I found my toes!

I was bathing Bailey last night and she did something pretty funny.  I put her into her little bath tub let her splash around for a minute, like I usually do.  She loves to do that right when she gets in.  But this time she didn't splash.  Instead she lifted both of her feet out of the water and lifted her head off the headrest on the bath tub like she was doing a sit up.  With head up and feet out of the water, she just stared at her left foot.  She looked at it for about 30 seconds, just concentrating on it.  It was almost like she had never seen her foot before!  

Susie and I have noticed that she has been discovering her hands and trying to use them.  She seems to be right handed because this is the one that usually ends up in her mouth.  She just looks at the left one like, "what is this one for?"  Then she goes back to the right one and puts it back into her mouth.  

It is fun to watch her grow and discover things.  

tj

The Dreaded Airplane Ride....Or Not?

It was a cool September morning.  September 20th 2008 to be exact.  Susie and I woke up at 4 AM.  Why were we up so early?  Because we were about to fly across the country with our 10 week old baby for a week in Boise.  Needless to say, we were both quite anxious about the trip given that she has a bit of a reflux issue that can make her very fussy.  So we drug ourselves out of bed at 4 Am for  a 7:30 AM flight out of White Plains, NY.  Bailey must have felt the tension in the air as well, because she woke up when we did.  We quickly showered, fed the baby, grabbed an energy bar, and hit the road by about 5 AM.  So far so good.

I took Susie and Bailey to the airport and got us all checked in.  Then I drove 15 minutes away to Westchester Medical Center where I chose to park the Subaru for the week.  The airport charges $25 per day to park there.  We were going to be gone 7 days.  To much money!  So I can park at my hospital for free.  So I parked there and took a cab back to the airport for $30.  

A funny side story....on the way to the hospital, I get a text from Susie asking, "where are the burpies?"  I replied, "In the diaper bag I think."  She texts back, "Nope...not in there."  I know that I remembered packing at least 30 burpies, but it turns out that I packed them in the checked bags, which were already checked in and unavailable.  So we were about to travel for 8 hours with one burpy.  Susie called that the "Bone Head Play of the Day," as they say on ESPN.  But laughed about it.  The solutions was to grab some towels at the hospital from the linen cart in the ER.  So that is what it did, then hopped in the cab and returned to the airport. 

Once at the airport I rejoined Susie and Bailey.  The were sitting on a bench....Bailey sleeping.  We prepared to go through security by making a bottle of soy formula and getting the carry-ons together.  Security went very smoothly.  We sat down in the waiting area by our gate and Bailey continued to sleep.  Nice start so far!  We decided to change her diaper before we got on the plane since we were on a small regional jet to Chicago with a very small bathroom.  After that she woke up for a few minutes, so we put her on my chest in the Baby Bjorn and set out for the get.  She went back to sleep for a few minutes on the plane, then woke up.  She was going to be hungry, so we loaded her up with some gas-ex, mylanta, and benadryl.  As the plane began to taxi she began to eat and continued to eat until just after take-off.  Then the benadryl kicked in and she was sound asleep for the rest of the 1.5 hour flight to Chicago.  She even slept for an hour after we got to Chicago!  That benadryl is great stuff!  We arrived in Chicago very relieved that we had a working game plan for Bailey's plane rides.  

Basically the rest of the trip went much the same.  Bailey stayed happy in her Baby Bjorn all cuddled up with Susie or on on our chests and slept most of the way.  She cried for about 3 minutes half way between Chicago and Boise while I quickly made a bottle.  It think that that was a world record for bottle mixing at 34,000 feet.  I am going to have to check the Genis Book of World records on that one.  But she quieted right down with her bottle.  Spit up a bit, then went back to sleep.  She was the perfect Baby.

As we arrived in Boise, we were both so happy to be home and so relieved that the trip went well.  We came around the corner at security to see John, Arlene, and Maxwell waiting for us.  It was great.  As we were saying hello to everyone, a guy from our airplane passed by and said, "that is the best baby I have ever seen!  She cried for 3 minutes, then her dad did something to make her happy, and she was fine!"  I think that this guy was sitting behind us and to our left on the plane.  It was nice to hear that other people thought the flight went well.  

So now we are in Boise.  Bailey is meeting her whole family.  She is taking it all in stride and smiling at everyone.  She is still spitting up and unhappy sometimes with the acid taste, but we are working on moving her to a different medication for that.

We have a baby shower planned, a couple of bbq's, and some hikes later in the week.  It should be a good week. 

Susie's back on milk baby!

