My Feets!

My Feets!
Originally uploaded by vczdavis

Day 21 Thursday 8/7

Well today was a very very long day. This morning at 10:30 we went to a new Mother's group for 6-12 month olds. Holly was a little young, but the babies in the 0-6 month group were all like 4-8 weeks old, and the facilitator thought we were ready. There were two babies 6 weeks older then holly, a little boy and a little girl. The girl was sitting and crawling, walking (holding mom's hands) and rolling, the boy was not really doing any of these, he was sorta sitting, but not well. It was great to compare how holly is doing, even though I know your not supposed to do this, but i got a chance to see other babies in action. Holly can almost roll onto her stomach, but she has no desire too, she does in fact walk when i hold her hands, and she sits up, but still pushes back, rather then falls forward, so doesn't quite get that yet. In a char or leaning she sits fine. it was fun to see how they play and interact with toys, and I think that holly is right on target. Serina the little girl crawled over to us, and reached out to holly and holly reached back and took her hand, and they looked at each other and smiled. it was so amazing to watch. Holly was certainly watching and absorbing everything she saw. She was playing with her feet some more also.

The we went to a place called Tumble and Tea, a Play Cafe, where I met tow other mom's with 6 month olds. Another Boy and Girl, and the same again, the boy wasn't rolling or crawling, he was just starting to sit, and the girl wasn't crawling, but rolling onto her belly pushing up and sliding and rotating, so she was certainly on her way. I see holly doing some of the same moves, but she doesn't like those arms, I can see she needs to be looser to really get there, and the little girl would slide to her side when sitting, but could do it a bit. Her and Holly also played and holly watched her intently. The play area has rubber mats and inclines, and I had holly on her belly on the incline looking over to the little girl, Laural, and she stayed there for like ten minutes watching her and on her belly and pushing up, then she rolled of her belly and got grumpy. We also read a long Big Kid Book about sleepovers and she was very attentive, she loves to be read to. This is great!

I did call Hilary earlier this week, but there was no answer and no voicemail on the phone I called, Perhaps she was out of town, and I know she is busy, I will try to touch bases again soon, but perhaps wait until after the wedding and honeymoon. I don't think that holly's tone has really changed much on the Minocycline, though I try to give her several massages a week, and we do daily stretching. On the play mat incline we did some more upside down baby stretches, with her head extended looking at me backwards, this made her laugh as she knew it was me, but I didn't look right, she kept trying to right herself. Normally when she is upside down she doesn't see me, so she stays like that.

Later we went toy shopping and I got a few more teethers, and some toys that make music and sound when you rattle or press them. One is her octopus friend from ocean time, and each arm is a color and it says the name of the color when you press it. In the store she kept laughing and playing with it.

I also am ordering a set of 350 picture cards, I am very excited about these. Stage one does matching, where there are two of each card on plain white backgrounds. Stage 2 has 5 or 6 of each thing in a natural setting, so like apple, on a tree, in a bowl, ect. I hope to get these in about a week, and they should be fun.

I also ordered the Hanen Infant book, like 3 weeks ago, but it has not come yet.

Once we got home, Holly danced, played with all her new toys, and was very talkative, told her daddy all about her day. I think she is a little shy, but not really. When playing she is more of an observer, watcher, and will interact with you, but not make the first move, and she is usually more quiet. But then at home she is all smiles and talkative. She will smile at the babies and other moms when they smile at her, and she reaches for them or takes toys from them, but she is also a wait and see kind of girl. I guess I will know more once she is crawling, and see how she does. There were some older kids who came and played with Holly, like 3 years old, they seem to all love babies, and she is happy to play with and interact with theses miniature people.

Today She fell asleep on my lap and I had to go pay my tab and I let one of the other mothers hold her while I went to pay and she woke up and started crying because it wasn't her mommy, but a strange lady, so she definitely needs to get to know people, but she recognizes faces she has seen before, like our regular friends, and even some of the moms and babies from swim class, so she has warmed up and will be more talkative there.

In two weeks I am taking her to try out a gymboree class, but heard I should join the YMCA and that they have a warm pool and kindergym, that is better and more affordable. Next week we will be in LA, so things will be crazy, and off her regular routine, but it should be ok. Holly didn't eat much today, I think it is because she is teething.

She had a full bottle at 6:30 then at 8:30 only drank 1 ounce. Then fell asleep around 9:30. I gave her her 25 dose of Minocycline with 4ml of Apple Juice and 3 pinches of sugar at 11:30. She did not have a poopie diaper today, but has been very very gassy, and i think that also made her super cranky. I am surprised the sugar isn't making her go more.

