Big sister, big help

Sweet potatoes are a hit!

Ear infection!

So tired...

We thought we saw signs of teething;  low fever, restless and cranky, chewing his gums, chewing on toys, fingers, rubbing his ear, etc but instead we got another milestone: his first ear infection.
It was the lady who watches Espen during the mornings who saw similar symptoms in her own son and she took him to the doctor. We called the nurses and they told us antibiotics would not make this go away since it was most likely a virus, we would just keep an eye on him and ride it out.

Month Five

Here he is in all his wiggle worm glory. Espen is 5 months today. This month we've seen him learn to roll over, push up with his arms and the ever so slight beginnings of the inchworm scooch about. He's "talking" more and more and likes to chew chew chew on his hands. He's spitting up a lot more, which we asked the doctor about, and he shrugged and said he'll probably outgrow it in the next few months. We think the other baby at the nanny share is encouraging him to start crawling and interacting. Our nanny said that when her son tries to play with Espen and he isn't ready, he now holds his hand up as if to say, gimme a minute, yo.

Also noteworthy this month: we finally figured out side-lying nursing, which enables me to get some sleep in the middle of the night. It's glorious. 

Someone commented on a picture recently and said he was getting so big, and instead of feeling sad, I beamed. I know, I thought. He's my boy. In the journey to get him here, there's still a part of me that can't believe it's real, so I'm so thrilled he's doing so great and growing up to be yes, super strong. My little love bug. 

Dinner with Lucia

New rubber, more fruit

Went to Costco yesterday to install the new tires we got from Heathers parents for Christmas. What a difference! We haven't had rain yet, but they make the car feel very different, much smoother and quieter. Tusen takk!
I also picked up more fruit. Lucia will eat this $9 tray in a 2-3 days:

Allergies

Milk allergies are no fun, there are so many delicious things made with milk; cheeses, yogurts, chocolate, even pizza!

UPDATE: She may not be full-blown allergic to milk, she has no apparent discomfort other than the hives. It may be that only her skin is reacting to it, and thats it.

Chillin

It's Sunday a.m., Pete's in Pasadena for a car show and I'm handling things just fine, thankyouverymuch. We got a new high chair yesterday, courtesy of Craigslist (whoo-hoo!). Here's are the full specs on it, in case you care (three reclining positions??).

Little Miss has decided that puffs trump everything, and bananas are no longer interesting. Or avocados. She ate puffs for a good hour this morning, and I was so impressed with how many she was eating and figured, hey at least she's eating. Then I removed the tray and realized where at least one-third the puffs had gone, all over her lap.

I have had some challenges putting her down for naps; she wants me to pick her up and in the past I have; I've created a monster! I'm getting better at it, and though she cries everytime, it's getting easier each time.

We're headed up to the city to see my girlfriends, and I've packed banana and oats with me for her. She'll be eating it, for sure.

I hope Pete is having fun -- it was his birthday yesterday!

mmm deilig!

As you saw in the previous videos when we tried to feed her rice cereal or oats mixed with water or baby formula she hated it. Made her vomit even.
Then last weekend we had Mary and Danny visiting and Lucia got to see how it is done.
We also tried something different than the terrible cereals; mixing mashed banana, oats and water is now actually a favorite food. She also has a new cup just for water. Next up may be guacamole, broccoli or eyes-mouth coordination.
(Deilig = delicious.)

First feeding video

Here is the video of the very first feeding. She does not know what to think of it except she hates it!

Practicing eating

We had an eventful first meal here. I videotaped the first part where she doesn't understand what that food thing in her mouth is and is hating it - a lot. Seconds after the tape ran out, while I was going to get a new one, she has a geyser puke-out!
We're going to practice this some more!

Bacon chocolate (4/6)

What on earth can be better??? Bacon goes well with almost anything, so why not also chocolate?
There has been many partnerships of fortune throughout the ages:
Smith&Wesson, Black&Decker, Barnes&Noble, Ben&Jerry, and some foods compliment each other perfectly: Beer&Pizza, Chicken&Pasta to mention some. And then there's Bacon&Chocolate.
Why didn't I think of that?!!

Heather and I opened the packaging drooling like Lucia and could not get our hands on the bacon chocolate fast enough.
First thing you taste is the chocolate, it melts on your tongue like regular milk chocolate and has a nice texture, but it is milk chocolate not dark so that was a little bummer. Next is Ther some very small crunchy pieces which I actually like a lot. These are probably the bacon pieces. After about 1.6 seconds the bacon starts to hit and it is really good! No joke. it is actually as good as you would think it is. Last comes the aftertaste and it is a bit of a disappointment. After several bites I think it tastes too metallic, or maybe too smokey, either way I dont like it too much.
Verdict: Great start, not so great finish.

Experimenting with Eating and Sleeping

So we've tried to extend the time Lucia eats as much as possible; the general rule is every 2-3 hours, but Lucia is a snoozer, and rather than wake her up and force feed her at exactly 2 hours, we're experimenting with seeing how and when she wakes up on her own (about 3 hours).

We've also experimented with feeding her as much as she wants, which has been a bit problematic twice as when she eats around 4 oz, she spits up some. 2 oz = restless baby in 2 hours. 3 oz = just about right.

So the experiments continue. Here's a funny picture of her in her bouncy seat. She does her Houdini magic act and unravels her hands from her swaddle in record-time, and MUST have her hands free for feedings. She's a character already!