[exhale]

I just sat down and relaxed for the first time in a really, really long time. Man, it feels good!  Things are finally getting settled at work (I got an official promotion!), I finally got caught up on all the work that I got behind on when I was sick during the entire month of December (probably won't last long but I'll enjoy it for tonight!), I finally boxed up the last Christmas present that I have to mail (let's just ignore the fact that it's February tomorrow and the fact that I still can't mail it because I ran out of packing tape, but at least it's boxed up!), and I finally got a chance to bake something for fun after Rose went to bed tonight (just muffins, but what a treat after a week of difficult bedtimes for Rose!). Between all the sicknesses that we've been experiencing for the past few months and all the work stress I've been under, it feels unbelievable good to exhale all the lingering stressors that I'd been holding on to, especially now that the big stressors are all gone. Ahhhhhhh.

40 weeks

The theme for this week's photos is definitely Rose's mastery of her tripod crawl!

"Here I go!"

Determination

Success!

In other news, Rose has developed a sudden aversion to loud noises. We made the mistake of taking her to the car wash yesterday, thinking she would enjoy it since Mike and I both loved car washes as kids. Big mistake! Huge screams! And then this morning I made us smoothies (as I usually do on a weekend morning, but hadn't for the last couple weeks since we had run out of mango until yesterday) and we got the same response. Yikes! I don't like hearing her yell and cry like that. I guess we'll avoid loud noises for now, but hopefully those things will be less scary for her soon!

Have a great week, everyone!

CRAWLING!!!

Rose is officially mobile!!! It's the coolest thing ever to watch - I could watch her crawl all day long! I'm ridiculously proud of her new-found crawling abilities. (So impressed, in fact, that I pulled out the dreaded video function on my phone, despite the fact that it crashed my blog for a couple days earlier this week!) Anyway, apparently she's been crawling all week at school but they didn't want to say anything to us until we said it first. (Milestones never happen at school, only at home!) Then on Thursday night she started crawling in the bathtub... so after she went to bed, Mike and I moved the rug from our dining room to our living room in case our hardwood floors had been handicapping her. And then she started crawling at home on Friday morning! Alas, I did not get to witness it because I was already at work by the time she woke up, but I rushed through my day to pick her up so I could see it myself. She's already a pro! Here she is, our mobile daughter:

 

Poor Lucy has no idea what to think of this new skill!

And here's an aerial view to show off her "tripod" crawling technique:

Definitely one of the coolest skills she's learned to date (right up there with waving "bye bye"!). I can't wait to see her crawl again tomorrow!!!

Good morning!

Here's Rose wearing one of my favorite outfits that she borrowed from her friend Norah :)

nine-month pediatric appointment

Rose is 9 months old! She got a clean bill of health from the doctor today, although I'm still dealing with the lingering guilt for not being there since I had a meeting at work that I couldn't miss. Good thing she has such a wonderful daddy (and I have such a wonderful husband!). Thanks, Mike!

Here are her stats:

Two months
weight:  12# 6.4 oz (85th %ile)
height:   23.5"  (86th %ile)
head:    15.5" (66th %ile)

Four months
weight:  15# 10oz (86th %ile)
height:   26"  (95th %ile)
head:    16.75"  (85th %ile)

Six months
weight:  17# 7oz (78th %ile)
height:   27.25"  (93rd %ile)
head:    17"   (72nd %ile)


Nine months
weight:  19# 9.6oz (65th %ile)
height:   28.75"  (87th %ile)
head:    17.5"   (66th %ile)

I know it looks like her weight has been taking a massive dive (based on percentiles), but I want to mention again that these percentiles are based on the CDC norms, which are predominantly formula fed babies, so this pattern is common for breastfed babies. The CDC actually recommends using the WHO norms (especially for breastfed babies), but our pediatrician's office doesn't have those in their EMR. Based on my really rough calculations and comparisons, however, it looks like Rose would be at the ~75th %ile for weight based on those "correct" norms.

In other news, things still aren't settled at my job. I still have an "interim" promotion, and it's looking like it will become definite soon. But now there's talk that the role I'm being promoted to will change and will entail some additional responsibilities that are a little intimidating to me, so we'll see what happens. It'll be interesting and exciting either way, but I'm still nervous about it. Sigh.

