SHE'S CRAWLING!!!

She's not very good at it yet, but yesterday we officially saw Alex crawl, and we've seen it again today. While she has been creeping a lot, she now can move her hands while on her knees. A little tiny bit at a time.

And so the problems begin...

Jason found her under the dining room table yesterday, she crawls over the cushions that are supposed to be blocking her in, and she wants to be in motion all of the time. She's also learned how to pull up on things and can bring herself to a supported standing position on her bouncy chair, which she can't really use anymore.

I have no clue how we're going to keep this child contained. She's absolutely adorable.

Unfortunately, I have been unable to upload videos recently. I'm so sorry! (And pics aren't working at the moment either... sadness. Oh well. Most of you will have the real thing soon enough anyway.)

Being a Trooper

Alex was sick for a little over a week, ending finally yesterday. She started out with a really bad cough, and then she got a really stuffy and runny nose. The col ran its course in the normal time, and she was so great. You could tell she didn't feel well sometimes, and she was a little sleepier and a little crankier, but other than that, she was great. We kept calling her a little trooper because she did so well with it.

And now she is as frisky as one could hope, possibly more so. She has completely mastered the art of creeping, where she gets up on her hands and knees, pushes her body forward without moving her arms, falls to her stomach, and then adjusts her hands accordingly. It's very efficient. She can get anywhere.

And I do mean anywhere...

Yes, she is officially a baby in motion if she wasn't before. And while as I've previously mentioned, we're biased, we think she's pretty smart. If we move her, she'll go back to the thing she was just playing with. She has these foam mats with borders, and yesterday she figured out that she could lift them up and chew on them, and now that's all she wants to do. She's also trying to bust out of her "jail" by climbing over the couch cushions. And actually, I just paused there, and she has climbed ON TOP of the cushion. So much for that idea of containment. Back to the drawing board.

Recent updates - She hates potatoes. She just doesn't like them, and I'm trying to get her used to them without having to add something sweet, because I suppose she has to learn that not everything is sweet. Other than that, she's still doing great with solids. All of those weird head pealies that she had on top of her head? They're almost entirely gone. She is talking so much the past few days, I think a lot of it because she's feeling better. And she is in love with the itsy bitsy spider. It's adorable. She has also become a champion at sitting up and doesn't cry nearly as much. Actually, if I catch her at the right time, she doesn't cry at all. On Sunday she was in a crawling position and kind of turned sideways and sat, which is great, but she hasn't done it again. She is also still obsessed with tags. She has recently found one on the mattress of her pack and play and attacks it over and over again with delight.

It's wonderful to have a daughter who isn't in physical therapy, isn't on medication, and is well and healthy. I can't wait for her to come home and see everyone. We have our last doctor's appointment next Tuesday, and then we leave Thursday. I probably won't be updating this for a while because of moving and Christmas and everyone seeing her anyway, but I'm sure I'll pick up again after the new year if I don't before.

A Few of My Favorite Things

Here is a list of Alexis' current favorite pastimes:

1. destroying leaves when we go outside to look around
2. pulling blankets off of her face when we place them there and ask "where's Alexis?"
3. scooching under her bouncy seat so that she can have the tags right on top of her to pull on, play with, grab, and put in her mouth
4. having her father or mother gently toss/roll her to the other side of the bed, where the other parent is waiting to do the same
5. having a beach ball bounced on her face (yeah, that seems kind of weird to me, too)
6. getting up on her hands and toes with her butt in the air, then her knees, and rocking back and forth, trying to figure out how to crawl
7. destroying pages from magazines

Six Months!!!

Yes, Alex is six months old now. It's hard to believe. She had her checkup on Monday and gained a full pound the last month, which is great; she now weighs thirteen full pounds. Dr. Mora again said she's doing great, and next month will be her last appointment with him.

She's developign so much. She's so inquisitive about everything now and reaches out to grab things she wants AND things she shouldn't have! One of her favorite new things is a page from a magazine, but I have to supervise her closely if she plays with it because all she wants to do is eat it! She's still doing great eating and has been practicing with her sippy cup. She still initially just bites it, but once she realizes that golden nectar (apple juice) flows forth when she sucks, she usually gets the hang of it. Everyone still tells us what a happy baby she is, which of course makes me proud, even though I didn't have anything to do with it. Jason is currently doing her exercises with her and she just started bawling a little bit, but what can you do? I think she's going to be sitting up on her own really soon. She can already do it for a little bit, althouh she's really shaky about it. I've discovered that all these milestones that people talk about are really hard to determine. She's sat up a tiny bit for about two weeks, and she gradually increases the time, so how does one know the exact moment a child actually does something? It's kind of weird.

