Sushi!

I went to a sushi making class that the nutritionist at HealthPoint did Monday night. Last night I had to stop at Schnucks and buy a bamboo mat, some seaweed, sushi rice.... My sushi attempts last night were a little messy but tasty. I tried again tonight and did 100% better. I thought about taking pictures tonight but 1. I have a bunch of pictures already to download, 2. the camera is in my car and I was too lazy to go get it, and 3. I figure next time will be even better!

Saturday we're going to St. Louis to see friends and go to specialty grocery stores. I can't wait!

And Isla update--she figured out how screeching happens today and kept exercising her screech!

Rollin', teethin' and raspberries

As of last weekend, we can roll both ways. Isla put herself on her tummy Sunday night and slept all night long. Most nights since then, however, she's repeatedly awakened herself trying to roll over and get comfy. Last night she was up several times and has been pretty cranky off and on today--since gnawing on my fingers is the most comforting activity, I suspect she's having some teething pain.

Raspberries are a source of entertainment for us this weekend. She loves to look at us, stick out her tongue and spit. It's so darn cute!

Size matters....

Isla wore primarly newborn clothes until she was over 3 months old. Most of our 0-3 month clothes were winter items so I had to pick up a few warm weather outfits in that size (darn--mommy had to shop!). Last week those were suddenly too small and we're wearing mostly 3-6 month clothes now! And yesterday I realized she had a big stash of 3-6 month clothes in her closet with the tags on them still so now we have a whole new wardrobe.

She a little piggy yesterday but I think it caught up to her today. We still have to thicken her formula with oatmeal--she won't take it without any cereal in it. Increased formula means increased cereal which means increased fiber which means belly ache. Poor baby has been fussy and gasy today. I've been trying to put as little cereal in the bottle as possible because I've been afraid of fiber bombing her belly with the oatmeal. She ate some prunes after church today (yumm-o)so hopefully something will happen when she wakes up from her nap.

Isla has really started laughing out loud the past week or so. Her cousin J can really get her laughing. He's been hanging out with Grandma for a few weeks this summer so he's been helping babysit. He went to the mall with me and Isla yesterday and was a great help to have around.

The big thing on my things to do list is to start teaching. I finished my Masters Degree last summer and am going to start teaching a class for an online school hopefully next month (gotta complete their training program and officially get hired--training starts this weekend). I hope I like it and they like me. If it goes well, some serious consideration will be given to the employment situation. Part of the reason I finished my Masters was so I could explore teaching. The idea of being at home more keeps getting more and more appealing as Isla becomes more and more aware of things. But I still need to start deciding what we want to do daycare-wise after the beginning of the year when the grandmas' contracts are up.

More later. STILL need to upload some video!

4 month check-up

23 1/4 inches, 11 pounds 6 ounces. Still at less than 10th percentile but we're still on the growth chart and made a little progress on her curve. People keep saying she looks so long but height is also at less than 10th percentile. Guess she just looks long cause she's skinny. Meanwhile her head is around 66th percentile. The doctor was thrilled with how alert Isla was and her motor skills. I've been meaning to look at a copy of the Denver Development chart to see how we're doing on there--I think we're doing good though!

Tastes great, less filling!

The feet found their way to the mouth today. I came home to find a baby with wet socks.

Rolling, rolling, rolling....

Isla has always hated tummy time. She did a few push ups a few weeks ago but she wouldn't do them on a regular basis. But last night I laid her in the floor on her tummy and she immediately went into push up position. Within 60 seconds she was on her back. She did it again as I went to get the video camera. Then she did it for the camera and a few more times. She did it a few times for Grandma this morning too.

We've also tried new foods. Pears are okay. Not bad but not a favorite. Avocado was also okay. She liked it better with pears. But squash? Squash? YUMM-O! That baby can chow down on some squash! She would have kept eating it this evening if I would have gotten her seconds but I didn't want to give her too much since she's just started eating "solids."

And mommy finally got a laugh. Daddy says it was a grunt, but I say it was a laugh. We were playing, she was smiling, and it was Mother's Day. That was her gift to mommy.

Still need to post new photos. I also need to upload some videos too.

New toys!!

It's hard to keep up with all the changes in Isla the past few weeks. Everyday she's grabbing more, kicking more, talking more, and coming closer to flipping over.

She found her feet last weekend and has two new favorite toys. She's also been reaching and grabbing her other toys more and more. She loves to lay on her play mat and reach up to the toys hanging down. She'll grab ahold of them and pull. Tonight she was getting mad because she couldn't grasp the ball hanging over her head.

Eating is going a lot better and she's up to 11 pounds. We're still on the low end of the growth curve but I think she's gained a little on her curve since our last doctor's visit. We go next Thursday for our 4 month check and shots.

There have been times lately I just want to walk out of work and go get Isla, find her Daddy at work, and just hug them both. I can't believe how much I love this little girl and my wonderful P.

