5 Months!

Well today is the day. Blair is now 5 months old. As I mentioned in the last post, we've had a rough week. We think that Blair is now on the mend (I am holding my breath and praying). She hasn't had a fever in 24 hours. I am hoping that lasts. Yesterday after a short afternoon nap, she just looked better and was wiggling more. She started doing this little move where if she laid on her back, she'd wiggle her legs and push her feet so her body would scoot backward. Too cute.

So I try not to mention the same things over and over when I post her updates, and here are some things that I may not have blogged about before. Blair turns her head and looks at you when you say her name. She rolls everywhere and has the back-to-tummy roll pretty much perfected. She likes to sleep on her side though, that is the preference. We still put her down on her back - it just never lasts. Always moving. You can tell when B is excited because she starts wiggling and kicking those legs and waving her arms. It's really neat to see her respond.

Blair still loves to touch and coo at your face. We'll get real close to her and she just loves to hold your face and talk to you. We call it "making googley eyes" and we love it. She is still very big on singing (I cannot tell you how many times I sang "The Wheels on the Bus" this weekend... countless...) and reading books. Our library of boardbooks has increased dramatically. She's a great page turner.

She is wearing 9 month clothing and she is still in size 3 diapers. Still teething and going through bibs non-stop. No teeth, although the way she's been chewing on things recently, we could be close.

We didn't take many pictures this week since things were so crazy and my baby was sick.

Happy 5 Month Birthday to my baby girl!

Mommy and her sick little girl

Daddy and Blair reading books

Tummy time at 21 weeks

Looking out the window

5 Month Photo Shoot

Sweet bear

First ER Visit

Well, suffice it to say... we have had quite the week (and I was thinking that early Thursday morning)!

We have been without child care this week, so it's been a struggle trying to work and taking care of Blair... but we have managed.

It all started early Thursday morning. Blair woke up with a low grade fever and chewing on her hands like crazy. I gave her Tylenol and put her into bed with us. All morning and day she ran that low grade fever (99 - 100), but remained smiley, happy wanting to play with toys and eating normally. She was a little more cuddley and clingy than usual, but I knew she wasn't feeling well. I figured we were thisclose to cutting those first teeth!

I was supposed to be working from home, and although I got some work done, I wasn't near as productive as I would have liked to be. I chalked it up as a loss and figured that I would catch up on Friday morning at the office (Grandma Roslyn was going to watch Blair today so I could go into the office).

While Trav and I were feeding Blair her dinner last night, she sort of choked on part of her food. Once she cleared her throat and all was ok, I offered her a bottle to help wash it down. We started back on her food when all of the sudden we were covered in vomit. Total projectile vomiting. We immediately ended dinner and put her into the bath.

We decided that since she was still not feeling well and running that low grade temp, that we would let her sleep with us. We gave her a bottle and she fell asleep in between us.

Around 10:20pm, Blair woke up crying and when I felt her head, she was burning up. We tried to take her temperature with our digital ear thermometer and kept getting different readings. Some would be high, and others low grade. I knew just by touch that she was too hot and that we needed to take her to the ER - stat. I kept cold wash cloths on her to try and regulate her temperature. We hurriedly ran across the street (thank goodness it was close!) to the new Texas Children's Hospital.

The triage nurse that saw us commented on how good she looked but told me that she wasn't getting enough Tylenol (I have been giving her the 0.4mL dose). She had moved up in the weight allowance and she should've been getting twice her dose! Ugh. Make me feel terrible.

So we get into an ER room and they inform me that they have to run some lab tests and collect a urine sample to ensure she wasn't having a UTI. In order to collect the urine, they had to insert a catheter. That was not any fun. Neither were the blood tests. It took a very long time and multiple sticks and digging around (in both arms and legs!) and a TON of tears until they could finally squeeze out some blood. My poor, poor baby. It was absolutely horrific having to hold her down while they searched for a vein (the multiple nurses told us how small and hard to find they were). They would give her a little break so I could hold her and calm her down (just in time to start the digging again).

Travis and I finally told them that they had one more shot before we were done. Luckily, they were able to collect a little bit of blood for the tests. After about an hour, we were informed that everything looked good and she was free to go. They told us it was probably just a viral infection and that it would run it's course. We had already decided that I would be staying at home with her today.