Finally, sorry for all the trouble with my blog the last couple days. I tried to get all fancy by uploading a short video for our weekly update earlier this week, and apparently every blog that included videos from the google+ instant upload also had their blog crash! I'm waiting on a fix from google and then I'll repost our weekly update.

Have a great week! (Sorry for a photo-less post!)

39 weeks / 9 months!

Rose turned 39 weeks old on Sunday and 9 months old today. And, best yet, she is finally on the mend from the yucky influenza and ear infection!  Thank heavens for antibiotics, ibuprofen and probiotics - I would have made a terrible pre-21st century mom - thank you, modern medicine!

Now that she's back to her usual chipper self, I had such a hard time winnowing down the slew of photos I took this weekend. :)

I have to come clean about my moment of parenting "fail" that followed this next photo.Just after I took this shot, Rose lifted up her beloved teapot and then promptly dropped it on her foot. She now has a huge bruise on her big toe, and I feel so guilty! Ouch!

In addition to her portraits above, here is photographic proof from later in the day that she loves my Camelbak water bottle. She really prefers it over her sippy cup ,so we just ordered her a kid-sized version to have to herself. (No, she's not spoiled at all!)

We've been working on some baby sign language for the past couple months. She is getting really good at signing "all done" when she's finished eating! (Yes, that is carrot on her forehead!)

I'm coming to terms with the fact that we're coming down the home stretch with breastfeeding. After all the trouble we had in the beginning, I still can't believe we made it this long. But I think we're getting close the end for me. So for now I'm going to savor this view while it lasts.

 

Finally, here is Rose showing off her new "bye bye" skills! :)
(Mom and Dad, you'll need to go to the actual blog to see the video since I don't think it will show up in the email notification.)

Hope you're having a great week, everyone!

Sunday morning

Nine months later, I'm finally getting back to my Sunday morning tradition of reading the paper. And now I have "help!"

recovering!

I ended up calling Rose's pediatrician yet again on Thursday (I had called Monday and Wednesday as well) and finally they took me seriously and scheduled Rose to come in. Well, it turns out that the fever (104!), vomitting, diarrhea, body aches (we presume), lethargy, and poor sleep wasn't due to "just a cold," as they originally tried to tell me. (Go figure.) It turns out that Little Miss had both influenza and an ear infection!! Poor Rose! No wonder she was so sick and so miserable. We started antiobiotics for the ear infection on Thursday (along with some probiotics to counteract the antiobiotics), and she is feeling so much better already. Whew!

Today (Saturday) Mike had to go in to school since he had stayed home with Rose on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, so she and I took advantage of the last of the warm-ish weather. (Highs of -8, anyone? That's what our forecast is looking like for the next few days.) We walked to the library and got to play with the fun puzzles and watched the big kids play with the toy kitchen. Then we walked over to Byerly's to get more distilled water for her humidifier. By that time we were both starving, so we picked up sushi for lunch - Rose's first sushi! (Don't worry, mommy police, we just had a california roll so there was no raw fish involved!)

So loved it! Well, mostly she loved the sushi's "innards" (crab, avocado, cucumber) dipped in soy sauce, sucking the flavor off the gari (pickled ginger), and all the little old ladies who stopped by to marvel at her adventurous eating. :) She was the star of the Byerly's cafe!

In other news, I taught Rose how to use the bite valve on my camelbak water bottle. She took to it almost immediately, and now seems to prefer it over her sippy cup. But perhaps I should have thought that decision through a bit more before acting on it, because I now realize it is almost completely incompatible with breastfeeding now that she has six huge teeth! (Ouch!) D'oh! At least she's now learning what "no" means.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Still sick :(

Apparently we jumped the gun on Rose returning to school today, because she got sent home only a couple hours later. Poor girl! Get well soon, Rose!

38 weeks!

Work has been super busy again, so sorry for the delay in posting. Here she is on Sunday, before she got super sick on Monday. Isn't she a cutie?!

She's still not crawling forward, but she is super mobile at scooting herself in circles and getting up on her hands and knees to reach (mostly) whatever she wants!

This next photo cracks me up. Rose isn't deliberately pointing (yet!), but this picture sure makes it look like she's showing off her tea pot!

Maybe next week I'll get a picture of her waving "bye bye," which makes my heart melt it's so cute!!!



