6 Month Well-Baby Check

Lauren is developing very appropriately! She weighs 15 pounds, 11 ounces. She's grown an inch since December, making her 26 inches long. (Her 6 month pants are starting to get too short!) Her head circumference was 15 3/4. (And surprisingly, I forgot to ask what her percentiles were in each category!)

The doctor was really pleased with her physical and emotional development. He said that, based upon what Lauren's teachers have told me and what I have observed, she seems to emotionally be behaving as a 9 month old. He said he wasn't worried that her social skills were advanced. Lauren warmed up to Dr. V and let him hold her.

We were told to continue her feeding as is, keep doing what we have been doing, and, provided there are no illnesses between now and May 28, he'll see us at her 9 month well-check. Babies typically do not have shots at the 9 month visit, but because of the HIB vaccine recall and Lauren's need to "catch up", she will receive her 3rd HIB at the 9 month visit as well.

Lauren and I are going shopping with Heather and Haley tomorrow morning at the outlets in Gaffney, SC. This will be Lauren's first trip to SC. For being 6 months, she's certainly traveled a lot! (PA, MD, WV, VA) I'm hoping to go to the ocean this fall for her first beach trip. Anyway, I have my camera packed, ready to take pictures of her first "girls only" shopping trip!!

28 Weeks

02-26-06 I'm feeling MUCh better! (I just thought that this was a cute picture!)

28 Weeks--All Smiles!!

Lauren ate carrots and beef today for the first time. She ate the ENTIRE jar and loved it! Then, when I was eating my dinner of meatloaf and corn, she had to eat that, too. She did great eating the corn. She made faces while eating the meatloaf, but she kept grabbing my plate. She almost yanked my fork, full of corn, out of my hand to eat it herself! Then she took her sippy of ice water (she doesn't like juice) like Mommy and drank it herself!

Since feeling better, Lauren has been into everything again. Her vocalization has increased, shreiking and talking. We're all sleeping through the night again (thank goodness!) so I think that when she starts awaking in the night, we need to just head it off to the doctor. She goes down around 8:00 and is up between 6-6:30 am. Yea!

Lauren's getting steadier on her hands and knees with crawling. She's still making it backward, but she'll move both knees forward and not know what to do next.

We go to the doctor for Lauren's 6 (and a half) month check-up and shots tomorrow. I'll update with weight and length.

The Wonder of Modern Medicine

A miscellaneous picture from Sunday the 24th. Lauren has been taking baths in her tub in the big tub to catch all of the water she splashes.

Look what one dose of a more potent antibiotic, Azithromycin, and a cough syrup/decongestant (at $25 for a normal sized bottle) will do for a sick one! This was my camera ham crawling backward under the couch, who happened to see my camera and grin! It's been since Sunday that she had really smiled, and to be truthful, this was the first night that Lauren has been "Lauren" in more than a week! Such a relief! (Can you believe how blue her eyes look or how red her hair appears?!)

Lauren was focused on not having her shot missed that she wasn't paying attention to how she put her pacifier into her mouth. She often chomps on it backward.

SInus Infection

Lauren has been really stuffy and coughing a lot. It's got worse this morning, so Paul kept her in the morning while I went to work, and we switched off at lunch time. Lauren has a sinus infection. Thankfully her ears are clear, as are her lungs. (Paul and I both swore that her left lung was rattling last night, but the doctor said that it was clear.) She will be taking a stronger dose of amoxicillin and a prescription cough syrup. However, Lauren has been sleeping since she and Paul returned from the doctor's office (about two hours right now), so we certainly know that she's sick.

For those counting, this has been two sinus infections and one ear infection...any guesses at what we might be heading toward? I'm thinking allergies and asthma.

SHE SAID MAMA!!!

Lauren has said, "Mama" several times tonight! I was so excited! She said it three times. On the fourth time, Paul heard her and grinned at me. This makes up for all of the whining that Lauren did all weekend. She was just not happy.

27 Weeks

Playday with Haley on Tuesday the 19th. Lauren didn't like it when Haley touched her or took her toys. I told her that it should be a lesson for her constantly touching Harris and stealing toys from him!

Catlyn and Lauren playing. Lauren was a good 3 feet away from Catlyn and made her way toward the cat. Catlyn didn't seem to mind, surprisingly. This was Wednesday the 20th.

27 Weeks! 02-21-08

Lauren had to be picked up from school AGAIN on Wednesday. She had vomited twice. Apparently the 2nd time she had thrown up so much that it had gone all down the rocking chair, across the room, and under the play mats on the floor. Paul picked her up. She napped for 3 hours, ate a bottle, dinner, and another bottle. She played and enjoyed herself all night. She slept great last night, sleeping all night. She woke up contented, ate breakfast and lunch well, and has been pretty happy. She's been down for a nap for a while now and I need to wake her up so she'll sleep tonight. And of course Suzanne called to say that Harris had done the vomiting today and would be out Friday, just as last week. We really are wondering about those two...

