Baby Monitor Update

The last time I posted about our baby monitor it was to tell you about the new monitor we got. It is WONDERFUL. I think I have slept so much better because of it. It really doesn't have any static at all. My only complaint is that it is super quiet. You basically have to wait to hear the kid scream to know what is going on if you are sleeping. That is the only way you will wake up. Luckily I am a fairly light sleeper after about 2 hours of sleep...so I usually wake up when I hear her stirring and fussing. I do highly recommend this baby monitor. It really is worth the price!

Colds

Unfortunately Libby has caught another cold. This one is worse than the last one she just got over 2 weeks ago. I actually kept her home from daycare all week because she was having such a difficult time to breathe. Here is the real question though. I know the kid that keeps getting her sick. It is the same kid that got her sick the last time. He's *still* sick. Do I nicely ask his parents to keep him home when he is getting everyone sick? I realize that some people are not fortunate as we are where I have the ability to work from home so if my kid is sick or the daycare closes that I don't have to take off work. But come on! The kid has had a cold for a month. How do I know this? Every time I see him - which is every day I take her to daycare - I see his nose crusted over with what has to be stuff from his nose. It just breaks my heart. I want to say something to his parents....but I know I won't. It is just very frustrating. This time he even got one of the 2 teachers sick. I am really hoping one of them would say something. Guess we'll see!

Happy 5 Months!

She's 5 months old tomorrow! Wowzers! This last month has been great. She's really developing into such a little girl. Elizabeth is very happy usually but doesn't like to laugh a lot out loud. Last night she laughed continuously for about 30 minutes.
Her Daddy says she laughs like Alf...I don't think so! It was absolutely adorable. Some of her likes are:

• She loves to have her feet tickled and kissed. She finds that really funny.
• Bath time is fun! I can't believe it - it only took 5 months.
• Anticipates attacks from the Kissy Monster.
• She loves it when we blow raspberries on her cheeks.
• She loves it when Daddy the vampire attacks her neck (it is a guaranteed way to make her laugh).
• LOVES to blow raspberries with cereal in her mouth ALL over Mommy.
• LOVES her jumperoo.
• Still loves to stare at the Mickey Mouse on the top of our bookshelf.
• Loves to be on the floor playing on her Ocean Wonders
• Oh her thumb - how could I not mention how much she loves her own thumb! Dislikes the
  

There are so many more! As far as milestones:

Should be able to do:

• Hold head steady when upright - Check
  
• On stomach, can raise chest, supported by arms - Check
• Pay attention to an object as small as a raisin - Check
• Squeal in delight - Ha! Check
  
• Reach for an object - Check
• Smile spontaneously - Check
• Smile back when you smile - Check (warms the heart!)
  
• Grasp a rattle held to backs or tips of the fingers - Check
• Keep head level with body when pulled to sitting - Check

Will probably be able to do:

• Roll over (one way) - Nope! Getting closer though!
  
• Bear some weight on legs - Check
• Say "ah-goo" or similar vowel consonant combinations - Check (Chatty Cathy!)
  
• razz (make a wet razzing sound) - Check (sadly she even does it with cereal in her mouth)
  
• turn in the direction of a voice - Check

May possibly be able to:

• Sit without support - Nope! Haven't even tried!
  

May even be able to:

• Pull up to standing position from sitting - Check
• Stand holding on to someone or something - Not quite
  
• Object if you try to take a toy away - Check
• Work to get a toy out of reach - Check
• Pass a cube or other object from one hand to the other - Nope!
• Look for dropped object - Nope! She's looked for her bottle when I am burping her
  
• Rake with fingers a tiny object and pick it up in fist - Check
• Babble, combining vowels and consonants such as ga-ga-ga, ba-ba-ba, ma-ma-ma, da-da-da - Check! Boy howdy!
  

One thing that isn't listed is teething. We can actually see whites on her gums...so the teeth should be coming in soon. It has been a very painful process for her and it involved lots of screaming. We tried to make her as comfortable as possible...but sometimes that is all you can do.

Well, here is a picture from a few weeks ago that I just love. Classic Miss Libby Lu!

Parents as Teachers

There is a program called 'Parents as Teachers' that I have always heard wonderful things about. I always knew I would use them to help reach if not surpass my child's milestones. When Libby was born, I tried to get the information for them as quickly as I could so we could start the program. It ended up taking until she was 4 months old to actually get someone to call me back. Then it was so close to Christmas that they didn't want to meet until after the first of the year. It took them until the end of January to call me back to set up an appointment. I was never given the person's name or phone number to contact them. We eventually set up an appointment to meet last night. I was very excited and rushed around the house like a crazy person to get everything ready. He was supposed to come over at 6:00. When he wasn't there at 6:30 I thought to myself, "Well, he must have gotten the times mixed up and thought it was 6:30". Then 7:00 came and still nothing - no phone call (he has my cell phone number) or anything. I still haven't received any kind of communication from him today explaining why he stood us up. I am really not impressed anymore.

Our Valentine

1.26.08 Valentines Day Outfit (3)
Originally uploaded by Holly Mroczkowski.

Nothing says 'I love you' better than a happy baby in an Valentines Day outfit. =)

"Is she sleeping through the night?"

I love everyone's questions about babies. They usually are pretty standard questions but one I cringe at is, "Is she sleeping through the night?" Is it that people that have kids wonder if others are struggling with sleep like they did when their kids were babies? Or that they want to see if their kids were normal in that area? Or can they not think about anything else to ask?

