Check-up

Today was Erin's 6-month check-up...she did great and saw her buddy Dr. Bowman again (who goes to our church, so we know he's a good person!) Here are her stats:

Height/length: 27.25" (90th percentile)
Weight: 15 lbs., 2 oz. (somewhere between the 25th and 50th percentile)
Head circumference: 16.75" (50th percentile)

I was disappointed in her weight because it seems like she eats all the time, but the doctor wasn't concerned. He said some babies just grow differently, and she is doing really well. Bob and I decided later that she must take after her late Grandpa Callaway by being tall and thin. Maybe she'll be a model some day!

Everything else checked out great - her ear infection is completely gone. Dr. Bowman said he likes to get babies on 3 meals of table food by 9 months, which kind of shocked us. He said to start giving her mashed peas, potatoes, etc...(but no meat yet) and letting her try to feed herself with her hands. He said she can even have Cheerios now and just "gum" them in her mouth before more teeth come in. So, we'll try it.

For sleeping, he said she does not need to eat in the middle of the night anymore. I made sure she listened to him saying that! He said when she wakes up to just let her be, or go comfort her if she cries for a long time, but don't feed her. I'm not too sure how I feel about that because she usually does go 8 hours at night, but it's just 8pm-4am. We'll see how she does.

She also had a busy weekend with Daddy while I worked. They went to Concord on Saturday for her cousin's 2nd birthday. She loves parties! Yesterday, they went to church and spent the day running errands and seeing friends.

Here she is partied-out in the swing at Logan's party:

6 months!

Erin is 6 months old today! We cannot believe it. She is doing so well. Here is an update on her new tricks:
- She can roll both ways now, but is much quicker going from back to front. She still gets mad when she ends up on her tummy. We try to explain that she put herself there, but that just makes her more mad.
- She is super nosy. She wants to touch EVERYTHING and put it in her mouth, and it’s very hard to eat or drink anything while holding her. It’s also hard to watch tv while feeding her, because she wants to watch!
- She is better about telling us what she wants. She can reach for us when she wants to be picked up (which is all the time). She rubs her eyes when she’s tired, and starts eating us when she’s hungry. She gets her point across very well.
- Foods she has tried: cereal, green beans, peas, squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, and bananas. She loves them all! The bottle is better (so I hear). She doesn’t want to take it for me, despite my wishful thinking that maybe we can switch to formula sometime soon.
- Sleep is going all right; I guess I am most discouraged by that. Before she got sick last week, she would sleep 8 hours (7-8pm to 3-4am), eat, and go back to sleep until around 7am. I know some babies her age don't wake up at all, and I hope she gets to that point soon. However, since last Thursday, she has been getting up at midnight and again around 5-6am. I am hoping this stops very soon. She is not a good napper for me, but I think she does better at day care and for Bob. She still has no feeding or sleeping schedule, unfortunately.
- We think we have a talker on our hands...and a very opinionated one as well!
- She loves to watch and pet Bella, and they both love going on walks. Erin is definitely outdoors-y.
- She is such a delight, and we love her so much! We can’t wait to see what new things she learns next!

6 month portrait

Here's our pretty girl in a cute dress from Grandma F.:



Well, we got kicked out of Portrait Innovations this morning...not really, of course, but they told me it would be best if we rescheduled. Erin was awful! She wouldn't cooperate at all. If we were trying for pouty pictures, we would have had some great ones. Of course, as soon as I got her in the car and home, she has been as happy as can be. Crazy girl.

I finally got a tooth picture!

We'll write more tomorrow, since that's her actual 6-month birthday. As for the portrait, we may go back to JC Penney instead if I can find my coupon. I wasn't too crazy about this other place, even though several people have recommended them. Maybe it's just because I have a problem child : )

She is feeling better, by the way, and even her runny nose is mostly gone. She hasn't been sleeping well for the past week, though. I hope that gets better very soon!

Poor sick baby

Poor little Erin has her first ear infection...she's had a stuffy nose all week, but that's nothing new for her. Then yesterday evening, she started acting very sleepy and fussy, and we noticed that she was feeling warm. So we took her temperature, and it was 101.7. After consulting with Grandma A., we called the pediatrician and talked to an on-call nurse at WakeMed (for $10...grrr) who said she should be fine until morning and to give her 0.8mg of Tylenol every 4 hours if the fever persisted. So she got 2 doses of that throughout the night and did not sleep very well (neither did we - she was up just about every hour until 4am, and I had to get up for work at 5:30). It worked out that Bob was thinking about staying home today anyway while I worked from 7-3, so he called the pediatrician and took her in this morning, since she still had a fever. The diagnosis: right ear infection and a slight cold. So she got the yummy liquid pink Amoxicillin (which brought back memories from our childhoods!), which Bob filled for 80 cents at Walmart. She will get that for 10 days, then Dr. Bowman will see her again on the 27th for her 6-month checkup.