Lauren's making a lot of gains in her motor development. She's holding objects in both hands, banging them together, and holding something in her right hand then transferring it to her left. She's moving around a lot, reaching for objects, and still trying to crawl forward (though she seems to be constantly going backward). In her bath, she's trying to splash water, grab her ducks, touch the side of the tub, grab the shower curtain...she's even holding the cup that I use to rinse the soap from her hair to try to drink her bathwater...eewww!!

We've been practicing with sippy cups more. She's holding the Avent sippies the best and actually drinking some from them. I've just been giving her water, but today I took 2 oz. of water to 1 oz. of juice and she didn't like it.

So, as you see, our happy, healthy baby continues to grow and change daily! We're still hearing a lot of babbling and she tried to immitate our words and phrases. Lauren still hasn't popped any teeth through. Her new favorite game is peek-a-boo, but her most favorite game of all is when we tickle the belly-belly!!

6 Months Old 02-16-08

6 Months Old! I cannot believe that Lauren has been in our lives for a half of a year already!

Practicing her "buffalo tongue" that Harris and Nick have apparently been teaching her to do...

Eating toys that Grandma Wade sent for Valentine's Day.

Her 1st pickle! Paul thought that it would be humorous to see if she would eat the pickle that came with his sub...she thoroughly destroyed it and was sad when I took it away!

Baby's 1st Valentine's Day and 26 Weeks

Happy Valentine's Day! I'm wearing my I Love Daddy shirt for the occasion! I'm also 26 weeks old! 02-14-08

Checking out Catlyn before going to school 02-11-08

This is how Mommy found me on Wednesday morning when she had to wake me up for school. 02-13-08

Eating sweet potato puffs... (as you can see, she can't quite hit the mark on her own)

02-12-08

Lauren's fever has fallen. Yea! And Aunt Suzy called me today at noon to say that Lauren's friend, Harris, was also running a temperature. His doctor said that he has a sinus infection. Paul wasn't surprised. Both babies seem to do things together, especially getting sick.

Lauren is still trying to crawl in a more correct form. She's getting up on all fours more regularly, with steadiness and purpose. She's found that she can rock forward and backward and likes this new position of the world. She's still scooting back and forth to get what she wants. I'm putting her toys out of her reach so that she has to work harder to get them. She will work to get her toys!

As you can see by the sweet potato puff picture, we're having Lauren learn to utilize her pincer grasp of small objects. She can pick the puffs up without problem (usually using her right hand) but she's struggling to find her mouth! She's also practicing putting things in her mouth with her biter biscuits and her bottle, and, because they are bigger objects, she's having more success. (Oh, and not to stress. The puffs are made to dissolve quickly in her mouth so that she doesn't choke. We supervise her while she eats these things. The sweet potato flavor is really kind of tasty. I'm not a fan of the corn puffs.)

I cannot believe that I haven't posted this yet! Lauren said DADA for the first time on Sunday the 10th! We weren't sure that we were hearing this correctly at first. Paul insisted that I was making things up, but my dad heard Lauren say Dada on the phone on Sunday, so I had someone on my side. On Tuesday, her teachers heard her SCREAM Dada from her crib. One teacher said it was like she was begging Paul to pick her up! That same Tuesday, Paul was certain that she said Mama twice while he was getting her ready for school, but I think that he was trying to make me feel better. We're still pretty sure that she says 'hey' and 'hi,' but she's really starting to connect her sounds. On Tuesday morning, Lauren was up at 5 am. She started babbling from 5-7 NONSTOP...I figure we'll have to have call waiting when she's a teen!

We enjoyed our day off together. Lauren napped quite a bit, but she was alert at times, too. We met Paul for lunch and she flirted with his coworkers. When we took Paul back to work, Lauren fussed, so I tried to feed her a bottle before heading home. She wouldn't take the bottle. So I took her to Paul's coworkers to say goodbye and she was all grins. We think that she was manipulating us to get out of her carseat. We're going to have to keep an eye on her!

First Ear Infection

Lauren's school called me at 1:00 today to say that she'd been happy, had eaten a jar and a half at lunch, was laughing at her teachers...then she suddenly started to fuss and whine. The took her temperature after feeling her HOT forehead. It was 102.6! Since Paul only works half days on Wednesdays, I called him to pick Lauren up. The doctor was able to get Lauren in at 2:00.

The doctor took Lauren's temperature, which was 102.7. Her weight has increased to 15 and 1/4 pounds. Her right ear was clear, but her left ear was pink. She was given a prescription for Amoxicillian.

I will be out of work with Lauren tomorrow to make sure that she gets better. Please keep her in your thoughts!!

Sunny Saturday

Lauren and Mommy enjoying the 64` weather after eating luncn on the patio.

Lauren petting Buster, the neighbor's dog.

Swinging in the sun...Lauren's first time in an outdoor swing. She was impartial.

Riding with Daddy on the tractor.

DRIVING for Daddy!!

Waving from her exersaucer on the patio.

Looking cute in her hat!

