Portraits and more

When Georgia turned 3 months old we took her to get portraits done and I just now got around to scanning them into the computer. She was having a bad day and fussed almost the entire time so we only got three poses. The only reason I even scanned them is was because we had more portraits done after she turned 6 months old. This time she was awesome and we got some really great pictures so we bought the cd for them as well. We also learned that she could sit up in the tripod position while she was getting her pictures done. She has consequently been sitting up strait for pretty long stretches without falling over.

We also have a jumperoo that we started putting Georgia in since the last time I posted. She loves it! Even when she isn't in it she wants to bounce. When you hold her hands while she is standing up, she will bounce. When she is sitting, she will bounce. When she is laying down, she will bounce. It's her new favorite thing to do.

In addition, we've also upgraded Georgia to her big girl car seat. We had it for a while but never got around to putting her in it. However, we ended up being pushed into using it because while we were out to eat one night Georgia threw up all in her car seat. While we took the cover off and washed it we didn't know that the seat and the base had vomit in them as well until we were about to leave for church. So, we ended up trying to quickly get the new seat installed and get on our way to church. Needless to say we were way late for Sunday school and ended up not going into our class. I also learned a lesson, never go anywhere with Georgia without a change of clothes. I ended up buying an outfit at Cracker Barrel for her to wear home. Thankfully we were at a restaurant that sold clothes.

This is her 3 month pictures.









This is Georgia in her new convertible car seat.



And here she is in her jumperoo, or as we call it, her jumpy thing.



I've tried several times to upload the portraits she had done for 6 months and they will not load. I'll try again on a separate post.

6 months

Georgia turned 6 months old on the 29th. I've just been to busy to get the blog updated. But we have been very busy taking pictures!

Georgia also went and had 6 month pictures taken on Saturday. We'll get them next week, but during the session we learned that she could sit up (in the tripod position anyway). She is too busy wanting to stand up to learn to sit on her own. She is getting more mobile on the floor. She can't crawl, but she can turn in circles and kinda rock herself forward. She did actually move backwards yesterday, so crawling may happen soon. Also, she has a tooth. It is almost all the way out. The gum next to it is swollen too, but who knows when that one will come in.

While I'm at work she is eating baby food and taking a few sips of juice, but not taking milk. We have tried bottles, sippy cups, and still, not taking milk until I get home from work. It's kind of annoying that I'm doing all this pumping and she isn't drinking it, but I have found a use for it. My cousin is adopting a baby and I will give her the milk for the baby when he is born. He will need to supplement with formula because I only pump when I'm at work so it won't be enough for him to have for an entire day, but it will still give him the benefit of having breast-milk. Which, by the way, pray that everything works out with the adoption. He is due May 29 so I will let you know how everything goes.

We have a toy phone and I propped it up to make it look like she was talking on it.



Georgia loves to suck in her bottom lip.



This is her 6 month picture.



While waiting for me to open her food I gave her the spoon to play with.



She is enjoying he jumpy toy. She loves to jump now, even when not in her toy.



Georgia was sitting next to Shawn and leaned over to start licking his arm. We aren't sure why she does this, but she does it a lot.



This was another occasion when she was licking Shawn's arm. This time she looked up when she heard the camera turn on. This is her "caught-in-the-act" look



This is one of her new dresses. I think she has enough new dresses that she can wear a different one to church for the next two or three months!



I asked Shawn to put her lotion on her and get her dressed after a bath this week. This is what happened. He got lotion in her hair and then just used it like hair gel to make a faux-hawk.



This is me giving Georgia a big squeezey hug!

Almost 6 months

Next week Georgia will be 6 months old. It is hard to believe that she is already that old! We took her to the doctor last week for her 6 month appointment and she was 17 pounds 4 ounces and 26 inches long, both 75th percentile. She had been eating pretty much any baby food we would put in her mouth and then right before she went to the doctor she learned to assert herself. Peas and green beans now get her to clamp her mouth shut and start ahhhing at us. On the off chance that you do get food into her that she doesn't like she has also gagged herself to the point of vomiting, a lot. This is very unpleasant! Sometimes she refuses to eat bananas, but that comes and goes. She also dislikes peaches. But, when you give her food she really likes she can get very impatient and want you to feed her faster.

Since the last time I wrote I have had a birthday and we attended a birthday party for a lady that turned 100. The lady is named Mrs. Roberson and she was the preacher's wife at my dad's church when he was a kid. I have known her my whole life. The church actually had a celebration for her during the Sunday service and then had a meal afterward. This is when we found out that while she is ok at our church's nursery, she didn't like their nursery. I guess it was a new place with new people and she didn't like that. About 15 or 20 minutes before the end of the service they came and got me. She had been crying almost the entire time! So, while I thought she was doing pretty well around strangers, I suppose I was wrong.

This was Georgia's birthday wish for me.



This was Georgia after we bought her new shoes and new shades. She looks so Hollywood!



After three days of not really taking much of a nap, she fell asleep while eating. She subsequently slept for almost two hours.



This is what happens she Shawn feeds her, food everywhere!



This was taken for her tribal membership id. We have officially joined the Beaver Creek Indians of Orangeburg.



Here is Georgia with Mrs. Roberson. Even 100-year-olds love babies.



This is my dad with the two of them.



Stay tuned for her 6 month picture!

