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April 14, 2005

This Boo Was Made For Walkin'
egg boo We expected that Lexie would be running all over the place by now, given that she took her first steps back in November. She's quite adept at cruising from object to object, and stands up in the middle of the room without any trouble at all. Boo is still pretty wobbly when she walks any more than a few steps, but she's trying more and more, and each day gets better at walking. However, when reaching her chosen destination quickly is crucial, she drops and crawls. Boo is amazingly quick on all fours.

She's also climbing like a little monkey. If Boo has the slightest toehold, up she goes. The couch, chairs, Dalton's bed, whatever -- she'll happily climb up it. At least she's learned how to get back down safely (more-or-less; we still spot her, since, you know, she's not even a year old yet).

Smorgas-Boo
Lexie has seven teeth and is self-feeding now (when we let her). She's beginning to attempt the use of fork & spoon, too. The fine-motor skills aren't quite there yet for that, but she definitely has the concept. Boo will eat almost anything, though she doesn't care much for really mushy foods -- oatmeal, applesauce, yogurt, etc. -- she evidently doesn't like the consistency or something. She'll take a bite or two and then that's it: no more. But Boo loves meats (she happily chowed down on her first babyback ribs the other day) and veggies (like her brother, she's a big-time broccoli eater) and eats a lot of food when she likes what's in front of her. It's getting that combination right that's the trick -- Lexie prefers to eat a little bit of a lot of different things. We're hoping that inclination fades as she gets older. Right now, we can just use the same leftovers for a couple days and she'll get through them, but soon it'll makes mealtimes much more difficult to prepare for.

We've had to adjust the dog's feeding schedule, since Lexie discovered a new game called "How Many Pieces of Dog Food Can I Fit in My Mouth?" If Annie had left any food in her bowl, the Boo would invariably scoot over there at some point ... and Mommy would see the bulging cheeks and brownish drool flowing over Lexie's chin and have to paw out a handful of mushy kibble. Ick. So now Annie gets fed at night, and if there's food in the dog dish in the morning, that goes up out of reach. Game Over, Boo.

Boo Babble
Communicating with Lexie is getting easier by the day. We're using the Baby Sign Language that worked so well with Dalton, and she knows and uses several signs: eat, milk, more, up, finished, dog, potty and pain. That last sign she frequently uses in her own little experiments -- the ones where she pinches Mommy then makes the "pain" sign. Yow! Yes, Little Girl -- that's pain!

Boo is talking more now, too. She's quite the little mimic and if we ask her to say something, she will (or at least try to). So far, she knows and says: Momma, Dada, Dalton, baby, hi, bye, hey Boo, duck, hat, gotta go, Annie, dog, and Janaka (Dalton's friend). She also can moo like a cow, quack like a duck and cluck like a chicken. All that, plus the Usual Baby Babble that's so adorable, since she's a chatterbox just like her brother.

Which brings us to her knowledge of the phone: Boo knows what it is, what it's for, and how it works. She'll grab a cell phone (or a toy phone, if she can't get her mitts on a real one), flip it open, put it up to her head (somewhere close to her ear) and say "hi." Then she'll close the phone and say "bye."

Artistic Boo
Lexie is a musical girl -- she loves music, and sings and hums and dances. In church, when she likes a hymn, she'll babble and sing along (very cute) and continue her loud singing after the hymn is over (not quite as cute, but hey). She likes to bang away on the 4-key Little Tykes piano, and loves the Leap Frog Activity Table with all of the song fragments and music cues.

Scribbling has become more of an attraction for her recently -- now she's almost as likely to draw with a crayon rather than eat it. If suitable paper isn't handy, a book will do nicely. Only one or two have been "enhanced" with Boo's artwork so far, and one incident was Daddy's fault for leaving a pen within reach. We were lucky the only casualty was a book ... Bad Dad! The Fisher Price Doodle Pro magnetic/erasable sketchpad is a big hit with Lexie, as it was with Dalton. And just as before, there are masterpieces we wish were on real paper suitable for framing. Alas, one sweep of the eraser bar and it's gone forever.

