Week 38

Hello all and Welcome to Port-Natal Week 38

In the course of a weekend Estella went from crawling to standing to wanting the walk on her own. Three days later she took her first step. Thank goodness she hasn't been able to master the walking yet. However we all know it is only a matter of time. My once spacious house now feels like a gauntlet of hurt and destruction when I think of Estella navigating herself through the obstacles. My glass coffee table (with the curved edges and is protected in some IKEA plastimetal) is now a danger to which Estella in inextricably drawn. I just envision her banging her hands and toys on the table and it just shatters into hundreds of glass shards. Obviously the glass table is no longer in my living room.

I crawl on the floor with Estella and I am constantly finding things that have fallen to the floor that can be picked up and easily swallowed by a curious 8 month old. It is amazing to me how often I am taking small objects off the floor. Just last night I noticed the small bell from my cat’s collar had come off and would be keenly lying in her eyesight had she just turned around a little bit. I was so glad that I saw it first. And Eric always has coins falling out of his pocket. I find them on the couch and floor on a nearly daily basis. I think I am going to put a jug by the front door so that he has to empty his pockets of all coins before he gets to comfortable on the couch. We’ll see it that actually works out.

This weekend we are taking Estella to the beach for the first time. It’s only for the day and I have no idea how well it is going to go. I’m slightly nervous about driving all the way there to find out that Estella is very unhappy in the sun, sand and ocean. Maybe we should hedge our bets and go to a beach that has a boardwalk with rides. We can find some baby rides for her. She’ll probably have a great time and I’m worrying for nothing. She’s a very happy baby 95% of the time so the odds are on my side that it’ll be a good day. And Eric is just itching to get to the beach so he’ll be happy as a clam.

I hope everyone is enjoying the summer and I hope to see all of you soon. Thank you for indulging my need to gush about my daughter in these updates!

Love to you all,

Desiree

Week 37

Hello all and Welcome to Post-Natal Week 37

It has been a very fine and exciting week in Estella's world. If you recall, last week I mentioned that she had begun "crawling". Well this week she is CRAWLING. Both knees on the ground. Both legs moving with the arms to scoot across the floor. It's so cute to watch and very scary to think about. She's not moving with much speed yet but give her a week. And when she gets to her destination she immediately pulls up to a standing position holding onto whatever her little hands can find. Thank goodness she is easy to follow now. We don't allow her to pull up on much. She is also getting used to hearing the word "No" when I have to tell her that she can not use the cat, laundry basket, glass table or Daddy's computer to get to a standing position. Estella has also begun testing her strength when she tries to stand (all by herself) from a crawling position. And when she does STAND she becomes a bit of a daredevil and tries to let go and balance on her own. I'm glad that Estella didn't go from rolling over and sitting straight to walking but I have a funny feeling we are go to have a very short stay in the world of crawling.

This week Estella also managed to sit up by herself. Development is kind of funny. I would think that if a baby has learned to crawl (or at the very least to get into a crawling position) that said baby would be able to sit up on its own. Well Estella has been sitting on her own for nearly 3 months. She was able to hold a sitting position at 5 months and 3 weeks however, she has not been able to get into the sitting position by herself until this week. And she did it in Harry Houdini style.

Eric and I were getting ready for work on Tuesday. I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth and I think Eric was getting dressed. Estella was on her belly, on the floor, playing with some toys. I look at her from the bathroom and smile at her. She smiles back. I brush my teeth for 10-15 seconds more. I look back at her and she is sitting up with her back against the wall. I was shocked and excited all at the same time. Eric didn't see her little quick move either. And as far as I can tell she hasn't done it since, but we know she can. It's all very new and exciting for her and us.

So this past week my company has offered cash incentive for us all to get into shape. I have lost all the weight from my pregnancy but my body is now a completely different shape. I can no longer fit into pants that last year I had no problem shimmying into. It's not that my hips are wider or that my butt is bigger. It's the belly. The skin around the belly just isn't the same. Now Estella is almost 9 months old and I want to fit into my clothes this fall and winter. I think I will need to lose about 10 pounds and tighten that abdomen just to fit nicely into my old jeans. I'm still wearing a size larger then I want to and that has to change. So I have jumped on board with my company's fitness program and I plan to be bikini ready by November, Ha!

That's all for this week. We'll talk soon.

Love to you all,

Desiree

Week 36

Hello all and Welcome to Post-Natal Week 36,

Estella is now 8 months old. She will officially be 36 weeks on Sunday, 252 days old. Time flies! I started doing these updates a year ago when I was 20+ weeks pregnant. She is now just a wonderful little girl that makes my day, every day. 250 days young today.

