Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Please help

The family at reproducing genius can use some help right now.  Their priceless little boy, who will turn 3 very soon, was just diagnosed with an extremely rare leukemia.  In addition to chemo, he needs a bone marrow transplant, and for that, a donor.  If you can spare a few dollars, donations can be made via paypal from a link on their blog.  If you want to show your support with a t-shirt, they can be purchased from the talented folks at chronicles of conception.  All the profits will go directly to Caemon's family.

Also, you can register as a potential bone marrow donor on be the match.

And finally, you can pray, wish, send healing thoughts, or simply hope that this little boy will be cured.  Every little bit helps.  We all know how precious a life is.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Six Months!

Wow.

Maggie continues to be an incredibly delightful baby.  She was under the weather over the weekend.  I diagnosed it as roseola and just kept her comfy, fed her whenever she wanted to eat (as briefly as she wanted), and let her nap the days away.  For the first time since she was itty bitty, she woke up crying twice so it was quite obvious that she wasn't feeling well.  Poor baby.  It came and went rather quickly, though, and she's already back to her smiley self.  I'm still waiting for her eating and sleeping habits to return to normal- she gets up around 2:30 am to nurse for 5-10 minutes, and she refuses to nurse for more than 5 minutes at any one time during the day.  I suspect the nighttime feeding is necessary since she's not eating much during the day, but I'm not sure how to "fix" the situation so we can go back to sleeping through the night.  I'm kind of hoping she's responding to the summer heat and will adjust once cooler weather sets in (please let that be soonish!).

The big accomplishment this month is SITTING.  She first sat, relatively unsupported, on Tuesday, 8/7.  We were on the floor at Charlotte's music class, with Maggie  wedged between my knees but holding herself up for 3-5 minutes at a stretch, repeatedly.  By the following Tuesday, she was able to sit with essentially no help at all for more than 10 minutes.  With a little experimentation, I found out that when she's tired, she collapses forward after a few minutes.  When she's playful and wants to get down and roll around on her own, she falls backwards or to the side/back.  She looks so proud of herself when she's sitting.  I have photos and will try to share them soon (I left the camera in her room and I am NOT risking waking her up to retrieve it).

Do I need to mention that rolling over is old hat by now?  She figured out that rolling is a form of locomotion, and covers every square inch of her crib before falling asleep.  She especially loves knocking over the monitor which we leave propped on a pillow outside one end of her crib.  She pokes at the glowing green light, and down it goes.

Maggie enjoys cereal on a daily basis now, and has tried carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, and winter squash.  She loves everything except the peas which made her shudder and gag, reminiscent of Charlotte's reaction to them.  She tries to grab everything to put it into her mouth- and I mean everything.  Two fingers on her right hand are almost always between her gums these days, even more so than just a few weeks ago.  I suspect we're in the very early stages of teething since she doesn't just suck on fingers.  She gnaws on them.  Aggressively.  I'm surprised she hasn't hurt herself.

Maggie still adores Charlotte and can't take her eyes off her big sister.  That, too, is likely contributing to her brief nursing sessions during the day.  I don't want to sit Charlotte in front of the TV every time I need to feed Maggie, so we're stuck all being in the same room at Maggie's mealtimes.  Charlotte is incapable of sitting still, or of being silent, so Maggie is perpetually distracted.  I don't fault either of the girls- that's just the way it is with a toddler and her adoring baby sister.

The pediatrician is on vacation so no 6-month appointment yet.  In fact, she'll be 7 months old when we finally see him again.  Fine with me- she is due for some shots and I'm in no hurry to get them.  I have no idea how much she weighs or how tall she is, but she has definitely grown.  We can no longer squeeze her into 6-month sleep-n-plays; she's just too long for them.  Separates in the 6-month size do still fit, so we're making it through the summer without having to supplement her wardrobe- hurray!  Size 3 diapers still fit, but where the tabs used to meet on her belly there's now a gap of about three-quarters of an inch.

Maggie has mastered the exersaucer- she stands fully upright in it (proudly, I must add), bounces, spins around, pokes at buttons that light up and make noise, and deftly maneuvers toys into her mouth. She loves dancing in the doorway jumper (when Charlotte lets her have a turn), and doesn't mind playing in the pack-n-play as long as someone is within sight of her.  When Charlotte is napping and Maggie and I get some one-on-one time, I let her sit in Charlotte's highchair and bang on the tray.  Apparently, that's a lot of fun.  She can't pick up a Cheerio yet, but that's good because she's not ready to eat them.  She does like gumming Num-Nums and teething biscuits into gooey oblivion and smearing the remains all over her face and hair.  She still enjoys her sippy cup very very much, filled only with water since I plan to wait until she's about a year old before introducing watered-down juice.

