Dora, for real

For the first time, and only once, little Miss C said "Dora". Clear as day.

She was watching an episode of Umizoomi, and a Dora promo graphic came on. I was looking at her, not the tv, and noticed a suddenly huge smile on her face. She turns to look at me and says "Dora". And then goes quiet.

Not Doda or DooDoo, but Dora. Wouldn't say it again but it was a sweet little voice.

I've since realized that DooDoo or sometimes Choo is for the Chupon.

One day, relatively soon, she will start talking and I'm certain that I'll be thinking of "how can I get her to keep quiet" but right now it's AWESOME!!

And the poor thing is sick again. Another visit to the pediatrician and we find out she's got either a new viral infection (hence all the ear pulling and trouble taking a nap) or it's the same one from two weeks ago and the antibiotics didn't kick it.

No new drugs. Just fluid and rest.

Ha. Rest.

6 month checkup at the doctors... with shots

Yup, it was that time again this morning. Poor kid really let out a wail when the shots went in. The new doctor's office is nice about it, but the nurse wasn't as adept at getting the shots in quickly as the old doctor. But at least, she's got her immunizations and it didn't cost us $500. We have her on the list for the flu and H1N1 vaccines since they are doling them out in small quantities, weekly. It's likely she'll be up on the list when we're in Mexico, but I'll take my chances and leave her on the list.

Anyway, here are her 6 month checkup stats:
13lbs, 12oz (10%)
25" length (25%)
16" head circumference (25%)
and got 5 shots.

Her next appointment is in 3 months for her 9 month checkup, and no shots then. Hooray!

After only a 20 minute nap in the car ride to the office, she was surprisingly pleasant for the doctor. She only freaked out when she saw the needles since she knew what was coming next.

Then crying all the way home, and a quick feed and nap for an hour. Woke up smiling at grandpa who was nice enough not only to bring us and home, but to wait to make sure she was okay when she woke up. (Grandma wasn't feeling well with a stomach bug so she was at home. Nearly better though!)

After seeing she wasn't hungry again, I changed her diaper and we went out for a walk. She was a bit warm, so just a onesie, pants and socks -- and into the fuzzy thing in the stroller. I wasn't sure if the carrier would make her legs hurt, and she really likes the fuzzy thing for the stroller. She was quiet and content for the hour or so we were outside. I only came home because it looked like it was going to rain and I didn't bring an umbrella.

See a photo of her during the walk. As you can see, Clifford was a helpful companion during the walk.

I was grateful to see the little smile, which quickly turned into a big yawn...

better sleeping? well, it's different again

She's still up every 2-3.5 hours but at least there are a few 3 hour stints in the mix again. I sense she's slowly creeping back towards getting to at least one 4-6 hour stretch in there again. I hope it's just not the day before we move or the day before we leave for mexico and then it's all trashed again.

Although, beggers can't be choosers and I guess if I'm being honest, I'd take one 4-6 hour stretch again even if it was the only one. It gives me hope :)

Yeah, I'm really really bad when I'm tired. As everyone who knows me is well aware. Other parents with babies that sleep similar amounts of time don't seem to be as bothered by it. Sorry, Carolina, your mom was an awesome sleeper before you were born and she just misses it. Man, I really was a 'marmota' [sloth] like Gaby said.

This morning, she drank 2oz from a bottle. After 3 days of protesting that she wouldn't take the bottle again, at all. My mom gave me the suggestion of making her first feed when she wakes up a bottle. And don't give her any boob until the next feeding. I did it for two days, and today she takes the bottle. She cried a LOT and didn't just take it the whole time. But she did. And I'm very proud of her, and impressed at how smart she is. Maybe I'm projecting, probably am, but it was like she worked out that I wasn't giving her what she wanted and cereal just wasn't cutting it in the morning. So she took the bottle.

I also, today, encouraged her to hold it herself. Well at least put her little hands on it. That seemed to help. It was an idea I got from her hand movements this morning and something Kimesha said to encourage her to get comfortable with a toy that made noise. Let her hold it instead of pushing it on her. Seems to make a difference. Thanks, Kimesha!

Also, I'm hell bent on getting her to take longer naps. I read some suggestions in a new book I just picked up called "The No Cry Sleep Solution". It's much more "labor intensive" than the crying option, but leaves me feeling less crappy as a mom. It's more in line with my style of being.

http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth/

http://www.amazon.com/No-Cry-Sleep-Solution-Gentle-Through/dp/0071381392

The new "new agey" pediatrician suggested it. So far the new pediatrician has two points of "hooray" in her court vs. the other pediatricians. One is this book, and two is that she didn't worry that Carolina didn't put on a whole pound between last month and this month. I was tired of the doctor quibbling over 2-3oz, and that she is in the bottom 10%. So was I. What'd he expect, that she be a bruiser? Never going to happen. She's pretty much one pound and one inch every month. She's smaller than the other babies in the neighborhood that are around her age but she's tracking consistently. And she's healthy. So I'm very grateful (and a bit proud, strangely).

