5 Months

Another month and more milestones for Edith. 

Sleep - Well, I think it's getting better . . . we are only getting up 4-5 times a night which is a significant improvement.  The 3rd medication seems to have helped with her reflux.  We are working to get her naps more consistent.  During the day we primarily lay her down and let her "cry it out".  She usually fusses for a few minutes (less than 5) before she falls asleep.  When she does fuss longer than 5 minutes, we go up, make sure she is on her back (she can't roll from her belly to her back) and that she has a nuk and her blankie.  After that she typically falls asleep right away.  It's really nice and we would do the same thing at night, but she is currently nursing to sleep then.

Eating - nothing new to report.  She has taken a bottle on a couple of occasions and we are hopeful this month she will so the husband and I can go on a date night.  We pulled out one of Eddie's old sippy cups and she seems to have the hang of that, which is amazing because Eddie was almost year before understanding a sippy cup.  Of course she likes to chew on it because . . .

Teeth!  Yes, that is right - she cut her first tooth this past month!  She is working on another one which is really bothering her - hence her chewing on her hands, our fingers, toys, paper, anything she can get her hands on!  I'm hoping once the tooth pops through she'll be in a better mood.

Playing -  She still loves to kick - a lot, so you have to watch out.  She is getting really good at holding toys and putting them into her mouth.  She is much more deliberate than Eddie was and she has better control.  She is good and holding her nuk, taking it out of her mouth, examining it, and then putting it back into her mouth.  In fact one night, Uncas went upstairs to calm her down and had to pry the nuk out of her hand to put it back into her mouth!  She wouldn't let go!  She really likes pulling the toys down on her carseat handle.  She still likes watching Eddie or Sammy play.

Other - Edith can roll from her back to her tummy and at times you lay her down and she immediately flips.  She can't roll the other way.  She does like playing on her tummy now, but when she is done, she lets you know - she just starts screaming.  She continues to be very social.  She likes being held and if you put her down and walk away she starts screaming.  Over Thanksgiving she wasn't a fan of being held by strangers.  Overall I would not describe her as being laid back.  When she doesn't like something she just starts to scream and she can definitely scream!  But when she is in a good mood - mornings are her best time - she can smile and charm with the best of them!

Here are her monthly pictures.  As you can see, I took them first thing this morning, so she smiled a lot!

Picture Post

I've been very behind on downloading pictures off of our camera.  I finally managed to catch up today, so here are some pictures that I have taken in the past month, but haven't posted!

First up - these are for Grandpa Ron who believes that Edith never smiles.  She does, and here is proof!

Uncas celebrated his 32nd birthday.  It was very low-key because he was still recovering from the flu.  That just meant that I ate most of his birthday cake!

Eddie reading in Edith's chair.  He loves this thing!!

 Some pictures that I took on Thanksgiving morning before Uncas left to visit his grandma (the kids and I stayed home) Notice that Edith pretty much keeps the same pose the whole time!

Getting ready for Christmas!  We let the kids practice wearing the Santa hat.

Watching the Vikings game with Daddy!  I called them my purple people eaters all day!

And finally I took this picture today - I had put Edith down and came back to find Eddie had climbed on the ottoman and was playing with her or trying to.  She's screaming in case you couldn't tell from the picture.

Thanksgiving 2011

This year I am thankful for the following:

• Two healthy children
• A best friend who is always there for me via phone call or text message
• My parents who have gone above and beyond helping us out this year
• Our cozy little house with an awesome finished basement
• My dog who loves to cuddle with me every night no matter how many times I yell at him to stop barking during the day
• Dairy Queen Blizzards
• My Kindle application on my phone so I can read while up late at night with the girl
• My crock pot
• My Ergo which allows me to be hands free, but still hold my daughter who hates to be set down
• Hearing "Love you Mama!" from my little guy
• And lastly, but most certainly not least - I am thankful for my husband, who keeps me sane, reminds me what's most important in life and helps me see that things really aren't that bad.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Cookie Baking

This weekend my parents came to stay with the kids and I while Uncas was up north hunting.  Eddie has taken to calling my parents JoJo and Ron.  (A little side note - whenever I am on the phone, Eddie assumes that it's JoJo . . . I guess I must talk to my mom a lot!) 

