Look what I can do! from Jessa Pelizari on Vimeo.
Showing posts with label milestones. Show all posts
Showing posts with label milestones. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Bye Bye Baby
I think the most amazing thing about being a parent (and forgive me for getting a little cliché here), is watching Eily blossom from this defenseless, immobile, generally unaware puddle of pudgy cuteness into a brave, toddling, curious individual, complete with her own unique personality. These days, it seems she progresses closer and closer to a "big kid" at the speed of light. Case in point: yesterday morning. I set her down on her feet on the living room floor, and out of the blue she walks five steps. As if this was no big deal at all. As if she'd been doing it for years. Only after Jesse and I began shouting "Yay!" and clapping did she turn to look at us with a huge grin on her face, realizing she'd done something special.
Okay, so maybe we're falling into the typical parent trap, oooing and ahhhing over ever tiny accomplishment. After all, it's not like she just discovered the cure for cancer or anything. But honestly, spending every day living life through her eyes has made me realize just how many things most of us take for granted - like the power to support our own weight under our legs and walk across a room without toppling over. Again, falling into the pit of cliché, it's like discovering the world all over again.
What surprises me even more, however, is the tremendous leaps of faith she is willing to take as she navigates her way from unsteadily standing and letting go to lifting a foot and taking a step forward. She knows she's going to fall. You can see it on her face, no real surprise as she loses her balance and her knees buckle beneath her. And just as soon as she is down, she clambers back up again. Rinse, lather, repeat. I look at her and realize she is the perfect example of perseverance. There's a lot to be learned from our little pint-sized powerhouse.
So, with all her determination focused on mastering the fine art of walking, one would think Eily had filled her new skill quota for the day. But just to be sure she'd sent the message home that she is no longer a "little baby," she pointed out that she can say her name. It's not crystal clear, and usually comes out more like "EYE-EE!" (yes, complete with exclamation point), but she says it nonetheless.
Now I know, this is a bit of a stretch. Maybe it's just a new sound she likes to make. Maybe she just hears us say it a lot and wants to mimic, not really knowing that "Eily" is the word to use when talking about herself. We weren't sure either, so we tested the theory. When we held up a mirror, she would point and say her name. Then she saw a picture of herself and said it. I pointed at Jesse, and she said "Daddy." Pointed at her reflection or her picture again, and she said her name. Pointed at one of the cats and heard her excited whisper of "Ti-Ta" (Kitty Kat). After playing this game for a while, Jesse and I have agreed she really does recognize her name as a label for herself.
At first, I was blown away by this. The more I think about it, though, it's around age one that kids begin to apply labels to the world around them and then try to communicate using their new vocabulary. So while she's a little ahead of schedule, it makes sense that she's suddenly become so communicative. In addition to this most recent lexical entry, she signs for "milk" without hesitation and understands what it means if I sign it to her first. She made the sign for "more" for the first time that I could recognize yesterday and beamed when she got exactly what she asked for. She will wave, unprompted by me or Jesse, whenever anyone enters or leaves a room. I can practically see all the little synapses in her brain firing away with every new connection she makes. This is something I find absolutely fascinating; the power of the human brain to make the leap from simply experiencing the world to communicating ideas about the world through language.
I'll stop before I totally geek out about the whole thing (but really, it is SO cool). Suffice it to say that I am totally amazed and, I'll admit a little sad, by how grown up Eily is getting. But along with the bittersweet thought that my baby is getting big comes the excitement of being able to share the world with her and watching the light in her eyes as understanding replaces her confusion about this mysterious big world she's found herself in.
And now, as a reward for reading through all of this, here's a video of Eily saying her name this morning:
Okay, so maybe we're falling into the typical parent trap, oooing and ahhhing over ever tiny accomplishment. After all, it's not like she just discovered the cure for cancer or anything. But honestly, spending every day living life through her eyes has made me realize just how many things most of us take for granted - like the power to support our own weight under our legs and walk across a room without toppling over. Again, falling into the pit of cliché, it's like discovering the world all over again.
What surprises me even more, however, is the tremendous leaps of faith she is willing to take as she navigates her way from unsteadily standing and letting go to lifting a foot and taking a step forward. She knows she's going to fall. You can see it on her face, no real surprise as she loses her balance and her knees buckle beneath her. And just as soon as she is down, she clambers back up again. Rinse, lather, repeat. I look at her and realize she is the perfect example of perseverance. There's a lot to be learned from our little pint-sized powerhouse.
So, with all her determination focused on mastering the fine art of walking, one would think Eily had filled her new skill quota for the day. But just to be sure she'd sent the message home that she is no longer a "little baby," she pointed out that she can say her name. It's not crystal clear, and usually comes out more like "EYE-EE!" (yes, complete with exclamation point), but she says it nonetheless.
Now I know, this is a bit of a stretch. Maybe it's just a new sound she likes to make. Maybe she just hears us say it a lot and wants to mimic, not really knowing that "Eily" is the word to use when talking about herself. We weren't sure either, so we tested the theory. When we held up a mirror, she would point and say her name. Then she saw a picture of herself and said it. I pointed at Jesse, and she said "Daddy." Pointed at her reflection or her picture again, and she said her name. Pointed at one of the cats and heard her excited whisper of "Ti-Ta" (Kitty Kat). After playing this game for a while, Jesse and I have agreed she really does recognize her name as a label for herself.
At first, I was blown away by this. The more I think about it, though, it's around age one that kids begin to apply labels to the world around them and then try to communicate using their new vocabulary. So while she's a little ahead of schedule, it makes sense that she's suddenly become so communicative. In addition to this most recent lexical entry, she signs for "milk" without hesitation and understands what it means if I sign it to her first. She made the sign for "more" for the first time that I could recognize yesterday and beamed when she got exactly what she asked for. She will wave, unprompted by me or Jesse, whenever anyone enters or leaves a room. I can practically see all the little synapses in her brain firing away with every new connection she makes. This is something I find absolutely fascinating; the power of the human brain to make the leap from simply experiencing the world to communicating ideas about the world through language.
I'll stop before I totally geek out about the whole thing (but really, it is SO cool). Suffice it to say that I am totally amazed and, I'll admit a little sad, by how grown up Eily is getting. But along with the bittersweet thought that my baby is getting big comes the excitement of being able to share the world with her and watching the light in her eyes as understanding replaces her confusion about this mysterious big world she's found herself in.
And now, as a reward for reading through all of this, here's a video of Eily saying her name this morning:
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Nine Month Noteworthies
Howdy y'all! Let's kick this post off with a big shout out to Mother Nature for doing such a fine job this week. After yet another weekend drowned in rain (and a damp basement floor), the skies cleared on Wednesday and by yesterday, temperatures were hovering close to 80 degrees. With similar sunshine and slightly cooler temperatures a couple of weeks ago, we've really been taking advantage of the added daylight and getting outside as much as possible. Here's a picture of Eily riding in style during one of our jaunts out to Tyler.

