Edy turns 9 months

Yesterday, Edy turned 9 months old. Hard to imagine how time has gone by so fast. She went to the doctor for a checkup, and her says she looks fantastic, and is tracking very well on her development.
She is 80th percentile in head circumference, 55th in height and about 50th in weight - 27 3/4" and 18.9 lbs for those of you keeping score. So my daughter is just about exactly average, except she has a big head. Hmmm...sounds familiar....
She got only one shot this time, and DID NOT like it. NewMom took her for her last appointment by herself and said Edy barely noticed it when they gave her the shot last time. This time that was not the case.
Future work for NewMom and NewDad - start brushing her teeth, or at least let her start gumming the toothbrush to prepare for tooth brushing, and weaning off of night feeding. Night feedings are not only disruptive to parents, but when she gets more teeth, we will have to start brushing them after she eats at night, which doesn't sound too pleasant for anyone.
We also have temper tantrums to start looking forward to, as she gets more mobile, she gets more independent, and we don't want her doing certain things - she she will get irritated. Yeah, fun child raising! But we also have walking to look forward to. i will be happy when that happens so I can save my back from bending over all that time to hold her hands as she runs through the house now.
All in all, a good visit, I'll post the pictures when I get them downloaded off the camera.

Edy's Virginia Visit Part 1

So much happened while Edy was in Virginia with NewGrandma - she fed geese and went on the swing, and learned to read. OK, not really learned to read, but she will obviously be a good student - look at that focus!

She also learned got much better at crawling, following NewMom up and down the hall, and cruising through NewGrandma's L shaped living room set and footstool. It allowed her to hold on to both sides and walk forward, which she really enjoyed, according to NewMom.

When she got back, she looked different - it was very odd that after only a week she had changed that much. Somehow she looked more like a little girl than a baby. I'm probably the only one that sees it, so it goes.

Return from Virginia

Edy and NewMom just got back from visiting NewGrandmom in Virginia fro a whole week. NewDad was left at home, conflicted. On one hand, he sorely missed NewMom and his little girl. On the other hand, he got a lot of stuff done and slept very well.

I will string out happenings over the next few entries, but to condense: Edy's travel score is a C. She did very well actually on the plane, but sleeping nights when she was there was just not happening. She seems to be doing well the first night back home - at least so far.

She was the darling of the flight home to everyone except the guy who was seated in front of her - he deserved it for reclining his seat on an afternoon flight while sitting in front of a woman who has a 9 month old babe in arms.

The flight attendants liked her so much they asked her to pose for a photo op.

She Poops, She Crawls, She Stands, She Cruises!

Well, it has been a heckuva last three days.

We were worried for a bit, OK, NewMom was worried, that Edy hasn't had a movement for 7 days as of Sunday, but then it all happened. Luckily, I mean too bad for NewDad, he was doing yard work (yes, in the middle of winter - whole other story) when it happened, so he was unable to be contacted for cleanup of the toxic site. But on to less disgusting and more fun news...

Edy is crawling forward - finally, after almost 6 weeks of getting on her knees and scooting backwards and rocking back and fourth. I don't know what did it - she just sort of started leaning forward and staying on her hands and knees instead of falling on her stomach and away she used to. NewMom says her favorite item to chase is her mobile phone placed just out of reach, and she will really go after it. I haven't seen it yet.

Also, Edy pulled herself up to standing in the bathtub form a sitting position, using only the edge of the tub for support. She did a repeat performance for NewMom, but I don't think that's the place we really want her practicing that skill often.

Finally, she has begun cruising - meaning she travels while holding on to other non-moving objects, like coffee tables and sofas. It takes her a while, and she needs motivation, but she rarely falls, and does a good job of landing on her butt and upright when she does. NewDad has to be careful, he is a bit cocky and thinks she can handle it on her own and probably doesn't stay as close to her as he should. Then again, she fell down once today and looked at NewDad ready to cry, but NewDad just continued on building his tower with blocks like nothing happened, so she just carried on her merry way.

