Angelica is three months old...and catches her first cold :(

Happy three month birthday to my baby girl (though I'm a day late on this post). I can't believe how quickly the last three months have gone, nor can I believe how cute my little girl is growing up to be!

I'm so glad we got the pictures done yesterday, though, because we woke up today to a very cranky, sniffly, slightly feverish Angelica. I think she picked up something at daycare (one of the other little girls looked sniffly) and so she came down with it to. (And I think I am as well, my throat is sore and I'm a little congested too). I feel so bad for her, listening to her cry with that sniffly, nasaly cry and not being able to help. She's sleeping now, finally...she had to be held pretty much all day today by one of us otherwise she would just cry and cry. I hope she feels better tomorrow!

At least one cute thing about it...at one point, Scott wiped a a boogie out of her nose, and after it came out she goes, "Ahhh..." like this real sigh of relief. It sounded so un-babylike and it cracked me up.

Other exciting news...Angelica got to spend time with her GG Melba this past week, and they both had a great time together. She gave her GG lots and lots of smiles and cuddles (and cries and fussing, too, in true Angelica fashion!) Don't the two of them look so happy together? Notice the dress Angelica's wearing, too...that's the dress we bought for her to have her pictures taken at the hospital in. When we put it on her in the hospital, it almost wouldn't stay on her. She wore it again at her Aunt Stefanie's baby shower in June, and it was still big on her. Now it fits her like a charm...just perfectly.

This picture probably shows it even better. Such a pretty dress on such a pretty girl! I can't believe it. It's getting to the point now where some of her outfits no longer fit well, and I just can't bring myself to pack them up. I can still remember dressing her in 0-3 stuff when we brought her home and thinking how baggy the stuff was. Now it doesn't even fit anymore...they grow too fast.

It's been an exhausting day, so I'm gonna go rest now and hope that both Angelica and I kick this cold pretty quickly!

Angelica Goes to Daycare!

Today is Angelica's first day at Kindercare, and for her, it went off without a hitch. No cries, no fussing, she just took it all in stride. We got there and she just sat in the bouncer looking around, taking it all in. There was a little girl there named Rhiannon who is probably about 9 months (maybe younger, who knows...she looked small, but she was crawling and pulling herself to standing which usually doesn't happen until they're 9 months or older) who kept coming over to Angelica and poking at her and checking her out. Yeah, I think she's gonna make some friends there. (Including the cute little girl whose mommy referred us!)

Unfortunately for Mommy (me)...in true Andrea fashion, I forgot something. Something vital.

Yes, folks, I took my daughter for an all day adventure at daycare and forgot her formula at home. I had nothing with me - no bottles, no formula, no formula mix, not even a cup. So after dropping her off, I ran over to CVS to buy bottles and formula to get her through the day. The bottles I got were the only ones they had that were small enough for Angelica, but they were also a brand I never used before so I sure hope they work out okay!

When I got back she was just swinging back and forth in the swing looking around, seemingly unaffected by the fact that I was leaving her in a strange new place with strange new people. She didn't even react when I was trying to give her a hug and kiss goodbye...it was like she was saying "Go away, Mommy, I'm checking out all this cool new stuff!"

I was more of a wreck than she was! (And so was her Daddy.)

So, here's hoping that the rest of the daycare trips go just as smoothly!

Completely unrelated, but Michelle Obama's speech last night really resonated with me, and maybe it's the hormones, or maybe it's that I finally "get" it now that I'm a mom, but this part really got to me and brought tears to my eyes:

And in the end, after all that's happened these past 19 months, the Barack Obama I know today is the same man I fell in love with 19 years ago. He's the same man who drove me and our new baby daughter home from the hospital ten years ago this summer, inching along at a snail's pace, peering anxiously at us in the rearview mirror, feeling the whole weight of her future in his hands, determined to give her everything he'd struggled so hard for himself, determined to give her what he never had: the affirming embrace of a father's love.

And as I tuck that little girl and her little sister into bed at night, I think about how one day, they'll have families of their own. And one day, they - and your sons and daughters - will tell their own children about what we did together in this election. They'll tell them how this time, we listened to our hopes, instead of our fears. How this time, we decided to stop doubting and to start dreaming. How this time, in this great country - where a girl from the South Side of Chicago can go to college and law school, and the son of a single mother from Hawaii can go all the way to the White House - we committed ourselves to building the world as it should be.

If she was trying to tug at the heartstrings of family-oriented people everywhere, I think she succeeded.

How I do it for her

Mr. C and I are not wealthy. We can't afford the expense of hiring a dietician and a personal trainer. We can't afford special diets or specialized products - and even if we could, that's not a lifestyle change. So, in accordance with the "lifestyle change" philosophy, I'm doing this without the benefit of all those expensive devices.

To track food, I'm using the Weight Watchers philosophy. I used to be a member (failed), and I crafted myself a template to use (for free) in a spreadsheet to track my food and "points" via the weight watchers standards.

For exercise - this is the one place where I'm spending a little money. I have several fitness DVDs at home, but I know from experience that home exercise doesn't always cut it. You need the benefit of properly calibrated weights in order to build up stamina and metabolism. So, I have a $10/month membership at Planet Fitness. It's very no-frills, but at least there is equipment to use.

So that's pretty much it - watching what I eat and working out when I can. It's not easy with an infant at home...but the rewards will be astounding.

Why I do it for her

Look at this face, and tell me it's not irresistible...

This is my daughter, Angelica. She was two months old when this picture was taken. On Thursday, she'll be three months old. I love her more than anything else. You never know until you're a parent how true your love for your child can really be.

The problem that Angelica has is that her mommy (me) is incredibly out of shape and very overweight, which means that the likelihood that I'll be in her life to see her high school graduation, college graduation, wedding, and my grandchildren is significantly diminished.

Started my pregnancy with her at 244. The day before she was born (via c-section) I was 300.

Now, three months after her birth, I'm at 273, and at 5'6, that gives me a BMI of 44. The BMI range for "morbid obesity" is anything over 41.

Frightening.

So, going forward, it's time to start doing better for myself. In the past, this has been my biggest pitfall. I start a diet, make big plans, but never seem to completely follow through - I didn't really have it in me to care one way or another what happens to me.

But now things are different. Now...she needs me. She'll need me to be there to cry at her graduation and jump for joy at her engagement and melt at the joy of holding my first grandchild. She needs me to be healthy enough to hold her for more than an hour without my arms aching and strong enough to run around like mad with her once she gets to be a toddler. She deserves that.

So, from this moment on, my lack of motivation be damned, I'm doing this for her.

My goal weight is 150. That will bring me back into the healthy weight range. Ideally I'd like to get down to 135, but will be happy just knowing I'm healthy. That means I have to lose 123 pounds.

Angelica laughs!

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a breakthrough!

For weeks and weeks now we've been getting tiny chuckles from our little princess...but tonight for the first time she let out a huge, full-fledged belly laugh and IT WAS AMAZING.

Scott was waiting for me to take her from him, but I had to put away the bottle of milk I'd just finished putting together...as he waited, he pulled out a copy of the latest Game Informer and just started casually flipping through. I guess Angelica thought this was the funniest thing ever because first she gave out a little chuckle...so he kept doing it and a few seconds later she let out a HUGE laugh and we both just cracked up. It was the cutest, most precious sound I ever heard!

About 10 minutes later she met her GG and loved her! And then she took a bottle and went night night.

Just like this tired mommy is going to do...now.

Angelica and her cousins!

As promised, here is a picture of Angelica with her two cousins, Willy (20 months) and Anna (just over 1 week in this picture). There was a lot of excitement going on, and none of the kids really wanted to stay still for the picture. I got about four shots, but this was the only one where Willy wasn't a blur. So cute, though, all three of them together!

I realized yesterday that I forgot to blog about Angelica's bedtime routine success! We started it about a month ago and she is almost consistently sleeping through the night now.

We start her bedtime routine with a bath time song...which has helped her enjoy baths (she used to scream her head off every time it got to be bath time). It's a silly little song I made up that goes:

It's the fun Gellie bath time
It's the best time of the day
First you get all wet and clean
Then you get all warm and dry
Then you won't be dirty anymore
And you'll get a baba
Then you'll go to nite-nite
After the fun Gellie bath time

Repeat ad nauseum (or at least until bath time is over).

After her bath time is over, she gets dressed in her jammies and half-swaddled (just the lower half now) in one of her swaddle-me blankets, so that it stays on all night and she can't suffocate on it). Then we turn out all the lights and I snuggle her on the couch with the baba that the song promised. Usually about 1-2 ounces in the bottle she's out like a light (don't worry, she usually gets a pre-bath bottle of 3-6 ounces too, about an hour before bath time, so the one afterward is just a snack before bed) and I put her down in her crib...this is somewhere between 9:30 and 10:30...we go by her signals and when we can tell she's really getting tired, we start the routine. And she sleeps until between 6:30 and 7:15 the next morning. This has been working like a charm for about a month now! During her growth spurt she regressed slightly and started having a feeding around 4 am but I think that's passed now and she's back to normal.

This weekend's going to be exciting for her...she's gonna spend time helping Aunt Stefanie and Uncle Will move (which really means just spending more time with her cousins Willy and Anna) and then she's going to meet her Great-Grandma Norman, who will be arriving on Friday! She'll also be going to dinner with her other Great Grandma June (along with Scott and me). I'll make sure to get a picture of her with her GGs and post that sometime next week.

Angelica Survives Her First Big Storm!

No pictures in this post...I was sick yesterday and didn't get the camera out...but here's the good news!

Angelica survived Tropical Storm Fay...so far! It came through last night and she slept right through it. Now - it may turn around and hit us again but I'd say for now she's still pretty unaware of what's going on in the outside world. I think she slept more than normal yesterday and just seemed pretty content in general.

I, however, did not have such an easy day. I went back to Dr. Deren (the hand specialist) yesterday to have my hands examined. I've been having crazy sharp pains in both of my thumbs for a couple of weeks, and he determined that I have tendinitis in both of them. So for the next month I'm supposed to wear these splints that look like batting gloves to support the tendons. It's sad because it makes it hard for me to hold the baby, but the tendinitis was also caused by holding the baby. Apparently my hands are just very prone to injury (considering the DeQuervains I had back in February and the Carpal Tunnel that pretty much rendered both of my hands numb at the end of my pregnancy...now this...)

