mayzaboo.com

We made it safe and sound to Kentucky despite the ear infection, though we have visited the pediatrician here already. Found out that she just has some fluid in her ears left over from the ear infection. She’s still acting like she’s teething, but no teeth popping through just yet. But this morning her newest feat is sucking on her toes. I was changing her diaper this morning, and she grabbed on to her left foot, and into her mouth it went. I tried to get a picture of it, but she wasn’t cooperating. I’ll post the photo after I get it off the camera. We have some cute pictures of Christmas which I will post later. Jordan has greatly enjoyed seeing her family: Gigi and G-pa, Geen (her great-grandmother), Aunt Margaret and Uncle Clifton, and cousin Emery. I think she’s trying to figure out what Emery exactly is. She knows he’s not a baby, but he’s not an adult either- she’s confused, so she just stares at him. Very cute. We are still awaiting the arrival of “Baby Grimm”. I will keep you posted! Oh- and a side bar, right around Christmas Jordan started sitting up with a very straight back! Yeah! She’s so strong!

Today we ended up at South Coast Plaza Mall- 5 days before Christmas. Yes, we are crazy!! We met Yumi, my good friend I met a long time ago at Disney. Turns out she works at Santa’s Village, so we got another Santa encounter! There are a bunch of pics on the site, so you can see them all, but this one is my favorite:

We didn’t know we were going to see Santa, so she was in pink- clashing perfectly with the man in the red suit! Ooops. Oh well. All her Christmas clothes are packed in a suitcase, since we are leaving Friday morning!! At 4am!! Eeek! Well, we’re leaving the house at 4, the plane takes off around 6:45. We had an interesting run-in with one of the cats this morning, speaking of Jordan’s clothes and her suitcase… One of the cats, I’m guessing Spats, decided to rearrange her suitcase and “leave his mark” on her socks. I didn’t notice that they were all wet until right before I left to go meet Yumi. Yuck-o. So now I’ll be spending the rest of tonight laundering her socks, undershirts, and anything else that got wet. Blah. And I have to Febreeze the suitcase, because even though I cleaned out all the cat yuck, it still smells like cat yuck. Boo. So that was today! Tomorrow brings another doctor’s appointment, because her ear was still not cleared up as of Tuesday, and we might be going to Gymboree, if I can get everything else done! Whee! I probably won’t write again before we leave, so the next post will be from Kentucky. Fun fun!!

Jordan slept 10 hours last night without waking up one time!!!! Which means I got 2 hours to get stuff done, and 8 hours of sleep!! It was wonderful, but I’m not expecting tonight to follow suit. We shall see.

Today was Jordan’s first trip to In-N-Out, and I really think she wanted to eat some of the fries. She’s very interested in food, and our pediatrician gave us the go-ahead to start her on solids(Rice cereal, not french fries!!), but I haven’t done it yet, since we’re leaving for Kentucky in 5 days (eek!) and the thought of having to deal with starting solids while in someone else’s house doesn’t sound too fun. Besides I heard that it’s better to exclusively breast feed until they are 6 months old. My pediatrician doesn’t agree, but oh well. She said it would be fine to start her after we get back.
I’m thinking Jordan might be teething, too, since she’s drooling all over everything, and chewing everything. Tonight during her bath she was eating her bath duck:

In addition to that, yesterday she started pulling her knees up underneath her while on her belly, in turn lifting her little tushie in the air, in perfect crawling form. She just needs to learn how to lift her chest up off the floor, and she’ll be cruising! Eeek!! We aren’t ready for that yet!! Hopefully she will remain immobile for our Kentucky trip. I can’t imagine that she would crawl at 5 months, but I guess stranger things have happened.

My friend Veronica and her daughter Hannah visited last Wednesday, and I forgot to take any pictures, but Veronica took some, so I stole them from her site, and put them up here, too! Check out the gallery for updated pics! (Both the 19th week and 20th week have new pics up)

