaction was...oh my god, she's so far behind.  Time to put her on her belly on the floor and put toys out in front of her just out of reach.  WAIT...put on the breaks.  ERRRT!  Am I crazy?  I quickly remembered that our lives as we know it will forever be changed once she becomes mobile and hits the crawling milestone.  So I'm back to being relieved that she lies on the floor (or sits) and goes absolutely nowhere.  Let's see how long that lasts.

Spring is here...or coming?

We actually don't have a lot to report from this past week.  We had another swim lesson this morning that didn't go quite as well as the first week.  Fortunately I had Jake with me this time so we had two sets of hands to manage Paige.  It also allowed me to capture some good pictures and even some video.  Unfortunately Jake felt that Paige was done after about 10 minutes because she was getting a little fussy.  I didn't feel we needed to get her out early and he was pretty unhappy with my decision to leave her in the water.  So I'm not sure if we'll both continue going together although I could certainly use the extra set of hands.  I've already posted some of the pics from the lesson here on her site.  She really is cute in her little suit!

The last two weekends we've also enjoyed beautiful weather.  It makes a huge difference to be able to get out of the house especially since Paige seems to need more attention these days.  You can also see pictures of our outdoor adventures which included some long walks and her first experience on the swings.  She really seemed to enjoy the swings and today we spent a really long time there enjoying the lovely day.  I'm thinking that as the summer approaches she'll be able to enjoy other things at the local playgrounds...I can't wait!

My mom was also here this week which was a huge help.  Not only did we have her help during the day but we even had an extra special treat when she babysat so we could go out to dinner.  We had a wonderful meal and bottle of wine, enjoying some time outside of the house, just the two of us.  It's only the third dinner we've had out in the past seven months and we really enjoyed it.  So that's about it for now.  I'm guessing there will be more to report over the next few months as I expect her to become more mobile and possibly sprout some teeth.  Not really sure that any of those are good changes, but I guess it comes with the territory. :)

First swim lesson

This week Paige is much healthier which is a huge relief.  We spoke with the pedi on Monday and they actually felt that it was just viral and probably wasn't pneumonia.  She wasn't entirely sure so we finished up the antibiotics just in case.  It seems as if I recovered more slowly than Paige as I'm still hacking up a lung and she's good as new.

Now that she's healthy we went to her swim lesson this week.  She seemed to have a really good time and definitely liked the water.  She was so adorable in her little swimsuit although I have to say that it's quite a struggle getting those bulky swim diapers on (and off).  The whole thing was pretty cute.  For the most part, we just stood in a circle and sang songs like Pop Goes the Weasel and The Wheels on the Bus.  But they also had them push off of the side wall which was the one thing she didn't seem to like.  She got a little freaked out when we were doing that and I'm not sure what it was about that action that seemed to bother her.  They also put a bunch of toys in the water and they were supposed to "scoop" towards them and grab them.  Paige was too distracted, looking around at everything, to really take part in this exercise.  Eventually she would see the toy, grab it and you guessed it...straight in the mouth.  I can only imagine how nasty that is but I'm not a real germophobe so I just let her do it.  They also had them sit on the wall and then we recited Humpty Dumpty and had them "jump" in the water.  It was a very fast 30 minutes and I think she really enjoyed it.  I'm hoping that I can get Jake to come in the future.  Trying to change her and me when there's nowhere to put her down turned out to be the biggest challenge of the day.  Plus I'd love to get some pictures although this means Jake will have to be in the water with her since there's no way Mommy will be in any pics with her bathing suit on!  

We also went to Sheri's yesterday and spent the day there so Jake could get some work done on the house.  The weather was gorgeous so we went for a really long walk.  It was the first time she was in her regular stroller since I always used the bassinet last fall.  She's already pretty long for it, the way it's set up now so we'll probably need to make some adjustments.  She's growing like a weed...we also need to retire the infant car seat and get a bigger one very soon. That's going to be a big dent in the wallet but it must be done.  Ok, well we're going to head out for a walk again today while the warm spring weather is still here.  

