On Sunday evening we had our first real sickness scare - little Noelle felt burning up to the touch and we got out the thermometer for the first time. We pretty much had no clue what we were doing with the whole take your baby's temperature thing so we hoped for the best and then realized that the thermometer we had from the hospital reported the temperature in degrees Celsius. You might be asking yourself why that was a problem for a chemistry lady since everything I did for 4 years was in Celsius. Unfortunately, I no longer have the conversion scale ingrained into my brain so we ran to the computer and looked up the conversion to realize that the little one had a fever in the 101.7 range. Next stop, deciding if this was serious. I knew from our childbirth class that anything over 100.4 for the first three months was bad. What I didn't know was when your little one gets a little older what constitutes a worrisome fever. Quick book consult, and 101.7 was right in the moderate concern category. So we gave the little one some tylenol, got her ready for bed, and rocked her to sleep. That didn't last long, and I ended up sleeping with the little one wrapped in my arms most of the next two nights to keep her happy. We didn't know what was wrong with the little one but she sure seemed miserable.
Fast forward another day and a half, two days home from daycare, and a doctor's appointment, and Noelle's fever had broken. The doctor diagnosed nothing more serious than her cold that just keeps on kicking, and Noelle seemed to be a much happier baby again. While playing with Bryan, Noelle decided to stick his finger in her mouth and chomp down. And what did he find? A sharp edge instead of a nice round gum. A quick investigation turned up a small tooth on the bottom left that had just broken through the gum. Fever explained, happy baby returned to the Saxton household! I'd take a picture of the little tooth but it is pretty hard to see still - hopefully when it fully makes it's way out we can record the first tooth on camera for all the world to see!
Now if only all these advances in our little one's development would lead to a full night of sleep!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Adventures in Solid Foods, Part 2: Carrots!
Noelle turned 6 months last Tuesday! I know, it is crazy how fast time flies! To celebrate, we got to go to the doctors on Friday for her check-up and her 6 month shots. Like always, Noelle was a trooper. She cried for a few seconds, but was a champ as soon as I scooped her up and started feeding her. Besides the regular batch, she also got her flu shot since regular flu hasn't hit Maryland yet this year and February and March tend to be prime flu season in our neck of the woods. At 6 months, Noelle measure 27 inches and is 16 pounds, 5 oz, almost exactly double her birth weight. She is in the 50 percentile for height and the 25-50 percentile for weight. So she is growing great but is not a chunky monkey!
At the doctor we got the final go ahead to start Noelle on single food solids. We'll be trying a new fruit or veggie every 3-5 days and she'll have the new food every evening at dinner. This gives us a chance to get the hang of the new taste and also isolate foods so we know what the cause is if Noelle were to have any allergic reactions. We started with carrots and have avocados, sweet potatoes, and bananas waiting in the wings. Noelle was a way bigger fan of carrots then the yucky rice cereal. She still doesn't really get how to eat, but she leans forward when you are bringing it toward her on the spoon. We have learned that we'll need to place the splat mat on the floor under her chair since we have carpet under our dining room table. Maddie is quick to get the remains but it stains fast! Here are some carrot pictures!
Noelle is also still trying to get crawling down. She gets in to position, rocks, but is struggling to move forward. She is mastering the backward crawl though and is certainly mobile!
And all these new things make little ones tired! Here is one of Ellie taking a much needed nap on the couch!
At the doctor we got the final go ahead to start Noelle on single food solids. We'll be trying a new fruit or veggie every 3-5 days and she'll have the new food every evening at dinner. This gives us a chance to get the hang of the new taste and also isolate foods so we know what the cause is if Noelle were to have any allergic reactions. We started with carrots and have avocados, sweet potatoes, and bananas waiting in the wings. Noelle was a way bigger fan of carrots then the yucky rice cereal. She still doesn't really get how to eat, but she leans forward when you are bringing it toward her on the spoon. We have learned that we'll need to place the splat mat on the floor under her chair since we have carpet under our dining room table. Maddie is quick to get the remains but it stains fast! Here are some carrot pictures!
Noelle is also still trying to get crawling down. She gets in to position, rocks, but is struggling to move forward. She is mastering the backward crawl though and is certainly mobile!
And all these new things make little ones tired! Here is one of Ellie taking a much needed nap on the couch!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Adventures in Solid Foods, Part 1: Rice Cereal
Well, we are still snowed in here at the Saxton household! As much as Noelle, B, Maddie, and I love each other, we are going a little stir crazy and are definitely ready to venture outdoors. I've been home since last Friday with Noelle, and Bryan went to work yesterday, but otherwise has been home as well. With the whiteout conditions from the wind it is a little hard to take pictures of Snopocalypse 2.0 today, but we'll get some tomorrow and post later. In the meantime, here is an update on the happenings of Baby Noelle.