The picture needs a little explanation to be completely appreciated. First, the arm perched up on the side there. Yeah, that's where she "rests" it while she's riding in the stroller. Next we have the fully extended legs. You can't quite see the one reaching out in front of her, but she hardly ever rests it on the little footrest, even though she can reach. Finally, we have the cupholder-turned-footrest off to the left of the photo. Normally, this tray would flip up and snap in place in front of her, but because she's so short the only thing it succeeds in doing is blocking her view. So we let it hang to the side. Eily is innovative enough to have noticed the advantage this poses by using it as a place to stretch and rest her foot on. So not only is this a funny snapshot from a moment during our walk, this is also how she looked during ALL of the moments of our walk. We got many chuckles from passersby that day.
But I digress. We have many important things to discuss today! And now, the moment you've all been waiting for...
(drumroll)
....Eily had her 9 month well baby appointment on Friday! That's right folks, believe or not our little sprout hit nine months on Tuesday. As Jesse put it, "She's now been on the outside for as long as she was on the inside." (Now, now, all you ladies who've done this before, let's not get technical on him and tell him you're really pregnant for ten months. Oh, and then add ten more days on top of that since she decided to stick around that much longer before being born.) I'm not sure about other moms out there, but I love these regular appointments. Eily's quite a ham and loves to "show off" at the doctor's office, babbling and flirting with anyone who looks at her. The staff is great, I've never waited more than five minutes from the time we sign in to the time we're brought into the exam room, and our two pediatricians are absolutely phenomenal. Even the vaccination at the end of each visit doesn't cause too much drama for Eily. She's turning out to be one tough little chica...but more on that later.
First, let's get our stats in order here. The official weights and measures (with comparison to 6 month stats from January in parentheses) are:
Height: 26.5" (+1.25")
Weight: 17lbs 5.5oz (+ 4lbs 3oz) (+2lbs 3oz since Feb weight check)
Head Circumference: 17.5" (+1")
The pediatrician was very happy with her growth, particularly since she's on the upward swing and getting close to the 25th percentile for weight again. She's at the 25th percentile for height, as well, but her head is slightly above average at just over the 50th percentile. No concerns there, she just needs all that space for that big brain she's developing!
In other news on the Eily front, we officially have forward momentum. She started crawling forward two weeks ago and has not looked back since. This has made my friend Casey's job much harder on Tuesdays and Thursdays, since her little girl Ava is all over the place as well. Casey, you get a shout out for chasing after the two of them at once!
Along with the crawling has come some creative corralling of our little quadruped. I particularly like laundry day now since it offers me two laundry baskets full of clean clothes that I can strategically place at opposite ends of the living room to keep her from escaping. Add a giant IKEA bag full of toys, the couch, the futon, and her exersaucer, and there you are - instant babycage play yard.
The only trouble is, in the two weeks since she started crawling, she's gotten better. These days she likes to crawl through the bottom of her exersaucer or push the baskets out of the way. Thankfully, Nic has very generously offered up Liam's play yard for our use. We'll be picking it up tomorrow when we see the Shillidays at the annual Easter EggBrawl Hunt hosted by Debbie and Gary. (That entire day is going to warrant it's own post...be on the lookout!)
Okay, it's almost 1 a.m. and I am rambling here. I'm going to wrap things up for now by mentioning a few quick updates and then leaving you with two videos. First, Jesse successfully installed the plumbing for the kitchen on his own last week. Nic's dad, Bud (shout out to Bud, woot!), moved the gas line for us a couple of weeks ago; so we were all set for the inspector to come look at all the rough work on Thursday. Long story short, we passed with flying colors and can officially move on to the insulation/drywall stage. After Jesse cuts a giant hole in the side of the house for the new door, that is.
Second quickie: I'm still very much interested in pursuing communicative disorders (fancy title for the speech therapy degree) at school and will be meeting with an advisor this Thursday to start planning out my courses. The only hard part is that the major is restrictive, meaning I have to take a bunch of core classes before even being accepted into the major. Kind of a PITA, but I'm willing to deal with it. I don't have any worries that I won't be accepted, so it's not like the courses will be a waste of time.
And third: the race is over. Eily is babbling all the time these days. She says many many things, including: yaya, baba, lala, blabla (very impressive), and *sigh* dada. That's it. No mama. Not even a "muh". Nothing. I try to console myself by saying she's saving the best for last.
Okay, I'm done blabbing away. It's even worse when I'm tired, making my writing this at one in the morning particularly dangerous. Anywho, here are the two promised videos given as your reward for suffering through all of this. I think you'll like these, although the first is a bit long (7 mins). I blame the cameraman, aka Jesse.
And this one I took today when Jesse fell asleep on the futon this afternoon. I turned around and saw Eily doing this and thought it was hilarious. Enjoy and have a Happy Easter/Happy Passover/Happy Spring Sunday tomorrow!

The picture needs a little explanation to be completely appreciated. First, the arm perched up on the side there. Yeah, that's where she "rests" it while she's riding in the stroller. Next we have the fully extended legs. You can't quite see the one reaching out in front of her, but she hardly ever rests it on the little footrest, even though she can reach. Finally, we have the cupholder-turned-footrest off to the left of the photo. Normally, this tray would flip up and snap in place in front of her, but because she's so short the only thing it succeeds in doing is blocking her view. So we let it hang to the side. Eily is innovative enough to have noticed the advantage this poses by using it as a place to stretch and rest her foot on. So not only is this a funny snapshot from a moment during our walk, this is also how she looked during ALL of the moments of our walk. We got many chuckles from passersby that day.
But I digress. We have many important things to discuss today! And now, the moment you've all been waiting for...
(drumroll)
....Eily had her 9 month well baby appointment on Friday! That's right folks, believe or not our little sprout hit nine months on Tuesday. As Jesse put it, "She's now been on the outside for as long as she was on the inside." (Now, now, all you ladies who've done this before, let's not get technical on him and tell him you're really pregnant for ten months. Oh, and then add ten more days on top of that since she decided to stick around that much longer before being born.) I'm not sure about other moms out there, but I love these regular appointments. Eily's quite a ham and loves to "show off" at the doctor's office, babbling and flirting with anyone who looks at her. The staff is great, I've never waited more than five minutes from the time we sign in to the time we're brought into the exam room, and our two pediatricians are absolutely phenomenal. Even the vaccination at the end of each visit doesn't cause too much drama for Eily. She's turning out to be one tough little chica...but more on that later.
First, let's get our stats in order here. The official weights and measures (with comparison to 6 month stats from January in parentheses) are:
Height: 26.5" (+1.25")
Weight: 17lbs 5.5oz (+ 4lbs 3oz) (+2lbs 3oz since Feb weight check)
Head Circumference: 17.5" (+1")
The pediatrician was very happy with her growth, particularly since she's on the upward swing and getting close to the 25th percentile for weight again. She's at the 25th percentile for height, as well, but her head is slightly above average at just over the 50th percentile. No concerns there, she just needs all that space for that big brain she's developing!
In other news on the Eily front, we officially have forward momentum. She started crawling forward two weeks ago and has not looked back since. This has made my friend Casey's job much harder on Tuesdays and Thursdays, since her little girl Ava is all over the place as well. Casey, you get a shout out for chasing after the two of them at once!
Along with the crawling has come some creative corralling of our little quadruped. I particularly like laundry day now since it offers me two laundry baskets full of clean clothes that I can strategically place at opposite ends of the living room to keep her from escaping. Add a giant IKEA bag full of toys, the couch, the futon, and her exersaucer, and there you are - instant baby
The only trouble is, in the two weeks since she started crawling, she's gotten better. These days she likes to crawl through the bottom of her exersaucer or push the baskets out of the way. Thankfully, Nic has very generously offered up Liam's play yard for our use. We'll be picking it up tomorrow when we see the Shillidays at the annual Easter Egg
Okay, it's almost 1 a.m. and I am rambling here. I'm going to wrap things up for now by mentioning a few quick updates and then leaving you with two videos. First, Jesse successfully installed the plumbing for the kitchen on his own last week. Nic's dad, Bud (shout out to Bud, woot!), moved the gas line for us a couple of weeks ago; so we were all set for the inspector to come look at all the rough work on Thursday. Long story short, we passed with flying colors and can officially move on to the insulation/drywall stage. After Jesse cuts a giant hole in the side of the house for the new door, that is.
Second quickie: I'm still very much interested in pursuing communicative disorders (fancy title for the speech therapy degree) at school and will be meeting with an advisor this Thursday to start planning out my courses. The only hard part is that the major is restrictive, meaning I have to take a bunch of core classes before even being accepted into the major. Kind of a PITA, but I'm willing to deal with it. I don't have any worries that I won't be accepted, so it's not like the courses will be a waste of time.
And third: the race is over. Eily is babbling all the time these days. She says many many things, including: yaya, baba, lala, blabla (very impressive), and *sigh* dada. That's it. No mama. Not even a "muh". Nothing. I try to console myself by saying she's saving the best for last.
Okay, I'm done blabbing away. It's even worse when I'm tired, making my writing this at one in the morning particularly dangerous. Anywho, here are the two promised videos given as your reward for suffering through all of this. I think you'll like these, although the first is a bit long (7 mins). I blame the cameraman, aka Jesse.
And this one I took today when Jesse fell asleep on the futon this afternoon. I turned around and saw Eily doing this and thought it was hilarious. Enjoy and have a Happy Easter/Happy Passover/Happy Spring Sunday tomorrow!
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Video madness!
I'm not sure about the rest of you, but here in PA the sun shines brilliantly and the smell of spring tickles my nostrils every time I open the door to let one of the three cats in or out. This happens an average of seventy-five times a day, giving me plenty of opportunity to observe the effects of the sun's crossing of the equator at 2:35 a.m. EST yesterday. Welcome Spring!
Eily is already in love with the new weather patterns. We've journeyed outside for several hours everyday this past week with destinations like the swings at the local park, trail walks at Tyler State Park, and a lovely 5 mile hike along the Delaware River Canal tow path yesterday. Jesse is ready for kayaking season as well, basking in the high waters that came on last week after all the rain. As I type, he's out paddling in his yellow kayak along the Tohickon Creek. I'm hoping to get out and enjoy the sun before the rain hits again tomorrow - as soon as Eily wakes up, we'll probably hit the tow path again.
Since it's so beautiful out there, I'm sure you can't blame me for wanting to get away from this computer as quickly as possible. So instead of a bunch of babbling from me, I'll leave you with four fun videos instead. (None of these are the promised video from last week - for some reason YouTube is having an issue with that particular one. I hope these make up for it!)
First things first - I can officially remove the "World's Worst Mommy" crown for the time being. I caught Eily on video pulling herself up on the coffee table:
And here she is after learning to pull up in her crib (much to my distress!):
This was taken a few minutes later, after I lowered her mattress considerably. So much for making it impossible for her to stand.
And the last one is just to show you E's personality. (Pardon the glaring typo in the video title. I tried to edit, but it's not sticking.) She LOVES to play this game:
I hope these were as enjoyable to watch as they were to film. Happy Spring everyone!
Eily is already in love with the new weather patterns. We've journeyed outside for several hours everyday this past week with destinations like the swings at the local park, trail walks at Tyler State Park, and a lovely 5 mile hike along the Delaware River Canal tow path yesterday. Jesse is ready for kayaking season as well, basking in the high waters that came on last week after all the rain. As I type, he's out paddling in his yellow kayak along the Tohickon Creek. I'm hoping to get out and enjoy the sun before the rain hits again tomorrow - as soon as Eily wakes up, we'll probably hit the tow path again.
Since it's so beautiful out there, I'm sure you can't blame me for wanting to get away from this computer as quickly as possible. So instead of a bunch of babbling from me, I'll leave you with four fun videos instead. (None of these are the promised video from last week - for some reason YouTube is having an issue with that particular one. I hope these make up for it!)
First things first - I can officially remove the "World's Worst Mommy" crown for the time being. I caught Eily on video pulling herself up on the coffee table:
And here she is after learning to pull up in her crib (much to my distress!):
This was taken a few minutes later, after I lowered her mattress considerably. So much for making it impossible for her to stand.
And the last one is just to show you E's personality. (Pardon the glaring typo in the video title. I tried to edit, but it's not sticking.) She LOVES to play this game:
I hope these were as enjoyable to watch as they were to film. Happy Spring everyone!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmaaaaas!
Oh, wait...it's February.
So, unless you live in a cave somewhere, you've probably heard about all the snow that's blasted the Mid-Atlantic region over the past week. Some of you lucky readers may even have felt its frigid wrath. Those of you in New England who somehow managed to escape the snow TWICE....I'm not speaking to you for the time being. (Insert angry emoticon with his tongue sticking out.) I know, I know. I grew up in New England, lived in upstate NY for 5 years and even yearn to return to the Capital Region someday. But I must admit, in the nearly 5 years since we moved to Pennsylvania, I've become soft. One big snowfall per winter, with the average accumulation of no more than 6 inches, has become my norm. Like most humans, I want answers when unexplained phenomena such as this occur. I crave a reason for all of this crazy weather. To put my mind at ease, I've decided the blame rests fully on Punxsutawney Phil'sshoulders shadow. Stupid rodent....
I plan to inundate you all with videos in today's post since we've actually taken and downloaded quite a few in the past couple of weeks. In honor of the weather, the first clip I'll share with you was taken yesterday evening, as the very wet and heavy snow literally poured down on us.
Alright, I feel I've whined and complained enough. Let's move onto something a bit less depressing. It's time to cheer up by reminiscing about the recent visit of Jesse's sister Kiara (aka Auntie Kiki) and her boyfriend Brendan (Uncle B). Since everyone is so spread out, we weren't able to celebrate Christmas with these kids until the last weekend of January. They made the trip down from Rochester and showered Eily with her third round of Christmas presents. Auntie Kiki went a little overboard, but Eily didn't seem to mind. Here's the bag of gifts she received...I would estimate it to be approximately three times the size of Eily.

