Nikki's Baby Blog
Josh is an awesome dad and this will be his first Father's Day. I want to do something special for him, but I just don't know what. Do you have any ideas for an awesome father's day gift? The catch is that it can't cost a lot of money. We just bought a riding mower which he is considering his father's day gift.
Please share your ideas in the comments section. Thanks so much!!
Published on May 14, 2012 by diopsys
VEP for Kids to See (http://www.facebook.com/vepforkids) is dedicated to sharing Nora's story to help bring awareness to the role of early detection and intervention to save children's vision, and, in some cases like Nora's, to save children's lives. Is your pediatrician using this unique test? Probably not, and that is why this story is so important....
Eight-month old Nora Turner had her vision, eyes ...and ultimately her life...saved by this simple, but unique vision test given by her pediatrician during her six-month regular well visit. If Nora's family had not moved to Connecticut in the past year for her father's new job, she wouldn't have had this vision test. Her prior hometown pediatric practice did not use VEP vision testing. This new vision test ultimately lead to the early detection of her cancer, called Retinoblastoma (RB), a rare form of eye cancer that appears in children under the age of five. Without the early detection afforded from taking the VEP vision test as early as six months old, the outcome may have been very different for Nora and the Turner family.
The test, known as the Enfant® Pediatric VEP Vision Test, is currently available in just 500 pediatric offices nationwide (there are 27,000+ pediatricians in the U.S.), so there is work to be done. Nora's mother, Sarah, is working to bring awareness to her daughter's story in the hope that it may help make this test more readily available for other children nationwide...to save their sight...and maybe their lives.
Learn about the vision test here: http://www.diopsys.com/patients-families/pediatric-testing/about-the-enfant-v...
You can help bring awareness by sharing Nora's story (http://youtu.be/Rx-n2CkGo1g), visiting our Facebook page and signing the petition:http://www.facebook.com/VEPforkids
A week or so ago I had a dream that Mia rolled out of her swing when we thought she was sleeping and fell onto the metal leg and cracked her head open. Well, luckily that didn't happen when she did roll out of her swing on Saturday afternoon. We were over at my parent's house and Mia was super tired so I set her in the bassinet swing. We never had the straps in it because she was too small to roll out of it. Unfortunately we never put them in. I was holding my new niece Lizzy so I asked Josh to keep an eye on our sleepy baby in the swing. I was talking to my sister in law so I had my back to the living room and apparently Josh was looking at us instead of Mia and what does she do? Yup she rolled right out of it onto the floor! Luckily there was a stuffed animal right on the metal leg that she landed on. She started screaming. She wasn't hurt, but she was scared.
I know kids are resiliant, but it scares the crap out of me that she can do something to hurt herself in a split second. I guess we're getting to the point where we have to keep an eye on her every second.
Tell me about some of the stuff that has happened to your kids when you took your eye off them for a second.
On Sunday we were over at Josh's parents' house for Mother's Day and after dinner I was telling Josh's mom about the baby food I've made for Mia and how excited I am to start feeding it to her. I told her that I've given Mia a few little tastes of yummy stuff. I gave her a little bit of popcicle which she LOVED and I gave her a little whipped cream. Josh doesn't like that I've given her little tastes of these things, but really, what will it hurt? So Josh's mom stuck her finger in the chocolate frosting on the brownies we were having for dessert and gave it to Mia. At first Mia wasn't real sure, but then she grabbed Grandma's hand and nearly sucked her fingernail polish off! So Grandma did it again. Mia loved it! She was so cute. She had chocolate all over he cheek and on her bib.
Grandma is known as the treat lady to her grandpuppies and grandkids so there's a lot more chocolate in Mia's future. Like I say about the dogs, the few extra treats they get at Grandma's house isn't going to hurt them in the longrun. We don't have too much junk food at our house.
I know some people are really particular about what kids can and can't have at Grandma's house. Are you?
This is how Mia was sleeping this morning. How can that be comfortable? It didn't seem to bother her. She was sleeping soundly.
Mia usually wakes up so gently. She cries out a little, but just to let us know she's awake and by that point she had probably been awake just staring at the ceiling for a while. Today though she started really crying a few minutes before I was supposed to leave. I went into her room and she was flat on her belly. When I picked her up she had tears, but she was still asleep. She continued to cry after I picked her up and carried her downstairs. She finally woke up, but was still crying. She had tears streaming down her cheeks.
I was a few minutes late to work because I wanted to help Josh tend the dogs and get her bottle ready. With her crying it's so much more stressful for him to get things done. Not the best way for Daddy to start the day.
I wonder why she was so upset this morning. I wonder if it had anything to do with this crazy sleep position! I know I'd be sore if I slept this way. Can she have nightmares?
Mia has had a hard time going to bed lately. I think it's because it's still so light out when we try to put her down. We still put her to bed early and go through our regular routine, but she stays awake and even fusses a little. She eventually settles down and puts herself to sleep.
