Mardi Gras, Day 3

The sun was out and it was too hot to play. Well, not so incredibly hot, but at least 80 degrees and we're still in February! We strapped Lilly in the stroller and wheeled her over to Touro Synagogue where we met up with a couple friends. They had a ladder for their kids, and we stood beside them. Lilly was definitely tired from the get go, and she was sweating and not too happy to be in the heat. She doesn't have any shorts, but luckily she had this skirt, it's the next size up, but better to too big than too small. Not a whole lot of beads were caught. No pimping of the baby at these two parades. Luckily we sought refuge in the air conditioned temple. We did get stopped but we quickly identified ourselves as members. We stayed through both parades, in hindsight, we probably should have left at the break between the two, as the doodlebug was quite tired, notice how she fell asleep on Mark. But we persevered, and once we got home, Lilly stayed awake for about an hour before taking a 2 hour nap.

Mardi Gras, Day 2

Day 2.

First day parade.

And the beauty about a late Mardi Gras - sunshine! And lots of it.

I forgot Lilly's hat, but she was out shoeless and sockless, in the sun. Though we tried to keep her out of the heat, as she kept squinting her eyes, in response to the sunlight. We put our hands over her ears, each time a marching band came and was hitting the big bass drum. We met up with friends at Uncle Adam and Aunt Bitsy's house, then walked over to the parade. Lilly's friend, 4 month old Sophie, was also there. Both babies took bottles (Sophie was wearing an ADORABLE onesie that said, "My parents found me in a KINGCAKE" Mardi Gras and Baby humor!)

I think the day parade was better for her. She was able to nap. And I think the overwhelming factor was still there, but at least its daytime. I kept telling Mark we needed to 'pimp out the baby' to get good beads and plush items. She proved to be a good tool. While the beads were lacking, we did get a flourescent purple and yellow plush snake. She already put it in her mouth. No footballs (my mardi gras want) for us yesterday but the season is still early. Then on the walk back, she fell asleep. Luckily Aunt Bitsy had a porch chair that rocked, easier way to keep her asleep, though as you can see by the picture I can't imagine it was all together comfortable position for her.

Mark and Lilly just took a walk to Whole Foods to get beer for today's two parades. There's one at noon, and one at 1:15. Love the season!

1st Mardi Gras Parade

I love Mardi Gras. Absolutely love it. I think it's what sold me (well solidified) on living full time in this city. I mean, how can you not love high school marching bands, beads, stuffed animals, alcoholic beverages, king cake, fried chicken, and parades?

So tonight marked Lilly's 1st parade (Oshun) and she was dressed accordingly. Over the past few weeks, I've been on the hunt for Mardi Gras clothing (for her), and have found her a tutu, t-shirt, and a friend gave her an adorable onesie (slogan: Keep Calm and Parade On). So tonight, after her early dinner of barley cereal and squash, I changed her into the oneise, green socks, and tutu. And boy did she look adorable! She was ready for the parade.

We met up with friends and walked over to where we would be watching. I must admit that I was nervous about the noise level. I made Mark ask his co-workers with children how they handled it with their children. I wanted to know if I should put noise canceling headphones on her ears. The bands and their music can get quite loud and I was nervous that the levels would be too high for her and do some damage to her ears. Mark suggested I call Dr. G, so I did, who told me she should be fine, but to let Lilly decide. If she fusses, move her. Take my cue (as it always seems to be) from her. So we did, and Lilly did fine.

Though I do seem to think that she had no idea what was going on. She tensed up every time a helicopter flew over the parade. She did well with the crowds and bands. And while she didn't catch anything (a first for me, I didn't catch anything, nor did I want to be in the front of the crowd, yelling at the riders! What's going on with me?!), she did make it through her first parade, awake, though she definitely was fading halfway through the parade. She fell asleep on the walk home. So no beads. But definite good time, and there are plenty more parades for her to enjoy! And lot's more of that tutu!

