Teeth!!!

Besides worrying about our little firecracker getting into any and everything now her two front teeth are coming in, at the same time. Our little trooper has done so well, teething can be a terrible or ok experience and thank GOD we are experiencing the ok parts. She hasn't done the whole crying non-stop all day every day thing. She has learned to make raspberries all the time which we hear helps the babies with the pain they may be feeling. She has also taking to biting her mom at times (but that's her own fault...she places her hand in front of her...of course the little firecracker will bite if her gums itch! I'm just saying lol), or biting her toys.

 

My wife has found a way that has helped tremendously as well: she takes an unused wash clothe, wets it and then sticks it into the freezer. Once frozen she takes it out and gives it to our daughter. Biting into the cold/frozen wash clothe she has heard, helps soothe the itchiness and pain, and so far so good. Our daughter will use that to help soothe herself than all the teething rings we have, hey she knows what works, we just have to keep providing her with more frozen wash clothes.

 

Because of this teething issue our daughter for the past month has fallen asleep at regular time, then woken up in the middle of the night, ready to play and eat. Now usually we just put her in the bed with us, she sings, cracks herself up then falls asleep. But after talking to a few family members we realize now that this sleeplessness may be due to her teething. So, a few days ago my wife (the smart woman that she is) bought teething and gel and puts some on her gums right before or after the little firecracker falls asleep. Low and behold it works! she either sleeps straight through the night again, or gets up, whines a little, takes her pacifier and goes right back to bed. Thank you family for enlightening us! We thought she woke up in the middle of the night just because. Since she didn't really cry about her teeth we couldn't really know what was causing her to wake up...but I guess it was her teeth. Thank goodness for good advice! Now we can all rest easy! :-) 

Our Little Firecracker

Our daughter now crawls forwards! This was something we had been waiting for...but now that it's here...I don't know anymore lol.

 

Now don't get me wrong I'm very happy that our daughter can now crawl forwards and every which-a-way there is, but now we can't keep her still! Now she loves being on the floor crawling more than being in her walker. She gets into everything now, curious about everything she sees and all the rooms of the house.

 

When she first crawled we were overjoyed, so very happy that now our little lady was a mover...but now...now...she keeps us on our toes. She hadn't realized she could move past the living for weeks (which was great, because all we had to worry about was keeping an eye on her in the living room, because she had yet to venture past that point. But now that she has realized there are more rooms than the living room...oh boy! We can not stop the little firecracker. She crawls to the kitchen, makes a pit stop for water cooler and empty bottles in the kitchen, then crawls into her room (if my wife or I are in there on the computer), she crawls into our bedroom from the living room (which is scary enough because the stairs are right in front of our bedroom door. It's so hard keeping her still, and I know she would prefer not to be still!

 

Now-a-days we have to use her walker to block her entry way into the hallway that leads to our room and the stairs, but the little firecracker is learning to try and crawl right underneath the walker...smh.

 

Not only is she crawling but for the past week she has learned to pull her self up using the couch, her mom's leg, her walker, whatever is sturdy enough to hold her. Now anything we take away from her and place on the couch (thinking she couldn't reach it) now has to be placed even higher, because this little has learned "Oh so they're trying to move it away from me? ok, I'll just pull on up and try to climb on to this couch and get it anyway."

 

It's funny and scary at the same time. We're overjoyed that she's becoming even more mobile and growing, but sad and frightened because now she can get anywhere, touch anything in reach, and will be walking real soon! Yikes! I don't know if either of us are ready for that, but our firecracker sure is, and she is not stopping anytime soon!

The Food Debate

For the past month my wife and I have been at odds when it comes to the food she feeds our daughter. Now, I understand it's ok to give her some of what we are eating, but at the same time I would prefer her not to choke. 

My wife let's her have pieces of what she's eating...now to her they are small pieces but to me...no, they are way too big! Even though the doctor told her to feed her some pieces of chicken or meat, because of our daughters low iron levels that does not mean 1. we have to do so, or 2. we have to give her chunks of food! 

I can hear my wife now: 'I don't give her chunks of food!" So she says...smh. To me if the pieces are too big I'm just afraid she will choke. Being a volunteer firefighter I see this all the time; kids choking on foods that the parents did not think were that big. Well that won't be our daughter! I don't care what anyone, even my wife, says; if the pieces are too big she will not be giving it to our daughter. 

After constant back and forth about this I have agreed to disagree with my wife. She can feed our daughter pieces of food (as long as they are not big chunks!) when she's with her, but with me our daughter is going to have to be content with just plain old Enfamil and some baby food. This way we can both be happy with feeding our daughter.