Sorry folks. I've tried twice to attach some really cute videos, but it doesn't seem to want to work. My apologies. I'll try to put a few pics, though.

5 1/2 Months

At the moment, Alex is sleeping in her bouncy seat with her cheek smashed up against one side and one arm stretched to the sky. It amazes me the positions she can sleep in. This is just a quick update. She started rolling over all the time from her back to her stomach, so now she is all OVER the place. We had to create a bigger area for her with some mats that we have, and she just rolls all over it. Her physical therapist hopes that she'll be crawling by the time we go home but thinks it's optimistic to think she'll be sitting up in two weeks, which is what Dr. Mora wanted, even though it's still in the early time period for that. We also aren't allowed to let her stand up anymore because she's using it as a reflex of some sort, so it's sitting for her, and she does not like it! She's getting better at it, though. And she has started to grab her feet and put her toes in her mouth all the time; it's so cute! She's been eating well and loves her cereal, endures carrots, and enjoys apple juice, which she has also begun drinking out of a sippy cup. I have to help her, of course, but she does a really good job and even tries to use the handles. Lots of little developments that make her seem so big to me.

"I Make My Own Snack"

We have determined that Alex is a cackling old woman. In the past few days, her continual voice experimentation has led her to a guttural “hghaaaaaaaa” sound like an old woman haggling in a marketplace. While extremely amusing, it’s certainly not ladylike. But this is also coming from a girl who farts more than any creation I could have ever imagined, so who expects delicacy?

Alex is currently chilling out on her play mats with a circular rattle around her upper arm as a bracelet, one pink sock mostly, but not quite, kicked off, and a cloth diaper draped across her body as a toy. This girl definitely doesn’t need expensive toys to amuse herself. It constantly amazes us how incredible she is, how we never get tired of spending time with her, how excited we get about each new thing. Proud parents, right? She wakes up in the morning before I do and usually has time alone with her dad then, happily content in her bed or hanging out with him until I get her and we have breakfast. And at night, whether she is already almost asleep, fell asleep eating, or is wide awake, she can go to her bed and put herself to sleep without problem. I am actually at the stage now when I don’t go to sleep wondering if tonight is going to be the night where she starts waking up in the middle of the night again, and she almost never cries when we put her to bed. It’s a nice place to be.

She also LOVES her rice cereal. It’s ultra-cute when she grabs my hand that’s holding her spoon and brings it to her mouth to attack the food. FOOOOODDDD!!! YEAHHHHH!!! EXCITEMENT!!!!! However, during the past few feedings, she has started something new; she wants to suck her thumb WHILE she’s eating. I wonder if it’s partially a thing of missing breastfeeding some, but I have to keep pulling her hand out of her mouth when she’s eating, which makes feedings a little more difficult. But she still loves it and is getting really good at eating and seems to understand the process. Early next week we’re going to give her some carrots. (I tried a bit of mashed up banana but she didn’t seem to like it to much then. I’ll try again later with a riper banana.)

I also look at pictures of her in my arms and realize how big she is getting. At twelve pounds she certainly isn’t huge, but she’s not this little flopping bundle. She has so much more control over herself, wants to stand up all the time, voices her emotions, and is (sorry folks) starting to experience stranger anxiety we think. All of these things are developmentally appropriate, but I found myself thinking today what I’m sure every parent thinks – my child will never be this small again, and how will I ever remember what it felt like to hold such a small little girl in my arms? It’s partially sad, but it’s partially exciting because then I start to think about when she starts crawling and speaking and all of those other things that seem so far away but are actually very close. But then I’ll be shaken out of my reverie by her making her own snack. Yes, that’s right. She has started to make her own snacks, a very convenient situation for her father and me. She’ll begin to spit up a little bit but instead of it leaving, she’ll just swallow it back down. Mmmm…. yummy.

Five Month Update

Alexis is growing up so fast! Last week, all in one day, she started to reach out for toys while she was on her stomach, her head started peeling, and she started to dress in real clothes, not just onesies, on a more regular basis. She was in her jean overalls, and they are just the cutest things on her! She is pushing up on her legs all the time and always wanting to stand up.

She had her checkup on Friday and is doing well, although her doctor wants her to be gaining more weight, so she is now eating rice cereal twice a day. She started this morning, and I was expecting crying and wailing and an upset little girl, as all of the reading said, but she was actually very content and somewhat excited about a new experience and adapted really, really well, although inevitably there was more food on her face and bib than inside of her. She now weighs twelve pounds exactly and is getting so much more interactive! She rolls over whenever she wants to, and the doctor really wants us to work on her sitting up, hoping that she'll be able to do so on her own next month.

VIDEO TIME

I have discovered how easy it now is to post videos, so I'm going to put a few on here from the past and I'll try to put videos on here more frequently. I love you guys!

