4.5 months

She's eating twice a day, the rice cereal and she grabs my hand with both of her hands which becomes quite a mess. But she opens her mouth like a little bird ready for the worm! So cute.

I absolutely HATE going to work and leaving her with grandma or daddy. I want to be with her and I shall very soon.I don't care how it has to happen or where we have to go but I cannot be without her like I was without my B, missing all his babyhood and missing him calling out in the morning and missing first steps because he was with a babysitter and my mom picked him up. I was gone 12 hours a day for during his babyhood and that was AWFUL. Now,although I'm working 10-2 that turns into 8-4 that I'm NOT with my baby T.

She's biting my fingers a lot and drooling. Doctor had said she may begin teething soon. B didn't get teeth till he was a year and I"m hoping she won't get any too soon either with the breastfeeding. Even eating the cereal at night she's still eating 2x's at night so when I have to leave for work is when I REALLY want to go back to take a nap. And I have to drive such a long way to get to work that some days I don't know how I make it being so sleepy.

She's in her crib each night and goes to sleep after her bath & a little nursing. If she's not fully asleep I'll play spanish lullaby music.

She rolled over once the other day but not since. I marked it on the calendar but it hasn't become regular yet.

18 pounds

So we went to the 4 month checkup yesterday and she now weighs 18.01pounds. Thát's 10 pounds heavier than her birth weight. Dr. said we can start rice cereal which I will feed her today at our Thanksgiving meal. She's still been waking up every couple hours to eat and last night it seemed to be every hour, I don't know. She got 3 injections which contained 5 vaccinations. Her legs are chunky and her tummy too. Dr. said she was fat in all the right places with the breast milk. Today's her first major holiday! Oh how I wish it were last year when I was newly pregnant. I miss it so much. I brushed her hair to the other side one night after her bath this week and she looked a bit like a. hitler. yikes. but she's cute like that. She's not rolled over yet but trying. She bites all fingers on both hands interchangeably and alternately, not preferring any over the other. At this age, B was sucking his left thumb exclusively, and he gave up on the chupete. T still likes the chupete as well as her fingers/thumb/hand. We put her in the jumpy this week and at first she didn't like it, but the next day she seemed to take to it better. B is practicing with a borrowed Wii. He gets frustrated easily with such games but seems to be enjoying it right now. I guess I'll go and put the turkey in the oven.

new things

She grabbed her chupete out of her mouth and put it back in. She's getting better at grabbing things. She likes to hold her rag or beads. She can't always put the chupete back in her mouth but sometimes she does. She laughed out loud last week and I tried to video it but she stopped making the out loud noise and was just smiling when I blew on her tummy. Last night my mom was tickling her and she laughed out loud. It's such a lovely sound. Last night was her first night in her crib.I've been having her sleep down on the floor in her bassinet since day 1 but decided to give her more space and a softer mattress in her crib. She did ok mostly and I slept in the futon in her room. We woke up at midnight and 2am for feedings and then I couldn't go back to sleep as she was crying out and moving around a bit. It seems louder in the crib than in the bassinet, with her leg lifts and moving around. I think she likes smaller spaces because again the other night she slept in the car seat until 2am after falling asleep in the restaurant at 9. She scratched above her eye with her ever growing fingernails. They are sharp! I'll be taking her soon for her 4 month appt with the doctor. On Nov 19 she's 4 months old so I'll make an appt for around then, coordinating a day when dad's working so I can take off using sick leave. So after this appt I'm sure I'll get the go-ahead for some cereal/food. Although a friend of mine gives her 2month old cereal in his bottle, T has only gotten breast milk from day 1, minus the nights in the nursery at the hospital when they gave her a small amount of formula. I'm pumping once a day at work and she'll drink about 4 ounces in the time I'm gone. But with the cereal soon to be given to her, she'll probably get more satisfaction. She's a big girl! Her tummy and legs have rolls of fat!! :>

work=yuck

On October 22 I returned to work, part time. Although it was WAY better than when I left home to go back to work after B was 3 months old ( I cried the whole way into town) because it was all day and HORRIBLE, it's still not what I want with my life with a new baby. She's so cute and I have so much fun with her. I miss her and my B while I'm away, although B is in school, which he says is too long and boring. She's 3.5 months old now and she'll sometimes make a little gurgling sound when she is smiling. She doesn't want to drink a bottle for her dad. Tomorrow grandma has her so we'll see how she does with the bottle. She waited all day w/o drinking milk (I pump at work) until I returned home from work @ 3. He's tried various nipples and bottles but she has given him a hard time each day he's been with her during feeding times. Hmmmm. She looks so cute in yellow. I'll do another entry with a great picture of her.

dribblin' droolin'

I say that to her when there's lots of drool coming down from her lips. She drools a lot nowadays.

Why does she mess up her outfits when we go out?! This Sunday at a birthday party she messed up her dress with a big poo poo diaper. Then yesterday at the store she had 2 huge poo poo diapers and messed up 2 outfits. She's a monkey! :> And she doesn't cry when her diaper is filled with poo; she becomes quiet. She'll just sit forever. Her brother did that too. Today when I came back from bringing B to school, I checked her in the bassinet and she was wide awake "eating" her hands but not crying (dad was in the shower). She had a huge messy diaper to change. Then I fed her. She's still just drinking breastmilk--for another month exclusively according to the doctor. At 4 months we can give her some food.

She cries when her dad holds her sometimes. I don't know why.

Nowadays in her 3 month old state, I can sit her down in her bouncy chair and she'll sit for a bit while I fold clothes or do the dishes. She began recently to grab the little bar on the seat that has the mirror and rattle. She takes little cat naps a lot rather than one big morning nap. So that doesn't help me much because by the time I get settled down for a quick nap, she's awake again.

eyebrows!

When she was born, her eyebrows seemed barely visible. The past couple of weeks I've noticed that they are getting darker. Tomorrow she'll be 12 weeks old. Wow!

She smiled at me when I looked directly at her, so she's noticing more.

We went to lunch with B today and he was excited to see her. All the kids like to see her there and when I go to lunch with B without T they all ask where she is. Sometimes she falls asleep with all the kids around & their commotion (a school cafeteria!) but today she stayed awake looking around at everyone. Everyone (grown-ups) comments on how much hair she has. She has lots, but I cannot put a bow/clip in it because it's too silky and the clips fall out.

Still getting just breastmilk; doctor said until 4 months old that's all she'll need. She's doing fine without any thing else. She's chunky and almost needing size 3 diapers. I wish she was still in newborns!And now she's about to end size 2 diapers. My goodness :<

At 12 weeks she is still waking up 2x's a night, generally around 2-3AM and 5-6AM. And she won't really settle down until close to midnight. I'll feed her at 9 and put her down in her bassinet but she wakes up shortly thereafter so I'll feed her again around 10 and put her down again. I still have her sleeping in the vibrating bassinet on the floor next to me.

She's waking from her nap so this is the end of this post.

my favorite picture

This was taken at the doctor's office for her 2 month checkup on 9-18, right before she fell asleep and then got her injections in 3 shots (5 vaccinations in all). I just LOVE this picture!