We got home at nearly 3am and poor Trav had only a few hours of sleep before having to get up and go to work. :( It has been a rough couple of days.

I am so unbelievably thankful that Blair is ok (and just sick with something like a viral infection). We are so thankful that she didn't get sick last week in New Orleans. I couldn't imagine being in a hospital over there, on vacation. Things can always be worse, there is no doubt. I think Travis and I are just ready to have this week over with and hope things go back to "normal."

So there it was, our first ER visit with Blair. Godwilling it is the last one.

Back to snuggling with my poor little girl...

Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez

Ok, I am coming off about 5o% of my usual sleep from our weekend trip to New Orleans (more on that later) and trying to catch up on my posting since Blair is less than a week away from being five months. Lots of changes around here, folks.

Let's see... Blair is still teething with no teeth to report. I have felt like their arrival is imminent for weeks, so what do I know? Poor thing is miserable and keeps her sleeping patterns erratic and somewhat unpredictable. Despite all of that, she is still very good tempered and so incredibly sweet. Her face lights up when I start counting to ten or start singing "The Wheels on the Bus." She just smiles and moves her mouth like she wants to sing and count too. Something else that she does now is "kiss" us. She'll cup your face in her hands and put her open mouth to our mouth or cheeks. She also sucks on her fingers a lot and will even try and slip a couple of fingers in her mouth while feeding. That is a hurdle we are looking forward to crossing.

Blair's night time sleeping is changing every 2 or 3 days but seems to be set with a mid morning nap. She will sleep for a few hours then wake up, eat lunch (2 jars) and play before I come to pick her up. If she naps in the afternoon, she might nap for almost an hour, she'll wake up and we'll feed her dinner (1 1/2 jars and cereal), bathe her and put her back to bed with a bottle. Speaking of bath time, boy are we struggling these days. We moved her out of the infant recliner because all she was doing was sitting up from it and we figured it was more dangerous. We bought this little skirt thing that has these four bumpers (filled with microbeads) and it is supposed to help her float in the water and practice sitting up. Unfornately that's not really working either, so we are desparate for some other solution. She still cannot sit up on her own, though I don't think it will be long!

Last week before our family trip to New Orleans, I took Blair to her four month check-up (we are two weeks behind because I forgot about how doctor's offices are busy right before school starts back). Lesson learned! Blair weighed 17 lbs, 7 ounces (96%), 27.25" long (99%), and was in the 90% for head circumference. My healthy girl! :) She is so stinking cute and gets more personality, physically changes every day and becomes more fun by the minute. Take today for instance. She started rolling from her back to her stomach. And did it over and over. In fact, I put her down for an afternoon nap (rocking her asleep and putting her on her back in the crib) and by the time I grabbed the bottle and headed for the door, she had already rolled over onto her tummy. After a few attempts to get comfortable, she napped just like that. That's a big deal around here.

Ok, so where was I? Dr. Kavin's visit. Right. She had two shots and we were on our way with little tears. Poor Bear.

On Friday, we left with my family (except Dad who was in Norway on business) for New Orleans to celebrate my little brother's 21st birthday. We have been planning this trip for a year, so it was a long time coming. We made a stop at LSU to visit Mike the Tiger and get some new gear. The drive to the hotel was only about an hour or hour and a half away. We checked into our hotel and stayed on the 43rd floor of the Sheraton with the most amazing river views down Canal. Gorgeous!

That night for dinner we ate at Pat O's and had their yummy hurricanes. It was very hot so we took Blair back to the hotel to cool down and so Mimi could babysit. All of the kids were taking Conner out on Bourbon to celebrate his birthday. We had a blast walking down the street and going into some of the bars. We all had a very good time and the "spirits" of New Orleans were definitely with us. ;)

Saturday we took Blair to the Audobon Aquarium to see all of the fish, penguins, sea horses, sharks - everything! Blair loved it and really loved looking at all of the little kids that were running around. After the aquarium, we went back to the hotel to cool down. It was terribly hot and we spent the majority of the afternoons in our room to keep cool. My dad flew in on Saturday afternoon and we took my parents to dinner at the Acme Oyster House. It was awesome! Travis had been wanting me to try their chargrilled oyster for months and months now. They were very good! Made with parmesan cheese, garlic and butter (I think). Not bad at all. Their food was excellent (especially the jambalaya) and everyone there was fawning over Blair. She is usually a pretty big hit where ever we go. People were in awe of her stroller fans- in fact I couldn't honestly tell you how many people commented on them and asked me about them all weekend. I had originally only purchased one, but later went back and got a second one. For $17 a piece, it was worth getting another one. Selling those in touristy cities = GOLD MINE.