The weekend was action-packed, complete with a trip to the Philadelphia Museum of Art
where we witnessed some pretty interesting sights. Eily particularly enjoyed a temporary installation in the Modern section called Days by Bruce Nauman. This was a sound installation in which you walk the length of a large room and listen to different recordings of various people reciting the days of the week out of order and at various pitches, volumes and speeds. The cacophonous din begins to blend into a rhythmic drone as you process the lenght of the hall. Eily started yelling in the middle of the room, adding her own bit of music to the piece (an addition I think only enhanced it, to be honest).
She was also very interested in the Philagrafika installation - especially the animated video by Tabaimo in which a large hand arranges furniture in a dollhouse that eventually becomes overrun by an octopus, falls apart, and reveals human organs beneath its exterior. This may be a bit too "out there" for some, but Eily found the whole thing highly entertaining. Our viewing was accompanied by shrieks and squeals of delight from our little critic.
Another one of Eily's recently achieved milestones is her recognition of visually amusing events. In other words, we don't have to tickle her anymore to get her to laugh. If she sees something funny, she'll let you know what she thinks. Witness her amusement here as she watched Fionn playing with the plastic ring from the top of a water jug.
I just cannot get enough of that laugh. She laughs so much now, about everything. I don't care what kind of day you're having - if you hear that little giggle of hers, it makes everything seem right with the world.
Another milestone we've failed to adequately capture on video is her newfound verbal skill. She woke up this past Saturday morning and decided to start shouting: "Yahyahyahyahbahdahyahyah!" for the rest of the day. This new ability is pretty exciting for her. In fact, she refuses to fall asleep at nap time because she would much rather talk to herself.
Speaking of naps, Eily has taken to falling asleep on her stomach - much to my fear. The nervous mother in me totally comes out when I walk into her room and see her like this:

I asked the pediatrician what I could do to get her to stop this, but he has assured me (on two occasions now) that if she can roll into this position, she can roll out of it. In other words, stop being a nervous mom.
Which reminds me, I totally forgot to update you all on her weight check! If you remember my Mini Me post from last month, Eily was considerably smaller than most babies her age. After making the switch to formula and upping her solid food intake a bit, she managed to gain two whole pounds in one month! That's more than the previous 3 months weight gain combined! Here's a recent pic of her exploration with food. The blueberries were a hit, though they were a bit on the messy side. She even managed to give herself a blueberry fu manchu.

Her pediatrician was very happy with her progress and has absolutely no concerns about her growth now. She's also pushing herself up onto her arms a lot these days and appears to want to get up onto her knees as well. Perhaps she will crawl someday after all?
Okay, you're probably wondering when this one's going to end. But seriously, I don't update all that often these days, so this one has to carry you through until I find time in March to write again. Besides, I've only got the kitchen update, and then I'm calling it a day.
So here it is. The video pretty much speaks for itself, but here's a quick rundown of our progress. Jesse has a friend named Jesse (making it very confusing when the three of us are in the same room) who is a contractor. He offered to take a look at our plans and gave Jesse (mine) some great advice on how to proceed. We've officially obtained a building and plumbing permit for the work, which thankfully does not need to be done by any licensed individuals. It all just needs to pass inspection before we finish everything. This video contains yet another interesting (but good) find.
And here are a couple of photos with all of the plaster from the walls and ceiling removed.


Finally, here's one last video for you to enjoy. Eily has started making this silly face where she smooshes her lips together and breathes really fast in and out of her nose. It's hilarious to watch, and I got her doing it on video this morning. (Be sure to give a listen to David Bowie in the background. Eily already loves him almost as much as I do.)
Alright, I think it's time to call it quits for this post. I've exhausted everyone, including poor Eily.
So, unless you live in a cave somewhere, you've probably heard about all the snow that's blasted the Mid-Atlantic region over the past week. Some of you lucky readers may even have felt its frigid wrath. Those of you in New England who somehow managed to escape the snow TWICE....I'm not speaking to you for the time being. (Insert angry emoticon with his tongue sticking out.) I know, I know. I grew up in New England, lived in upstate NY for 5 years and even yearn to return to the Capital Region someday. But I must admit, in the nearly 5 years since we moved to Pennsylvania, I've become soft. One big snowfall per winter, with the average accumulation of no more than 6 inches, has become my norm. Like most humans, I want answers when unexplained phenomena such as this occur. I crave a reason for all of this crazy weather. To put my mind at ease, I've decided the blame rests fully on Punxsutawney Phil's
I plan to inundate you all with videos in today's post since we've actually taken and downloaded quite a few in the past couple of weeks. In honor of the weather, the first clip I'll share with you was taken yesterday evening, as the very wet and heavy snow literally poured down on us.
Alright, I feel I've whined and complained enough. Let's move onto something a bit less depressing. It's time to cheer up by reminiscing about the recent visit of Jesse's sister Kiara (aka Auntie Kiki) and her boyfriend Brendan (Uncle B). Since everyone is so spread out, we weren't able to celebrate Christmas with these kids until the last weekend of January. They made the trip down from Rochester and showered Eily with her third round of Christmas presents. Auntie Kiki went a little overboard, but Eily didn't seem to mind. Here's the bag of gifts she received...I would estimate it to be approximately three times the size of Eily.

The weekend was action-packed, complete with a trip to the Philadelphia Museum of Art
where we witnessed some pretty interesting sights. Eily particularly enjoyed a temporary installation in the Modern section called Days by Bruce Nauman. This was a sound installation in which you walk the length of a large room and listen to different recordings of various people reciting the days of the week out of order and at various pitches, volumes and speeds. The cacophonous din begins to blend into a rhythmic drone as you process the lenght of the hall. Eily started yelling in the middle of the room, adding her own bit of music to the piece (an addition I think only enhanced it, to be honest).
She was also very interested in the Philagrafika installation - especially the animated video by Tabaimo in which a large hand arranges furniture in a dollhouse that eventually becomes overrun by an octopus, falls apart, and reveals human organs beneath its exterior. This may be a bit too "out there" for some, but Eily found the whole thing highly entertaining. Our viewing was accompanied by shrieks and squeals of delight from our little critic.
Another one of Eily's recently achieved milestones is her recognition of visually amusing events. In other words, we don't have to tickle her anymore to get her to laugh. If she sees something funny, she'll let you know what she thinks. Witness her amusement here as she watched Fionn playing with the plastic ring from the top of a water jug.
I just cannot get enough of that laugh. She laughs so much now, about everything. I don't care what kind of day you're having - if you hear that little giggle of hers, it makes everything seem right with the world.
Another milestone we've failed to adequately capture on video is her newfound verbal skill. She woke up this past Saturday morning and decided to start shouting: "Yahyahyahyahbahdahyahyah!" for the rest of the day. This new ability is pretty exciting for her. In fact, she refuses to fall asleep at nap time because she would much rather talk to herself.
Speaking of naps, Eily has taken to falling asleep on her stomach - much to my fear. The nervous mother in me totally comes out when I walk into her room and see her like this:

I asked the pediatrician what I could do to get her to stop this, but he has assured me (on two occasions now) that if she can roll into this position, she can roll out of it. In other words, stop being a nervous mom.
Which reminds me, I totally forgot to update you all on her weight check! If you remember my Mini Me post from last month, Eily was considerably smaller than most babies her age. After making the switch to formula and upping her solid food intake a bit, she managed to gain two whole pounds in one month! That's more than the previous 3 months weight gain combined! Here's a recent pic of her exploration with food. The blueberries were a hit, though they were a bit on the messy side. She even managed to give herself a blueberry fu manchu.

Her pediatrician was very happy with her progress and has absolutely no concerns about her growth now. She's also pushing herself up onto her arms a lot these days and appears to want to get up onto her knees as well. Perhaps she will crawl someday after all?
Okay, you're probably wondering when this one's going to end. But seriously, I don't update all that often these days, so this one has to carry you through until I find time in March to write again. Besides, I've only got the kitchen update, and then I'm calling it a day.
So here it is. The video pretty much speaks for itself, but here's a quick rundown of our progress. Jesse has a friend named Jesse (making it very confusing when the three of us are in the same room) who is a contractor. He offered to take a look at our plans and gave Jesse (mine) some great advice on how to proceed. We've officially obtained a building and plumbing permit for the work, which thankfully does not need to be done by any licensed individuals. It all just needs to pass inspection before we finish everything. This video contains yet another interesting (but good) find.
And here are a couple of photos with all of the plaster from the walls and ceiling removed.


Finally, here's one last video for you to enjoy. Eily has started making this silly face where she smooshes her lips together and breathes really fast in and out of her nose. It's hilarious to watch, and I got her doing it on video this morning. (Be sure to give a listen to David Bowie in the background. Eily already loves him almost as much as I do.)
Alright, I think it's time to call it quits for this post. I've exhausted everyone, including poor Eily.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010
A special treat...
Here's a little something to help you get over the hump today.
Eily spent some time in the jumperoo at Casey and Ava's house last week and was eager to share her new talent with us here at home. We took this video a couple of nights ago as she bounced in her doorway jumper. (Pardon the clutter....the house is very much under construction right now!)
In addition, here's a look at some of the work going on in the kitchen at the moment. Oh, and remember that second layer of linoleum I showed you last week? Well guess what? Jesse found a THIRD layer (featured in this video). These people were seriously linoleum happy freaks.
Here's a look at what was hiding beneath all that disgusting flooring:

Believe it or not, the wood is in decent condition and totally worth refinishing. This is great for two reasons. 1) I was hoping for hardwood throughout the house. 2) It will be sooooooo much cheaper than tiling!
It's back to work for me now. There's lots to do before Auntie Kiki and Uncle Brendan visit this weekend! Eily is very excited about this, as you can see:
Eily spent some time in the jumperoo at Casey and Ava's house last week and was eager to share her new talent with us here at home. We took this video a couple of nights ago as she bounced in her doorway jumper. (Pardon the clutter....the house is very much under construction right now!)
In addition, here's a look at some of the work going on in the kitchen at the moment. Oh, and remember that second layer of linoleum I showed you last week? Well guess what? Jesse found a THIRD layer (featured in this video). These people were seriously linoleum happy freaks.
Here's a look at what was hiding beneath all that disgusting flooring:

Believe it or not, the wood is in decent condition and totally worth refinishing. This is great for two reasons. 1) I was hoping for hardwood throughout the house. 2) It will be sooooooo much cheaper than tiling!
It's back to work for me now. There's lots to do before Auntie Kiki and Uncle Brendan visit this weekend! Eily is very excited about this, as you can see:

Friday, January 8, 2010
Mini me
Eily turned 6 months old on December 30 (where the heck has the time gone?!), so I couldn't wait to go to her well-baby visit at the pediatrician to get her updated stats. I know she's tiny - still very comfortably fitting into 3-6 month clothing with room to grow - and I wasn't expecting a huge increase in her weight, but even I was surprised at how little she actually gained in the two months since her last appointment. Here is a comparison of her stats from the two checkups:
4 month checkup - Oct 27, 2009
Height - 24.5 inches
Weight - 12lbs 8.5oz
Head circumference - 15.75 inches
6 month checkup - Jan 5, 2010
Height - 25.25 inches (.75 inch growth)
Weight - 13lbs 3.5 oz (11oz growth)
Head circumference - 16.5 inches (.75 inch growth)
In short, she is a teeny little peanut, in the 50th percentile for height and only the 5th percentile for weight. Head circumference is right on target. Despite the doc's concern about her low weight, I'm pretty certain she's healthy and has very fortunately inherited my fast metabolism. I was once told my metabolism is "like a hummingbird on speed." That should give you a pretty good idea of what I mean by fast.
Just for a visual example of her size, here's a pic of Eily sitting next to our cat, Smokey. At 6 months old, she's still the smaller of the two!

