My first Mother's Day and an unwelcome guest.

Well the last week has been eventful.  After we went to the doctor last Friday afternoon and discussed how we need to start letting Anna cry at night when she wakes up because she doesn't need to eat anymore in the middle of the night, we went home and she slept almost all the way through the night without waking up. (I think she got up at 5am but fell back to sleep)  Then on Saturday she slept 8pm to 6am!  I thought "Wow it was like she knew we were talking about this and decided it was time to start sleeping again"  We went out on Sunday doing errands and I thought she felt kind of hot.  I took her temperature later in the afternoon and sure enough, it was 100.5.  Not a very high fever, but still a fever.  We had also noticed these little "pimple"-like bumps on her fingers, feet and one under her chin. I decided to call the doctor who suggested we get an appointment first thing on Monday.  YAY.

Needless to say, turns out the Anna had "Hand Foot & Mouth Disease" (Coxsackie virus) and the blisters were multiplying! They were now all over her hands and feet and looking pretty intense.  Her fever had gone down but she was still not herself and we were told to stay out of daycare for the rest of the week while the blisters took their time to go away.  Apparently the fluid in the blisters can be contagious and to be around other little kids wouldn't be the best thing.  I called daycare to tell them about her condition and I was surprised to hear the director tell me she didn't know what I was talking about.  (After talking to people all week, almost every parent at work or elsewhere had heard of it and almost all of their kids had had this.  How on EARTH does this woman not know what it is, and run a daycare?? Suspicious.)   Either way, Anna now had to be quarantined for the week.  Doug was on-site for work and couldn't take time off so I was looking at having to take the entire week.  Very frustrated, I called my mom asking for help (as always) and she said she could take Tuesday off, I would work from home on Wednesday and another frantic call to my mother-in-law got us a babysitter for Friday (they would come down for the weekend early and babysit so I didn't have to miss another day).  I am so thankful for everyone's help playing with a little diseased baby covered in some gross-looking blisters.  It was nice to know that I have that support if/when I need it.  It just felt like another blow, as lately I feel like I can't catch a break.

Warning: blister shots.

What they looked like on Sunday

At their worst on Wednesday or Thursday

She obviously didn't sleep well all week, up a lot during the night, lots of crying and needing comfort. Since she was sick I didn't plan to just let her cry it out, since she obviously wasn't crying just for attention. This week though, I'm over it.  So really, with the exception of Thursday night - where she slept 8 to 5am again, and then back to bed til 7ish, we had a rough week.

She is growing up every day, learning new things, exploring the world, trying to do new stuff, chatting, moving, drooling, rolling, squirming.  I know this can be the hardest phase of sleep since they are constantly changing and growing and their brains and bodies are getting bigger and stronger and more advanced every day.  She is cuter by the minute, a happy happy baby - except in the middle of the night.  Then she is a miserable SOB.

Playing with Gram when I was out at work (my favorite picture)

Practicing the quick getaway and innocent face to go along with it

Reading with Grandpa

Lately she has really started doing raspberries, laughing a lot more, and she LOVES giving kisses and hugs.  Her kisses are of the wide-open mouth variety, where she eats about half your cheek, but damn is it cute.

She is rolling both ways now and you cannot leave her unattended anymore. She likes rolling around in her crib and this week I had to install the breathable bumpers to protect rogue arms or legs from escaping through the bars.

Just before I installed bumpers.  Necessary.

She is THRILLED when Doug gets home from work, her entire face lights up.  She still won't give him (or my dad) kisses since they have scratchy beard faces.  She gets close and then aborts at the last minute. It's kind of funny. I do think she's gotten used to him kissing her though, she used to get really mad and yell.  She also loves when Doug plays airplane and zooms her around the room and towards me or someone else.  The smile is a huge open mouth variety and she can't get enough.

Also this weekend we celebrated my first Mother's Day. The weather was perfect both Saturday and Sunday and I had a great weekend. After shopping and preparing for Sunday's brunch, I went out and got a manicure and treated myself to frozen yogurt and a walk around Red Bank. It was a nice break to help clear my head from a long, tiring week.  I came home feeling like a new woman. (with beautiful bright pink nails.)  We grilled outside and ate on the deck - trying to enjoy every minute of the deck now before the bugs swarm and it's impossible to sit out there for longer than 5 minutes without being eaten alive.  Ahh....nature.  It was a perfect night!  Sunday we were hosting Mother's Day brunch for my parents, Doug's parents and Uncle Brian and his girlfriend Kelly. It was a great day, lots of delicious food, mimosas, conversation, gifts and fun.  Anna took a couple decent naps and was in pretty good spirits all day.  All in all, it was a good one and a very nice first Mother's day for me!