A Boo-tiful Life
Lexie has a couple baby dolls and she loves them dearly. She'll pick them up and hug them and hold them close to her -- and then toss them across the room and go grab something else. One of the things she also truly loves is her pink blankie. It's a silky satin on one side, and a soft, fluffy fleece on the other. She has to chew on the fleecey side at bedtime -- Boo will flip the blankie around and around until she gets to that side of the blanket, and then start gnawing. It's a very strong comforter for her. We have two of these blankets, which rotate through crib duty and washings, and we're thinking about buying yet another for a Just-In-Case backup. It would be disastrous to have the Boo's blankie come to irreparable harm and not have a replacement.

Mommy thinks that Lexie is going to be a maid. Boo loves the vacuum and plays with it every chance she gets. When she gets hold of a cloth, she'll use it to wipe down any nearby surfaces. It's very amusing, but if you saw the mess she makes while eating, you'd conclude that there is no way on earth the child will be involved in anything to do with cleaning.

The Boy is a useful stool pigeon these days. If Mommy is in the kitchen and he waltzes in, she can ask him, "What's Lexie doing?" and he'll usually spill the beans. "She's playing with tissue." Uh oh. Yep, she sure is.

Going outside is a highlight for Boo -- she loves it there. Her primary activity consists of trying to catch Dalton in his car. Sometimes, Dalton is willing to push Lexie around in his car, and she really likes that. Squeals of delight fill the air. The two of them play together more and more, although cries of "No, Lexie! No!" are still common throughout the day. Still, as she becomes even more mobile and able to do things and communicate better, the two of them will likely have plenty of fun together.

six months old

November, 2004 - Lexie has gone Mobile now. She figured out how to crawl pretty quickly, once she began trying, and although the Baby Girl would much rather be walking (or, actually, running), she moves around quite quickly enough, thank you very much. Take your eye off her and she's gone somewhere else. Both Dalton and the dog provide strong motivation for her. If we hold her arms, Lexie will take steps, especially towards Mommy -- she definitely has the strength for it, but not the balance. But that will come soon enough, since she's already using anything that's handy to pull herself up into a standing position. "Cruising" has just begun, along with the bumps and bruises that go along with it, Poor Little Boo.

Real Food is now on the menu for Lexie. Mommy had been a little concerned, because the Baby Girl usually spit out whatever baby food went in. We started Dalton on vegetables and rice cereal and things, avoiding fruits initially on the theory that once he got bananas and peaches, why on earth would he eat strained carrots again? But we discovered he'd eat almost anything. We tried the same approach with Lexie, but she didn't want any of it.

At her last checkup, though, the Doc said "Maybe she just doesn't like bland baby food." Since then we've started giving her more interesting foods, and she's eating them. Yogurt, fruits, finely chopped chicken, crackers, etc. By playing around with some of Dalton's sippy cups, she has now learned to drink out of those -- she really likes juice.

Luckily for her, we won't be inflicting on her the horrors that we nearly visited upon her brother for his first Thanksgiving two years ago: Baby food "Turkey" in a jar. Two words: Dog. Food. He didn't much like it, and we certainly didn't force the issue. The Boy enjoyed some sweet potatoes and green beans, however. It'll be interesting to see what they both eat this year.

It appears that The Baby Girl's top teeth are coming in, so perhaps she'll be able to chew all these new foods, instead of having to gum it all into mush. It makes her a little cranky and very needy though -- Mommy can hardly put her down for fear of the ensuing Scream Fest.

Lexie is still babbling away, although not as constantly as Dalton did. She has an odd little laughing growl that she uses when she's really happy and excited about something; it's not very lady-like, but it sure is funny!

In addition to surviving her first camping trip back in August, Lexie's travels have included a trip to the North Carolina Single Action Shooting Society state championship match, a couple of fairs (the Mountain State Fair and the NC State Fair), several trips to visit her grandparents and cousins, and a visit to see her cousin Isabel's baptism, where Lexie got to take her first ride in a swing.

For her first Halloween, Lexie was dressed as "Blue" from Blue's Clues, carrying through the theme with Dalton, who was "Steve." Of course, The Baby Girl didn't get any candy, but she sure looked cute!

All that travelling can take its toll on everybody, since Lexie still doesn't exactly enjoy riding in the car. Sometimes she's okay, and has a toy or other item to hold her attention, but mostly if she isn't sleeping, she's usually screaming. Especially at night, perhaps because she can't see anything. Hopefully she'll get over that, like her brother did -- he was a Car Screamer for a while, too.