Once she's asleep she stays asleep it's just getting her to sleep that is a bit of a challenge lately.
Last night after she settled herself Josh checked on her and had herself pinned up against the edge of her crib. Josh said, "Good thing we have those mesh bumpers." I instantly thought of my sister who just has the regular bumpers in her daughter's crib. I even wondered at that moment if I should go out and buy her a set of the mesh ones.
At what point do we need to stop worrying about SIDS?
When can we put a blanket in her crib?
Is it safe to let her sleep with a toy?
Not much to say today except look at my little princess! 6 months old. So big!
Here she is at 1 month old:
Here she is at 6 months old:
We had Mia's 6 month pictures taken. Addi did such a great job that I can't decide which ones I want to order in what sizes!! Click the picture to see the photo album.
We take Mia in for her 6 month wellness check next week. At the appointment we are going to discuss what foods to start feeding Mia. We'll also find out how often we should feed her solid foods and I also want to ask about when it's okay to give her juice or water.
Our doctor was adamant that we don't feed Mia any solids until 6 months. I went against doctors orders though because I felt she was ready for rice cereal and according to this quiz I was right! Take this quiz to see if your baby is ready for solids: http://www.gerber.com/Sitter/nutrition_and_feeding/solid_food_quiz.aspx
I already told you that I'm making my own baby food. So far I have avacado and squash in my freezer waiting for her to be ready to try it. I found this list of the best foods to make for baby:
Fruits:
My brother's baby Elizabeth Paige Montgomery entered the world at 1:32pm on Friday 5/4/12. She weighed in at 8lbs 5.5oz and was a whopping 22in long! Mia was 23 inches at her 4 month appointment.
Mommy and baby are doing great. Big brother, Cole (2 yrs) didn't really know what to think at first, but when everyone was gone and it was just him with Mommy, Daddy and new baby he warmed right up to her. He even held her.
They were released from the hospital 24 hours after Lizzy was born. And were greeted at home by Auntie Andi (my sister) and her family. Andi had her baby Riley exactly 2 weeks earlier.
Riley is the one in the flower onsie and Lizzy is in the blue. Look how much bigger Lizzy is! Yes Riley is the older one. Riley will always be a peanut though both of her parents are small. Both of Lizzy's parents are tall. Mia is biggest right now of course, but she'll be in the middle soon enough because both of her parents are frightfully average.
My brother and I were talking yesterday about how much fun it will be to have 3 girls within 6 months of each other. He says it's going to be scary. Based on their parent's personalities he thinks this is how it will play out: Mia will be the leader, Riley will be the instigator, and Lizzy will be the muscle.
Whenever Mia and Riley want something out of reach they'll just have Lizzy to get it for them. Whenever they need something out of a small space they'll send Riley in.
All the babies on my side are here now we're just waiting on my husband Josh's brother's baby girl due in June. YAY!
There's no better feeling in the world than walking into your baby's room in the morning to check on them and they're just laying there in the crib wide awake and smiling at you. This morning Mia hadn't made a sound I just peeked in at her before I went down stairs for breakfast and she was wide awake perfectly content. She gave me the biggest smile when she saw me. It made my heart melt!
Here's a picture of her at 4am (I think because it was dark in the room it turned out looking like the picture was taken in 1977). Wide awake, smiley, and playing. I told Josh she must think the world starts early living with me. She was yawning and rubbing her eyes by the time I was ready to leave so I think she went back to bed for a little while.
She wakes up so nicely. In the morning if we don't walk in and just find her awake she starts talking to herself when she's ready to get up. When she takes a nap you'll just look over one minute and she's awake and smiling.
We are so lucky. We are afraid that we won't have such luck the next time around so maybe we shouldn't push it :)
A while back parents were relying on learning videos like Baby Einstein to make their babies smart. Research showed that these babies were not smarter than the kids that didn't watch them, but the smartest kids of all were those that had lots of one on one time with adults. Which proves that kids learn best from interaction. Not to say that learning shows are bad they just can't be the only learning tool in your kit.
Here are some great ways to interact with your baby to help them learn:
Mia is still sick. Even more stuffy and miserable than yesterday. We suck the gunk out of her nose, but it seems to be never ending. She's so sick she's not even complaining about us sticking that bulb up her nose anymore. Josh wanted to take her to the doctor today. I told him that's not necessary because she's not running a fever. I asked him to ask the babysitter to keep an eye on her and if she develops a fever then we'll take her in. She's not eating though so I'm a little concerned about her hydration. The sitter she's at today is really good about keeping track of wet diapers so I'll know if she is deydrated.
I don't want to be one of those new parents that takes their baby in for every little sniffle, but I've heard stories from moms today when a seemingly minor cold was actually something serious and that makes me worry a little. A triage nurse sent us a text this morning during the morning show and said that keeping an eye on her for changes is the best thing to do.
So how do I treat a cold in a baby? I found this video on WebMD to help me. http://children.webmd.com/video/treating-babys-cold
