4 month checkup

So, as I mentioned, Elizabeth had her 4 month checkup on Valentine's Day.  Since she had been sick on her actual four month checkup, we had to reschedule her shots until she was done with all her medication.  She was so funny when we took her in there to see the doctor... she just sat and laughed and "talked" to the nurses and doctor.  The doctor even made the comment that she wouldn't be so playful if she only knew what was about to happen to her!  Here are the stats from her doctor's appointment: 13lbs, 5oz; 24 1/2 inches long, 16 1/4 inches head circumference.  She fell right at 50th percentile on everything.  Our little sweetpea is growing good and healthy. 

Now, while we were there, we decided to go ahead and get Elizabeth's ears pierced.  So Elizabeth wouldn't get mad at us, the doctor and the nurse held her down while they did it.  She SCREAMED!  But, her mommy was right there to love on her shortly after! She looked so darn cute with the little earrings!  Then it was on to the shots... four needles in one day!  She got two shots which is cried through but was not nearly as bad as the ear piercing.  We had to explain to her that is the price you pay for health and beauty!  Of course, she doesn't understand right now but all is well now and our little princess did great considering! 

The doctor went ahead and gave us the go ahead to start cereal with Elizabeth.  This was her first time trying to eat from a spoon.  She did not like it, nor did she want anything to do with it.  Here is the mess we created that night!

She just wanted to suck on spoon!

To this day, she still doesn't want to eat her cereal but we will keep trying and hopefully she will be eating like a big girl soon! :)  



Happy Valentine's Day!

Our Valentine's Day was pretty special this year because we now have another reason to celebrate this made up "holiday"!  I had taken off work because myself and Elizabeth both had doctor's appointments.  It was so nice to get to sleep in that morning, something I haven't done since before Miss Elizabeth graced us with her presence.  Greg took her to daycare that morning and we got dressed and headed to my doctor's appointment.  Since I was off, I had decided to make a whole day of it and I took Greg for an early lunch and a massage!  After we got done with that, we went and got Elizabeth, went to her doctor's appointment, and headed home.  Greg cooked a fablous dinner for me and we just got to hang out with our beautiful daughter!  All in all... a great day!  Here is out little munchkin on her first Valentine's Day:

What did they do before me?

Elizabeth has a bib that says "What did they do before me?".  I think it is so true as I sit here and think of what our evenings were like before her.  I love the end of the day when I can go pick up Elizabeth.  She always welcomes me with a smile at daycare.  Of course our evenings are short but it is the best part of the day!

This is how our evenings pan out...

First she plays in the walker when Mom & Dad cook and clean. She really knows how to play with everything on her walker and even "talks" to it sometimes!

(Sorry not a great video because she then started to fuss!)

Then she sits in her highchair & plays while Mom & Dad have dinner. 

Then it is on to bath time!  This is by far Elizabeth's favorite time of the day.  We usually let her play in the water and splash around for a while!

Once she is done with her bath, she usually starts to cry and gets upset.  I am telling you, I think we are going to have a fish on our hands!  I can't wait for summer time when we can go swimming! 

After bath is bottle time. After bottle is bed (at a fabulous 7:30pm!).   And that is how we spend our evenings.  It may seem pretty boring to everyone reading this blog, but we wouldn't have it any other way!  So even though we might not remember what we did before her, it somehow doesn't really seem to matter anymore.  Life is great!

Our first road trip w/out Daddy!

So, I was very brave this past weekend... I took Elizabeth on her first road trip...alone.  A good friend of mine, Tammy, lives in Kerrville and it was her little girl's birthday party this past weekend.  I had told Greg that I planned on going and I would be taking Elizabeth with me, of course.  He works on the weekends so he now misses out on a lot of parties and things.  So, Friday when I got off, I packed us up.  I was going to be leaving bright and early after Elizabeth finished her morning bottle at 8am.  I wasn't getting myself worked up about going without Greg because I knew I could do it, but that morning when I was loading up, I realized I sure could have used the help!  The trip wasn't too bad, Elizabeth had two little crying spells but she slept most of the way there.  The party was great and it was good to finally see Tammy and Taryn.  I haven't seen them since my baby shower the week before Elizabeth was born.  We stayed in a hotel room on Saturday night so Elizabeth didn't have a whole day of riding in a car and I could get some rest.  When Elizabeth finally started stirring around at 6:15am on Sunday, I turned on the TV and started watching the news.  Turns out they were expecting some nasty weather on Sunday with a very good possibility of snow!  I jumped up and got myself and Elizabeth dressed because the last thing I wanted to do was drive in nasty weather!  I really wasn't planning on leaving that early but I am sure glad I did after seeing the weather around there on the news.  Elizabeth did great on the way home and I decided to stop in El Campo for a while since it was early.  That afternoon, we headed home and I was going to get settled in, when I realized we were out of formula.  After a trip to Target, we got home and did Elizabeth's usual routine of bath, bottle, and bed.  Of course, she decided that bedtime would be a little delayed and she just wanted to fuss.  By this time I was so physically and mentally exhausted from the trip, driving, taking care of her, and just plum tired, that I was upset.  I was rocking her (while she cried), trying to get her to go to bed, and crying myself.  I felt so guilty that I was upset but my little sneaky daughter knows how to make Mommy feel better.  She had already stopped crying, she lifted her head and looked at me and smiled, laid her head back down and fell asleep.  What a weekend it was!  Even though it was exhausting having to make a trip like that on my own, I wouldn't have changed a thing.  I definitely commend any single parent out there that has to raise kids on their own because it is is tough work.  I am thankful everyday for such a great husband and a great father to Elizabeth. 