First Tooth

Well Edy finally has her first tooth, though you can't quite see it yet - believe me we would have photographed it by now. She wasn't really that grumpy while teething, but you can feel the tooth - definitely can feel the tooth - just ask NewMom about the breastfeeding now.

Also on the crawiling front - she's still not quite doing it. I think she took two lunges forward today, which almost counts, but since I don't know if it was intentional, I don't think I can get that excited about it.

She can stand in one place without falling with no support for about 10 seconds. And she loves to stand against the sofa, or hold on to the footstool and play with whatever is in reach on top of the footstool. She has also started cruising around the footstool on her own - though she moves very slowly and we are are still catching her when she falls.

I think she might just skip crawling.

Edy's Blessing Day

One of these days, I will write enough posts so that I can stop apologizing for not posting more. But that day is not today.

Edy's Blessing Day was last Saturday, we did a small in-home ceremony to wish Edythe all the best in the life she has ahead of her.

Her surrogate grandpa Vaughn Hoffman did the opening Invocation, then NewMom and I recommitted to the vows we made as to how we promised each other we would raise our family. We asked others support in doing the same, and though we didn't vote individually, I think everyone was a go.

Finally, some people read their individual blessing they wrote for Edythe aloud, and there were some great ones, though I'm no going to play favorites. We ended with a singalong, and a closing gathering where everyone held hands.

It was great, I want to thank everyone who came, and all those who sent a blessing. It meant a lot to NewMom also. Once Edy got used to being the center of attention and being in the crowd I think she did OK too.

We haven't got the photos back from our official photographer yet, but Auntie Ann did get some good shots and even a little non-embarrassing video. Go to http://picasaweb.google.com/annfuchs/EdytheSBlessingDay# for the early pics. I'm sure I will post more once I see them.

Long Time No Post

So much to say. It's amazing that time flies by without me writing in this thing.

So Edy enjoyed her first Christmas, or what she understood of it, which I think was nothing unusual. She does enjoy grabbing the tree when it is in range and stuffing all the ribbons and crinkly wrapping paper that she can reach into her mouth.

She got lots of cool stuff. Grandmom K got her a bunch of cool toys, and NewDad's brother and sister got her some great clothes and the most fantastic wool boots (they make NewMom and NewDad look cool when she wears them). NewDad's other brother got her a great onsie - (see picture), and NewMom's brother got her this very cute Chrsitmas Grinch that is about as big as she is.

Of course, her favorite toy is always the one that you never expect. Grandma R sent a little mini rolling pin. It's kind of heavy, but it makes just a slight squeek when the rolling part moves. She seems to gravitate toward that one the most. She likes to chew on the handles and swing it around.

More to come soon...

Swing Free

I was reading through my old entries and realized I hadn't mentioned we are now swing-free! The transition from swing to crib went over almost without a hitch. We actually moved the swing out of our room a few days ago after it spent a week unused.

Using this child as my only limited example, I certainly would use the swing again (and we will keep it in case of kid #2). I think it gave NewMom and I a lot more opportunities to sleep than if we hadn't used it. And getting her out of it was much simpler than we thought it might be.

Just Happenings

There's not a WHOLE lot of exciting news going on. Edy seems to finally be on a consistent sleep cycle. She goes to bed at 5:30, gets up about 1:30 or 2 to eat, then sleeps through until about 5:30. A pretty good night all around. Recently, she's started to get up about 4:30 or so. We kind of ignore her, because we don't want to teach her to get up earlier and earlier to play, so she just goes back to sleep or is quiet by herself for 45 min or so (I actually don't know how long, I'm sleeping)

I think we've been "training" her well. We have been able to put her back to sleep with just a pat and a binky (pacifier) on the few occasions where she has been awake between the above times. That process only takes about 2 minutes - I barely have to wake up! And on some occasions she has been put in her crib wide awake and kicking, and she has babbled herself to sleep while we are not even in the room. Yea Edy!

