Wednesday, February 25, 2009

funny parenting moment

Bill and I have been pretty sad the last few days about losing our ol' hound, but something pretty funny happened that I wanted to share. Many who know my husband know that he is an extremely heavy sleeper. When Molly cries in the middle of the night, I usually wake up right away, but Bill takes a little longer to wake up, if he does at all. Last night Molly started crying in the middle of the night, and Bill, ever the sweet, sweet Poppa, reached over, grabbed the monitor, and put it on his chest. I was not really sure what he was doing until he started trying to shush and comfort the monitor, saying, "It's okay, baby. It's okay."

Monday, February 23, 2009

Goodbye, old friend

We had to put our old hound dog down this morning. It was unbelievably sad for us, but we know it was the right decision. I won't go into too much detail about it here; you can check out Bill's blog. Daisy started to feel a little sickly last week, but she still seemed fairly chipper, greeting us at the door, etc. Then a few days ago, she just really went downhill. She did not want to go outside anymore, and she completely stopped eating--she did not even eat the gourmet meal of chicken and rice that Bill made for her. We took her to the vet on Saturday. She seemed bad then, but then last night, she really took a turn for the worse. She barely got up at all--Bill had to carry her outside to pee. Then she started vomiting. There were a few drops of blood in it initially, and then it gradually turned into just puddles of blood. It was so sad. Bill and I took turns staying up with her last night. She never closed her eyes. It was almost as though she knew if she closed her eyes, she would die. This morning we took her to the vet, and she went very peacefully. Bill and I were both touching her as she died--the life just seemed to drift calmly out of her.

She was a crazy mutt, but we loved her so much. She was with Bill and me for 10 years, and she was such a part of the family. She was just starting to get to be friends with Molly, too.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

swimming


We went to the pool yesterday for swimming. It was super fun! It mainly consisted of singing songs and splashing the water. You can't see how extremely cute Molly's swim diaper is, but it has little whales on it, and there is a ruffle on the butt. We went with a couple other mommas from the group I have been getting together with every Friday. We will probably go back fairly regularly. Did you notice how big my muscles are getting from carrying around that heavy baby? :)

Thursday, February 19, 2009

TOOTH!

Tuesday morning I was changing Molly's diaper, and I casually asked her if she got any teeth, as we do every morning. To my surprise, there was a tiny little tooth sticking out. It's just the very top of a tooth, but it is most certainly there. AND...she slept all the way through the night Monday night and Tuesday night. Wednesday night she just woke up one time. She has also been actually napping the last couple of days. Bill's trick of getting her to nap is working really well.

On Monday I read an article about feeding babies meat, so I decided this week would be the week we would try meat. I think that did it. She decided, finally! I will let that tooth pop out. We gave her her first taste of animal flesh yesterday, a very gourmet meal consisting of boiled chicken, pureed with carrots and olive oil. Yum! Sort of. The idea of pureed chicken is kind of gross, but Bill was a huge fan of the meal, and I thought he might start doing the dad thing (well, what my dad always did and still does) and eat the rest of Molly's food. He resisted, though. She still prefers vegetables, but I think she will come around to it. Tonight I am going to make chicken soup for dinner, and we will all three eat the same meal, for the very first time. Molly's will of course be pureed.

Monday, February 16, 2009

We have had a good couple of weeks, but Molly has not been sleeping very well through the night lately. I am not really sure what is going on, but we think maybe the last couple of nights trees brushing against the windows, which has been caused by the heavy rain and wind we have had, have woken her up. Usually, she just wakes up one time, and every once in a while she will sleep all night. The last few nights, though, she has woken up multiple times. She seems to feel fine during the day, though. She is not really sleepy acting. Bill has developed an ingenious trick for getting Molly to nap, too. He rocks her to sleep and then puts her in her crib slowly, keeping his chest against her the whole time, until she is lying in her crib. Then he gently lifts himself up. He showed me how to do it, and today she slept for an hour. Brilliant!

MZ is still eating like a champ. Yesterday she ate an entire avocado! That was in addition to other food. I think we will probably introduce some meat this week, which has a lot of fat and other nutrients (e.g., IRON) that is important for muscle and brain development. Today she ate egg yolks with butter and vegetable broth.

Molly has been really cute with Daisy. She smiles and reaches out for Daisy when she walks by. That good little 'ol hound we have isn't crazy about the extra attention, but she tolerates it and lets Molly touch her ears and head. We trying to make sure she is gentle with Daisy because Molly likes to grab and pull, rather than pat softly.

