May 2009 Archives
Someone pointed out to me that I never posted Sam's 2 year old stats "officially".
Here ya go. As measured on 5/7/09, Sam is:
Weight: 21 lb, 7 oz (1st percentile)
Length: 33 in. (21%)
Head circ.: 50 cm (96%)
I tried to give Ally cereal this morning. Poor second child. I got her started, and Samantha threw the largest tantrum she has ever thrown because Ally was getting 100% of my attention (for all of 3 minutes). I took Samantha upstairs to her room for a "cooling off period", and when I came back down, Ally had completely lost interest/momentum.
Before
After
Oh well, at least Daddy will get to participate tonight. Alexa seems largely unscathed (and Samantha had a nice nap and felt much better).
Just Hangin'
Alexa is 4 months old today! Here's the angle we usually see these days. If you put her on a flat surface, she immediately flips to her tummy.
For once, I managed to get her in for a well-child check on the actual date (Did my unprecedented promptness have anything to do with the possibility that the doc might ok starting solids? Any relation to the folk wisdom that this will help kids sleep through the night?).
The short story? Our Ally is a healthy girl.
Length: 26 in (96th percentile)
Weight: 13 lb, 13 oz (56%)
Head circ.: 41 1/2 cm (67%)
Dr. says her length is pretty much on par for a 6 month old. No wonder all her onesies are too small.
So... the moment we've all been waiting for... neither Dr. Purcell nor Ally's surgeon see any reason to delay introducing solids! WOO HOO! I hope this does help her sleep a little longer. She's also suggested 1 tsp rice cereal per oz formula may help reduce spit up. Here's hoping.
Both girls were awesome at the appointment. Things were backed up at the doc's office and we were there almost 2 hours with both girls, closing with shots for Ally. Poor Sam was cramped in the back seat of the double stroller, and had a diaper overflow,but she was still pretty darned well behaved. I am a lucky mommy.
If only mommy was as good as the girls are. I had promised Sam we could go to My Gym free play when the appointment was over, but we were at the doctor's office so long that we missed it. When we pulled into our driveway, Sam's little voice asked "Josh?" from the back seat (Josh is her favorite instructor at My Gym). Another lesson for Mommy. Never, ever promise a reward that you are not 100% in control of delivering.
I normally reserve these pages for the girls, but sometimes something so spectacular happens that it warrants mentioning even though the girls WEREN'T EVEN THERE. Rare, but it does happen.
Saturday was one of those momentous occasions. One of our old friends from Rice married his lovely fiancee in a beautiful outdoor ceremony. Unfortunately, most of the Rice gang couldn't be there, so I'm dedicating a little space to sharing the big event with them.
Here's our last photo of J (er, Otis) single.
Note the rose petals strewn down the center aisle -- their scent was even detectible in the seats. It was a gorgeous setting. There were little sparkling white lights in the bushes behind the pergola. Just beautiful!
This'll be quick - trying to get packed up for a weekend trip (have I lost my MIND?).
Tonight, out of the blue, Samantha asked for my help to get a spoonful of "suh-quash" (squash), then ate it by herself. Then, she ate a half a tub of "suh-quash", "self" (as she says for "by myself"). She was as neat as could be, sometimes using both hands to be sure the spoon reached its destination smoothly. I didn't even have to wipe her face when she finished.
Today, we had a playdate with our friend Evan at his home. They all had a great time (thanks, Emma!). At one point, though, Evan seemed to be interested in playing with whatever the girls had - pretty much par for the course at 2 years old. He took one particular toy from Sam twice, and she appeared to give up. She scooted away, pulled out a mega Pooh coloring book and began flipping through it. When it, inevitably, attracted Evan's attention, she cheerily handed it over and scooted off to recapture the toy he had taken. Gotcha!
Meanwhile, when he went for Ally's toy turtle, she tried to kick him in the face.
Unrelated question: How long would your neck hurt if you slept like this?
OK. So it's been 10 days since I posted. But let's break that down into...
