Week 17

It's been a busy week and I can only imagine what next week will be like!


Monday night, Emmaline slept horribly so we figured something was up. Took her back to the doctor on Tuesday and sure enough, ear infection had flared up in the right ear again. She's now on her 3rd different antibiotic in 2 months (amoxicillan, zithromax, and now omnicef). She started taking the Omnicef Tuesday night and still doesn't seem to be feeling much better (although sleep has improved some). She started pulling on the left ear last night too. Diarrhea started Friday and seems to be okay for now but only because we completely changed her diet. We're taking advantage of this side-effect and letting her eat all the foods that were previously banned because of the constipation. She even got to try pancakes yesterday morning. I found an egg-free recipe and replaced the milk with breastmilk. They were very fluffy and she ate an entire one for breakfast (the leftovers are in the freezer now). We are scheduled to go to a specialist on Aug. 11th to discuss tubes. I'm terrified of this process, but if it helps than I guess it'd be worth it. I narrowly avoided tubes as a toddler when mom finally weaned me from the bottle, but Dan had tubes. We've known from the beginning that she could have a lot of problems with her ears, but we were hopeful that breastfeeding would help. I don't feel like it has helped any, but whose to say that it wouldn't be a lot worse if she was a formula baby.Oh yeah, she had a fever this morning so we'll probably be calling the doctor in the morning.




Tuesday was her first night of swim lessons. She did fantastic! (And no, swimming is not related to her ear problems. People keep implying this and it's starting to irritate me. There's a difference between swimmer's ear and a middle ear infection. Plus, we don't even put her ears underwater in the bathtub!) She dunked her face in the water a couple times and didn't seem to mind too much. The class is in the evening, so she was getting cold by the end and then it pushed bedtime back by 30 minutes which made for a cranky baby.

We had the final Baby Signs class Saturday. We've enjoyed going to that even though it was an hour drive in each direction. (This week's picture is with Beebo the Baby Signs bear holding a flower - which was one of the signs we learned.) I realized that I've never really been with her around another baby so it was good to get that experience. She is so outgoing at daycare, but we've discovered that in other settings she is very shy and stays close to me. When we take her to the nursery at church, she cries for a minute but then does fine as long as the ladies hold her constantly. A coworker told us about The Little Gym and so we checked that out this week. We're going to try to take her to a free class when we get back from Vegas. I like that it works on developing motor skills and cooperative learning. This would be on Saturdays again, but only 25 minutes each way! (In a way that seems like a lot to travel for these activities, but if we hadn't moved out here it would have been 2-3 hours each way to have any opportunities for her.)

Dan and I have decided that before we leave for Vegas on Thursday we need to actually get some sleep. Here's the plan: I am going to sleep in the downstairs guest room tonight and let Dan get up with Emma on his own. I'll leave a couple bottles ready since she's been nursing twice during the night this week (growth spurt?!?). I'll keep the pump downstairs if I need it, but the goal is for me to actually get a full, uninterrupted night's sleep for the first time in about 18 months! Then tomorrow night, Dan will sleep in the guest room and I will get up with Emma on my own (currently we take turns going in there and since she has been sick that is anywhere between 3 and 7 times a night).

I'm going to start packing for our trip this afternoon. Have to go in to work for a bit on Monday and will be at a conference all day Tuesday. That will leave Wednesday for last minute stuff and Thursday morning we head to the airport. We will get back late Monday night. I'm definitely nervous about this trip b/c I don't know how she's going to be feeling. And there's a 3 hour time difference. Not sure how that will work out. We would love to keep her on her schedule, but that would mean putting her town at 4pm and getting up at 3am. Dan is working hard to stay positive. Perhaps it will rub off on me at some point.

Looks like I get to wake a sleeping baby now since it's time to leave for church.

Almost forgot our horrible eating experience this week! I think this happened because we had just commented about how it had been forever since she even gagged on her food. Dan was eating some apple slices downstairs and gave her a peeled slice. She was doing fine until she leaned over and started crawling towards him to get more (still having a piece in her mouth). She started choking. :( Dan responded quickly and calmly. We were able to clear it, but it involved a lot of vomiting. She puked up a ton of mucus along with the apple bits. She cried for a while, but once we calmed her down she was off to playing like nothing had ever happened. Lesson learned: eating will only be done in her high chair where she can sit up straight! *We don't normally feed her anywhere else, Dan just wanted to share with her and felt absolutely guilty.

