Five Months

Weight- 15 lbs
First of all, let me just say that Haddie Grace definitely looks like Chris; he now has a child he can claim as his own :)
Eat-  I just started giving Haddie Grace cereal a few days ago.  (So about a week after she turned 5 months.)  So far we ain't doing too hot with it.  She uses her tongue to push the spoon and cereal out of her mouth, so I'm pretty sure more of the cereal gets on her bib, in her hair, and on her hands than actually in her belly.  I'm sure this is normal and it happened with Phoebe too, I just don't remember.  I don't like messes and food and babies is a mess.   Anyhow, she's started to eat cereal.  I have some sweet potatoes and apples in the freezer that I made a couple weeks ago (we ended up with more than we could eat so I figured instead of throwing them away I could go ahead and make some baby food) so I'll probably try to give her some sweet potatoes soon.
Since we never had much success with Phoebe eating (she didn't eat baby food very well and then once she finally started eating purees, she would not eat regular food well...) and I grew to hate making pureed baby food, I am very interested in the baby-led-weaning approach to introducing solid foods.  We might give it a whirl.  We'll see.  Thanks Mums make lists for the idea!
For the first couple days I was feeding her in the Bumbo.  (I fed Phoebe in the bumbo for months before transitioning her to a travel booster seat tied down to a chair which she still uses!)  But Haddie Grace will not sit still in that thing.  I know bumbos are not supposed to be able to tip over, but she looks like she could do it.  It makes me nervous to leave her sitting in it on the table while I'm getting her food ready and cleaning her up.  So I found a high chair at a consignment sale the other and we are loving it!

Sleep-  Still not sleeping through the night.  Boo.
Play-  This child will be full-fledged crawling in a couple weeks I am sure.  She is up on her hands and knees, belly off the ground, and scooting forward and backwards (with a few face plants thrown in the mix).  As soon as she figures out how to coordinate her arm and leg movement she'll be across the room in no time.

She can't fully sit up without support yet, but almost.  She can sit up by herself for a few seconds, but not quite well enough for me to leave her sitting up yet.

She is loving this excersaucer that Courtney is letting us borrow!  Thank you!

Haddie Grace just got her first tooth on Monday!  She had been fussy and chewing on her hands excessively and cold chewies for the last 10 days, so I was wondering if she was starting to get a tooth and sure enough her front bottom right tooth just broke through the gum!

We are still using cloth diapers, and let me tell you two in cloth diapers is a handful.
Phoebe loves "holding" (sometimes dropping...) her little sister.

We had our first sick visit to the pediatrician (for either child) last Monday too.  I had actually called (again) about her diaper rash and they said to go ahead and bring her in since the prescription they had given me over the phone two weeks earlier was not helping.  When she woke up from her nap Monday afternoon she felt a little warm, but I didn't take her temp because I was trying to get everyone out the door to get to the doctor's appointment on-time.  Over the weekend she had had a low-grade temp, but I thought she was teething, so I didn't think anything of it.  (Since she just got a tooth I don't think my assessment was far off.)  I was planning on getting HG a couple more vaccinations while we were there, so I asked the nurse to take her temp.  She had 102.4 temp.  The doctor didn't care about her diaper rash.  After several days of high fevers, vomiting and diarrhea, multiple visits to the doctor, 4 blood draws, a catheter, and 2 shots of antibiotics, she was diagnosed with a kidney infection.  (Thankfully because of a diaper rash we caught it early...)

We are still on antibiotics now, but she is feeling much better.  We have to go up to the Children's Hospital in Charlotte next week to have a couple more tests done in regards to this kidney infection.  No Fun.  And oh, those antibiotics...not helping the diaper rash.

how cute are these shoes that a friend made for Haddie Grace?