The Squealer

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Alexis is going to be a squealer, I just know it. She is growing a lot more communicative, especially in the mornings. She usually gets up around 6:30-7:00 right now, and when she sees me first thing in the morning, her smile is huge! I couldn't ask for anything better. She is so happy in the morning when she first wake up. It's like she sees us ans says to herself, "oh, THERE they are. Hooray!" She also tends to get distracted when she's eating first thing in the morning; she'll eat until she's somewhat satisfied, but then she'll want to stare up at me and smile and she'll forget what she's doing...

She's 4 1/2 months old now and is the champion thumb-sucker. It's actually inhibited her rolling over some because she gets lazy and just wants to put her thumb in her mouth. Right now she spends lots of time during the day on her tummy, and her neck control is really improved and she's pushing up all the time, and yesterday she rolled over again after a few days of not doing so. ALSO, she actually roller over from her back to her front!!! It was so cool; she got herself on her side and then after a few moments pushed herself over. I don't know when that will happen again - it kind of seemed like a fluke, but I'll let everyone know.

So she sucks on her fingers and hand, and she makes all sorts of noises now. I'm going to try to capture them on video when Jason gets back with the camera. She's still sleeping through the night, which is great. Her typical day right now is get up around 6:30-7:00, take a 2-3 hour nap late morning until early afternoon, catnap a bit in the late afternoon and evening, and then go to sleep around 8:00-8:30. She's still eating well, and Dr. Mora is probably going to try her out on solids next month.

I really thought I had also included info about her visit with Aunt Jen, but I have not already. Anyway, she had a really great time and Alex definitely liked her! We did all sorts of stuff, including boat tours and volcano visits. Alex was great!

Four Months

My beautiful, amazing, wonderful daughter is now four months old, and she's doing great!

First, the trip to the states was wonderful. I was definitely apprehensive about traveling with her. We flew into Fort Lauderdale, got there about five in the morning, and proceeded to have an eight-hour layover. She was so great about traveling. Everyone that worked for the airlines and airports was wonderful about helping us out and even letting us cut lines. Alex cried only a few times for only a few moments on the first flight, and then on the rest of them she was completely content, no problem whatsoever. Alex also did great adjusting to being in the states. She got a cold while she was there, but then again, so did I. I think it was the central air that got our systems down; it's been over two years since I've experienced central air conditioning on a regular basis, and it was definitely an adjustment, albeit a wonderful one. Everyone was so accommodating and made the entire trip go really smoothly, and I'm so glad people got to meet her while she was this age. Only three months left!

Anyway, current updates. Alex had her checkup yesterday and is now eleven pounds, four ounces. She's still in the 25th percentile for size, but neither Jason nor I are large people, and she'll probably stay on the smaller size (I think - after all, I'm only five three, and that's a stretch). Dr. Mora took her off of the Zantac that she's taking for acid reflux and we're going to see how she does without it. She'll be on the other cisaprida until she's six months old. (That's the medicine she's taking because of the surgery and her immature digestive system, which is doing very well). Dr. Mora is pleased with her progress and thinks she's fine. It's great for me to be able to walk into the doctor's office and not feel as though I have tons of questions or concerns... I think I might be getting the hang of this parenting thing.

In other adorable news, ALEX IS ROLLING OVER!!!! Yes, I am a proud mom. She had her third appointment with her physical therapist (who is wonderful and comes to our house), and we got some more exercises to do with Alex to continue helping her with her muscular development. The pt was pleased with Alex's progress. She saw Alex on Monday morning, and then on Monday afternoon she rolled over! Alex was still not a huge fan of being on her stomach, but she steadily, after her pt appointment, started pushing herself up on her elbows. I thought THAT was a big deal, and then she suddenly rolled over, all in an afternoon. Now she's a champion of it. She's only rolling from her stomach to her back, and that's normal to be first. Maybe in a month or so she might be rolling over the other way! I think it all started when she was turning herself around in her crib. I'd put her head in one direction and then find it on the other direction. Or she would put herself in the corner, as though she had done something bad...

Anyway, Alex is doing great. And yes, those are cherry Twizzler nibs that were placed on her head. I have NO idea how they got there. And Alex is very appreciative of Nanny's wheat thins...

14 1/2 Weeks

Momentous Events....

Alex is in the middle of a huge developmental leap. At least, I think. Anyway, last night she slept through the night, and I'm not talking about the "technical" 5-6 hours that's considered sleeping through the night. She slept from 9-5!!! The only sad thing about it was that I woke up like 16 times because I'm so used to having to get up in the middle of the night. Also, just a few moments ago she started swatting at her zebra with her left hand! She's been reaching out to touch a crinkle sound book that she has, and all of it is just really adorable and great.