More later--I have pictures of Isla with her great grandparents that I want to add here.

Our little reader...

ADD Dining....

Suck.
Suck.
Suck.
OOHHHH....what's that?
Suck.
Suck.
Look over THERE!
Suck.
Suck.

To summarize...

The baby that was 9 pounds 11.5 ounces on Wednesday was 10 pounds on Friday.

P said we have a different baby. He thinks this one ate the other one.

Pictures to come. If she takes a good nap today.

So amazing....

Each day is something new for Isla. She noticed Speckles a week or so ago and now likes to watch her move around the room and tries to talk to her. She was laying in the floor playing on her activity mat and I was standing next to her so Speckles came over. Isla looked at her and there was suddenly this expression on her face like "WOW--We have a DOG!"

We've been practicing sitting up and now she doesn't want to lie back in mommy's arms anymore, she wants to be up looking around! I brought her Exersaucer up from the storage room this morning. When I first tried to put her in it, it collapsed (yes, with her in it!) because I didn't have the legs locked. It crashed and scared her. I did better than I thought I would--it was obvious she was just scared, not hurt--but I still felt guilty about not being more careful. Mimi put her back in there while I was at work and let her stay in there for a few minutes several times today. She just leans back and looks at all the little toys on it. I took some pictures this evening--I'll try to post those (and her 3 month Winston pictures) this weekend.

Last weekend we laid on the big bed and practiced rolling over. When she was on her back, she'd take my finger and I'd pull her to roll her onto her tummy. She doesn't much care for her tummy so she'd flip herself back onto her back. Last week she did some push-ups while on her tummy but I haven't seen her repeat that.

There's a nursery rhyme book that she really likes--especially some of the animal pictures. She also likes the sing-songy cadence to the rhymes.

One day this week my mom called me at work to ask how much Sesame Street Isla is allowed to watch. She was watching television and mom didn't think she needed to watch what she was watching so she put on Sesame Street. Apparently Isla would start to get bored and fuss a bit, then Elmo would come on and she'd be all better. That afternoon she didn't care much for Clifford the Big Red Dog but she did watch Criminal Minds with Mimi while P and I had small group that night. A couple days later she was watching Fox News with my dad. That is NOT allowed! I agree with my brother that this is a form of child abuse. I didn't expect we'd have to address television issues so young nor did I expect that we'd have to lecture Grandpa on what is appropriate viewing for the child. I think its time to invest in some Baby Einstein videos. We have the one on sign language already--maybe we'll watch that this weekend.

Yesterday I could hear Isla "AAARRR, AGGG, ARRR, AAARRRR, AAGGGGG!" on the phone while I was talking to my mom. Apparently that's Isla for "FEED ME NOW!" Mom was having to wait to feed her because she'd just given her her medicine. I had the same problem this morning only Isla advanced from the "AAARRRR, AGGGG, ARRR, AAAARRR, AAAAGGG!" to a full cry before I could feed her. Then she'd try to take a drink and have one of those after-cry-quick-breath-almost-hyperventilating-gasps. It took another 5 minutes to calm her down enough to eat.

I am just so amazed by this little girl and can't wait for each new day to watch her grow and learn. I'll try to post some updated pictures this weekend. We don't have much planned for the weekend because P has to work all weekend and its supposed to rain all weekend.

Mommy's feeling better....

Just wanted to take a minute to update because I know a some friends have been worried about Isla. Things are looking up. We got a script for Prilosec this week so that should help control her acid production. We have an increased dosage of the Zantac to use to handle the acid until the Prilosec kicks in. She's already eating better and we just started Monday afternoon (increased Zantac) and Tuesday afternoon (the Prilosec). We know she CAN eat, we know she WILL eat, we just have to be patient for the meds to work that will LET her eat. I don't think she's had a lot of the pain that a lot of reflux babies have and she's a great sleeper (unlike most reflux babies), I think she's just controlled the pain by not eating very much. Smart kid, huh? Wish mommy could control her appetite like that!

Overall, she's doing wonderfully--developmentally, everything is right on track--she's just a little girl and will need some time to catch up in her growth.

This weekend I want to sit down and write a long post about all the amazing things we're seeing--she's realized this week WE HAVE A DOG! and visually follows Speckles around the room, she's a chatty little thing and communicates well with different tones of her voice, she loves to sit up and look around, her head control is doing really well, her dislike of tummy time has her rolling from her tummy to her back with just a little bit of help, and its amazing to see her recognize voices and see those big eyes light up as she starts looking for the people she loves. She's also started recognizing the bottle and is showing excitement to see it as we get her tummy symptoms controlled.

Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes. Keep praying that the Prilosec will control things for her and that we don't have to spend a lot of time trying to find the right dose or trying other meds.

Aaaagh! The Zantac honeymoon is over. Islas's back to not eating...down to about 12 ounces a day. We want to try a PPI but our doctor is out of town until Monday. May take her to an urgent care center this weekend if her eating gets worse.