friday fives

It has been a rough week...  I'm glad it is Friday
{one}  Haddie Grace has had the worst diaper rash for over a month now!  Phoebe never had problems with diaper rash so this is new for me.  When I first noticed the redness I took her out of the cloth diapers and put her in disposables with diaper cream, but it just kept getting worse.  I of course was making sure her bottom was completely dry before putting on cream and a new diaper.  I was changing her diaper VERY frequently.  (Which kills me by the way...I use cloth diapers for many reasons but one of them is the financial benefit.)  And trying to let her go diaper free for 20 minutes or so each day.  (This one only actually happened a few times because she doesn't stay still and pees ALL the time so it was more mess than I could handle)  After this had been going on for about 2 1/2 weeks and was now at the point where her poor bottom was blistering and bleeding, I called the doctor and they gave me a prescription for Greer's Goo.
Well lo and behold my insurance doesn't cover it because it is a "compound drug" (i.e it has more than one ingredient mixed together)  I was not about to pay $63 for diaper rash cream, so after some negotiations with the pharmacy and doctor's office I discovered that Greer's Goo is a compound mixture of Desitin (over-the-counter), Hydrocortizone Cream (over-the counter) and Nystatin (prescription).  I convinced the doctor to just give me a prescription for the Nystatin and I could mix my own and save myself $45.  Done.  So this is what I've been up to recently.  Also, if you're dealing with persistent diaper rash and you're interested this is a recipe for homemade Greer's Goo using all over-the -counter ingredients. 

{two} So on Monday when said diaper rash was still not improving with the Greer's Goo I called the doctor back and they had me come in for an appointment.  I was planning on going ahead and getting her a couple more vaccines (remember I like to space them out) while we were there.  I got her up from her nap Monday afternoon and thought she felt a little warm, but was rushing around trying to get the girls in the car to get to the doctor's appointment (for her diaper rash) and didn't take her temperature.  When we got to the doctor she had a 102.4 temp- so much for getting those vaccines.  Instead over the next several days we dealt with high fevers, vomiting, poor appetite, dehydration and of course the normal fussiness, sleeplessness, and lethargy that goes along with being sick.  After 3 trips to the doctor, 4 blood draws, one catheter, and two shots she was diagnosed with a kidney infection.  Glad she had a blistered and bleeding bottom so we caught it early.  Otherwise we probably would have been panicking Monday night with a baby with a high fever and vomiting.

{three} Oh and did I mention that this is the first week back at school at Winthrop.  These next couple weeks are always Chris' busiest times when he is working a lot.  We hosted 30+ students over for lunch last Sunday afternoon.  This weekend we're having an outdoor moving screening for students in our backyard and hosting a freshmen dinner.

{four} After all this with a sick baby and a busy husband here is the White Russian I made myself to relax.

{five} Phoebe started at PMO (Parent's Morning Out) this week at our church.  She (and Haddie Grace when she feels better) will be going on Tuesday and Thursday mornings this fall.  Yay for kid-free time to clean and go grocery shopping.  (Or take Haddie Grace to the doctor to get probed and prodded...)  I have a couple furniture painting projects I would like to do this fall too!
They sent her home with this sweet craft on Tuesday.  It reads:
Here's my little hand to hold when I am not with you I'm off to school to learn a bunch each day is fun and new My hand will grow a bit each day but I will always be Your loving child who is so glad you let my  hand go free

I'm so glad this week is over

Linking up with 5 on Friday and H54F

Baby-Proofing from a Toddler?

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Haddie Grace is much more active than Phoebe was at this age.  She is already getting up on her knees and scooting a little bit.  She will probably be crawling before too long and that is a scary thought.  At our four month check-up the pediatrician suggested I go ahead and start baby-proofing.  I didn't really think much of it, but this weekend I came across the outlet covers so I went ahead and plugged them in.
Outlets safe- check.
But how do you baby-proof from a toddler?  I was washing dishes the other day and walked into the family room to find Haddie Grace tangled in a slew of necklaces.  There were three or four more that were tangled down around her belly and legs.  And I did remove the one that was tight around her neck and part of the toy before taking the picture...