She was pitiful today, wanting to be held for most of the day, but finally was able to play around dinnertime. Her temp was still up this afternoon, but was back to normal at bedtime, and she seemed comfortable going to bed. So, hopefully she will sleep better tonight (and so will we). We've been cranking the humidifier and trying to keep her cool so she's comfortable.

Poor little Erin...it's so sad to see her sick! We hope she hasn't inherited her mommy's chronic ear infections, because it's so sad to see her feeling bad.

Daddy is going camping this weekend and I'm off work until Monday, so Erin and I will get to spend lots of fun Mommy-baby time. I'm looking forward to it!

All I want for Christmas...

Erin has TEETH! After much debate, we have agreed that her bottom two teeth are coming in. She has not been more fussy than normal*. We are super excited about them, but apparently she's not ready to show them to the camera.

We had so much fun in Concord with Erin's cousins this weekend. We forgot our camera, but we will get pictures from everyone else.

* She is normally somewhat fussy : )

RIP Bouncy Seat

Since the daycare is closed today for a workday, I took a day off work and am home playing with Erin.

In the past few weeks, Erin has become increasingly irritated when you place her in the bouncy seat. I tried it again this morning, but she launched into a shrieking tirade (another one of her new "tricks" - a level 4 shriek).

RIP Bouncy Seat... you served us well - comforting Erin when she was so little, but she's grown up and you are no longer needed.

The Walk

I took the girls on a walk today, and it was quite an adventure…

Around 1pm, Bella starts hounding me for a walk. This means following me around and sticking her nose in my face when I’m trying to play with Erin on the floor. I barricaded her with baby gates which only made her whine louder. At 2:30, I decide that Erin is ready – she’s had a nap, and has eaten and played for a little bit. I get a sweater for Erin, put it on, get a blanket and toys for Erin, get Bella’s leash, my shoes, sunglasses, and jacket, and the garage door opener. Then I put Erin in the stroller (she protested it), put Bella’s leash on, and we were off.

Bella is not good on the leash – she wanders around on either side of us and either pulls us from the front or lags behind, sniffing EVERYTHING. We are used to this and have gotten good at pushing the stroller with one hand and dragging Bella behind us with the other hand.

First, a lady runs up to us and asks us if we have seen her dog. Bella barks at her and scares Erin. Then, Bella has a poo-poo and I get some on my fingers trying to get it in the bag. Erin manages to lose both socks, even though I had her feet tucked in the blanket, so we turn around to pick them up.

After walking about 20 minutes away from our house, Erin suddenly decides she can NOT be in the stroller any longer. I think it was a combination of the hood of her sweater bothering her and the wind in her face. I have no choice but to take her out and carry her. Now I am holding Erin and Bella’s leash with one hand and pushing the stroller with the other hand, alternating as needed to keep up with Bella’s meandering.

We finally make it back to our street after much sniffing and Bella eating who knows what. I try to put Erin back in her stroller, only to have her bump her head on the plastic tray of the stroller, which doesn’t help the stroller cause. 3 little girls come running out to pet Bella, which freaks her out and she starts running circles around me. I lose the stroller and it goes down the street. I get Bella untangled and rescue her from the girls. We catch the stroller and make it home.

Whew. No wonder I don’t go to the gym any more. Either Bob or I do this every day, because all that is easier than dealing with monster Basset Hound all day long! So, don’t let Bella tell you we never do anything for her.

Squash and stuff

Erin's second veggie has been squash, which she tried on Friday. She loved it! We will try another one today, then maybe move into fruits. I know she'll love those too.

She had a fun weekend with Daddy while I had to work again. She is now a bottle pro and emptied out all the bottles I had left for her. Bob even had to thaw some of our reserves on Saturday! They were busy as usual, going for walks, going to church, and took an excursion to Babies R Us in Southpoint yesterday. It was a workout for Bob - I think going back to work will be a break for him (at least physically)!

Work is going all right for me. Actually, I really enjoy the actual work part - I'm doing pretty well with the day-to-day stuff, but I still have lots of questions when weird things come up. I've only tried to start 2 IV's so far and I'm 1 for 2. I am still feeling like I'm so far behind at home and tired from rushing around at work and at home trying to get everything done. Some days I want to forget work and pick it back up later (as in when all our kids are older), and some days I'm happy to be working. So we're not quite sure what to do, but are sticking with this for now.

Well, Miss Erin is up, so it's time to play!

Peas, please

We went ahead and let Erin try her first veggie last night - peas! They were a big hit and we couldn't feed them to her fast enough. There are more pictures here, but here's the finished product: