Retirement, 5 months, Christmas, Solids...

Last week we started putting some of Fiona's "issues" together and decided that she had a lot of symptoms of reflux -we had brought this up with the doctor and breastfeeding clinic before, but b/c she has been gaining weight they didn't think it was reflux. I called the doctor last Wednesday and told them the symptoms we were dealing with and they called in a prescription for Zantac. Starting the first night that we gave her the medicine things changed, she doesn't wake up 45 times after we put her down, she doesn't spit up as much, she doesn't grunt when she is in the carseat, she naps better...Looking back I wish we would have pushed the issue before because we wondered if she had reflux for a while, now we feel bad that she suffered for the first almost five months.

After we started the medicine Fiona became constipated, one of the possible side effects of the medicine, so we started feeding her pears. I did some research when I was pregnant and decided to make her baby food for her, so I baked a pear and put it in the food processor. She liked the first 5 bites and then she wasn't sure. She does love her water in the sippy cup though. The last few days she has really enjoyed the pears, I think she just has to get used to a different texture. (when I bought these jammies on clearence last March, I couldn't decide if they were to boyish. Then I thought when will anyone see her in them...She had them on one day when we had an unexpected visitor, she wore them in to my office one day when she slept in late, and they are the ones she is wearing while eating her first food! Oh well, you know she is a girl-and the gingerbread men are cute)

I think she is telling me she is done here:

Last Friday was her retirement from my office. The gang threw her a great retirement party, Sarah surprised us with a good bye cake and the office got her a going away card, several books and a couple of toys. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to bring her, it was so nice to be able to spend the first five months of her life with her it made it so easy to breast feed and so nice to be able to bond with her.

This is Fiona at her retirement party:

The girls from my office presented me with some pictures of Fiona "working" here are a couple:



Fiona started daycare on Monday, it didn't go very well on Monday-for either of us. She was fine when I left (J.R. stayed longer then I did), she feel asleep before J.R. left then apparently when she woke up she wasn't happy-of course that was right when I called. Beth said her tummy was upset most of the day. Tuesday was better, she cried when I left which made me feel better because I didn't feel like I was tricking her-she knew I was leaving. She ate more and didn't cry that much on Tuesday. So, now we have to start over next week after not going to daycare for six days, hopefully she remembers the drill.

Christmas was not much fun- It started out fine, Fiona gave us our present by sleeping until 6:30 (usually she gets up around 5) then she went back to sleep until 8:45 (usually up by 7:30). We opened our presents at home and then we packed up and went to Chief and Nana's. I wasn't feeling well when we left but didn't think much of it, but when we were two blocks away from my parent's house we had to stop so I could be sick. I continued getting sick and was just feeling worse the longer we stayed so we left after only 2 hours at my parent's house. Without sharing the details I was sick until about 7pm Christmas night-thank goodness Fiona took a three hour nap. Then, J.R. got sick starting at midnight which continued until this afternoon. I think Fiona had the same thing but a milder version the day before Christmas-so hopefully we are done with this nasty bug!

4 and a half months old!

This has been yet another busy week!

Unfortunately, Fiona attended her first funeral on Saturday, a good friend of ours from Target passed away on Tuesday after a car accident. Tim was a great guy; he was always smiling, always willing to help others, a great father, and an awesome friend. He will be missed by many!

On a lighter note...We are still working out some sleep issues. Instead of posting new blogs (okay, and I have been kind of lazy)I have been reading Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child- this book is supposed to be very helpful, but it's kind of a drag to read. I am about 150 pages into it and learning a lot about sleep habits but just now getting into solutions. Hopefully with the extra time off around Christmas we can do some "sleep training".

Fiona is holding herself in a sitting position, she looks like a frog when she does it. She will probably be sitting soon.

We still haven't started solids (we will probably wait until 6 months), but I didn't want her to be behind on some milestones so today I gave her some breastmilk in a sippy cup. She seemed to like chewing on the tip more then anything but she did drink about an ounce.

Smiling!

