Ava is 4 months today

Ava weighed in at a whopping 12 pounds, 9 ounces today at her four month wellness check at the pediatricians. She is consistent with her head growth as well, so she's literally just growing up. If we were to look at her corrected age, she'd be off the charts (over the 100th % in growth). This is great news for us. As a result of her weight gain, we've been given the green light to change from her premature fortified formula to regular formula, which will hopefully help in her digestion. She has major colic. The Dr. noted that she doesn't have preemie head (aka "toaster head") and in fact her head is quite shapely. Usually preemies will favor one side to sleep on and their head will become flat on that side. You know why she doesn't have any flat areas? Because I am CONSTANTLY holding this child. Which brings me back to her colic. She has a really hard time processing everything, so while she will suck down a bottle in record time, she will spend at least an hour suffering from her feeding. Once the formula has been digested for the most part, she'll then start grunting and groaning while it works its way through her intestines. And just when she's starting to get settled, it's feeding time again. This is particularly hard in the middle of the night. It results in very little sleep for us all. I really hope the new formula will make a difference with this, because I am running out of options with trying to find a place that Ava will sleep. I've found that she sleeps best on me. I don't sleep best with her sleeping on me, but this is usually the result after hours of holding the pacifier in her mouth with one hand, stroking her head with the other, and whispering "shhhhhh" in her ear. For hours on end. And when I slowly remove everything, she'll look peaceful for about 5 seconds and then start to grimace and then wail, and it starts over again. I'm not sure why she'll sleep peacefully for moderate stretches during the day. Anyway, we'll survive this. And I have coffee to lean on until then.

Thanks, Dora

I'm ashamed to write that we're still potty training here. Well, it's actually a stalled endeavor since Sophia only goes potty on her time. Usually she'll go potty when she decides she wants something. Yes, a parenting fail. I know she's manipulating, Rick knows she manipulating, but we both fall for it because we so badly want her to just start going to the bathroom on her own--in the toilet. This day seemed like so long ago and it was, almost a whole year ago. Where did it all go wrong? I read an article recently in Parenting magazine that there is a window of opportunity to take advantage of to get maximum benefit of a certain age for milestone goals like getting rid of a pacifier, transition to a big kid bed, potty training. Potty training is actually closer to age 3. Which Sophia is. But because I've been harassing her for almost a year, I may have actually set the training back. Parenting fail. Yesterday I vowed to my friends that I'd shelf it completely and let Sophia make the call. Wouldn't you know that this afternoon she walks up to me with panties in hand and states, "I want to be a big girl and go pee pee in the potty--like Dora does, and Boots." Huh? So while I was on the phone with the Pharmacy that ships Ava's RSV antibody, Dora was babysitting Sophia. And apparently she can potty train Sophia in that 13 minute episode better than I can with stickers, M&M's, timers, marshmallows, letting her run around naked...all of that hard work trumped by a cartoon character and a monkey. Go figure. I actually have yet to see if Dora succeeds in this potty training business, but Sophia currently sports some Tinkerbell panties and promises to let me know when she has to go. To be continued.

Sophia says...

Rick asked Sophia where she got her new sweatsuit. Sophia says, "The mailman gave it to me." As if her blue eyes and blonde curly hair weren't already in question.

One month adjusted

This is where the premature thing gets confusing for me, the adjusted age. If Ava were to have been born on her due date, she would be 1 month old today although her chronological age is almost 4 months old. So why is this important? Her milestones.

When Sophia was born, I looked forward to her first smile, her first laugh, rolling over, sitting up. It never crossed my mind that Sophia wouldn't do these things. If anything, it was interesting to keep track of these firsts to see where she fell in the normal range. For Ava, it's the anticipation and the fear that she won't do these things. This started a few weeks ago when the nurse came for her visit and asked if Ava had made eye contact. I thought maybe she was making eye contact, but if you know how newborn eyes are, it's rare they are looking in the same direction, let alone focusing on anything. And then at her 3 month well baby check the pediatrician asked the same question. So my obsessiveness kicked in and for the next week I stared and stared into Ava's eyes, willing her to look at me and to hold the gaze. Well, she is and she did and with a huge sigh of relief I can mark this off my list. Next came the first smile, about 2 weeks ago. She smiled at Sophia first, and then the next day smiled at me and Rick and then her smiles became a little stingy until a few days ago when she started smiling more. Last night she smiled and laughed! I looked up Sophia's first smile and Ava actually smiled a few days before Sophia first smiled. Again, wheww.

So as of now, Ava is meeting her milestones according to her adjusted age. Actually, I think she's ahead of her adjusted age in some aspects. She's been holding her head up steady for quite a while. She's been following objects. She rolls from her side to her back. These are things a 2 month old are expected to do. I'm writing this down because next month comes with another set of objectives--er, milestones--and I'll most likely have the same anxiety. And the month after that, and the month after that, and...

Happy Valentine's Day

My mother in-law gave this to Rick, thinking of us. So true!

And you open the card...

Sophia says...

I'm about to change the channel to cartoons for Sophia. Sophia says, "Mommy, I'm watching the news. I wanna see what's going on in the world."

Groundhog day

At least the rest of the country is now celebrating Groundhog day...I've been experiencing it for about 6 weeks now!