This question is a touchy one. You could ask it to parents and if their child has colic and they are getting no sleep, you might get your head bit off. Or you could ask it to parents who were fortunate enough to have a baby that started sleeping through the night at 6 weeks and they are beaming about it and then hearing about how wonderful their child is (and rightly so! That is pretty amazing!). The question really just bothers me because I want her to sleep through the night because I am exhausted and she isn't 100% there yet. It isn't anyone's fault and I don't mind answering it. It just makes me feel like I'm missing something I could do to help her sleep better.

We were lucky that Libby started sleeping 6-8 hours very early - at about 2-3 months. However recently she does not seem to get enough food and her mouth is hurting from teething...so we are lucky to get her to sleep 6 hours max before wanting to feed. I know this is perfectly normal but it still makes me feel like I am doing something wrong (as silly as that may sound since I have no control over it).

I'm not writing this to make everyone stop asking me this question...because most of you can tell from the bags underneath Jim and my eyes or my irritability that she is not sleeping through the night yet. =) I'm just writing to vent...because...well, because that is what this is here for. =)

Giant Baby!

My child is not your typical 4.5 month old. She is the size of a 6-9 month old..if not year old. My back has been hurting more than usual so I convinced Jim to weigh Miss Libby the other night. She is up to 20.5 lbs. I weighed that when I was 1 year old! Some of you might be thinking that she's a chunk but you are wrong. She is chubby, as I love babies to be, but she sooooo incredibly LONG too. This height thing is foreign to me. It definitely comes from her daddy. No complaints from me! I am just glad that we upgraded her to her big girl car seat a few weeks ago considering the infant carrier maxes out at 22lbs. At this rate, she'll be there in less than a month!

Baby Monitor

I don't like to give a lot of advice because everyone is different. Every baby is definitely different but I am going to break my own rule and shell out side advice that applies to everyone. Spend time looking around for a good baby monitor. If you think about it, every parent is so nervous to leave their precious little one in another room for the first time. It is very reassuring to know that you have a crystal clear connection to your baby via a baby monitor. Some people want just sound, some video, and some video and sound. I'll say if your household is not a geeky one like mine with lots of phones, wifi, wireless dvd players and such you can get a really cheap baby monitor. However, if your household is like ours, it can be hard to get that crystal clear reception without all of the static. Jim and I have suffered through endless hours of static on our baby monitor with the volume maxed out to make sure we can hear the baby over the static. I was tired of it at week 3. We just did something about it last week.

I really don't like spending money no matter what anyone says. Well, I don't like spending money on me. I would gladly spend all of my money on Libby and Jim. We tried to get nice things when it came to Libby to make sure they were good quality and lasted. So when a friend recommended a baby monitor and basically said they were all the same I totally believed her. It made sense to me. We had a list of things we were looking for though:

• Has 2 parent units - We have a multi level home and wanted one unit in our bedroom and one in the living room area. This way we never forgot to bring it anywhere we were. Because, you know, you would forget. (not really =))
• Lights for sound - Another thing that was a must was the ability to 'see' how loud she was getting via lights. I absolutely love this feature. This way if you are watching TV you can turn the monitor down and you don't have to hear every single thing but can see it if she gets fussy.

That was about it. Easy enough, huh? Well, we got a unit for about $30 and was pretty happy with it. Except for the static. Oh the static. It also was supersonic. That wasn't a complaint and was more of a plus in my book. I didn't always like hearing what was going on 3 blocks away....but at least I always knew I would hear the baby. Back to the problem - the static. Oy! It would keep me up and night. I made it my mission to fix this only (major) problem.

There are several ways to fix the baby monitors. Throw them out the window or get one that is not on the same frequency as your phones and other electrical appliances. Easier said than done in our household. If you want the cheapest way to do this, in my opinion, look what frequency your phones are on and then buy a monitor that operates above that frequency. There are also the digital monitors that apparently would not interfere. It is a very tricky business. I, sadly, spent countless hours researching baby monitors. I did find the one that was hands down the best one that guaranteed no static. It was the one we purchased in the end. It is the Philips Avent DECT. It met all of our criteria (however, if you only need one parent unit, there is an option for that at the same price with even more fun, pretty gadgets on it!) and guaranteed no static! It is super pricey but we ended getting it on eBay for a lot less. I love eBay! I charged it last night and plugged them in this morning to use and there is absolutely no static. They have rechargeable batteries in both parent units and the base for the baby's room also takes batteries in case of a power outage. I love that feature! The only complaint I have heard about this unit is it is a battery hog. I know we only plan on using the batteries if we have to carry the unit somewhere but they will be recharging on the base the majority of the time. So far, this unit is absolutely outstanding. I'll let you know if that changes. =) But my advice won't, even if you don't want this expensive option, please do your research on the baby monitor.

Solid Foods: Update

Today was the first day of trying the solid foods that she ate a large amount of it. I have been taking the suggested amount and cutting it in half. It makes about 1.5 tsp of cereal and 1 oz of formula. She ate all of it! Progress! I am so relieved! She is getting to a point where 8oz is not enough every 3 hours and she is no longer sleeping 8 hrs at night. So, hopefully this will help fill her up!

Sickness

I've been battling a stomach bug the last 24 hours. I have to say it is hard to feel better when you have a baby to take care of. Fortunately since it snowed today and Jim was home too to help. I tried to take it easy so I could be healthy by the end of the day. It is definitely harder to get healthier when you cannot sleep in!