With Phoebe a new adventure begins every day.  She is so eager to help and share with her sister- the good, the bad, and the dangerous.  I have taken def taken cheese puffs out of Haddie Grace's mouth too.   I guess that is part of parenting two children now :)

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Four Months

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Yikes!  Time is flying!  One of the things I LOVE about now having two children is comparing them.  And not comparing them in a negative way, but it is really fun to watch how two children with the same genetic make-up (nature) and the same parents (nurture) can be so different.  It is very fun for me to go back and look at PFB's monthly updates (PFB Four Month Update) and see how different or similar Haddie Grace is.

From our Four Month Visit- weight- 14lbs 7.5 oz (50th percentile) length- 25.5 in (84th percentile)

Eat- Haddie Grace is eating about every 3 hours during the day.  She takes between 4 and 5 ounces.  She has actually started to get a bit finicky about taking her bottle.  Sometimes she will only take it if she is in a quiet dark place (a bit of a challenge with a toddler running around...) or if she is sitting in her car seat.  Weird, right?  But we're going with it.  Much of the time she seems to take the first 3 or 4 ounces fine and then will finish the rest of the bottle 20-40 minutes later.  (I keep working to get her to finish because you can bet I don't want to waste of drop of my precious breast milk.)  I have still been able to give her exclusive BM thanks to Anna's donor milk, but I will run out of that probably in the next week or so and then we will supplement with formula.  I realize this is a lofty goal, but I really would like to try to continue to pump for a full year this time so that I can continue to give her the breast milk through the winter and flu season, but we will see what happens. I am going to start her on solids around 5 months.  With Phoebe I could not wait to start making baby food for her- it was such a novel thing.  But since PFB only would eat baby food for the longest time I got very sick of making it and quite disillusioned with the whole process.  All that to say, I am not looking forward to the process this time around...

Sleep- Haddie Grace doesn't sleep at night as well as Phoebe did at this age.  Just after she turned three months she started waking up to eat in the middle of the night again.  And I would say she does this about 5 nights/week.  She will only sleep 8 or 9 hours without eating.  When do they start sleeping a solid 12 hours?!?  Please let that come soon :)  She also wakes up multiple times/night because she loses/wants her paci.  I've been waking up and going in to give it to her, but I really need to start letting her cry and figure it out because getting up so many times each night is killing me.  I typically don't swaddle her anymore at night, but will still occasionally swaddle her for a nap to help her settle down.  I do put her down to sleep on her back, but she always rolls over to her belly and wakes up on her belly. She takes a good 2 1/2-3 hour nap each afternoon and in the morning she just goes with the flow and sleeps whenever she can.  We are on the go most mornings so she doesn't really get a chance to take a solid morning nap.  The joys of a second child.

Play- Haddie Grace is SO active!  She has found her feet this past month and loves playing with them and sucking on her toes.  (How appealing does that sound?)  She reaches and grabs for everything and has started not only sucking her her hands and fingers a lot but also anything else she can get a hold of.  I feel like I need to watch her and PFB closer now because Phoebe loves to give her toys that may or may not be safe for a 4 month old to be putting in her mouth....

She has also started getting up on her knees.  Now that is a SCARY thing...  I don't think PFB ever got up on her knees.  (Really, we eventually had to have PT to teach her to crawl at 10 months...) She loves her bouncy swing and the exersaucers in the church nursery.  She could be entertained in one of those for hours!  Shame we don't have one.

Nursery Reveal

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I never really had the opportunity to have a nursery for Phoebe, so I have been so excited about decorating a nursery for Haddie Grace.  I found bedding that I loved on sale at Land of Nod, which by the way has a ton of super cute stuff if you're interested...

I love the purple and yellow color combination and all the different patterns in the quilt.

Chris and his dad painted her room the weekend we first moved in, and then over the next several weeks I worked on simple decor.   The chair rail was already in place, so we went with a dark purple and lavender on that wall and painted the rest of the room grey.

And then some friends of ours gave us this blanket for Haddie Grace a couple weeks ago.  It matches her room perfectly!  Thanks Courtney!!

What are some of your favorite nursery decor ideas?  Will you use the same bedding and decor for subsequent children?  For some reason I really wanted new bedding- totally not necessary, but it was a fun little splurge.

Linking up with Mom's Monday Mingle and Monday Mingling