Weaning

Natali is a year old now.  It's amazing how fast time goes.  We had her 1 year check up and shots on her birthday.  There were lots of shots, which sucked, but she was a trooper and got over it all really quickly.  Natali is now 21.2 pounds and 29.5 inches long.  Her head circumference is 18.5 inches, which from the calculator I found is the 90th percentile.  I don't know if that is a good thing or bad thing or if it doesn't matter?  Maybe her big head is the reason she won't walk, too much brain to hold up on 2 feet. :-)

While at the doctor's appointment we received a large packet about weaning.  This is going to be a big challenge for us.  We have had such a good routine going with the formula and baby food.  We knew exactly when and how much to feed her and she always had a really good variety of foods.  Now she is supposed to eat "table food".  We have been giving her finger foods for a while now, but if we have to switch all her food to table food from pureed food it is going to be a big challenge to find a good enough variety for her.  The other thing is the formula.  We are supposed to switch her now to whole milk from formula and feed her from a sippy cup instead of a bottle.  I have been working on this for 2 days now.  I am still giving her a bottle first thing in the morning and before bed at night.  Then throughout the day she gets whole milk from a sippy cup.  Of course, she hasn't quite mastered the sippy cup yet so that has been yet another challenge.  The milk thing has been going ok though.  I think that will be the easiest part.  The table food is much harder for me.  I am still giving her some pureed food, because we have it, and it can be easier to get her to eat spoon food.  I have been trying to find a good variety of small vegetables to give her too.  She will eat veggies just fine (corn, peas, etc), but I have to give them to her first before I show her what else I have.  If there is anything else on her tray with the veggies she won't eat them.  She loves hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, and just plain bread.  She likes chicken too.  I think tonight I'm going to try a turkey burger patty cut into little pieces with peas and carrots (served first of course).  I am trying, but this is definitely not going to be easy for me.

In other news, Natali has figured out a few things she is absolutely not supposed to do (such as pull on the window blinds).  However, she will crawl in that direction, stop, give me a big grin, and then immediately pull herself up and mess with the blinds while smiling and laughing at me.  I hope it doesn't get much worse or I will be one frustrated mom.

One year old

Today Natali is one year old. It's been an amazing year watching her grow.

As I did one year ago today, I published a video on youtube chronicling the last year of having Natali in our lives.

It hasn't been easy. Flying a plane through bad weather onto a wet runway during a thunderstorm is easier than raising a kid. That being said I am very happy Natali is in my life.

Of note, this video is not viewable on "mobile devices (Iphone, Ipad etc) as I have songs in the video in which the owners blocked being played on a mobile device. Silly I know.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8eaNP7YMjM

Peanut Allergy Test.....done

Natali will be one year old tomorrow.

I thought about having a big party....but we aren't big party people....and it's her first birthday which she will never remember. We will have our own little party (there will be cake and hats!). Maybe something bigger next year.

Natali completed her 24th flight last week. We have traveling with a baby down to a science. Check all bags. We each have a backpack, Natali is in her feather weight car seat attached to rollers. Done.

We spent the last week in New York with family. My two year old niece and Natali played a little. The two year old is named Renee. She walks....Natali doesn't. Renee would take toys away from Natali and walk away. Natali didn't care much....just gave a WTF?!!? look.

While in New York Natali was tested for a peanut allergy. We were in a hotel room and Natali had a few regular M&Ms (cut in half). I grabbed some peanut butter M&Ms from my brother in law and thought "Natali would love these!". So I gave her a few when Kelli walked in and was in shock I was giving Natali peanut butter. Ooops.

My sister in law is a Pediatric Nurse. She was in the other room which was connected. We yelled over that Natali had peanut butter. She yelled back that as long as she is still breathing she is fine. Phew.

The day before we left Natali finally stood on her own. Her record was about 35 seconds before she sat down. Since we have been home she hasn't tried once. Bleh.

She had the fever

So I thought Natali was teething. Maybe.

She was fussy all day taking hour long naps. Going from happy to fussy in a flash.

I took her temprature around 1PM..it was 103.1. I tried giving her tylenol. She fought anything coming near her mouth. She was wearing only a diaper.

When Kelli got home we teamed up and got the Tylenol down. Fever dropped to 100.3.

Within an hour it was back up to 102.5.

My sister in law Jami is a Pediatric Nurse. Kelli calls on her often. Jami advised that Motrin does the same thing as Tylenol, but is a different drug and thus can be given during the time frame that Tylenol can't.

Kelli went out to buy Motrin.

We had a cold rag on Natali's head for most of the evening. She went to bed with a 100.1 temparture.

This morning I found a happy and cool baby in her crib. Thankfully it was Natali and not some other baby.

She did spit up some of her first bottle, but she was happy otherwise.

Her fever was gone. She was at 98.1.

Her overnight diaper wasn't as full as normal. In fact she didn't have a good pee until later in the morning...almost afternoon. She then 1'd and 2'd like normal.

She was her normal self....almost. She didn't care for solid food much. Natali would eat finger foods (Cheerios and such) but not much from a spoon. She's taking in fluids so I'm not too worried.

Glad to have my baby back.

She's lucky I love her

Natali is less than a month away from being one year old.

Kelli and I have been spoiled by Natali. Natali is very easy to take care of. Very little crying, hangs out in her crib until we get her, manually defragments our computers, and hold her own bottle.

When Natali has a bad day though it throws us off.

This week I'm off a bit more than normal. I arrived home Friday night and don't go back to work until Thursday.

This morning Natali woke up crying. Very abnormal. She was very warm and upset.

I assumed she was warm because the fan was off in her room and the house was at 78 degrees. I took off her onesie and brought her to our room.

She got her bottle and immediately went back to sleep next to me. I was happy as I enjoy my mid morning naps with her.

At 8AM she woke up screaming. I picked her up to console her. Didn't help.

Over the last few days shes been poking at her upper mouth area. Yup...more teeth are coming in.

I walked around with her and she calmed down. Another bottle. Once the bottle was done I tried to give her some solid food (apples and oatmeal). She didn't want anything coming near her mouth.

Back to bed.

She woke up around 10 AM (an hour later). Not crying. Just sitting in her bed. I watched her for a few minutes and then picked her up. Once I came in the room she started crying. I calmed her down and brought her to the living room.

She laid in my lap for about 20 minutes relaxing. She was still in just a diaper, and warm.

I gave her a bottle and tried again with solid food. Nope. She did take a Gerber snack cookie tough.

Upset again...randomly. Bath time.

Natali loves her bath time. She was happy....till bath time was over. Crying again.

New diaper and back to bed.

She slept from 11AM till 1:30PM. Another bottle. A little string cheese and 1/3 of my yogurt (Greek style...good stuff!). Back to bed at 1:55PM.

As I type this at 2:10PM...she's again sitting up in bed. I'll give her a few minutes.

She's lucky I love her....as she reinforces my decision that there will only be one.

 

 

Can you believe it's almost been a year?

One month from today Natali turns 1 year old. This time last year Kelli was blogging about being 34 weeks pregnant .

It's all gone by extremely fast. I swear each time I turn around Natali is changing.

This morning she woke up around 6:20AM and I gave her the morning bottle. She is now holding her own bottles as long as she can lay in our laps. I just watched in amazement as just a few months ago she was this tiny body who could barely hold her head up.

I'm pretty sure she is associating the word/sound "Daddy" with me. I said it to her thousands of times over the last few months. Yesterday she said it while I was on speakerphone with Kelli. Today I tried to put her to bed around 3PM. She played in her crib for 20-30 minutes. I watched and listened to her via the monitor and camera. I heard the pacifier fall to the ground. She played a little longer before crying. The crying turned into the "daddy, daddy, daddy" sounds soon after. I came into the room and she was still making the sound.

Natali loves to read books. Well okay she loves to be read to. If either one of us picks up a book Natali will come crawling over. Once in our lap she will sit quietly as we read to her. Her Grandma read to her for 15 minutes straight last week. Natali just sat and watched the pages and listened to the words.

She appears to be quite the smarty pants as well.

We blocked off the back part of the living room behind the couch where the dogs are. Today one of the baby gates was open that leads to the hallway and kitchen. Natali crawled over the baby gate (she's mastered the task), down the hall, into the kitchen, thru the kitchen and to the other baby gate which was open (because it was blocked off by a baby fence behind the couch). She went thru the gate and up to the next gate which the dogs were behind.

She loves to scamper away, stop and look back at us with a smile.

I'm thinking we might celebrate her birthday a little early as a large part of her family will be in New York in early August.

I'm still 100% sure I don't want another child. Natali is enough. It was hard enough having her. It was a lot of work that produced a smart, beautiful and funny child.

At least she likes her bed

Natali is a pretty easy baby (easiest baby we've ever had......). The older she gets the less she cries.

She does have one odd ritual all her own.....taking forever to fall asleep.

Each night we put her to bed around 8PM. She will cry for 10-15 seconds and then give up. For the next 20-45 minutes she plays in her bed by herself.

Natali will hold onto the rails and jump up and down. She will play with her bear. She will roll around and kick. All quietly.

I used to think she just wasn't tired and get her out of bed. She would then get grumpy and throw a fit....because she was tired.

I guess this is her ritual. It's her thing. It works. It's funny to watch her on the camera though....her quiet play.