Solid foods

Today was a very exciting day in our household! Not only did Aliza's daddy put together her exer-saucer (I'll post that picture later) but Aliza also tried solid foods for the first time. Honestly, the term solid food is a bit misleading, since her food (in the form of rice cereal) was more liquid than solid, but still, she sat up to eat! And used a spoon! And had something other than just breast milk!
Here's a short video of the event--Russ got another one using our real video camera, but I have no idea how long it will take to get that to a format suitable for my blog. So, for now at least, you'll have to be happy with my shaky arm while I try to video and feed at the same time!

Bottle woes

When Aliza was first born--OK, not first born but a few weeks old--we gave her a bottle and celebrated the fact that she took it without a problem. Just one more example of how she is an easygoing little girl. Now that she is older she doesn't like to take the bottle anymore. During the day, on the few occasions I've left her, she'll fuss and cry but eventually, with much coaxing and probably out of pure hunger, she'll eat from the bottle. But nighttime, when I'm away at class and Russ is alone with her, is an entirely different story.

Last night, according to him, she cried for the better part of an hour. That might sound normal to some of you moms out there, but for my little love bug it is NOT normal. In the end, she fell asleep without eating anything. Now, I know she's not starving.....not by any stretch. I also know that part of the problem is that she just won't nap. Not for lack of effort on my part. I've been getting in the habit of putting her in her sleep sack, playing her quiet music and laying her down in the crib in the mid afternoon. Nothing doing. Yesterday she wailed so loud that you would have thought I was beating her over the head with a stick. And, yes, I did try to wait it out. I lasted quite awhile actually. So, by the time she got to bedtime last night, she had literally been awake since 7:30 in the morning with a ten minute cat nap all day long. Of course she was exhausted, and that might have had something to do with her not wanting the bottle.

This worries me though. My mother in law and I spent some time looking at the various nipples I have. We discovered that they are long. Really long. I don't have other bottles around to compare, but the ones I use definitely look rather long at the top. I don't know if that has anything to do with the current situation.....or maybe it's because we don't use bottles enough. She's used to her mommy and she's used to having her mommy right when she needs her. Maybe she just doesn't like the plastic in her mouth, she never did take to a pacifier either. My thought is that I have to get her used to a bottle because, eventually the day will come when I will return to work and she will have to take a bottle.

Here's the thing, there's no user manual on a baby. It's one of those situations where I really am not sure what to do. The only thing I am sure of is that it is probably not the first time I will be saying that! My thought was to have her practice taking a bottle during the day. When she is not quite so tired or hungry. I told Russ that we HAVE to do that this weekend. My other thought was that maybe it's time for her to get a bottle a little more frequently throughout the week. Maybe I need to let go a little bit and have Russ feed her when he comes home.

I just hope we resolve this situation. As it is, Russ gets himself all geared up when he has to take care of her, I don't want her screaming every time she's alone with her daddy. Not only for her sake, or for his sake, but also for mine.

Four month stats

At four months Aliza has the following stats:
Height: 25 inches
Weight: 15 lbs 0.5 ounces
Head diameter: 40.2 inches

According to the pediatrician, she is ready to try solid food because of her size and developmental milestones. I'm sure that will be quite the adventure, with many fun pictures to share!
For now, here's a video of her chatting away, although, of course, as soon as I started recording she quieted down, but you can hear her sweet little voice a couple of times! (Notice how she is biting her bottom lip too, it is her new little thing and (I think) SO adorable!)

Making strides

In an effort to alleviate some of my own stir-craziness (if it isn't a word, then it should be) and to get me talking to some adults for a change, I decided to try and find some mommy and baby groups. Today was our first attempt at one of these--we attended a Stroller Strides class. We arrived earlier than we were supposed to and sat waiting in the totally empty parking lot. Two minutes before the class was to start, a few others showed up and it was a small group that began the morning workout.

The class is designed to be low impact, and customized to your own needs. There were short walks interrupted with brief workouts at various "stations". I discovered that my left arm is now considerably stronger than my right, a fact I attribute to carrying a 12+ lb baby around on my left arm all the time. (Mental note: switch arms to carry Aliza). I also discovered that the trunk of my car just sucks for getting a stroller in and out. It was a series of grunts and shoves and yes, even one muffled curse, as I tried to shove the unwieldy carriage into my trunk.