I think one of the reasons she slept through the night too was that she saw her physical therapist yesterday and has a whole new set of exercises to working on, and I think the day tired her out. She was wonderful - incredibly nice, very thorough, and very honest. She said that in some ways Alex is fine but that in other ways she's behind, although she qualified it by saying that she thinks she's fine but always wants to be more on the "pessimistic side" in order to be safe. Alex has a whole bunch of different things to do now, like rolling in a sheet and balancing on a beach ball and having to spend more time on her stomach to try and develop use of her elbows and neck. She especially doesn't like that, but she has to do it, and she just cries and cries and it's so sad! But you gotta do what's best for your kid, right? She's so incredibly adorable and I can't wait for everyone to meet her who hasn't.

3 Month Updated

Alex had her three month appointment yesterday and is ten pounds, two ounces, and 23 inches. While she's doing pretty well, Dr. Mora is having us meet with a physical therapist to show us some additional exercises to help with her development. In some ways she's a month and a half behind because she was a month early and then spent 19 days flat on her back in the hospital, and all of that time has to be made up for. The big thing we're working on is developing her neck muscles, so we're doing a lot more of making her work for herself and not supporting her neck as much. So far she is NOT happy about it, but we're working on it.

The trip with dad here was great. It was full and (hopefully) relaxing all at the same time. Alex did incredibly well being out during those times, two days of which she was out for almost the entire day. Dad was surprised at how good she was, which was really nice. Hopefully this is all contributing to her being a flexible, easy-going kid. But she went to her first volcano, her first crater lake, saw an old fort, went to Granada, and walked around a small town known for its pottery. It was overall a really great time.

3 Months!!!

Yes, Alexis is three months old today! No, we didn't have a party for her. She's been doing great. The Zantac has really helped with the acid reflux and she is generally calmer. Also, she is getting to the stage when she can usually sleep 5-6 hours in a row, which technically means (in baby terms) that she is sleeping through the night. Isn't THAT wonderful? I've recently been getting about 5 hours of sleep in a row pretty consistently.

She's been smiling so much recently and we can tell how much she recognizes us. Her eyesight is improving too and we can see her looking at us from farther away, or looking outside. Her latest trick, though, involves her legs. In her bed I put her directly underneath her mobile so that she can stare up at her little animals. However, occasionally I'm finding her head all the way at the top of the crib because she's scooted herself up by pushing her legs against the mattress.

Dad's been here this week and she's been having a wonderful time with her granddad. She's been to volcanoes and old forts and crater lakes and lookouts. It's been amazing how wonderful she's been when we've taken her out. It's quite a bit of work, but she tends to be very chill when out, especially when she's in the car or in her carrier. She likes the motion of both, and they tend to put her to sleep. I've been using her carrier more often now, and it's great to be able to go to the grocery store when I need to and not have to depend on Jason to watch her.

One funny thing I've discovered is why all the Nicas think she's a boy. Inevitably they comment on the cute white baby but they always ask if she's a boy or assume that, even when she's wearing pink! However, we think it's because she doesn't have her ears pierced, which Nicas usually do in the first few days of a girl's life. So this is why they all think she's a boy.

I hope you enjoy the pics. More next time :) And the one of her in a blue dress - that's a dress that mom wore when SHE was a baby!!!

11 Weeks

Everyone knows about the zebra, right? The one that she likes to stare at? Well, on Friday we introduced Alex to her bouncy chair, and she seemed to enjoy it. It has a bar with some toys attached to it, but she doesn't seem to like those yet. (I think it was too much new stuff at one time.) Yesterday (Saturday), though, I took off the regular toys and attached her zebra to it, the one she likes to stare at. After she had been looking at the zebra for a few minutes, she started taking her right hand and, still intently focused on looking at the zebra, kept making swipes at it with her hand. IT WAS SO AMAZING! She did it again and again and kept hitting it! I was so proud and it was so cool to watch this small part of her development.

Alex continues to do well. It's 5:00 am here, but I am happy and content and awake because (drum roll, please...) Alex went six hours between feedings last night! This is great. She continues to go longer between feedings, which is wonderful but also takes some getting used to, and I'm hoping that pretty soon I'm consistently only getting up once during the night, and then hopefully she'll begin sleeping through the night most of the time. Her acid reflux seems to be doing much better due to the Zantac that she's on, and we try to hold her upright for at least fifteen minutes after feedings. (All of this is normal and Zantac is one of the most commonly prescribed drugs for babies with acid reflux.)

She also continues to focus more and more on objects and spends longer amounts of time entertaining herself. And she totally loves attention! Almost without fail, if we're out and there are other people around, she is very chill and enjoys being passed around from person to person and is rarely fussy during those times. She's also beginning to enjoy her baths more and more I think. Yesterday she didn't cry at all when I put her in and only cried when I took her out.