So, there are some new developments in my lovely little girl. First, she has two new bottom teeth. I would say they first cut through about 3 weeks ago. I am so happy that they finally broke through so that she can sleep better now. Also, she has begun to "crawl". Well first she started twirling to get to where she needed to go. This is still her preferred mode of travel. She sits on her duff and just spins around to move across the floor. When you can get her to go on her belly in a crawling position she eventually just ends up on the floor pulling forward with her arms and using her feet as flippers. I think it's very cute and funny. Eric and I bought a very large area rug for our living and dining rooms so that when Estella is practicing her crawling she isn't doing it on the hardwood floors. It's also easier on mom's knees too, as I often find myself on the floor with her. Last weekend she mastered the Mamamamamama syllables and the next day she said Dadadadadada. Very cool. This past Tuesday when I picked her up from daycare she looked at me put her arms up and said "Mama!". I was so excited. It wasn't a continued babbling like she normally does with her syllables, but a pointed "Mama". How fabulous is that?! Then on Wednesday while she was in the daycare she pulled herself up into a standing position from a sitting one all by herself. The wonderful women that take care of her said they found her standing next to the other babies. She was very proud of herself for a few minutes and then started to fret because she couldn't figure out what she was supposed to do next and didn't think about just sitting down. Now she has pulled herself up on me for a long time and I usually give her a slight assist by moving my hands as she is trying to stand. This was the first time she did it all be herself. I am so proud!

Everything is going well on the family end too. I am still breastfeeding, although she is eating baby food as well. Between pumping and feeding it is still 6+ times a day. It's a commitment, and I hate pumping, but it is something that I will continue to do for a while longer. I would like to get to a year with the breastfeeding. It's still the best thing for her and I believe that it is one of the reasons she's been a healthy baby. This is not saying that she hasn't caught a cold from the daycare, but she hasn't been bothered by ear infections or anything too long term. Eric is working on some beautiful projects this summer. You should be able to check them out soon on his website http://www.ericokdeh.com .

Updates on Estella Likes and Dislikes: Top 5

Likes: 5. Taking walks in the stroller, 4. Being thrown in the air by Daddy (to Mommy's dismay), 3. Petting (hitting really) the cats, 2. Her toys. This week Glo-Worm is her favorite 1. Tickles and Laughs with Mommy and Daddy
Dislikes: 5. Getting her clothing changed, 4. Any delay in feeding, 3. Being put down for a nap when she isn't ready, 2.Teething, 1. Not being next to Mommy once we get home from work/daycare. She screams when I pass her along to her Daddy. We are dealing with a little bit of separation anxiety.


This is about all for now. I don't have much to report in terms of weight and height. I would guess she is around 16 pounds. I won't know for certain until her next dr appointment on September 4 when she goes for her 9 month checkup. However I do want to say "Hello!" to all the lovely little babies that have been born since I last wrote to you all. It's been a very active 7 weeks or so in my family and social circle! 4 new Mommies and Daddies with 5 Brand new babies! So wonderful. So congratulations to Sarah and Jorge, Jill and Danny, Julie and Mike for their little girls Mia, Julia, Mackenzie and Jocelyn (twins!), respectively, and to Michele and Jay for their strong little boy Jude. I am so excited for you all, and I am also very pleased that Estella is going to have such wonderful friends as she grows up!

Attached you will find a picture of her at 8 months.

Love to you all,
Desiree

Week 27

Hello all and Welcome to Post-Natal Week 27!

I remember while I was pregnant other women warning me of "Pregnancy Brain" which is basically being forgetful. My birth class teacher actually said that it can effect women after they have a baby for as long as a year. I scoffed at this idea, thinking I was one of the lucky ones that wasn't afflicted with this annoying byproduct of growing another human.

I was wrong.

Forgetfulness is now something I deal with on a daily basis and it is driving me a little insane. Unfortunately I notice it most often at work. It usually surfaces as I am changing activities. I will forget what it was that I was supposed to do. It also happens when I have an "Aha!" moment, I smile to myself about that thought, and then it is quickly forgotten in a matter of a few more moments; sometimes never to be re-thought again. I have taken to writing lists to remind myself of things I wanted to accomplish during the day. This is not something I like to admit or like to do. There have been many times when I come up with a cute little anecdote that I want to mention to all of you but it leaves my mind by the time I get to write something down. Do you know how many times that has happened? Well, me neither, but it's all the time I can tell you that! My theory about the post-pregnancy brain is lack of sleep. I haven't done any research (read: Google) but I'm sure that lack of sleep has to be the real culprit. I know some professional probably mentions hormone imbalance too, but I really think my forgetfulness is linked to Estella just insisting on eating at 2:30 every morning... and then possibly a few more times. How dare she! :-)

Changing Estella's diaper, obviously something we do quite often. She doesn't mind at all. I try to engage her whenever we have a diaper change experience. I usually do a quick, sing-song thing and say "Naked Baby" in a high pitched voice. She really likes this and it makes her laugh, which in turn makes me smile and laugh. So earlier this week I was changing her diaper on my bed, which is something I do every morning because she sleeps in our room. We were doing the whole "Naked Baby" thing as a distraction when switching diapers. In the middle of the change she just lets loose and wets the bed like no ones business. I usually wait a little while in the morning before I change her diaper because I want her to have the time she needs to release the overnight wave. Apparently I didn't wait long enough this particular morning. Well, I'm loudly suggesting to Eric that he get off the bed because she has peed all over and because it is so early in the morning it seems to take an entire 5 seconds for him to comprehend exactly what I am saying. Because I haven't even finished fully changing her, I only covered her up in an attempt to save my sheets and mattress, she is put safely on the floor while Eric and I try to quickly take the sheets off the bed and dry the mattress. I don't have any Borax in the house so I put some powder over the wet area in a hope that it will draw the moisture away from my mattress. Estella is just babbling to herself during this whole process. I stand up to find that my pajama bottoms are soaked. Oh well. The sheets needed to be changed anyway.

Estella is growing up so fast, even though she is only 27 weeks. It's amazing the difference in her face and body, her attention span and knowledge. I can see her learning. I know when she finally "gets it". Small stuff now, but it's all building toward more complicated and intricate skills. I just love watching it. I love watching her. This week I went through some of the updates that I wrote when I was pregnant. There was such insecurity in many of those ramblings. It was insecurity that fueled my feelings of nervousness and selfishness. I was scared of giving up my old pre-baby life. What I didn't realize was what I was going to gain. It's easy to say the words "baby" and think that it holds some real weight. I held other babies, loved other babies, swooned over other babies but I never felt that mother-child bond before. Completely intangible, ridiculously difficult to explain to someone that doesn't have a child, but there nonetheless. That bond made my selfishness concerns go away immediately. I completely forgot about them until I re-read how I was feeling while pregnant. It seems so petty now, but those concerns were real at the time. I remember them now. But that lovely post-baby forgetfulness helped me there. I guess it's not always such a negative thing.

That's about all for this week. Estella has her Dr.'s appointment on Monday. I am not looking forward to the shots, but I can't wait to see how much she weighs and how long she is. This is very exciting to me. She seems to have gained weight nicely the last 2 months I wouldn't be surprised if she is over 15 pounds. We'll see.

Love to you all,

Desiree

Week 26

Hello all and welcome to Post Natal Week 26!

To be accurate, Estella is 25 weeks and 5 days old. To be even more precise, she turns 6 MONTHS OLD TOMORROW! I can't believe that! To me that is absolutely crazy. It has been the quickest 6 months of my life.

Estella has become such a fun baby. She was always fun, but at this point in her life she is genuinely happy 95% of the time she is awake. She only fusses or complains when she is hungry or tired. That's it. She smiles all the time. All the time, except for when you have a camera near her. For some reason it is extremely difficult to capture her young, toothless smile on film. However, with how often we take photos of her we have managed to preserve a few smiles.

So here are some cool new happenings with the little girl.
1. She can sit up by herself. Now she has been sitting up with props for quite a while. And this last month or so she had been threatening to do it all by herself. But last weekend it was like a switch was flipped and now she can do it. Mom and Dad were (and are) so proud.
2. She is a little bit of an inchworm. She isn't crawling yet, but she pushes her butt up high and then uses her feet to propel her forward. Very cute. But I know this will only happen for a short period of time. She will be crawling soon.
3. She is still very tiny in comparison to other babies her age. I'd say that at 6 months she is between 13 and 14 pounds. I won't know for certain until June 1st when she goes for her next Doctor's appointment. By then she will probably be over 14 pounds.
4. She loves going to her daycare. The ladies there take such good care of her. However she has recently taken to crying when I leave. This breaks my heart but makes me feel good all at the same time. I have a feeling this won't be the last time I have conflicting feelings in regards Estella.
5. Speaking of the daycare, they keep the children there very engaged, which I love. I now have 3 original Estella Salera-Okdeh pieces of art. Finger paintings, but everyone needs to start somewhere. They are hanging on my fridge. They also took Estella's first "school" photos. Ha! They are cute, with the pull down backdrops that feature giant crayons. A total racket for the price they charge, but it is her first, so of course we bought them.
6. Estella is still a great sleeper, but she has changed her sleeping pattern a little, which makes it equally less and more difficult for me. She falls asleep, without fail, by 8-8:10pm every night. That's easy. I get the rest of the night to relax and hang out with Eric. Nice. She sleeps soundly until 2:30 or so when she gets up to nurse. So that is 6+ hours. Not so bad. But after that it's a crapshoot what she will do. Does she get up every hour until I have to get up to nurse? Does she only get up one more time? Or my favorite, she then falls asleep for the rest of the night? I never know so I can not really prepare. I really don't want to fall asleep at 8pm with her. I do have things I have to do and I want to enjoy some time with my husband. But I also can't function well if I get 3 solid hours of sleep a night with the rest of it being interrupted. Eric really can't help too easily as he does not have the breasts that are required to nurse the baby. So it falls on me. I'm not really complaining, I'm just tired.
7. I recently had to pack away some the clothes she has outgrown. She still fits nicely into her 3 month clothing, but is mostly in 3-6 months right now. So all of the newborn stuff and winter stuff had to be packed away. I didn't expect to feel anything while packing the clothing away, but I was a little sad. She's still so tiny and she is still a baby (my baby) but she isn't that tiny anymore. Again, I am shocked to say she is 6 months.

So I'm sorry there haven't been many updates as of late. I really enjoy writing them, I just have difficulty finding the time. I have just been loving the time with my family. My little 3 person family that is so beautiful. This is the best time of my life so far. What is truly nice about stating that is I have been able to make that statement for as long as I can remember as an adult. Life is good and it keeps getting better and I don't want to be anywhere else then where I am right now. I'm trying to soak it all in while this lasts because I know that it will all move by so swiftly. Most of you know I have a tendency to look and plan for the future and not live in the moment. I have noticed this a number of times regarding Estella. I have to convince myself to knock it off. Yes, plan for the future. No to looking at her and thinking about the day she leaves for school or something, anything else. It happens often enough to bother me. It happens often enough so that it crowds and clouds my thoughts. I can't be upset, sad or frightened about a moment that hasn't happened yet although I know is coming. There is no sense in that yet it still hurts my heart. So I feverishly fight to live in the moment. It's hard for me, but I think I am getting better at it. Ask me again in a week and the answer may be different.

I hope that this message finds everyone well. It is my intention to start doing this update a little more frequently but please do not hold it against me if you look in your mailbox next week and you don't have a message. I will eventually send one out.

Love to you all,

Desiree

Week 17

Hello and Welcome to Post-Natal Week 17.

She is officially 4 months old now. Although in this photo she is about 2-3 weeks old. It's one of my favorite photos because it has such personality. And her personality just shines through and grows stronger every day. It's rather cool that someone as young as Estella is and without so many of the verbal and non-verbal communication techniques that most of us use on a daily basis can be so expressive, full of thought and feeling. She is a wonderfully happy baby. Her smiles are huge and she is generous with them. She smiles with her whole face. Her eyes just glow. But of course, I am her mother. I am proud that she is so happy. It's nothing that I have done. We just make sure she is safe, warm, fed and loved. It's her choice to share her happiness. Some babies are very stoic and silent. Some babies cry and whimper no matter the situation. Estella likes to join in the party. She wants to know what is going on at all times and tries to be a part of it all. She loves to babble, especially when we are singing together. Although this week she seems more focused on growing her motor skills then practicing her talking. She fed herself with a bottle this past Monday. I was shocked. Eric was feeding her in her bouncy seat and she had a grip on her bottle. He had to get some paperwork for me and decided to see how she would do on her own with the bottle. He let go and she continued to hold it and finished the bottle on her own! My little over-achiever! How great is that? I have no idea how old babies are when they first hold bottles on their own with any consistency, but I know I'm amazed any time she does something new. But all of this is new to me, and that's the most wonderful thing.

Here are some of Estella's likes and dislikes:

Likes: Shower time
Singing her ABC's, Row Row Row Your Boat and Henry the VIIIth
Being naked
Playing with her musical pigs and bunnies
The ladies at the daycare that take very good care of her
Cab rides home from the daycare
Smiling to funny phrases
Standing with Mommy and Daddy
Eating and Sleeping
Reaching for our cats
Hanging out with the family

Dislikes: Bath time
Mommy and Daddy on their computer
Getting dressed and undressed
Sitting in her car seat
Being removed from the milk fountain
Stuffy noses

This week we go to the Doctor for her 4 month exam. She will get some shots (boo!) and she will get all of the vitals taken. I am hoping she is around 11.5 pounds. She may be more, I don't know. She has been eating rice cereal for 3 full weeks and bananas for 2 weeks. She is doing very well with them. I do not want her on formula at all and she is old enough to start introducing some baby foods. I use the rice cereal in my breast milk for the daycare and she gets 1 jar of bananas per day during the week. For the weekends she is completely breast feed. So she could be more than 11.5 pounds. It's been 2 months since we've seen the doctor so we'll see what he says about her growth.