Molly has been responding a lot in the way of giggles to different 'cheers' and songs. For example, we have been giving her cheerios, so I started saying "Give me an 'O!'" Of course, the response is "O!!!" "What's that spell?" "O!!!" Okay, I do all the call and response, but it kind of cracks Molly up. She also was really liking the Chinese New Year greeting, "Gung Hay Fat Choy!" For some reason, that really tickles her, too. She has started laughing so hard a few times that her eyes watered. Once, she was sitting in her crib and started laughing so hard she fell over. It was hilarious! Bill also likes to play a fun little game called zero G baby. He kind of throws her a little in the air, as though she were not subject to gravity, and sings a special little song that goes something like this: "ZERO G Ba-BEEEE!!" It really cracks her up.

Let's see, what else? She likes to get her mouth wiped off after meals if you pat her face gently and playfully with the washcloth and make any kind of silly noise. That usually gets a lot of giggles while she tries to gum the washcloth. Bill's beard is getting pretty substantial, and the bushier it gets, the more Molly loves it. It really tickles her when Bill kisses her bare belly.

We went to the Chinese New Year parade last weekend, which was extremely cool. I haven't been to a parade in a long time, and I don't remember ever having gone to a night parade. It is touted as the biggest Chinese New Year celebration outside of Asia. There were a lot of lights and floats and lion dancers for Molly to look at. She slept through a lot of it, but she definitely had a great time watching the parade and the people who were watching the parade. There were a lot of really loud firecrackers, but they did not seem to bother her.

Things with Bill and me are going well. I am working all day on Wednesdays. Molly seems to be doing better with not nursing on those days. As I mentioned earlier, she is definitely eating much more solid food so that makes it much easier for her to get through the day without nursing.

Still no teeth, but we check every morning, first thing.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

It's been a while since I posted. I right now have only a few minutes while I am waiting for a student so this might be a little choppy. Things get hectic, and it is difficult to sit down and write. Anyway, we have had a wonderful week! Molly slept through the night once, and the other nights she usually only got up one time. I came into her room to feed her, and she went back to sleep. She has accumulated quite a repertoire of foods she has eaten: carrots, sweet potatoes, lentils, spinach, broccoli, butternut squash, refried beans, beets, bananas, papaya, vegetable broth, avocado, and split pea soup. Not bad, huh? She likes pretty much everything. In the mornings she will eat a little bit, but at lunch and dinner she usually eats a bit more. I usually mix rice cereal (for the iron and other vitamins it is fortified with) and broth or milk in with her food. Two nights ago I made split pea soup for dinner, and I thought we'd see if Molly liked it. I scooped a little out before we ate so that it would cool. She LOVED it. I wish I'd gotten a little more out for her.

We have also recently discovered two new favorite activities: swinging at the park, and reading magazines. Well, it kind of looks like she is just tearing and eating magazines, but we can call it "reading." :)

She has become rather infatuated with faces. She really likes to touch my and Bill's faces. She particularly loves Bill's beard. Molly has also become rather attached to Daisy. Daisy is a good 'ol hound, and she tolerates the lovin' from Molly.

Molly has sort of regressed in her napping. She was taking good naps in the morning and afternoon (even if they were a little short). This week she has really not wanted to nap, fussing and crying for a while. She will fall asleep in the car or in the stroller on a run.

Thursday:
Okay, I did not get it finished. Now it is Thursday, 5:30 PM, and Molly is finally napping in her crib! We went to lunch today, and Molly had a bit of hummus, and she also sucked on a pickle (that's my girl!!). Aunt Kelly will be quite proud, too, that MZ is a fan of pickles. We also gave her a little plain yogurt this morning, which she kind of liked. Maybe with a little fruit mixed in she'll like it better.

Molly's new favorite book is Dr. Seuss's ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book! (I love that this kids' book has both a subtitle and an exlamation point.) For Z, it says, "Big Z, little z, what begins with Z? A Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz, as you can plainly see!" Well, naturally, we have nicknamed Molly Zizzer-Zazzer-Zelda.

We go back in a week for another Synagis shot. I think we have February, March, and April still on those horrible shots. Okay, they are not horrible if they prevent Molly's getting RSV, but they really hurt! We will see how much our little chubster weighs.

She is growing lots of hair. We had dinner with our neighbors last night, and A.P. swore that she grew hair between the time we arrived and the time we left. Oh, and no teeth yet.