It's been awhile...

I've been busy. I was able to take quite a bit of time off over the holidays (which already seems like ages ago), so I took a hiatus from blogging while I was off. Not necessarily intentionally, but it worked out that way. Amanda's first holidays were so much fun, and I loved being able to take off so much time with her.

I've been back at work for about a month, and it's been a busy month. Looks like it will be this way for the foreseeable future.

Amanda is doing all sorts of fun things now - sitting up, turning over, starting to eat "real" food, etc. I can't believe she'll be six months old next week - I'll be sure to update for her latest stats.

Amanda and I have also been sick with colds twice since my last post. Poor thing has to do breathing treatments when she gets a cough, and the antibiotics cause tummy upset. We are finally getting over our last colds now. Due in part to the illnesses and in part to Amanda's habit of "biting" me, we've stopped nursing altogether. I do miss nursing, and I hope that the next time around I'll be able to stick with it longer, but hey, we made it almost 6 months, and that's not too shabby.

Since I'm no longer nursing, I'm considering beginning a 21 day purification program that includes supplements (both in capsule and shake form) and a limited diet of veggies, fruits, brown rice, lentils, healthy oils, and lean meats. The first 10 days are limited to a vegetarian diet. I don't think that the diet part would be hard for me to do as I love veggies (although this diet calls for as raw as possible - only steaming briefly if at all), but I imagine it will be hard to drink all the water, shakes, and take all of the pills. I'm going to try to do some meal planning to determine if it really is something I can do and stick with for the 21 days.

Amanda's 4 month update

Can it really be 4 months since Amanda was born? Time really does seem to go quicker now.

Here are the latest stats:

• Height: 25 inches (75th percentile)
• Weight: 13 pounds, 10 ounces (50th percentile)
• Head Circumference: 16 inches (48th percentile)

Amanda also received another round of vaccines at this visit.

Since starting daycare, it seems Amanda (and Mommy) have been suffering from runny noses. At least we are building up our immunities! We've added an incline to the crib which seems to help, but we plan to add a cool mist humidifier and maybe a Vicks Waterless Vaporizer soon as well. Hopefully these changes will bring longer periods of overnight sleep. Occasionally we are getting +/- 7 hours at a time, but since the congestion started, we are more often getting +/- 5 hours, which gets us up around 2:30 am. On those nights, we usually get another wakeup call at 5:00 am or so also. Our doctor also suggested saline drops to help when suctioning Amanda's nose, so we'll be trying that soon too.

Amanda's head and neck control is really good and I think this weekend I will pull out the Fisher Price jumperoo to try. I think this will take the place of our swing, which Amanda has never cared for too much. Amanda has been rolling from her back to her sides for several weeks now, and I'm sure it won't be too much longer before she can go from stomach to back and back to stomach.

The doctor suggested we wait to start solids until 5 1/2 months. Nelson and I were hoping to start a little sooner (Amanda drinks quite a bit of breastmilk/formula, so we thought she might be ready to move up to something more satisfying), but we will follow the doctor's advice. I guess we can wait a little longer before putting her high chair together.

Amanda has discovered the fun of splashing in her bathtub. She is also smiling at the puppy dog a lot. She is also quite the Daddy's girl - all Nelson has to do is walk in the room to get her grinning. Fun stuff!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday this year, Amanda's first. We were able to have lunch at my parent's house and visited with some extended family that I hadn't seen in a few months. It was quite the crowd there. We left them to go to my in-laws' house and enjoyed a turkey dinner there that included a wonderful Italian Wedding Soup as the first course. Needless to say, I think I've gained back a few pounds this weekend.

The week did not start quite as well with both Nelson and I getting sick. It's unusual for us to be sick, and especially at the same time. We both took Monday off and returned to work on Tuesday, but not at 100%. I was lucky to be able to work from home on Wednesday. Due to my illness, a sinus infection I believe, I have become obsessed with Neti Pots. I finally went out and bought one last night, and I'm a believer. I even convinced Nelson to try one! I can't believe how many people have posted videos of them using their Neti Pots on YouTube, but don't worry, you won't find me on there! I'm at about 90% now, but hopefully will be back at 100% by Monday.