Aliza got fussy near the end, which was to be expected, she was, after all, rather hungry. But overall the class was fun and one I'm looking forward to doing again. It also had the added benefit of tiring Aliza out, she is actually napping as I type this, a rare treat indeed!

Well wishes

A college friend recently gave birth to triplets. They were born at 24 weeks and five days and have a 40% chance of making it through without impairment. They need all the thoughts, prayers and well wishes they can get....

You can meet them here:

http://yangtriplets.blogspot.com/

One of them just recently passed.....I can't imagine.....I can't fathom the loss of a child.
I have no words. Please keep the other two little babies, and their parents, in your prayers.

New tricks

Here's Aliza's latest trick!

Battle of wills

Aliza and I are in the midst of a battle of wills....I'm trying to get her to nap, and she is fighting it tooth and nail.
Here's the thing, I KNOW she's tired. I also know that when she naps she is a much happier baby. She, however, doesn't like to nap during the day. She prefers to hang out on her play mat, or to talk to her mommy, or to go for walks, or to sit in her swing, or to read books.....all very well and good but the little darling has been awake since 7:45 this morning and has only taken the briefest of naps (ten minutes, tops) all day.

So today I decided on a new tactic. I put her in her sleep sack, put her in her crib, and turned on the mobile. I fully expected that this would not work, and, sure enough, not even two minutes after putting her down, she was wailing her little head off. I strengthened my resolve, firmed up my backbone and let her cry for a bit. A few minutes later, blessed silence. I look at the monitor, dare I hope? Is she asleep? Nope. Not yet, but her eyes are heavy. Just as I was thinking that it wasn't so bad, and that I could handle a little bit of crying every day if it meant she napped, she starts screaming again.

Sigh. A few minutes later, she stopped, this time her eyes are shut. Phew. She's OUT! I mentally pat myself on the back, convinced I won this battle. Foolish, foolish hope.

Two minutes later she's wailing again. Sigh. OK, this time I tell myself I'm giving this five more minutes and then we are going for a walk. I know she'll fall asleep during our walk. I'm beginning to be convinced that my baby girl will win when, suddenly....silence again!

Now I'm skeptical. Is she really asleep or will she start crying in a few minutes? I wait....and wait....and wait...ten minutes later and all I see when I look at our monitor is a sleeping baby girl! YES! Victory is MINE!

At least for today.....at least for now.....

Getting it done

Wednesday I went to school. I'm taking some time off from work right now and going through a whole range of emotions around that....but I'm not ready to write that post. Not yet.

This post is going to be about some of the things I learned when I went to school. There was a meeting scheduled with a notoriously difficult parent (I want to keep my job so I'm not giving details on that one) and I decided it would be in my best interest, and the child's, if I attended. So I did. This meant that I had to get up (not difficult since I've been getting up at 5 am with Russ anyways), get myself dressed and ready, get Aliza dressed and ready and get out the door to drop her off at my mom's house so that I could get to school in time for the meeting. This is something I'd wondered about--can I get out the door when it's time for me to get to work? So I was a little glad to get the dry run. Here's what I learned:

1) I can do it. I can actually, physically, get up, get breakfast and lunch made for Russ, get dressed and ready to go, get Aliza ready to go and get out the door on time.

2) The only reason I can accomplish #1 was because I prepared the night before. My clothes were chosen (no easy task these days as I still can't fit into many of my clothes) and ironed. Aliza's bag was packed, as was mine. When I do go back to work I will have to spend the night before making sure I am prepared for the next day.

3) Aliza really is such an easygoing baby. (And, yes, I know I am incredibly lucky for that.) She didn't wake up in time for me to leave the house, which I suspected would happen, so I woke her up and put her right in her car seat (I was clever and put her in the kind of jammies that allowed this to happen). Even though that was how she started her day I STILL got the biggest smile from her.

4) Leaving her was very difficult. But I did it. And I kicked right into school mode as soon as I said goodbye. Even not teaching I kicked into school mode. (If you are a teacher then you get this, if you aren't then all I can say to explain it is that you have 20+ students to think about and lessons to prepare and copies to make and parents to email and teachers to talk to and basically a million and one things to do before the day is over and that is what you start thinking about....)

5) The day goes by VERY fast when you are at work. Way faster than when you are home alone with a baby.

6) This family, this student, is going to be my cross to bear this year. That's all I will say about it because, like I said, I want to keep my job.

7) I miss my friends at school.

8) Picking up Aliza, and being greeted with another large smile, was the highlight of my whole day.