Travis stayed in with Blair on Saturday night so I could meet my family out for some shopping and milling about Bourbon street. On Sunday, we were up nice and early to eat breakfast at Cafe du Monde and do some shopping in the Farmer's Market. We were back in the hotel by noon because it had gotten SO HOT. We spent the afternoon napping in the dark room, playing, and being silly. We did a family dinner at Hard Rock Cafe as Conner's official birthday dinner, but not before some pre-gaming with Patron shots and listening to this little Jeopardy like game Dad created for Conner from different funny sayings and happenings throughout Conner's life. My Dad is always so creative when making meaningful gifts for us.

We left early this morning to come back to Houston. Blair has been sleeping horribly while in New Orleans and is up around 6 or 7am every morning. Plus we figured if we got back early enough, we could get Raleigh from the kennel. We realized that Blair is not a long trip kinda gal. Any more than 4 hours and she was not a happy camper.

We had such a fun weekend celebrating Conner's birthday and spending some great family time together. What a fun trip to let B experience her first vacation. The bar is set high!

Here are some pictures from Blair's 19-20th week and our trip!

Petting on Raleigh (she is always reaching out to touch him)

Kisses for Daddy and a her whale

19 weeks

19.5 weeks

Sweetness

After her check up with Dr. Kavin

Dinner at Pat O's

Me and my brothers on Bourbon St.

Blair and Daddy looking at the fish and sting rays at the aquarium

Looking at those pretty fish

Lionfish

Hanging out with my family (without Craig) on Bourbon

Riding in the stroller, with fans blowing

Airplane!

My sweet little family on our last night in my favorite city

We love this little girl! ♥

Hard Rock (with that creepy orb behind me!)

Time to pass out. I am exhausted and have to work. T took off and will be spending the day with Blair. Very jealous. I am going to miss them!

HOT child in the city!

It has been HOT. The temperatures are bouncing around the high 90's - 100's on a daily basis with the humidty and absolutely no rain. We are watering the yard on the even day cycle, and other neighborhoods are under "severe" water conservation alerts. It is crazy how dry everything is. I am ready for the fall!

Our biggest challenge over this past week has been sleeping. Or lack of. Blair is going to bed at 7pm, waking up anywhere between 11:30pm and 2:00am, eating about 4 oz and going right back to bed (in about 20 mins). From that point on, she is up every 1 1/2 - 2 hours until it's time for me to get up. It is exhausting! She still isn't taking much of an afternoon nap, so she is ready to go to bed at 7pm. Tonight we are going to see if she'll put herself back down that second time she gets up. Wish us luck!

Blair has now tried a variety of foods. We did her first week on all vegetables (sweet potatoes, peas and carrots with rice cereal), then mixed in some fruit and these really neat organic pouches of mixtures like spinach, apples and rutabaga (tonight's dinner) and sweet potatoes, pumpkin, apples and blueberries. It's so much fun to feed her now that she likes to eat! She gets better about the process and eats more each time. Blair still takes bottles in between feedings and before bed.

Last week we also did some growing... good ol' 4th month growth spurt. Major eating and some crazy 2 hour naps (and we even got to 2 or 3am on the first wake up - yay!). We started last week with 6 month clothes and onesies - and ended it with all new 9 month clothes. Yep, wearing them comfortably.

We had quite a few visits last week! We visited Cheryl and Kylie, then had dinner with the Pearces and saw Courtney's new house on Sunday! Dinner with the Pearces was a sad one. They are moving to South Carolina for (what I hope is only) one year while Marc finishes up a project. The kids have gotten so big and grown up and are just so funny and sweet. Sam got to hold Blair and loved it. They gave Blair some awesome goodies and a whole bunch of books and dvds! So very sweet and very much appreciated. We are going to miss them terribly and really hope they come back to Katy soon!