Our first ER visit

I thought I'd be posting today to talk about the much awaited swim lessons but unfortunately there was a turn of events that didn't allow us to make it to the lesson.  Paige and I have both been sick since Friday, fighting a fever, bad cough, stuffy nose, etc.  Then yesterday Paige's breathing became more labored and raspy.  To be honest, I hadn't even considered bringing her to the hospital but Jake really thought we should.  She wasn't eating well and was very fussy on top of all the other symptoms.  My first step was to call her pedi and speak to the on-call doctor.  She felt that her symptoms, coupled with her age, were too risky to wait until normal business hours to be seen.  

So off to the ER we all went.  Of course we arrive at the hospital and she's content as can be and my thought was that there was going to be nothing wrong with her other than a cold.  The triage nurse wasn't exactly gentle with her when taking her temp and trying to get her oxygen levels so that didn't put her in a very good mood.  Fortunately everyone else at the hospital was wonderful which is in line with all of my other experiences at Milford.  The doctor felt that her one lung sounded "junky" and based on her age he ordered a chest x-ray.  This was another traumatic experience for her.  Jake put on the lead apron and held her in this plastic contraption and he had to hold her arms over her head.  Let's just say this was not her idea of a good time.  Without the radiologist weighing in, the doctor felt he could see something on the same side where she sounded bad and felt it was the beginning stages of pneumonia.  Fortunately we caught it early and she started the antibiotics last night.  Believe it or not she gulped them down like it was her favorite cocktail.  No complaints there!  

I'm hoping she's on the mend at this point.  Her breathing definitely sounds better although she's extremely fussy and we're having a hard time keeping her happy.  But who can blame her, I'm sick too and I'm not exactly a peach to be around either.  Oh and on top of this, she also came down with conjunctivitis last week as well.  I guess the daycare illnesses are really kicking in.  Hopefully she'll be healthy for my next post.

Growing up fast

Paige continues to do well and is getting cuter and cuter every day.  She seems to be improving with the solids.  She eats them at daycare which Jake and I both found hard to believe.  However, he fed her today and she actually did pretty well.  She really seems to like the avocado which is great since we need to fatten her up.  Surprisingly she still doesn't love any of the fruits but hopefully she'll adjust in time.

She seems to be changing on a daily basis and is learning new things every day.  A few days ago she showed an interest in Jake's glass when he was drinking water.  So we broke out the sippy cup and she started experimenting with it.  She made the same faces of disgust when she first tasted the water that she made with the food but she seems to grasp the concept.  That's definitely a relief since I've heard that transition can be a challenge with some babies.

We're heading to Greenfield this weekend in an effort to vacate the house so Jake can get some work done.  We're hoping to get the house on the market by late spring but there's lots of fixing to be done before we can do that so we'll visit Grammy and Papa for the weekend.  I'm hoping Paige will do ok sleeping in the Pack N Play while we're there.  At least she can get her naps in while we do the drive.  One thing's for sure, it will be a weekend of spoiling for her!

Pedi appointment

We had Paige's six month appointment this morning and overall it went well.  It was at 9 a.m. which is typically morning nap time but she was content as can be despite that.  She only weighed in at 15.5 which is a mere one ounce more than she weighed when I brought her in for a wheezing episode almost a month ago.  She had a big growth spurt in her height which was 28 inches!  So her weight was 50%, height was almost 90% and head size was 75%.  Overall pretty decent but her weight to height ratio had dropped pretty significantly so guess what that means?  We have to get this girl to take some solids.  Her suggestion was to add some rice cereal to the bottle a few times a day while we work on her taking it with a spoon.  She said that some babies have a strong gag reflex and hopefully this will improve over time.  We need to bring her back for another weight check in a month and to report back on the solids situation.

Other than that, everything looked great.  She felt like her head control was strong, she's almost sitting up and she will put a lot of weight on her legs if you hold her in the standing position so all of that was a big thumbs up.  Definitely good news.  She did well with the shots, barely crying at all.  Both the pedi and the nurse were so impressed with her laid back demeanor.  I guess she's inherited her father's personality now that she's gotten past the fussiness.  Ok, off to try the rice cereal in the bottle...

Battle of the solids continues

So after a two week hiatus from the solids, I decided to try them again with Paige.  I figured I should give it a go since she has her six month appointment with the pediatrician on Friday.  Two days ago we tried peas and cereal again and she was having none of it. Sigh.  Won't open her mouth, turning away from me, pushing the spoon away, etc.  So despite my better judgment of introducing fruits before I can get her to take veggies, I decided it was time to pull out the big guns and bring in some pears.  I was 100% confident that this was the answer and we would at least get her to eat something...wrong!  Once again, no luck at all.  The few times I was able to get the spoon in her mouth, it was the same reaction...terrible faces, gagging, etc.  At this point I'm not quite sure what to do about it but I'm hoping for some advice from the pedi this week.