Alex continues to grow and we had to cycle out some of her clothes (I'm going to miss her little days of the week onesies that dad gave her) and got some new ones put in to the rotation. It's really crazy to look back at pictures from the beginning, especially of her in her pajamas, and realize how much she's grown. Her feet actually reach her pj feet now! Her eyes continue to be dark gray, although we're wondering if they are starting to get a little lighter. People always comment on her eyes and how big and intense they are. I also get more and more people commenting on how expressive she is. She tends to furrow her brow a bit and lift her eyebrows, making her look very inquisitive and attentive. She's probably just passing gas, though... :) And she has kept her hair and there seems to be only the slightest bit of thinning where her head rests against her bed. It's starting to grow more on her head where she didn't have it before, and it's getting pretty long as well. In the sunlight, her hair looks almost copper-colored. I keep wondering if her hair is going to have more red tints to it than expected. Maybe she'll look like nanny!

And Alex is now cooler than any other person I know; she has two passports! We picked up her US passport a while ago, and she got her Nicaraguan passport on Thursday. I wish I were cool enough to have dual citizenship!

10 Weeks

This is when my child starts to get truly interesting. This has been the week for visual focus and concentration. She is currently really good at looking at a foil ball that I dangle back and forth, she will follow herself in a mirror, she has become interested in the car seat mobile that her great-grandparents got her, and she will look at the small stuffed animals that dangle above her bed. She especially likes the zebra, I think because it is black and white and has stripes, two things that are especially interesting to infants this age. It's been amazing to watch her make these steps when days before she wasn't doing these things.

She also did something else pretty amazing on Saturday morning. She let me sleep until I wanted to get up, which was a little after 7:00. It was really nice :) She still has a few times when she cluster feeds, but she's usually eating about every 3 hours, and starting to go a little bit longer sometimes, especially after her last feeding at night.

We still just keep thinking about how big she is. At her last appointment, she was a little over 21 inches, which means that she has grown almost 3 inches since she's been born. Her little legs are so chubby, as are her arms and hands and cheeks.

She's smiling so much more and many times will respond to you when you smile at her, and we can go back and forth taking turns smiling. She is also staying up more (she's still great at telling the difference between day and night), but a lot of times I think she has a hard time knowing what to do with herself when she's awake. She can kind of entertain herself for about 10 minutes, maybe 15, but then a lot of times she gets fussy and cries because she doesn't know what to do with herself. When she's totally inconsolable, many times there is only one thing that will fix the problem - Daddy Time. Without fail, Jason can take her in his arms a certain way and sing a little song that he made up, and she will be totally enthralled. (We have video copies for you that you'll be able to see.) It's pretty impressive, and I can't duplicate it. It can get a little tiresome for Jason, though, because it's pretty high-energy and hard to keep up for any long period of time. We're getting much more familiar with her cries, though, and can usually tell when she's simply fussy and can let her cry without feeling as though there's something we could actually do for her. (Just because we let her cry doesn't mean were bad parents, though - PLEASE don't think that... lol.)

She can't wait to meet all of you!

Two Months

Alex turned two months old yesterday and is doing great. she had her check-up yesterday and currently weighs in at nine pounds, four ounces! This is great because she gained over two pounds this past month, which is a little more than normal. She needs to do this because she needs to play catch up some. She is still on her medicine for another month at least, which we expected, and she's also on Zantac to help some with spit up that's kind of creamy and not just milk. (Acid reflux.) We have also come to the conclusion that we think she's lactose intolerant, something very common in babies, so I am on a total diet lacking in cheese (NO PIZZA), milk (NO PUDDING), and ice cream (NO ICE CREAM). How sad is that? We have a formula that she shouldn't be allergic to now. This will be great if for some reason I'm gone and she really needs to eat, which has happened occasionally.

She also has something called an umbilical hernia, which sounds scary but isn't. Her little belly button sticks out like you wouldn't believe. It's a little weird but not something to worry about. 75% of the cases correct themselves by the time the child is two years old, so we really hope that we're in that 75%. (There is a possibility of corrective surgery, but it's not something to worry about at all, so don't concern yourselves...)

Overall, Dr. Mora is pleased with her progress, even though she's still only in the 25th percentile of weight, height, and head size for girls, but that's to be expected.