25 Weeks

Wearing Daddy's hat 02-02-08

Chewing my fingers and grinning for the camera 02-02-08

25 Weeks 02-07-08

25 Weeks 02-07-08

LAUREN CRAWLED TONIGHT FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She has been trying to do this for the past week. I think she startled us as much as herself when she did it. We had just finished eating dinner and had Lauren on her belly with some toys. She had been sitting up and rolling around. She started to put herself into crawling formation. We thought that it looked as though she were moving backward. Suddenly, she launched herself forward! Paul and I jumped and Lauren looked frightened. We started to squeal and of course I grabbed the video camera...and of course Lauren only scooted backward! It was once tiny movement toward crawling, but I have a feeling we're on a very quick down-hill slope toward becoming a toddler much faster than we were (or maybe just I was) hoping!

I've been sending more solid food to school for Lauren. She ate ravenously today! She had a jar and a half of food...and we'd only been giving her 1/2 a jar! I told her teachers to use their judgement because she'll eat if she wants and they've been doing this for so long that they know when to bump it up. She'd probably not be eating as much solid food if it weren't for her teachers helping guide me along with her feeding. Today she dropped two bottles and ate a total of 2 1/2 jars of food plus rice cereal. I gave her a biter biscuit for dessert and she destroyed that.

Lauren's teeth are bugging her more. She's increased her drooling the past few days and her fangs are becoming more prominent. I've been giving her Orajel at least once a day and using Aquaphor on her cheeks to help with the chapping and to provide a protective layer against the drool. However, now that I have her red cheeks under control, her bottom has become a bright red. I just refilled her prescription from her last yeast infection so I'm hoping this will clear up. She's had some coughing, too, so I've been giving her a puff of her inhaler once daily. Through it all, Lauren has the biggest grins for her parents!!

I was late picking Lauren up from school on Wednesday due to an IEP meeting. I'm usually there to get her by 4:15 at the latest, but I couldn't leave until 4:55. She had been fighting taking a nap. I believe that she knows when I usually go to get her and she wasn't going to succumb to her PM nap until she saw me. We were out the door of school at 5:00 and she was out before I put her in the truck. That makes me feel loved!

We need to drop her crib mattress this weekend. Lauren has been waking up in the mornings, trying out her crawling position. I'm terrified that she will realize that she can grab the edge of the crib and fall out...so we need to make this change soon. I'm thinking that it is also time to remove the bumpers. She isn't pulling up on things yet, but if she's trying to crawl, pulling will come next and I don't want to afford her opportunities to put herself in harm's way.

And Lauren needs to learn how to share. Today, she was stealing toys from Harris when the two of them were playing. I hope that this isn't a sign of what's ahead. However, Suzy said that she's sure Nick will take plenty of toys from her, and with Harris being so easy-going, it will all work out.

New Milestones

All smiles for the camera! (Lauren is also cutting a tooth on the right side where her finger is in her mouth. When I brushed her gums tonight, it felt extremely sharp, as does her tooth on the left. I think we'll be seeing those chompers soon!) 02-02-08

Baking a Funfetti cake with Mommy for our Super Bowl party with Aunt Suzy. It was so yummy! 02-02-08 (Also notice that Lauren is missing her left sock. We cannot keep a sock on that foot to save our lives! I finally told her teachers to stop fighting it and take them off if she keeps it up. Today my child was barefoot when I picked her up!)

Lauren has met some new milestones today! My perpetually happy girl ran errands with me today. We were able to pick up her 5 month pictures from Olan Mills, so when we got home, we took the pictures to Neigh-Neigh (our neighbor, Tracy) so that she could see them. Lauren clung to me. As we were getting to leave, I told Lauren to wave bye-bye to Neigh-Neigh. I waved my hand and Lauren did the same--twice!! Tracy was ecstatic!! I told her that when I left Lauren at school today, I waved bye-bye to her, like I do every morning, and swore that Lauren had waved bye-bye. I didn't take too much stock in this so as not to get my hopes up. However, there are several older children in Lauren's class who wave bye-bye to me when we leave to go home, so I wonder if she's picked this up! Lauren also waved bye-bye to her daddy this evening when we were leaving the office to get her peas and applesauce for supper.



Lauren has also started to get a little too big for the mesh bath holder that you lay young babies upon during the first few months of baths. We took her little tub and put the middle insert in so that Lauren could sit up in her tub to be bathed. Paul and I did NOT like this new venture. It was very tough to rinse Lauren off and I made a huge mess. I ended up moving her to the end of the tub without the insert, keeping hold of her with one hand. She did GREAT!! I showed her how to splash with her hands--she did not need much coaxing! She loved the splashing and even got her wash cloth into the act, which, of course, made a MUCH bigger splash (and mess on the kitchen floor!). I plan to run to Babies R Us this weekend to get a baby seat for the big person tub this weekend. I figure that we'll be more successful and less messy this way. Now that I know that she'll want to play, we'll be able to get out the bath toys that we have for her to enjoy. I was right in stating early on that she'll be a water baby! She's excited to spend time with Aunt Suzy and Harris in the pool! I can see it now!! (Oh, and ALL of my rechargable batteries were dead, so we were unable to shoot Lauren's new adventure in the tub. We did get it on video.)