Other than that, Paige is doing great.  She's happy nearly all the time.  She has recently started making this screaming noise that sounds like she's in distress but I think she's actually fine, hard to tell sometimes.  We also tried moving her into her transitional tub that's an inflatable one that goes in the regular bathtub.  Bad idea.  She started sliding at one point which was terrifying for me.  She also was a bit panicked in there.  I recently read that some babies have a difficult time transitioning from their infant tub so I was glad I had read this and knew it could be an issue.  She stuck her bottom lip out and almost started crying but we were able to settle her down after a few minutes.  At this point, we're going to stick with the infant tub for a few more months...she's definitely not ready for that yet.  It will be interesting to see how she does with the swim lessons that start next month.  I'm not very optimistic given that experience but hopefully it will be ok.

STTN again!

I'm happy to report that we're no longer struggling with the sleep regression issues we had been faced with for several weeks.  Right at four months, Paige started rolling over from back to tummy and still has yet to figure out how to turn herself back over.  It really wasn't that big of a deal in the middle of the day when she was on her little play mat.  However, when it moved to 3:00 a.m. when she was in her crib, it wasn't quite as cute.  On top of that she was battling her first daycare cold that lingered for several weeks and that led to many wake-ups when she was congested.  Lucky for me, Jake seems to be the lighter sleeper so he was the one running downstairs multiple times a night to turn her back over but I still woke up when he got out of bed so we both had disrupted sleep.  

Since Saturday, she has been sleeping through the night again (STTN in internet mommy shorthand speak).  I'm really happy to get the solid hours of shut eye and am keeping my fingers crossed that it will continue.  Of course I'm waiting for those teeth to start cutting through and then I'm sure we'll be up regularly again.  I guess we'll just enjoy the peace while we have it!

The battle of the solids

So as some of you know, we've been struggling to get Paige started on solids.  Nearly a month ago we tried her on rice cereal.  The faces she makes are hysterical and I can't really tell if it's the texture and the idea of this "food thing" that causes the grimaces or simply the fact that she just hates the taste of everything I give her.  We've tried both rice cereal and oatmeal and we get spitting, awful faces and gagging from both.  We also tried sweet potatoes for the last few weeks and she basically has the same reaction.  Tonight we moved onto peas...no improvement.  So I know that she'll probably take to fruits but I've been avoiding the sweet foods in fear of her never turning back to veggies.  I know there really isn't pressure to get her to do this yet but I'd feel better if I could find something she likes.  I've decided the next food on the list is avocado...I've heard many babies like it and if that doesn't work I'll probably cave and try a fruit.  I'm also thinking about making some foods as well if I can carve out some time on the weekends.  If anyone has any advice on any of this feel free to chime in!

Hi everyone.  Well it's been a long time since I've been in the blogosphere...since August 13th to be exact.  And now more than five months later I've decided that I'd like to start up a new blog.  For those of you who followed my last saga, the focus was obviously all about my pregnancy.  Now that the dust has settled from the newborn stage and I'm starting to feel sane again, I thought I'd try this out and post about life with Paige, or Paigearoo as her daddy so fondly calls her.  

Waiting five months was probably a wise choice considering the challenges we had in Paige's first months (all I would have done is complain and you all would have thought I was the worst mother ever!).  While I wouldn't necessarily put her into the colicky category, she was quite a handful and very fussy for her first ten weeks on this planet.  I struggled quite a bit with staying sane with this new member of our family.  In addition to challenges with her, I also had many difficulties with breast feeding which added to the stress.  Fortunately I was able to conquer that obstacle and we found success and only just recently weaned 100%.  Much to my dismay, switching to formula brought on the fussiness again but now, after four different formulas, we finally seem to be on the right track again.  That's not to say that we don't have our bad days but overall we're finally moving in the right direction.  

So I'm not sure how much I'll have to report on a regular basis but when you're interested in hearing about Paige's progress, this is the place to go.  We'll still try to update the site with pictures on a monthly basis but hopefully I'll check in here more frequently.  Thanks for reading!