9 month checkup: healthy, happy nap-misser

Well, today was a "fun" day of missing out on an otherwise stalwart first, morning nap. So without that, I got Carolina and went on the subway to her pediatrician's office for a 10am checkup. At nine months old she is:
16lbs 3oz (bottom 8%)
27.25" long (bottom 25%)
and I forget her head circumference but it's the bottom 25% also

So, par for the course. Her ezcema on her arms is okay, but hasn't gone away and she has a new little one on her left leg. It doesn't seem to bother her, and her pediatrician gave me some probiotics for her and recommended I also try fish oil.

Her doctor also was surprised at how slowly I've been going with introducing more food. So she was very encouraging for me to give Carolina ALL the veggies we normally eat and introduce a lot more protein. That's probably why she's waking up 3x a night, sucking down 6oz of formula, which is a lot for her. She's growing, she's more active during the day, and she's hungry. And whatever I've been giving her, isn't substantial enough even though it fills her belly.

So far she likes turkey if there's plenty of carrots and squash mixed in. Is not a fan of pork or beef, but I should try to mix in more veggies.

We'll be leaving for Mexico on Thursday. I'm sure her Abuelos will be pleased as punch to see her, and feed her new foods. She loves, loves chayote -- and I haven't bought any here and steamed and mashed it up. But they have it in the Gerber jars there. We'll probably give her some meats while we're there. Plus her Abuela stocked up, as usual, on her favorite foods and diapers. So very grateful we don't have to carry all of that with us!

Today, I also took Carolina to the park to meet up with some of the other babies. She was very happy to be there. When we left, she was hiccuping on the way home. So I fed her the bottle and she passed out asleep. I have to go to a funeral tonight, so when Ismael gets home he'll wake her up and get her ready for bed. Should be any minute now...

Gotta go get ready in appropriate clothes!

Thanksgiving in NJ and the holiday weekend

We went to my parents place for Thanksgiving. It was just the 5 of us since Diana is in LA, and only dinner (well, lunch) for 4 since Carolina doesn't eat Thanksgiving food yet.

Miss Carolina wasn't really into sleeping in a bed that wasn't hers. She did nap, sort of. Then went to sleep around normal time, but after waking up twice inside of 5 hours, she decided she wanted to stay awake. So we took turns going to put the chupon back in her mouth and try to get her to fall asleep over the next hour to hour and a half. Sometime around 2am she fell asleep, for 5 hours. Phew... At least there was some decent sleep even if the three of us were totally tired the next day. But it was different, and a little better in some way, than the month before when we stayed over without Ismael over Halloween.

As Julia says, in a few months it'll be different. Not necessarily better, might be, but definitely different.

I'm completely expecting that when we get to Mexico for two weeks, it'll be different in ways I can't imagine now and then when we return it'll be different again.

At least, every month, it is different. Mostly for the better as far as I am concerned.

Today is her 6 month 'birthday'. Hooray!

Carolina has taken to sucking in her bottom lip. I think she feels the little teeth coming up. It's a little strange to see her like that since it really does change her face and she's not smiling or talking when she does it. She was pretty silent that way yesterday on the way back from Target. The entire bus ride.

Speaking of Target. We bought some diapers there. Not Target brand, I'm not ready to try store brands yet. But we bought a HUGE case of Pampers from Toys R Us, which I love (Pampers not TRU), and they smelled kind of funny. And when she peed in them they smelled almost like paint thinner or paint. It was the kind of smell that goes to the back of your throat and gives you a headache behind your eyes. Or at least did me. So I wrote to Pampers, they're looking into it. We may get our money back. I hope so, those huge boxes of diapers are kind of expensive even though they are cheaper per diaper.

In the meantime we've tried Luvs (not too much of a fan but willing to finish using the pack) and just bought Huggies without fragrance and organic cotton. I honestly was more interested in the lack of scent than anything else. Why baby diapers MUST come with some fragrance, I'm not sure. I know it's to mask the pee or poop smell, but the mix of "baby powder fresh" and pee or poop is actually headache-inducing. At least for me.

So we'll keep trying out different brands in case the Pampers saga doesn't end the way I hope.

And we're about to start introducing formula. SLOWLY...

A nighttime bottle has gone disastrously so far, but we'll keep at it. Sometimes. It's hard to hear her cry so heartily and earnestly and know that I could just feed her myself and she'd be fed and asleep inside of 6 minutes. So I need to get determined about it and just do it.

Ok, she's up again.