5 months old, 4 month check-up

*Gianna is all smiles and laughs now. She hasn't quite figured out how to chuckle; she squeals and screams with delight. It's awesome. Her bouts of fussiness seem to be slowly dissapating. We just keep our fingers crossed on a daily basis.

*She is always chewing on her hands, or burp cloth, or my hands, or her forearm, etc. I haven't felt any teeth poking through yet, but she enjoys her cold teething ring (that is, when she's not using me as a teether.) With the amount of biting on yours truly, I'm expecting teeth at any minute. Ouch!
*She likes holding my face while screaming with happiness. It's one of my favorite things. It's like she's saying "Look at me. I'm happy!"
*I swear it seems like she's going to start moving across the room soon. While we've never actually witnessed her rolling over, check out this push up.

*She grabs, holds, scratches, clutches, and is beginning to rake things toward her. She loves to stand and bounce and to kick while she's laying down. She's got her mermaid impression down pat. I often hear her legs pounding away on her mattress before she ever makes a sound with her mouth. And she loves holding her own feet. Here, she does both simultaneously.
*She goes down to bed around 8 pm and has been waking around 11 or 12, 3 or 4, and again at 5 or 6. Makes for a short set of naps for me. I wonder what happened to my sleeping-through-the-night baby I blogged about at 2 months.
*Gianna wears a size 3 diaper and 6 month clothing.
*She has begun to experience the joy of reading. This was her reading her first book solo.



I sort of forgot to schedule Gianna's 4-month check-up, plus I was peeved by our pediatrician (turns out all the unreturned calls were a mix-up with the after-hours exchange). Here are her stats, at 5 months:
weight - 17.5 lbs - 90th%
head circumferance - 41 cm - 30th%
length - 25.5 inches - 75th%
Jeff says, "so she has a huge body and a little head?!" A healthy little/big girl. Check out Enzo's 4 month stats.

After her four shots, Doc sent us for some hip x-rays. (I didn't have time to get scared, or to research the potential threats of infultrating her tiny body with high levels of radiation.) He was a little concerned with her asymmetrical thigh fat rolls which could be indicative of some hip problems. Better to know now than when she's trying to stand and walk, he said. It's probably nothing. Which it was. Thank God.

Family visits

I have to keep reminding myself that Jeff still feels like a rookie in the "let's get the courage to leave the house with two children in tow" game. Friday, I encouraged him to take the kids to Nana the Great and Great Grumpy's house for a visit while I was at work.

Doting.

Just doting.

Since we thought my dad was going in on Monday for neurosurgery (which he cancelled on Friday due to a gut feeling he was rushing into it), we had scheduled a family dinner at Claire and Tim's in Norco. An excuse for us to eat Tim's slow-grilled carne asada. Mmmmmm.

Gianna reaching out to touch a mini-sized human, like her.

Kayden returning the favor.


For some reason, I didn't take any shots of anyone else there, nor of the probably 1 hour straight dance party hosted by Enzo. "Jump. Kick. Bounce. Shoulders. Elbows. Head. I dance. More songs. Again. Dizzzzzy." We should rent him out for parties. This kid was hi-lar-i-ous.

And the child who has NEVER tranferred well (from the car seat to the house while asleep, for instance), stayed asleep while I took him out of the car, up the stairs, changed his clothes and diaper, gave him a sponge bath, wiped down his teeth and laid him in bed. His head was still sweaty from his mega workout.

Big boy bed

Afraid that Enzo was doing damage to his internal organs as he daily scaled the vertical slats of this crib, threw his legs over the side, and dangled while folded in half over the siderail (which he insisted we lift and not leave down when he went to sleep), I figured it was time for a big boy bed.

Jeff had purchased the safety side rail online during a 3 am online search over something magic to soothe Gianna's colic (that's another story), so we've had it onhand in the event Enzo showed any interest. With the nightmares lately, and the nightly multiple wake-ups, we didn't want to push it.

But today when I said, "I think it's time for a big boy bed!," Enzo said "YES! Big boy bed."

And in 5 minutes, it was done.

Marguerite

Today after Mass, a fairly amazing thing happened. We were lunching on the Corner Bakery patio, entertaining Gianna and being entertained by Enzo when a woman approached us. Since she had been observing our family for a while, I had my eye on her. She seemed a little nervous, like approaching strangers wasn't something she normally does. This is paraphrasing what she said next:

"I hope it's okay that I say what an incredible little boy you have here. I am a Christian, and God was telling me that I had to tell you that he is working in your family in ways that you sometimes can't see. Your little boy is very special and has been given many gifts."

