9 Months

  Oh my, I am so behind. I am surprised, I thought it would be 10 months before I got to this 9 month post. I can't believe my beautiful little baby (can I still call her that?) is now 9 months old. We had her 9 month appointment and we got away shot free! The nurse practitioner said she looks great. She weight a whooping 21.2lbs (90-95 percentile) and is 28 inches long (75-90 percentile). She is still able to wear some 12 month clothes, but since she has such a belly - she is mostly in 18 months clothes. Just for perspective, my friend's daughter is 18 months and weighs 23lbs! Paityn eats well, but it doesn't seem like she eats THAT much. I think she will lose a lot of it when she starts to crawl.

  Still no crawling around the Hime household, but Paityn can now get on her hands and knees and rock. She has some some army crawling if she really wants something (TV remote, computer, phone, etc). She is able to scoot herself forward when she is sitting up. Again, she does it more when she wants something, but she can get around. She also turns herself in a circle while sitting. It is so cute! Those two upper teeth from the last post are fully in now. As most people say, she looks like a vampire (seems fitting since I have such a love for Twilight :) ) It looks like her upper middle teeth have come down some and her bottom incisors are close, but no imminent teeth about to pop up. 

    Paityn has also master the art of picking up small pieces of food. Okay, lets be realistic, puffs and yogurt bites. She has gotten really good at chewing and she loves her puffs. She has also done pretty well with cheerios. I have been trying to introduce some finger foods for her to try, but she has no interest. We have tried cooked carrots and sweet potato, both of which she loves pureed, but it must be a texture thing. She has tried to get some food off my plate and has done well with bread. She liked ham too. I have some steamed green beans I am going to try next. I keep telling her she can't have pureed foods forever!

  Paityn has started to say "ma ma" and "mom." It is so cute. I know she doesn't know what it means, but it melts my heart to hear it! 

   We went outside today and it was AMAZING. Paityn, Zoe, and I took a long walk and enjoyed the sunshine. Tomorrow, my friend Maija, her girls, and Paityn and I, are going to go to the zoo. The weather is supposed to be beautiful so I am really looking forward to it! 

  We have taken the jogging stroller out once. I look forward to taking it out more, but the weather has been so crappy. It is hard, but was so fun to have her with me! She, of course, fell asleep! It is such a nice stroller!


                                 ......and she is done with the hair bow

                                                     Look at the difference!

8 Months

Okay, I know I am a little behind. The more active she gets, the harder it is to blog (and maybe the lazier I get...who knows). Little Miss Paityn turned 8 months on March 12th. It is just so incredible to watch her grow. She learns so many new things everyday! Paityn loves to roll around on the ground. In fact, that is her mode of transportation. She rolls EVERYWHERE. Paityn rolls, pushes up on her hands, spins herself in a circle and then continues to roll. I can tell she sometimes get really frustrated when she can't get to something, but she really hasn't shown much effort to crawl. It seems she has trouble getting her knees up and then her hands in front. I can tell she can get a little frustrated when she wants to get from sitting to laying and vice versa. She hasn't quite figured out how to get from down to up and up to down. The times she has, it has been more of a face plant on accident. She is getting there though.

  One of big milestones happened about 1.5-2 weeks ago. We stopped feeding Paityn at night (she finally seemed to be more awake wanting to play and than actually hungry) and since then she has started to sleep through the night. We were able to push back her bedtime about and hour and that seemed to help a lot. She is not consistent yet, but she sleeps through the night more nights than not. When she she doesn't sleep through the night it is usually because she has a stuffy nose and can't quite get herself back to sleep or she is just awake and would like to play. On those nights she is usually up for an average of an hour, but there is no feeding and just persistent reassurance and she goes back to sleep. I am not going to lie, it has been SO nice to have her sleeping through the night! I miss seeing her, but getting solid sleep is AMAZING. I still wake up often because my body is used to it, but it is getting better and pretty soon I hope to sleep as sound as she does. Her naps are still kind of all over the place, but she is happy when she is awake, so she must be getting plenty of sleep. She usually take a nap in the morning that is anywhere from 20 mins to about and hour and then a 1hr to 1hr 15 min nap in the afternoon.

  Another big milestone we just discovered this week. The little lady is getting some more teeth. Just two days ago I noticed that her upper lateral incisors were just about to erupt. Today I notice the left incisor had broken through the gum and it looks like the right lateral incisor will break through any day. She is going to have a little off smile missing those upper front teeth, but you can start to see the outline of them so it may not be too long. You can also see that the bottom lateral incisors are close to the surface, but it could be awhile before they come through the gum.



    Paityn has done pretty well with teething so far. She is a little fussy, which I can't blame her for and she chews on everything. She chews on her toys, fingers, etc. She always has to be chewing on something. Amazingly enough though there is not a ton of drool. A little tylenol goes a long way for her.

 I  have really enjoyed the nicer weather. I had been bugging Brian about wanted to get a jogging stroller off of Craigslist. I am hoping to run a 1/2 marathon at the end of August and would love to have her help me train (plus would give me more freedom - instead of having to wait for Brian to get home). Brian kept telling me I couldn't get one off craiglist because he was worried about the crazies. Well, last weekend I was working and when I came home I found a brand new jogging stroller waiting for me. It was not just any jogging stroller, but the granddaddy of jogging strollers - The b.o.b.! I have not actually jogged yet because it is a little cool, but we have taking several short walks and Paityn, I and Zoe love it!!!! I really look forward to bringing her to the park and beach soon too!

  It is so true what people say about the favorite toy of kids to be the simple ones. Paityn LOVES those linking beads in the above picture - super simple. She also LOVES strings (like on a sweatshirt) and zippers. There has been several times I have watched in her crib reach over, find where her bumper is tied, untie and play with the strings. I am super excited because for Easter the "Easter bunny" got her a doll that has buttons, strings, zippers, buckles, etc. Lately she has been enjoying all that the diaper box has to offer :)

  I

 

  I just can't get over what a joy she is. I know she is just wrapped around our little finger. She is just a sweet, happy baby. She is just the light of our lives and I thank God for her! She is such a miracle to us and life without her would just not be complete!

Poor Baby!




At the doctor - weighing in at 19lbs 12oz!


 It was bound to happen sometime. I am actually surprised she stayed healthy this long. I thought her first sickness would have been a cold or ear infection, but the poor baby got some sort of GI bug (tummy trouble). Last week, Paityn just decided that she didnt' want to eat any of her solid food. She was taking a bottle, but she flat out refused to eat any solids. In addition, she started to have some diarrhea. She was also kind of grabbing at her right ear. I was not sure if she had an ear infection, if it was just a phase, or if she was teething. I had to take her in to get her second flu shot so I thought I would just get her checked out.

   We went to the doctor on Wednesday 2/20. Partners in Pediatrics does such a great job. She wen to ready care which is just a walk in type of clinic. The doctor she saw was actually the doctor who saw her in the hospital - Dr. Cantor. I loved him, but he is at the Calhoon office and just happened to be at the Brooklyn Park office that day. He said he remembered us (I am sure he didn't, he see so many people/kids in a day - I would be amazed if he did) and said he couldn't believe Paityn had gotten so big. She was a trooper with the shot and her ears were clear. I thought we were in the clear, but the next several days it was a fight to get her to eat and she had severe diarrhea. She went about 6-8 times a day and every time it was a full outfit change. Her poor butt got so red and sore and you could just tell she didn't feel right. She still smiled and would laugh occasionally, but she just wasn't herself. One morning, when I was at work, she even vomited. Poor Brian had to call me at work because he was so worried about her. I did call once I got home and they said that kids can get GI troubles that last anywhere from 5-14 days. I was told to make sure she was just having wet diapers (they worry about dehydration) and eating her bottle.