On top of those visits, I attended a baby shower for our friend Jill. Charleston will be arriving in October, but since Nic and Jill live in Atlanta, they came into town before it got too close to her due date. Such a cute shower and she looks amazing! Then, on Sunday, we had lunch with a bunch of friends that I haven't seen in ages! That definitely needs to happen more often. :)

So, just a recap. Last week involved a lot of crazy sleeping, quite a bit of growing, and some socializing. Whew, I am exhausted! Blair continues to do so much changing, one day looking like her Momma, the next like her Daddy. Her hair is getting longer and a little thicker (so cute). She is still fascinated with Raleigh and will laugh at anything he does. I have noticed that she reaches out a lot more this past week. Reaching for Raleigh and for me or Travis. Love it. She still has the best little hugs - like she knows that you need it. And we always do.

Here's my little baby...

Get outta here with the cuteness

Having a great time with Logan and Marc

B and the Squish

The sweetest face I've ever seen

Blair at 18 1/2 weeks

Playing with Courtney

Love this little girl

Do you blame me? ♥

18 Weeks

18 Weeks... ok, here it goes!

Blair is becoming more in control of her movements. She makes very deliberate grabs at toys, bottles and hands (which she tries to put directly into her mouth). She has great neck muscle control and prefers the sitting or standing positions. None of that "laying down" stuff.

I don't know if I mentioned this in a previous post, but she has completely pushed away the pacy. I thought it would be better to have something to comfort her or help her sleep, but she wants no part of it. Glad I didn't already buy the next sizes of pacifiers! We still swaddle her everynight to sleep, and Houdini always escapes. Multiple times. If we don't put her in it, she keeps herself awake or easily wakes up by her arms / hands. Tips anyone??

Blair goes down about 7 - 7:30ish (after a short 20-30 minute nap around 5pm - which only happens about 50% of the time) and sleeps until about 2 or 3am. Once I've heated up a bottle, fed / burped, and reswaddled her, it's back to sleep hoping she doesn't wake up before my alarm goes off at 4:50am. Sometimes she gets up at 4am which means I am up for the day.

I drop her off at 6:40am and I think she is up for a little while with some fussiness (still actively teething!) before finally crashing for a solid 2 - 3 hours. Bless her little heart. She is generally happier in the afternoon and all smiles when I pick her up at 3pm.

So, on her 4 month birthday (Thursday), we let her try her food baby food. I was so excited about this new milestone because I know she is going to love it. So we started her on sweet potatoes and rice cereal. She wasn't really into it but really enjoyed banging her spoon on her tray which was pretty funny. We tried peas the next day and she seemed to better understand the chewing and swallowing thing. It was so fun... loved it. So far she has had sweet potatoes, peas and carrots. She doesn't seem to like the rice cereal, so I am going to get some juice at the store and mix it with that to sweeten it up a little.

On Saturday, Blair spent the night with Grandpa George and Grandma Roslyn. Travis and I were meeting some family and friends in the Woodlands for the Band of Horses and Kings of Leon concert and we thought it would be a fun idea for her to spend the night out (most especially since we'd be getting home so late). Unfortunately our concert was cancelled, but Blair was still wanting a visit with her grandparents, so we dropped her off for the night! She had lots of fun and enjoyed all of the attention from Grandma and Grandpa. She decided that she was ready to play at 2am and was up for an hour. It's hard to be mad when she's just so darn cute.

Big night away from Mom and Dad. We missed her a lot!

Ok, what else am I forgetting? She tries to sit on her own and if she is on her back, she will try to sit up and it looks like she is doing crunches. She loves to stand... nothing has changed there. Her eyes are still big and blue. They are this beautiful shade of blue. It makes her look so innocent, especially when you pair it with how big and pretty her eyes are. I think there is a chance they will change, but we are loving them right now!

Somethine else... I don't know how I almost forgot to mention it! My favorite moment of the week. Blair and Daddy reading before bed. She is helping with the pages. Those little hands. Too much. I love this picture, it just warms my heart. It is picture #3 below...

Visiting with Grandma Nancy (I have no idea why Blair's eyes look so strange - bad lighting and flash?)

Another weird eye picture, but this looks like me as a baby!
My favorite picture . My favorite moment .
Happy 4 months Blair!
Tummy Time

17.5 weeks

Eskimo kisses with Daddy

First try of sweet potatoes

Trying to sit up

Riding in style.

Ok, must get into bed. I have a date with the grocery store tomorrow. And if you thought HEB wasn't crowded at 3:30 in the afternoon, you'd be wrong.