Goats at a Birthday Party

A couple weeks ago we went to a birthday party for the daughter of a friends of ours. They had the party on a gorgeous Saturday morning, and brought a Petting Zoo, complete with pony to their backyard. It was the first party we took Lilly to, and there were a ton of other kids, majority of them could walk and pet the animals, and even ride the pony. But we introduced Lilly to the animals, we tried to get the rabbits and goats, but succeeded with the goat. Here's a video of her interacting with the goat. It's quite cute, even if I am a little biased!

Meet up with my Cousins

Well, mom and dad's cousins anyway. Saturday we went to lunch with cousins Glynn, Ali, and Abby. Ali and Abby were visiting from the East Coast, touring Tulane and seeing the city. We met up with them for lunch. We got Shrimp and Catfish Po'Boys and Root Beer and had a great meal. It was the first time Lilly met Abby and second time she'd seen Ali. We last saw her at Thanksgiving, so Lilly had done ALOT of growing between now and then.

In the picture with Lilly and Ali, Lilly's reaching for one of the paper plates. She, of course, wanted to put it in her mouth. We didn't let her. But she was so interested in our meal. Watching us eat. And even trying to go for the items she could grab onto! Paper napkins were of special interest to her!

A little spit up goes a long way

Yesterday it seemed was Lilly's day of spit up. Spit up on herself, check.

Spit up on me, check (both shirt and pants).

Spit up on toys, check.

Spit up on her blankie (replica 1), check.

Spit up in my purse, getting all over my wallet (spit up on receipts, gross) and most importantly, in and on my phone.

That's where this post is going. Her spit up, which I think was the remnants of the sweet potato and green bean oatmeal lunch, has damaged my cell phone. I can take pictures. I can text. I can even dial out. But cannot hear incoming our outgoing calls, even though I can dial out. So a trip to the Verizon store is needed. I knew water to the phone could ruin it, but spit up? Come on. I was trying to clean my phone last night, had a Q-tip, and was cleaning the different holes on the phone and scooping out spit up. I showed Mark. It was pretty gross. But as Mark said, maybe an iPhone is the result to come out of it? We'll see the diagnostic from the store. I can only imagine their surprise when the service tech opens the phone to see an orange coat over the chips. I can only hope its not the grossest thing he's seen on a phone.

Zoo Outing

We met some friends at the zoo this afternoon. Our starting time was to be right around Lilly's nap, so I strapped her in the car seat, got our things together and drove around for 10 minutes beforehand, hoping that she would go to sleep in the seat and then could be transferred easily to the stroller.

Mission accomplished.

The doodlebug fell asleep, and stayed that way for the next 40 minutes. Thus, the beginning photos of her are asleep in her stroller while the animals (elephants, white tiger, lion, and leopard) appear in the background.

When she awoke she wanted to get out of the stroller so I put her in the Baby Bjorn and we strolled some more. She really wasn't interested in the animals, more into her surroundings and clutching onto my pointer fingers. The only animal she seemed to give more than five seconds of her time were the giraffes.

We were at the zoo for almost two hours. And she certainly became overtired. Luckily our trip home was less than a mile and a half, and we were in the car. But unfortunately there was a back up on Magazine Street, so it took us a little bit than longer to get home. Doodlebug was crying and screaming all the way home. She was MUCH better as soon as we got back, she ate a little and then talked to JJ before taking a much needed nap.

Some Pictures

Here's some pictures of Lilly playing in her exersaucer. She was bouncing this morning, reaching for the tag on the lion's butt, trying to put it in her mouth. Amazing how there are rings, ball, and four paws attached to the lion, and what Lilly wants to go for is the small tag on its rear end. She was putting it in her mouth, though the face she was giving made it seem like it didn't taste ok (though I can't imagine it would taste ok to begin with!). She's also got a small cold, or at least we think she does. Her nose has been runny and somewhat full of boogers. We've had to go back to the saline nasal spray, which she hasn't been to happy about, but hopefully it will work.

Happy Early Valentine's Day

We went back to Surrey's this morning. Lilly lasted about 20 minutes in her car seat carrier before wanting to get out. She's got two Valentine's Day outfits and we put her in one today and the other tomorrow. She looks (I know I am biased) quite cute in the red tutu!