I told the pedi how much this pint-size powerhouse can pack away in one sitting, but he has encouraged me to feed her even more to see if she will gain more weight. So now we're letting her eat until she visibly shows me she is full. I kid you not when I say this child can eat the same amount of food as me in one sitting...and she does it three times a day (in addition to nursing 5-6 times)! Where on earth does she fit it all? It's obvious she eats more food than the size of her stomach at this point. I'm convinced one of her legs is hollow, and she packs all the extra food away in there.
I say I'm not overly concerned about her large appetite/slow growth for a few reasons. First, I have compared her weight gain at each visit with my own as recorded by my mom in my baby book. Eily and I have almost identical weights so far. At a year old, I was perfectly healthy but weighed only 16lbs. This leads me to believe that her size is simply part of her genetic makeup. Second, as I said, she is hitting all of her milestones right on cue. This would be a great time for me to update you on those! So, in no particular order, here are some of Eily's newest parlor tricks:
- Sitting up unsupported for long periods of time (1+ hours)
- Feeding herself cheerios, puffies, and small chunks of banana
- Rolling over very easily now...though she still prefers to be on her back if she's laying down
- A lot more screechy yelling, especially if one of the cats happens to be in sight...not quite babbling with consonants just yet
- Easily transitioning items from one hand to the other, reaching, grabbing, visibly cluing me in to whatever it is she wants (i.e. toys, food, etc)
- Laughing at things that are actually funny (i.e. the Baby Einstein puppets when she watches them on TV)
- Hugs and kisses - these are the best! She is such a little snuggler, and nothing is better than the feeling of her wrapping her arms around my neck as soon as I pick her up or sucking on my cheek to imitate me after I give her kisses.
See? No need to worry. She's a strong, developmentally on target little thing, even if she is small.
While looking at my own baby stats recently, I made an interesting discovery. I stumbled across some pictures of myself at around 3-6 months old, and guess what? I can finally say that Eily resembles me when I was a baby! She still has a lot of Jesse's qualities, but I think you're starting to see a lot more of me in there as well. Here's a side-by-side comparison. Judge for yourselves.




Thoughts? Opinions?
On another (possibly TMI) note, I've made the difficult decision that it may be time to wean Eily and switch to formula. While I'm sure she's healthy, I do have some doubts about my milk supply. Couple that with the fact that I start school again in two weeks and will have no time to pump between classes, and I think my supply is going to get even lower. In the best interest of helping her gain some weight, I think it's time to make the switch. It's sooner than I would have liked - I was hoping to make it to a year - but I feel like we made a pretty good run of it. I'm a little sad about the idea, but I'm trying not to let myself feel like a failure - six(+) months is still a good length of time to nurse, and I was surprised I even made it this long!
Well, that's the update for now. The posts may start to come less frequently when school starts. I'm enrolled full-time to keep my scholarship, and I'll still be working part-time from home. That leaves just enough time to interact with Eily, pushing this blog to the back burner, at least for the spring. I'll try to update as much as I can, but please be forgiving if the wait is a bit longer than normal!
And what shall I leave you with today? How about a video we took of Eily laughing up a storm a couple of nights ago. Her laugh is the best! Enjoy!
4 month checkup - Oct 27, 2009
Height - 24.5 inches
Weight - 12lbs 8.5oz
Head circumference - 15.75 inches
6 month checkup - Jan 5, 2010
Height - 25.25 inches (.75 inch growth)
Weight - 13lbs 3.5 oz (11oz growth)
Head circumference - 16.5 inches (.75 inch growth)
In short, she is a teeny little peanut, in the 50th percentile for height and only the 5th percentile for weight. Head circumference is right on target. Despite the doc's concern about her low weight, I'm pretty certain she's healthy and has very fortunately inherited my fast metabolism. I was once told my metabolism is "like a hummingbird on speed." That should give you a pretty good idea of what I mean by fast.
Just for a visual example of her size, here's a pic of Eily sitting next to our cat, Smokey. At 6 months old, she's still the smaller of the two!

I told the pedi how much this pint-size powerhouse can pack away in one sitting, but he has encouraged me to feed her even more to see if she will gain more weight. So now we're letting her eat until she visibly shows me she is full. I kid you not when I say this child can eat the same amount of food as me in one sitting...and she does it three times a day (in addition to nursing 5-6 times)! Where on earth does she fit it all? It's obvious she eats more food than the size of her stomach at this point. I'm convinced one of her legs is hollow, and she packs all the extra food away in there.
I say I'm not overly concerned about her large appetite/slow growth for a few reasons. First, I have compared her weight gain at each visit with my own as recorded by my mom in my baby book. Eily and I have almost identical weights so far. At a year old, I was perfectly healthy but weighed only 16lbs. This leads me to believe that her size is simply part of her genetic makeup. Second, as I said, she is hitting all of her milestones right on cue. This would be a great time for me to update you on those! So, in no particular order, here are some of Eily's newest parlor tricks:
- Sitting up unsupported for long periods of time (1+ hours)
- Feeding herself cheerios, puffies, and small chunks of banana
- Rolling over very easily now...though she still prefers to be on her back if she's laying down
- A lot more screechy yelling, especially if one of the cats happens to be in sight...not quite babbling with consonants just yet
- Easily transitioning items from one hand to the other, reaching, grabbing, visibly cluing me in to whatever it is she wants (i.e. toys, food, etc)
- Laughing at things that are actually funny (i.e. the Baby Einstein puppets when she watches them on TV)
- Hugs and kisses - these are the best! She is such a little snuggler, and nothing is better than the feeling of her wrapping her arms around my neck as soon as I pick her up or sucking on my cheek to imitate me after I give her kisses.
See? No need to worry. She's a strong, developmentally on target little thing, even if she is small.
While looking at my own baby stats recently, I made an interesting discovery. I stumbled across some pictures of myself at around 3-6 months old, and guess what? I can finally say that Eily resembles me when I was a baby! She still has a lot of Jesse's qualities, but I think you're starting to see a lot more of me in there as well. Here's a side-by-side comparison. Judge for yourselves.