Big Sister!

My wife and I learned a couple months ago that we are going to be parents...again! The thought of being parents again is very scary, especially since we have a daughter who is under 1, but I think we can do it! It'll take a lot of sleepless nights, tired mornings and days, and lots of coffee to get us through, but I think we can do it! 

I think our daughter has started to notice that something is different with her mom. When rubbing or tapping on her stomach she makes a double take these days, because her tummy is bigger than before. Now-a-days she tends to give her little kisses on her tummy whenever we're all laying and watching TV for the night (which is so cute). 

The other day my wife and I decided to tell our daughter that she is about to become a big sister soon, we asked if she were happy to become a big sister, she looked at us both, smiled then shook her head. We could do nothing but laugh, it seemed she knew what we were asking, and telling us that she was not happy because she was supposed to be the baby for a little while.

Our little lady keeps us on our toes and laughing everyday. Whether she's ready or not she's about to take that big sister role, and oh boy are we...NOT ready! lol

Stomping Grounds

While our little lady is still getting the hang of crawling (still going backwards lol) we've decided to give her walking practices now as well. My sister in law lent us a walker that is in use everyday! This little girl loves her walker, but she forgets one thing: You DO NOT have to stomp in order to move around! She has become used to the other bouncer that does not move but allows her to bounce up and down, so when she's in her walker she does the same thing lol. She stomps, and stomps, and stomps (trying to bounce) around the house, not realizing she can move forwards and backwards just by making regular quiet steps.

My wife has tried numerous times to show her and push her around in it, but I think she just enjoys stomping around the house, making all that noise that comes with each stomp. She slowly moves forward with each stomp, and lately she's been creeping forward. Going backwards is no problem, she just sits and leans back and there she rolls. 

Soon enough she'll get it, and will be zipping around the house...but for now we (along with our downstairs neighbors) have to bear with the pitter patter of little stomps around the house. 

Neglect...!!!

I must say that I apologize for neglecting this blog for so long. There has been so many things going on that I have yet to sit and write...but we'll get back on track! Please continue to read and enjoy our adventures as first time parents. 

And We're Off!!!

Everyone has been asking that age old question: has she started crawling yet?!

Well for those inquiring minds that want to know: yes, she has! But...backwards!

It was about a week ago when my wife had our daughter on the bed with her, we either have her sitting on a blanket on the floor in the living room, or the bed with a bunch of toys around her. well our daughter was playing with her toys when one rolled away. When it happened she looked around at her other toys, then at the wife, then back at the toy. I guess she thought: "ok, guess she's not going to get it for me so I have to get this toy back." She leaned forward and laid flat on her belly in the middle of the bed. Now she tried reaching and stretching but nope, couldn't reach the toy. Then she curled one knee under her, kicked off and was ready ready to go! My wife was right there, clapping and cheering her on, yelling yay she's crawling! she's crawling!

we were both so very happy until we realized....wait....she's moving farther and farther away from the toy, not closer. That's when we both realized she wasn't crawling forwards, but backwards! We shrugged and kept on cheering...hey; a crawl is a crawl, she knows which way she wants to go and if backwards is her choice, whelp we will cheer it on.

Our daughter now knows how to crawl backwards, scootch a little forwards, and turn herself all the way around in a  circle, but moving forwards...she has yet to master.

My wife and I are pretty happy about this, this just means  that she will not be moving forwards to get into stuff just yet. But when she does...oh boy will we be in trouble!

Pierced!

So my sister and wife decided to take our daughter to finally get her ears pierced...luckily I had to work that day :-)

I was unavailable to go with them, but frankly I did not want to go...lol...not because I didn't want to be with my daughter when she got her ears pierced, but because I did not want to be there to see her get another shot, knowing this time it would probably be worse than getting shots at the docs office.

Well my wife and sister decided to have a mall day, they went to the mall and window shopped and shopped a bit and decided to get her ears pierced before they left the mall, in case she became fussy and upset they would be going home anyway (which was a good idea).

The mall trip went well; my wife said our daughter did awesome sitting in the stroller, watching people, grabbing for things, and of course everything ended up in her mouth! Lol. But they did have an ordeal  because my wife left the stroller in the trunk of the car that I had with me at the firehouse, smh :-\...so they had to rent a stroller from the mall (which was actually pretty cheap. But getting the car seat out of my sisters car, carrying it into the mall to the other side of the mall was not fun lol. Once they had the stroller it made things all the better.

But anyway back to story: So they went through the mall enjoying the day until it finally came time to get those ears pierced. Now, my wife hates needles as you have read in previous blog posts, so was definitely not the one who was going to hold our daughter for the piercing. My sister did the honors while the wife took pictures.

