Catching Up

I know it has been a long time since I have updated, life has been busy.
My Princess has been learning and growing so much over the last few months.
She knows a lot of sounds now, she can do an Elephant, a Cat, a Dog, a Bird (in her own way), and a Train.
She can also point out several things on her body and clothes (nose, hair, toes, hands, buttons, etc)
She is getting more effective in communication with us almost every day, she lets us know what she wants (and what she doesn't)

There is so much more that it is very hard to try to summarize, I'll try to fill in a few stories over the next little bit here.

She'll always be my Baby Girl

Last week My Princess turned 1!  I am amazed both at how fast this seemed to come, but also how far we have gone on this journey.  I was remembering how small she was when she was first born, how I was afraid to turn her around fearing that I would drop her.  To now, where she is starting to attempt her first steps, learning how to communicate both verbally and by pointing, and being carried around on my shoulders.
Apparently she has officially become a toddler; she is not wanting baby food anymore, she would rather eat what we are eating; and gone are the days where she would be content to just be held all day.  There are still precious times where she cuddles up to us, but she likes to be on the move.
Even though she is growing up, and will never be an infant again, she will always be my Baby Girl.

That's one way to wean her off pacifiers

My Princess was sick for the first time several weeks ago.  It was so difficult to watch her since she really didn't know what was happening, she just knew she felt bad and couldn't breath and couldn't eat.  She became very restless while trying to sleep and ended up propped up on one of us during the night.
The one good outcome of this is that she stopped taking a pacifier because when she tried to use it she couldn't breathe.  My Wife and I had been discussing how best to wean her off her pacifiers by 1 year, and this solved the problem for us.  However, she did start refusing solid foods, preferring her bottle even after she got better.

Stairmaster

So we just moved into a new house last week, and within 1 hour of My Princess getting there she climbs up the stairs.  No previous experience with stairs, no coaching from us (other than staying behind her), she was just like "I will climb them, because they are there."  Now to stop her from trying to go down head first....

I think I'm going to put this in my mouth

We had an extreme scare the other night.  Our Princess had somehow found a small foil candy wrapper and got it in her mouth, we got it out and she is fine, but my Wife almost had to call 911.  I'm glad that we took the Infant CPR class, and I would recommend it to any parent or care-taker.  Then the next night she found some sort of stick or twig and had it in her mouth.  We are now very actively searching the floor for anything she might find interesting, which is everything.
She seems to want to put Everything in her mouth, like today she found my cell phone in my pocket and immediately tried to put it in her mouth, I moved it away from her mouth and it went right back, repeat for several minutes.  I don't know what we can do at this point except watch her very closely, we turned around briefly last night and she picked up a small file while still holding her other toys so that we didn't notice it until she started to put that in her mouth.
Apparently she got this trait from my Wife, her mom said she would put everything into her mouth as well. I am glad that My Princess has some of my Wife's traits; a beautiful voice, a heart warming smile.  Well, I guess you have to take the bad with the good.

Is "No" just another word for "Go Ahead"

I guess there comes a time in the first year where the child is fully capable of getting into trouble, but completely incapable of understanding "No."  For Our Princess, the time is now.  We tell her "No" and she just smiles at us, we pull her away from something and she goes right back to it.  We don't know what to do.  We found several sites online that basically said that during this time it is very hard because the child just doesn't understand.  Some tips that we found from BabyCenter say to acknowledge the positive, being persistent in saying "No" and diverting their attention to something else.  We are still working on this..

The Car Ride Home...

Looking back they didn't keep us in the hospital long enough, we should have stayed one more night, but they sent us home a couple of days after Our Princess was born.  On our way down we got in the same elevator as another couple going home with their 3rd kid, and I think the difference between us was obvious, my Wife and I nervously holding Our Princess, and the other couple confidently taking their sleeping child out.
I was quite surprised that the nurse that pushed us down did not even look to see if we had a car seat or knew how to use it.  We only live about 30 minutes from the hospital, but Our Princess was crying so much that we had to keep stopping to take her out to comfort her that it took more than twice that amount.
Things didn't get much better once we got her home, we tried everything we knew to do, but nothing seemed to help.  Eventually at 4am we decided to try to give her some formula which calmed her down immediately.  Turns out she had been hungry this whole time, but the nurses at the hospital never noticed that she wasn't eating enough.  Luckily my Wife had the fore-thought to purchase formula and bottles, unfortunately we had to boil them while Our Princess was hungry and crying (which caused me to splash boiling water on myself) and then we could not figure out how to use the bottles correctly (they have this air vent thing that we installed wrong so the formula just streamed out) and then we could not get our bottle heater to work properly (again, just not knowing how to use it).  If we have another child I know we'll be better but I wish I had prepared a bit earlier for this.