As I wrote a while back, Jordan’s been having a tough time sleeping lately, but last night was truly the worst. She ate every 2 hours, and was crying as if in pain throughout the night. Needless to say no one got much sleep around here. The poor thing. No matter what I did with her she still cried. The sad thing was when she wasn’t crying, she was smiling, so it really told me that she was in pain when she was crying, but perfectly happy otherwise. I was quite glad that she had a doctor’s appointment today so I could ask the doctor about it. I was thinking she may be teething, as she is putting everything in her mouth, biting everything, drooling up a storm, etc. I wondered if it could be an ear infection, but she wasn’t doing any of the “ear related” indications. (pulling on her ears, or whatever) Well, we went to Gymboree this morning, and Merrigan, the girl who was born 2 days before Jordan has cut her first tooth! Teething all around! Well, we went off to her appointment, and she slept the whole way there, and woke up in time to fill her diaper in the elevator heading to the office. And by “fill her diaper” I mean to capacity, or rather PAST capacity!! She practically needed a bath when we got in the office. Thankfully I remembered to refill the diaper supply in her bag, and had brought a change of clothes just in case! Poor girl! Anyway, after all that excitement she was weighed: 14lbs, 10 and a half oz; and measured: 25 inches! That puts her in the… wait for it… 80th percentile for height- yes, you heard right- MY daughter- 80 percentile for height!! And the 75th percentile for weight! I thought she was looking extra chunky, but not according to the averages! Anyway, the doctor checked her out for everything else, to make sure she was healthy, and after removing a lot of wax from her ears, she found that she had an ear infection in her right ear!! That explains last nights lack of sleep, and possibly the lack of sleep lately! The poor thing! Here I was thinking she was not being a good sleeper, and the whole while she had an ear infection and couldn’t tell me! So now she’s on 3 different meds- the Zantac for the acid reflux, Tylenol because she had 4 shots, and Amoxicilian for the ear infection, and they’re all different flavors! Peppermint, fruit, and strawberry/raspberry. She’s sleeping now, after having a bit of a fussy night, which is to be expected after all she’s been through. While we were at Target waiting for her prescription to be filled, we went over to the toy section, and I bought her a little stuffed giraffe, because I felt so bad for her, having 4 shots and an ear infection on top of all of it! Yeah, I’m a pushover. I’m in for it when she can actually ask for things! But anyway, the giraffe made her smile, and she was hugging it in her swing until she fell asleep:

We have a followup appointment next Tuesday to see if the infection is gone, or going away, then we’re flying to Kentucky next Friday! And I still have 2 Christmas presents that I haven’t finished making yet!! Eeek!!
By the way- there are more new pics in the gallery- I keep forgetting to mention them, but each time you see a photo posted, that means I’ve uploaded more pics!

Just a quick post to show off Jordan’s visit with Santa! Isn’t she cute?

Look who’s sitting up!!
She’s not too stable, but she can hold herself up with her hands. And actually when she started to fall over this morning, she caught herself with her hand, and rolled herself onto her tummy! She’s so smart!!

Jordan survived her first trip to Disneyland, and really seemed to enjoy it!! I wasn’t sure with her being so young, but since it was all decorated for Christmas, there were many lights to look at- one of her favorite things to do these days! She was awake for a lot of it, which was nice, and she wasn’t fussy at all! Much better than the crying fits before bed that I’ve been used to these days. We got there around 9pm, way past her bedtime, but she slept at home and in the car for a couple hours before we got there. She woke up in time to ride the tram, and then stayed awake while I chatted with some people I know on Main Street, and we made our way to the photo location of our choice- Critter Country with Pooh or Tigger. I was hoping for Tigger, and when we got in line Pooh was out, so I was thinking that just maybe Tigger would be there when it was our turn, and I was right! While in line Jordan got to see Pooh, and this was her reaction:

and then we got our photo taken with Tigger.

Our first ride was Winnie the Pooh, which she loved- her favorite part? The Heffalumps and Woozles, which is supposed to be the scary part. Not so much for Jordan! I think it was the bright colors that she liked.

She fell asleep in her stroller after that, and we wandered around and made our way to the Mad Hatter’s shop where she woke up. I took the opportunity to try mouse ears on her, which of course we purchased, had her name embroidered on the back, and had a nice Minnie Mouse bow attatched to the top!

After that it was on to the Alice in Wonderland ride (my personal favorite), and Small World. After that we headed out to Main Street for some shopping where Jordan made more friends with the other guests in the park. When all was said and done, we were in line for the tram around 1:30am!!! So much for only staying a couple of hours! I carried Jordan out of the park, and she fell asleep on my shoulder almost as soon as we passed through the gates of Disneyland. After the tram ride, we headed to the car, and she was out all the way home, woke up slightly when I put her in her crib, and then slept for a couple hours before crying that she was hungry. She ate a couple times in the middle of the night, and then slept in this morning until 10:30 when she woke up in just enough time to get ready for Gymboree. She managed a short nap after Gymboree, and a long 2 hour nap in the late afternoon, then I got her to bed at 8, and she hasn’t made a sound yet- knock on wood!! We had a long “getting ready for bed routine” tonight that consisted of a meal, time in the swing while I tidied up the house a bit, a massage, a bath, bedtime books, a couple lullabyes, another meal, and off to sleep! We shall see if it makes a difference tonight in how long she stays asleep. I also fed her a lot more tonight than I have in past nights, and gave her 2 doses of gas relief drops, one with each of her last 2 meals. All of that combined will hopefully help her sleep longer, and not wake up crying as she has recently. Well, I’m off to bed myself!

