Friday, June 27, 2008

Portrait Innovations!








Today, we took Ceci to Portrait Innovations for the first time. She was great. She got a little fussy around the end but we were able to get 111 shots of her and I chose 7 poses to get copies printed of. I can't wait to get them all uploaded. I will put several here so that y'all can see just how big she is getting!

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

11 weeks old today!

I can't believe that it has been 11 weeks since Ceci was born! The time seems to have flown by and she is getting bigger and bigger every day. I am amazed at how quickly she is developing and meeting her milestones. I think that we are about to have to move up to a larger size diaper too (finally out of the newborn size into the size 1). She is holding her head up like a champ and is sitting in her Bumbo chair to eat most meals. Yesterday, she had a meal of apricots with mixed fruit and rice cereal. She is eating 4-6 ounces of formula when she takes a bottle and is putting on weight like a normal baby now. At night, she is sleeping in her crib (most of the time) and is only waking 1 time (on most nights). She is playing independently and is loving her new floor mat that is "perfectly pink". I even caught her watching Sesame Street the other morning! Her smiles are more meaningful and she is much more interactive during play time. I can't believe that she will be 3 months old next week. We will be going to Ashford for the annual McArthur reunion and she will meet the rest of the extended family (many many cousins)for the first time. I know that they will all be glad to see how well she is doing now. We go back to the doctor on July 9 and she will likely be starting her shots at that time. We have delayed giving them for several reasons, but now, have few excuses left to keep us from doing it. I am not looking forward to that day because I know that she will be in pain and probably not feel good. I hate seeing her hurt. I guess that is what mom's do though. I have been bad about not uploading pictures but hopefully soon I will get a chance to do so. I know that there are a lot of people who want to see my little peanut grow up!

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Lots of stuff is happening!

She is getting big so fast! I can't believe how quickly Ceci is growing. Since we started to feed her solid foods, she has really started to pack on the pounds (well, not so much pounds but ounces!) Ceci is becoming an expert at eating from a spoon and she will pretty much put anything in her mouth that you give her. Today, she is 10 weeks old. She is holding her head up and is able to sit in her Bumbo chair on a regular basis. Her favorite thing to do is lay on her back on her play mat and make the noises/songs play by hitting the various buttons and hangy-down things. Ceci is smiling at people and even makes a sound that is almost like laughter when you tickle her. She is much better in the bath tub and no longer screams when you try to put lotion on her. Last night, she slept all night long in her own crib in her own room and only got up one time to take a bottle! I am so proud of her!!! It is amazing how quickly she is progressing now that she is getting the right nutrients into her system. I never imagined I would be so excited to see someone eat from a spoon or drink a whole bottle or hold their head up but right now-its the little things that matter the most. I am looking forward to her being able to sit up on her own. I feel like it will probably be a little early since she is doing so well in the Bumbo at such a young age. I have taken a ton of pictures, so hopefully, I can get a little while soon when I can sit down, upload them and add some pictures to the blog.

At this point, I think she has met most of the family too. She has made trips to Oneonta, Ashford and Marietta and many people have made trips to see her. Routine is finally becoming set for us and all three of us are getting into the groove. I went back to work when she was 5 1/2 weeks old and it has been really hard to be away from her for so many hours a day. I have decided that Jesse and I need to become independently wealthy so that I don't have to work anymore. Hopefully, while I am searching for a new job, I can find something that gives me a little more flexibility and time with her.

On a side note...I am having to search for a new job b/c my position is being eliminated by October. Apparently the brilliant Alabama legislature decided that funding for mental health treatment needed to be cut/decreased for the upcoming fiscal year. As a result, the state department of mental health has cut the funding to many of the local community mental health agencies. Being the last one hired, I am being given the opportunity to find a new job. I have had one interview that went really well; however, I have not heard from the company about a 2nd interview. Hopefully, something will come from that. I have decided that after all of this chaos, I am not "married" to the counseling profession and am willing to move into a totally different career if I can find one that suites me. So, if you know of a good paying, flexible job in Birmingham, let me know. I am not above applying for any job at this point, as October is getting closer by the day!

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

It's been too long!-Update from the past 8 weeks

Ceci is 8 weeks old today! We have had an eventful past 2 months. Many things have happened that I never would have expected-even with the amount of child-care experience I have had in the past. Here is the long and short of what has happened:

When Ceci was about 2 weeks old, we noticed that she cried ALL the time. She would eat, but not very much and she would sleep for 6-7 hours at a time when she could actually achieve sleep. Shortly before she was 3 weeks old, she came down with a case of diarrhea that lasted for 7 days. We took her to the doctor 3 times during that time. On one particular Saturday, she went through more than 20 diapers, just in that one day. We knew that something more was wrong. On the following Monday, we took her back to the doctor for a 4th time. It was then that they weighed her and found that she had lost back down to 5 lbs 7 ozs. She was extremely dehydrated and malnurished. I thought that since she was nursing for long periods of time (sometimes 1.5 hours or more) that she was getting everything she needed. Apparently not! Dr. Latona saw her and immediately told us to go straight to Children's Hospital and that Ceci was being admitted. I cried. I was devistated that she would have to be admitted and that she was now being considered as "failure to thrive". While at Children's Hospital, a 3 day stay, Ceci was started on Hypoallergenic Formula. We also did a little experiment to see how much milk I was producing-it wasn't much...I was drying up so to speak. Also of note, we found out that she was allergic to milk proteins and could not take breastmilk without having diarrhea and colic-like symptoms. It was amazing when they gave us that first bottle of formula. She sucked it down like she hadn't eaten in days! It was obvious that she was more comfortable within about 2 hours. Within the next 24 hours-the screaming and the diarrhea both stopped completely. After the short stay at the hospital, Ceci had gained back to her birth weight of 6 lbs 1 oz. They sent us home with a Home Health Care Nurse and told us that they would be monitoring her progress weekly. We were told to set alarms and to feed her every 2-3 hours, whether she was hungry or not. We followed this regimen to the letter and by the first week, she was finally gaining weight. At her next doctor's appointment, we were told to go ahead and start her on solid foods (rice cereal, oatmeal, mixed grain cereal ,fruits and veggies). Since then, she has consistently been gaining weight! Last week she weighed 8 lbs!!!!! Today, she went to see Dr. Latona for her 8 week checkup and she weighed 8 lbs 9ozs! She was 21 inches long today. Last week was the first week she was on the growth chart for her age. She was in the 5th percentile! I know that this is long, but we have been so preoccupied with trying to help her "thrive" that there has been very little time for blogging. Today, they told us that we no longer have to have the Home Health Nurse! Last week, Ceci finally grew out of the Preemie diapers. She is out of the preemie clothes and is now finally wearing Newborn sized clothes (0-3 month sizes are still a little too big). Since she has come home from the hospital and has been started on solid foods, she has also started to sleep much better (a blessing for us b/c she had only been sleeping for 45 minutes at a time-and no, I am not exaggerating). Now, she only wakes 1 time each night. She is up for about 1-2 hours and then goes back to bed. We are truly thankful that she is finally starting to "thrive". She is holding her head up and is starting to smile! She is absolutely precious!

Ok, so this was long, but it was a rare moment that I had to myself, while Jesse is holding her and she is asleep. Hopefully, as she starts to become more consistent with some kind of schedule, I can update more regularly.