Since she was about 4 months, Ellie has longingly eyed our food when we had dinner. The doctor told us we could start solids anytime but that the current recommendation for breastfed babies was to wait til 6 months as long as they are healthy. Babies get all the nutrition they need from milk for the first year of life, so the solids would just be for her to get something new and exciting. About three weeks ago we decided to start solid number 1, rice cereal. You mix the cereal in 1:3 ratios with milk, and then give it to the little ones. Here are some pictures of our first adventure:
As you can probably tell, Noelle is not a fan. It is pretty funny to watch the awesome faces she makes when she eats (or drools it down her face)! We have since tried a few more times with little additional success!
I swear these pictures are from a different day! Apparently Noelle wears the same outfit each time we try food!
We'll keep trying but next week Noelle will officially be 6 months and thus ready by all accounts for more exciting food. I am planning on making most of her baby food (since we are cheap and those little jars are expensive!) and we are excited to introduce fruits, veggies, and other goodies! We are optimistic that our little one just has good taste and will love the other foods - I mean have you smelled the rice cereal? It just doesn't look or smell very good! We'll report back on our new food adventures soon!
Since she was about 4 months, Ellie has longingly eyed our food when we had dinner. The doctor told us we could start solids anytime but that the current recommendation for breastfed babies was to wait til 6 months as long as they are healthy. Babies get all the nutrition they need from milk for the first year of life, so the solids would just be for her to get something new and exciting. About three weeks ago we decided to start solid number 1, rice cereal. You mix the cereal in 1:3 ratios with milk, and then give it to the little ones. Here are some pictures of our first adventure:
As you can probably tell, Noelle is not a fan. It is pretty funny to watch the awesome faces she makes when she eats (or drools it down her face)! We have since tried a few more times with little additional success!
I swear these pictures are from a different day! Apparently Noelle wears the same outfit each time we try food!
We'll keep trying but next week Noelle will officially be 6 months and thus ready by all accounts for more exciting food. I am planning on making most of her baby food (since we are cheap and those little jars are expensive!) and we are excited to introduce fruits, veggies, and other goodies! We are optimistic that our little one just has good taste and will love the other foods - I mean have you smelled the rice cereal? It just doesn't look or smell very good! We'll report back on our new food adventures soon!
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Snowpocalypse 2010!
It has been an exhausting past few weeks and we promise we are going to get caught up shortly on the blog. In the meantime, we wanted to post pictures from Snowpocalypse 2010. After about 4 inches earlier in the week, this Friday night into Saturday evening, we were the lovely recipients of about 30 additional inches of snow. And not just your measly little light, easy to shovel snow. No, this was wet, heavy snow. Or at least I have been told, because I honestly haven't shoveled a flake all winter long. But my poor husband has probably spent upwards of 24 hours this winter shoveling the beautiful white stuff! In fact, his first shoveling adventure this weekend started right around 8 am Saturday morning. I had been freaking out since about 5 am that our deck, roof, etc. were going to collapse, so B got out there and shoveled off the deck. Here is his handiwork!
We got about 5 more inches Saturday during the day, but getting the 20+ inches off the deck made me feel better. Saturday afternoon, B spent hours shoveling off our sidewalk, and then Sunday he finally was able to get our cars shoveled out. As of 9 pm Sunday night, we haven't seen a plow, and no one in our entire neighborhood has tried to get their car down the street, but we are hoping that will change overnight. Especially since good old JHU has decided that if I can't be at work within 2 hours of reporting time I have to take a vacation day. Of course I am super excited to waste one of my very few post-maternity leave days sitting in my house. Oh well. Here are some pictures of the snow!
This is the street leading into our neighborhood - yup, no one is going anywhere!
Our front yard, post Sunday shoveling
Maddie in the snow
Family fun in the snow
B and Noelle
We got about 5 more inches Saturday during the day, but getting the 20+ inches off the deck made me feel better. Saturday afternoon, B spent hours shoveling off our sidewalk, and then Sunday he finally was able to get our cars shoveled out. As of 9 pm Sunday night, we haven't seen a plow, and no one in our entire neighborhood has tried to get their car down the street, but we are hoping that will change overnight. Especially since good old JHU has decided that if I can't be at work within 2 hours of reporting time I have to take a vacation day. Of course I am super excited to waste one of my very few post-maternity leave days sitting in my house. Oh well. Here are some pictures of the snow!
This is the street leading into our neighborhood - yup, no one is going anywhere!
Our front yard, post Sunday shoveling
Maddie in the snow
Family fun in the snow
B and Noelle
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