5 Month Update

Yes, it has happened, E has reached the 5 month mark today!  We are celebrating tonight by going to our RS Christmas dinner activity, yep, it should be a good time.

E has reached several new milestones in the past couple of weeks including:

1. Chewing on her toes, which seem more appetizing than her hands
2. She seems to have nailed down thumb sucking but will use both her thumb and paci, mostly paci and thumb seems to be a good backup when she doesn't have the paci
3. She actually got to her hands and knees on Sunday morning but then flopped down to her belly almost instantly.  However, I have taken it as a sign that my little one will be mobile soon.
4. She is doing better sitting on her own, she still needs some help with support but she can sit on her own for a couple seconds at a time.
5. HER HAIR IS GROWING!!!!  :)  You can now tell that she is a little fuzz head!
6. I think we may have started the separation anxiety stage, when Lauren came over to babysit while I hung the Christmas lights she was not a happy girl.  It only seemed to be bad when she was tired, I was really hoping to skip that part, but my fingers are still crossed!
7. She doesn't seem to be a picky formula eater.  I have been giving her Similac Sensitive and I needed to buy more last night.  Ralph's (my grocer) was all out of the big tubs of S. Sensitive so I bought some Gerber Good Start Sensitive because I had an $8.00 off check and I have been mixing the two since last night and she eats it just the same, which makes me so happy, because it probably means I can start her on the generic brand of sensitive formula and save us a ton of $$$$$$$.

In the past month she has given us a run for our money.  We had an episode of crying that lasted for 20-25min and I could not console her.  I was worried it was something wrong or teeth related but in the end it seemed to be a combination of a stomach bug and a poopy diaper.  Her poop must have been really acidic because that one diaper which she had not been in that long gave her the worst case of diaper rash she has had yet.  I think it was stinging her little behind which was why she was crying so and the bad Mommy I was did not realize she had a poopy diaper so I wasn't doing anything about it.  Now I am checking her diaper every 5 min.... 
::remember moderation in all things::

We also had an episode with her giraffe Sophie.  She was on her quilt playing with Sophie and I was sitting on the couch.  I heard her start to choke and gag and looked down to see that she had shoved one of Sophie's legs all the way down there throat.  Silly girl, Sophie's legs are not chicken!  :)

It all boils down to trouble, I know once she's mobile I am going to be in trouble!!!!  :)

Here are some recent pictures to celebrate being 5 months old:

 Our little thug...

All smiles and giggles...

A true California babe, she loves napping in the sun, it's Adam's secret weapon to get her to sleep

My little SoCal family

Here are some Christmas pictures I took (I am doing a letter this year, instead of cards, and her Santa and a few other Christmas pictures will be reserved for the letter ::smile::):

And last but not least, an ode to being 5 months old, a retrospective:

0 Months

1 Month

2 Months

3 Months



4 Months

5 Months

(Look Mommy, I am a big girl now!)

Jumperoo Success!

E loves her jumperoo!  Here are some pictures...



I also have some pictures from our California Halloween that I never posted:



My Motto Today...

Courtesy of BabyCenter.com

Week 20 Update

It's going to be quick since E just woke up from her morning nap and is cooing in her pack n' play next to me...

She is 20 weeks old, or 4 month, 2.5 weeks old.

She is a champion roller.  She rolls over from her back to her tummy.  In the morning she'll roll from her tummy to back waking up but she can't purposely do it yet.

We are still eating rice cereal every day, at dinner time, and I don't know if she doesn't like it or if she does not like the texture but she makes the cutest faces when she eats and has mastered keeping her mouth closed! :)

She could drool before but she has amped up the drool this past week, I am not sure if that means she is teething or not, but the chewing does not seem to end.  Since this is my first time I have no idea what to expect with teething...  That said, the amped up drool means she is changing outfits almost 3-4 times a day.

To my great dismay her sleeping patterns have gotten worse, not better, again maybe because of teething.  She was sleeping 8-9 hours the first stretch of the night and then a couple more hours after a 5am bottle.  Now she is up all over the place.  Last night she was still sleeping but would break out in to a full blown cry every couple of hours.  Last night was a fog, I know I had to pull her into bed with me a couple of times and I had to feed her once through the night and then she was still up at 6am.  She has had two little 30-45 minutes naps since 6am.  Just enough for me to start to fall asleep and then she's back up, I am exhausted!!!!!  