It took three photo sessions for me to get a good picture to use for our Christmas card, our camera flashes twice and Fiona now has her eyes closed or half closed in all the pictures, grrr. The last sessions I got three really good pics (I'm not posting the one on the card-you have to check your mail next week) here are some of the results:

looking at this last picture I'm thinking I should have used it, darn it-too late now!

Fiona with her new favorite toy...
This will be Fiona's last week at my office, I am so sad and totally dreading having to leave her everyday. But I know she will be in good hands and I will be able to get more work done.

Birthday party, Black Friday, and 4 month appointment.

Ah, lots to blog about today.


First off we are home from work today, the infants at work policy says if baby has a fever then they can't come to the office. I think this rule makes sense when a baby is sick but I think they should have an exception when it comes from shots. It might be something I suggest after Fiona retires from my office, in three weeks.

Speaking of...we have found someone to watch Fiona for us. Beth is a friend of ours, J.R. has known her since kindergarten and I worked with her at Headstart Preschool, she stays home with her two boys Jake (3) and Justin (two weeks younger then Fiona) and her nephew (1). Her Mom had a home daycare for 20+ years and, as mentioned before she worked at Headstart. She lives 3 blocks away and I know she will be great with Fiona!


Yesterday we took Fiona to her 4 month doctors appointment, she did great. This is the first checkup she hasn't cried through, she was actually in a really good mood which made J.R. and I feel even worse for the shots. She is very healthy, I love that when the doctor puts her numbers in to calculate her percentile he sounds surprised and says: "Oh, wow she is doing great!". She weighs 15lbs 11oz (86th percentile) and is 26 and 1/4 inches long (97th percentile). We still have hopes that she might be tall! The shots were very sad to watch again, but knowing what to expect this time may have made it a little easier (for us). She cried for a couple of minutes and then I nursed her a little bit to settle her down and then she even smiled at both J.R. and I. We aren't starting solids yet Dr. Thompson said to watch for signs that she is ready (interest in what we are eating, the tongue reflex disappearing, nursing more often) and start when she wants to-especially because she is thriving so well on breastfeeding alone. She only had a fever of 99.2 temp last night-much better then the 2 month shots, but today she had about 100.1 degree temp, but seems to be feeling okay.

Believe it our not this is a picture of her yesterday evening after her shots.

Fiona had her first birthday party experience, her cousin Jonas really knows how to party! Jonas was very happy to have her there, every opportunity he had to hug her he did-very cute should have gotten pictures of it.

The Moms and kids at Jonas' birthday party, Happy 1st birthday Monkey!

Us girls went shopping on black Friday, we didn't go super early I waited until Fiona woke up on her own. We were at Target a little before 8 but the line was so long there that I decided it wasn't worth the wait. So, we trekked on to Macy's and another store that would give away one of J.R.'s Christmas presents if mentioned by name. I loaded her in the front carrier so she could see everything and I didn't have to try to squeeze a stroller through the crowds and she did great. Everyone thought she was a boy-I haven't seen any boys wear jammies with pink trim and pokadots, but I guess people see the main outfit color and if it isn't pink or frilly then the baby is a boy, oh well.

This is a picture of her between stores-she missed her mouth and had the rings just sitting there. Does she look like a boy to you?

We keep hoping Fiona gets her sleeping straightened out. She had a couple of weeks where she would fall asleep on her own at night and sometimes during the day and take long naps, etc. She is sleeping through the night again but sometimes it takes an hour and a half of falling asleep then waking ten minutes later, repeat, until she is down for the night. She has also started taking 30 minute naps. The doctor did say she has a little cold so, we are hoping that is the problem. Or it could be the 4 month sleep regression-don't know how to fix that-hope we get to 5 months soon?

The other day I put her down for a nap and threw the dog blanket over the railing to block the sun light and she started talking to the dog she was squealing and laughing, it was funny!

Finn is definitely going to be brown or maybe green eyed, only time will tell. Here you can see how brown they look, love it!

Got to go, Fiona said she wants me to make a birthday cake for her Dad! Happy birthday J.R., I look forward to another wonderful year with you!!