In case anyone is curious, this has been Rose's daily routine (give or take, and when she's not sick):

5:15am - Steph wakes up and pumps (ah, Bertha, your days are numbered!!)
6:30am - wake up, morning fresh bottle
7:30am - Mike drops Rose off at school
8am - breakfast
9:30am - second fresh bottle, 30 minute nap (roughly, because the timing of her school naps is so variable!)
11:30am - lunch
1pm - frozen milk bottle, 30 minute nap
3pm - snack
4pm - Steph picks Rose up
4:30pm - nursing, another 30-minute nap
5:30pm - dinner
6pm - "family fun time" (usually we just hang out on the bed and read a book, let Rose play with her egg and cup, and practice standing/sitting or other gross motor skills)
6:30pm - bath time
7pm - nursing, lights out
7:30pm - Mike watches TV, Steph reads, and we go to sleep by 10am at the latest


I can't believe Rose will be 9 months old next week! Time to start planning a birthday party...

Have a great week, everyone!

sickness strikes again

Have you ever seen a sadder girl? Fever of 103.2, endless crying, projectile vomitting,  sick girl eyes...it breaks my heart! Get well soon, Rose!  (and let's hope mommy and daddy can stay well this time!)

bad habit: broken!

I haven't had time to look through Rose's 38-week "portraits" yet - I hope to get to that later this week. But in the meantime I thought I'd tide you over with this shot from dinner last night. Over the past several months, we had gotten into the really bad habit of giving Rose "treats" (Mum Mums, saltines, graham crackers, Puffs, or cheerios) if she didn't like whatever we were serving for dinner. It started off innocently enough back when she wasn't physiologically able to eat what we ate, but recently we started to notice that she would simply thumb her nose at our food and then cry until we gave her a "treat" instead.  Clearly she had quickly  pegged us as dinnertime pushovers.  But we firmly believe that we don't want her eating nutritionally vacuous meals (aka "kid food") while we eat the nutrient-dense "grownup food" we've been trying to incorporate more into our diets. And, on a really practical level, we also didn't want to set the stage for preparing multiple meals for dinner for the foreseeable future.

So, I'm proud to say that after about two weeks of slowly weaning all of us off of this terrible habit, last night Rose simply ate what we served! Yay, Rose! Three cheers for the brown rice with raisins, chickpeas and green peas that Mike made! (And thanks to Trula Anne for the great cook book!) Tonight she wasn't so keen on my veggie quinoa bake (this recipe modified with some additional baked squash and red bell peppers, plus some extra cheese), but c'est la vie - maybe she'll like the leftovers tomorrow, and I'm just proud that we can simply serve one yummy family meal each night from now on.

Have a great week, everyone!

37 weeks!

Rose is just getting cuter and cuter every day! She also keeps us on our toes - the thing she loves most one day is something she wants nothing to do with the next. For example, last night she was madly in love with the yummy lentil soup Mike made for dinner. She smacked her lips after every bite! (It was so cute that I even pulled out the video function on my phone which, if you know me, is really saying something!)

Then tonight she refused to have anything to do with the lentil soup! Ah, Rose and her opinions. :)

But other than her lability regarding food preferences, she pretty consistently enjoys:
* standing
* "petting" the cats (aka ripping their fur out if they're silly enough to get within arm's reach of Little Miss)
* tapping objects together
* being a "milk monster" (this hasn't changed since day 1!)
* chewing on mommy's shoulder while standing
* pulling up to kneel by daddy's legs
* being in her stroller, especially for naps
* smiling at stranger in the mall, at Target, etc.
* splashing in the bathtub (she now knows this word and will splash on command!!!!)

We've also learned that she HATES loud noises (such as the bag of recycling being poured into the bin, or the sound of the vacuum). She also doesn't like when new people force themselves on her too quickly - she may like making smiley faces at you, but if you get too close too soon she will let out a howl!

This weekend Rose got to meet more great grandparents. They gave her plenty of time to warm up and she had a great time! (She also liked that Trula Anne shared her tater tots at lunch - Rose consistently loves tots!)

Rose is not so interested in crawling any more. Any time she tries, her knees lose traction on our slippery wood floors and she ends up further away from whatever she was trying to reach. Frustrating! So now she's decided to devote herself full time to learning how to stand. So far she has gotten proficient at pulling herself to kneeling.

Unfortunately, if she plops on her bottom from kneeling she gets really scared - so she either needs to be "rescued" after plopping or "rescued" from being stuck while kneeling.  You can tell she's so ready to be fully mobile, but she just hasn't quite figured it out yet. So along those lines we preemptively installed the baby gate that my parents gave us for Christmas. It's only a matter of time before we'll have to actually use it!

