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.