She's really a very happy, pleasant, wonderful little girl -- and we're extremely thankful to be blessed with her presence in our family.

three months old

August, 2004 - Lexie is still a Champion Sleeper. You've gotta love a baby girl who will sleep through the night for 9 hours, often drifting off all on her own accompanied by the soothing sounds of the "Ocean Wonders Aquarium." That thing is great, with some soft music, a couple of different "waves on the beach" effects and glowing lights. The Baby Girl loves it, and for that reason, so do we.

One big change is that she's no longer a real "cuddler" anymore. Oh, she likes to be held, but what she really seems to want is to stand and walk and just go and DO stuff. Lexie has discovered that she has feet, and in addition to grabbing things with her hands, she'll sometimes hold them with her feet, too. Of course, at this age, she's all about the mouth, and whatever she picks up will find its way there, becoming nice and slobbery in the process.

Physically otherwise, Lexie loves her "tummy time" and lifts her head very well. Her balance gets better each day, and she can almost stay sitting up entirely on her own -- not quite yet, but almost. She will sit in the Exer-Saucer and play with the doo-dads on it for a long time. Same with the "activity mat," where she'll lay on her back and bat at all the little things that are hanging above. Lexie is an active, curious girl.

She's not a fussy baby at all -- in fact, she rarely cries at all, and then only when she really needs something (food, sleep, new diaper, etc.). Lexie is very good at self-soothing by sucking on her knuckles, and that also seems to help a little with her teething.

A few days ago, we had what was later determined to be a "teething experience" while we were out eating. Everyone was happy as we neared the end of the meal, when all of a sudden the Baby Girl just started screaming. Mommy picked her up, which usually is enough to quiet her down, but the crying continued. Loudly.

Mommy, being a courteous sort of person, decided to take Lexie out of the dining area and into the Ladies Room, but the screaming continued, made even worse by the echo off the tiled walls. So she went outside of the restaurant, and checked Lexie's clothes to see if anything was pinching her, checked the diaper to see if there was any problem there, etc. All the while, the Baby Girl kept crying her head off.

Daddy gathered up Dalton and the diaper bag and Lexie's carseat, paid the check and went outside, where Lexie was still wailing. Mommy asked if there was any Mylicon in the diaper bag, since maybe the girl was having Tummy Issues. The only thing in the bag was a tube of Baby OralJel, and we thought it was worth a try. Shortly after applying the gel, Lexie quieted down and was a happy girl again.

For a while, Mommy was worried that Lexie didn't seem to be as "chatty" as her brother was as an infant, but the Baby Girl is turning into a little blabbermouth now, too. She especially enjoys cooing at her Daddy, no doubt already making significant strides in her effort to wrap him around her little finger. She's a real social butterfly, smiling at everybody and just being as adorable as she can be -- which is pretty darn adorable. She loves to watch Dalton, and he seems to be more accepting of her as the days go by. It'll be interesting to see how their relationship changes as Lexie gets more mobile and can play more.

two months old

July, 2004 - It's amazing how fast babies grow, and how different Lexie is from her big brother Dalton. There are a few similarities (for instance, she's gained 2 1/2 pounds this month, and is now a fat little thing like the Boy was...). But she's not nearly as fussy as Dalton -- she sleeps a lot! Most of the day, and through the night, usually for 8 hours. She wakes up about 7:30 a.m., and then is up for about an hour before she needs to go back to sleep for a while.

Recently we turned our living room into a photo studio, dragged out all our professional photo gear (strobes, backdrops, cameras, lightmeters, etc.) and shot a bunch of portraits of the two-month-old Baby Girl. One of the results is above, and there are several more in the 3rd gallery on the photographs page. We did the same thing for Dalton when he was a month old. It's a lot easier to get nice pictures when the baby sleeps!

Around the 26th of June, she seemed to have gone on a growth spurt, where she wanted to eat about every hour during the day and every 3-4 hours at night. This lasted about four days, and probably accounts for some of her newfound poundage.

Lexie is a strong little thing -- something we noticed almost immediately after she was born. She can essentially stand for a short while, but obviously doesn't have the balance to do it by herself. Still... if that's any indication, she could be walking well before her first birthday. Yikes.