So just now, it took me 20 minutes of shushing, rubbing her back, and finally finding the pacifier. (where the hell was it? in the kitchen. argh! I steamed it and forgot to bring it with me!) The pacifier was the missing link since 10 minutes of hard sucking on her thumb didn't cut it. But she fell asleep again. Phew... Not sure for how long, but if I can break this habit of getting up after only 45 minutes -- I think my little one will sleep longer during the night.

That's the theory.

I also like the book because it's helping me set more realistic expectation and ask myself questions that I hadn't really thought to ask of myself, instead of questions I ask myself about Carolina.

Also, finding out from Julia that Isaiah still isn't a completely through the night sleeper and he's over a year old made me realize that every book I read about "what most babies at age X are like" just isn't going to apply to my kid. Ok. I just needed to know that and accept it. It was presented like if you're kid isn't doing this, you should get him/her towards it. Since it's normal.

I got your normal right here, bub. [shaking my jersey girl fist in the air]

I can't wait until she's 6 months and we can take her swimming at the YMCA. There's one here in Long Island City and one in Hoboken. So if we move to Jersey, we can take her there. I hear from Jee that baby swim classes result in long naps since the babies are tuckered out. Awesome!!!

If we move to Bay Ridge, there isn't a YMCA pool nearby. Just in Bed Stuy I think.

Anyway, this Saturday we're going to take Carolina on the subway to Chambers St in Manhattan to visit a friend and see a small pottery show. And then pick out a Maclaren stroller and go home. All on the subway. This will keep her out past her nap time but I'm desperately hoping she will nap in the stroller.

She was great when I took her to Rockefeller Center yesterday to the Gap to return some things. It was a two hour jaunt. One hour there (damn 7 train wasn't stopping at our stop again) on the bus and then N train. Then quick to see Ismael in the store, and head home. At least the 7 train was stopping at our stop on the way in to Queens. Made it a faster trip home. She then went like butter down for a nap. She only fussed a little on the streets around Rock Center. I think it was just the amount of people she was seeing or something since she was in the Baby Bjorn facing outward. Otherwise, she was quietly observing people on the train and in the store and seemed relaxed.

If I had known all of this before I got pregnant, I probably would have delayed it much longer. But I kept myself ignorant. I'm glad I did.

This is hard work. Mostly because it is challenging a lot of what I have thought about myself and my abilities. I've never been very good with patience or self-confidence. I'm learning. Oh yes...

5 mo checkup

13lbs 6oz, 24", no shots needed. 25% of height and skull size, 10% for weight.

Apparently she's growing well and I'm doing a good job feeding her. That I'm very sleep deprived isn't uncommon. I have a low threshold for "lack of sleep pain". She's finally napping for more than an hour now after being awake for four hours.

Crazy!! traffic into manhattan. Was 45 minutes late for pediatrician. First visit with new dr. She's very nice. I'm too out of sorts to judge either way. So much rain.

She has good motor skills and strength for her age. And she loves her rice cereal.

Onward and upward to get yet another book about babies and sleep. We are also going to bring back the bottle once a night. (Hooray for Ismael!) I'm not sure if I will breastfeed much past six months. Not sure how you decide either way. She's recently started to push away with one arm while sucking hard at the boob. Seems counterproductive but maybe it's normal. Who knows...

oh yes, the day after immunization shots and my ideal apartment

Last night she slept pretty much like she normally does. Napping yesterday was all day on me, but by nightfall she was feeling more secure and dozed off around 6.30pm. She was up a few more times than usual, but nothing extraordinary. I got at least one session of 3.5 hours, so I can't complain.

When she got up this morning at 6.20am we woke up daddy (sorry, daddy!), did her swim lesson in the bathtub, and dressed. Then cleaned her new ear piercings and removed the one that was off center. I debated this in my mind all day yesterday, all night, and this morning. Looking at it this morning I realized it is just TOO close to the part of her ear where she hears from and not enough on the lobe. It'll always be off and if I was her, I'd be annoyed.

I'm annoyed with my piercings since one was done badly. Had I known it would close up, even when I was 14 and had them first pierced, I would have let it close and did it again.

So we're going to let the one heal and close and keep the other pierced. When we go to Mexico in December we'll take her to a baby medical center kind of place where all they do is treat babies and they pierce all the baby girls' ears. They will do it correctly and (god willing/ojala) without all the unnecessary trauma like we had yesterday.