Week 16

Emmaline is a super eater! This kid has been chowing down. It's almost ridiculous how much she eats (although I am proud to say that she is still nursing just as frequently and so breastmilk continues to be the primary source of nutrition). We have overcome the work-hour nursing strike and I'm even considering leaving the pump at home when we go on vacation in August. It would mean a lot less packing if I can ditch the pump, parts, bottles, nipples, cleaning brushes, soap, etc. I know Dan's parents are pretty uncomfortable with me breast-feeding, but my relatives should be fine with it -- and if they're not the can scram for 15 minutes 6x/day! (3 of those are before, during, and after bed so it's not like we'll be around people for those ones anyway.) With the Baby-led weaning she is comfortable with table foods and so all we will pack is her favorite spoon.

No major milestones that I can think of. We do officially have 7 teeth now, can't remember if I posted that last week and she has been drooling a lot this weekend + a runny nose so we're pretty sure something else is approaching. There have been a couple developments that I'm loving: 1) she has started playing peek-a-boo. It always takes me a few seconds to realize what she's doing, but once I start saying "peek-a-boo" when she pulls the blanket (or toy) down from her face she cracks up! I think part of why I love it is because it's so darn cute, but the other part is because she actually laughs. She has always been very stingy with the laughs and so we really cherish the times when we hear it. We've also discovered that when Dan chases her (crawling after her) she will laugh and if I take my hair and rub it on her forehead she laughs. 2) she has started interacting with the cats! She likes to take the jingle stick and point it in the direction of the cats to get their attention and then she shakes it around or taps it on the ground until they pounce it. She also grabbed one of their mouse toys and was dangling it in front of Jonah's face so he would paw at it. She gets super excited when they play along with her and when she can actually pet them (we are working on the concept of 'gentle').

*Note for Kate: Emmaline LOVES the music table! She has been playing with it off and on since you brought it over. I keep meaning to get some pictures to send you. Today she kept playing the alphabet song and danced around. It was precious. :)

Week 14

Didn't get around to my usual Sunday update (at least Monday morning isn't too much after the fact). We had company over to watch the World Cup Championship game, so that was nice.

Our sleep woes have continued. Actually, they've gotten a lot worse. The last 3 nights have been absolutely miserable. She is waking up every 20-40 minutes and she's not falling right back asleep every time. She just cries. We are at a complete loss and have tried just about everything we can think of to get her to sleep (except driving her around in the car because Dan refuses to do that and even when I'm completely desperate for something he turns into a complete jerk when I suggest it). I think I'm averaging 2-3 hours of sleep a night and she's barely napping in the day so I can't even catch up then. She'll be back at daycare during the weekdays, but this week is so packed for me that I can't take advantage of that time either.

I really don't know what her issue is. One of the top teeth finally cut through, but she doesn't respond to anything if we try to treat the teething. I've also read that if the sleep troubles last more than 3 days it's probably not related to teething and this has been going on a lot longer than that. It's so frustrating because I've always considered her a good sleeper.

Don't really feel like blogging about food, but will note that her tummy issues seem to be improving.

Had her 9 month check-up. She stayed at the same weight (19 lb, 4 oz) but jumped up to 29 inches long. Ear infections were all gone. Doctor was pleased with her growth and developments.

Week 7

Emma had a variety of food this week: at the beginning of the week (Sunday, Monday) and at the end (Saturday). All the in-between days were too chaotic. It did give us a chance to eliminate some things to see if we can figure out where the rash is coming from. We eliminated her vitamins, apples, and have tried to keep her off the carpet. The carpet one is quite difficult since she doesn't like to stay on the blankets we put on the floor. We thought it was working, because the rash was starting to clear up. But it returned tonight! I'm now thinking that the culprit is her high-chair. The new plan is to feed her with clothes on and put a blanket down over the chair. It's going to mean messier laundry.

Over the past few days, Emma has been a little monster. Evenings have been especially rough, she wants to be held every second and cries when you move away from her at all. With Dan being away at soccer most nights, it made for a very worn-out mommy! I've noticed that she's tugging on her ears again (they were clear on Monday at the doctor's so I don't think it's an infection + no fever) and today she was sucking on her top lip. The last time she sucked on her lip was right before she sprouted the bottom teeth. I'm thinking that the top tooth might appear soon and explain this extreme fussiness. I miss my easy-going baby!