The Baby Girl has discovered that she has hands, and tries to grab and smack things nearby. Lexie is a very happy baby, and smiles at Mommy and Daddy very often. She'll coo and babble, but isn't nearly the chatterbox that her brother was (and is).

Mommy has discovered that asparagus and garlic are bad ingredients in foods right now, taking their place alongside onions, cabbage and cauliflower on the "No" list. Finding that out wasn't any fun for anybody...

From the last trip to the doctor (6 weeks old), Lexie's latest stats:

Weight: 11 pounds, 6 ounces (90th percentile)
Length: 22 inches (60-70th percentile)
Head: 15 1/4 (60th percentile)

She got jabbed with a needle full of Hepatitis vaccine, and the Little Princess screamed Bloody Murder as soon as she was pricked! Nowhere near the trooper that Dalton was ... Lexie goes back on July 23th for 4 shots. We're not sure they will get all 4 into her with the fit she threw after just getting the one shot.

one month old

June, 2004 - From the time we brough her home, we were amazed at the strength and head control the Baby Girl had. She was even able to roll onto her side before too long.

She's a champion sleeper, going 6 hours a night when she was three weeks old, but she's mostly been a night owl -- usually doesn't go to sleep for good at night until 10-11 p.m. That would normally suit us fine, but Dalton gets up with the birds at 6-ish and one (or both) of us have to crawl out of bed to watch over the Boy at that point.

Lexie went through a bit of a colicky period when she was 3 weeks old, crying for several hours every evening between about 6-10 p.m. She really liked timing the most intense screaming for right around the time that her brother went to bed. It didn't seem to matter whether Dalton went to bed at 7:30 or 8:00 or 8:30 -- as soon as he was in bed, it seemed, Lexie would turn it up to "11" and wail like a banshee. We spent a few evenings walking her around outside, which I'm sure endeared us to the neighbors. Sometimes it'd help, sometimes she'd just keep on screamin'.

Mommy had a theory that Lexie was less colicky when she pooped more during the day, and that might have been the case. In any event, that phase happily seems to have passed on by.

the baby story

Baby Timeline: May 3, 2004

1:30 PM - Mommy's regularly scheduled doctor's appointment; doc says there's a 50-50 chance she's in early labor. Sends us to the hospital for monitoring.
2:50 PM - Mommy gets a Non-Stress Test (NST) to check her contractions and the baby's heartbeat. Things look good, contractions are anywhere from 7-4 minutes apart.
3:15-4:15 PM - We stroll around the hospital for an hour, then go back to the monitoring room.
5:00 PM - According to the nurse, Mommy is "contracting like a racehorse," but the contractions don't seem to be doing much. This isn't exactly news to Mommy.
5:30 PM - The doc decides that we should stay at the hospital and at least see what happens in the next few hours. We had said that with the contractions already at about 5 minutes apart, if we left now, we'd have no idea when to come back. When the contractions are 3 minutes apart? Kinda close, isn't it. So we're treated to the Delivery Room With A View.
7:30 PM - The doc asks if we'd like her to go ahead and break Mommy's water, essentially inducing "real" labor. "Definitely," we say.
8:30 PM - Mommy gets her epidural -- the 1st one, at least. There was some sort of kink in the cath tube or something. In any case, the meds weren't going through, so ...
8:45 PM - the 2nd epidural procedure is done, and this one works like a charm.
9:00 PM - The epidural has kicked in, and Mommy is "feelin' fine." She can't even tell she's having some of the big ol' contractions now.
11:45 PM - Things are progressing, but slowly. The doc decides to add "a little Vitamin P" -- pitocin -- to help with the process.

Baby Timeline: May 4, 2004

12:25 AM - Mommy is at 8cm and the baby is at 0 station. Nurse Beth turns off "the little whiff of pitocin" Mommy was given, since the baby's heart is decelerating a lot during the strongest contractions. Mommy gets an oxygen mask to help the baby.
1:10 AM - Now at 10cm -- Almost there!
1:18 AM - Time to start pushing hard!
1:35 AM - Happy Birthday, Lexie! Daddy cuts the umbilical cord, and Mommy gets to hold you for the first time in her arms.