On another front, tonight after her bath, she really really enjoyed looking in the mirror. She really saw her reflection, and tried to touch the 'person' in the mirror. She held out her hand to the mirror to touch the hand that she saw. She also got the biggest smile when reaching out to touch her new 'friend'. It was really cute! She really does enjoy looking at herself in the mirror!

Sunday Breakfast Routine

For the past two Sundays we've gone to Surrey's, which is a breakfast/lunch establishment. They recently opened a store Uptown, and it's not too far from our house, so we've taken to it ( we love the one farther down on Magazine, but convenience rules!) We're going to try and make it our Sunday thing. It's a small place, so usually best to get there right when it opens, which is 8AM. There's only one highchair and limited space, so with the amount of stuff, blankets, blankie, toys, diaper bag, car seat carrier, we bring in, it's best to arrive on the earlier side.

Last Sunday we got there and had the highchair. We attempted to put in the highchair cover, but neither of us figured out the straps and thus she and the cover proceeded to slid out toward the bottom. Luckily neither actually fell on the floor. I guess we'll try it again tomorrow, assuming we get the highchair. If not, she'll be in our arms, going for the food, namely the eggs, I guess she's intrigued by the yellow food!

Friday Outing

Yesterday we met Mark for a late lunch and then a trip to his office. We went to the Store, which is one block from his office, they serve breakfast and lunch, and are known for their spicy Asian Turkey salad. They also have good burgers and other sandwiches ( I got the pulled pork sandwich and a side of sweet potato fries - delicious.) Mark got the turkey salad, and when our food came out, Lilly's out got SO big. She wanted to eat, or at least explore the food. So we gave her the plastic keys instead. I first gave her a paper napkin but she proceeded to bite it and get it piece stuck in her mouth. I was nervous that she would swallow it. Mark said it was ok, it's just paper. Needless to say, we took it out of her mouth and gave her the keys. She was placated. But she did eye the food.

After we finished eating we went up to Mark's office, where we had to ride in two elevators, one from the entry to the landing floor, which happens to floor 14. And then we had to transfer into his elevator bank, floors 35-52. I was nervous and after the first elevator, Lilly wasn't happy. I think the pressure/movement was impacting her ears (it was to mine) and she wasn't happy, especially when we got in the second elevator! That was much faster than the first. She really let us know she was not happy. There was another man in the elevator, he was getting off on floor 46, so I hope we didn't ruin his riding experience.

But we saw Mark's boss, Lisa, she was very excited to meet Lilly. And then we saw some other friends and I met Mark's secretary, Sarah. To go between the different Jones Walker floors we opted (wisely) for the stairs! I made Mark ride down the elevators with me when we left! So Lilly got to see (for the second time) where her dad works and meet some of her colleagues. It was a fun Friday outing! I thought she would fall asleep in the car on the ride home, as we were out during her nap time. But nope. She was just silent. And when I tried to put her down after we got home she let me know that it was certainly not sleeping time, it was time to eat.

New Sleeper Outfit

Our last post of the day! Here's Lilly from Tuesday night, she's getting ready for bed, and is in a new sleeper that I bought on sale from a great store called Janie and Jack. There's one in Northpark Mall in Dallas, and we took advantage of the after holidays sale. It's a little big on her, but no doubt she will grow into it! Have a good night everybody! Stay warm!

Lilly, a future Apple consumer

Lilly enjoys playing on my MacBook Pro. She also enjoys two of the Apps on her dad's iPad (he's got a toddler jukebox, think Row, Row Row Your Boat, Miss Mary Mack, and ABC, among others, and a picture scratch off). So I feel like she's going to be an Apple user and not a PC user. She loves skyping with her grandparents as well as friends Jamey, Michele, and Emma in California. She loves to lay on her belly, as seen in the picture, and play with the keys, scratch the computer, and touch the touchpad. She does things on the touchpad that I don't even do or know how to do! She can pull up all the applications running. She can mute the conversation (and she normally does this every other day). And she loves just touching (lightly banging) on the keys.