I think the only new development this week is full blown laughter.  She started laughing for mommy this week.  Adam says she has laughed for him for a couple of weeks but I guess I am not as funny... looking... he, he, he...  (Just kidding Adam, if you ever see this) ;P

We have a couple of new cute pictures from this week.

An Ohio State Baby (she is also an MSU baby) and my friend Lauren is determined she'll be a Penn State baby once that drama dies down...  Now is apparently not the time to be a Penn State baby.  :)

Not quite fitting yet but she will be the coolest baby in town!

Oh, and Adam and I also got her a jumper this week.  I ordered if off Amazon because they had it on sale for a really good price, with free shipping, and tax free is always great here in CA where the sales tax is almost 10%.  I think she'll love it.  It is the Fisher Price Rain forest Jumperoo.  She has tried two now, one at her boyfriend Andrew's house and then another at another friends house.  So, we decided it would be a good time to get one seeing how much she likes standing.  :)  I'll post pictures of her in jumper as soon as I can.

4 months old and some big milestones...

So, E hit 4 months old last Sunday and we have had some big milestones between now and my last post, which was a month ago... [:$]

Anyway, to sum up real quick so that you can get to the pictures:

1. E is rolling from her back to her front almost all the time.  She started on Saturday, the 5th of November and now rolls almost every time I put her down.  She surprised Adam when he was changing her diaper.  He turned around to throw her diaper in the pale and came back and she had rolled to her tummy on the changing mat. [:O ]
2. E and I had our first long term separation and our longest flight yet.  [:'( ]  We flew from LA to Detroit, which was 4.5 hours.  It was fun and interesting at the same time.  I can definitely see why so many people prefer to buy a seat for their little ones rather than carrying them on their laps the whole time, especially for longer trips.  E was perfect, she slept almost the whole way, but it was just awkward.  I stayed for a day or two in Detroit and then after our Halloween celebrations I left for Helsinki Finland.  It was great but I missed my E and was glad to be home after being gone just a couple of days.  Then on the 6th we flew back to LA and are glad to be home.
3. E ate "real" food for the first time last night.  Her Pediatrician said it was OK to start on rice cereal if she was acting like she wanted to eat food after she turned 4 months.  Well, she hasn't been able to stop watching us eat for about the last month so I figured it was time.  She was so cute.  I would put the food in her mouth, she would wait and watch Adam (I fed her during our dinner time... Family dinner time), and she would chew when he chewed... OH SO CUTE... GUSH, GUSH!!

Anyway, here are some pictures:

At the Apple Orchard

Looking at the goats with Aunt Lisa

More fun at the apple orchard

Carving pumpkins with my pumpkin!



 E as Little Captain America

 How awesome do the three of us look?

 Lisa as Lady Thor

Me as Doctor Who

(Lisa made all of our costumes, she did an excellent job, don't you think!)

The Family, Grandma, Aunt Lisa, me and E, and Grandpa

Adventures in eating

Only a newborn for 5 more days...

Yes, my dear little E is growing so big.  Next Thursday she will be 3 months old and a newborn no longer.  She will have graduated into the ranks of an infant.  I have to admit, I can not believe I would ever love somebody so much.  I love Adam; but the love I feel for E transcends all!  I was watching conference with the children's choir this afternoon and thinking about my dear little E growing up, and what lay ahead of her, it made me cry...  You know what she did, she started smiling and giggling and cooing at her momma.  She was trying her hardest to make me happy!  (At least that's the story I am telling myself and I am sticking to it!)