The Story of our Princess' Birth

I don't feel too qualified to try to describe exactly how my wife felt while pregnant, I'll see if I can get her to post a comment with her side, but I know the basics.  My Wife never had the weird cravings that people told me she would get; no chocolate pickle sundae, no fish sticks and peanut butter in the middle of the night, nothing.  I was kind of disappointed because I had all the local store hours memorized and had a couple of 24 hour stores on my radar.  She mainly had food aversions, I couldn't plan dinner at all because more than half the time she would not want what I had planned, I think we ate out a lot.
There were tons of Dr appointments, it seemed like 3 or 4 a week towards the end.  We had several false alarms with Our Princess.  My Wife had almost continual contractions for almost a month before she finally gave birth.  The Dr's never could say why she was having all these contractions, but it didn't dilate her enough for them to get concerned.  It was determined that she would have to be delivered via C-Section, my Wife had a surgery earlier in life that made an epidural and natural birth not a good idea.
On March 7th, she started to have heavy contractions again so we made our way to the hospital to see what they would say.  At this point the contractions were coming every few minutes.  The Dr walks in and does his examinations and actually tells us that he "is not here to catch all the C-Sections" he then told us to go home, but that we will probably be back later in the night.  Unbelievable!
The nurse, hearing what the Dr said and seeing my Wife's contractions left the room for a few minutes before coming back and telling us we were going to have Our Princess that night!  I don't know if she told off the Dr that saw us, or called the Dr whose shift would start in a couple hours, but we are eternally grateful for her.
So we got a Dr and Staff that was just starting their shift!  He came in and explained what would happen, the anesthesiologist said he would try his best to get the spinal so my Wife could be awake (and I could be in the room).  After that they took my wife in, got me suited up and I had to wait what seemed like hours until I was allowed in the room.
They took me to the other side of the curtain and then started the surgery and a few minutes later we hear a cry and Our Princess is brought around to our side so we can see her.  I was so nervous I could barely hold her, let alone turn her around, but I stayed with her as she got washed and we waited for my Wife.  Honestly one of the most beautiful experiences in my life.
                

"Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba"

I know My Princess can make lots of different noises, but her favorite is "Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba."  No matter how hard my Wife and I try to have her say something else (I'm currently trying to work on "I Love DaDa") all we get back is "Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba."  Every now and then it sounds like she is saying "granpa"and when she is hungry or distressed for some reason she will say "mama" or "mom," but to tell you the truth I'm feeling a bit left out.  I was initially elated because for a whole day a while back she went "Da-Da-Da-Da," but since then it seems that she has forgot how to say it (or she is just playing with me.)  Oh well, I can always tell myself that when she is saying "Ba-Ba" she really means "DaDa" :)

Daddy Time

I am taking some time off work (late November to early January) to take care of My Princess and I'm now a week and a half in and loving it.  She is so fun to interact with and play with throughout the day.  There are some challenges and I'm still learning, but I'm looking forward to all the bonding that we'll get to do during this time.

Sleepless in Southern California

I don't know why she has started to do this now, but Our Princess has decided that she does not like sleeping in her crib.  During Thanksgiving week there was not one night that she would not cry as if she was in extreme pain the moment we put her down until the moment we picked her back up.
No matter how much we sang or how much we touched her head and back to let her feel we are there, she just refused to sleep.  The second we picked her up she would stop, lay her head on our shoulders and fall asleep, but trying to put her back in her crib made her start crying again and it just breaks your heart to hear her do this.
After the weekend my Wife tried a new routine that seemed to work until tonight.  She would feed her in bed with a night light / lullaby device playing in the background, then after she had fallen asleep we would gently lay her in her crib, and she would sleep pretty well, only getting up once or twice a night.
Tonight, however, Our Princess has decided that she does not want to sleep, she is not crying like crazy as before, but she refuses to lay down even in our arms; wanting to crawl and climb about.  I'm wondering if tonight was caused by the flu shot we gave her this afternoon, because she did the same thing trying to avoid her afternoon nap.

Yay for me!

My Princess has started to clap for herself when she feels she has done something good. My wife and I find it hilarious how she will pull herself into a standing position, pause a second for balance, then start to clap and fall to the ground, then repeat over and over.
She has also started to really move when she is crawling and for some reason she doesn't head towards her numerous toys, she instead heads towards any cord, picture, shoe, or basically anything she is not supposed to play with.
We spent time this weekend to put up all of our cleaning supplies out of her reach. Still we will need to watch this child like hawks, because she actively tries to figure out how things work.

How do we let her be a kid, but keep her safe?

I know I may be thinking of this way earlier than I need to be, but it pays to be prepared right?

