Highchair!

She has one! (and a tongue that is constantly out lately)

and don't forget todays playmat Fail:

she had been cooing to herself and hitting the hanging rattle. Suddenly I notice that she's awfully quiet. Look over and she's just laying on the carpet completely still and quiet - just watching us. Note the sock that is saggy looking in the toe area. She lays on her back with her feet up and pulls her socks. Her feet are her new favorite toy.

Memorable Thanksgiving 2009

Where to start... mom was to bring a hot veggie dish to the IL's this year (and a relish tray). I told her no green bean casserole from can stuff. We made from scratch. Every bit of it - including the fried onion/shallot topping. I think it came out much better than canned crap, but it was about 2 hours work for 2 of us. Or I should say 3 of us - Buggy helped.

Nana showing Bug the onions she just diced:
Bug showing Nana how to boil water:

Bug was a tad fussy at the IL's being passed around at first. She got over it pretty quick. Here she is fussy with her Grandpa:

she's still cute, even when mad:

and here is where I noticed I had uber-low battery on my camera and put it away.

This Thanksgiving will be forever memorable due to the massive diaper blow-out Buggy had while nursing at the dinner table. Luckily dinner was over and everything was pretty much cleared off the table. Huge blow-out. All over her. All over my lap. On the chair. On the floor. Wow.

I had a change of clothes for her. Didn't have one for me. :(

Two Firsts

Miss Sydney's first visit with Santa and her first "playdate".

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving was a very busy day for the Buggy. Daddy was off work, and Nana drove down for a visit, so ALL of us went to see Santa at South Coast Plaza. SCP has the best Santa and that Santa has the best "house". So for her first year - Buggy gets the best!

We got there around 11:30am. Only 2 others in line! WooHoo! This is the way I hoped it would go. I didn't want to do this on a weekend or evening when it would be crazy. Buggy was soooooooo good. She sat quietly on Santa's lap, running her fingers in the fuzz on his suit. We commented on how great it was that she wasn't crying, and Santa joked "just wait til next year".

Here's her pic:

Waiting in line with daddy:

Close up of her little MaryJane shoe. I love these shoes:

Close ups of the Bug:

the backside of Santa's house has a miniture village set on a mountain that goes up really high. Here are Nana and Buggy posing in front of that:

After our complimentary Carousel ride on the merry-go-round that is outfitted with Reindeer and sleighs instead of horses, I had to run into BabyGap and Gymboree. Wasn't thrilled with anything at BG. But at Gymboree I got 4 pieces of the red/black/white panda line for about 70% off. Score! However, I had to wait in line FOREVER behind this group of women who were buying out the store apparently. You should have seen their haul! Luckily daddy wasn't too annoyed (shopping's not his thing). He waited outside the store on a bench and Bug fell asleep in her pram, and was ooh'ed and aah'ed at by passing shoppers.

Here she is still asleep - just before we loaded her back into the car to leave:

After a quick stop for some FroYo, I got home just in time for our playdate with Janelle and her daughter Claire. I met Janelle on our wedding planning chat board and actually went to her wedding in Oct 07. 18 months ago, she moved to Texas, but thanks to the wonders of Facebook, we keep in touch pretty regularly.

Claire was born on July 2nd. 12 days older than the Bug. Claire is a much bigger baby than Buggy at already pushing 19 lbs. (compared to Bug's pushing 15 lbs).

Here are the 2 rugrats side-by-side:

and playing nicely together on the playmat:

Brunch today!

Monthly Brunch today with the girls! Today was the first time Sydney didn't sleep through it and wanted out of her carseat to join in the fun. Baby Reese (Tenille's new little one) took over "precious sleepy little one" duties.

and here's little Buggy Boo being held by Nubia. That is Kim in the background there and it is the only pic I got with Kim in it. (Congrats on entering 3rd trimester this week with your twins, Kim!)

Sydney with Ananda:

Had to share this pic to show Buggy rockin' the merm shorts. Daddy said she looks like a boy the way she was dressed. But no boy would wear merm shorts with bows on the pockets. Plus, I had a bow on her head - but took it off early on since it leave an indention in her head. And pink shoes, but she kicked them off.

group shot: Diane, Buggy, Nubia, Tenille, and Ananda:

Untethered!

Oh My Goodness! My Buggy can eat without me! Yay! No more being the only one who can feed her! (she still wont take a bottle).

We tried the rice cereal mixed with about 3 ounces of breastmilk. She LOVED it. After the first spoonful - she'd open up real wide when seeing the spoon or looking down at the bowl! So cute! She ended up with only 1/2 ounce or so left over. Good job Bug!

It was really runny - like soup and got all over her face.

Now to buy that Fisher Price high chair we've been eyeing

Babies R Us today

bought rice cereal, and baby spoons. We'll see how it goes. (or if I even get to it tonight).

Also bought a cute summer dress - yellow with daisies for next summer for $6! Some jean for wearing this winter, 4-pack long sleeve onesies in a red/flowers theme, and I guess some other stuff since I spent almost $80.