Well, in the last couple of weeks we have had an eventful time.  E took her first vacation and flew on her first plane ride last weekend for her cousin A's blessing.  We had a great time and loved staying with Aunt Nessa and Uncle Chris!  They have a beautiful house and were the best hosts, thank you guys!  We also got to see Grandma and Grandpa Miller and GGrandma and GGrandpa Miller. Here are some pictures of our awesome weekend in Draper, UT:


Cousin A and E holding hands... Are they not the most precious!!!
(Oh, and they did that on their own, we did not pose them that way, promise)




Uncle Chris and E




Grandpa Miller, GGrandma Miller, and E




GGrandma Miller and E




Grandma Miller and E in silhouette



Adam has also been in the news here in LA.  He has appeared on KTLA and Fox 11.  Here are links to the YouTube videos of the KTLA blurb.  I am still waiting to see if the Fox one is put up on YouTube.  I have it on my DVR but I have no way of getting it onto my computer (as of yet ;-))
KTLA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBtod7A4TkY
If you didn't know, Adam got a gig as the drummer in the Tropicana Band of a musical version of I Love Lucy that opened today at the Greenway Court Theatre in West Hollywood.  He has had a great time and the show seems very popular.  They have now added extra nights.  It runs Thursdays through Sundays, with two shows on Saturday.  Needless to say, Saturdays are now very exhausting for him.  Here is a picture of Adam's cameo on stage.  He gets to come up and play the bongo with Ricky:

 Let's see, what else is new, E and I have started walking.  I was trying to run but it was very difficult to fit it in between taking care of E, work, taking care of E, and more E.  So, after walking with Vanessa and A I figured if I walked with E it was something we could do together until she is big enough to run with me in the jogging stroller (she needs to be 6 months, we're half way there!).  So, we walked with Vanessa and A for 3 miles on Monday, I walked with E to work and back on Tuesday to pick up my computer so that I could work from home - another 3 miles, and then today we walked around the refinery - another 3 miles.  Since she is now doing so well in her car seat we were even able to use the stroller for our walks.  I think A's good behavior rubbed off on her!  :-)  Let's hope it keeps up!

E showing off her new car seat skills

Oh, and another perk, having burp cloths all over the house is AWESOME!!!!  Not only do they clean up baby messes but they also clean up Mommy messes, which I have a lot of.

I also got a hair cut, which you can kind of see from the picture below.  It is so much easier this way.  It takes less than 10 minutes to wash, dry, and style...  which you do not always have with a little one about.

Grandma, E, and me

So, new developments for E:
1)  She's almost rolling over.  She can get from her tummy onto her side but hasn't quite figured out how to kick her self the rest of the way over (at least not while she isn't in a fit, she can do it easily in a fit :-)).
2)  She now rides in her car seat well.  She doesn't scream her head off the entire time, which makes me much happier, I can no go places with her in the stroller.  We'll still baby wear most of the time because I love it and it makes shopping easier.
3)  We got a bumbo.  I had to get this for her urgently after Thursday's fun!  She likes sitting in it watching TV.  So far she likes colorful cartoon movies with singing in them.  She just loves the opening of Tangled when Rapunzel is singing in her tower.
4)  Our bedtime routine is working great.  Turn on the shower at 8p to get the bathroom nice, warm, and humid.  In the shower and out by 8:30p and then nurse.  She falls asleep before 9p.
5)  First plane ride (I already mentioned)
6)  Got to meet new family on the Miller side, Uncle Kevin and Aunt Iris, Great Cousin Eric, Chris, Vanessa, A, my Grandma and Grandpa Miller (her great Gma and Gpa but we can't call them that, they are too young!), and Gma and Gpa Prusso.  So many Gma's and Gpa's...  We love them all!
7)  Adam and E are getting their routine down during the day.  They had a blast this week while I was at work.
8)  We had our first boo-boo too.  I am very ashamed to admit that E fell of the cough this week.  On Thursday morning I set her down on the couch to take my cereal bowl into the kitchen and she rolled right off the couch onto the floor.  I am soooo glad it was carpeted and a low couch.  The sound I heard of her falling will give me nightmares for years to come.  I heard it and knew exactly what had happened.  All is well though.  We watched her closely and she didn't show any signs of a concussion or being injured other than surprised, upset, and I am sure a little sore.  BIG MOMMY FAIL MOMENT!  :-(  This is why I urgently needed the bumbo because she likes sitting up.  She doesn't really like the reclining that she has to do in the bouncy seats and her swing.  But the bumbo contains her so that she doesn't fall over...  That doesn't mean I am not taking my eyes off her for 1 minute anymore though.  Not unless she is strapped into something or in her crib or bassinet.

I can't wait to see what the next week brings!