October 2011 - Alena 6 months

I feel really guilty about wishing Alena's infancy away (that was a tough time for me), because here we are halfway to her 1st birthday. Time really does fly when you have your hands full!

She has developed so much over the past month. She is sitting up unsupported now - it happened overnight, it seems! A few weeks ago, if I would place her in the sitting position, she would just fold in half with her face planted on the floor. Then one day she caught herself with her arms and was in the tripod position, then a few days later she was sitting with her arms up in the air as if saying "look at me, looky at what I can do!"

She finally got over her cold and ear infection, but it left us with a bad habit - waking up in the middle of the night for a snack. She would go right back to sleep, but then she started with this thing where she wanted to be held until she was totally asleep. If I thought that she was sleeping and go to lay her down in the crib, she would start to cry - but then immediately stop if she was picked up. Well, that had to end -- enter Ferber-ization! We did the cry-it-out method, and within 3 nights she was sleeping through the night and not needing to be held. I am a believer!

I was feeding her 1 container of baby food daily and then advanced her to 1 container twice daily just last week. After I advanced her, I noticed a change in her bowels - I think that all that food was starting to constipate her. This past weekend she would have a screaming fit, and when it ended, I smelled the aroma. So I have added prunes to her menu and cut her back down to 1 container daily. We go to the doctor on Thursday, so I will be sure to address this with him.

She is drooling and putting things in her mouth constantly. Her favorite thing to put in her mouth - my knuckles. She gnaws on them nonstop - sometimes it really hurts. But she doesn't have any teeth yet (which I am grateful for since I am still nursing).

Luci had a good month too. She is MUCH better at dance school now. She doesn't cry or run to the door at all - and we can actually sit at the window the entire 30 minutes. Last week, one of the other little girls was hesitant about going into the studio, and Luci told her "C'mon Charlie, come with me and dance!" I am so proud of her.

We have to be very careful about what we say and who we talk about in Luci's presence these days because not only does she repeat everything - she REMEMBERS everything! The other day at dinner she looked at me and said "One day, your mom was at our house, and she called Alena Oscar the Grouch." I asked her if she was talking about Nonni and she confirmed it. I called my mom (cracking up) and told her. She didn't recall that, but said that she must have made that comment if Luci said so.

Potty training is going a little better. It's just that I have to remind her to sit on the potty, but she is very compliant. There have only been a few times when she tells me that she has to go potty, so mainly she is being instructed to go. I have her in pull-ups as an incentive, and Santa is going to bring her underwear as a stocking stuffer, but I am open to suggestions!

Halloween was fun - Luci had multiple activities and multiple costumes for each - thanks to the hand-me-downs from my sister! We had 4 different costumes to choose from!

Here are pictures from last month!

Follow-up

I saw the new Footloose movie.

Keep in mind that I LOVE the old one,
and have been obsessed with Kevin Bacon ever since.

But I must say, it was good.

A lot of the same lines,
same songs,
even same dance moves.

Some differences which were necessary for the time change.

Best differences - when Ren drives into school blasting "Bang Your Head" in his car - the new song in this movie is "Black and Yellow!"

Pittsburgh representing!

Right up my alley!

Totally going to see it Friday night! Will report back.

September 2011 - Alena 5 months

Alena is our chunky monkey - weighing in at over 16 pounds already. But she is really long too. We always thought that Luci was tall, but Alena is 2 inches longer than Luci at this age already. She has been out of her 3-6 month sleeps for over a month already - they were just too short for her. The 6-9 month sleeps are just right now, which means she will be in 12 months sleepers sooner enough.

We noticed a change in her eye color. She did had blue eyes the first 2 months. During the next couple months, we though that they were going to be green. Now it seems as though that have changed again - to brown. Finally a brown-eyed grandchild - all the other girls have blue eyes.

We just started her on cereal and baby foods, which she is taking very well. But she still loves her mama's milk. I didn't think that I would be able to keep up with nursing and pumping as well as I did with Luci, but my mild supply this time is even more abundant than before. I have about 60-70 packets of milk in my fridge right now (anywhere between 7-11 ounce packets). It was never like that with Luci. It's crazy how things are different.

Speaking of differences - Luci was sitting up on her own by this time, but Alena can't do that just yet. If I try to sit her up on her own, she just folds over in half. Her back just isn't strong enough yet. She rolls from her back to her belly all the time, and holds her head well when she is on her belly, but she still needs to build strength to sit up. She is in her Bumbo chair quite a bit as a result.

Unfortunately, she has developed her second cold, which now has turned into a right ear infection. So she is on her first course of antibiotics. She has been sleeping in her carrier for a week now, which allows her to be comfortable and not choke on her mucous in the back of her throat when she is flat on her back.

She smiles and laughs all the time now. And she definitely recognizes those faces with whom she is familiar. When I come home from work and she sees me - her little face lights up and she kicks her legs and goes crazy. I love it!

Luci started dance school earlier this month. It's going alright. She freaks out at times and runs to the door for either me or John. We tell her to go back, and she does, then 5-7 minutes later, she does it again. I am hoping that as the weeks go by, she will become more comfortable and not need us to be at the door anymore. There is a window where we can sit and see each other, but she wants us at the door. Thankfully, we are not the only parents at the door.

Potty training was going really well right after I had Alena because we were at home (inside) all the time. She would go on the potty 4-5 times each day. But as I became more comfortable with the baby, we would start to venture out - going to the pool, to parties, etc. - and we lost the consistency of going on the potty. She will still go every night before her bath. She also tells us the instant she makes #2, and she just started to tell us when she makes #1. We tell her to let us know BEFORE, but I don't know if she totally understands what we are saying.

I love being part time these days because it really allows me to appreciate both aspects of my life now - career and motherhood. Staying clinical in my field is critical, but I think that in the future that I may go into education (there are a ton of PA schools in this area), so that I can have summers off and be able to take my girls to the pool on a daily basis - just as my mom did for us - and I wouldn't trade those years for anything!

Here are pictures from the last month.