Jul 16

A Post About Nothing

I wrote this post this nine hours ago:

I am sitting in the family room with my laptop right now while Holly naps upstairs in her crib, and Emrick lies on the chaise in the playroom watching Peppa Pig videos on the tablet. I’ll have to do a whole separate post on Peppa Pig because it’s pretty great and I daresay it has been a good influence on Emrick. But that post will not be today because today, Emrick has a moderate fever, which is why I am letting him lounge in the playroom instead of napping upstairs like Holly — I want to keep an eye on him. Holly had no fever this morning, but by this afternoon she had a very mild one. I really hope this is just a one-day thing and that my babies aren’t getting sick [UPDATE: My babies are sick]. I am taking Emrick’s temperature frequently in case it gets bad enough to warrant a trip to the doctor’s office.

Let’s see… what else is happening today? Well, I was sitting on the sofa here, getting ready to type this post when I started to hear a loud chirping sound. We’ve seen a lot of bird activity lately on the apricot tree outside of the kitchen window, so I wondered if I was hearing birds, but this was so loud that I doubted it. Then I thought maybe the chirping was coming from the ceiling fan above my head. I always have a vague fear of spinning ceiling fans; I can picture them spinning right off of the ceiling and dropping on me. And a ceiling fan that chirps is not exactly reassuring. So I got up and turned it off, but the chirping did not stop! I decided then that the sound must be coming from outside and that maybe it was birds after all. I walked over to the back door to look out onto the deck and see if I could see anything. As soon as I flipped open the plantation shutters, a FLOCK of birds flew off of our deck, frightened by the sudden movement of the flipping shutters. I didn’t open the door, but I searched the deck with my eyes, expecting to find a piece of food — something that would explain why so many birds had congregated there, but instead of food, I saw a little dead bird. 🙁 Actually, I didn’t know for sure if it was dead or just sunned. We had a stunned bird on our deck a few years ago. I even did a post about it here. I hoped that this bird would be as lucky as the bird I blogged about in that post, but we’re going on an hour later now, and it is still there. Its eyes are open, but it’s on its back, so I think our poor birdie is flying in that big blue sky — uh, in the sky. I guess those little chirpers were crying for their sweet friend.

Anyway, on that happy note, here are some random pictures:

Holly's hair is long.

Holly’s hair is long.

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Jul 06

Holly is Ten Months Old Today!

This little girl is going to be a year old in just a couple of months.

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I can’t believe it either.

IMG_1460 IMG_1458Holly’s not quite walking yet — not independently anyway — but she’s got some crazy teeth business going on. By the time Holly turned six months old, she already had her two bottom front teeth. I couldn’t remember which teeth were supposed to come in next, so I looked it up and found out that after the two bottom fronts come in, that the top FOUR front teeth would all appear next — first the two center teeth, and then the two lateral incisors on either side of those front teeth. So for months — really, MONTHS — I eyeballed her top gums for any signs of teeth, and never saw anything.

Then a couple of weeks before she turned nine months, I noticed these two little white buds on her BOTTOM gums. Not only were the next teeth that come in supposed to be on the top, but these weren’t even the “right” bottom teeth that were supposed to appear next. The next bottom teeth to come in (after the four top front teeth do) are usually the bottom lateral incisors. But these little white dots were appearing exactly where her bottom canines would be, and those weren’t “supposed” to appear for another six to twelve months! I felt her bottom gum, expecting to feel the rough edge of those two budding teeth, but they were completely smooth, which confused me.

So a couple of weeks later at her nine-month check-up, I asked the doctor about it. He looked at her gums and said that those white dots weren’t teeth, but tiny cysts, which he said is not unusual. He agreed, however, that they were located with perfect symmetry on either side of her jaw, exactly where one’s canines would be, and he concluded that the cysts may be a sign that there is pressure being placed on the gum from teeth that will push through soon. He joked that Holly must not have read the manual on the correct order of tooth eruption.

So flash forward a few weeks (last week), and two days in a row, Holly was a little fussy, with a mild fever, and she patted her jaw with her hand a few times. Sure enough, on the third day, I saw a tooth had erupted on the bottom. Its placement is a little odd, however… sort of between where the lateral incisor and the canine would be. It looks more like an incisor than a canine, though; it has a straight top rather than a pointed one.

After realizing that she is indeed getting some more bottom teeth already despite the fact that her four top front teeth were supposed to be next, I decided to look at her top gums again. Teeth! Two of them! Her right top front tooth is about half way erupted, and it looks like her top left front tooth won’t be far behind. So, after nearly four months of no new teeth coming in, she is apparently going to pop a whole bunch of them all at once, and in a random, patternless order. That’s my girl.

And while she’s not walking on her own yet, she loves (and I mean LOVES) walking around holding your hand. Any day now, we’re going to be gating off certain areas of the main floor again, just as we did three years ago. Another toddling toddler! I love it!

IMG_1452Holly weighs over 17 pounds, and she measures just over 28 inches long. She’s an explorer, a grinner, a talker, and a nose-crinkler. And sometimes she even smiles at strangers. She is smart, and strong, and sweet, and I feel so lucky when I cuddle her soft little body. We love you, little Holly Belle!

Kisses!

Jul 04

Happy Fourth of July!

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— from our two brown-haired, blue-eyed beauties.

Jun 11

Bang-up Bangs

Over the weekend I trimmed Holly’s bangs. Or I gave her bangs. Or something. Her hair up front was shorter than the rest naturally, and had begun to hang in her eyes. Plus there were a lot of different lengths going on which kept them from looking like true bangs, and also made it hard to just comb it all back and off her face. So I decided to clean things up a bit and give her hair a bit more shape. It’s a quick and dirty job, of course, because I had to get it done in the six seconds I had where she would keep her head still. So don’t be too critical. Anyway, here they are: Six-Second Bangs.

IMG_1253 IMG_1254 IMG_1256 IMG_1257 IMG_1261From scraggly to sweet, in just six seconds!

 

Jun 06

Holly is Nine Months Old Today!

Shortly after Holly was born, I Googled the name “Holly Belle” to see if anyone else had used that first-name-middle-name combination for their baby. As it turned out, there is a singer named Holly Belle, but luckily she is not well known enough for people to think that I named Holly after her.

Then for some reason I had the impulse earlier this week to Google “Holly Belle” again, and I found something quite delightful. There is a house listed for sale on a street in Lyman, South Carolina called Holly Belle Drive. Isn’t that cute? A closer inspection of the entire street on Zillow revealed that there are a couple of empty lots on the street. They aren’t for sale, but one of them is .76 acres with a “Zestimate” of $18k. Should Marcus and I try to purchase this land? Should we take out a mortgage on this tree-filled lot and leave it to Holly? Or maybe build a house there one day and live in it after retirement? I think it’s a great idea!

Actually, I think it’s probably a terrible idea. But I sure enjoyed making that discovery. It sure has been a week of same-name coincidences on the internet!

 

[EDIT: For anyone who may not get my silly/lame sense of humor, let me clarify that buying land just for funsies is something we have neither the money nor inclination to do.]

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Holly is doing great. She is getting better at “cruising” (using furniture to walk around), she plays peek-a-boo and LOVES it (we’ll have to get a video of it), she’s added “mamamama” to her repertoire, and she has finally agreed to take a bottle! You may recall that I did a post several months ago lamenting that she would not take a bottle and how this fact made it nearly impossible for me to leave her with Marcus for doctor appointments or other errands. Back in February I saw someone online recommend a brand called Comotomo for breastfed babies. I promptly bought one off of Amazon, tried without success to give it to Holly, and found myself writing it off as a $15 mistake. But then a month ago I decided to try again. I filled the bottle with a breastmilk/formula combo, and then instead of holding Holly and administering the bottle to her, I placed her in a reclined position against a pillow on the couch, and then let her hold the bottle and explore it. She spent about five or ten minutes pulling at and biting the nipple, and every time a little milk came out and into her mouth, she would pull it out and frown curiously at the bottle. But then she’d promptly start biting it again. Well, after a few minutes, she started suckling on it and ended up drinking two ounces! Since then, I have given her one bottle almost every evening to keep her used to it. She typically drinks between 5 – 8 ounces. She seems to love it; she gets very excited when she sees that I am making a bottle for her. Right now she has six milk feedings a day, and five of them are still at the breast. Even so, I feel relieved and liberated knowing that if necessary, Marcus can give her a bottle if I am at a doctor’s appointment or on an errand. (Hmmm… I haven’t had my hair highlighted or professionally cut in two years. Is there a hair appointment in my future?)

