Daddy's Little Girl

What Was That?

Playing with big brother can be an awfully dizzying experience.

Word of the Week: Babies

Not baby people, but baby animals. We took a mid-week trip to the zoo with one of Jack's cousins, and saw some of the new zoo babies.

The baby giraffe was just a few days old. We could see her in a back pen with her mom. Thank goodness for 16X zoom on the camera. :)

The baby gorilla is a few weeks old. He or she (they haven't yet confirmed, but it's suspected to be a boy) was hanging on to Mama's back leg while we were there.
 

Sibling Love

Wordless Wednesday

Five Months

Well, Little Miss E is five months old. Some notes:

• Weight: Approximately 14.8 pounds (38th percentile). By contrast, Carter was almost three pounds heavier at this age!
• Sizes: Still comfortably wearing 3-6M or 6M clothes, and size 2 diapers.
• Teething: Still trying, but so far no success.
• Sickness: She beat Carter in this category. By his five-month birthday, he'd been diagnosed with his first (double) ear infection and bronchiolitis. Thank God she hasn't been there yet. But she and Carter both have had runny noses for about a week. If hers doesn't clear up soon, it's probably in my best interest to have her ears checked.
• Sleep: She sleeps pretty well. She usually fusses for her pacifier once during the night. And she usually sleeps 8-10 hours straight (minus the paci fussing) before waking to nurse, then going back to sleep for another 1-3 hours. She's usually in bed from 8 p.m. until 8 a.m., give or take. She seems to like sleeping on her side or her back. Carter was a belly sleeping from the day he developed the ability to roll over.
• Personality: It's growing! The smiles and giggles. Crying for everyone and quieting as soon as she's given back to me. Yep, she's our little clingy one.
• Motor skills: She still hates tummy time. But so did Carter. She is capable of rolling over, but chooses not to. She will scoot herself around her crib or a blanket. She is developing her hand/eye coordination, and can grasp objects now.

Adventures in Breastfeeding

Seriously, I thought the second time would be easier. Not the case. Not that there's any shortage of milk. I've donated more than 1200 ounces already, and I fear my freezers will run out of space before I've completed the approval process with the second lab (the organization I donate to, had to switch to a second storage facility, which required all donors to be re-processed). Nope, the problem is that Ellyson is high-maintenance. She is a finicky eater, and conditions have to be perfect in order for her to agree to eat.

At one month old, she was refusing bottles - only nursing would work. Then, when she had to alternate between nursing and pumped milk while Jack was in the hospital, she did fine with both. But around three months, when the teething started, she got really particular about her feedings. Some things I have learned . . .

• The thinner milk at the beginning of a feeding . . . if the baby gets too much of it and not enough of the thicker hind milk, aparently it can cause colic. Since I have an abundance in general, it's likely she was/is getting too much thin milk, which may have been causing her fussiness.
• She might be sensitive to caffeine. According to the official guidelines, I was falling below the threshold considered "acceptable" for breastfeeding - the level of caffeine that wouldn't affect the baby. But apparently she's sensitive to it. I removed caffeine from my diet and she started sleeping better. For a while, she was having a hard time sleeping - day and night - which wore me out, and caused me to drink more coffee, which made her more cranky because she was tired and couldn't sleep . . . you see the problem. I think I've worked it out. I seem to be okay drinking a small mocha, every 3-4 days, and it doesn't impact her. 
• If Carter, Marley, a TV, a ceiling fan, or any other visual or audio distraction is available, she doesn't nurse well, and sometimes not at all. This one has been hard, because Carter likes to pick on her while I'm nursing (I assume it's to get my attention).
• Last but not least . . . the sippy cup. Her ped mentioned that she can start playing with a sippy cup of water, so I introduced one. I felt like I was behind the curve with Carter's sippy cup ability, so I tried jumping in front this time. FAIL! She successfully took water from it (and surprised herself), but apparently it was one too many nipples to juggle, and she didn't like that. I got rid of the sippy cup, and her nursing gradually improved over a three-day span, until she was back to nursing for every feeding.

Exhausting, eh? When she flat out refuses to nurse, I'll pump and bottle-feed her. But of course, this takes twice as long. Big brother has been excited to help, though!

It's a Man Bag

...or maybe a satchel. Either way, Carter calls is a "man purse." At least it's blue! He carries his wallet (complete with his money, a picture of Ellyson, and an empty Toys R Us gift card) and keys, and occasionally his phone in it.