Today we introduced mango - it seemed to be a hit. She literally sucked down a couple slices (and terrified me). We also gave her a few rice puffs to start working on her pincher grasp. She managed to eat 1 and learned how to pick the others up and fling them on the floor. Part of me feels bad that she doesn't "eat" anything at daycare. I'm a bit surprised that the ladies have never asked me about food since Emma is the only baby who still only gets bottles (she's also the youngest, but not by much). Perhaps when she figures out the puffs, she can at least have those as a snack during the day. I wouldn't mind them giving her purees, but I want her to still use the spoon herself and that leads to a HUGE mess (as evidenced by the photo this week).

On a sad note, my aunt Bonnie lost her battle with cancer this week. She had gone downhill fast and was in a lot of pain. The family will miss her, but we are glad that she is no longer suffering. Dan's aunt Mary was diagnosed with a brain tumor. They operated on Monday and determined that it is a cancerous glioblastoma. The prognosis is 3 months without treatment, 1-3 years with treatment. It reminds me of how lucky we are that my sister is alive and well 9 years after they found her glioma (her prognosis was 5 years). It also makes me extremely thankful that the clusters they found on my brain a few years ago are "not of clinical significance".

Week 6

Another busy week has come and gone. I think we did a little better this week about giving Emma solids, but it still wasn't close to a daily event. We have 1 more week of soccer -- possibly 3 away games -- so that's going to be tough, but then it's over. After that the students start state testing. That lasts for 2 weeks and then there is 1 week before the end of the year. I keep saying that we will get more consistent about feeding her once school is over, but in all honesty this summer is going to be pretty busy too.

We didn't introduce any new solids this week - stuck with usuals like avocado and butternut squash - but we did introduce new flavors via puree form (continued with the chicken from last weekend and gave blueberry today). Emma is a great eater. Her accuracy with the spoon keeps improving, but she is still so messy that I wonder if we will ever be able to send food with her to daycare to eat during the day! A bib does help some, but she seriously requires a bath after every 'meal'.

She starting developing a rash last Sunday evening (don't remember if I mentioned in the post last week). It started as just a couple spots on her thighs. By Monday it was all over her tummy and the back of the neck. Dan took her to the doctor and she said contact dermatitis and to use some benadryl cream. Each day it has been different - it'll get better in one place and worse in another. Yesterday her thighs were fine and belly was a mess. Today the neck and belly look better, but it's back on her thighs and now on her upper arms too. The benadryl cream didn't seem to make a difference (it doesn't appear to be itchy). We've tried powder thinking it was heat related and aquaphor lotion thinking it was dry-skin or eczema. We've had her sleep in just a diaper with the a/c and a fan blowing (still thinking it was heat related) and nothing. We stopped using the diapers we had switched to last weekend and went back to the Huggies. Rewashed all her clothes and sheets with the same detergent we've always used. Haven't changed soaps. Stopped giving the chicken which was the only new food introduced around that time. No sign of bug bites. We are clueless about the cause. We tried to go back to the doctor yesterday, but they were booked. Not sure we can get in this week without taking time off of work.

On a happier note, we had a wonderful (but short) visit from a friend from college and her son (he's 2). I am proud to take credit for her son, since I introduced her & her husband our sophomore year. They were like Dan & me in the sense that they thought they didn't want children. Life had different plans for them and now they have a wonderful (and extremely handsome) little boy. Emma was able to interact with him a little more than the last time we saw thing (around New Years), but neither were too interested. He was fascinated with the cats, which was very entertaining.

Latest developments: Emma can now get up on her knees in the crawling position and rocks. She has started clicking her tongue on the roof of her mouth. Last night she was sitting and almost pulled herself up to a standing position. I got very excited and think I startled her. Those two bottom teeth continue to push their way up. Oh, we learned that she liked to dump over the toy bucket at daycare and she has started pulling things down at home. She also has a little romance at daycare with the lone boy in the nursery (there are 5 or 6 girls and 1 boy). We've been told that they hold hands and kiss on each other. Dan wasn't sure how to take that news - he knows he's in for it when she grows up. :)

Day 4

Menu: avocado and sweet potato

We decided that it was time to try a new food, so we bought 10 pounds of sweet potatoes at Costco! It wasn't our intention to buy SO much, but we forgot to buy any at the grocery store. We were at Costco to pick up some other stuff and decided that it was worth $8 to avoid another trip to the grocery store. (At the end of the month, remind me of this decision when I'm wondering where our money went!)

Dan sliced up the potatoes into fry-like strips and baked them in the oven. (He added some oregano to the ones we munched on.) They were delicious! Emma was intrigued and kept grabbing for that. The avocado was pretty much ignored until all the potato was smushed up or dropped on the floor.