Thoughts? Opinions?
On another (possibly TMI) note, I've made the difficult decision that it may be time to wean Eily and switch to formula. While I'm sure she's healthy, I do have some doubts about my milk supply. Couple that with the fact that I start school again in two weeks and will have no time to pump between classes, and I think my supply is going to get even lower. In the best interest of helping her gain some weight, I think it's time to make the switch. It's sooner than I would have liked - I was hoping to make it to a year - but I feel like we made a pretty good run of it. I'm a little sad about the idea, but I'm trying not to let myself feel like a failure - six(+) months is still a good length of time to nurse, and I was surprised I even made it this long!
Well, that's the update for now. The posts may start to come less frequently when school starts. I'm enrolled full-time to keep my scholarship, and I'll still be working part-time from home. That leaves just enough time to interact with Eily, pushing this blog to the back burner, at least for the spring. I'll try to update as much as I can, but please be forgiving if the wait is a bit longer than normal!
And what shall I leave you with today? How about a video we took of Eily laughing up a storm a couple of nights ago. Her laugh is the best! Enjoy!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Happy 3 months
Today is officially Eily's 3 month birthday. For fear of sounding trite, I have to ask: Where did the time go? It seems like just yesterday we brought her home. Somehow, between the diaper changes, feedings, and naps, she's grown up. Okay, not exactly grown up. But while she napped today, I cleaned out all of her 0-3 month clothing (*sniffle*) and washed all of her 3-6 month gear. Since we really only plan on having one baby, I was a bit sad seeing these things getting packed away. On the plus side, however, it's like she has a whole new wardrobe. Thank goodness for living vicariously through her for the time being. After all, the last thing I want to do is buy a new wardrobe until I have lost all of the baby weight (12 more pounds to go!).
In honor of this day, I'd like to take a minute to bring everyone up to speed with Eily's developments thus far:
- She hates tummy time. This means no rolling over from belly to back at this point. Not really a development, I guess, but it may be important for future reference when you all start asking if she's crawling yet and I say no. Don't ask me why not. Just accept the fact that my child hates laying on her stomach (which makes me question if she's really mine at all - it's the only way I can sleep).
- Neck control is a no-brainer. This girl has been holding that noggin up since day one. She can even hold it up while on her tummy. But wait. Why do that when burying her face and crying as if she's enduring some sort of extreme torture is so much more fun? Here's a rare pic of her smiling on her tummy, taken today:
- Standing is her pass-time of choice. My guns are proof. This is how we spend a good portion of the day.
- She's started giggling, but she's a tough audience. Want to really get her going? Stick me in a room full of dust so I start sneezing. She thinks that's pretty darn funny. The bigger the sneeze, the longer and harder she laughs. Don't try to fake her out, though. My kid is no dummy. She can tell a fake sneeze from the real deal any day.
- She's most "talkative" just before she falls asleep. I have a hard time stifling my laughter as she babbles and grunts with a big grin behind her paci and drooping eyelids.
- Rollng onto her side is her latest trick, but she's not really in any rush to go any further (see the "tummy time" item).
Those are all I can think of at the moment. I must admit, my brain is a bit fuzzy as I fight some severely allergy-induced blocked sinuses. I've probably forgot something here, but to make up for it I'll leave you with her birthday pictures from her first three months:
Month 1:
Month 2:
Month 3:
In honor of this day, I'd like to take a minute to bring everyone up to speed with Eily's developments thus far:
- She hates tummy time. This means no rolling over from belly to back at this point. Not really a development, I guess, but it may be important for future reference when you all start asking if she's crawling yet and I say no. Don't ask me why not. Just accept the fact that my child hates laying on her stomach (which makes me question if she's really mine at all - it's the only way I can sleep).
- Neck control is a no-brainer. This girl has been holding that noggin up since day one. She can even hold it up while on her tummy. But wait. Why do that when burying her face and crying as if she's enduring some sort of extreme torture is so much more fun? Here's a rare pic of her smiling on her tummy, taken today:
- Standing is her pass-time of choice. My guns are proof. This is how we spend a good portion of the day.
- She's started giggling, but she's a tough audience. Want to really get her going? Stick me in a room full of dust so I start sneezing. She thinks that's pretty darn funny. The bigger the sneeze, the longer and harder she laughs. Don't try to fake her out, though. My kid is no dummy. She can tell a fake sneeze from the real deal any day.
- She's most "talkative" just before she falls asleep. I have a hard time stifling my laughter as she babbles and grunts with a big grin behind her paci and drooping eyelids.
- Rollng onto her side is her latest trick, but she's not really in any rush to go any further (see the "tummy time" item).
Those are all I can think of at the moment. I must admit, my brain is a bit fuzzy as I fight some severely allergy-induced blocked sinuses. I've probably forgot something here, but to make up for it I'll leave you with her birthday pictures from her first three months:
Month 1:
I'll admit, we almost forgot to take a pic that day. This was just before going to sleep that night.
Month 2:
Hanging out on the front porch.
Month 3:
Taken tonight during tubby time - her favorite time of the day!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)