Butterflys

Butterflys
Originally uploaded by vczdavis

Day 20 Wednesday 8/6

Today Holly's PT Sally came over. Holly was propping herself up and pushing with her arms. Sally tried a figure 8 cloth stretchy apparatus on holly that was to pull her arms back. She thinks it works, stills allows her to use her arms, but pushes her shoulders back. These were trials ones to see which material works best and she will make one with snaps for holly to use.

Today was more of the same, ocean Time, Tummy Time, Stories, Singing, Dancing, Baby Massage. Today I was watching the Human Baby show, that talks about children's development and holly was very intrigued with watching the babies in the studies on TV. During her massage and naked baby time, holly got fussy and I wasn't paying attention to what she was trying to tell me, then a moment later she peed on the blanket. I wish I had listened, but thought it was great she was telling me she needed to pee.

Today I also gave holly some upside down time. She was slightly reclined with her butt raised. This made it very easy for her feet to reach her mouth. She plays with them all the time now, but can't reach her mouth easily, because lifting her butt is hard work. So with this incline she was able to chew on her toes. It is a very slight incline and she was happy and content to play with her feet for about twenty minutes while I straitened up around the house and checked email.

This morning she was unable to nap, and took a very long afternoon nap. She was teething in the evening, and grabbing chewy toys, and reaching for them. Joel told me that this morning when she woke up she had pulled a stuffed animal out from the other side of her crib and was chewing on its toe, as the toe was all wet. Today i decided to read to her from her cloth books, so she could play with them when I was done. One is called tails, and she liked to grab and feel the different tails, and she chewed on this book for a long time.

I forgot to mention the other day Joel read to her a dinosaur pop up book and she really liked this. I also have a scanimation book where the animals move and she likes this one also. She had her last meal at 9:30 and at 1:30am I gave her 4 ml Apple Juice 25 dose Minocycline with 3 pinches of sugar and she ate it down in a few sips without waking. Tomorrow I will try and remember to brush her teeth since she is getting so much sugar.

Play Date

Play Date
Originally uploaded by vczdavis

Day 19 Tuesday 8/5

Today holly was very low key. We read several stories in the afternoon, and she paid very close attention. One was a word book, labeling things around the house. We also watched baby Beethoven, and Baby Van Gogh. She liked both. She even watched one on her own for about ten minutes while I straitened up. We also watched Baby's First Moves. This one was totally fun. We danced, shaked, jiggled, had tummy time, reached, Played peek-a-boo. She was very interested in watching the movements of the other babies and had lots of fun bouncing shaking and dancing.

In the afternoon she had a play date with Miriam and Issac. She showed Miriam how she plays in ocean time, and they read a book together. She enjoyed watching Miriam and Issac, but didn't interact with them much, and then took a nap. Later we had a nice massage and some naked baby time. She has been playing with her feet more and more. She was smiley today, but also very quiet. I think this is because mommy was sleepy this morning, perhaps my low energy rubbed off on her. Also we had workers in the back yard with a concrete saw, which made a loud noise all day.

She was a little fussy in the evening and was tired but not going to sleep, mommy rocked her to bed easily after a bottle at 8:30. At 11:30 I gave her 4ml of Apple Juice with 25 dose of Minocycline and 3 pinches of Sugar. She gulped it down again in her sleep. We did some tregger massage techniques that a friend showed me, which is more like caressing, or a relaxation technique, I think it helped keep her mellow, but I don;t know if it made her any looser. We did do some stretches, and we did these during upside down baby time, it gave me a chance to lengthen her neck, with her head pulled away from her shoulders, I could get in there more and massage that area, but I didn't want to keep her upside down too long.

She also played with a rolling toy today, that when you push it it rolls back at you. This amazed her and she watched it for about 15 minutes, I would push it and it would come back and she would watch it go back and forth and really liked this. She sat between my legs and I put the toy between hers and pushed it.

Your my Daddy

Your my Daddy
Originally uploaded by vczdavis

Daddy Notes:

8/4/2008
Holly has been very smiley and cheerful today. She is getting very good at grabbing her feet, especially when she is getting changed. She is trying to get her toes in her mouth but cant quite manage without help. She's been making excellent eye contact, and will follow us around the room. I think she's starting to maybe recognize her name. She laughs a lot when I bounce her up and down, she's a happy little girl.

Blowin Raspberries

Blowin Raspberries
Originally uploaded by vczdavis

Day 18 Monday 8/4

So I am pretty confident Holly is getting most of her medication now. I have been giving it to her in the middle of the night, several hours after/before any feedings, usually 3-4 on either side, so I know she is absorbing it, and she takes it while asleep, so most of it is swallowed, with only minor drooling, but no spit up.

Holly has been more expressive, and communicative. Joel noticed that she will look towards what she wants and then make noises, until we pay attention to it. So for example, this evening she wanted to be in her swing. We were trying to rock her and play with her, but she kept looking at her swing. Joel finally said, do you want your swing, and put her in it, she immediately stopped crying and soon fell asleep. She also did this with her bottle. She ate the first half of it, and as typical wanted to take a break, then about 30-45 minutes later she was fussing and staring off, and Joel said, she is looking at her bottle. I gave it to her and she gulped it down.

Also tonight when we put her down to sleep, she dropped her pacifier, and Joel reached to give it to her, and when it was going towards her mouth she reached out with both hands and grabbed it and put it back into her mouth.

Also she came up with a new game today, the bouncy game,. Her daddy was bouncing her on his lap and she laughed and laughed each time he bounced her. We were also singing new silly songs and making faces and goofy sounds and she would laugh at the silly sounds. In Ocean time she played by herself quietly for about ten minutes and she rotated herself 90 degrees to better reach different toys on the other side.

I read her her Holly family book, and the spot book, and was sang. We walked around the backyard and sat outside, and we watched a little baby Einstein. While I was pumping I wasn't able to play with her and she woke up. So I propped her up in her pillow nest and put on Baby Neptune and she watched it without fussing for about 15 minutes while I was finishing. She was very hungry since she just woke up, so she began to fuss. I took a break to feed her, but then after she was content to play on her own and watch while I finished.

I do think she is making more new different sounds, but I can't really articulate what they are. but she is blowing with her tongue and lips and exploring her mouth, and she is very intrigued with her feet. She played in her crib for about 10 minutes watching the mobile, during naked baby time, and was happy to grab onto her feet and watch and listen to the music.

Holly last ate at 9:30 and at 1:00 am I gave her 4 ml of Apple Juice, 4 pinches of Sugar and a 25 dose of Minocycline. Just before she had woken up and cried and I gave her her Lutchka and she was sucking hard. I went to make the medicine and she fell back asleep, but was still sucking. I put the medicine in, and she sucked it down without even waking up in like 30 seconds, no drops or anything. I wish every night was like this.

Too Big for my Britches

Too Big for my Britches
Originally uploaded by vczdavis

Day 17 Sunday 8/3

Today was the last day of Granny's visit. Today was the same as the last few days, holly blowing bubbles with her tongue, and playing with her feet. We had tummy time, ocean time, naked baby time, story time, and singing time. Tonight mommy and daddy were very tired and wanted to watch a movie. Holly was very laid back, and laid on the couch between us quietly playing and staring off into space.

She was very intrigued with her feet and played with them for over ten minutes, very amused. She isn't really getting them to her mouth on her own, but she is certainly interested in them. She was also very ticklish tonight, we played the upside down baby game, and I would kiss her chest and she would laugh and giggle each time I gave her kisses. When she was upside down her feet got kisses and this made her laugh, then she would stand up on my chest with her arms stretched out and I would blow on her belly and she would laugh,. She likes this game a lot.

She did have a poopie early in the morning, around 10 am but it was normal consistency, not too watery, so I will use the same mix of sugar and apple juice tonight as yesterday. It had been mentioned a few times that she might be hungry and want more then her regular 4 oz bottle, I personally have not noticed this, but thought I would give it a try. Often I have more then 120 CC of breast milk, but less the 200 (which splits nicely for two 100cc bottles) so this morning I made a bottle with 170 cc and this afternoon one with 140. In both cases she did not finish them. This morning she drank the typical 120, and left the remaining 50 for her mid morning snack. Then this evening she only drank 70 and then had another 30, then 40 each 1 hour apart snacking through the evening. I will continue doing this with the breast milk since it does not go bad, and it gives her the opportunity to drink more if she wants, but she is gaining weight consistently, and she hasn't drank more, so I think she is fine. She last ate at 9:30 and I gave her 4 ml of Apple Juice with 4 pinches of Sugar and 25 dose of Minocycline at 1:00am. She didn't fuss much, and she fell back to sleep right away for another 3 hours.

