My big check-up & weigh in... 9 1/2 weeks old

As murphy's law dictates on the day I was all pyched up to gush with accounts of Fiona's endless screaming to her pediatrician, she woke up a happy baby. I still expected spontaneous meltdown, but even as the doctor examined her top to bottom, Fiona was miss flirty-flirt. As feared her MD had little advice for colic other than what we've been doing. He did offer an interesting article on how human babies are born "too soon" compared to other animals who can burp, feed, and stand on their own, hence the adjustment period newborns (about 20%) experience. Jim had instructed me to "ride that doctor hard for any treatments their holding out on!" but I was assured only time will help.

As for her check-up, she's a perfectly healthy 9 1/2 week old whose now 23 1/2 inches long (90th percentile!) and 11 lbs 13.6 oz (75th percentile.) Her "stork bite"- the pinkish capillary discoloration on her forehead- continues to fade and developmentally she hits the proper milestones like lifting her head 45 degrees, tracking across midline, and smiling responsively. It was rewarding to find she does know who I am as she constantly kept lookout for my place in the exam room.
The nasty finale to our visit were her 2 month immunizations-three shots-in both thighs-DTP, HIB, pneumococcal, Hep B, and Polio. I premedicated with Tylenol but that didn't take away the sting. She did her silent- I'm too distraught to make noise, only dogs hear- cry during the injection but was asleep before we got back to the car.
This evening she's been a bit fussy but nothing out of her ordinary. (See little one above, dosing off with daffy duck Bandaids on legs)

Friday morning's Mommy Group so off to bed we go...

Catching up with Fiona- 2 months old

Daddy grew way too busy to chronicle progress since his enthusiastic blog launch back in May. (In fact Jim's somewhere en route to India as I write.) Therefore I'll officially be taking over, squeezing in updates whenever I have a spare moment.

On Saturday Fiona marked a milestone, turning two months old! She has grown two inches since her birth, up to 22" now, and per my antique baby scale weighs at least 11.5 lbs. Her head sits more steadily, she visually tracks well, and everyday seems to evaluate her interaction with space around her a little more. The other morning I noticed her grabbing at toys on her activity mat and for the first time showing some recognition that it was her hand touching and moving. In particular she likes the black & white crinkley dog attached to the mat's arched toy frame. Watching Joey, the live cat, bath has also become a favorite pasttime.

In spite of the time passed, one thing remains constant....we have a colicky baby, capital C. Starting at around three to four of weeks of age Fiona started crying, and crying, and crying...She can fuss from morning to night, going hours without napping. Everyone we encounter offers their tried and true remedies...mint water, gripe water, mylicon drops (every feed, after feeds, or before feeds...); change what I eat, change what she eats; carry her in a sling, in the Bjiorn, put her in the stroller, the swing, the bouncey chair, the car seat, the car, the car seat on the dryer...You name it, believe me we have tried it, and yet she cries and cries. Rumor has it, colic, attributed to everything from immature digestive processes, sensitive nervous systems, and protein or lactose intolerances, tapers off by about three months of age as the infant physically and emotionally matures. I've even heard stories of the magic day when suddenly a new, improved baby appears. We pray daily for that milestone.

Fiona- The Lost Episodes, weeks 2-8

Just to back-track, lots of stuff happened during May I didn't want to skip over...

Mostly we all settled into life with Fiona a bit more. Jim's been back and forth to Santa Clara and Portland so at home I've established a loose schedule to make days easier. Fiona's still young enough to eat on demand so I feed her anywhere between every 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours, except at night when she can go a 3-4 hour stretch. The hardest part of the day is getting up and going but we're working on it. As weather gets hotter I try to feed her, dress her, then feed her again, dress myself, and get out for a 2 mile walk before 10am (sounds easier than it is!) She's fallen into a little nap pattern at 11am so I get about 30 minutes to catch-up on the household before she's up and hungry again. Afternoons we shop, run errands, visit friends, or I make attepts to re-acquaint her into the Bjorn carrier so I can do stuff around the house without her crying for me--this is a set-up she's not quite buying into yet. Meanwhile my back is killing me, carrying her around on my shoulder. At 330pm, while I run to the gym to burn off baby lbs, Grammy Lacey comes over to take lots of pictures and ensure Fiona learns the alphabet and nursery rhymes. By 6pm the day catches up to her because she's usually pretty cranky until 730pm or so. We typically eat dinner skillfully with one-hand or by trading off. If settled down, one activity she loves is bath time at around 830pm. I plunk her in a little round tub that fits perfectly in my kitchen sink. Aside from her chilly first bath when she was 7 days old, she's loved water, even when dribbled over her head & face. Of course it's very inportant we sing "Rubber Ducky" as part of the routine.

As she gets into her jammies we "talk over the day" then have one last feed before she's off to bed at 10pm. She's been surprisingly good and falls asleep as long as the Safari Lights Crib companion is playing. By 2am she starts making noise to eat. Usually she'll go back to sleep right away but 1-3x/week we have a hard time burping and the rest of the night is a series of up and down to comfort, feed, pat, etc... Those are the nights that leave a terrible "hang over ." None-the-less, it all starts again bright and early the next morning.

Weekends when Jim's home we mix it up a little with trips to exciting places like Costco and Jamba Juice. Nights we've been fortunate to keep up on dinners with friends/family. Also I started attending a Mommy group on Friday mornings. We meet for 1 1/2 hours then head somewhere for lunch. It's been comforting to meet other moms with breastfeeding issues and colicky babies--although Fiona's usually the loudest there. She likes to flirt with 7 month old Sawyer when their tummy mats are side by side and I've found some new friends.

Certainly all of this is subject to change at Fiona's whim, but we're moving in a positive direction as all three of us mesh routines to find something that works. We hope to be situated enough to do a little traveling this summer and by August I may work at the hospital a day or two a week.