  The last few days this little lady seems to be feeling better. Diarrhea is minimal, her butt is healed, and today she ate like a trooper! Today, it seemed like her appetite was back. She was actually interested in solid food and ate really well! I hope she is almost back to feeling 100%. It is so hard to see your child not feel good, and even worse not being able to have her communicate what is wrong. We gave her lots of love and snuggles and just wanted her to know we cared and were there for her!



Starting to feel better!



7 months

   This little doll is 7 months old! It is so hard to believe. Brian just said to me the other night "it really does go fast, doesn't it." For some reason 7 months sounds so old to me. Perhaps it is because she is no longer an infant, she is a growing baby who is rolling like crazy, eating baby food 3 times a day, and is overall becoming her own little person with her little personality shinning through more and more everyday! We have decided that she looks like Brian in most everything, however, she does have my face structure. For awhile there I was wondering if they got the eggs mixed up :) I am pretty sure her eyes are going to stay blue. Right now they are a dark blue with some brown hues mixed in. My mom says they are like my great grandmother's eyes. They do look a lot like Brian's eyes too, but his are a lighter blue.

  She has not tried to crawl or even army crawl for that matter, but she is still on the go. She rolls to get places. I often set her down in the middle of the floor and leave for a few minutes to go do something and I come back to find her clear on the other side. I have laid toys out all around her and I have watched her figure out how to roll and shift to get to the toy. She just loves to roll and jump in the jumperoo. She has learned how to turn herself in the exersaucer and jumperoo and can entertain herself for 45 minutes or better. I often put her in the exersaucer while I run and she just has a grand old time in there!

  She is eating 3 times a day now. For breakfast and dinner she has 2 heaping tablespoons of oatmeal and 1/2 a container of fruit. For lunch she has a container of vegetables. She drinks about 20-25oz a day of formula. She has liked most food we have introduced. Some of her favorites are sweet potatoes, green beans, and carrots. She has also tried apples, pears, peaches, squash, avocado - all which she seems to like. Peas were an epic fail, but that is the only thing she has actually gagged when given to her!

  On my birthday we took our first family adventure to Underwater World at the Mall of America. She LOVED it! We had so much fun watching her take everything in - looking at all the colors! We took her out of the stroller and held her - her head was on a swivel!

 

   We have had a small milestone with sleeping. No, she is not sleeping through the night, but she has broke the need for her swaddle. I swear I thought it would NEVER end. She now sleeps in a sleep sack with her arms out and she does wonderful. She has been doing VERY good at putting herself to sleep! She sleeps with her elephant and rolls all over in her sleep. She seems to like sleeping on her right side the best. Her naps are still all over the place. The other day she took 3 - 30 minute naps. Today she took a 1.75 hour morning nap and a half hour afternoon nap. Sometimes she just downright refuses to sleep. I sent the picture to Brian the other day when I was checking on her with the video monitor.

So glad the swaddle is gone!

  Paityn has also started to stand while holding onto items. She is not very steady, but she can stand independently while holding onto something sturdy for a few minutes. She is no where near walking - maybe by her first birthday. My mom said didn't walk until I was about 14 months!

 

   In addition to eating food, standing, and sleeping without the swaddle the little lady got her first teeth. She got both bottom middle teeth within a few days of each other. I didn't really notice any extra fussiness with the teething, but these are just the begining. We give her a mesh feeder with an ice cube in it which I think helps. She also likes to chew on her toys! She puts EVERYTHING in her mouth!



Look at those teeth!



   Here are some more 7 month pictures:

 

Now I lay me down to sleep

    Paityn is a good baby. I often get asked if she is really as happy as she looks in all of her pictures, and the answer is yes. She occasionally gets fussy, but overall she is just a happy girl! I really can't complain about her - there is just one small problem......my child isn't into sleeping. If anyone knows me they know I am the queen of sleep. I wish I could say sleep is overrated, but not only do I need lots of sleep, I enjoy it. I often get I often talk to people and when I tell them that my 6 month old does not sleep through the night their eyes get wide and they say "oh really?" I usually then get the comments of how their child has sleep through the night since 6-8 weeks or whatever. My mom said that by the time she went back to work (when we were 3 months) both my brother and I had just "figured it out." My sweet little daughter has just not wanted to "figure it out." Would it be really nice if she slept through the night?, yes it would be great, but to Brian and I it is not that big of a deal. What I always tell myself is it is only temporary and it won't last forever.