I also had a 24 hour bug that just made me feel all around run-down yesterday. (Not stomach related or anything like that, just felt achy and had chills...I have a hunch that it may have been mastitis but I didn't go to the doctor to get an official diagnosis...and THAT pain is gone today too). I was running a fever just under 100 degrees, but it's gone as of this morning. Must be the fact that we sort of had a hurricane day yesterday (I worked from home) and I took it as easy as I could, and that helped me get better quickly.

Anyway...here's hoping we're in the clear and we don't get hit twice by the same storm!

Angelica's exciting weekend!

Just re-titled the journal..."Grow, Jellybean, Grow" just doesn't seem like an appropriate title anymore (though we still call her the Jellybean, or Jellybelly, or Gellie as a nickname for Angelica). I think the new title fits well.

It was an exciting weekend for our sweet baby girl!

First of all, I'm proud to admit that we have had our first full-fledged giggles. They seem to happen whenever I've been away for awhile (at work or doing stuff around the house) and she sees me...she lets out a big grin and giggles. She also does it when she's playing with Learning Puppy.

But, in looking at the picture, you can see she has become quite the happy baby...her days are full of smiles just like that one! Being her mom was such a joy before, but those smiles are just about the most rewarding thing I've ever seen.

Next comes the big news! We spent Saturday afternoon at Stefanie and Will's to celebrate my mom's birthday, and visit with Willy and baby Anna, who was battling a bad case of jaundice but improving by the hour. We had dinner at their place, and Scott and I took turns eating so one of us could entertain Angelica (she gets bored easily, and when she's bored she gets very ticked off). While I was eating, Scott was playing with her on the floor...and she completely rolled herself over, back to stomach! I'm talking concentrated effort here...it definitely took her a few minutes, but once she got over she pushed herself up on her arms and then screamed out in anger (she hates being on her stomach). But, YAY, go baby girl! Way to hit those milestones a couple of months early!

While we were over there, I got some great snapshots of the new family and of the three kids together, but I haven't gotten a chance to upload them yet. I'll have to save that for another post. It's still hard for me to believe that Angelica was ever as small as little Anna is...I don't feel like she's grown that much until I see them side by side!

Also in exciting news, Angelica is definitely showing an interest in sitting up. I first noticed it when she was in her car seat, she started doing "crunches" trying to sit up, but the straps held her back. Later on that evening, I laid down in bed with her to take a nap (no lectures about the "dangers of cosleeping" please...I do everything "they" say to do to make it safe) and she started doing it again, in bed...so I propped her up on a couple of pillows, and she eventually pulled herself up and flopped over on her face! I think if she had just a little more coordination in her hands, she'd be propping herself up with one hand (tripodding) to stay seated. This kid is getting mobile way too fast for me!

Speaking of hands, now that she's fully discovered them, they are in her mouth pretty much all the time. She still hates the pacifier, but she loves her thumb...I have to fight with it to get a bottle in her mouth. It's cute to watch her suck her thumb, but it's not so cute when she shoves her whole hand in her mouth and gags herself and spits up on me. (Especially when I'm holding her over my head and she spits up in my mouth like she did this morning. I had no idea how sweet tasting formula was until today! Ick!)

She's going to be 3 months old next week...so hard to believe it. She'll also start daycare next week, which will be an adventure for me moreso than her. At least she'll only be a mile away, so if (when) I get babysick (like I always do) I can run up there and feed her a baba.

Angelica has a new best friend!

My new niece and Angelica's new best friend, Anna Elizabeth, was born on August 7 at 12:47 am, weighing 7lbs, 10oz and 20.5 inches! (As a point of reference, Angelica was 7lbs, 11oz and 19.5 inches!) Mom (my sister, Stefanie), Dad (my brother-in-law, Will), and baby are doing well and should be coming home tomorrow.

As you can see she's already a cutie...and looks suspiciously like this little guy...


That would be her big brother Willy - 19 months old and adorable as can be! It may be easier to see the family resemblance though if you look at this picture, from December 27, 2006 - his birthday!


I'm so excited that she's finally here!

On the parenting front, things are going well. Angelica's really blossoming into quite the character...she smiles almost non-stop and is almost rolling over now...way too early but I'll take it! She is one super advanced baby! Here's a recent picture of her, from last weekend:



Over the past week, I've learned what I think is a pretty valuable lesson when it comes to parenting, and that's to throw "the book" away. "The book" being the guidelines that say what your kid should be doing at a certain time, or how you should react to certain situations. Books like Happiest Baby on the Block and the whole Dr. Sears attachment parenting books are great but when it comes down to it, you can't parent "by the book". If you listen to your child and stay in tune with him/her and follow your instincts, things will work out. That's not to discredit books...read them and borrow from them (at least the ones with sound, scientific advice) and then just do what works.

On that note, what works for me right now is SLEEP. I'm going to bed!