Wordless Wednesday

...okay, I can't leave this one wordless. He told me he wanted more yogurt with lunch. I was working, so he told me he'd get it. He then told me he'd just eat from the nearly empty quart-sized container. Since he's the only one who eats that yogurt and it was almost empty, I didn't stop him. He told me "this is SO good." And then he tipped it back and attempted to drink the last drop. He subsequently told me "you can buy some more tomorrow."

Movie Time

Last Saturday, Jack and I took Carter to his first in-theater movie. Uncle Brad and Aunt Meredith watched Ellyson while the three of us saw Cars 2. Carter enjoyed it. He sat perfectly through the 20 minutes of commercials/previews. He and Jack shared popcorn, and Carter also ate some Cars gummies that I snuck into the theater. Twice he "had to go potty" because he was getting restless. And the last 20 minutes or so, he got really fidgety and wanted to stand, tried to walk, etc. Another 15-20 minutes and I think we would've lost him.

But overall it went well. And when the movie was over, a surprise was waiting for him in the car. He has a large collection of the Cars characters in die-cast toys. So Jack picked out two main characters from the new movie (Finn McMissile and Holly Shiftwell), and the airplane from the new movie. The cars were inside the airplane, waiting for Carter when we returned to my car. The funny part - unbeknownst to us - **spoiler alert** - the last time McMissile and Shiftwell are seen in the movie, they are boarding the airplane. So it played right into the idea that they were flying to see Carter. Pretty funny coincidence.

Chore Chart

We've started a chore chart for Carter. I was struggling with getting him to obey and behave - he often went to time out 6-10 times per day. And since receiving some money for his birthday, he understands there's value to it. So, we are giving him an allowance for completeing daily chores (five out of seven per day must be completed). So far, it's going pretty well. We're three weeks (and three dollars) in, and he is proud of his "smilies".

In case any other parents are curious, we tested a $1 chart from Target to see if the concept works, and now we've upgraded to the Melissa and Doug Responsibility chart.

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

Last weekend, we went to Jack's parents' lake house. Carter got in the boat for the first time, and he was SO EXCITED. After an afternoon of boating, he and Papa Jack suited up for another round post-dinner. Jack and Brad put on the life vests, too, thinking they were heading to the dock for another ride. Turns out Carter and Papa Jack were getting in the "boat" in the living room. We were all a little surprised that Carter was just as thrilled to be boating on dry land. :) That kid has a great imagination.

Papa Jack, Jack and Carter . . . out for Carter's first ride.

Oh, and Aunt Meredith sported her baby bump while we were there.

Returning from his first boat ride.

Boating in the living room. Just before the vessel hit choppy waters and capsized. :)

Baby, You're a Firework

Because of the Peachtree Road Race plans, we didn't see or explode any fireworks on the third or fourth. But we did join some friends for at-their-home fireworks on the sixth. Nothing big, but it was good preschooler entertainment.

Even when the fireworks weren't loud, Carter thought they were. I'm pretty sure Marley's bark is louder than the noise of those fireworks, but he covered his hears anyway. Ellyson wasn't too keen on the noise, but she tolerated it pretty well. She was just snuggled up against me (it was past bed time).

Peachtree Road Race

I'm behind on blogging. I know. I know. Work was crazy last week. Then there's the whole being-at-home-with-two-kids thing. Oh, and the quad-shot of espresso I was downing daily? I think it was affecting Ellyson's sleep. Which affects my sleep. Which causes me to consume more caffeine. I've been breaking that cycle, but that's another post.

Anyway, Fourth of July. I ran the Peachtree Road Race again. Jack transferred his number to his boss about two months ago, but opted to volunteer at the starting line. My goal was 63 minutes - just shy of a 10-minute pace for the 6.2-mile course. I've been training while pushing the kids, and that seemed about right. But it turns out I was in better shape than I thought. I finished in 58:31 - a pace of about 9:30/mile, and just 29 seconds slower than my all-time fastest Peachtree.

Because I couldn't go six hours without pumping milk (and was wearing a sports bra to boot!), I actually ran with a small bag on my back, and carried a small breast pump in it. I ended up pumping in a filthy port-a-potty at the finish line. Then I dumped the milk, and cleaned and sanitized all the parts I'd used. But I'm working on an invention for breastfeeding runners. Maybe it will make me a millionaire. :)