I will be the most angry I have ever been if they mess up her ear for a second time. So hopefully for everyone's sake, it goes well and peacefully :)

She still is warm but no high temperature/fever. She has noticed that the baby Tylenol taste shows up when we go to the doctor's. I'm guessing that's why she looks at me a little panicked and strangely when I put it in her mouth again this morning. The other months she didn't mind the taste, it is last month and this one when she started to make the connection. I'm guessing. I don't know how aware she is/can be, but she seems pretty whip-smart so I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Right now she's napping. I think it's time for me to nap, too.

I've started to think about burgers again. I should get back on that 'horse' and start up my burger trials.

In the meantime, I'll pose this to you all... we are going to wait to see how much our landlord raises our rent for next year's lease. If he won't lower it to $1700 or leave it at $1800 and do some repairs that we've been wanting, we're very likely going to move. Below are our criteria. Anyone know of a place that fits? (No sarcastic comments, please. I know I'm asking for the nearly impossible.)

The first 5 are requirements, the others are nice to haves...

1. Two-bedrooms. One of the bedrooms must be at least 8' x 10'. The other bedroom similar but larger. Not a half room suitable only for a little office. We'll need to fit two kids in there one day.
2. Has a washer and dryer in the building. In the apartment is fine, too.
   
3. $1600 a month or less. $1700 max if it's totally awesome.
4. 45-minute commute or less for Ismael to Rockefeller Plaza area, and doesn't require buying Express Bus passes. (Those are an extra $100 a month!) Although $1500 + express bus is, you know, ok.
   
5. 45-minute or less car ride from my parents' place in Fort Lee, NJ. They come to visit often enough that moving to the a**-end of Brooklyn or Queens where it's a hour plus ride, would just be obnoxious.
6. Downtown Manhattan, Brooklyn, maybe western part of Queens or Hoboken. We don't have a car and don't want to buy one. These are the places where you can get around fairly easily and do weekly food and baby stuff shopping without having a car. Hoboken may require the occasional ZipCar rental -- which is fine since then we'd stop paying NYC taxes and get to save 4%+ of our annual income.
   
7. Has a park within a 10-15 minute walk
   
8. Is not within 10 blocks of a major highway.
9. Within 25 minute walk to a friend's apartment. Preferably a friend who likes Carolina and wouldn't mind her coming over to visit and possibly nap on their bed if necessary :)
   
10. Does not have a "roach problem"
11. Does not have "plumbing issues"
12. Has a decent landlord and super
13. Does not have neighbors who think playing music at Volume 11 is okay.
14. Does not have mold actively growing on the bathroom walls
15. Does not have creaky, wooden floors that wake up the baby after I JUST got her to sleep (again)
16. Is within 10 minute walk of a decent grocery store, butcher shop, cheese shop, fish shop, and some Italian, Polish, Greek, Latino, Middle Eastern, Japanese, Chinese, Thai and Korean food. Oh and some good Jewish-run bagel and knish store could be handy, too!
    

4 month check up and ear piercing

We're about to go to the pediatrician... get her 4 month checkup, immunizations (4 shots like at the 2 month visit) and her ears pierced.

I'm having a minor anxiety attack about subjecting her to all this pain.

Let's see how it goes...


3 hrs later:
holy effing sh*^ that was awful. Never go to a pediatrician who isn't totally awesome about ear piercing. She was hysterical. Hysterical for almost an hour. It wasn't the actual piercing but the holding her down to do it. And he wasn't as comfortable doing it as he had made it sound. Never again. Only with a baby ear piercing specialist. And one ear is totally off. So I'm taking that one out tomorrow to heal and she can have it repierced in December while in Mexico. We should have done that from the beginning. Waited for Mexico where they do it to newborns all the time. That was traumatic. Now my poor kid is upset all day and will only nap on me. I'm so annoyed. If I didn't know her ear will close up quickly or that an ear piercing specialist said to take out the "wrong one" I would leave it in to avoid more trauma.

She was so thoroughly terrified. I had to hold down her arms and my dad her legs and the doctor her head. Utterly too much. Never again.

Vacation went surprisingly well, being home however...

One day and night at grandpa's apartment followed by three days and two nights at the beach went surprisingly well. Gratefully the hotel room had very dark curtains so Carolina was able to sleep well. And we were mostly able to keep her nap and sleep schedule. She basically slept all day on Monday at home as she recovered from being tired from the weekend.