My mom and I decided to attempt to do some cookie baking to get ready for the holidays.  We used to take a weekend and bake and bake.  We've made up to 7 or 8 different kinds of cookies in one weekend.  Well, things are quite different now that you add two kids to the mix.  We decided to just make cut-out cookies and we let Eddie help with the decorating.  Eddie's really big into helping in the kitchen, so this was a perfect activity.  We also got smart this time around.  I had little tiny containers that we put sprinkles in for Eddie to use.  It somewhat helped contain the mess.  He had a great time and he loved eating the cookies too!  While he tasted the sprinkles at one point, he really didn't try to eat them.  I am really excited to share this tradition with him and can't wait to have Edith join us next year!

Getting started

Mama and Edie are helping

JoJo helping Eddie

Eddie's tray

Inspecting the cookies

Tasting the finished product - yum!

4 months

Wow - happy four months Edith!  Before typing up this post, I checked what Eddie had been up to when he was 4 months.  It's amazing how quickly you forget things when your kids are this age.  I was surprised that some of the things were very similar.  You always hear that every baby is different and that has definitely been true for us, but not with everything!  Ok - on with the recap:

Sleep - ugh - this one really sucks.  It has continued to get worse and worse.  Even with the reflux diagnosis, we still seem to be getting up with her at least 4 times a night, but usually more.  Honestly, most nights I can not remember how many times we have gotten up.  We've had a few "good" nights in a row meaning we only got up 2 or 3 times!  We are hopeful that one day it will get better and we are continuing to try new things to work through this.

Eating - not much to report here.  Still nursing.  We haven't tried giving her a bottle this month, so maybe she'll take one, but who knows.  She eats every 2-3 hours during the day.  At night I typically only feed her twice (even though she wakes up more than that).  We are working on getting the reflux under control.

Teething - yes - she has started teething already.  I can see a couple of white spots on her bottom gums, but I think it's going to be a little bit before they come through - poor thing.  She likes to chew on her fingers and is starting to grab toys to gnaw on.  Today I caught her grabbing the collar of her onesies and gnawing on that!

Playing - Edith is starting to grab toys and sometimes bring them to her mouth.  She loves to kick.  Toys, Eddie, Sammy, in the water . . . it's really pretty cute.  Eddie kicked a lot, but Edith tends to be more deliberate.  Hands down two of Edith's most favorite things are Eddie and Sammy.  She loves watching both of them.  Sammy seems to intrigue her - she will stare and stare at him.  Eddie makes her smile and laugh.  She loves watching him and he likes to interact with her.  As a result, she will laugh for him more than for anyone else.  She likes to be around people and often fusses if left alone.  She also likes to be held and often fusses when I put her in the bouncy seat or in the pack 'n play.  I have learned that after a minute, she'll usually calm down - but honestly, I can't hold all day long!

Other - this month you rolled over from your back to your belly.  You did it for a few days and now you don't do it.  Eddie was the same way, so I guess that's just how you guys roll (hah!  pun intended!)  You still like to talk - a lot.  It's funny and now Eddie likes to "talk" back to you which makes you talk and laugh even more!  Your eyes are still blue.  Eddie's eyes started changing by this point, so maybe you'll keep those baby blues . . . time will tell.

We were away this weekend, so this post is a day late.  I'm hoping to get her 4 month appointment this week, so I'll have stats then.  Here are the monthly pictures taken by Daddy this time!

