Luciana - 6 months

Happy 1/2 Birthday Luci!

Halfway to her first birthday - I can't believe it! This past month she has become noisier and even more active. Aunt Dani gave us her Jump-a-roo, and boy does she love it. Sometimes I am scared that she is going to catapult herself out of it. However, she has started a habit of whining when she can't see us while jumping. But as soon as we come back into her line of vision, she smiles and resumes jumping. She loves jumping in the the Jump-a-roo so much that she continues the bouncing movement even while she is out of it. Like when we hold her in church, she has to stand on our laps and bounce up and down. She is very entertaining for the other parishioners.

When we go out, we get compliments about how good she is. I am sure that when people see a couple enter a restaurant with a baby, they hope that the little family is not seated by them. But Luci is so good when it comes to eating and not fussing too much that we actually attract people as they walk passed us.

She is able to sit up without the aid of her arms now, but it really only lasts for a few seconds until she loses her balance and she either catches herself or she just falls over. I am amazed at how strong she is getting. Aunt Dani also gave us all sorts of fun toys which force Luci to sit up, so she is getting good practice daily. I still sit behind her just in case...I don't trust her that much yet.

Everyone who watches her while we are at work is amazed at how pleasant she is. Rarely is she fussy, and when she is, it's because she is fighting sleep. Then she wakes rejuvenated and happy. And we I open the door and walk into the house, a huge smile comes across her face and I am rejuvenated as well.

I am still nursing her, which makes me happy. She has discovered my hair, and now plays with it while nursing. She also rubs my arm or pats me while eating - it melts my heart. I could do without the chin hickeys, but I love the fact that she loves me so much!

We are looking forward to halloween - we have 2 parties to go to, so of course we have 2 costumes! Pictures of that coming next month!

Here are pictures from this past month:

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2351184009/a=40662473_40662473/

Maybe he'll get it right this time

Jason and Molly are engaged.

Where did he propose? In New Zealand, where he originally rejected Molly and then proposed to Melissa.

What a loser!

Recovering

Last weekend, Luci woke up screaming at 4:00am. I went running into her room to find her still asleep, but crying. I scooped her up into my arms, and I knew immediately that she had a fever. She was calming down, so I didn't want to disturb her by shoving a thermometer up her butt for confirmation. I laid her back down in her crib, and went back to bed.

30 minutes later - another scream. This time, eyes wide open. So I took her temp - 102. I gave her Tylenol, nursed her, and she went right back to sleep. The next morning, her temp was down, but she was so incredibly congested, and she had been for about a week or so, but it was way worse. The clear snot turned yellowish-green, and you could hear her struggling to breath while eating and sleeping. I knew that her little cold turned into a full-blown sinus infection.

I called the pediatrician on Monday morning and got an appointment. He confirmed what I had suspected and put her on Amoxicillin. She never spiked a temp again, but her congestion is just now FINALLY subsiding.

Through all of this, I developed a sinus infection too. Hm mm...maybe because she loves to attack my entire face with her mouth wide open. I love the affection, but not the congestion. She sucked my chin so much last week that I still have a lingering hickey...people at work keep telling me to clean my chin thinking that it is ink or dirt. Nope, it's a sucker bite from my daughter!

Another season!

As we were watching "Dancing with the Stars" last night, they announced the new Bachelor for the upcoming January season - it's:Jake! The nice, conservative, "too perfect" pilot from Texas. He's the one who warned Jillian of Wes's not-so-good intentions after he was booted from the show.

We'll see how conservative he really is when 25 women are throwing themselves at him!

Updates

TV - The new TV guy came last week. He took one quick glance at the screen and knew what the problem was and how to fix it. He even said that he could fix it at our house! Why weren't we referred to them at the beginning?!?!?

Heater - It wasn't the thermocouple because our heater doesn't even have one! It just needed cleaned. I guess a valve was dirty. We have heat again and it was so nice to have Luci wake up with warm hands again.

Clogged duct - It took almost 48 hours, but it is unclogged. I tried all sorts of home remedies (Cara - I tried our little secret multiple times!). Then I read on the internet about a certain position when nursing (it's a little too embarrassing to type here, but if you want to know, I can send you the link via email), and it worked within 2 minutes! I was so relieved!

Too Funny!

A friend just sent this, and I had to share:John may not cook a hot breakfast, but he has been known to bring a bowl of cereal, juice, and hot tea to me as breakfast in bed.

OMG!

At work with a clogged right breast duct = no fun and LOTS of pain!

Pumped twice - a little better, but not much.

Massaging where I feel the lump - not helping and actually creating MORE pain!

Waiting to go home in hopes that Luci can suck it out.

OUCH! This is the worst one yet!

WAY Harder...but somehow, faster?

This morning was the ZooZilla 5K at the Pittsburgh Zoo. I was expecting a difficult course considering all the hills through the zoo, and I was right. The first 2 miles of the race were pretty much all up hill...steep hills in some cases. I kept telling myself to keep running, and I did it.

As I was headed for the finish line, I was totally expecting my time to be MUCH slower than last week's time (since the Great Race was mainly flat and a little down hill). To my surprise, I came in at almost one whole minute faster (now you have to consider "chip time" which clocks the time you cross the start line to the finish line instead of when the horn blows). I was much deeper in the pack last week, but not a minute's worth. So I think that I went at least 20-30 seconds fast this week, which puts me at under 10:00 mile pace. I guess the rain from last week hindered me more than I thought.

Next 5K - in 2 weeks - Miles of Smiles at the Plum Midget Football field (which is where I run).

Too much stuff going on next weekend for a race: wedding, baptism, post-wedding picnic, anniversary party...I am going to need a weekend to recover after that weekend.

Chilly!

The temperature at night has gone down pretty quickly over the past couple of night - so cold that even John has been sleeping with the down comforter.

So last night I did the unthinkable and turned the heat on...mainly because Luci's hands have been so cold in the mornings. She hasn't let us swaddle her with her arms in since she was 3 weeks old and she perpetually sleeps with her arms above her head, no matter how many times we try to tuck them under the blanket while she is sleeping.

Anyway, after I turned the heat on, I could hear the fan going, but I couldn't feel anything coming through the vents. GREAT!

The problem is something called the thermo-coupler (or something like that). So we have a heating/cooling company coming to the house tomorrow. I am embarrassed to admit that we have never had our heater cleaned out since we moved in, and now seems to be the perfect time.

I can't wait to be warm in our house again!