This morning Nelson and I took Amanda for Christmas Photos - what a crazy ordeal! The photo studio was extremely busy and it took us about an hour longer than we expected (from start to finish). And of course Amanda was fussy by the time we were actually taking pictures. We did get a few nice family shots and a good one of Nelson and Amanda, but none of Amanda by herself or in her second outfit and none with me and her.

Finally, this afternoon Kim and I went to see Twilight. It followed the book fairly closely, and I enjoyed seeing the movie, but I think it is more of a supplement to the book than a replacement. There's no way I would be such a big fan if I had only seen the movie. Melanie commented that they did a great job casting this movie, and I couldn't agree more. In the vampire theme, I also have become addicted to the HBO series True Blood, so I may try to check out the books this series was based on.

Remaining tasks for this long weekend: laundry and decoration of the Christmas tree. It will be a busy day tomorrow!

And because I feel I should post a picture - here is the extended family from Amanda's first road trip. The handsome fella next to Amanda is cousin Julian, who was born about 18 days before Amanda. He's a solid boy, and such a cutie too!

Overdue Update

It's been awhile since I last posted. Time has been going by so quickly, it seems like Amanda was just born, but it's been 12 weeks.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Amanda is now fussing less and smiling more, and she's also using her voice for coos and occasionally squeals.
• Amanda has discovered her hands (she's using them to self-soothe) and to a lesser extent her feet and toys.
• Amanda can now put herself to sleep, at least for naps. We're using the crib for naps and the bassinet still for nighttime sleep. I think that will be changing soon though.
• Bath time is a fun time, tummy time is not.
• We've had two more doctors appointments. She's had her vaccinations, and at the last appointment (10-10-08, 2 months old) she weighed about 10.5 pounds and was 22.75 inches long (45th and 70th percentile).
• I'm returning to work on November 17th. At least this is the holiday season and I'm only working about 20 days until the end of the year. Amanda starts daycare next week to try it out while I'm still at home.
• I'm looking forward to making the gym part of my back to work routine. I'm about 10 pounds lighter than when I got pregnant, but I would love to drop about 15 more pounds. I think the gym has to be involved if I have any hope of that!

This weekend will be Amanda's first road trip - we'll be visiting some family. Nelson won't be coming along because of his work schedule, so I'm a bit anxious, although I know Auntie Kim will be a great help.

And since it's Election Day, GO VOTE if you haven't already! Amanda is all dolled up in her patriotic gear!

Hurricane Ike

Hurricane Ike has come and gone, but it's left an impression on the Houston area. Luckily my home and family is safe and sound, although we did have quite a bit of damage to our trees. We were without power for less than 24 hours, although it took longer for our cable to come back up (which included our land line). Cell service has been quite unreliable, although I think it is better today.

Amanda did quite well during the storm - she slept the whole night through. Her 1 month check up is rescheduled for this Friday. I'm pretty sure that she has colic, as she remains pretty fussy, and it seems to be worse this week. According to what I've read, colic gets worse closer to the six week mark, which we are approaching. Hopefully that means that it will start to get better soon. We actually have had a wonderful day so far, with much more quiet alert time and an easier time going down for naps. I guess we'll see how tonight is though, as her most fussy time is usually around 7 to 11 pm. Also, the past two weeks she had been pretty much sleeping through the whole night, however this week she has reverted to a later bedtime and a 4 am wake up call. I've started to wonder if she's going through a growth spurt.

I'm hoping to find time in the next couple of weeks to visit my office and show off my little girl - although I don't think Amanda would tolerate any lunch dates yet. Perhaps we can try that a little later.

We've also started looking into daycare options for when I return to work. We need to look at a few more options, but the first place we looked at was well received, but of course, I think it's probably our highest cost option. I'm also starting to work on a budget to get an idea of whether or not (or by how much) I can cut back my work hours.