Brunch with Buggy and the girls tomorrow - hopefully, I'll remember the camera!

Who is this kid, and what happened to my child?

Buggy is a hungry one. Crying every 2 hours to be fed during the day.

This morning I wake her up at 8am. Change diapy, play and talk to her a bit. Go downstairs and set up my area on the couch to nurse her (remotes, cell phone, today's crossword puzzle all in reach of my free hand). Come back up and she is calmly laying in her crib babbling to her stuffed things.

So I decide to take a risk and give her her reflux med now. It has to be 30 mins before feeding at least. I'm hoping she'll at least go another 20 mins before absolutely losing it. She's gotta be hungry - she hasn't eaten since 8:30pm yesterday.

It's now 30 mins after the med and she's still laying, babbling, sucking her fingers a bit - but still totally calm. Wow. Exactly 13 hours since her last feeding. Maybe she's just been a really long growth spurt for the last several weeks and is now coming out of it? Maybe?

4 month appt. update (a bit on the long side)

Tuesday the 17th was Buggy's 4 month "well baby" appointment and shots. I was pretty upset with myself for forgetting to grab the camera, so Dana let me use his Blackberry to take some pics to immortalize the visit.

Here is the Bug sitting nicely in the waiting room:

Some general info about the visit:

Length: 24 inches even (this puts her still in the same place she was 2 months ago: between the 25th and 50th percentiles - doc didn't get any more specific than that)

Head was 16 (cm?). whatever the measurement she's still rockin' the 50th-ish percentile here.

Weight is now 14 lbs, 11 oz. (well it says 10 oz on my paperwork, but it was really 10.8 ounces on the scale, so I am rounding up). This weight puts her in the 75th percentile. At her last visit 2 months ago, she was only at the 30th percentile. A huge increase. 45 percentiles worth. Our doc is happy with this and says she's growing just fine.

This made me happy because one of my concerns is if she's getting enough nutrition from me. Well, I should say "hanging onto" enough nutrition since she spits up SO MUCH. Seriously, she's been bad with the spitting up for over 2 months now. Sometimes it's thick and gooey, sometimes clear, or sometimes clear with milk curdles in it. But it's pretty constant. I talked to the doc about my concerns in this area, and she gave us a prescription for some reflux meds for the Buggy to take 2x's a day. Today was day #1 of reflux meds.... so far so good. Only 2 small instances of spit up. Nothing like the erupting volcano she usually is. Ahhhhhhh! Big sigh of relief.

The doc asked about Bug's sleeping habits. I mention that she doesn't nap, and until this past week she'd finally been sleeping through the night fine from about 10pm -7am. Doc said that's only 9 hours and she'd like to see her getting a total of 13-ish (including naps). I did mention that Bug dozes off for like 10-15 mins during a few feedings during the day. The doc mentioned that naps will probably come easier as she gets older. We did address the fact that starting about a week ago, Bug was waking at 4am for a couple days. Then it moved to 3:30am. All those times I could rock her back to sleep within 1/2 hour or so with no feeding. Now, the morning of our appt, she woke at 2am. I tried calming her, rocking her, singing to her for an hour. At 3am I finally gave in and nursed her. She was awake again after that at 6am for another feeding. Doc said it sounds like it's time to start her on solids (rice cereal). She said she's starting to need more to get through the night. She's probably waking hungry. She told us to feel free to start solids whenever we feel comfortable with it. I need to go buy food stuffs, baby spoons, and a high chair this weekend. We really had it in the back of our minds that we wouldn't be in need so soon.

After discussing all our concerns, the Doc examined Buggy. After seeing Buggy suck her fingers constantly while we were talking, she checked her gums for any sign that teeth are coming. She said she isn't seeing any yet, but that her lower gums are a bit swollen indicating that the teeth are probably starting to push up. So I guess that means they could come soon-ish? I wasn't too clear on that. After all her other checks, she once again declared her a perfect baby and says it looks like her eyes will most likely be staying that dark blue color.

After all that, the doc left (saying she doesn't like the babies associating her with the pain of the shots), and a nurse came in and administered all her vaccinations. Buggy was her best baby of the day with the oral one, just staring at the nurse and swallowing it down. Nurse said another baby screamed through that, and different one kept spitting it out. When it came to the actual shots, the nurse did them, Daddy held Buggy from squirming, Mommy was getting all in the way trying to take pics (LOL!), and Buggy screamed. She was very Mad!