Doug is off to North Carolina this week for work until Thursday, leaving me as a "single mother" for a few days ;)  Thankfully Anna is back to daycare tomorrow, I am back to work and next thing we know Daddy will be home!  Time apart is never easy, time in different states STINKS!

Photos of the week - enjoy!

Sick, but keeping a good attitude!

cutie ruffles (and spit up mark hehe)

first time in the grass

this is crazy guys!!

me and my mini-me (looking like Daddy here!)

Sitting in the little rocker Pop refinished for Anna. We think it could be 70+ years old!

Happy, happy, happy

A visit to Aunt Jeanie!

Standing up inside the exersaucer! Last week she couldn't touch!

So proud of herself!

5 Month Stats

Our doctors appointment went well last night.  2 more shots, a little bit of crying, a lot of wriggling around on the paper (and rolling herself like a taco in it!), some pep-talking about "cry it out" and a go-ahead for rice cereal for Anna.  Seems like she may be hungrier then we give her credit for and we can give it a shot!  If it doesn't seem to work, we'll try again in a couple weeks.

5 Month Baby Stats:
16 pounds, 4 ounces (75th-90th percentile)
25 inches long (50th percentile)

All is well.  Measuring on track and hitting all the developmental milestones: grasping objects, passing them hand to hand, rolling over (back to front), "talking", propping herself up on her elbows, and she seems to really know who Mommy and Daddy are.  It's a fun time, watching her grow and change every day.  (And we all swear her hair is getting longer by the minute - and seems sort of RED!)

Here are some 5 month photos!
(For the girl who turns 5 months old, on the 5th day of the 5th month!)

Fun at the doctor.... before shots!

She was in a SUCH a good mood!  Laughing, playing, very cute

We broke out the highchair to make sure she could even sit in it before we made plans for any rice cereal eating.
She seems pumped and ready! Bring on the grub!

Couch Shot:

Shag Rug Shots:

Just for fun!

Here I am today, in the typical work bathroom photo shoot. Things are the same... but so different!

[Almost] 5 months

Well our little peanut is now (for all intents and purposes) 5 months old!  [Yes, I will do an update post on Saturday with a new photo and new stats from our doctors appointment - so check back!]

YUMMY FEET! (and yummy rolls!)

We've been very busy the last few weeks - battling a bad cold mostly, hence my lack of posting last week.  Unfortunately I think daycare did her in and she got her first bad cold :(  At the time I was only working 2 days a week (Wednesday and Friday) and I had to call out on Wednesday.  We had one of the worst nights since Anna was a newborn and barely sleeping - only this time she cried and cried and cried uncontrollably.  She clearly did not feel well and did not know what was going on.  To top it off, Doug had a very busy week with work and wasn't even home Tuesday night.  It was probably for the best, as we didn't get any sleep and he would have still had to go into work & be "on".  I felt bad calling out, like I am unreliable - but I know that her health and comfort are the most important, and if I had sent her in to daycare on pretty much 3 hours of sleep & without the ability to breathe I would have been a MESS all day.  I think that's worse then not showing up.  So we cuddled a lot, slept when we could, went to the doctor to rule out ear infection or chest cold (both were clear), and tried all day to just feel better.  I know that just being with me helped her too, and I was able to forget about work by 10am.  This sickness definitely tested me, as I was so overtired and felt terrible that she was so sick - but I got through it!  Score one for Mommy.

this was the ONLY way she would sleep in the height of sickness. Across me, on Daddy's pillow.

So even by Thursday morning she was feeling & acting much more like herself, so I know I made the right choice.  Even though she was still stuffy, we went to work and daycare respectively on Friday and both of us seemed to have a good day. She was happy when I picked her up, had a busy day full of activities and actually took some decent naps (daycare napping is not her thing - well napping in general is still a struggle for us).  And over the weekend she seemed back to her normal self and I was able to put away the dreaded boogie-sucker 99% of the time.  [this morning she was stuffy again and I had to use it -- not a happy baby!]

Someone got a fun new toy! She is still a little small for it but she has been having fun in it!

