Rolling, rolling, rolling

Food and Babies

Tonight was banana night. The current prevailing wisdom in baby food is that you try one food for 3-5 days feeding them only 1 teaspoon or so for the first couple weeks and then increasing to two feedings a day. We have to admit that we do more like 1-3 Tablespoons because seriously a teaspoon is nothing! So far we have done sweet potatoes, brown rice cereal, pears and now banana's. Again, the amazing thing is that I am making the food myself, I know mushing up a banana doesn't sound complicated but figuring out how to brush my teeth is complicated for me some nights. Balancing work and parenthood is HARD, I have so much more appreciation for my own mother especially as she was a single mom. Back to food; so the child LOVES banana's and yelled at me tonight when I told her we were done. If I knew where the camera was I would have taken a picture, as it is Taylor is trying to add a couple new video's to the website. Quinn is also really excited when people say her name and has moments of being very sad at daycare if she sees us and we don't pick her up right away, she definitely knows who Mommy and Zaza are now...which selfishly is a pretty cool feeling. I am off to try to get lunches made and get to bed but I would like to take a moment to say congratulations to all the new parents we know (and those of you we don't!). This is a big baby year for our circle of friends and family so welcome babies Max, Ezra, Noah, Aubrey, Madison, Alexandra, Zahra, and soon to be here Blix!

Update

Hi all! We are doing great or rather we are attempting to be doing great...it varies from day to day. Quinn is wonderful, she is in the 96th percentile for height and the 95th for weight. The pediatrician encouraged us to start solids a little early and we have. I have been making food myself (I know, it is amazing) and gave her sweet potatoes and tonight (at Zaza's birthday party) she wolfed down some homemade brown rice cereal. We have only tried food four times but she seems to be getting the hang of it. We also recently went on a family trip to the coast and hung out with Nona and Grampy much to their and Quinn's delight. It was during that trip that Quinn first rolled from her front to her back and within the week she went from back to front. As of today she is rolling over whenever she feels like it...although she does get stuck occasionally. More later!

Sleeping and Parenting Books

Not to jinx it but I think that the transition to the crib has gone well for the whole family. Quinn usually gets up two times (or three if we are sleeping in) for food/diaper change but goes right back down. Getting her to sleep can be a little challenging but we have a routine and some techniques that we feel good about (no, none of these include dosing her with cold medicine, yet!). She went down super easy last night (we idealize our friend's son Jude who has been fabulous at going to bed the times we have babysat so Quinn has a lot to live up to) and slept well. We do use the swing during the day b/c the daycare does and she likes it. We have upgraded to a big swing from the small travel swing we started out with and the thing does so much stuff and looks so comfy, I want one. Of course she will sleep for hours at daycare and usually for about 45 minutes-1 hour for us but she seem fine with it.

People who know me well know I tend to be a little on the anxious side (I can hear Taylor giggling hysterically when she reads this and repeating "a little?") and I have found a new thing that causes anxiety for me: parenting books. They all say something different and all imply that you should have started x, y, and z at birth. I try to just take tips from whatever I read and stay away from one philosophy...for example the Baby Whisperer has some great tips that we use a lot for sleep but I feel vaguely patronized while reading it and it is a parent centered schedule, our daycare has a very baby centered schedule, and we fall somewhere in between. I think as long as she and we are mostly happy with our routine and lives we are doing well! Any thoughts from any of you on different philosophies and books? A whole different topic is advice from family and friends...sometimes a little overwhelming. :)

And the not so glamourous side of Quinn

Enjoy!

Quinn, the model...

Here she is at three weeks old; naked and in front of the camera! See if you can pick her out of the crowd.

Bodily functions and fluids

So yeah. We have turned into those parents that call the pediatrician a lot. To be fair to us I think they should expect this of new parents and really we have only called three times since our last appointment. The first was when we were diagnosing my lipase enzyme milk issue; just to be sure there wasn't anything we could do and to ask some nutritional questions for Quinn, the second was when she hadn't pooped in five days; apparently aside from dehydration growth spurts can be an explanation as they are using all of their nutrients for that...also the child had two major blowout poops that night after we had called, and then last weekend when we experiencing "baby's first vomit"--when she threw up all over me and out her mouth AND nose. Props to Taylor here who came running and helped clean up despite a strong aversion vomit. This recalls the time we were at a 4th of July party at a downtown Portland hotel where two suites had been taken over. This poor girl started to retch and Taylor was out the door, down the hall, and in the next suite before it even hit the floor. So the vomiting was scary and probably a result of all her sinus drainage but we called to double check and see what we should watch for. Quinn is, of course, fine just very snarfely (yes, I made that up) due to her daycare cold. Taylor took some fun pictures that we will try and get posted and a great video that we hope to figure out as well. Oh and the other news is that she seems to be teething, good times!