Two Dads

Two Dads
Originally uploaded by vczdavis

Day 16 Saturday 8/2

Today Holly was "blowing Raspberries" all morning at her granny and Daddy. Apparently last night she was practicing for only me, and today she wanted to show off her new skill to everyone. It is quite adorable. So I am not sure how well so much sugar worked out. At 6:30 am she had a very watery poopie, and yesterday she went at 2:00, so it wasn't even 24 hours, which is the minimum for her usually. Tonight, I waited again until she was sound asleep, and at around 12:30 AM I gave her 4ml Apple Juice, with 25 Dose of Minocycline and 4 pinches of sugar. This was a little more apple juice then the night before, and a little less sugar. it wasn't quite as easy, but about half way through I got her to take a few really big sucks and swallow most of it, after the first ten minutes of it dripping slowly. Then it was just the last sip or so. I tricked her by getting her to suck on her pacifier, then switching them. It seemed to work ok.

Today she did the usual. We watched the rest of baby da vinci, read her holly book, and many other's sang songs, she made pie with granny, played in ocean time and had a lot of tummy time on both aqua duck and her quilt. She has a triangle play center and she will watch the knobs spin and the pieces move while on her belly, then roll off when she is tired of it.

She also had a lot of naked baby time and a very long massage. We did several stretches, and she really got almost 30 minutes of play, massage and naked baby time, before she started to get hot and sleepy.

We went out in the afternoon with Lucian and his parents, to eat Indian, and the smells and music were all very exciting to her. She sat in my lap and looked and watched everything. Viks the restaurant was very warm, and she was getting tired and cranky but too much was going on for her to sleep, she wanted to be part of the action. even amidst all the chaos, she let me know when she was wet, and once I changed her she was somewhat less fussy.

Last night I tired to bring her into bed with me to sleep, and she was sorta falling asleep, but she was too cranky. Normally she gets to sprawl out on the bed, and I sing to her, but with both mommy and daddy there, it wasn't like her normal morning nap, and she didn't like it, so daddy got up with her. This was when she had the bad wet poopie, so that could have been why she would not settle down, but then daddy rocked her to sleep. In the afternoon she also played in her crib for about 10 minutes she has a very interesting mobile that she never gets to use because it distracts her when she is trying to sleep, so she watched it for a while.

She has been grabbing her legs and feet, and her daddy reported that she was pulling on her feet and hand in a coordinated way, and definitely making improvement. I have also noticed that Holly is very long waisted and this makes her center of gravity a little different and her legs shorter, so in order for her to reach her foot into her mouth, she needs to also be able to hold her but up into the air, which requires doing three things at once. During her massage I had her slightly tilted upside down, so her head was a little lower then her butt and with this extra leverage she was able to get her toes into her mouth. She didn't do it for long and I didn't keep her upside down too long, though it is a game she likes, but she keeps trying to eat those toes.

Also, she held her bottle completely on her own, for about 3-5 minutes. She tries to do this a lot, but usually gets over zealous, if her hands aren't even she will end up apply more pressure on one or the other and it was push over, but today her hands were up close on the rim and she was able to sustain it. Then she began to chew on the nipple, as she wasn't actually super hungry, it was amazing, I wish I got a picture of it, but I am sure she will do it again soon enough.


The teething was not as bad a usual today, she was still chompy, but didn't seem to be angry about it. I could just be reading into this, but I think she is having more "your not my mommy anxiety" and a few times she has gotten upset and only I can sooth her, I am starting to worry about daycare some more, but they said i can bring her there with me for a few hours on a few different days so she gets used to it, and the teacher's so I hope this will make a difference.

Of yeah, the other thing I wanted to point out is she is consistently crossing the mid-line with her right hand to reach for things that are on her left side, she will grab with both hands, or her left, but she also crosses to grab with the right on the left side. This wasn't just one time, and this is listed as a older child skill. Holly is 20 weeks this week, and she will be 5 months old in 9 days.

Mine!

Mine!
Originally uploaded by vczdavis

Joel Notes:

7/30-8/1/2008
Holly has been doing well. She's tolerating the medicine now, she still doesn't like it but it hasn't been an ordeal the last few days. She's been really expressive and has been grabbing everything within reach and sticking it into her mouth. She chews and chews. She's been a lot better with spitting up, too. This morning I woke up and went to check on her, and she was already waking up, just stretching and wiggling. She didn't cry at all and was just happily wiggling and looking at her mobile and kicking her baby monitor. She was very happy to see me with the bottle, though. She's very loose in the morning, but she tenses up during the day.

