Santa, Is That You?

Well Christmas came and went. We took Dani out for her first meal away from home for Grandpa's 79th birthday at Popeye's in St. Rose. Christmas Eve was spent at Grandpa's house for Dani's first chaotic Christmas event. I hope Nikky makes it in next year so the girls can get together. The exciting news from that event is that my cousin Kristen is pregnant!

Christmas day was good. Dani made out like a fat rat with toy things and clothes and being held by the grandparents who made quick stops by the house. (We made grandpa hold her in her Christmas hat while he wore a hat as well, he looks remarkably like Santa). She successfully spit up on every Christmas outfit she owned!

Since last time I wrote, we've gone through 2 suppositories (well actually 1/4 of a suppository each time) to get Dano-Dano's system working. I was told to try prune juice, but that came back up! That was fun. We had her in bed next to us trying to calm her when projective spit up came shooting from her mouth to cover both me and Chris and the bed. Bella looked at us funny when we told her to get off so we could clean up, as if to say, "it's just a bit of spit up, I'll clean it up if you give me a moment".

Today we took a shower together, not our first, but actually our third. She seems to really like being in the shower with mommy holding her and having warm water run down her back.

My newest adventure in learning to be a parent came in the form of an e-book for my new e-reader (Nook by Barnes and Noble). I bought and read the book, The Happiest Baby on the Block. I encourage all moms, aunts, babysitters, etc. to read it. A lot of it is intuitive, and a lot of it is stuff that is already done to calm babies down. So why read it? Well it gives a lot of good history, a lot of good examples, and is reassuring to the new parent who really has no idea if they are rocking a baby too hard or soft, etc. Anyway, it leads to a nice calm baby!

More Poop

December has been a crazy month. You may have read the details of this over at my other blog. If you haven't I encourage you to do so since I won't recap here rather I will share a funny story of the Dano-Dano at her best!

It has to do with poop, a hot topic in these parts!

Dani has some troubles with her bowels, and by day 4 of not having a bowel movement I decided to call the doctor. After an hour of eager waiting the return call from the nurse yielded that I should give Dano just a sliver of a suppository. If this ordeal becomes routine I am to give her an ounce of prune juice and an ounce of water a couple times a day. Now having a plan, I take a good 30 minutes warming the car, scraping ice off the windows, reading the car seat instructions, gathering her things and getting it all in the car for the quick trip down the street to Walgreen's to buy suppositories. As I return to the house to grab Dani, I realize the house stinks! S-T-I-N-K-S! I check her diaper and sure enough, she has poop! Leave it my Dano-Dano to poop on her own time, just like her birth, eating schedule, and sleep...all on her own time! It's okay though, if I have to threaten the poor girl with suppositories to get a good dirty diaper, it's on!

In other Dano-Dano news, she should be about 7.4 pounds, officially wearing both New Born and 0-3 month outfits as well as getting into some of the big girl G diapers. She is starting to sleep 3-4 hours over night (again, on her own schedule) but is still only eating at most, 2 ounces at a feeding. She was 6 weeks old this Monday, which means she is officially old enough (according to doctors) to take her out in public. Good timing on that, she'll be going out to meet family this week! My milk remains in good production, still not enough to sustain Dani completely, but enough to only have to make minimal supplementation.

I leave you now (she's still sleeping, so my time to get a few other things done)...


post script: We love you Wyatt, you'll always be Dano's buddy

1 Month Old

While today is not Dani's one month birthday, it was her one month doctor's appointment! Today she is 6 lbs 10.5 oz and 19 inches long and a noggin circumference of 13.5 inches [I should note that this means she now fits the requirements for using her car seat]. She also got her second round of the Hep. B immunization [she screamed, but I'm certain that it was more painful for mom to watch than it was for Dani to receive].



At her last appointment on November 22 she weighed 5 lbs 6oz.
At her one week appointment on November 15 she weighed 4 lbs 13.5 oz.
She left the hospital weighing 4 lbs 10 oz.
She was born weighing 4 lbs 15 oz.

I felt the need to chart this for us...


Other things to note...doctor said we're doing a good job. We are switching Dani to a soy based Similac formula (from the milk based formula) for gassiness. I went to my doctor today for a 4 week checkup. Long story short, I evaded a visit with a psychiatrist and am taking some antidepressants, otherwise all is good! Now...off to a fussy Dano-Dano!

First Bath

We had our first real bath today! While we've had some quick out of water sponge baths, this was our first real big girl bath.

First we had to figure out how the tub went together. Then we filled it with water and put the rubber ducky water temperature tester in until he said it was okay to take a bath. All this happened while mom grabbed two towels, two wash clothes, baby soap and lotion, two extra diapers and some clothes. We stripped Dani down to skin and put her in, and at first, she seemed to love it. The water covered her tush and went up her back, I took a wet wash cloth and draped it over her belly to keep her warm. So far, all is good!!

Then we started washing. Lesson 1, baby does not like water on head. Okay, quickly finish washing face, then dry head, quickly quickly, the screaming is loud.

Okay, we now moved on to washing the limbs and getting all those creases. Keep body wet with warm water. Going well.

Now on to the dirty body parts, okay, baby not liking, hurry hurry, the screaming is loud.

Towel her off. Lesson 2, baby does not like being cold after bath, must do something about this, good job on getting two towels mom!

Lesson 3, don't get baby upset, then hold her to your chest with a low cut shirt, she will spit up. She will spit up all over her clean body and down your shirt just to make a statement!

Bath number 2...send dad for two new clean towels...uhm, dad, those aren't towels...ah, yes, there we go...it's time for take off!

Used lessons from bath one and bath two was a success!

Note, baby is calm after bath and once warm. She sleeps peacefully, it's just a shame I was trying to keep her up all day so she'll start sleeping at night!

Oh well, that was fun!

Getting Bigger

It's official, I attempted to put a preemie outfit on old "Spit Up Spann" and found that it would not fit her. It's heart breaking really. I told her she was not allowed to grow up [although she IS allowed to outgrow the eating/digestive issues at hand]. I could tell she was getting bigger, she visibly looked bigger to me when Chris held her. Her entire body used to fit in his arm quite well but now her head fits at his elbow and her bottom is at his hand with her little legs and feet dangling.


As mentioned, her growth was confirmed today when I tried to dress her. I might mention that I had to change her because she spit up. Projectile stuff too! Then when I went to pull her diaper off she shot pee again. She has learned [she's an advanced learner no matter what you say] that when I hold her legs in the air just before swooping in a new diaper, she can pee and literally shoot it! I wonder if she and dad have been having more conversations than I am aware of. The only one I really knew of at all was the "you are only allowed to be naked for baths and diaper changes"...hmm...

Last Monday (3 weeks old) we attempted to weigh her using Chris bio-diesel scale. The scale only measures up to 6 lbs., so when it lined out, we knew she must be heavier than that. I stood on the scale and then held her while standing on the scale, we estimate 6.2 lbs. (or 6 lbs 3 oz.).

Also this week Kelly P.-F., Crystal, Mark, Andrea, and my mom came to visit with gifts and food. My sister, Amanda, and Becky made sure to check in on me as well. It's good to have people check in, that's all I know at this point! Also, I should mention that my cousin Nikky is a savior with her advice on babies, feeding, and general mental well-being (so glad to know this stressful 2 hour schedule phase passes and that I will likely forget the trauma of it all).