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Holly is 26.5 inches long and still weighs about 16 pounds. She had her nine-month check-up this morning, and the doctor was slightly concerned that she hasn’t gained any weight since her last check-up. He advised that I increase her milk/formula intake, and expose her directly to the proteins that she’s already had via my breast milk, such as dairy (yogurt) and eggs. He made the comment, however, that even though she hasn’t gained any weight that she does not look underweight or malnourished. He noted her “belly”, “double chin”, and “popeye arms” which are hallmarks of a thriving baby. But her weight has dropped from the 42nd percentile to now the 7th. Hard to say if this is really a problem, but I will follow the doctor’s advice. Personally, I imagine that her larger measurements from earlier checkups were flukes, and that now her growth is balancing out and she’s just a small girl (big surprise!). Also, most babies are taking mostly formula by this age, and formula-fed babies tend to weigh more. So I will try not to worry about it, but still try to feed her more.

 

We love you, our blue-eyed, popeye-armed sweetheart. Hugs and kisses forever and ever! xoxo, Mom and Dad

 

 

May 07

Holly Turned Eight Months Old Yesterday! (+ nursery update)

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I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, Can we PLEASE get more than one picture WITHOUT that stupid comb?! Who gives their kid a comb as a picture prop anyway?

Well I tried taking the comb from her a couple of times. The first time, this happened:

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And the second time, this happened:

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So, she gets to chew on a comb anytime it keeps her happy and still for a few pics!

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Holly weighs just over 16 pounds and is about 26.25 inches long. Her growth seems to be slowing down, which makes me think that maybe she is going to be a pint-sized girl after all.

Our little Holly Belle is a sweetheart. She’s a smiler and a talker. Even the cashier at Kohl’s commented on her talking the other day. She couldn’t see Holly, who was in her carseat, snapped into a stroller, but she could hear Holly yelling “Ba ba ba!!!”. I think she’ll be marching around the house demanding Cheerios in no time.

We love you, Holly Belle. ~muah!~

 

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The Nursery

Holly has been in her room for a little over two weeks now. The nursery is NOT done, not even close. But we were eager to get her moved into her own space, so once the painting was done, and the fumes had a few days to dissipate, we moved her. I still have not painted that second-hand dresser (explanation for that later), so we’re using her old one in there for now (the one Emrick had).

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Here’s what it looks like right now. I DID wind up painting the trim and doors a brighter/truer white since (as you may recall), the paint color I chose for the walls made the original yellowy-white look dingy. It was kind of a pain, and up close it doesn’t look great in some spots, but I am still happy I did it.

I also bought a fabric that I (or more likely, Marcus) am going to use to make curtains for the nursery.

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It has a nice, soft peachy-pink in it, which is just a shade darker than what’s on the walls, and it is set against an aqua color which looks really nice with it. That green slipcover on the glider doesn’t go, but that’s okay because it is being replaced with a white one. The green one has a big stain on it (you don’t want to know from what — I promise).

Anyway, so that’s where it stands. I think I’ll paint the dresser when we get back from Florida.

I hope everyone is having a great week. It’s May 7 and in the time it took me to write this post, we had hail, then thunder, then more hail. It has been very loud, but the kids have napped through it, miraculously.

 

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