Maggie hasn't quite settled into a truly solid routine.  Some days, she naps 3 times.  Most days, twice.  She sleeps through the night (now that the roseola is gone... this post was completed on 8/21) most nights, going to bed around 7 and waking up at 5-ish for a quick meal and nap before really getting up for the day.  She only cries or fusses when she's very overtired, like after my parents babysit and my father refuses to put her in her crib because he wants to hold her all the time.  She lets out a little whimper whenever we walk into her room, but she doesn't object to going to bed so I'm not sure what the whimper is for.

When we're out and about, Maggie is content to sit in her car seat and watch everything happening around her.  She does get upset if everyone exits her line of sight, especially if Charlotte and I both disappear, but as long as she can see us she's happy to watch and entertain herself with whatever toys are in her lap.  She likes to play pat-a-cake and peek-a-boo, and thinks sneezes are hilarious.

All in all, things are fantastic.  We're busy and always falling behind on dishes and laundry, but Maggie is a happy baby, learning something new all the time, so I think we're doing OK.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Four years, two weeks

My blogiversary was 2 weeks ago.  I can't believe it's been over 4 years since I learned that our path to parenthood would be rocky.  Even more, I can't believe we are where we are now- parents to two incredible daughters who are better in every way than I could have imagined.  I've said it before, but it bears repeating- THANK YOU, dear IF community, for your camaraderie and support.  We would not have made it here without you.

notables

C, Charlotte, Maggie and I went out to dinner in a reasonably nice restaurant on Sunday evening.  We went a little early, 5:30, so Charlotte could eat at her usual time and so we'd be back only slightly later than her 7:30 bedtime.  I brought a jar of sweet potatoes for Maggie, along with her new sippy cup (which she LOVES), and nothing special for Charlotte, which was poor planning on my part.  The girls were absolute ANGELS!  I'm used to them being un-ornery, low-fuss kids, but even I was blown away by how wonderful they were for two straight hours in public where they had to "behave."

Charlotte sat sweetly in her high chair, with her napkin in her lap.  She reviewed the menu with me and picked her meal all by herself, then ordered it herself from the waiter (who was wonderfully patient in not rushing her, and in speaking to her like a real little person... Charlotte doesn't seem to know how to react when someone speaks to her in baby talk).  Maggie smiled after every spoonful of sweet potatoes while we were waiting for our food to arrive, and then played happily with her toes, a blanket, and the sippy cup while the rest of us ate dinner.  Twice, Charlotte told me she needed to go potty, so we did.  And her diaper stayed dry all evening as a result.  We're still not "pushing" potty training- we just encourage her to take a potty break every so often.  More and more, she's telling us when she needs to go.  Several other patrons even stopped by to comment on the girls.  We were apparently quite obviously all enjoying each others' company.

Then we went home and Charlotte had a meltdown because she was overtired and did not want to go to bed.  Many hugs and a few stories later, she was asleep before 9 and woke up as her usual happy and entertaining self on Monday morning. No harm done.

*****

Charlotte needed only 3 diapers all day today.  We just kept putting the dry ones back on after each potty break (all but one initiated by Charlotte today).  She apologized for waking up with a soiled diaper, and her first words to me this morning were, "I'd like to go potty now, please."  She finished what she'd started in her diaper and made history the rest of the day.

*****

Maggie sat up for more than 5 minutes straight today without falling over in any direction.  Completely unsupported, that is.  I couldn't focus on Charlotte's music class while Maggie performed this feat, so impressed was I.

****

Maggie drank about 4 ounces of water from her sippy cup entirely by herself today without dribbling half of it down her chin. Her shirt and face were dry when she finally dropped the cup.  I had simply handed it to her.  She got the spout into her mouth all by herself, tipped the cup, and drank.  Like a thirsty kid.  Like a pro.

****

Charlotte is now drinking from a "big girl cup" at home whenever her drinking can be done in the kitchen or dining room.  We bought a couple of "unbreakable" cups for this purpose, and she's used them periodically since she was about a year old.  But we're gradually dropping the straw cup habit at meal and snack times, saving the straws for in the car and on the couch.

****

We're only one week away from Maggie turning 6 months old.  Huh??