Now I am back to work 3 days a week.  My new schedule is Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.  I still get 3-day weekends having Mondays off, which is really nice. I hope this works out for all of us in the long run. I get to get out, have some adult human interaction, use my brain and get dressed nicely - and Anna gets to play with other people and babies. Besides the sickness aspect, I think it is going to be a really good thing for us!  I am getting more and more adjusted to being back, and getting into my old routine of work has come fairly easy.  On one hand it felt like I had been gone like a week but sometimes I feel like I've been gone forever. Again, everything will get easier as time goes by.  My bosses will have to adjust to me being a mom now and not always being able to stay late, etc.  Ken is really good about that stuff (so far), he and Steve are both dads and know that I'm not a flake and won't just not show up or care about work. I am going to get a computer to take home as well that I will be able to help out from time to time if needed.

This was me & Anna on our first days of work and daycare.
Obligatory "first day of school" shot.

Other things going on:  
I am losing my hair at a rapid pace.  On track to be bald in about a month.  This is typical after you have a baby - although I don't know when it's supposed to stop.  I've been shedding now for about a month, each day it seems to get worse. It's pretty gross. 

I have to pump at work during the day (3 times) and that is just as weird as you think.  Thankfully there is an open office with a door and NOT a glass wall (pretty much every office here has a full glass wall instead of a normal wall).  It isn't occupied at the moment so I am able to go down there and set up shop comfortably and escape for 10-15 minutes.  I thought it would be harder to get into the mind space to do that job, but it hasn't been too bad.  Only on days when we are really busy & there are lots of meetings and things going on have I felt too stressed to relax down there.  I have to make it a priority and thankfully there are laws behind it that no one can give me a hard time about taking the "break".  It's actually really helped me over the past few weeks to have a little time to myself to regroup.

Doug has been very busy at work and is doing great!  He really likes his job, his company and co-workers.  It's great what a good change can do for you.  He is really being pushed to be better and smarter and to learn more and I think it's a great thing for him.  We do miss him with the longer commute, but it could be worse.  The ferry he takes every day to work is about 2 minutes away, so we know once he gets in it's not that much longer till he walks in the door. There are more after-work commitments than I would like, especially after the longest days with Anna, but I know most of it is only for the betterment of his career.  He can't opt out of everything at this point when the job and industry is all still new to him, but it does get hard on us!  We're so proud of all he's done so far! (oh right, and he's OLD now! hehe)

Happy 30th Birthday old man!

But the most fun "news" was Anna's first real road trip!  We went on our first getaway and headed down to Virginia to see Aunt Lisa!!  We have been trying to plan a visit since I was pregnant-- and nothing ever worked out for us.  So we put this visit in the books about 2 months ago (it was the first weekend that worked for both of us! Jeez!) and early Saturday morning we set out on our adventure - truck packed to the gills. We timed it in such a way that Anna was fed, changed and would be ready for a nap once we got underway and somehow it actually worked!  (Plans of any kind with a baby barely ever work)  She slept for almost 2 hours while we were on the road!  Amazing!!  We stopped, had a bite to eat, got a new diaper, got resettled and went on for the rest of the 2 hours to Reston, VA. She was good, napped a little bit more and just hung out and played in the back seat.

We had a great time visiting! Aunt Lisa's place is gorgeous, her town is so cool (think big city/but small town feel) and we were just 20 minutes from Washington DC.  We went into the city on Sunday (which was a gorgeous, sunny, 72 degree day) and walked around the National Mall, taking in all the monuments.  We had lunch and then went to the Spy Museum, which turned out to be a bit more involved than any of us thought.  I had to carry Anna in the baby bjorn (they have a no stroller policy) and there were many flashing lights, loud movie displays, lots of people, etc. and by the end she had had enough.  I knew we were moments away from a meltdown so we kind of had to hurry through.  I felt bad since I know Doug (and Lisa) would have liked to stay longer.  We said you could have easily spent 5 hours in there reading, watching, etc.  That afternoon was Anna's only meltdown of the trip - she was exhausted. So much to see, do, watch, and she was just OVER IT. Even after eating and getting settled for a nice car ride home, she just melted down and cried and cried and cried.  So overtired she couldn't relax.  She wanted out of the car seat or stroller. I can't say I blame her, but it was so tiring to listen to after a long day (and longer night).  [Side note: she had 2 crappy nights of sleep at Lisa's. I think it was a combo of the pack&play being foreign to her, the mattress part of it moved whenever she rolled around - it was like a hammock almost, and us being in the same room may have contributed.  She woke up every 2 hours both nights, which she hasn't done since she was like 4 weeks old.  OUCH.]

YAY Aunt Lisa!

The calm before the storm. Both poop and emotional.

