Cereal & Bottle Feeding Attempts

So tonight after grocery shopping and picking up some baby rice cereal, I realized I was totally engorged on one side and figured we should give the rice cereal a go and revisit bottle feeding which I have not attempted in a couple months. The cereal is verrrrry liquidy at this point of just introducing it to Angela, but she did pretty good - didn't seem to hate it and was definitely eager to get that spoon in her mouth. It was also rather humerous to watch John attempt to give her a spoonful - he would bring the spoon to her mouth so slowly that she'd see it coming and those little nugget hands would be swooping in to grab the spoon and he'd be fighting to keep her hands away so he could get it at her mouth.

She didn't exactly latch on to the nipple on the bottle but didn't reject it as much as before - even attempting to put the bottle in her mouth on her own (with minimal success). I am also working on getting her to bed at a more reasonable hour - it seems like everyone I talk to has a baby that falls asleep by 6:30/7:30 - where mine is up till 9:00/10:00. Whenever I've tried to put her down at an earlier hour (say 8:00) she always wakes up within 20 minutes, as if it were a nap, and has no desire to go back to sleep right away. I was very proud of her tonight though when I laid her down in her crib (at the more typical 9:00) before she was asleep and within 10 minutes and some minimal fussing she was out like a light. I'm glad that she's not totally dependent on my nursing her or us rocking her to fall asleep.

Jumperoos are for jumping!

It's almost as if she knows I'm expecting her to jump so I can record it...

Smooth Sailing

In the past few weeks Angela has found her feet and despite not rolling over in either direction, she still enjoys tossing her legs into the air and twisting around - after a little bit this actually gets her moving around the floor. She has also become much more consistent with her night sleeping & luckily has been very good about going down for bed... but it seems every 2 months or so the rules change so we'll see what the future holds. However for now, I generally only need 6-7 hours of sleep per night so if I go to bed with her around 9:30 and wake up at 4:30 I have trouble getting back to sleep. I guess I've finally reached the point where I don't actually have to go to bed at the same time as her!

4 Month Check up

Despite sleeping 7 hours straight last night Angela was cranky this morning because she didn't get much sleep once she woke up. Luckily she took a nice little nap before it was time to go to the doctor's office. Currently she is 25.5 inches and 14lbs 11oz (90% for length and 75th for weight). She did get two more shots and I did the smart thing this time and gave her the tylenol when I got home instead of waiting for her to get super cranky (per the dr's suggestion). He has left it up to us to decide whether or not to start feeding her baby cereal, personally I don't think she's ready for it and will wait atleast another month, I'm thinking. I have given her carrots to suck and taste so she can gain a sense that there is more than just milk out there. At first she normally makes of a face of "what the heck is this?!" but then decides she likes it and will vigorously lick it and even muster up enough coordination to hold the carrot in her mouth.

Angela also had her first baby play date, not too much playing together, more just of Leah pointing at her and watching. However Leah did give some super hugs and even a very delicate kiss on the nose.

Who's on the phone?

New Winter Outfit

So Angela is getting a bit too big for her 6 month bunting and the 6-9 month one I had ordered from Macys was too big, I exchanged it for a 3-6 size and it was still too big and thus difficult to get her into the carseat with it on which definitely upsets her. So I figured, hey no big deal, I'll take a trip to the Carter's store down the street and get a new fleece one. Yes well the world of baby clothing stores is apparently no different from the adult clothing store world. They had clearanced all their winter clothes and brought in all the summer clothes. How the heck do I know what size this baby is going to be this summer? Needless to say they didn't have a single outerwear outfit for her. We headed to Kohl's (which anyone is a fool to buy anything there that isn't on sale because the whole store is always "on sale") where we had the same scenario, except this time I was lucky enough to find a single 9 month fleece outerwear. Granted, right now she's dressed up as a reindeer, but I really don't give a hoot - it's warm, it fits her, and I don't think too many people are going to notice that there are reindeer antlers on the top of her hoodie. We used it to take her to church this evening. Normally we sit in the back, but I figured let's try sitting up front where she can see everything. She did excellent except for the fact that we cut it close to her next feeding (we went grocery shopping just before church and didn't have time to nurse) and she got a bit fussy toward the end. She loves to stare at people ... and being a baby lots of people stare at her so it's a good source of entertainment for her.

Uh... uh... almost!

Angela really isnt trying to roll over, she's more of a squirmer and likes to toss her legs in the air and move around. John is trying to encourage her to crawl (a tad bit on the early side but it's more for fun), she lies on her belly and watches him crawl around her and occasionally she'll shimmy her little legs like she's trying.

The growth spurt seems to be over. She's back to being a one-sided feeder, and my personal favorite - a fan of pulling off frequently while she eats which results in the following.

Not to mention how much gets on me or the sofa. Breastfeeding is really the bomb though, I always nurse Angela if she's fussy and right before bed and she falls asleep every time, I can't imagine having to wake up in the night and make a bottle. It's actually pretty funny because John's alarm can go off, he can get up and get ready for work and it doesn't wake me up, but if I hear Angela sucking on her fingers it wakes me up - I guess those mother's ears have kicked in for sure. I feel sad for all those babies that are fed formula and deal with upset stomachs and constipation and can't nurse to comfort themselves.

Angela has a dr's appt next Tuesday and I'm excited to see how much she's grown. Some of these 6 month outfits are starting to get snug and after the multitude of gifts she's received I have a vast selection of 9 month clothes. It is kind of sad though when people buy her a bunch of clothes (especially if they're just 'ok') because I feel obligated to use them and buy less clothes for her that I really want to see her in. I exchanged a couple outfits this past weekend (for the first time someone actually bought her something she already had in the same size) and I got diddilly squat from Macys for them. I really do hope that I have another girl down the line so I can reuse all these clothes, some of them that she never wore or maybe got a chance to wear once or twice.