Sweet Potatoes!

We decided to give some sweet potatoes a try this evening. Get this, I'm actually making an effort to make her food myself! She only eats a new food every three or four days, how hard can it be? I cooked up a potato last night and used my new "Magic Bullet" to puree it to a smooth consistency. One potato made enough to freeze a full ice cube tray worth! Today I thawed a few cubes for "dinnertime". She'd been less than excited about the cereal the last few days, so we wondered how the sweet potatoes would go over. I also used the lighter skinned, white/yellow fleshed sweet potatoes instead of the orangy colored yams. I figure I can try those later.

She seemed to be interested and actually opened her mouth as the spoon came towards her. She did seem to eat a few bites, but she's really still getting the hang of what to do with the food once its on her tongue. It must have been tough work, because she all of a sudden let out a sigh and put her head on her left shoulder. She did this a day or two ago too...we haven't quite figured out why she is doing this, but it's pretty cute.

We'll try the sweet potatoes for a few more days, then we'll be on to some squash next!

Fun with Rice Cereal

We've finally started some solid foods!! Rice cereal is the most common food to start with (and least to cause any possible allergic reaction), so we decided to jump in last Thursday after work. We've been thinking Morgan was ready because she's been very curious about what we eat and she often imitates us eating. Here's how the first attempt went down:

Here comes the spoon!

What do I do with this?

Morgan and Mommy

We think more came out than went in

Daddy gives it a try

We're done for now

We've tried again each night and she seems to be slowly getting the hang of it. Of course, the rice cereal is about the most bland food ever, so we're looking forward to trying some sweet potatoes on Sunday night. We hope that she might be more excited about something that tastes good!

Happy Half Birthday!

Happy 6 Months old Sweet Baby Girl!

It's hard to believe that she's already 6 Months Old. Take a look at a few photos from our "photo shoot" this morning. She's such a wiggler now that it was hard to get her to sit and smile. Her smiles mostly showed her sticking out her tongue as well!

We also had her 6 Month check-up at the Pediatrician today. Here are her stats:

Weight: 17 lbs 3 oz (50-75th Percentile)
Length: 28 inches (90th Percentile)

As we knew, she is very long. She is already filling out (lengthwise, not width) a few of her 6-9 month sleepers. I've been rolling up the sleeves because her arms aren't as long...though you would be fooled by the long reach she has developed!

The doctor said she looked great! She even sat by herself for a few seconds on the exam table. The ear infection is clearing up nicely. She had her vaccinations and cried during them...but quieted very quickly when they were done. It probably helped that she already was on some Tylenol for the ear infection. We'll keep that going one more day in case she has any residual soreness.

We hope you enjoy the new pictures! We will have some more fun ones from our adventure with rice cereal the last two days. She hasn't been too thrilled with it yet, but the rice cereal is pretty bland. We think more came out of her mouth than was actually being swallowed. We got some really funny pictures. Check back soon!

Wordless Wednesday: Rubber Ducky, You're the One... I Want to Eat!

Roly-Poly Baby Girl

Yes, Morgan is our Chunky Monkey...but she's also been getting increasingly "roly-poly." In just the last few days she's really been figuring out how to roll easily in both directions, back to tummy and tummy to back. In fact, today she propelled herself all over our bonus room floor. As you can see in the picture, she got held up by that annoying ottoman. She just kept trying and trying! Mommy had to rescue her from this situation. If she'd been able to continue she might have ended up under the couch!

She also maneuvered herself in the opposite direction and ended up next to a basket of toys. Then she managed to tip over the basket and was surprised to see there were goodies inside. It was only when she started to chew on the basket that I took it away.

We think Morgan is feeling better since she started her antibiotics. At least the Tylenol is helping any residual ear ache. She's still a little more fussy that usual at times, but that's to be expected. I managed to make her giggle a few times today with some strategically placed kisses and silliness while she was playing in her jumperoo. If she doesn't have a fever tomorrow morning she'll be back to day care.

Morgan's Birth Story

In celebration of Morgan's "Half" Birthday this week (Thursday), I thought I'd post her "Birth Story." A few days after she was born I posted this on a few message boards I'm a part of, but I had not yet started my blog. This weekend I was telling my Aunt the details of Morgan's actual "Birthday" and I realized some people might be interested to read this. Now, it was a long day and some details are a bit "graphic" so please skip it if you are squeamish.

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Wednesday, December 5th

At 6:00 am I woke up to a warm gush of fluid. I had just been to the bathroom, so I was pretty sure I hadn't had an "accident." I hurried back to the bathroom and there was no doubt that it was amniotic fluid as it is was clear. I let my husband know what happening and we both sprang into action to get the last-minute things together for the trip to the hospital. We arrived around 7:45 am. I was not having any contractions at this point. I told them my water broke and the nurse in triage gave me a slide to let the fluid drip on…she took one look and said to another nurse, “I’ve got a direct admit.” They showed us to our labor and delivery room which had a really great view of downtown Spokane. We couldn't believe it was the day! I was due 12/16 so I was a bit early at 38w3d.

The nurse checked me about 8:30 am and I was 1 cm dilated and 75% effaced. My Dr. wanted to start the Pitocin right away. I chose to walk the halls a while to see if we could get things going. It helped a little as I felt more and more tightening, but no real pain. The nurse told me that if I didn’t progress they would start the Pitocin at 10:30. That is what happened, so at that point I was monitored in bed as they started the drip in my IV. At Noon I started having more painful contractions. My Dr. arrived and checked me at 12:40 and I was almost 3 cm and 90% effaced. At 2:30 pm the contractions were painful enough that I asked for the epidural. After the last check the doctor had said I could get it at any time, but I wanted to hold out a while to see what I could handle. I was having a lot of hip and back pain as well as the contractions so I got the epidural about 2:30 pm.