Overall the trip was a great success.  She was fun to have around, lots of smiling and laughing and really in a good mood overall.  She let us sight see, eat lunch out, visit at night with no problems, and drive both to and from Virginia with very little problem.  She DID however have a massive poop problem after the morning of sightseeing though. We pulled into the parking garage for lunch and I heard her pushing, so I said "Oh I'll change her at the restaurant" and when Doug pulled her from her car seat we saw the carnage!  It was EVERYWHERE. Shirt, pants destroyed.  We had to have a full change on Lisa's back seat before we ate, and all 3 of us were hysterically laughing - thank god!  You had to have a strong stomach to deal with that mess!

No you have no pants on while sightseeing!

Other Anna "milestones":

• Went to the oral surgeon for our second opinion on her "tooth" situation.  He wasn't convinced it was molars. He said he thought it might be something called "Epstein's Pearls". Everything I've read makes it sound like newborns get them & they go away within 2 weeks of birth.  We all know she is far from that. He said he didn't feel any hard tissue under the white bumps so he wants to see us back.  We go again on May 21 for another check.  We'll see...
• She is constantly eating at her feet now, especially during diaper changes.  Sort of makes that process hard to master.
• If you put her on her back she is pretty much immediately on her belly.  There is no more 'leave her on the couch a second' since everything is SO interesting to her, she's bound to take off.
• On that same note, nursing is a real challenge even more so lately.  She wants to constantly look around and see EVERYTHING.  Whatever she hears is cause to stop and look around. Even just the pattern on a pillow or blanket can cause distraction.  I'm not sure how this is going to continue but it can be frustrating!
• Over the past few days she's taken to blowing real raspberries - with tons of drool!  There are so many drool bubbles flying it's kind of funny.
• She is a really very happy baby.  We've gotten so lucky in that aspect.  The sleep may stink and we may be exhausted, but she loves us so much and is so happy to see us every day. The no-sleep thing won't be forever.  When I pick her up from daycare she actually "hugs and kisses" me - arms wrapped around my head/neck and I get a big open mouth "kiss" every time.  She scrunches up her little butt and burrows in my neck. It's the best part of the day.  I will say that the drive to daycare at 5pm is by FAR the longest part of my day - and it maybe takes me only 15 minutes to get there! It's torture! All I want to do is pick her up and squeeze her for the rest of the night. (A bonus of going to work is this new-found excitement over seeing her at the end of the day!)
• She is very interested in us eating or drinking.  If you are holding her, watch out - she will swipe at whatever you have and try to make it her own. I'm wondering if the doctor will approve us to start "cereal" on Friday when we go to the doctor.  It will be a funny sight I'm sure!
• She has started to throw toys out of her little 'hammock' seat too.  She'll be happily playing and then BAM - the baby doll is across the room.  Funny now, I'm sure really OLD soon.
• She has taken to sleeping pretty much exclusively on her belly. If I don't put her down on her belly, she rolls there and sometime smacks into the crib slats. I need to put up that breathable bumper - if only for a little buffer between her head and that hard wood!  The first night she did it she scared the crap out of me. She almost looked face down and was pressed against the side of the crib. Doug and I decided to "move her" before we went to sleep. HILARIOUS IDEA GUYS!  I woke her up in this process and she was NOT happy. It took me over an hour to get her to fall back to sleep.  Oh and this was a work night. Awesome.  So my new rule is 'never mess with a sleeping baby'. If I don't like her position, I sometimes make noise into the monitor enough to make her move her head but still staying asleep.  One good thing though- she likes napping on her belly and will stay asleep longer than 30 mins!

This is a photo of the first night she rolled on her belly at some point before we went to bed. We should have left well enough alone.

So I think that's it for now. Enjoy the photos of the last couple weeks!  I'll be back on Saturday to update monthly photos & stats!

Starting to try to roll in her little hammock seat.  Uh oh.

Helping me garden out front

Didn't take much to wear her out. I'm surprised Doug isn't grounding her for laziness.

Visit to the oral surgeon, marked by a nice poop on the way there. Resulting in a diaper change on their bathroom floor before we saw him

whatchu talkin bout willis?

our Anna, reaching for "Lake Anna" wine in Virginia

Me and Aunt Lisa!

Sightseeing

our littlest companion was quiet for a long while!

family shot

beautiful shot

HI! look who is awake (and kicking socks off.. shocker!)

Aunt Lisa on stroller duty

Family shot #2

trying to get her to look at the camera is useless

the cute outfit before the poop storm

Family shot #3

having a good laugh at the naked baby in the backseat of the car!

Aunt Lisa and the mad pooper