Sports Day at School

Friday was sports day at school. Rose was rocking her "Future Soccer All-Star - Just Like My Mommy" T-shirt!  She's a big fan of her soccer rattles too!

Rose is Eight Months!

Over the past month I have noticed with amazement how rapid the learning curve is with an infant.  Rose started out the month still hating being on her belly and not wanting to tip onto all fours and by the end of the month made the complete transformation to crawling with ease.

Check out Rose's 8 month photos and some videos from this month below.  It doesn't look like she has much hair, but she does. It's just very light colored on top. I'll have to take a picture from the back where you can see lots of brown hair.

This week, I received an e-mail from thebump.com that gave me my baby's 35 week update. It said eye color is fairly permanent at this point. It's hard to say what her eye color is because it seems to change in different lights and depending on what she's wearing. They are mostly a blue-gray, with hints of brown and hazel mixed in.  Her eyes are the feature most people praise when they see her.

Here's Miss Rose's 8 Month Update:

The big milestone this month was that Rose started crawling on September 23, 2014 at 7.5 months. In the first two weeks of this month, she moved from hesitating while tipping forward onto her hands, to getting on hands and knees (rocking to music), to moving those little arms and legs in an efficient crawling motion. By 8 months she became a speed demon. Her main targets are wires/cords, mommy and daddy, her toys, Darwin, and the table or couch.

She still loves to stand and with her new mobility she now pulls herself up to standing in more places.  We set up pillows all along the coffee table, so that the table is a safe area for climbing.  She'll also try to climb up her crib, our legs, the kitchen island, the couch, and Darwin. I frequently leave Rose standing in a fun area at school when I drop her off to help with the transition.

Speaking of dropping Rose off at school...we are still dealing with a little separation anxiety, which is absolutely normal.  When the teachers are busy, I usually hold Rose a little longer or play with her a little bit before I drop her off. If they are free, one usually takes Rose and distracts her while I leave.

Since this was the first month of school, it's also meant our first visits to the doctor because of illness.  Right off the bat, Rose started with some congestion that really hasn't gone away all month. Most days she was fine, but she did have a fever and a couple of rough nights this past week.  We also had to take a trip to the doctor after a few days of diarrhea.  Thankfully, neither visit was serious or required any medications. They were both for piece of mind (and advice on how to take care of little Rose).

Despite the separation anxiety and colds, Rose has done very well at school. I think watching the older kids prompted Rose to make the step towards crawling.  She's also extremely attentive when I pick her up and put her in the car seat to go home. I think she's still in learning mode.  She has also started clapping when she hears music or when we clap and celebrate something exciting. I managed to get a video of it (see below). It's so cute!

The sound of the month has been the letter "f" and "th." Most mornings, while I'm getting her ready for school, she has been sounding out the f sounds. We proceed to work on the words they form...friends, family, fun, food, focus, etc.  Sometimes she gives me a "th" sound.

We haven't introduced too many new foods this month because of the week she had diarrhea and because we've been trying to adjust to the new schedule at home. Sweet potatoes continue to be a staple, along with carrots, green beans, cucumbers and oats. We had done salmon a few times and thought she didn't react to it, but she had the diarrhea right after eating salmon, so we've taken a break from it. To combat the diarrhea, we moved to bananas and oatmeal, but that worked too well and she was constipated by the third day. We occasionally do eggs - though she isn't a huge fan. She loves ground beef - which we've done a few times. And, I've been doing oatmeal mixed with prune juice for the past week or two, which she seems to enjoy, but Colin doesn't. He doesn't want to indulge a "sweet tooth."  I don't know if it is because I am a dietitian, or because we are just busy, but I'm finding the introduction of solids to be somewhat stressful.  It's hard to find the foods that give her good bowel movements, and sometimes her bum gets red and we worry it's a food allergy.

I wish I could say that Rose is sleeping through the night, but we do frequently get 5 hour stretches of sleep.  Unfortunately, we also frequently get 3-4 hour stretches. Some nights it doesn't seem too bad and other nights I'm just bitter and exhausted. I can't seem to cut out my morning coffee.