I mean, for the past five months, people stop us and oodle and goodle over Gianna. Afterall, she's the cute baby. It was strange for someone to focus so much attention on Enzo, especially since all she could see was the back of Enzo's head for the duration of our brunch (and couldn't really see all the funny expressions he makes). I asked this woman her name, and told her that we were Christians, too. I told her Enzo had recently been having lots of nightmares and had grown increasingly anxious to attend nursery school at Church. She said her name was Marguerite (I would have died if she said ANGELa), and that she, too had been having nightmares as of late.

She asked if she could touch Enzo's arm and offer a blessing. Of course, I said.

So there we were, Jeff holding Enzo (who way spooked by good lady Marguerite), me holding Gianna, my mom, Marguerite and her quiet male companion -- all with hands laid on Enzo praying for him and thanking God for the special gift he is to us -- there in the midst of the Sunday morning rush of a coffee shop. We all hugged, and then she walked away just as nonchalant as she had approached us.

Take a hike

After a traumatizing morning - seriously, my close friends have already heard about it - we headed to San Dimas to hike Bonelli Park and to have lunch lakeside. It was the hottest day so far this year, so all of us were beat. Except for Kayden who looked bright-eyed and sunkissed. I mean, look at those eyes! Doll!

MeeMee brought Enzo a Dora Squirter (since I'm not a big fan of guns, she found this perfect water toy that Enzo adored!) Here he is, loading it up, unbeknownst to her and Gianna. Little devil...

He goes on the attack!! Too bad you can't really see the little squirter. He's holding Dora's big, full-bodied hair-covered head.

Delightful setting for some family fun in the sun. And shade.

Enzo was beat, and Claire was a trooper with him on her back.

...and shoulders. You go, girl! I had a hard enough time pushing the stroller with baby G inside!

Later Thursday evening, Enzo came across a tiny pack of Lemonheads in the pantry (I have no idea where they came from, by the way.) It was awesome to watch his sour face.

We spent this morning on a walk at Clark Regional Park in Fullerton. Enzo loves the slide. I'll spare you the shot of yours truly "sliding" down the twisty slide.

The whole family (including our first daughter, Murphy).

Unrelated to hiking, Gianna's not sure what to make of her first try at being vertical, solo. Her bumbo chair can barely contain her buff thighs.

4 months!

* Little G is the cutest thing ever. She smiles on command and I swear I see a twinkle in her eye. Her baby fat is in full affect, and I love kissing and squeezing her thighs, arms, and tummy. Oh yeah, and those cheeks!

*I returned to work this month, so she's been forced to become a little bit more independent. Fortunately, I get to sneek out of the house before the kids are up (or the sun is up, for that matter). When they pick me up from the train station in the afternoon, she is all smiles and seems very happy to see me. It warms my heart. She has become a champ at drinking her breastmilk from a bottle (when I'm not here). Maybe that's where her lovely lady rolls are coming from.


*Gianna's colic/pain/screaming became so bad the week before I went back to work, that I had to try something. So, we tried soy formula for 11 days. No change in her behavior, and no relief to this poor little one. And I longed to nurse her instead of just pumping full time. Couple this with the fact that I was also back at work, trying to keep up my milk supply and really needing to bond with her -- and it was a little rough. Gratefully, mostly just for me. It was back to the boob and us just praying that this "phase" will pass soon.



* I've been able to squeeze her into the 3 month old clothes. Until now. She is officially 3-6 month in her evening wear. She's way too long for 3 month old footed jammies. And we've had to graduate her into a larger Swaddle Me blanket so she can extend her legs. Of course the velcro tabs are too big around, but we're improvising. (She also loves holding her own hands.)

*She has never really been a big fan of the pacifiers (why are my kids the only ones who don't go for them?!) but has become a finger and thumb sucker. She sleeps with them in her mouth:
... and she has them in her mouth when she's not sleeping:

*At her last well-baby visit, I forgot to schedule her next one and just realized that she was supposed to weigh in at 4 months. Ooops. We'll see if we can get in to see the doctor before her next 6-month well baby. We weighed her anyway, and could it be that she weighs 15 lbs??

*Our little girl has come to truly enjoy her bathtime. Almost as much as her adorable brother:
She splashes all over the place.

All while checking herself out in the mirror.

All clean!