Now all was well leading up the piercing, our daughter was happy, "talking," laughing and smiling away. BUT when it came time to hold her head still for the piercing you would have thought someone stole her favorite toy, or ran over it. All of this was conveyed in all of the pictures, our daughter looked like she put up a fight to get her head free from  the hold (she does not like when people try to hold her still...like all babies), and looked even more upset (crying like crazy, with snot and spit and everything) when the piercing came. Piercing one ear, then the next was a tough fro the woman, because again our daughter did not want to stay still. She was finally done, my wife took our daughter, wiped her face, gave her kisses and smiles, told her she looked sooooooo pretty and then gave her the bottle to help soothe her crying (which worked). You would not even know she had her ears pierced and was crying just 3 or so minutes earlier. As soon as she was freed from the hold, and bottle in hand she was fine.

Our daughter is a champ! More of a champ than we thought after this whole ordeal! :-)

Shots, shots and more shots!

The wife and I had another appointment with our little lady where she received more shots about a month or so ago :-(

Please someone tell me why is it that kids need so many shots as babies? I hate going to the doctor with the wife when our daughter needs shots. Although our daughter takes it in stride (minus the initial crying) it's still never easy watching her cry when the initial needle pierces her skin.

Before going to the appointment our daughter is happy and laughing, taking everything in stride. The Doc comes in, examines her, talks to her, plays with her a little then says bye and let's us know the nurse will be in to give her the necessary shots.

SN: Doctors have an easy job when it comes to giving shots. They order the shots and have the nurses do the dirty work. So when kids come into the doc's office they are not scared of the doc, but of the nurse, because they know the shots are coming...smh. But anyway back to the story:

We knew our daughter was hungry, but thought 'let's wait to give her a bottle until the shots come, because it would distract her from the pain. The nurse walked in, ready to begin, my wife had her in her arms not happy at all as she hates needles. Nurse was very nice and all smiles, our daughter was happy, then came the needle. As in the past there was a pause, a look, then came the crying. the nurse tried to do them all close together just so there wasn't much lag time between and our little lady wouldn't be in too much pain.

We tried the whole bottle thing in between shots but this time (being older and feeling the pain more) she was not feeling. She kept pushing it away and kept crying. After all the shots were given (3 in all) we gave her her pacifier, put her clothes on and thought OK, maybe she would knock out like she always has...nope. She quieted down, but she was awake...giving us the eye as if to say: "you guys are mean! taking me to get these shots and trying to bribe me with a bottle!"

After a few minutes of being home she was fine, our daughter was a champ; she was laughing, playing, only pausing a few times when she felt a little pain in the areas where she got her shots.

My wife thought if she keeps doing so well with these shots getting her ears pierced should be fine...not the case at all! LOL

Is It Time to Crawl?

So just about everyday my wife and I get the question: "has she started crawling yet?" I'm not sure but I always thought baby's started crawling at least at 8-9 months? While some crawl earlier, those are those babies who are itching to walk, and want to get that crawling business out of the way lol.

 

Our daughter has yet to master the art of crawling...and we are in NO rush at all for her to do so. We've given her tummy time on more than one occasion, putting her on her tummy on the bed, or even on a blanket in the living room, but nope...no crawling yet. She scootches backwards, or sometimes sideways a little...and puts up one leg, but makes no moves. She even turns herself over each and every time, and once she does that she looks up as us like yeah...I'm not moving, you can pick me up now (lol).

 

Once she starts crawling we know everything will change, she will be mobile and on the go; getting into any and everything, touching everything, pulling everything in her path, it'll be semi chaos as her curiosity grows...and we are not ready for that just yet. We are just enjoying her screeches, her laughing out bursts, her saying "dadadadada" to everything (well me the most lol), her turning over, etc. She has also gotten into the habit of touching our faces as if to feel who we are, it is the cutest thing ever. She'll reach her open palm out, you bring your face close to her palm, she'll touch your face, and then give you small little hits and just laugh away as if she just did the most funniest thing known to man.

 

I know everyone says this about their child, and I know you have read this many times, but our daughter really is amazing!

Let's sit and talk...or scream...

Our daughter has moved up in the world...for the past month or so she has now been able to sit up! on her own, without tipping over! This is ever so exciting because as she was learning to sit up, each and everytimewe would sit her down she would tip over like a log...lol.

 

But now she has mastered the art of sitting...well mostly. From time to time she tips over but now...now she can sit for long periods of time on her own without a boppy!

 

I know, I know...why all the excitememnt and commotion? Well when you're child moves from one stage to another it is very exciting times. It means they are developing and growing. It's such a beautiful thing to watch your child grow before your very eyes.