I have yet to give Rose any milk other than breastmilk, but I did finally break down and pick up a few bottles of formula to have on standby. We've been trying various things at night to see if it helps Rose sleep better. We tried using some disposable diapers instead of cloth thinking maybe she was waking because she was wet. Disposable didn't make a difference. As a side note, we actually didn't use any size 2 disposable diapers and skipped from size 1 to 3 because of our success with cloth. This month we used disposables a few nights to test our sleep theory and when she went through her diarrhea phase. In addition to the disposable diapers, we have also tried giving her more milk at night. My milk supply has dropped from 4oz every 3 hours to 3oz every 3 hours (during the day) and Rose completely depleted my extra in the first 3 months I went back to work.  The few nights we gave her an extra bottle, she did seem to sleep longer. The only problem is that I can't make the milk to cover the extra bottle.  Every time I would go to buy formula, I'd turn away after looking at the terrible ingredients. Corn syrup!?! Are you kidding me!?! Plus, I haven't been able to find small sample size and don't want to drop $25-30 on a huge can I may never use again if she doesn't like it, or has a reaction to it.  So, I found a good deal on Organic Similac ready to feed and picked it up. I haven't given any to Rose yet, but probably will very soon. It will be a sad day for me when I have to give it to her. For now, I'll keep pumping as much as I can to try and keep up with her demand. I really wanted to go straight from breastmilk to cow's or goat's milk.

Lastly, as another side note... an update on me...I have (not intentionally) dropped well below my pre-pregnancy weight. People are not kidding when they say breastfeeing helps mom lose weight.  I had a few extra pounds when I got pregnant, so I started a little high, but I am down to the thinnest I've been since high school. While this sounds like great news, it's problematic because none of my pants fit well (except a few jeans). They all hang loosely (and not in a flattering way).  I've been relying on skirts and dresses for work, but with the weather getting cooler, that is not going to be possible for much longer.  I love that I can indulge in more food, although this also means more preparation and grocery shopping.  I've actually cut back on working out (with the exception of playing soccer) to balance out my energy needs a bit more.

I can't believe I also forgot to mention that Rose is 17 pounds, 7 oz. While the doctor didn't give us a fancy printout of her stats on the growth chart, I've plotted her by hand right around the 50% percentile.

And now, onto the videos and images of my precious little girl!!

Miss Rose at 8 Months

Ready to go to school on her 8 Month Birthday

There was a cold day in October - we got to pull out a winter hat
Rose was sleepy on the way into school that morning.

 Here is Rose "talking" in her exersaucer after we spent a few days away from home.


Here is Rose dancing mid-September


Rose and Darwin enjoy the beach in this rather long video


Rose "clapping"


Rose is crawling!


Rose standing up


I welcome any feedback from other moms on introducing solids, building milk supply at 8 months post-partum, and/or exercising while nursing.

The Seven Month Update

How is it possible that the month of August, and the summer, has already come and gone?!  Thankfully my mom took lots of pictures of Rose during the month so I have some to post on the blog. Unfortunately, I don't have any videos from last month.  And, because we were traveling (more on that in another post), her 7 month pictures were a week late.

During the month of August, Miss Rose spent quite a number of days splashing in the pool. I think she knows more of our neighbors than Colin and I do! When we would take her to the pool on the weekends, people we don't know would recognizer her.

Since she has spent so much time in the water, she is rather fearless when the water hits her face.

She continues to grow like a weed and thankfully has remained very healthy.

Here's a summary of Rose at 7 Months:

• Rose continues to be so much fun. She can give a big grin and a wholehearted laugh - especially when tickled.
• According to some of the baby books, this is the time to teach baby right from wrong. On many occasions, I have to tell Rose to be more gentle. She loves to pull mommy's hair, and sometimes it hurts!  She also sometimes grabs Darwin's hair. I think he also thinks it's too rough, so his response is to get up and walk away.  In addition to pulling hair, she also pinches and her pinches also hurt. I've been the recipient of many of of these and she seems to do it quite a bit when nursing.
• Little Miss Rose does not want to miss anything. She is easily distracted (even when nursing) and needs to see what's going on. One of the funniest sights is seeing her try to look behind you when you block her view. She moves from side to side trying to look at what you are blocking. She had us all laughing so hard our stomachs hurt one night when I was trying to block the TV and she kept looking for it. When she realized we thought it was funny, she would try to see the TV and then look quickly back for the laughter to ensue.
• Speaking of playing, Rose also knows how to play peek-a-boo. It is the cutest thing ever. She'll grab her dress or a towel and hold it over her face and then quickly drop it for you to say "peek-a-boo" or "te-te" (in Portuguese).
• One of the songs that we use to calm and quiet Rose down when she's crying (especially if the crying happens when we are driving) is a Portuguese song, "As Palminhas da Catrina." 
• In the past, we have danced to the music while holding Rose in our arms, now she rocks to the music on her own while sitting.
• Rose's favorite thing in the whole world is to bounce - in the jumperoo, in the exersaucer, or in your arms - it doesn't matter as long as she can bounce.  Her second favorite thing is probably splashing water.
• We continue to put Rose on her tummy despite her protests. From a seated position, she tries to climb up whatever she can (tables, people, dogs, etc.) to standing.  When she does get from a seated position to all fours, she is fairly quick to give up and turn on her back. She is able to get from point A to point B without crawling though. It's slow and it involves a bit of butt crawling and shifting from sitting to all fours and back to sitting and alternating legs, but she gets there.
• Rose still drinks about 24oz of breastmilk and eats about 1-2 "meals" per day.  In addition to the carrots and avocados she tried last month, she has now also had cucumbers, green beans, sweet potatoes, grapes, bananas, eggs, beef, and salmon. She has done a great job holding many of the foods that are cut into sticks (like carrots, cucumbers, etc.) and loves cucumbers and green beans the best.  She still prefers feeding herself to being fed by a spoon - but had no problem downing hamburger meat from a spoon!
• Her two bottom teeth have fully emerged from the gums and she uses them to chew her food. We can see the imprint of the cucumber from her teeth and can feel them with our finger. They are still a little difficult to see because they are small, but they are there!
• Rose's bowel movements are much more mature now and occur at least once every other day and sometimes multiple times a day. They are certainly stinky, formed little turds.  I invested in some cloth diaper liners that provide a barrier between the poop and the diaper. They are flushable and keep the diapers clean (when I remember to use them!).  We also have a cool diaper sprayer that we set up on the toilet. It's kind of like a bidet and sprays the poop right out of the diaper (on the high pressure setting). You just have to be careful to spray it in the toilet and not all over the bathroom!

Here are her 7 month pictures (taken a week late on her first full day of school) and a few pictures from earlier in the month.

September 15, 2014
First Day of School
7 months and 1 week old

Swinging inside on a hot summer day

Playing on the floor with her toys

Holding a sweet potato "stick" and feeding herself

Hanging out with mommy, daddy and Darwin before bed

Playing in her exersaucer - and trying to keep her eyes open despite the flash

Doing what she loves the most- bouncing! And that flash is too bright!

Loving her cucumbers, green beans, and carrots!

Rose Starts School

I was very lucky to be able to delay the start of institutionalized care for Rose until 7 months. The thought of dropping off a 6-week-old, such a tiny, innocent piece of precious cargo, to strangers, was frightening.  I know people do it and I would have done it too if I had to, but I am so grateful for my professional and personal support systems for allowing me to enroll Rose in school when I felt she would be ready.  Now that she is somewhat mobile, very sociable and extremely interactive, I feel comfortable bringing her to a place where she can more fully develop with instruction and socialization.  Being an experienced mom for 7 months and with the benefit of hindsight, I would have been comfortable taking her to school at 6 months, or maybe even 5 months, but not before that time.  I guess this opinion stems from a belief that you have to be a little tough to make it in a setting with 3 other kids competing for attention and I didn't think Rose could hold her own before 5 months.

After talking to some friends and researching the day care/infant school options in the area, Colin and I decided to check out 6 schools. Four were in a similar price range and two were much more expensive. We didn't plan on enrolling Rose in the more expensive schools, but we wanted to see how they compared to the schools that were middle-of-the-road in pricing.  Neither of the expensive schools showed they were worth the significantly higher cost.  Of the four schools that interested us, two came recommended by my soccer teammates, one was recommended by several people we knew in various capacities, and the fourth was a school I found doing research online. All of the schools shared details about their curriculum and their safety protocols. And they each tried to "sell" us on what made their school unique, or better than the others.

We ruled out the first school pretty quickly because of the institutional feel of it. And we ruled out the third one we saw when they said they would not handle cloth diapers.  That left us debating between the school that came recommended by several and the school I found doing my own research. The recommended school seemed to have a strong focus on the curriculum and they were willing to work with us on learning how to use cloth diapers. The school I found had a very cozy and comfortable feel to it, had experience using cloth diapers, and seemed to focus on healthy living and healthy eating.  I guess this description makes it out to be a "hippy school" but they also have a solid curriculum with music, language, arts, etc.  We ultimately decided to go with this hippy school, which sold us on their experience with cloth diapers, providing snacks from Whole Foods, backyard gardening, and composting with the kids as part of their learning experience.