We are in the middle of our very busy 2 weeks. Janice and Frank are now back in Philadelphia for their wedding next Saturday. They arrived this morning and I can not wait to see them tonight! We are going to have a such a great time with them. Eric and I had our birthdays this week. I through Eric a surprise party last Saturday night, which I am sad to say wasn't much of a surprise, but it was fun just the same. We went to my parents house and had cake and ice cream for my birthday. Tomorrow my mom and I pick up our dresses for the wedding and we will get our hair cut and colored. I can not wait to get my hair done! Then it's full speed ahead for the wedding on Saturday. Woot Woot!

That's about all for this week. I will let you all know Estella's stats next week. And as a reminder you can all read or share these emails be referencing my website http://desireesbabyupdates.blogspot.com/ .Until next time, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Love to you all,
Desiree

Week 16

Hello all and Welcome to Post-Natal Week 16

Estella will be 4 months officially on Monday. I'm excited that she is growing up however 4 months sounds so much older to me then 3 months, and I just want her to stay a baby. Obviously she is still a baby at 4 months too, but she is so much bigger and smarter every day that sometimes it doesn't feel that way. Eric was saying to me that he likes to talk to her as if she has his intelligence level. I do the same thing. We are not parents that use baby talk to communicate. We don't shorten or make up words. Her pacifier is just that, it's not a binky. She does not get a baba, she gets a bottle, and so forth. But I suppose if we spoke to her in a shortened baby way maybe it wouldn't feel like she is growing up so fast. Who knows?

So I started back to work on March 2nd. March 1st I was a crying wreck. I thought that I was abandoning my baby and that she would somehow remember me leaving her and putting her in this strange place. I tried to work out in my head how we could afford to live in our house without 2 incomes. I thought that maybe we should move into a smaller house in the suburbs so that I could stay home and Eric would go to work. Sunday March 1st was not a good day for me. Fast forward to the next morning and it's a completely different story. I slept well. I woke up, got myself ready for work, fed the baby and left for work. Estella made it easier by falling back asleep before I left the house. And she was an angel with Eric the whole day. What more could I ask for?

As I made my way closer to the office I became more and more excited. I didn't realize how much I missed the daily conversations about everything and nothing. I felt as if I was getting back to my old life. Having Eric home with Estella the first day was key. It made me more comfortable knowing that she was with her daddy. And I have loved being back at work. 3 weeks now and it's going great. Estella is in a daycare that is 1 block away from my office, so I go in and feed her at lunchtime. It's so nice to get a little Estella fix. Eric still has her 2 days a week for the time being as well. Once he starts working on a wall she will be in daycare full time. The cost of daycare is shocking. It makes sense when you break it down per hour, but we have basically taken on a second mortgage for what it costs per month. It's scary. So the cost is also a major reason why Eric will watch her 2 days a week for as long as he can. (Besides that fact that he loves being home with her too) She seems to be thriving in the daycare as well. The facility is right in Center City and there are parents dropping in and out all day. Everyone is polite and they treat the children well. It's the best solution for a situation that is not ideal. She has a little cold that I know she caught from the other babies, but we were completely expecting that. She's fine just a little congested. I'm not scared of the germs, and I actually glad she's a little ill. Building up immunities is a messy process.

The next few weeks are going to be very full. It actually started this past Wednesday with my first trip to NYC to see a client since my return to work. I wasn't sure I wanted to go, but it all worked out fine. Eric had her for 15+ hours by himself. She was very fussy at the end of the day but everyone got through it in the end. Being a nursing mother it was very hard for me at the end of the day. I pumped for the last time at 3pm and didn't get home until 11:30pm. Needless to say I was looking forward to seeing my little girl that evening if nothing more than for relief. But the NYC trip is just the beginning. I have a shower, NYC again, birthdays (mine is on Tuesday! Yay 31!, Eric's is on Thursday! Yay 30!) taxes, Janice and Frank are coming home, hair appointments, dress appointments, bachelor/bachelorette party, shots for the little girl and the wedding of the year! It's going to be busy. Lots of fun, but busy.

I think that's about all this week. Everything is going very well. Estella is a blast and all I can so is smile when I think of her.

Love to you all!

Desiree