At home she's doing really well. Jason and I think that we're both finally getting better (we started taking parasite medicine and it seems to be working). Alex has been sleeping for longer periods of time at the beginning of the night, so I am pretty regularly able to have at least three hours of sleep in a row at the beginning. She continues to brin gher hand to her mouth, and she now has a little play area set up near our back door where I do some development exercises with her and just hang out some. She did the GREATEST thing this morning! I attached a foil ball to a ribbon to help encourage her to move her hands up and try to swat at it. It's early for that, but it was an easy thing to make and try out. She did not swat at it. However, she got realy interested in it and she tracked it with her eyes, left to right and up and down, for about 2 or3 minutes, which was amazing! she just kept following it with her eyes. I've seen her do this a little bit but never to that extent. It's pretty cool. I also took out a few spices to have her smell, which was kind of fun, and I lift her up by her hands and her neck is starting to get so strong. She can't hold it up yet, but she's getting there.

Okay, sorry nopics this time. She just woke up and is HUNGRY!

7 Weeks

We have a grubby little girl.

I say this because of her hands. While she fills out her pajamas much better than when she first came home, her hands still tend to curl up inside of her sleeves. When this happens, any fuzzies from the cloth (or any other cloth I'm sure) somehow get stuck in between her chubby fingers, so that when I'm playing with her or holding her, I'm constantly pulling out fuzzies from between her fingers. It's a little strange. She also has a tendency to spit up, as already written about, and sometimes when she does this, her head is at such an angle that it gets into her hair and behind her ears.

When one is considering becoming a parent, I assume that one rarely considers the possibility of cleaning coagulated milk from behind a child's ear. However, this is what parenthood is all about.
Alexis is now seven weeks old and will have another doctor's appointment at the end of next week, so we'll have new measurements for everyone soon. She's doing a better job the past few days about eating on a more regular schedule. I'm trying to be patient, especially at night, and give her some time to pause before continuing to eat, and I think this is helping her to be more full, therefore eating a little less frequently. This also helps in the middle of the night; for the past few nights, when I've put her down after feeding her, I haven't had to get out of bed again. This is a very nice change of events. And she's at the age where she can go a little bit longer between feedings, too. For the most part she's eating about every three hours, and a little bit longer between feedings at night. BUT, in all honesty, she could start eating every hour on the hour again this afternoon. You never know. She's a baby.

She continues to grab hair and shirts, including her own. It's really funny when she's grabbing her own hair with one of her fists. Her favorite new thing is when we've burped her and are putting her down again, she takes the cloth with her and holds onto it tightly, with her grubby little hands, of course! She also goes on "rolling expeditions" in her crib. She's still a little elevated, and she kicks her feet and moves her body around until she can get to the bottom. I'm trying to get this on video because sometimes she does it pretty quickly. When doing this, she looks like she's about to roll over because a lot of time we'll find her part of the way down and totally on her side. I know this is partially due to the inertia of the angle she's at, but it's still pretty amazing.

I think she's also beginning to react to us some. For example, this afternoon she smiled, and I gave her this big, happy encouragement after she did it. And she did it again. And I gave her more big, happy encouragement, and she did it a third time. It was pretty cool.

This past week was a little odd, though. Jason and I were both sick most of the week and went to the doctor on Wednesday and went on medicine, which meant she went on formula for a few days. And of course she was allergic to it. She's back on breast milk now and had no problem with the transition. It's not unusual at all for babies to be allergic to normal breast milk, so she might just need a soy-based formula. We'll talk to her pediatrician about it at the next appointment. It was a long few days because whenever she ate, I had to pump, and we had to go through the process of sterilizing everything, and we were trying to get over being sick (which we're both totally better now - stomach stuff), so it was nice to be better this weekend. The big thing is that she went back to breast milk without problem after a few days of being only on a bottle. I'm hoping that this is a good sign of her flexibility and adaptability, because she's going to need that in large doses come December.

And the cutest thing of all is how GOOD she's becoming at bringing at bringing her fingers to her mouth. This is great for a number of reasons. It (hopefully) means that she's truly beginning to recognize that her hands belong to her. It also means that she's trying to stick her fingers in her mouth more often and suck on them. This had happened almost accidentally a few times before, but it's been pretty consistent this week. We got a great picture of her sucking her thumb! If she learns to suck her thumb (or her knuckle, like I did), it means that when she's upset and wants to suck on something, she can get her fingers to her mouth, even if she can't pick up her pacifier. We'll give her a pacifier during the day when we're up and around to put it back in her mouth, but at night I don't want to deal with getting up if she's upset because it fell out of her mouth. So hopefully she'll continue to get better with her hands. Plus, it's just cute when she does it.

She has a number of friends. The pink, fluffy thing is Boggy, a gift from a friend's parents. (There were various opinions about whether it looks like a dog or a bear, hence the name.) And Clarence, her elephant, is her "oldest and dearest friend." (That was for you, Edgertons...) In the pictures you can actually see some of her scars as well, the top on being where the triple line went in, and the bottom line near her navel where her incision was made. (You can't see where her stitches on her bottom neck were, which will be her other scar. ) They all still look really great and I hope that they never cause her to be self-conscious and that, instead, it will be a great opportunity to talk about God's hand on her life from the very beginning.