Pictures

This month has been exhausting.  Poor Little Girl has been diagnosed with acid reflux.  We discovered this after taking her to the doctor because her sleeping has become so poor.  Remember how she used to sleep for 6-8 hours at night?  It hasn't been the case for 2 months!  And it's because of the reflux. She has the "silent" kind which means she doesn't spit up, so I really had no idea.  She is on Zantac which is helping, but I think she has forgotten how to sleep for long stretches.  She also doesn't nap longer than 45 minutes during the day.  Sometimes it's only 30 minutes and sometimes it's an hour (very rare).  It's an adjustment and often the kids are napping on opposite schedules.  It makes for some very tiring days.  As a result, we don't do a whole lot and we are in bed early every night.

Here are a few pictures from the past couple of weeks.

Long Week

This past week was one of the toughest our family has ever had to go through and hopefully we won't have to go through something like this again for a long, long time.  Last Thursday night (Oct. 6) Uncas received a phone call from his dad and Uncas learned that his mom passed away.  We were shocked.  It seemed completely surreal - it still does.  Rita was only 61 years and while she had been fighting the flu during the week, nothing indicated that this would happen.  She had an aneurysm in stomach and died before she even made it to the hospital.

The week was spent up in Duluth and we were surrounded by lots of family and friends.  It was so incredible to see how many people Rita touched - through her work and her hobbies.  She was truly a remarkable person.  So many of her co-workers - past and present spoke of what a great mentor she was, talked about her upbeat, can-do attitude and always willing to give.  Members of the Fiber Guild which Rita was very active in talked about how creative Rita was and how committed and organized she was within the Guild.

Rita was my mother-in-law.  From the first time I met her, she welcomed me into the family with open arms and her bright smile.  I was amazed at her talent for weaving.  Her patience and persistence with the hobby was truly inspiring.  I have many items which she made for me over the years - towels, scarves, home decorations, ornaments, and my personal favorite the shawl that I wore on my wedding day.  She also made baby blankets for each of our kids.  In fact, the last thing that she completed for us was Edith's baby blanket . . . She also knit and we have many hats, gloves, and socks from her.

She was a great cook and baker.  During the first year we were married, Rita taught me how to make pie crust from scratch.  She was a patient teacher and made it so easy.  I have many recipes from her including Uncas's favorite birthday cake and the recipe that I use to make sweet rolls.  Of course Rita herself couldn't eat gluten or refined sugar, but that didn't stop her from baking or cooking.  She made things that for the rest of us and attempted to make things for herself to eat as well.  Sometimes they turned out pretty good and sometimes we knew we would never be eating that again!  But what's so great is that she was able to laugh at the failed attempts and she would just try again.

This summer we were able to see Rita a lot.  She baby-sat a few times for us.  One day before Edith was due, she came and stayed with us for the day to give me a much needed break.  And after Edith was born, she came and stayed with us a whole week.  She loved spending time with the kids.  A couple of times Uncas took Eddie to Duluth with him and each time Rita typed up a little story, complete with pictures about Eddie's adventure.  I know she couldn't wait to do the same with Edith.

Rita never sat still.  She was always doing something. She was willing to pitch in and help with anything.  She loved her family so much.  The last time I saw Rita was a week before she died.  She was in the Cities getting her car repaired and stopped by the house to see the kids.  She held Edith so I could  get some cleaning done and helped give Eddie his lunch.  It was a short trip, but I know she enjoyed the time with the kids.  She loved seeing Edith smile and she was amazed at Eddie's vocabulary.  We were making plans for Edith's baptism, which would be the next time we would see each.  I remember commenting on her hair - she had recently got it cut and it looked really good.  I remember saying good-bye and watching her walk down the drive-way.  I can't believe that she won't be coming here to visit again.

While I am sad that I won't see her again, and my heart aches that our kids will not remember or get to know their Grandma Rita.  I hope we can keep her memory alive by telling the kids stories about her, sharing photos and giving them the things that she made.  She was a special person.  Some days/moments are harder than others.  I hope I've been able to convey what a special person she was.  She will truly be missed.

Meeting Edith for the first time

Happy Grandma (and Grandpa)

Rita in the middle at baby shower for her first grandchild

Rita with her mom, daughter and granddaughter

Baby blanket made for Edith

Baby blanket she made for Eddie