Swimming

Swimming
Originally uploaded by vczdavis

Day 15 Friday 8/1

This morning mommy was very tired and slept in, but Daddy and Granny met Katie Holly's OT at 9:00. They played in Ocean time, practicing rolling onto her side, and she stayed on her tummy for a very long time in Aqua duck. Also Katie has her sitting, and leaning forward and kicking her feet on Aqua duck which she really likes. They did stretches, and the other usual activities. After about 45 minutes she got cranky, but then she had her second wind, and went another 30. By 10:30 she was napping with Mommy.

After her nap she read several stories, and watched some baby Einstein. This episode was Baby Da Vinci, and it was all about the body parts. First the Eyes, then the Ears and then the Mouth. It is probably coincidence, but when the mouth part came on she kept touching her mouth, and she hadn't been doing that during the eyes and ears section. Also last night she was laying on daddy on the floor on her back, and from that position she rolled onto her stomach, and stayed there playing, and doing some tummy time. Daddy's belly is cushy and angled so it was comfy. I was surprised to see her roll onto her belly.

This afternoon was swim class with Granny and Mommy. We dunked underwater twice which she liked. She was super kicky today, and very chewy. She was reaching for the floating toys, the little fish, and of course loves the red lobster. She was super interested in the other babies today, Sophie, Iko, Cole, and Scarlett. She didn't really splash except once, and I think this is because she is still tight, but when mommy splashes and gets her face wet she does not mind at all.

This evening Holly was so very cute. We played a new game. I will try and get video of it if I can. But when one sticks out there tongue and purses there lips and blows you make like a puttering sound. Joel apparently has been doing this will Holly all week to try and get her to imitate him, and I did not know. Tonight I was sticking my tongue out at her, and then I started making that noise/face and it cracked her up, then she copied me, several times she would stick her tongue out and make little spit bubbles and noise and try to do the same thing as me. Joel only saw her once. I would do it, and she would laugh and chew her fingers when he was watching her, then he would leave and she would do it back at me. It cracked me up. I totally think that my laughing at her was such positive reinforcement that she kept doing it over and over. We must have played this game for like thirty minutes.

Also this evening we sang songs, played patty cake, played upside down baby, which she anticipates, and knows when you are about to put her upside down. We were doing stretches, and these make her laugh, her chest is very ticklish when I stretch it out. She sat in her bouncer but only for maybe 10 minutes. During dinner she was in her swing because we thought she was tired and ready for a nap, from her long day swimming, but she was getting fussy. The swing was not facing us, so I moved it over to the table, and turned it to swing side to side, and i got her a bunny toy to hug and chew on. She could now look at us, and she played in her swing for most of dinner, when she started to get tired she made little whining noises and I found her pacifier and she was happy, then I simply had to keep putting it in until she fell asleep.

This was about 9:00, we were playing a board game by this time, and then Joel and I went to a movie, as she had just eaten, and I didn't want to wake her. When I got home at 1:20 I gave her 3ml of Apple Juice with 25 dose of Minocycline and maybe 5 pinches of sugar. I tasted the mixture with 2 pinches and it was awful, just a tiny drip on my finger tip tasted bad, so I added in more sugar, until it was bearable. I hope this sugar isn't going to give her diabetes or something, and isn't too bad for her. I turned her swing off, but didn't move her, and stuck the medicine bottle into her mouth, in like two sucks, she drank all of it but a last drop, which I then squirted into her cheek. This stirred her a bit, but then she went back to sleep. No fuss, no spit up, and it took less then 5 minutes. Perhaps it was luck, maybe it was the sugar. now I am just hoping she stays asleep at least another hour and doesn't wake hungry.

Bouncy Bounce

Bouncy Bounce
Originally uploaded by vczdavis

Daddy Notes

7/30-8/1/2008
Holly has been doing well. She's tolerating the medicine now, she still doesn't like it but it hasn't been an ordeal the last few days. She's been really expressive and has been grabbing everything within reach and sticking it into her mouth. She chews and chews. She's been a lot better with spitting up, too. This morning I woke up and went to check on her, and she was already waking up, just stretching and wiggling. She didn't cry at all and was just happily wiggling and looking at her mobile and kicking her baby monitor. She was very happy to see me with the bottle, though. She's very loose in the morning, but she tenses up during the day.