For a while after things moved somewhat slowly. At 4:50 pm I was still 3cm, but now fully effaced. The epidural did not ease the back and hip pain so they tried to adjust the dosage. The nurses also kept repositioning me to get the baby’s head to move down further as she was still up pretty high. More waiting…I was checked at 6:40 pm and was now 6cm and then at 8:20 pm I was suddenly fully dilated, but baby’s head was at 0 Station, still pretty high. The back/hip pain became really excruciating, but the “top offs” the anesthetists kept giving me where only making my legs more numb.

At 9:50 pm they decided to let me start pushing. That actually felt better than lying there in pain. I pushed for about a ½ hour and made some progress. The Dr. checked and at this time realized that baby’s head was face up instead of down and all the pushing I was doing helped, but she was stuck under my pelvic bone. The nurses tried more positioning to get her to turn without luck and the Dr. tried to turn her himself without success. I was grateful my Dr. was tying to avoid a c-section and he encouraged me to start pushing again (I was feeling more of the urge now). He was really determined that I could get her out on my own and was such a great cheerleader, as were the nurses.

At 11:10 pm I started to push again…and after lots of perineal massage and unfortunately an episiotomy as well as the vacuum/suction thing…she was born at 11:48 pm, just under the wire for the 5th! Her daddy said when her head popped out was the single most amazing moment in his life. Since she was face up he saw her little face right away and immediately fell in love.

Because of some "repair work" it was a while before I got to hold Morgan, but when I did I was so in love too. I still can’t believe she’s mine. Her Daddy had cut the umbilical cord and helped trim it again when she was being cleaned up. Before, he said he wasn’t sure he could handle seeing everything, but he surprised himself by watching it all and wouldn’t have missed it for anything.

Because she was born so close to midnight…and I also needed a little more time to recover from my tear/cut, so we didn’t leave the hospital until Friday evening. We are so glad to be home and are adjusting to our new life and little “love.”

My Mom arrives tonight and my Dad and sister will join us before Christmas…we can’t wait to celebrate this year! Last year I had my miscarriage a week before Christmas, so this year we are feeling so blessed to have our Morgan here.
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Here's our sweet girl's first picture...taken by her Daddy.

Visitors and a Surprise

We were so glad to have my Aunt Anne, Uncle Bruce and cousin Sara come to visit from Portland this weekend. We had a fun-filled time with a tour of downtown Spokane, getting rained on in Riverfront Park, a Spokane Shock game (we won!) and we topped if off with...surprise! Morgan's first ear infection. I think we did pretty well to make it to almost 6 months without one, especially since she is in daycare.

Back to the visitor part. Uncle Bruce is my Dad's brother. He and Aunt Anne met in college and have been together ever since. They have two daughters, one who also lives in Portland and another, Amy, who lives in San Diego. Sara, Bruce and Anne are recent transplants in the Portland area (Sara first, then Bruce and Anne a few years later). Sara and Amy grew up in the central valley of California. My family lives a few hours north and we got to see them a few times a year. In fact, I remember meeting Sara when she was about Morgan's age. Sometimes I see Morgan on the floor on her tummy with her head held high and I recall an old photo of my sister, Sara and I on that first visit. Sara was lying on a blanket with her head held high and the same proud smile on her face. My sister and I were probably about 6 1/2 at the time. It has been great to "grow up" together. Though we are now adults we are still enjoying "growing up" together.

As for the ear infection, Morgan has had a cold for a few days. She had a runny nose and a little cough, but her last cold was so much worse that I didn't think about it much. Thinking back, she was pulling on her ear some (wrote this off as "teething) and on Friday night she vomited (David was doing Daddy duty when I was at my Girl's Night Out and he first thought she'd leaked through her diaper, but on further examination the sleeper was more wet "up top" than "down below"). She was also a little more fussy that usual, but that was explained by the fact that we'd had a really busy day and kept her out past her bedtime.

So this morning she had a temperature of 98.7 and a few hours later she felt VERY warm to me. This temp check came in at 102.3. Yikes! So we made a call to the pediatrician. Also, at that point I discovered some orangy ear wax on her bib below her left ear. Further inspection revealed more ear wax and some wet discharge. Uh oh, the dreaded ear infection. Off we went to Urgent Care where they confirmed the diagnosis (the Dr. actually said there was so much "stuff" in her ear that he couldn't confirm the eardrum rupture, but we suspected that it did). Luckily that meant that if she was in some pain, the ruptured eardrum would relieve that pressure, thus no more pain. We just have to be careful with her baths the next few weeks and put some cotton and Vaseline in her ear to keep the water out.

So, that's the story of our great weekend! It really was nice to see family even though we ended the weekend in Urgent Care (not that the two are related at all). Below is a picture of Morgan taking a looong nap this morning in her crib. Her Great Auntie Anne rocked her to sleep all cozy in some blankets. We usually don't have blankets in the crib, but I knew she wasn't feeling well and she needed all the sleep she could get. We kept an eye on her on the monitor and she was so deeply asleep that she never moved at all. She is now asleep in her crib for the night sans blankets, but her sleep sack should keep her quite cozy.

P.S. At the Urgent Care appointment, they weighed Morgan. She was fully clothed, but weighed 17 lbs, 11 oz....our Chunky Monkey!!