With that, I'll leave you with her "official" 37-week portrait. (I stayed up too late watching football on Saturday and watching Downton Abbey on Sunday, so this mama needs some rest!)  Hope you all have a great week!

P.S. I forgot to mention - Rose finally got her 6th tooth in this week! :)

Happy Saturday!

Resolutions

Maybe I should have put some more thought into my New Year's resolutions, but it just occurred to me today (Jan 2) that I should get on this. Oops. Well, here are some resolutions off the top of my head. Since they all came to me so quickly, I think that means I've already been thinking about them often and already working on incorporating them into my life. Here's to a peaceful and happy 2013!

1. Be present. Enjoy the moment - Rose will only be this age once, so slow down and enjoy her!

2. Eat better. More whole grains, start each dinner with a vegetable, use honey instead of sugar, tea instead of soda, and pick "happy" meats.

3. Move more. Get the treadmill fixed, once it's warmer take the long way home after picking Rose up at school, start running and/or walking regularly again, do more yoga.

4. Take care of myself.  Floss, use the neti pot, don't check work email at home, get together with friends on a regular basis, always be reading a good book, don't feel the need to finish a book I'm not enjoying, make time for hobbies (baking, quilting, etc.), spend less time on Facebook, get 8 hours of sleep (plus 30 minutes of reading) every night.



And now, your moments of zen:

Rose can pat the bunny!

practicing with utensils!

presents

Rose got so many cool gifts this year, as did Mike and I. So I'm only going to brag about one, which doesn't mean that I think any less of any of the other gifts that any of us received, but I just wanted to show off this one! (Sorry for the glare on the glass!)

It's an original pencil drawing replica of this photo! How cool is that?!? Thanks, Mary and Mike (Grandma Roles and Grandpa Fly) for the great gift that is now prominently displayed in our living room. And thank you to Grammy and Grandpa Jack, Ninja and PopPop, Trula Anne, Uncle Dave and Aunt Sara, Aunt Emily and Uncle Jason, Great Gramma Larson, MomMomMom and PopPopPop, Great Grandma and Grandpa Borho, and all the other friends and family who gave us fabulous presents! (Yes, we will still be sending thank you cards at some point, but at least you have this digital thank you to tide you over!)


And I'm also going to toot my own horn and brag about the presents we made for all the grandparents. You know the weekly photos we've been taking? We took each of the first six months and made them into coasters!

I got the idea off Pinterest. It turned out to be a really good project for both me and Mike, since making six sets took quite a lot of time and effort! I'm glad it truly was a gift from our whole family.


Finally, I thought I'd share just a couple more photos from the weekend.

Happy New Year! (It's nigh on 8pm, which means it must be bedtime for Steph!)

Happy New Year! (36 weeks)

My parents came to town for a belated Christmas / early New Year's celebration. It was so much fun!

Saturday we met up at cousin Janet's in the late afternoon and got to see Janet, Jeff, Kari, Maggie, and Annika. Rose enjoyed meeting her older cousins! Then we came back to our house for dinner, a gift, and a regular bedtime for Rose.

Rose started doing this really cute thing where she lifts up her arms ("so big!") then tilts her head to the side until we all start laughing and smiling. :)

Sunday we went swimming in the hotel pool, followed by an afternoon of present opening and then football watching.

"Finally, some green and gold!"

We also took her 36-week portraits that morning.

 

Sunday evening, my parents let me and Mike stay at their hotel room. It was my first ever night away from Rose! I think I did a great job, if I do say so myself. I enjoyed myself so much that Mike and I even went out for breakfast on Monday morning before we went home. What a treat!

The rest of Monday, Rose spent some quality time with her grandparents while I painted that bathroom and while Mike did a lot of chores around the house - he fixed our garage door, installed a new dimmer switch in the bathroom, and replaced our sink sprayer. And Rose did lots and lots of standing, rocking (still not crawling!), and playing. Yay!

  

New! (old)

 Mike made matching hats for me, Rose, and Ninja. Aren't they great? :)

 Then we topped off the evening with a fancy salmon dinner and the bottle of Sauternes that my parents gave me for Christmas. What a great weekend!

Thanks, Mom and Dad! And Happy New Year, everyone!!