   Paityn has always been a very "weird" sleeper since day one. Our originally plan was to keep her in the pack and play by our bed for the first few months. However, we hit a road block the first night we did not anticipate. We set the pack and play up on our room and Zoe went crazy. She was scared of it. She whined and wouldn't leave it alone. We didn't feel comfortable with Paityn in it with Zoe acting like she was so we took it down and to her crib she went. She has slept in her crib since the first night we brought her home. I had also read a book called 'The Happiest Baby on the Block' which people swore by. This book emphasized the need for swaddling for calming and sleep. I religiously swaddled Paityn and to this day we still do (although she breaks out of it most of the time). She was a typical newborn and woke up every couple of hours.

  Naps were hard for us. When we would try to put her in the crib she would just open her eyes and start to cry, unable to be soothed. If she did sleep, it was 30 minutes max, which is just not long enough for a newborn, so we held her. We held Paityn for every nap. It was the only way I felt that she could actually get the sleep she needed. By 3-4 months, Paityn had transitioned to taking a morning and afternoon nap and we had transitioned to co-napping on the couch. By doing the co-napping, she would sleep for 1-2 hrs at a time.

  The nights gradually got better and she got down to waking usually once around 1-3am for a feeding. Most of the time she would go right back to sleep and other times she would just be awake for an hour plus. At 4.5months we added cereal at bedtime. The comments I got from the majority of the people were "once you add some cereal, my baby slept through the night." Well, not so with Paityn. I did not notice any difference with the addition of cereal.

     Just before 6 months, Paityn started waking up in the middle of the night and not crying, but just "talking" and wanting to play for anywhere from 1-2.5 hours. Sometimes we would just feed her and she would go to bed, other times she would remain awake. I have no problem letting her talk, but I still can't fall back asleep. Eventually she would get frustrated and either go to sleep herself or I would give her the pacifier and she would drift off. She is very capable of putting herself to sleep and we put her to bed awake, but she is just wide awake in the middle of the night. Some people have suggested putting her to bed later. That is a great idea, but come 7pm Paityn is just done. She is so crabby it is hard to calm her. She rubs her eyes, yawns and is just dead tired. I talked to the nurse practitioner about her sleeping habits and she told me to cut out the middle of the night feedings. We tried....it did not go well. I also have changed her naps. I decided that although I LOVE to co-nap, she did have to learn to sleep in her crib so we have been having her take her morning naps in the crib. Her morning naps went from 1-2 hrs to 30 minutes on the dot. She wakes happy and we co-sleep in the afternoon so she gets more sleep. They say having an overtired baby can cause them not to sleep well. We thought perhaps she was getting too much sleep, so one day she did take 3 - 30 minute crib naps. She sleep through he night that night and we thought we were onto something. We did the same thing and the next night she was up and awake by midnight for an hour and a half. We have tried a bedtime routine, swaddled, not swaddled, noise, etc.

  I know a lot of people say "you just have to let them cry it out." I am just not comfortable with that at this point. I am sure there will be a point in time when I will be okay with it (when she can understand to go to bed, etc), but not right now. I am more than happy to let her talk in her crib, but I just want her to feel rested. I am off from work for 9 days now. During this time I am going to try doing the 30 minute naps, continue the night feeding, and see how she does. I know I have to not worry about what people think and do what is best for us and Paityn. As long as she is happy,  at this point I am not so worried about her being awake in the middle of the night - for heaven sakes I work night shift, she is probably used to if from when I was pregnant with her. I am going to try my best to just follow her cues and hope she is getting enough sleep - based on how happy she is I think we are doing okay!

