1 Year Check-up

We got A her one year appt today. She is doing great on the multiple skill sets. For the height she is about 40% and for the weight she is about 20%. The office was kind of put out that I asked if they were using the WHO breastfed baby growth chart. They went and found one, and then decided that it really was worth it since on the formula chart she is below the charts. Overall she is doing great they said, and were also very pleased to see a baby.

When they took her iron levels and picked her fingers she didn't flinch or cry. The nurse had asked 2 other nurses in for help with A since apparently babies tend to cry. They were all quite shocked when A reacted as she did, apparently teenagers have been known to pass out with the drops of blood they see. I talked about the blood and how it is really cool amazing stuff as the finger stick came out.

We Are in Trouble Now

Well, the day has finally come. A has started crawling. She's been inch worming for a LONG time, but today she started really crawling. We're talking a 4 point stance and off she goes. She's been getting into a lot of stuff for the past few weeks, but now we really do have a crawler on our hands. Here's to it becoming more and more fun!

6 Month Check

Today we had our 6 month check up for A. It is hard to believe that she's six months already! We've made it halfway through the first year!! Yes, we feel like we've had quite the accomplishment in this as well. The doctor was surprised at the time, as well as with A. Shocked about the standing thing, how strong A is, etc. The doctor also mentioned how much fun diaper changes must be since A is so strong, and right she is about that -- diaper changes have become fun and almost a 2 person job.

Her stats: 14 lbs, 6 ounces and 26 inches long. So yes, she's a long skinny thing that weighs practically nothing. She's in the 40-50 percentile for length, but in the 20th percentile for weight, so we need to get on that. Her head circumference was in the 40-50 percentile as well, so she's quite proportional in that regard. We'll see what happens as we don't go back to the doctor until 9 months. Hopefully it will just be an anomaly with the weight as the head circumference was last time. We'll hopefully have a few teeth and can add in some solid foods soon, which should help that. If she'd stay still that would also help, but I'm not betting on her doing that for the next several years.

Anyway, I need to get the house ready as we are having some people over tomorrow. I had a minute to sit though so I though that I could get this up before I forget.

Look what I can do!

Today we went to MSI for the second time this week! They had the grand opening of the Christmas tree exhibit today and a friend and her daughter went with A and me. Her daughter is about 9 months older than A, so it was an exciting trip. They lit the grand tree while we were there and it was so cool! It is Dr. Seuss themed, something straight out of Whoville if you will. The museum also had a gingerbread replica of Whoville in the Foyer. Since it was the grand opening there was a Grinch walking around, and my friend got a picture for us.

Since we were gone all day I attempted to put A down for a nice little nap since she was yawning and acting sleeping. Well, this is what I walked in to:

Needless to say, I called Chris to have him look. His response was, "Well I guess it is time to lower the bed. Baby girl, I was hoping to get a few more months of the higher level out of that." So yes, for her 6 month check-up tomorrow I can tell the doctor that A is pulling up on things. She was really interested in the wood railing, something new to gnaw on you know. She still hasn't cut any teeth, but she's drooling buckets and gnawing on anything -- paper and metal rings seem to be her favorite things. Here is a good picture of her looking at herself in the mirror at the MSI today:

A has also started "eating" with us. She shows interest in food, but doesn't know what to do with it when she has some. She grabbed a handful of rice out of Chris's bowl this past weekend. She just looked at us once she did it, not really knowing what was going on. We sit her in her bumbo and give her a spoon and plate these days while we eat. She likes to gnaw on both things. This past weekend she also took a sippy cup full of milk! This is huge as she never took a bottle, so maybe all that expressed milk can be useful.

We are enjoying our weather and getting ready for the holiday season. Thanksgiving should be fun, then Advent, and then Christmas. Hopefully we will have a nice long Christmas break. I have talked with Westwood and I'll teach two classes in the Spring term.

We are continuing to look for jobs, so keep that in your prayers please. I'll try and post stats tomorrow as we see the doc in the morning. A and I will both be getting shots though, so we'll see how it goes.

Crawling, A Style

 These are some funny pictures of A trying to crawl this week. She is working on getting everything synchronized, and still does a lot of belly flops, but is able to get around if she wants to.We are definitely in trouble now. You can also see how she'd much rather work on walking than crawling, but is making due just fine.

Shots Part 2

We went to see the doc again today and A got her second round of shots.  She fears the needles and the team of nurses that come in with them.  She was kind of apprehensive of them this time around, so she may be learning to fear them. Her basic stats were quite good -- she had grown about 2 inches, so she's now over 2 feet tall! She's also 13 pounds 6 ounces, so she's long and skinny.  Big surprise.  She is now consistently rolling over whenever she wants.  She can go both front to back and back to front, but prefers to be on her stomach, so if you lay her down on her back it doesn't take long for her to end up on her stomach.  She is also starting to sit quite well if you place her.  She hasn't really started sitting up herself, but she's can sit there if you want her to for a bit.