Our system is to let her experiment with the food however she wants, but when she breaks pieces down too small we move those from the tray. Those are the pieces that I smash up with a fork and pre-load on the spoon for her at the end of the meal. We put the spoon portion at the end because she loves the spoon so much and will throw a fit once we take it away. (Although she seems to understand when we're reloading it and will wait anxiously.)

I think she knows when meal time is coming because she gets really excited when we put her in the bumbo now! (I might want to let daycare know about this or they might have an angry baby in a bumbo waiting for a snack.) ***Side note on the Bumbo -- we attached the tray to the stand part and cannot get them apart. Does anyone know a special trick to pull these apart?

No gagging tonight. Still not sure how much she actually ate- have to wait for a dirty diaper to figure that out.

Day 3

Menu: avocado and banana

Tonight we skipped the cereal dust and she was happy again! I took the suggestion from another mom to break the banana along the natural thirds instead of cutting it lengthwise so it isn't as slippery. This does leave the banana fairly thick and was a little difficult for Em's chubby little hands - but the part I'm really enjoying so far is watching her try to figure it out. I love her face when she's concentrating and trying to think of a way to pick it up. There was one time where she just reached down and picked up a slice of avocado like it was something she'd been doing forever. I think it's funny that she hestitates a little before putting food in her mouth - toys and cloth go directly to the mouth, but she thinks twice on a banana?!? She also had fun licking her fingers.

We discovered tonight that Emma loves mush! There was a chunk of banana left over that she'd already drooled all over so I decided to smash it up. We pre-loaded the spoon and handed it to her. She went to town. I'm not sure if she was more excited about the banana or the spoon. That led to the only gagging incident tonight - she stuck the spoon too far back. Although my instincts told me to pull it away from her, I paused and she corrected the problem on her own. Although a big part of BLW is skipping purees, my take on it is that it's more about letting Emma take charge of her eating - whether it's in solid form or mashed up. We will not be putting food in her mouth; she will control what goes in.

Tomorrow we will introduce something new - probably sweet potato.

Her diapers today proved that she has managed to swallow some food! :)

Day 2

Menu: avocado and banana - coated with mashed-up cheerio "dust"

Tonight was didn't go so hot. We tried the cheerio "dust" to see if she could get a better grip. She was not happy. I think that she just couldn't stand the texture, because after her hands got messy she held her arms out with her fingers spread and wouldn't really touch anything else. By the time we took her out of the bumbo, she was crying. I don't think the food touched her mouth more than twice and she definitely didn't eat anything.

Dan is thinking that maybe she's just not ready. We'll try again tomorrow (without the cheerio "dust"). If she doesn't seem to enjoy it, we will wait until next weekend before we try again.

Even though everything I've read says that this time period is for experimentation with textures and taste, I already have that little voice worrying that she needs to be eating something. Part of me is ready to run out and buy a little jar of food to shove in her mouth. I guess in a way, I just need to trust the process. I'm doing this because I want her to develop a sense of independence and confidence. I think that she would be very resistant if we tried to spoon-feed her (although she would probably have fun taking the spoon away from us to chew on it). I also want her to have a good relationship with healthy food. It's kind of funny that for 6 months I've taken such pride in the fact that I've been able to provide all the nutrients she has needed and now I'm doubting that.

*It's late and the camera is downstairs so I will post pictures tomorrow.

** Also, in case you think that starting solids will magically help your baby sleep through the night - don't believe it! Emmaline woke up at least 6 times last night.... which is why I am off to bed now.

Day 1

Menu: avocado and banana

I know I should probably only introduce 1 food at a time and wait a couple days before introducing the next thing, but since thing is baby-led I wanted to provide Emmaline with some options.

We set her up in the Bumbo about 1 1/2 hours after her regular nursing. We gave her a sippy cup with 1oz of breastmilk and a spoon to play with. Then we put some slices of banana and a slice of avocado on her tray. She immediately went to the sippy cup and eventually we took it away from her so she would notice the other items on her tray.

We made a couple mistakes - 1) we didn't leave any of the peel on the avocado so it was very difficult for her to grasp and we didn't have any plain cheerios around to coat it in "cheerio dust" and 2) the banana was too mushy. She did start to get frustrated that she couldn't pick it up sometimes and a lot of food ended up on the floor. We knew she wouldn't actually eat much, but wish she could have been able to grasp things better. She did gag several times, which I had read would happen, but still wasn't prepared. At those times, we didn't intervene and she pushed the food right back out without a problem and kept going like nothing had happened.

In the end, we had a happy baby who desperately needed a bath. We will do it again tomorrow (but with a firmer banana and some cheerio-dusted avocado)!