Before Rose started full time, she had a trial-run "free day."  We dropped her off a little after 9am and picked her up around 3:30pm. It was good to practice preparing for school and to get orientation to the check-in and check-out process.  Unfortunately, the drop off experience was a bit of a disaster. When we arrived, there were already 8 kids in the class, so a third teacher had to come in to maintain the 4:1 ratio. A couple of the kids were crying and it seemed a bit chaotic.  I'm sure it didn't help that one of the teachers had to step away from the kids to greet us and show us around. To make matters worse, as we were getting ready to leave, Rose lost her balance while standing holding a bar, fell on her face, and proceeded to cry.  Leaving the school that morning I started running various scenarios through my head on how we could keep her out of day care a little longer.  Three-thirty could not come fast enough.  Thankfully, we walked in to a smaller group of kids sitting around the teacher as she was reading a book. Rose didn't even care that we were there, she was enjoying herself with the other kids!  If the pick-up did not go so well, I'm not sure what we would have done.

We have now completed two days of school and have three left this week. On Monday, Rose seemed interested in her new environment and we had no problems dropping her off. The class environment was calm the whole time we were there.  The pick-up process was similarly easy. Rose was actually the last to be picked up and we walked in to Rose being rocked in the chair by the teacher.  Tuesday's drop-off was a little more difficult. The little girl that cried during the morning of Rose's trial visit was crying again when we walked in. All the other children were sitting quietly around the teacher. One look at the group (and maybe because of the crying girl), and Rose was also in tears. The teacher was quick to offer her comfort and include her in the activities of the morning, which quickly calmed her.  By the time I walked out, she wasn't interested in whether or not I was there.  Pick-up was again very easy since there were still two teachers in the class and Rose was only one of two children left. She was sitting with the teacher on the floor, drinking her milk.  The teachers both gave glowing reports of Rose's day - I think taking a 1.5 hour nap definitely helped!

While some schools have cameras in the class so parents could watch their children, this school does not. Instead, they have an electronic program where each child's daily progress and activity reports are entered throughout the day. We can look to see when Rose is napping, when she's eating, and sometimes we get a photo summary of something she did during the day.  I like that it keeps us connected to her day and it's very helpful in showing me the patterns that may be developing in her schedule. I also don't have to take time from the teachers to find out when she last ate and was changed when I pick her up.

I do hope Rose enjoys going to school and that she learns many of the good behaviors that are modeled by the other children (and not the bad ones!).  I'm overdue for her 7 month update, but I'll share in this post that she is very close to crawling and is pretty good at holding herself up on furniture.  She is also a big talker.  Stay tuned for a more thorough update on her progress.  For now, I'll leave you with some pictures of Miss Rose's first experience with school.

Preparing Rose's food for school

Wondering if mommy expects her to carry her own bags

Daddy walking Rose into her first school

Mommy walking Rose into her classroom

A calm and inviting start to the first full day of school

Didn't take long for Rose to settle in

Rose's 6 Month Photoshoot

So many pictures to love! Thank you for the beautiful images Ana Teresa Galizes!

Happy Half Birthday (6 Months) to Rose!

Happy 6 month birthday to my sweet, happy, and beautiful daughter Rose!

The 6 month doctor's visit meant a couple more shots - poor thing - but she's a champ and quickly recovered.  We received a wonderful report on her growth. At 16lbs, 8oz she's at the 64th percentile for weight, and at 25.5 inches she's at the 44th percentile for height. She is leaps and bounds beyond her developmental milestones and the doctor was so impressed with her ability to play sitting up unassisted.

Here is a summary of Miss Rose's 6 Month Updates:

• The past month has been such a joy. Rose is such a happy baby, smiling and laughing frequently. We can't help but laugh and smile with her.  
• Our ticklish girl can't hold back her giggles when you nuzzle her chest and armpits. She also makes the cutest little happy face when you brush hair along her face.
• Rose is a daddy's girl in the making. Her gaze follows Colin wherever he goes.  
• She's also very interested in Darwin's movements.
• She tries to give people kisses by opening her mouth and pulling your face to hers. We all end up with lots of saliva, and I get a lot of my hair pulled, but it's definitely worth it.
• She is able to grab and hold on to objects of various sizes and shapes - like fairly large playing blocks or her pacificier (and everything in between).
• Objects she grabs go straight to her mouth and she's quite good at the accuracy of the movement.
• She still prefers sitting and standing to crawling or tummy time and spends a great deal of time playing in her exersaucer or her new johnny jumper (aka jumperoo). 