I'm conflicted about how we are going to let Our Princess grow up and mature as a kid, but keep her safe at the same time.  When I was young I had the freedom to be able to ride my bike wherever I needed to go (within reason) and as far as I know my parents were not watching me at all times, and I feel that I grew because of that.
I felt safe riding to the park, to my friends, to school, and to the store, but during those same years, elsewhere kids where being abducted, some killed, some held for decades.
So what do we as parents do?  Can we let them be kids, explore & play, and just pray that they will be kept safe?  Do we shelter them, not letting them go further than the end of the block, and even then only while we are watching?  Do we implant our kids with some sort of GPS device so we can always know where they are?
I'm honestly at a loss, I just hope we can get this figured out before it really matters.

Sleeping on her back is Best, but how do we keep her there?

Everything we have heard and read says that having your baby sleep on her back is the safest and the best way for her to sleep.  But how are we supposed to keep her there?
Almost immediately after we lay Our Princess down she turns to her side, and then most nights ends up on her stomach.   We have tried the Speed Bump things, but it she gets turned over in that just as easily (We stopped those after a few times, if it won't keep her on her back it may be dangerous to use it).  And if we turn her over while she is sleeping she goes right back to her side (If moving her doesn't wake her up).
I don't know what to do except to check on her whenever we wake up.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

My Princess Loves looking at herself.  She gets the biggest kick staring in the mirror or seeing her picture.
She will hold her mirror staring at it until the urge to chew it overcomes her, and she gets a little feisty if we are either too far away from the wall mirrors or in her way.  We have found her napping in her crib after she scooted to where she could fall asleep looking at herself.  It's also really fun to change her since there is a mirror behind the changing table that she always wants to roll over to see.

Finding her voice

My Princess has become quite vocal recently, and listening to her talk is the funniest thing.
I gave her my rinsed out plastic Starbucks cup yesterday, because she loves to feel that she is drinking from big cups, and she discovered voice amplification and echo.
She doesn't say Dada or Mama much anymore, but we are sure that some of her babbling sounds like real words.  She also has the best laugh I have ever heard, but I'm sure all Dad's would say that.

Ohhh, Can I touch that!!!

I took My Princess to our local Botanical Gardens yesterday to walk around.  Decided to just carry her instead of rolling her in her stroller and she Loved me letting her touch the leaves and the flowers.  At each one she looked at me with a smile saying "Your going to let me touch that... Yay!!!"
While trying to show her how to smell the flowers she kept opening her mouth to eat them :)  I just had a blast watching her at each and every plant, too bad I didn't have my camera, I will need to take her and my Wife back with it to capture these moments.

Lets take it down a notch

Last night as we where changing Our Princess she decided to grab the railing and pull herself up to a quasi-standing position.  Needless to say this new development required me to remove the bassinet part of the Chicco Playyard so she sleeps on the bottom.  I know, we probably left her in the top for too long, but her room is just too cold to leave her in overnight.
Now I have to get the Grandparents to lower theirs as well so we'll all be safe.

Sleep Deprived Fun?

So the other day My Wife tried to put a pacifier into my mouth after I asked for one for My Princess... I think she is way over tired...

I don't know if it is because of her teething pains, or maybe she is just having some slight separation anxiety; but Our Princess seems to be having nightmares.  We'll wake up to her whimpering or even crying, but she is still asleep.  Normally picking her up will make her settle down immediately; so at that point we've been laying her down with us to finish the night.

That creates a small problem of us getting fully rested since we can't really fully fall asleep at that point.  Hence My Wife trying to give me the pacifier...

Would this work better in just a Diaper?

Up to about a week ago I was able to feed My Princess with very little mess.  Now she wants to help feed herself by grabbing the spoon (not quite with the handle) and try to put it in her mouth as she is repeatedly moving her tongue in and out while trying to make "num num num" noises.

While it makes for a very fun lunch time, I have my doubts that much food is getting to her stomach :)
 So, after a complete wipe down and change I began to wonder if it would be better to feed her with just her diaper on and then just take her to the sink with the rest of the lunch mess and hose her off.  I'll see what My Wife thinks of that idea. 

She is also constantly reaching for our cups as we drink, so we let her try some water from our cups and she does a surprisingly good job (most of the water goes down her shirt; again, maybe better without it on) but she pulled the cup to her mouth and had the gist of it.

I know all parents say their kid is very smart, but I know that My Princess has the mind of a scientist or engineer of some sorts.

Da-Da

So this Saturday after our visit to the local Botanical Gardens to take family portraits My Princess started to say "Da-Da"... Well, more like "Dadadadadada", but Yay!

So do I add her to my dental insurance now?

After what seemed like forever teething one of My Princess' teeth came through (Well, the top of it anyway)

She has been very good during this process, only slightly fussy during most of the ordeal, and only 3 nights where she had to be held for her to sleep (Not that I minded that at all)

Hopefully the rest of the teeth won't be as bad...