She still shows no interest in rolling over - though she does it quite often seemingly by accident. She goes from front to back easily, and on the changing table contorts herself so she could easily go back to front, but has never done it on any other flat surface.

She loves to stand up, and of you put her near table or couch where she can rest her hands, she'll stand there for 3 or 4 minutes until she wants to sit down. Unfortunately, then she just falls over. She also likes to walk around when you hold her up by the arms and she can kick her feet around.

I'll upload some cute pictures after I get them out of the camera this weekend. We have some cute Christmas pictures.

No Like Edy

It seems that Edy has taken NewDad's attitude toward food - that is she doesn't like anything that's new. Problem is, at this time, all food is new.

We have tried feeding her bananas, avocados, eggs, sweet potato, and applesauce, and she doesn't seem to really like any of them. She has even started to purse her lips when the spoon gets near so you can't stuff any in her mouth.

So it seems she has inherited NewDad's food preferences. As a child, NewDad's grandma had a moniker for him when it came to food: No Like Mike.

New Pictures

Just some new uber cute pictures to post. She hasn't quite figured out how to make the loud noises yet, but she loves to chew on that spoon.

Edy Sleeps Tonight

Edy slept in her crib all night last night!

For those of you who aren't following closely, Edy has been spending her nights for the past 5 months in a cradle swing thing. Way back when she was 1 or 2 months old, we found she slept longer in the swing than in the crib, so we have just been putting her in the swing for all of her naps during the day and at night. It has worked very well.

We knew she would eventually outgrow the swing, so we have been putting her in the crib for the past few weeks for naps during the day, and she has adjusted pretty well. So last night, we put her in the crib and she slept through the night (except for her normal 2:AM wake up, which she did in the swing as well.) Yea Edy!

She has also been really good at getting herself back to sleep, or getting herself to sleep in the first place, which is also a major step for infant sleep.

I'm so happy I don't have to build a swinging bed for her to take to college now!

First Food

Edy got her first taste of "real" food - (not breastmilk) on the 16th of November. We had a few friends over to have banana pancakes and for Edy to try some banana.

She seemed not to impressed. She was very interested in the actualy proces of eating, but not real fond of the taste of the banana. She did manage to put here hand into the bowel of banana and topple it.

I have a video I will attempt to paste, but it it quite large, so for now, he's some pictures.

Hudy Visit

The Hudy's visited Edy the weekend before last (sorry for the non-up to date posting). Laura and David are Edy's second cousin once removed, as best as we could figure out. That means that Edy's Great Grandmother was sisters with Laura and David's Grandmother.

Laura was in the northwest visiting from New York, visiting friends near Tacoma and her Brother Dave who is stationed here. We got a few pictures of Laura with Edy, but couldn't find the camera when David was playing with her. I know Laura got some and we will post them once she sends them.

Edy got stacking cups and a box of shapes as presents. She really enjoys the stacking cups, though NewDad may enjoy them more.

6 Months Old

Lots to report. Edy turned 1/2 today. She weighs 16 lbs 2oz, and is 25.5" long, she has a head circumference of 43.5 cm. She is precisely average height and weight for her age, but her head ranks in the 75% - we're so proud!

The doctor said she's doing great, and to expect her to get 10 colds a year, each lasting 2 weeks, for the next two years. Holy crap Batman! - that means Edy will be sick for half of her life until she's 2 - but she will also be building lots of antibodies.

Speaking of antibodies, turning 1/2 means immunization shots - and boy do we love shots! Actually, it's a mixed blessing. NewDad and NewMom don't like to see our little girl get stuck and cry, but it seems each time she gets shots, she sleeps all night without waking up - she did that last night. I'm so confused, I kinda want her to get shots every day, no - don't want that, yes, I kinda do ...

NewDad also got his flu shot yesterday, and NewMom got hers a few weeks ago, so we are all protected.