Turning a Corner

We've turned a corner with JCC babysitting. Lilly is beginning to take to it, and doesn't cry for that long, less than 15 minutes definitely!, when I drop her off there. She's recognizing Cory, the JCC babysitter, as well as the room. I think she's definitely learning the routine, or at least what to do when she gets there. Not a whole lot of interest in the other children at babysitting, it seems she only has eyes for Cory or what's playing on the TV (usually Nick JR or PBS kids). Yesterday, she didn't fuss when I dropped her off. And she played and played before Cory said she got tired and a little cranky. Cory went to place her in the car seat carrier, so she could sleep, but Lilly couldn't get comfortable. So Cory picked her up and held her and Lilly immediately fell asleep on her. It was such a sweet sight to see when I came in from working out. It's great to see that Lilly has taken to Cory and vice versa. Definitely a relief, and I don't have to be on the lookout for the front desk people while on the treadmill or the Elliptical. Definitely can relax some of the nerves. Let's hope she keeps it that way!

Out More

Here's a picture from Monday. We'd been out and about and Lilly fell asleep in her car seat. It's great. I feed her, and then we head out the door. Whether its to visit friends, which is what we did today, shop, which is also what we did today, or parenting class, or just walk, the outings tire her out, and by the time we head back, either in car or foot, she's either on the verge of dreamland or already going there. She's adapting to the car seat and finds it ok to sleep in. Monday afternoon she took a two hour snooze, all snug as a bug in a rug (well car seat). And now she's into the beginning of hour 2 of her afternoon nap. I'm so glad she's finally taken to (or at least learned to) sleep in her seat!

Constipation, Constipation!

So the past week we've (or at least Lilly physically) has been dealing with constipation. We've talked to the doctors and gotten a slew of instructions, and we've laid off the solids, especially bananas. She's back to strictly milk during the day and formula at night, while we get her stomach issues settled. It's heartbreaking to see her get all red in the face, grunt, strain, and then nothing comes out. Or a pellet. And it's hard and it looks like its so painful. Because then she cries and goes through the whole sequence again. Well, yesterday she was given prune juice. I tried to trick her, by giving it to her first, in a bottle, and she took maybe a few sips before she was like, gross, what is this? I then switched to breastmilk, which she at first refused, thinking it was going to be the prune but nope. She greedily took it down. I then tried to go back to the prune but she swatted her hand and said NO! We're stocked, we got the glycerin suppostories, full prune juice bottle, and boxes of apples juice. Karo Syrup is next. But luckily last night, before bath time she went through two painful cycles and then finally pooped and it was soft! So today she'll get some apple juice to keep her digestive system on track and hopefully this weekend we'll go back to solids. There's sweet potato puree and pea puree waiting for her!

Apples, JCC babysitting not so much

Yesterday I steamed a Red Delicious Apple and then pureed it. I thought Lilly would want a taste so I put a little bit on my finger and gave it to her. She ate it up, but boy did she give me, a "Gross!" face. So I didn't push it, I put the apple puree in the fridge, knowing I would give it to her tomorrow. So that's exactly what I did. Instead of mashing up a banana, I poured some of the puree into a bowl. I served that along with a bowl of oatmeal. I started with the apples but after the first bite, I got the same "Gross" face. Same thing with the second bite. So I moved to the oatmeal, which she greedily ate up. She sucked that bowl down, and I even gave her another 1/2 of helping.

But boy did she not like the apple. Check out the video. You can see her facial expressions.

And I tried a different time to take her to the JCC. Yesterday we went from 8-9AM, and she did ok. She cried for a bit but did well with Cory. So today, I wanted to try a new time. I've noticed on the sign in sheets that they are not a whole lot kids that come to the afternoon session, so I made a reservation for 4:30, and brought her. From the get go, she was not too happy. When I left her, she started to cry. And that's the worst, I know I need to go, that she'll learn and that she is fine, but to leave her when she is in someone else's arms and crying, it's hard.