She's also starting to really not like being alone in the room (I read that it is normal for this age.)  It's like a slight separation anxiety.  So gone are the days putting her in her swing in the living room, while I make dinner in the kitchen.  My Mom suggested putting her in her high chair in the kitchen and pretend to be Emeril Lagasee so she'll feel part of the action and maybe a bit entertained.

Cute, Funny, and Scary Sounds

My Princess has been making some interesting sounds lately.
She has been doing raspberries for a while, first just for fun, now she does it mainly when she is annoyed at something.  Just last night she figured out how to do raspberries while using her hand, which greatly amplifies the sound, very funny.

Also when it seems she is a bit frustrated at something she will scrunch up her face and start huffing and puffing, very cute from a 6 month old.

For 3 days earlier this week she thought it was the funniest thing to inhale sharply like she is out of breath or hyperventilating.  Fun for her... Scary for us.  Of course she was doing this new sound throughout the mall smiling as people were  giving us strange looks...  Here's hoping she forgets that sound.

The Next Great Escape Artist

Our Princess outgrew her swaddle, the little Houdini got really skilled in getting out of the Miracle Blanket (which worked wonders for us while it fit - She went from sleeping 2-3 hours at a time to 8-10 hours!) so we got her a SwaddleMe which does not hold her arms as well so she was getting those out almost before we got her in bed, but the snugness around her body seems to keep her comforted enough.

We also were getting concerned about her turning over at night, so we tried those speed bump things on her sides, but she scoots out of those as well.

We also got scared after finding her face right up next to the bumpers around her crib a few times, so those came off this morning.

What's This All About?

After some prompting from my Wife that I should start blogging again I decided I'd create this space for me to post my antics.

I will be transferring the Posts that I made on the other site and back-dating them.

I'm planning on using this blog to post my Adventures with my Family, as a Home for my Bible Study, and whatever else I feel I want to share. Not expecting a lot of people to be interested in this, but if you are reading this.... Yay!

"She has a Personality"

So far, almost every Doctor or Nurse who has seen my Princess has said this, and I have to agree.

Her Umbilical Cord fell off on April 7th, so we decided to give her a bath...

She did OK; well, to be honest, if we had not recorded it to watch it back later, I don't think we would want to give her a bath ever again :)

The Extreme Drama that we thought the bath was Live, turned out not to be so bad in the Instant Replay.

Easter was spent at "Mima's House" with her cousins and other family. I actually don't remember much of Easter Weekend, it is all blurring together.

She is sleeping through most of the night (most of the time), and for that we are grateful. But my Wife and I (mainly my Wife) are still very tired.

When she is awake she is Very Alert, she can hold her head up and look around (for a while) and prefers to sit up on my Wife and myself rather than lay down.

We've tried to take her out several times now, and she is doing much better than her first car ride (I'll post that experience another time) and generally sleeps the whole time we are out.

I think a combination of the truck moving, and the way the stroller wobbles while in the stores makes her very sleepy.

Yay for Random Thoughts!!

What's Happening to Me?

After I fell in Love with my Wife all those sappy Romance movies started pulling at my heart like never before, and I would start to feel the emotions of what was happening on screen...

So it was little surprise to me when I found out I was having a little girl that movies where daughters got hurt or were in danger started to affect me in some way.

What did surprise me was last night, as we were watching Bolt for the 2nd time, when the little girl got stuck in the fire I felt anxious and sad (Kind of like my heart was dropping).

This was the 2nd time I saw the movie! I already knew everything was going to be OK, (I knew the first time everything would be OK, I mean, come on, it's Disney) but I felt the same emotions seeing this girl in danger as the first time. What is Happening to Me?

Just like with the Romance movies where I can't help but think about my Wife and myself in the same situation... And now as a Father, it looks like I'll have the same problem where I think of my Princess in the situation that is happening on screen...

Adventures in Gasland and Poopville

It's amazing how quickly Gas and Poop become the center of life with a new baby!
We are getting better at the whole Feed, Change, Sleep cycle of a newborn. Both of us are exhausted most of the time, but we are getting the hang of it :)

Last night we were up most of the night trying to deal with trapped gas in our Princess. We probably went to 10 different Internet sites finding different techniques for helping her.
We found that the bicycle leg moves, pressing her knees towards her chest, and massaging her belly helped the most. We also discovered we need to change how we feed her, mainly by taking burp breaks during her bottle.

We already decided that we were not going to take any naked pictures of her to embarrass her later in life, but I'm sure we will still have plenty of ammo if the need arises. "Have I ever told you about the time that Daddy and Mommy stayed up with you all night helping you pass gas?"

The Princess Is Born

Our Princess was born Saturday March 7th, 2009 at 9:02pm!
She weighed 7lbs 8oz, and was 20 inches long.

She is doing great, she is very alert and active and keeping her parents very busy.

We are loving this beautiful little addition to our family and are looking forward to having fun raising her!

Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.
- 1 Timothy 4:12 (Today's New International Version)