5 1/2 Weeks

Alexis is growing fast! It seems like we see her cheeks getting chubbier every day, and she's starting to be able to wear clothes that before would have swallowed her whole. Her feet pajamas all still are way too big for her. She tends to stick one leg in with the other leg, or occasionally we'll even see one leg dangling out from where there aren't any snaps. She's healthy and (mostly) happy, though.

She has been using her pacifier some, but not a ton. There is so much advice and instruction out there about how to do this thing called raising a child, and I think I've come to the conclusion that you end up just trying to do what works. All of this information was saying your kid is supposed to eat at certain times, but no one ever says what to do when she doesn't! So while she isn't exactly too chaotic, she's not on a schedule. And that's okay. My friend Shannon gave me some really good resources and shared her experiences. Alexis is doing something called cluster feeding quite frequently. This usually occurs in the morning and means that she likes to eat on the hour, every hour, for 3-4 hours. Yikes, right? I'm getting used to it, though, and she usually does a great job during the night about eating and then going back to sleep or just putting herself to sleep if she's awake. I can usually get about six hours of sleep in a night, although it's very broken up and means I'm going to bed early and getting up late. I can't imagine doing constant nighttime feedings and having a real job, though. Most of the time we have to hold her up for a while after she eats so that she doesn't spit up as much. This can get kind of old, but it tends to work well. She's still spitting up some stuff that is kind of creamy and yellow, but that's because of medicine, and it's gotten better since she's been off of all but one.

She is also getting incredibly strong. Alexis grabs hold of things very tightly when she wants to, especially when it's her recent favorite thing - hair. And pulling hair hurts, as both Jason and I can attest to. She'll also grab my shirt most of the time when she's eating, and she never willingly gives up her left sleeve, meaning that I can usually get her right arm out of her right sleeve with no problem, but she clamps up and will grab hold of her clothing with the left. It's a little strange and very funny. She sleeps all sprawled out now, which is incredibly cute, and sometimes when she cries (if she's especially upset), her little chin trembles, which always breaks my heart. She went through a brief period for a few days when sometimes she would get so upset about wanting food that she couldn't latch on, and it is just the saddest thing in the world to watch. At other times, though, when she's not upset but is having difficulty latching on, she has got to be the most determined baby of all time. She just keeps trying and trying and trying until she gets it right, because she knows when it's not right. And then her eyes will be open wide and look up at me as if to say, "Look ma - I can do this!"

She is still trying to figure out if she likes baths, and I'm trying to discover the best time to give her one. She also tends to be pretty squirmy and unhappy when I give her a baby massage. Who doesn't want a massage? Apparently her... She also usually has time with both of us in the mornings and in the evenings. In the mornings, usually sometime between 5:30-6:00, she'll either want food or cry some, and I'll bring her into our bedroom and feed her. Jason is usually getting up around this time, so we get to start our day with her. Before we got to bed we'll also bring her into the bedroom and hang out with her for a while, which is a great way to end the day. (However, last night Jason got the fun duty of her crying for about 1/2 hour before going to sleep.) She still doesn't "play" with toys or anything, but we put her wrist rattles on her (on her ankles because they don't fit her wrists yet) and we play with her musical cow that Nanny and Papaw sent to her. We probably get more enjoyment from them than she does, but all in the name of development, right? And we talk to her and sing to her and Jason tells her ridiculous stories and tries to convince her that if she can't articulate what's wrong when she's crying than there can't really be anything wrong. (Note to self: inserting logic into a conversation with a one month old does not work. Must remember for next child.)

I also had an appointment with my doctor today, and everything is great. I've healed very well and am actually back to the weight I was before pregnancy, although I definitely have some stomach flab that I have to work on, and I lost all muscle in my calves during the swelling, so I'm beginning to do some exercising, which feels great. Let's hear it for having normal clothes again, hooray!

The One Month Mark

Alexis Edgerton is now one month old! We just had our month check-up and Dr. Mora is very pleased with her development. She gained over 1 1/2 pounds and now weighs 7 pounds, 2 ounces. This is great because it's an indicator that everything is going well with her digestive system. We had to take all her clothes off so the doctor could weigh her, and when he gave her back to Jason she promptly proceeded to pee right on his hands. It was great. Jason tends to get peed on a lot, and I'm not quite sure why. However, it's inevitable that when he changes her diaper, she pees right as he's trying to get the new one on. The poor father...