But I went anyway. I was on the Elliptical for about two minutes when the receptionist came up to tell me that Lilly was gagging, and they were concerned. She's started with these new sounds and one is a gagging type sound, so I wasn't too concerned, but I went down with her and checked out Lilly. She was fine, smiling and in the babysitter's arms. So I went back upstairs. I was on my 29th minutes, back on the Elliptical, when the receptionist came up again and found. Lilly just wouldn't stop crying, they tried to feed her, but she was not happy.

So I went down with her, heard Lilly as I rounded the corner to the babysitting room and saw that she was working herself up. So I got her, held her, and she quieted down. The two helped me pack up, and then Lilly and I walked to the car. (this was after at least 5 apologies to all people concerned). She braved the cold real well, but was just overtired and a little hungry. We ended up bathing her early, feeding her early, and she went to bed early. So not sure what time will work, I think going at 4:30 might be too late for her. So we'll stick to the 8AM time. We've got a reservation for Friday. Maybe she's more like her mom and is a morning person...time will tell.

6 month stats

I'm only two weeks late in releasing the 6 month stats. Albeit, we didn't go to the doctor until last Wednesday but she turned six months two weeks ago today. Hard to believe that it's been six months. Feels like it's gone by in the blink of an eye but on the other hand it hasn't. She's grown. She's laughed. She's definitely eating and drinking. Her front two teeth are coming in and she has taken to biting down on things, bottle nipples, my nipples, fingers, etc. She's testing out her chompers! And let me tell you, they work. They will be sharp and aid her in chewing her food and biting others.

We took her to see Dr. G last Wednesday for her 6 month check up, and she's doing well. In the picture, Mark and Lilly are standing by the scale, in the baby room of the doctor's office. Lilly got two shots and took them like a champ. She also weighs 18 lbs 13 ounces (still in the 90th-95th percentile) and is up an inch, and now is 26 1/2 inches (75th percentile). She's in 6-9 month clothes. My bag of small fitting clothes keeps getting bigger and bigger - I'm due to start another bag.

But she's starting to blow 'raspberries' so lot's of noise and spit. Luckily no blowing raspberries while eating yet. So no projectile food! Her routine napping schedule is off, sometimes she'll sleep 30 minutes, other times she'll sleep 1-2 hours. With her napping schedule so irregular, she usually finds herself exhausted at the end of the day. Yesterday she barely napped and was wiped out by her bath, so she was quite cranky until we put her down to sleep. And for those first few hours, she barely moved. Now she's taking a much longer nap - 1 hour! - and I can hear her stirring, so I better get ready. In just two weeks and some days, we'll be celebrating her 7 month birthday!

New Foods

Lilly has progressed from rice cereal to other foods. She's tackled oatmeal, which she likes a lot more than rice cereal. And she loves carrots, bananas, and sweet potatoes. She did enjoy peas, but she readily ate the orange veggies and yellow fruit up. Each get's all over her mouth, hands, clothes, and our hands and clothes, but she so enjoys it. The close up photo was taken Sunday during her 'lunch' of sweet potato and oatmeal. At her six month check up, Dr. G said we would want to move towards three meals a day with her. Right now it's a second breakfast and first lunch. But I bought a Beaba baby cooker, it steams meats, fruits and veggies and then it can also puree them. It's a small, ingenious appliance and its pretty cool, it's green! So I've been making the fruits and veggies, Regina suggested I let Lilly try the Gerber banana puree, and boy did she NOT like it! So we will stick with fresh bananas. I made a sweet potato puree and now I've got an apple steaming, so I can make an apple puree. I hope she likes it.

We've read that its best to start with either a cereal or vegetables as they can become accustomed to the sweet taste and not want eat anything that wasn't sweet. We asked Dr. G about this and she said pretty much there wasn't anything to it. Let her eat what she wants to eat and when she wants to eat. So not worrying about fruits before vegetables or vice versa. Here's hoping she likes apples. If not that, then we'll move onto something else, perhaps green beans.