 

Now that she can sit, she has also been mastering the art of babbling. Although no words have yet to come out, this girl can babble. She has so much to say, and no doubt when she is finally able to talk there will be much to say. Many times she's raised her voice to a giggle, a screetch, then a laugh, all of this entertains her, and us. Watching her grow is so amazing.

 

She has now moved into the stage of saying "dadadada" for everything, and it's awesome! My wife is a bit jealous, talking smack saying every baby says "dada" cuz it's easy to say. Which is true, but sheesh...always raining on the parade...can't even say "awwww...she's saying dada!" Not "when she says mama then she's said something." Mothers are so jealous...lmaoo...joking. No, but I know it's easy to say, it's just so heart melting to hear it everyday.

 

So now my daughter and I can sit and "talk" to each other and the whole conversation cracks me, and her, up. Neither knows what the other is saying, but it's great to hear the other's voice...even if sometimes her talking means loud screetches from time to time.

First New Years

You would think for our daughter's first New Years we would have something spectacular planned...whelp, sorry to disappoint but we did not...sadly :-(

Our original plan was to go to church and ring in the New Year right...BUT our plans were placed on hold because duty called: I had to fill in at the firehouse. I did stay home with the wife and daughter until midnight, I at least wanted to ring in the New Year with my two loves.

We planned on having a quiet night of watching movies, watching the ball drop, and just relaxing all before I had to head off to work.

I worked my full time job until about 8:30 PM on New Years Eve. The wife and I (and our daughter) went to get some food before heading home after I got out of work. Our daughter yawned half the time because she was exhausted (the wife kept her up because lately she takes a very long time to fall a sleep and she wanted to keep her up until it was bedtime). She tried very hard to stay awake, as if she knew it was New Years Eve, and she wanted to watch the ball drop lol.

We all ate, and stayed up for as long as we could but we were all pretty exhausted, but we refused to sleep, it was our first New Years Eve, we had to stay awake and not be old fogies and fall asleep (lol).

Come 11:30 PM we were all pretty beat, especially me coming from one job and about to head off into another. I had already fallen asleep around 10 PM, and woke up at 11:30 in hopes to catch the ball drop and to start getting ready for work.

When I woke up I saw that our daughter was fussing and  as always trying to fight her sleep, while my wife tried her hardest to get her to calm and fall asleep. As the time neared the New Year I started a mental count down to see how long it took to get our daughter to sleep, and if she would fall asleep before the New Year arrived.

12...she fussed and turned, making little fussing noises...11....my wife rubbed her back as she continued to fuss and turn...10...my wife lightly started stroking her hair in hopes that would help, and tried making soothing sounds....9...my wife picked her up ready to feed her...8...as she ate her bottle she calmed down and chugged that enfamil lol...7...she finished the bottle and was ready to be burped...6...my wife tried burping her but she would not...5...my wife switched her position and out came a HUGE belch...4...she was placed back into her bassinet, fast asleep and belly full...3...my wife made sure I was up and ready for work and she laid down...2...I looked over and right before Midnight the wife was fast asleep (lol). She and our daughter stayed up for so long, but fell asleep right before the ball was to drop...so much for that plan! lol

At 12:05 my wife woke up ready to watch the ball, but saw she had missed the drop, she commented "awww man," then went right back to sleep.

I let my two ladies sleep as I left to head on to work. They had a long day and deserved to ring in the New Year resting and relaxing. :-)

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

Raspberries!

Our daughter has entered into another milestone; she has learned to blow raspberries! Blowing raspberries is a milestone that is not really mentioned or made into a big of a deal as other milestones. BUT according to this Blowing Raspberries article on Yahoo.com this is a  milestone that is just as big as all the others. It's supposed to be the next step into learning language and communication, although it involves a lot of spit from our daughter! LOL

Our daughter has come to love the action and does it everyday. When she first saw her cousin blowing raspberries she would watch him, and I guess watching him helped her learn?

However way she learned, now it's a steeple in her everyday life. My wife has come to like and dislike the raspberries; she doesn't mind when our daughter blows raspberries creating a bunch of spit and cracking herself up, but she minds when our daughter decides to put her face on my wife's shoulders and blows raspberries creating slobs of spit all over her neck and shoulders...LOL!

I'm sorry I find it very cute and funny, our daughter always has this cute expression on her face every time she does it, and continuously blows into the air, loving every moment of the flying spit and the sound she makes.

According to the yahoo article and an article on  Fit Pregnancy raspberries are normal and help with language.

Well, if that's the case...bring on the raspberries!