I finished her quilt this week.  It took me a month to complete the project, so I feel good about that.  It is super cute and I'll make another one or two probably because it was fun.  It was also interesting that some of the sewing tricks don't work with quilting because of the precision needed for quilting. In reality I've been sewing a lot lately -- I've made A a jacket, some pants, a shirt and Chris a cape.  I'm starting a vest for Chris and a cape for me.  I hope to have them both done relatively soon so that we can be a wizard family for Halloween if the need arises. 

Chris is now done with the fourth week of school.  One of his minions left so it is just him, an undergraduate, and another fairly worthless minion. We have a fairly mixed up schedule these days so it is hard on everyone's sleep schedule.

That's really about it.  I need a nap and since A is asleep and I haven't heard which train Chris is on, my warm cuddly baby and I are going to sleep some.  :)

End of August?!

Time for an update.  A is asleep, Chris is watching a video that I've tried desperately to watch, and so now I'm going to blog a bit and add a few pictures from this past week.  Since it was the first week back at school Chris had a difficult week.  I dressed A up for him (since he always says that she is his daughter and needs to be dressed up) when I picked him up from the train one day.  She was "so stinkin' cute" that it made his day much better.  Yay, mission accomplished.  I think she looks like she was born in a different time, but that's just me.

Just hanging out on the floor

This weekend we had Chris's father in town.  We hung out and took pictures.  Since all of us like photography on some level it was nice.  It was nice getting to see family too.

After we dropped my father-in-law at the airport we went to the MSI.  We didn't see Body Worlds, but did check out the new Smart Home exhibit.  They redo the inside with new furniture and stuff each year.  The cool thing from this year is them re-using the University of Chicago lab cabinets in the kitchen. The parallel between laboratories and kitchens is not missed, so it couldn't have been more perfect.  Plus since they have glass doors, everyone can see inside!  We got to look in the gardens which were gorgeous today.  The weather was perfect, so that helped for sure.  There were butterflies everywhere so it was fun to try and catch them on camera.  I also managed to get some honeybees on camera.  :)  Here are a couple of pictures from the Smart Home gardens.

Besides for the Smart Home, we also saw the temporary exhibit, "Suiting up for Space" which is on loan from the Smithsonian.  One interesting thing I learned was about the suits, with how delicate they are! You would think that to keep a person alive in space they couldn't be delicate, but they only ever made on trip out of the atmosphere and the different layers of the space suit tend to react and deteriorate them.  Now, they can take x-rays of the suits so it is pretty neat to see the different suits x-rayed. Here is one such picture. 

This week holds work and playing with A for me.  We're definitely getting close to sitting up alone.  She has the turning over down -- both directions really.  She is frustrated about the not crawling, but to be honest, we aren't exactly encouraging her to be mobile quite yet.  She still likes to sleep on her side, so that takes a lot of balance and stuff.  Today she also started grabbing toys and putting them in her mouth.  This is fun since before she would only hold onto toys if you put them in her hand, now she will grab them.  It is a big step that is encouraging. 

Yummy Quiche

Today we went to the doc for A's one month check-up.  She is actually 5 weeks old now, but that's okay.  She is doing well, gaining weight and length.  She's also moved up a little in the percentiles.  Doc says that she read the manual before she came and seems to be a healthy happy baby.  :)

The other thing we did today was make a great quiche for supper.  We were going to simply have "breakfast for dinner" but I suggested a quiche since it is definitely cool enough to bake something right now.  Here's the recipe.

Crust:
1.5 C flour total (I used 1/2 cup each of chickpea, brown rice, and casava)
2 tsp guar gum
1/3 C butter (small chunks added gradually to the flour mixture)
enough ice water to form a ball but not be too sticky

To make the crust mix the flours and gum.  Add in the butter small chunk at a time.  Add in the water a tsp at a time until a ball forms.  Roll the ball on parchment paper or a floured surface (since the flours are so pricey I tend to use parchment paper).  Fit to pie dish and set aside.

Basic quiche egg mixture: 4 eggs with 1 1/4 C milk or milk/cream mixture.  Add in what you've got laying around -- we used spinach, sauteed mushrooms, and bacon.  Then cover in cheese. 

Bake at 375 for about 40-45 minutes.  It is done when you insert a knife or toothpick and it comes out clean, it will also wiggle a bit but not resonate when you shake the pie plate in the oven.  Remove from oven and let cool then serve.  Here's a pic: