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Math Geek, Word Nerd, PhD Candidate, Computer Scientist, Researcher, Wife, Mommy, Bargain Hunter, Home Maker, Baker, Budding Photographer, Crafter, Domestic Diva Wannabe and 
Posts Tagged ‘Nicole’
May 14, 2013
Nicole’s Impression of Mommy
Hmmm, how am I going to accomplish this shot?
Say “cheese!”
Let’s see how it turned out!
… huh.
Nom Nom Nom
*May not be an entirely accurate portrayal.
Posted in Family Life, Photography | Tags: Nicole
May 12, 2013
What do I know?
I fully appreciate the irony that this post fallows hot on the heels of my previous post where I said Nicki was going to skip crawling. Not 48 hours later she was already proving me wrong.
I first noticed progress on this milestone Friday evening. Nicki got on all fours reaching for a book on a book case and ended up stumbling forward a step. I thought to myself “Hmm, I’ll bet some people consider that crawling.” (Pre-baby I thought milestones were always obvious when they were hit, in truth they hardly ever are. Some people count the first time the baby does the action, others count the first time it appears intentional, and still others wait until baby is doing it consistently. We fall into the latter most camp – if she’s not doing it consistently enough for me to get photographic evidence of it, I don’t count it!)
Saturday evening Domingo was watching Nicki while I was getting ready to start the bedtime routine. He suddenly called down to me “she crawled!” Apparently she had done the same half step stumble I had seen earlier, this time to reach a power cord. We quickly realized that she was willing to move a step forward on her hands and knees if it got her closer to an object she wasn’t supposed to have. If we tried to entice her with a toy, or something else she was allowed to play with, she’d protest until we helped her walk to it.
We decided to test this theory out with the object of mommy’s she always covets – the iPhone. Success! After a few minutes of just staring at it, she actually crawled forward a couple of steps. I was so excited a posted a video to facebook.
We worked with her Sunday and she was took to it like a fish to water. Once we were able to cox her to crawl about a foot it was like a light switch went off in her head and she suddenly realized she could reach anything she wanted under her own power. As soon as I put her down on the floor, she was off! I almost had to break my photographic evidence rule. I couldn’t pick up my camera fast enough to record her crawling! That’s also why all the photos of her crawling are slightly blurry. No time to setup the shot, baby’s on the move! Mommy needs to practice with a moving target!
Bedtime tonight was a little delayed. Nicki was throwing a ball, and crawling to go get it. Yes, she was playing fetch with herself. It was too cute, and I loved the progress she was making, so we let her stay up a little later. It is amazing how much they can change in just 24 hours.
Posted in Family Life | Tags: Baby Development, Nicole
May 1, 2013
Nicki at Ten Months
Dear Nicki,
We’re entering the double digits of months. Oh. My. Gosh. Where is the time going?!
You have made great strides towards walking. Literally and figuratively. As soon as you could cruise, you were off! You’d do three or four laps around your activity table in a row, it was the cutest thing. You also enjoy cruising on the coffee table, and discovering all the non-baby safe things mommy forgets to put away. You used to hold onto the baby bumper, but you quickly learned it was more fun to have your hands free. The only issue? You can only balance on your feet for a second or two. It wasn’t a problem for you for long, you learned to lean your chest against the table for support so you could hold an object in each hand.
One handed Standing.
Mommy needs to learn photoshop. I have so many adorable photos with something in the background (in this case diaper wipes.) Sigh.
You are very into your toys these days. It’s amazing watching you development, you make such leaps in perceiving your world. You offered your binky to Fuzzy Bunny, by putting it on his mouth. We weren’t sure if that’s what you were doing, or you were just bashing your toys together, until you tried to put your pacifier in Mommy’s mouth! You thought it was absolutely hysterical, and kept trying to get mommy to take it. You had your little spider push the buttons on the remote control, and seemed to be making him crawl up the table. You also put the pretend purple phone to your ear without being prompted to. I know I’m biased, but I’m pretty sure that level of “role playing” is very advanced!
My little ham
The many outtakes of Nicole “Pookytron”
You now eat cheerios, Gerber “puffs” and yogurt melts like a champion. You weren’t as keen on the steamed vegetables yet, though you did put some carrots into your mouth. I think it’s the texture that you’re not sure of, you take the pureed vegtables very well. Even peas, which you hated at first. You’re also not a fan of cooked pasta, egg yoke or cheese yet, but we’re working on it. After rejecting banana in non-pureed form twice before, you shared one with mommy on Monday. Mommy will let you in on a little secret: if you share your banana with the kitty, she will love you forever. Kitty loves people food.
Enjoying her time in the swing
You have been a little miss giggle fits this month. Everything makes you happy. You squiggle up your nose and squint your eyes with a big ear to ear grin. I hope you never grow out of this phase. I just want to gobble you up, I can never get enough of your face! Seriously, my 1 TB hard drive has less than 2 GB free. I have a full 32GB card I can’t download because I’m out of space!
Love Always,
Mommy and Daddy
Posted in Family Life | Tags: Milestones, Nicole
April 3, 2013
Nicki’s First Fever
At least I assume it’s her first.
Monday night she felt feverish to me, but the forehead thermometer said her temperature was 97.0. She slept alright, waking up once at 4 am but going back to sleep by herself. Despite getting 12 hours and 13 minutes of sleep (I’m still collecting her sleep data) she woke up seeming extremely tired. Normally she lifts her head and pushes off on her hands to look for me, but not this time. Not even when I walked into the room. She stayed curled up flat on the mattress crying for me.
The second clue that something might be wrong was breakfast. Nicki gets a yogurt in the morning. She loves and devours it. She almost never spills any, yogurt is precious to her. Today she turned her head away distracted by other things, getting some of the yogurt on her bib. She even left a bite. In all the months that she’s gotten yogurt she has never, not once, failed to finish her yogurt.
When I went to put her down for her morning nap in the crib and I noticed that she had thrown up the night before. All over the middle of the crib mattress. It was still wet. I felt terrible I didn’t notice it when I picked her up in the morning. Things just seemed off so I ended up putting her down in the rock n’play. She needed sleep, badly, and I thought that was her best chance. She had broken sleep from about 9 until shortly before 12.
Again she felt feverish and looked flush, but again the forhead thermometer reported 97.0. This time, I called baloney and broke out the backup thermometer. New forehead temp was 98.6 (close to fever)! That’s when I broke out the second backup baby thermometer (yes, I’m a first time mom, why do you ask?) a rectal and most accurate thermometer. 100.4, fever town! BTW, that first thermometer is now serving time in the bottom of the waste basket.
Lunch fared worse than better than breakfast. She eat about half of what she normally eats. So I got out a juice cup to make sure she stayed hydrated. She wasn’t up to playing so we cuddled up together with the Lorax. About twenty minutes later the Tylenol kicked in, we turned off the Lorax and I put her back down on her mat with her toys.
I didn’t bother with the crib for second nap, it was straight to the rock n’ play at 2. When she woke up extremely distressed at 2:45. She looked terrible and was crying, but it was too early for a second dose of Tylenol. She clearly needed more rest but was too uncomfortable to sleep. After lots of rocking and far too many lullabies to count she finally drifted off to sleep and napped in my arms until 4:45. Yup that’s almost 6 hours of broken napping throughout the day. Actually, she would have kept napping, but it was time for dinner and I wanted her to be able to fall asleep at night. We gave her a second round of juice before dinner and this time she eat much better.
Today she’s doing much better. She still looks a little flush and has a slightly elevated temperature but the fever’s gone and she’s eating and playing well. Today we’re taking it easy at home, she’s right now asleep in the crib. She even went down for her nap without fusing! Daycare has a symptom free for 24 hour policy, so she needs to be fever free for 24 hours before she can go back anyway.
Posted in Family Life | Tags: Nicole
April 1, 2013
Nicki at Nine Months
Dear Nicki,
Nine months. Nine. You’re well on your way to one, and becoming a toddler.
Feets! I has one!!
We’re still debating whether you will crawl first or walk. Your pediatrician says walk. I’m inclined to agree. You do a sort of reverse army crawl on the bed where you throw your face down, kick up with your feet and drive yourself forward an inch. You then pop your head up, look around and continue if you haven’t reached your toy yet. It’s the cutest thing! Yesterday when mommy put you down on your hands and knees you started swaying a little (a precursor to crawling), but you’re more consistently taking steps when holding onto Mommy. You’re record so far is 3. We purchased two toys for you this weekend, one to encurage crawling
Airborn Baby!
We also started you on a sippie cup. That’s right, you drink from a sippie cup! (And you spill from a sippie up.) You love your juice. You get so excited when you see the sippie cup, and grab the sippie cup with both hands and attack the nozzle. Mommy and daddy have to tip it a little for you, but I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it.
Your pediatrician suggested we try some table food around 8 months, but it was clear you weren’t ready. Even just a few days ago you clearly weren’t ready. You didn’t yet have the “chew” instinct, and you got distressed by the solid texture. The past few days you’ve been showing more signs that you’re ready for table food by making that distinctive chewing motion. A couple of times you tricked mommy and daddy into thinking you had something in your mouth! Yesterday we decided to try table food again and you eat 3 puffs and 1 cheerio. When mommy tried to give you cheerios just a few days ago, you thought cheerios were toys for dropping on the floor. Not a single one touched your lips. How rapidly you have these developmental changes!
Fascinated with your Easter dress
We’ve noticed that your favorite color appears to be blue. You loved holding your blue Easter eggs. Every time we refilled your basket you’d take them out one by one until you had a blue one in each hand. Too cute!
Love always,
Mommy and Daddy
Posted in Family Life | Tags: Milestones, Nicole
March 22, 2013
Moving Naptime to the Crib
Back in the days of the Good Nap
I never posted a follow up to my last baby sleep post, but Nicki slept through the night the very next day. Even though she was no longer waking up, she was once again crying for an average of 15 minutes, sometimes as much as 30 minutes, after being put down. While she never stopped crying after we started sleep training, the crying sessions would not typically last beyond the time it took me to walk down stairs, so the uptick in crying was a little worry some.
I called her pediatrician, who was one of the many many people who recommended sleep training, to ask if we were doing something wrong or if something could be wrong. The pediatrician’s advice was that some babies are just more sensitive to being left alone at night and to make sure she was not hearing or seing any sign. A friend also suggested moving her bed time up from 8:30 to 7:30. We took both pieces of advice to heart, the crying ended completely and she now is sleeping for an average of 11 hours, 23 minutes (with a standard deviation of 13 minutes). All was happy in baby sleep land.
Until…
It was past time to end the nap time in the rock and play. Not only were we worried about her rolling out, or trying to sit up in the rock n’ play, but she also wasn’t napping as well in it. She’d wake up at the end of each sleep cycle and need me to put her back to sleep. That, by the way, was also our criteria for moving her to the crib at night. (Note to my future self when the next baby comes: when the current sleeping arrangement isn’t working, it’s past time to change it.)
Since my parents were visiting this week, and Nicki was off from day care, it seemed like the perfect time to try. Moral support from my mom, and no day care to disrupt the attempt at establishing the new routine.
For naptimes I was still rocking her to sleep and putting her down in the rocking play. She’d wake up as I put her down, but happily drift off to sleep again in the rock n’ play for a sleep cycle. I tried rocking her to sleep and putting her down in the crib on Sunday. Didn’t work. As soon as I tried to put her down somewhere other than the rock n’ play she revolted. She’s too alert these days for me to put her down in her sleep, she always wakes up. So Monday we had no choice but to start sleep training in the crib, which meant she had to put herself to sleep in the crib.
Nap time sleep training is way harder than bed time sleep training.
I’m sure the fact that she’s older and more capable of resisting is part of the problem. Another part of the problem is we didn’t have a gradual transition to the crib for naps. Logically she happily sleeps in the crib at night, and she likes her naps, so it she shouldn’t mind sleeping in the crib at nap time right, right? Except babies aren’t logical. They pattern match. And putting her down in the crib doesn’t match the pattern, ergo Nicki doesn’t seem to know she should fall asleep.
We’ve been doing this for a week and her average time crying is down to seven minutes, but naps are only 15-30 minutes. Way short of what she needs. On the one hand, I feel validated in my assertion that moving her to the crib and simultaneously crying it out at bed time would not have worked. On the other hand, I feel terrible that nap time has become so difficult. I feel a bit helpless and not sure what to do other than just stay the course.
At least this hasn’t disrupted bed time.
Posted in Family Life | Tags: Baby Sleep, Nicole
March 6, 2013
A Mini Me
There was no doubt that Nicki was Domingo’s daughter when she was born. Right away she took after her dad. At two weeks, we could have been looking at his baby pictures.
By two months she started to look like a feminine version of her dad.
She’s been looking more and more like me, but it wasn’t until I was processing the latest set of Nicki photos that I discovered how much.
It’s a Mini Me!
Her complexion has become much fairer than it once was. Her eyes are actually turning green like mine, and her hair is close to my color. But that face? Those puffy checks? No doubt about it, she’s starting to look more like her mama!
Posted in Family Life | Tags: Nicole
March 1, 2013
Nicki at Eight Months
Dear Nicki,
Eight months! Before you know it, mommy will be planning your first birthday party. (Okay, I confess, I’ve been planning it for a while. I just can’t help myself when it comes to celebrating you.)
This month you got your first two teeth. We had a little bit of a rough patch sleep wise when they were coming in which wasn’t helped by the fact that you were also getting over a cold. I’m happy to report both teeth are in and you’re once again sleeping through the nights. Eleven hours! Well, technically 11:01 with a standard deviation of 6 minutes – you’re very consistent!
Teething
Another recent complication with your night time sleeping is that you started rolling over from your back to your stomach three nights ago! Sure you’ve done it in the past, but not very often. You seem more comfortable sleeping on your stomach, but you were startled to wake up on your stomach the first couple of nights. Daddy and I didn’t know if we should risk waking you by helping you get back to your back again, but tonight I watched you roll all the way over with ease! Of course, the fact that you’re rolling over so frequently now means your days in the rock n’ play are numbered. Another month, another sleeping arrangement, eh?
At your last doctor’s appointment, you were just 1.5 lbs shy of Lily! My prediction: you’ll be as big as your kitty by 10 months.
I took 1306 photos of you this month – double that of last month! Mommy is making up for lost time. We took photos of you in the gym (which you still enjoy beating up!), the jumperoo, playing on the mat, playing in your high chair – I wanted to capture everything. Mommy is once again starting to run out of space on her hard drive!
Playing with the bowl, waiting for mommy to put the camera down and get dinner started
This month we started size 3 nipples this month, and you’re up to three meals a day. Day care was so impressed with how well you eat! When I picked you up after your first day with a pureed lunch they were stunned that you had eaten them all. I think they assumed it was your first time eating any purees. But of course mommy sent you in with bananas, you’re current favorite.
We tried peas and green beans again. You eat them both without protest, but it’s clear they weren’t you favorite. I know they don’t taste as good as the orange veggies, but hummer mommy, okay? We don’t need an Oompa Loompa Nicki! We also added some more protein to your diet. Yogurt is a huge hit! You’re even downing peach yogurt, though you rejected the peach purees a while ago.
This month we will get to start you on finger food! I am so excited!
Love always,
Mommy and Daddy
Posted in Family Life | Tags: Milestones, Nicole
February 17, 2013
Never too Late for ‘Newborn’ Photography
The other day I was suddenly stuck by the desire to have newborn-toes-and-wedding-rings photos. I blame the desire on the fact that I’m suddenly taking so many more photos, and going back over the old ones. Nothing makes me want to pick up a camera more than looking at old photos, especially when I’m learning so much more about photography! I keep thinking about all the ways I can improve those old photos and pinning for a time machine.
I waited until Nicki was napping in the rock n’ play. (I love that thing, not only has it been a must have for newborn baby sleep, but some of the best photos are from the rock n’ play!) Her feet were elevated in the rock n’ play which made this a particularly easy shoot. The only problem? A seven month baby wakes up when you put something on her toes! She woke up instantly.
What’s this?
If ever there was a time for a safety spotter, rings on baby toes are it! Guess where that ring is going if\when she get’s it off! We also had a few sudden baby movements followed by hunting for the missing ring. It would definitely be easier to do this style of photo when she was a sleepy newborn.
Luckily I waited until she was 2 hours into her morning nap which is usually 2 and a half hours. Nicki was rested enough to be in a good mood, but really curious about what was on her toes. I ended up giving her a ‘new toy’ (a stuffed animal from my dresser she’s never seen) to distract her which gave me a chance to experiment with different lightening and angles. And they’re gorgeous. These are all unedited.
With the desk light on. Normally I prefer natural light only, but I like the added warmth in the photo.
Natural light from the window.
I am really impressed how well these turned out. Yes, her feet are a little plumper than they were when she was six months ago, but I don’t really think it’s noticeable. And, maybe even a little preferable? Lesson learned: never let the fear that your baby is too old stop you from picking up your camera.
I love these so much I have a new header photo for my blog and twitter account! I plan on changing my facebook cover photo as well, but I only recently updated it to a photo of the crochet baby blocks my mother-in-law made Nicki which makes her very happy. I’ll leave the baby blocks up for a little while longer first.
Posted in Photography | Tags: Baby Photography, Do It Yourself, Momtographer, Newborn Photography, Nicole
February 16, 2013
Sleep, and Lack There Of
My once perfect little sleeper is rebelling. We had three months of glorious, unheard of, newborn sleeping through the night. Then colds, travel, and transitioning to the crib hit. Crying-it-out was working, but this week was about as miserable as it could be. Last night, Nicki woke up not once, not twice, but five times. Even though she went back to sleep on her own four of those times, mommy got maybe three hours of sleep. Total.
We have three theories as to what might be going on
Teething – Her bottom left tooth has now cut through the gum although it still hasn’t fully erupted, but we only have a corner of her bottom right tooth peeking through. Although she’s showing some mild signs of teething discomfort, she doesn’t really seem effected by it. She’s still a very happy baby during the day. She’ll chomp on her teething toys, but doesn’t appear to need them.
Lingering Cough – Nick had her third baby cold from last Sunday to Wednesday. She had bad congestion and a cough and for a couple of nights needed to sleep at an incline. Her symptoms are mostly gone, but every once in a while we hear an errant cough.
Physically Cold – The last three times she woke up the temperature in the nursery was 66 and 67 degrees as reported by the bay monitor. (We didn’t think to check the temperature before that.) The thermometer in the nursery tracks the high and low temperatures at 64 and 75 degrees. That’s quite a range! We noticed over the summer that Nicki, like mommy, sleeps better in slightly warmer temperatures to colder temperatures. She had her longest stretch of sleep last night after we upped the thermostat.
Not used to the new routine – Once upon a time Nicki used to get drowsy in the bath tub. These days our little ducky prefers to swim and splash and play with all her bath toys. This left us with two options: (1) no toys in bath and a moratorium on splashing or (2) make bath time earlier and not part of bedtime. Since I love that she enjoys her bath so much, we opted for the second option. She now gets twenty plus minutes of light play after the bath to wind down. She’s adjusted to that part very well. That left the bed time routine at vitamin, night time milk, and story. Since that only last ten minutes, and the books say bed time routines should be 20 to 30 minutes, we’re adding in some lullaby and rocking cuddles. When I sing to her (which is so off key I’m surprised it doesn’t re-energize her to get away from mommy) I stroke her face. I’ve been doing this at nap time, so it’s nice nap time and bed time routines are becoming a little more similar.
So many variables when debugging baby behavior! I contemplated getting the baby connect app to track baby’s feeding and sleeping in the early days, but ultimately passed. We kept a log on paper for a few weeks, but didn’t end up needing it after that. It’s time we start again. We couldn’t remember when the difficulty sleeping started. Before teething? After teething? Has it been trending bad for a while? So I created a custom excel spreadsheet to track the variables I was interested in and show me trends. Time to put my data science skills to test.
I just have to keep reminding myself that she does have good nights. The last three months we’ve had bad weeks, but there are good weeks too. We will get back there again. This phase, too, shall pass.
Posted in Family Life | Tags: Baby Sleep, Nicole