Things are going great. We just got her to finally calm down for the evening, thanks to my wonderful husband. We have a few pacifiers, and we had tried to offer her one type throughout the day because she was so incredibly fussy and upset virtually all day. She didn't want the pacifier, though, until Jason got the one she used in the hospital, and now she is sucking away contentedly. We are going to try and be careful so that she doesn't become dependent on it for sleep, but I'm going to try it out during teh day tomorrow. What we DON'T want is for her to wake up in the middle of the night whenever her pacifier falls out. What we DO want is for her not to eat every hour on the hour like she's been wanting to do yesterday and today for about half of the day. While we don't yet know if this is going to work,I'm going to give it a shot tomorrow. There's every possibility that she's eating just to satisfy her sucking need, and if that's the case, we should be able to get her on a more regular eating schedule than she's been wanting to put herself on.

What else in Alexis' world? She is definitely smiling sometimes, although we can never quite capture it on film. We'll keep trying, though. She has quite a little grip and has recently discovered my hair, which she likes to pull. Or she'll grab hold of my shirt, or our skin, or something while she's being burped. She can definitely spit up as well, but we're trying to keep her upright for longer periods of time after feeding her so that she doesn't do it as often, and so far it seems to work well. She LOVES to be rocked, and she loves the car as well, both of which are very baby-like characteristics. She also recognizes both of our voices and will just stare at us sometimes. She does this to me a lot especially after she's had a bath. She is okay with the bath; she doesn't exactly enjoy it yet, but she doesn't hate it. If she's in there for too long she gets cranky, probably because the water is cooling, so I'm learning to be a bit quicker about it. Of course she cries when she's lifted out, but then I wrap her up in one of her hooded towels and take her over to the rocking chair and talk to her or sing, and that's something that is "our time" together. That's when she just stares up at me. And I learned a very valuable lesson after her first real bath - put the diaper on BEFORE wrapping her up in the towel. This girl can definitely poop...

And spit up. We went to TGIFriday's with my parents one night when she was here. It was her second outing. The first was to Pizza Hut, during which I spent about half the time in the bathroom feeding her. We got smart for Friday's and brought food. She ate about three ounces, I was burping her, and was just getting ready to move the cloth diaper I was using to protect myself when - yes, you guessed it. Lots of milk. From her. Direct shot down my tank top. It wasn't exactly a pretty sight, but it was very funny.

While it's a lot of work to get adjusted to, Jason and I are both just in love with our daughter. And this is how it should be! It was amazing to have my parents here for a week to help out. (I'm still discovering little things my mom did, like opening up the cabinets below our sink and having all of our trash bags in the same place! YOU ROCK, MOM!) Jason comes home every day wanting to see and hold his daughter immediately, and she adores it. Today she was in her "Little Slugger" onesie that dad got her, and she is adorable in it! What's even more amazing is that she's been in it all day. Considering that for the first week she was going through about 5 outfits a day, this is a huge improvement on our laundry needs.

What's been interesting is to realize how much stuff we can do without when it comes to having a baby. Jason and I both make sacrifices to make this work, and it is teaching both of us greater patience and appreciation for what each of us does to help run our home. We've learned that you don't need things like an elaborate nursery. Actually, we have a pack and play that serves as a crib AND a changing table, we have her clothes and blankets and things in cardboard boxes, her dirty diapers currently go into a plastic grocery bag that we keep on the doorknob behind the door, we don't own a stroller, and we didn't have to buy a car seat because one was given to us. Being down here is a good experience in those regards. (Sometimes, though, all I want is to be in the states, especially when I'm feeding her in the middle of an incredibly hot day when the power is out for eight hours. and there is no break from the heat. We're having blackouts for about eight hours a day right now. They've gradually been increasing our time...) Dealing with all of these things is teaching us faith and values in a way that having our child in the states could never do in the same way. (Not BAD, just different.)

Other little details? She purses her lips up tight and sticks them out if I try to feed her and she's not having any of it, her feet were the size of Jason's pinky when she was first born and now has grown at least one centimeter, her hair is a mid-golden brown color but could totally change, her eyes are dark grey blueberries and absolutely HUGE when she's focused on something, her little fingers have gotten pudgier and pudgier, and she hates country music. (Okay, that last one isn't real.) She's getting stronger by the day and is just the most beautiful child ever. Pictures just don't do her justice. Everyone here seems to be split as to who she looks like, although almost everyone seems to think she has my nose. She doesn't seem to mind being held by different people. OH, and she was on a pretty taxing medicine schedule for a while (two medicines every six hours and one every eight hours), but she is now only on the one every eight hours. This is medicine that is only sold in one pharmacy in the country. That's something you'll never be overly happy about...

Okay, that's it for now. This is a little sporadic because I've been trying to get it our for so long. However, I'm hoping that this will be a good way for people to keep up with Alex and how she's doing.