• She gets a little rough with some toys, so we've swapped out many of her plastic rattles and key rings for softer, plush toys.
• While on her butt, Rose has been practicing rocking and we think she might be a butt-mover instead of a crawler. She is definitely active on her back, on her tummy, and on her butt. She has no problems flipping from front-to-back and back-to-front. When someone is close by, she tries climbing up the person to standing.
• Rose still loves the pool and sits up really well in her pool float. She knows what it means to "splash-splash" and she loves to splash with her hands and feet on her own.  Thanks to her pool float, we are able to cover lots of distance in the pool and she loves to move forwards and backwards.
• We introduced Rose to a swing at the playground last week and she loved swinging. From the first moment in the swing, she acted like she's been swinging for ages. She knew exactly where to grab and held on tight when swinging faster.
• Rose continues to be a very observant child. She loves looking all around - taking in her surroundings wherever we go.
• Rose enjoys listening to her nursery rhymes on Pandora and looks towards the speakers when the music plays.
• She also continues to be quite the chatterbox and has said words that sound like "mama" and "oh yeah" and seems to favor sounds that start with the letter "b".
• Rose is still exclusively consuming breastmilk and takes about 24 ounces per day, half of which she gets from a bottle. She's been ready for solids, and we've tried carrots and avocados so far. We'll probably do a combination of "baby-led weaning" and purees (which is anti baby-led weaning). Rose definitely preferred holding the carrot stick and avocado stick herself to the pureed/chopped carrots we tried to give her.
• Her bowels have gotten more regular. After a long, 20 day stretch without pooping in July, she's now more consistent with 1-2 poops a week. I'm not looking forward to the solid-food poops that will be much more difficult to get out of her cloth diapers!

Rose at 6 Months

Rose trying to eat the camera!

First attempt eating avocado the "baby-led weaning" way...

Are you really going to take a picture of me as I eat this thing?

Let's see how it tastes...

hmmm - not too bad...

I think I'll keep eating it!

I'm not sure how much food Rose actually got into her mouth or how much she swallowed, but she seemed to enjoy herself. She made quite the mess on her face, in her hair, on her bib and clothes, and on the high chair. Darwin had a great time licking avocado off Rose's hands and she enjoyed him doing it.

6 Months is such a fun time!

Rose's 5 Month Update

I can't believe our little girl is almost 6 months. Time sure does fly and the stage Rose is currently in is so much fun. Here's an update of what little Miss Miller is up to these days.

• Rose loves "talking" and trying out new sounds
• She continues to be generous with her smiles and now tries to give kisses by opening her mouth and pulling your face to hers.

• Rose has learned how to make raspberries with her mouth, but doesn't yet do it on demand.

• She's still working on her dexterity, but is pretty good at grasping thin objects like her rattles and giraffe. The square blocks are still a bit challenging, but she'll master them soon. Almost every object ends up in her mouth. We had a minor incident with a spoon that had soy sauce on it. It apparently did not taste good.
• Rose loves playing with her toes and they also seem to always find their way to her mouth!
• She is able to sit up on her own. Sometimes she looks up too fast or manages to topple over, but she has learned that falling from a seated position does not hurt.

• She loves her exersaucer. From an early age she seemed to like standing and she now loves to stand and play in the exersaucer.

• In late June we had a one week stretch where Rose slept from 10p through late morning (8-10a), but that lasted only the one week and we are back to a 3 or 4am wake up.
• Our little girl is growing and is mostly out of her 3-6 month clothes and into the 6 month, or 6-9 month items.  
• Between 4-5 months, Rose started pooping less frequently. She moved her (very immature) bowels multiple times a day during her first few months and the change to a few times a week happened around 4 months. Since turning 5 months, we've had to start keeping track of bowel movements since they are so infrequent (every 10-20 days). Doctors say it is normal in a healthy breastfed baby and we shouldn't be concerned since she is growing so well.
• As her bowels continue to mature, we've also noticed her gas smells much worse. Colin likes that he and Darwin are no longer the only ones with stinky farts in the house.  :)
• Rose still loves going to the pool, though the chlorine or swim diaper seem to make her bottom red.

Here are some pictures from her 5 month photo shoot (around July 4th - just shy of 5 months):