Formula One

Monday was Frank's four month check-in with her doctor. She was the essence of brave. She cried only a bit over her immunizations mostly due to the shock of it all. Unlike last time she had no fever and no reaction in the days following. 

Her weigh-in wasn't quite as tip top. She's a little pea. At four months she's only almost reached twelve pounds (11 pounds 14 ounces). The average weight of a two month old girl is fourteen pounds. Two pounds is a big deal when it’s one-sixth of your weight. 

Because of her teeniness our doctor suggested adding a bottle of formula to our nighttime routine for two weeks to see if this helps her catch up. At her weigh-ins up until now she has been in the 25th to 50th weight percentile and this time she was in the 10th percentile. I was tempted to point out that I am still probably in the 10th percentile when it comes to height and weight and that perhaps this might be a factor but decided against it. We had not ever been able to rule out hunger as a factor in her sleep problems and perhaps both (her weight and her sleep) were indicative of a little belly needing more nourishment. So we took our formula sample home and waited until nightfall – a little nervous and yet a little eager to get on with this big change. We mixed up the dusty beige powder and with a little coaxing she drank all four ounces and then fell asleep … FOR SEVEN HOURS. Well-rested victory high fives all around.

Tuesday night. Carefully repeat Monday night step for step. She was having none of it. No formula and no sleeping for longer than a few hours at a time.

I know that she will get used to the formula. I know that its entirely new to her and that in a few weeks nighttime bottles will be a standard part of bedtime. But still it is awful. So awful. Having to force her to eat something she hates because it is good for her when all she wants to do is nurse and go to sleep just like always. Poor bug.

Babies Have Short Attention Spans

As evidenced by: 

1. Snugli 

2. Exersaucer 

3. Playmat 

4. Playpen

5. Swing 

We'll soon be eating in the nursery. 

Mums and Books

I'm really enjoying babies and books. Like really really enjoying it. Frances was a dream baby again this week. She listened to the stories and watched the other babies and then put her head down on my shoulder and went to sleep. Although this is nice this isn't why I love it. 

I love it because I get to hear other moms say "nap schedule? what nap schedule?" I get to hear about babies learning to crawl, about other babies waking up way more than they should through the night, and about the ups and downs of introducing solid foods.

Google is great. It is great if I need to know the normal temperature of a three month old or how to even find a temperature or what to do about diaper rash in a cloth diapered baby. But its thousands of stories of babies at every age and stage doing exactly what Frances is doing have nothing on ten moms sitting crossed legged on a library floor when it comes to letting you know that through it all you're so not alone.

Anticipation

I'z waitin' for the fishies

Shop Till You Drop

For a while it looked like today was going to be a quiet day. But ...

We have an awful basement. Its dark and cramped and dusty and anyone taller then me is bound to knock their head on the network of low hanging beams and pipes. And its dirty. Always dirty. Anything and everything without a home gets shuffled down there. Propped up against the furnace or wedged in beside the hot water heater. 

And so today became basement cleaning (and sorting and sweeping and dusting) day. It looks like a new place down there. No one's going to be eating off the floor anytime soon but in place of all of the accumulated junk there is now room to move. 

At the very end of all this spic and span business we decided to take a giant aquarium up from the basement to the living room. We'd be talking about this for a while and how much fun it would be to add some fish to our pod. It is a forty gallon tank left behind by someone who lived here before us. It is giant. 

Bringing the aquarium up lead to a rearranging of the living room which lead to an eight o'clock hunt for the pieces of furniture this rearranging left us in need of. 

The sights and sounds of four late night department stores were all little Frank could take. After being strapped back in her car seat for the fifth time she passed out. She slept through the ride home, the trip in the house and up the stairs, the filling of the fish tank, the emptying of the fish tank (we were a little zealous on the filling), and is still asleep now. I feel like those new moms (those moms of babies who take nice long daytime naps) checking in on her every ten minutes to make sure she is still breathing. She is ... what a tired little bean. 

Pictures of the new living room soon ... we found two of the missing pieces of furniture online and are going to build one. Well R is going to build one. Frank and I will be in charge words of encouragement.