I swear, Scout is determined to make her face look like that of a beaten down prize fighter for her upcoming birthday pictures. Just in the last couple weeks she has scratched & bruised her left temple on a sharp aluminum computer part of some sort, busted her lip on the corner of a book, and tore that little flap of vertical skin that hangs between her top gums and the inside of her lip. Oh yeah, she also hit her forehead on a chair pretty hard yesterday. Poor thing. Walking is dangerous business.

Labels: misc

Here is one of Scout's toys that I find pretty interesting...



Apparently cabbage (or lettuce?) is not worthy of having its own name. And I must've missed the memo that said we're calling corn maize now.

Labels: hee hee, misc, toys

I thought this symbol on the dirty mall food court high chair was interesting:



I assume that it means "No Standing"....but it's strange to me that they use a bowling pin instead of a stick-figure child or something.

***ETA***
I have mommy-brain. Some of my readers informed me that this "bowling pin" could actually be a footprint and I photographed it upside down. {smacking forehead in a very Homer-esque way}

I swear that I didn't used to be this stupid.

Labels: misc

Okay, feeling better. DH read my post yesterday and when I talked to him on the phone, he said, "So I read that you're having the worst day of your life." Hee hee hee.....um yeah, I guess I can come off as being a little over-dramatic. It actually turned out to be a pretty good day.

We had fun at our lunch date at my friend's house. Scout was a perfect angel in the car and she slept/ate during most of the visit. My friend eased my worries about holding Scout too much - her daughter would not tolerate being put down when she was a small baby either. She is now 14 months old and seems like a well-adjusted little girl to me. Sure, a bit attached to mommy, but aren't all 14 month olds? Wendy, your experience also makes me feel better. Just from what I've read about your 11 year old little sweetie, it certainly doesn't seem like she suffereed any ill affects from being held all the time as an infant - infact, she turned out to be a smart, kind, mature young lady - a testament of how a parent's nurturing can grow a mighty fine kiddo!

All you gals made me feel much better.....to know that you all have been through it before.

Annika, I bought some gripe water yesterday. Yay! I think it did help with her fussiness last night. I also bought some Seventh Generation baby detergent that is all natural and fragrance/dye free to use on her clothes.

Since I needed to stop by the natural foods store to pick up the gripe water and detergent on my way home from my friend's house, yesterday ended up being Scout's first shopping trip. I knew I'd just be in and out, so I figured it wouldn't be too scary. It was a little hard to maneuver, since I was carrying her on one arm and pushing the cart with the other....but we managed. I need to get our infant carrier car seat installed, since she is not liking the sling right now. (We tried the sling again yesterday and again, she protested loudly :)

As soon as we walked into the store, she puked all down my shirt (and inside my shirt) and then smeared her face in it. I only had my wallet and my keys with me, so I had to walk back out to the car to grab a cloth diaper. I'm sure we both looked lovely, walking through the parking lot covered in curdled breastmilk.

Those fleece diaper liners are really coming in handy - I'm using them to protect our cloth diapers from the zinc oxide ointment. I'm also trying to give her plenty of naked-butt time on the changing table to air out her bum, like Danielle suggested. It's barely a rash at all, but I just wanted to nip it in the bud.....er...the "butt", rather. Hardee-har-har :)

This pic has nothing to do with my post (and it was taken 2 weeks ago), but I think it's so cute, how she's gripping his shirt. DH has magical baby-burping powers. In this picture, his facial expression appears to say, "Please, don't let it be a wet burp!"

Labels: misc

I got out of the house both yesterday and today and it felt REALLY good. Yesterday was the first time I took Scout out in the car all on my own. The other few times that she's ridden in the car, DH or my mom was driving and I was sitting in the back seat with Scout. I was pretty nervous at first, but she did really well. We went to the chiropractor's office (Remember when I reluctantly started seeing the chiro in an attempt to turn Scout when she was breech? Well, I'm still getting chiropractic care.....that we can't afford, but our chiro is insanely nice and insists on letting us go there for free - maybe I'll expound upon that later)

While we were there, Scout pooped LOUDLY while in the arms of the chiropractor like 4 or 5 times. It was hilarious. When I changed her, the poo was all up her back and all over her clothes (she was wearing a disposable). Good thing I'm neurotic and brought everything but the kitchen sink in her diaper bag. After the chiro appointment, I dropped off a book I had borrowed from the local LLL leader, and then we headed home. Scout started crying during the last 5-10 minutes of the drive. It broke my heart. I was about to pull over to pick her up and comfort her, but she settled down. I contorted my arm all funky to reach back and stroke her hair while I was shushing her and then she grabbed my finger really tight and calmed right down. It was really sweet. I've tried and tried to give her a pacifier to use on such occasions, but she will not take it. I need to buy a few more different brands to try. I was thinking about ordering a Gerber NaturalFlex pacifier because it's supposed to be more like the breast. I was reluctant about giving her a pacifier at first, but I think she could benefit from it during times like that. Plus, she's got breastfeeding down pat.

Today, we went to see the midwife. We didn't have an appointment for a check-up, but I was curious to know how much Scout is weighing these days. She weighs 10 lbs at 4 weeks and 1 day old. (She weighed 8 lbs 5 oz at birth) That made me feel really good - that she is obviously getting plenty of my milk and thriving on it. I nursed her while we were there and the midwife and her assistant commented on how great of a latch she seems to have. Way to go, Scout!

I've been thinking about cutting dairy out of my diet because she seems to get very fussy and sometimes inconsolable in the evenings. She wants to nurse and nurse and nurse, I think to soothe her gassy belly, but then her belly gets too full and it makes things worse (yet another instance when a pacifier would come in handy). I could have it all wrong - maybe.....HOPEFULLY, she's not really in any discomfort and she's just predictably cranky around the same time every night, I don't know. I've just read that sometimes dairy in momma's diet can cause tummy aches in breastfed babies, so I figure it might be worth a try to eliminate it.

After we saw the midwife, I wasn't quite ready to go home. We're sticking to the no-going-to-crowded-public-places rule until she's 6 weeks old, so I couldn't go shopping. I went through the drive-thru at Chic-fil-A and got a grilled chicken sandwich, fries, and a lemonade. Yum! It was the first time I had been out to eat since I had the baby. Not the fanciest meal in the world, but it really hit the spot. Scout only started fussing a little when we were about a mile from home.

I nursed her and we took a 2 hour nap together. I nursed her again and I started some laundry and put a whole chicken in the oven to bake. It won't be done until like 8 o'clock this evening, but DH has been getting home from work pretty late so I bet it'll work out just great. Scout's sleeping in her bouncy seat right now. I should go around and straighten up the house a little before she wakes up.

Labels: baby gear, misc