Jordan is 4 months today! Wow how time has flown! It seems like only yesterday when I was coming home from the hospital wondering if I’d ever have a “fat baby”. Well, I guess I don’t have to worry about that now! I’m still trying to get over my sickness, so we’ve been in the past 4 days laying low. Jordan’s been a bit more fussy lately, but that could be stemming from a million different things. The pediatrician said that around 4 months is when acid reflux peaks, I’ve been sick and around Jordan, so she may have caught a bit of what I have, or her gas issues could be getting worse. Whatever the reason, she has now cried “real tears”. Up to this point, she would cry but produce no tears. Well, last night that changed. Unfortunatly she was crying because Daddy accidently scared her. He came up behind her in the jumper/activity center and tickled her. She had a startled look on her face, and then came the screaming, and the tears!! Poor Jordan, and poor Daddy! She produced more tears today, but I think it was due to not feeling well. Possibly an upset tummy.
The latest “issue” we have had is sleeping. It’s been probably almost a month now that she has cried for around 30-60 min when I’m trying to get her to bed. And the sad thing is, it’s probably my fault for not adopting a bedtime routine. I’ve always been against the schedule idea, but I liked the idea of a routine, yet it never seemed to happen. Our lives aren’t organized that way, so it’s hard to have hers organized when our lives are all over the place. I also seem to have accidently given her a “suck-to-sleep” association. I’ve let her fall asleep nursing a few too many times, and then when I was allowed to use the pacifier (after she was 4 weeks old, as recommended by the lactation consultant) I started substituting that for getting her to sleep. It was the only way I knew she would go to sleep, and I took advantage of it.
Cindi, the infant massage teacher recommended a book to us about getting babies to sleep without the screaming sessions, and not using the “cry-it-out” method. I’ve never liked the idea of letting the baby cry in the crib, though I know it has worked for some. It’s just not a method I am comfortable using. Well, the book is “The No-cry Sleep Solution” by Elizabeth Pantley. I ordered it off Amazon a little bit ago, and the first day I had it I blew through the first 3 chapters, and started on my “sleep logs”. Basically before you do anything, you log a day of your child’s sleep- naps, bedtime routine, or lack there of, and night wakings. Jordan’s been pretty good about night wakings for a while, but of course, the day I do the log, she woke up 10 times! She’s chosen her own bed time and get up in the morning time, which seems to be somewhere between 7-8pm for sleeping, and between 8-9 to get up. I’m good with those times, though getting dinner in the evening is going to prove harder when I try to impose the bedtime routine. I haven’t gotten through the 4th chapter yet ( it a LOOOONG one), but I implimented some of the ideas tonight to see how we do. Our bedtime routine tonight was playing on the floor for a bit, then swinging in the swing while Mommy and Daddy ate some dinner, then a nice relaxing bath, saying goodnight to Daddy, reading a couple little baby board books, and getting her last meal of the night. For the last feeding I decided to move the rocking chair into her room and set up a little station in there to nurse her. That way it was quiet and dimly lit, plus I had less of a walk to get her to her crib in the “sleepy stage” before she totally woke up and I had to start all over. It was quite relaxing for me, though I didn’t get her off the “suck-to-sleep” association. I’m not sure if I want to try that at the same time as the routine, and all, but I probably should. The earlier the better, I suppose. I just don’t know how else I’ll get her to go to sleep if I don’t let her fall asleep with the pacifier in her mouth. I don’t want her dependant on that, though. She is sucking her hands more, and I would rather she use her hands instead of the pacifier, but I can’t force her to use them. **A little side anecdote- she is now trying to suck her thumb and eat at the same time when she starts to get sleepy. She starts by rubbing her face while she’s eating, like she does when she’s tired, then as soon as her thumb gets near her mouth she starts sucking on that instead, then realizes she’s not getting any milk, and switches back to nursing. I noticed she does that with her pacifier, too when she’s trying to fall asleep. Very funny to watch!** Anyway, she seems to try to put her hands in her mouth with her pacifier, and ends up knocking it out. She’ll suck on her hands for a little bit, but then cries because she seems to want the pacifier, but can’t get it in her mouth. Then when I replace it, she starts the whole process over again. I want her to use her hands instead of the pacifier, so she doesn’t need a “prop” to go to sleep, but the only why she’ll fall asleep is if I hold her hands away from her face, while holding the pacifier in her mouth. If I don’t do that, she cries and cries until she’s in a frenzy, and then she can’t sleep at all. So you can see my frustration. We’ll see how she does tonight with the routine, but unfortunatly tomorrow she won’t get her routine at all, because we’re heading to Disneyland for the Family Holiday Party, and it starts at 8pm. She’ll be wearing a pajama-like outfit that my mom bought her, so I can put her straight to bed when we get home. We’re not going to stay out too late, just long enough to see a character or two, and Santa, and maybe ride a kiddie ride or two. We’ll see how she does. Hopefully I can get her to take her long naps tomorrow.
Well, in the middle of that last paragraph I went into Jordan’s room because she was crying and it took me an hour and 15 min to get her to sleep….
And now it’s a half hour since I wrote that, because Jordan cried again, and I went in to get her to sleep. I’m going to end this post now before it’s morning!!