I just hope she forgives me for her first experience with ocean water. Which was freezing. And I asked her dad to put her feet in. And she sooner than immediately screamed. Screamed!! And didn't stop for about 10 minutes. See the photo (on the left) I took thinking she'd be smiling. Stupid mommy, really. And then later that day when she's tired but not having a fit. Notice the pink sweatshirt. It's from 1976. It was mommy's. Aunt Diana found it in our old closet and Grandma Carmela brought it to the beach. Hooray! That plus socks made Carolina's cold feet much happier!

The car ride there and back was okay. She wasn't a fan of the car seat, 'natch. She fussed and we made a few, brief stops along the way to stretch, change diaper, feed and walk around outside. But 3+ hours in the car is definitely her max. The whole trip was about 4+ hours with all the stops. and the traffic we hit on the way home took am extra hour that I would have gladly paid to avoid. Let's just say we ran out of milk in a bottle and when going over the GWB, she woke up with 10-20 mins left until Queens without traffic, more traffic on the FDR and I bought us about 10 mins of not crying by giving her a bottle of cold water. This distracted her but she was still crying when we pulled up and I rushed inside to feed her.


All in all it made me VERY hopeful for our two week trip to Mexico at Christmas.

Yesterday, however, was a different matter. She hardly napped. Nursed for a few minutes every hour but it felt like constantly. I was exhausted by 3pm. I had to keep walking outside around 2pm so she would (finally) sleep a little. She slept for only 30 mins but that's better than nothing. I ended up walking for 90 minutes outside. Mostly up and down our block wher the light breeze hit her head just as she likes it. I even had to ask Ismael to come home early since I was worn out by her. She was very clingy too. Maybe just one of her 'crazy' days.

Her poop has been greenish and on the sticky side for nearly a week. I'd be more worried except mine is too. I think it's the lack of fruit and veg while on vacation. Or maybe I'm a bit sick. I ate granola last week. Found a new one without nuts. Very yummy. But sometimes oats tear up my stomach. So that could be a contributing factor.

I'd call her pediatricians office but the doctor that does the callbacks usually is glib and gives me no information I couldn't get online or figure out myself. She really irritates me. Next month we start with a new doctor who is in network. I hope it works out since paying $200-500 per visit is murder on the wallet. Especially since insurance reimburses what amounts to around 30%. So many pediatricians in the city don't take insuranace. Not sure if the Obama plan would make a difference but having a baby is bloody expensive.

I hope today is a better nap day for my shorty.

More words, less sleep

So it's official. We've got ourselves a chatty baby. She's been making word sounds since about 2 weeks old but the past two weeks she's really "talking" a lot. It's cute as hell. It also seems to come with the trade off of not being interested in sleeping. In the morning and early hours of the morning are her chattiest.

It also seems to follow that there is an almost constant stream of word sounds just before, and during, a poop as well as when she has some reflux that is about to start. It's almost as if her most talkative corresponds with discomfort.

I hope I'm wrong.

This morning at about 4.30am, just after eating, she decided that unlike her usual routine of going back to sleep, she would talk to us. From the crib. In our room. For about 15 minutes. I just ignored her. And by ignore I mean listened to everything, trying nit to laugh and resisting the urge to pick her up. She eventually fell asleep. Then at a little after 6am, she decided to regale us with some tale of swashbuckling pirates and fair maidens. This is what I made up in head since I was hoping she would just go back to sleep.

Nope!

Her dad picked her up and brought her to the living room. I fell asleep for another 2 hours. I didn't even realize it until I woke up! I was enormously grateful. I was also worried she had been up for nearly 3 hours without eating or sleeping. But she hadn't cried so I knew that couldn't be true. she had napped in the living room and he made her a bottle. Hooray!

Needless to say, we are full speed ahead starting to transition her to her own room. We really think that being in our room is keeping her from sleeping more and more often. I realize that now she's gaining awareness of who I am and she likes to be social. So that discourages her from wanting to sleep, too. But her first sleep of he night is usually 3-4 hours. Then once we go to sleep, she's up every 1.5-2 hours.

She's also decided that the brief foray of sleeping longer while on her stomach is over. She only did it three times. It was great. But if I put her on her belly now, to sleep or to see if she pushes up or does any early-stage crawling, she gets really frustrated and cries.

So I very much feel like we are losing some of the progress she had made.

We are also looking for a new pediatrician. One that is in network and one that has a doctor on call on the weekends who isn't a massive butthead. Our pedi I like. But the main, female doctor in the practice gives me answers that make me feel violent towards her. So I'm calling her a butthead in lieu of the nastier name I usually use for her.

And we are still debating a move, and to where.

We had a nice walk this morning and she got hungry while several blocks from home. So I did my first bare breastfeed in public. The street wasn't that busy and she was in the baby Ergo, so no one walking by or in the houses really saw anything. But we made it work. Go team!

Ok time for a nap...