For those of you who know Susie, you know that she loves her dairy products.  That is why when Bailey's pediatrician said to avoid dairy products while breast feeding in order to help with Bailey's propensity to spit up, Susie was not happy.  But like the great mom that she is, she stopped consuming all dairy products.  It was tough for her.  She was off of them for about 2 months.  But now that Bailey is on 100% formula, Susie has fallen off of the dairy wagon....and lovin' it.  We have had pizza, cold stone ice cream, yogurt with granola, and milk and cookies in the past few days.  

I don't know what is worse.....her OB/Gyn telling her she couldn't have peanut butter during pregnancy, or the dairy abstinence!  She has made some real sacrifices for Bailey.  She is a great mom.  

Bailey's back on Soy....No longer a stinky face

The past few weeks, Bailey has been the subject of a big research project.  We have been running experiments on her in an attempt to cure the dreaded "spit up."  We went from breast milk, to breast milk mixed with thickened formula, to soy formula, to simethicone (gas ex), to Milk of magnesia, to Alimentum.  And let me tell ya...that Alimentum formula is nasty stuff.  You have never smelled or tasted such a horrible substance.  And yet Bailey has taken all of this in stride...and yes, she still spits up.  But we abandoned the Alimentum yesterday after discussing it with her pediatrician.  Alimentum is designed for babies with colic.  Bailey doesn't have colic, she has reflux.  So we got her back onto a soy based formula, and we are all much happier.  We also have her on some Maalox which seems to help as well.  We now have a "happy spitter,"  which is way better than a "fussy/stinky spitter."

I like to read her a story called "I love you Stinky Face."  For the past week or so, while she was on Alimentum, she was truely a stinky face.  I am just glad that we don't have to give her that stuff any more.  Now I can read her that story and not have it be so literal.  

A Comparison of Susie and TJ's baby pictures with Bailey's pictures.

Susie

 

Bailey

TJ

 

Bailey

Susie

 

Bailey

Bailey with Susie

TJ with Darla

Susie with Arlene

Bailey in Buzzy chair

Susie is Buzzy chair

TJ

Cutie Pie!

She is getting cuter by the day. I pulled this outfit out of the back of the closet. A little cool for just the seer sucker overall's so I fashioned it with a white onsie with pink hearts. Thanks to Aunt Julie and cousin Mackenzie (and Nana) for all the clothes in Bailey's closet. She is smiling and talking (cooing) a lot and it is so fun to get her to smile at Mom and Dad.

On Tuesday the pediatrician suggested we switch over from a soy-based formula to Alimentum formula. We waited until today because Bailey was going to the babysitters on Wednesday and we know it tastes bad and smells bad, so we didn't want to subject the babysitter to that. We are slowing easing her into it, and hopefully by our plane ride next week, she'll be all smiles and spitting up less! (We can only hope for that!)

First Vaccination

We brought Bailey for her first Vaccination today.  Man was that tough!  That poor little girl had no idea what hit her.  It was the first time that Susie and I saw tears in her eyes.  Susie got a little teary eyed as well.  Bailey did well though.  She calmed down after a few minutes.  We came home and took a nap together as a family, then she was spoiled the rest of the day with being held and watching Baby Einstein.  Other than a couple of bruises, she is no worse for wear.  

tj

Bailey's day home with Dad

Susie had to work today.  So I got to babysit Bailey.  We had a wonderful day together.  She ate well, with some minor spit ups.  We managed to only use 2 outfits in 8 hours.  I had to change once too.  We spent some time watching her new Baby Einstein videos.  She really loves those.  Check out the link below to see some of that footage.  Then we took a couple of great naps on the couch.  She sleeps well on my chest.  The first nap was 2.5 hours and the second was 3.  It would be nice if she could sleep that long during the day on her own.  We will get there though.  

Susie's first day at her new job went well.  She likes the people that she works with and it wasn't too stressful.  

Check out the links for more pictures and video.

Mac website

After you click on the above link go the link on the bottom of the page that says Bailey's Video Diary.  

Labor day picnic

We took Bailey to the park today for a Labor Day Kemp Family Picnic.  It was nice outside.  We went to the Cummings Park in Stamford next to the Long Island Sound.  Susie and I had cold sandwiches and chips.  Bailey had breast milk mixed with soy formula.  It was a fun afternoon.

Below is Bailey chatting with her mom.  

Now she is standing up in her outfit that we got from Sue and Steve from Bend, OR.  It looks like a good beach outfit with the short legs.  

She decided to chat a bit more when we went for some tummy time.  She really starts yapping then.  She only tolerates tummy time for about 5 minutes before she gets upset.

We wore her out.  She fell asleep.

Check out the still shots on picasa

A Picnic in the park on Labor Day

Bailey smiling and talking

Bailey likes to sit up in her Boppy.  She jabbers away while Susie and I just stare at her.  We play her country music too.  Gotta get her ready for Idaho!