150 diaper changes
30 sessions feeding an unwilling toddler
60 sessions (probably more) feeding an over-eager infant
15 baths
60 bedtime books
6 therapy sessions (Sam's, not mine...)
1 annual "well child check" (which spawned 2 new radiology studies and 1 new specialist)
1 surgeon check up
1 trip to Dallas
2 music classes
2 gym classes
Selection of a pre-school for the fall
Sort of starting to sound like the 12 days of Christmas, in May.
Anyway, it's been busy, but the girls are doing well. Ally occasionally rolls onto her tummy in bed and gets stuck, which is probably a good developmental thing. She's holding her head and upper body up quite well, as you can see here...
Samantha continues to expand her linguistic mastery. Her current favorite car-time game is to shout back and forth different kinds of cheese. "Cottage Cheese!" "Stinky Cheese!" "Fancy Cheese!". She started it.
We drove to and from Palmer, TX for a visit to Farmor and Poppa G last week, just me and the girls. I was looking for help while Carl was out of town. I'm not sure packing everyone up and making the drive was really a smart move for a woman looking to reduce her stress level, but I was also excited for the Sam to see the calves. I think she was more excited by the pool, however, and Ally got to take her first dip as well.
Sam was getting a sunburn on her head and declined a hat, so rather than make her come in, Farmor held this umbrella over the girls for about 45 minutes. I have warned them not to expect this treatment at the local pool.
It was really nice to have Farmor and Poppa G to take care of us for a couple of days. I especially appreciated the luxury of hot meals and someone to hold the baby while I ate them. As an added bonus, we got to see Auntie Caroline and Uncle Barry before we left. It was wonderful to see all of you!
The trip up was a piece of cake. The girls slept, I caught up on some long-overdue phone calls, and all was well. I extrapolated from this, and anticipated an equally peaceful return trip on Saturday night. No such luck. For the first little while, Samantha and I enjoyed the cheese game and I was struggling to thing of new cheeses Sam might be able to pronounce. 30 minutes out, Ally started to shriek. Ally has the kind of high-pitched, screaming cry that makes you think you should get her to a doctor right away. Nothing is really wrong, except maybe a damp diaper or feeling a bit peckish. That's just Ally. In the car, it seems to have a peculiar piercing quality. Anyway, I did want to keep the peace, so I pulled over and tried feeding her. She was so mad she wouldn't nurse or take a bottle. I tried changing her. No help. I can only guess that perhaps she was car sick. Anyway, I had to strap her screaming, wriggling little body back in the car seat and keep going, or break down and get a hotel room. I had too much pride to give up, but that might have been the wiser path. Poor Sam sits right next to Ally, and she took it like a champ for about 45 minutes before I heard her start to sniffle. Then, whimper. And then, she was in full cry and giving Ally a run for her money. By the time we got home, Sam was so fed up with it all that she actually announced that she was "all done" with her companion blue moose. I'm not doing that by myself again until they're at least 4 and 6.
As you can see, we were all happy to reconvene back at the house on Sunday, just in time for Mothers' Day. Ahh. Happiness is having Daddy back home again.
Most popular toy the day before Matt's visit:
Most popular toy the day after Matt's visit:
And Ally is reaching for her toes.
We had very special visitors today! Sam and Ally's adopted "Gigi" and "Papa" came to visit, along with Danielle and Samantha's friend Matt. We had such a great time. As you can see, Ally quickly got comfortable with her new friends, especially Gigi.
Ally rolled onto her tummy by herself a couple of times today! We are having so much fun with her. She is really beginning to interact. She has a great laugh, and loves to be bounced. She also loves it when we sing, and hasn't figured out yet that we're usually off key. Or maybe she has, and that's why she's giggling
She's really fun to watch. Her back half is ready to crawl, but the front half can't even stay upright for long. So she ends up looking a bit like an off-balance bug a lot of the time.
She looks almost as surprised to find herself here as we were!