 

Half a year

I can't believe it, Paityn is half a year old - 6 whole months. It seems like just yesterday that she was born. Time really does fly! She has been a busy girl this past month! In the past month Paityn has slept through the night 3 times (we are working on that and that is an entirely different post!), learned to roll from her back to her tummy, and in the past week or so, learned to sit up on her own! It really didn't take her long to learn to sit up, she was a little unsteady for awhile, but then one day she did it. I do put a pillow down when I leave her just in case, but overall she does great! She still continues to roll over all the time. She is becoming more observant. She wants to see the world around her. She tries to reach for things she sees and sometimes get angry and/or frustrated when she can't get them. She LOVES to watch the animals play. The other day we took her over to Maija's house and she had so much fun watching her two little girls play! When she gets a little older and more on a schedule I hope to take her to Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) classes where she can see and play with other children her same age. I know it is not so much important now since she can't actually play with kids, but by the time she is a year I would like to have her going to some classes so she can get that socialization. 

  I took Paityn to the doctor on Monday for her well baby check up. We switched clinics to the partners in pediatrics in Brooklyn Park because it was closer to home. We did see a nurse practitioner who was really nice. Paityn is growing well. She is 27 inches long putting her at 75-90% of height. She was a whopping 17lb 12oz - making her 90% in the weight category! Everything checked out fine and she is a healthy girl. We did talk about sleep which I will make another post on someday. Currently, Paityn is getting up in the middle of the night (sometimes for up to 2 hours).....we feed her, but I think it is more to play. We talked about breaking the middle of the night feedings and adding some more solids to her diet. Before the appointment I was only feeding her oatmeal with some pears at night. The nurse practitioner recommended that she be up to at least two feedings a day.  For the last few days I have done oatmeal with or without fruit twice a day and one serving of sweet potatoes. They say to only introduce one new food every 3 days to make sure there is not a reaction. So far I am 1 for 1 - it was a score with the sweet potatoes. I have another day before I can try another food group. I was a little worried because she has started to take less from the bottle. Before she was taking about 6 ounces every 4 hours. Now she is taking 4-5 ounces every 4 hours. I have tried to give he more bottle, but she just gets mad and starts to cry. I talked to the nurse about this and she said that with the more solids the less and less of the bottle she will take. That makes sense, but I was just worried she wasn't getting the nutrition she needed with less bottle. I need to try and worry less! (Being a nurse I get these crazy ideas like she is going to stop eating and will need a feeding tube). As I have been told by many different people, she will eat when she is hungry! 

Six months and so beautiful!

Love this

   How come I start all these post out as "I have been meaning to blog for awhile.....?" We had to redo our computer and I had some trouble being able to upload photos, but it is fixed now so here we go.

     I have seen this ecard on people's facebook and I just love it. I have hesitated to repost it on my facebook because I know there are some people close to me who have adopted. Just because you have not physically carried a baby does not make you any less of a mother. In fact, I think it takes a VERY special mother to adopt a child. Adoption is not for everyone. People have asked me if I would adopt, and although I wish I could say yes, I know it is just not in my heart. So by no means and I saying that adopting a child makes you any less of a mother.

     I love this ecard for so many reasons. For one, it is true, Paityn is the only one that knows the sound of my heart from the inside. They listen to it for months and are comforted by it. I also love it because I believe no one can know the love a mother has for their child. I know Brian loves his baby girl, would do anything for her. But it is just something different for a mother. I am very protective of her. I don't want anyone else "trying" to be their mother - and maybe to a fault. Being pregnant, you have such a special connection with your child, you care for them and nurture them 9 months before anyone else does. I never want to lose that special bond! I feel so privileged to be Paityn's mom and I truly hope that someday she will know the depth of my love for her. It is a love that comes straight from your soul,  a love that you would do anything for her and want nothing but the best for her! She is such a special little girl and so loved!