I didn't have a camera with me to take pictures but I stole some from Jessica (sorry Jess!).  Here are our little one's at the party:

Us girls with our babies... all born in 2011!

Me & Elizabeth, Tammy & Taryn, Jessica & Paislyn

 The girls...

 Hi Paislyn! (so cute!)

4 months

Elizabeth turned 4 months old on Sunday the 5th of February.  She has been such a blessing and everyday my heart just melts when I see her smile at me.  I never knew you could love someone so much!  Even though the fourth month didn't go by as fast as all the other months, when I look back, I realize that they really do grow up fast!  She has really started to develop her own personality.  A lot has happened over the last month but I will try and remember as much as I can:

She is such a happy baby.  She is very content and doesn't need to be held.  She is so observant, she loves to look around and watch everyone around her.  They tell me at daycare she is like that too.  She is not too active in the terms of always moving her arms and legs... she will just sit and look around and watch.

Just finished the size 1 diapers this week so she made it all the way through four months with size one diapers.  Now we are in Size 1 1/2 diapers!  We had gotten a lot (and I mean A LOT) of diapers before she was born so I am using what we have.  I shouldn't need to buy diapers until she is probably a year old!  

Anything and everything will go in her mouth.  If she can reach it, she will put it in her mouth.  She just started drooling quite a bit but I know this is just the start of teething...

I packed up her 3 month clothes, but she did make it to four months in three month clothes.  I am still using almost all the pants in three month because our little one is short and they still fit really good.

She is now a pro at rolling over.  Put her on the floor and she will roll over like it is nothing.  Of course she still hates to be on her belly when she gets over but she has gotten a lot better.  I think they work with her at daycare. 

For some reason, our little ray of sunshine does not like to ride in the car.  Some days are better than others, but for the most part, she does not like to be in that seat facing the back of the seat.  Mommy has listened to a lot of screaming the last couple of weeks!  Then, when I open the door, she just looks at me and smiles... I think she is telling me "ha, ha... I knew you would come rescue me!"

Here is our four month photo shoot.  (Normally I take these in the morning when she is the happiest, but I forgot the onesie and had to do it after her bath on Sunday.  That explains the lack of smiling.)

This was her telling me enough... I am going to bed...

More pics!

This is how we unload groceries from the car!  It is the best way to have your hands free to do whatever you need to and they still feel as if they are being held.  Love it!

Sitting in my new high chair at Grammy's.  Since she loved our high chair so much, I bought one for my mom's house also (we spend a lot of time over there!).  She is so freaking cute! 

Pictures of our growing baby!

I haven't posted many pictures in a while so I thought I would load some that we have taken over the last couple of weeks.  She is getting so big and so alert. 

Check out my cute shoes!

 First time in the big girl highchair!  Now we use it everyday because she loves to sit and play in it.  This has become a blessing because it makes it easier to cook and clean when she is happy in her highchair!

Another toy that we use often is her walker.  Even though she can't touch the ground yet, she will play in this for a long time.  It amazes me how she knows what to do with those toys on there.  She knows how to make them all turn.

Just because Mom thinks I am oh so stinkin cute!

 I think she was telling me "Enough, MOM!"

 "Seriously?"

Our sick little one...

If you would have saw Elizabeth last week, you would have never known she was sick.  She was just as happy go lucky as she always is.  Of course, her parents were scared to death when she decided that she didn't want to eat anymore!  It really started last Monday.  Monday's are always so hectic for us because Greg and I both work on Monday's and Greg doesn't get home until really late.  I usually have her bath and bottle done and she is sleeping by the time he gets home.  Monday night she really didn't want to eat her bottle before bed, but me not knowing better, just chalked it up to her being tired already.  She went to bed and slept through the night.  The next day, she still couldn't finish a bottle.  I told Greg that if she was still not eating by Wednesday that I was going to take her to the doctor.  The daycare called on Wednesday morning (I told them to call if she didn't eat) and told me she only would drink two ounces of formula.  I decided to set up an appointment and they got us in that morning.  Just a side note... I had decided to change doctor's because I just didn't like the place we were going before and her first appointment would have been her 4 month check up on the 7th.  So, here I was, trying to explain to the doctor's office that we had not been there yet but we were scheduled to start the following week.  It was a bit hectic but she got in and was checked out.  It turns out she had an ear infection.  This really didn't explain why she wasn't eating but she told us maybe clearing up the ear infection would help her feel better and she would start to eat.  She had only weighed 12lbs 13ozs (25th percentile) which really shocked us because we thought she would be bigger than that.  We got her medicine and went home. 

Now came the fun part of trying to give an infant medicine... nearly IMPOSSIBLE!  As soon as we gave her the amoxicillin, she started vomiting... plus she was still not eating!  I had never experienced an infant vomiting like that before and it was not fun.  Actually it was really scary... so with me crying and holding my baby over the kitchen sink, I told Greg to call the doctor.  The doctor told us to make sure that she is staying hydrated with pedilyte and not to give her any formula or medicine.  He also said to bring her back into the office to get re-examined.  So, Thursday morning it was back to the doctor.  Of course by this point she is really starting to act better and she actually was wanting to eat.  The doctor told us to resume the medicine to clear up the ear infection and just monitor her.  As soon as we start giving her the medicine again, she starts vomiting again.  What a roller coaster!  So, needless to say, we think Elizabeth may be allergic to the amoxicillin.  The doctor switched up her medicine and she seems to be doing OK with everything.  She finally started eating and back to normal we went! We go back to the doctor on Valentines' Day for Elizabeth's 4 month check up and she will also be getting her ears pierced!  YEAH!