Later, we head down to the pharmacy. Checked in letting them know we are there for the med the doc just put into the computer. They tell me it'll be a 15-20 min. wait. Fine. At around 10 mins, I notice the line to pick up the done meds is getting really really long. Our name was not yet on the "done" board. I decided to get in line and gamble that by the time I got the front, our name would be up. The line barely moved for about 10 mins, then suddenly it moved quite quickly and I was at the front - without our name showing on the board. All this time I had left Buggy with Daddy in the outer waiting room area and I could hear her just screaming the entire time (poor Bug. poor Daddy). So when a window opened, I went ahead and told the pharmacy lady that I had been told 15-20 and although my name wasn't on the board, it was now over 20 and the baby is screaming her head off, so could she just check to see how our prescription is doing. WooHoo Lucky me - it was Done! Yes! Gave them my $10 and got back to Buggy fast. Dana passed her to me and she immediately quieted. All the old folks in the waiting area laughed at Dana. Then it was off to dinner at the usual, Farmer Boys. Buggy finally fell asleep when we got there.

Here are some appt. pics.

Waiting for the Doc. Buggy loves looking at herself in the mirror. Her feet were kicking up a storm and completely thrashing the paper on the table.

"oh look, Mom's got yet another camera stuck in my face"

getting the oral vaccination:

not a happy camper:

Ack! Here comes a big needle:

There, there. Daddy consoles the Buggy:

Lady(Bug) in Red

Hee hee! Isn't this the cutest thing? This swaddle set arrived just before Halloween from Aunt Louise (Thanks Aunt Louise!! - a proper "thank you" note is on its way finally). This is just perfect, because it's nice a big and Buggy was pretty much outgrowing her old swaddles.

(this afternoon is Bug's 4 month appt with shots. I'll report back with stats later)

Happy 4 Month-day!

Dear Chunky Monkey Buggy,

Today you are 4 months old! Time sure does fly! I remember you 4 months ago, and you were such a small itty-bitty thing. Now you are quite the Chunky Monkey and you are SO strong. Everyone comments on how strong you are. You stand almost unassisted now - you just need us to balance you, but your legs do all the work.

Today we took the obligatory "month" picture. You were not thrilled with this and fussed pretty quickly. Mommy only got a couple pics snapped before you really got mad. But once we were done, and changed you into a new outfit, you calmed down pretty quickly. Later, you nursed with mommy in the bed and drifted off to sleep and had a nice little nap all snug and cozy against Mommy. Daddy peeked in and agreed that you are super cute and precious. Awwww.

On Tuesday we go for your next appt. of shots and to see how much you've grown in the last 2 months. We're guessing that you are somewhere around 13 pounds now. We'll see. The shots will probably make you mad, but Daddy and Mommy will both be there to comfort you and take care of you. We love you very much!


a mad Bug:

Panda outfit!

You discovered the Pandas on your feet and were very intrigued with them. Trying to grab them with your little hands:

And yet another "costume change". You have so many clothes that mommy can literally go a couple weeks before absolutely having to do laundry for you. Right now you are a nice size. You fit into such a wide range of clothes (thats why it seems like you have so many!) You still fit a few 0-3's. Your mostly wearing 3-6 months size and the occassional 6 month size outfit (such as the pandas) that are nice a roomy and you'll be wearing for a while.

A year in review

So. One year ago (11/10/08) was when I received the shock of my life. You wouldn't think it would be such a shock after 20 months of trying and 13 official months since starting treatment with the RE, but it was. I just remember shaking. And continuing to shake all day. Buggy was on the way!

Dana and I told both our sets of parents on Thanksgiving when I was 6 weeks along. Here is the reaction when I said "I'm Pregnant" and clicked the picture. I am really kicking myself that I didn't set my camera secretly on Video mode. My mom's disbelief shows on her face in the pic, but I would love to hear that "Really? Really?" again.

Group shot of Dana and I with our parents after the big news was out of the bag. I already look pg in this pic with the way my shirt is laying. Ugh.

16 weeks, 3 days pregnant:

18 weeks, 1 day ultrasound (you can see the "anterior" placenta really good in this shot. It's the blob above the head and knee of Buggy. It's what caused me not to feel kicks until 24 weeks - anterior means it was in the front creating an extra layer of cushioning):

20 weeks, 3 days pregnant (still wearing my regular clothes, including jeans that still buttoned):

23 weeks, 3 days pregnant: (notice all my pics have that pesky "3 days" attached. This is because I took all pics on Fridays and my pregnancy dated from a Tuesday)

31 weeks, 3 days pregnant:

38 weeks, 3 days. 4 days before Buggy arrived in this world, and my last pregnancy shot. You can't see the awful PUPPS rash, but it's there on my calves, ankles, outer thighs, and arms. It was excruciating, I was constantly slatered in Caladryl lotion:

FIRST pic of Buggy! Dana took this picture with his camera phone just minutes after she was taken out of me while I was getting fixed up/stitched up or whatever. I was too drugged to really know what was really going on during that hour and a half. Buggy was not a crier upon birth. For the first couple days in the hospital, she just looked around her with the most inquisitive face. She now makes up for that lack of crying every evening.

Quick summary of the first 3 months:

She is coming due for her 4 month pic this coming Saturday. I would love to take it on the beach. I've been trying to get there for the past week and a half or so, but I'm doubting we'll make the trip.