5 Months

Since February doesn't have a 29th this year, I decided to say that Georgia was 5 months on March 1st. At 5 months Georgia can roll from her tummy to her back and from her back to her tummy. She can move around in a circle on her elbows and tummy. She sits up with a little assistance and loves to stand up while holding someone's fingers. She is becoming quite the splasher during baths and really loves taking baths. She has mastered the art of making funny faces and loves to bounce up and down while standing. She is eating rice cereal, many different fruits and veggies.

Now, I said in my last post that the Amoxil that Georgia was taking had started making her throw up. So this week I called the doctor back because she sounded very congested. Turns out that her ear infection turned into bronchitis. This time we got Zithromax to give her and this time at least she doesn't throw up as soon as it hits her mouth. She still sounds congested, but not quite as bad. We've also been giving her breathing treatments with Shawn's nubulizer. She surprisingly doesn't mind that all to much. Fortunately, she is acting as though she is her normal healthy self.

Here are Shawn and Georgia after she had some tummy time.



It got really hot last week and we still didn't have the air conditioning on. Georgia got very fussy so I put her in a onesie and turned the air and the ceiling fans on.



Georgia was watching Angry Birds on Kort's phone. It seems we have a future techie on our hands.



This is after Georgia had thrown up and before we got more clothes on her. She was poking her toes through the blanket.



This was after yet another bout of vomiting brought on by medicine.



Here she is during breakfast one day. She was very smiley on this particular morning.



She has also found her foot and is trying to get it to her mouth (which Shawn really doesn't like).



This was after a trip to the grocery store and the gas station. She fell asleep while holding the links on her car seat.



This is the new face Georgia has been making, wrinkling up her nose.



And finally, this is her 5 month picture. She would either look at the camera or smile, but not both at the same time.

The no good very bad weekend (plus President's Day)

I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post. I think the main reason was that the battery in our camera finally died and the charger was broken. So, we had to go out and buy a new charger for the battery before we could take pictures. We finally did that right before Valentine's Day so I have some updated pictures at the end. But first, I have to let everyone know about our great weekend last week.

Technically the fun all started on Thursday. I had a wedding shower at church that I had to go to and Shawn stayed home with Georgia. He ended up calling his dad to come and help him because he felt so bad. His entire body started aching not long after he got home from work. When I got home from the shower he was laying on the floor. Then, I awoke in the middle of the night to Shawn vomiting. Not a pleasant thing to hear at 3 am. So, Shawn didn't work on Friday. Instead, he went to the doctor and was diagnosed with a double lung infection with bronchitis. The double lung infection caused him to be in pain all throughout his body and they had to actually give him pain medicine to be able to bear it. He also got Prednisone and an antibiotic. With asthma, he almost has to get a steroid once a year to help keep his lungs clear.

Moving on to Saturday, I woke up feeling like I had been hit in the face with a baseball bat along with a sore throat from drainage and a stuffy nose. I figured I would wait until Monday and call my doctor for an appointment. Georgia, however, started the day fussy and warm. We took her temperature and it was pretty high so we called the on call nurse and she said if her cough didn't go away by Monday to call and get an appointment, if her fever went above 102, to call and be seen during the weekend. It never went that high on Saturday, but on Sunday , when we woke her up her temp was already over 102. So we called and got an appointment with the on call doctor for her. She had a double ear infection and got an antibiotic.

That brings us to President's day, or Monday. I called and my doctor's office was actually closed for the holiday! I was so annoyed. So I went to Doctor's Care. Not what I wanted to do, but they take walk-ins. So I got there between 10:30 and 10:45. I signed in and waited. Two hours later they finally got my information in the computer and I was told it would be over an hour before I was even taken back. So I told them I was leaving for a few minutes because I knew that Georgia was going to need to eat. So, I went home, got Shawn and Georgia and came back. Shawn went in the waiting room to listen for my name while I nursed Georgia in the car. She takes a long time to nurse, almost an hour. So I hoped that when I was done nursing her that it would be closer to getting my name called. So, Shawn went to his parents house for a while and I waited some more. Keep in mind, by this time it was after 1 or 2 pm and I had no lunch at all. I finally get called back around 4 or so. I saw the doctor very briefly and then waited some more (the did a step test). Around 5 Shawn called because he had come back to the office to wait for me and Georgia was screaming her head off because she was hungry. I opened the door to the room I was in to find someone to see how much longer it would be. The doctor told me that she was just coming in to see me. Then she realized that she hadn't tested me for the flu. Now, I don't' handle stress that well sometimes and am very sensitive. I cry frequently during stressful times and this was one of them. Plus, you know, I was really hungry! I started to cry and told the doctor that I had been there for over 6 hours and I had a baby that was starving. So she told me they would test me for the flu and call me with the results. I got my prescription, paid, and left. We got something to eat and went home. By this time Georgia was so worn out that she had fallen asleep, so I was able to eat real quick before I fed her. While I was nursing her the doctor called me to let me know that, surprise, I had the flu.

So, that catches us up on the horrible weekend plus the holiday. More fun things have happened too! Antibiotics do not seem to agree with Georgia. She got a diaper rash for the first time ever. Then after 4 days of being fine, she got to where she would vomit almost as soon as the medicine would hit her mouth. I called and the nurse said to try mixing it with food. That worked for one dose and then she threw up again even mixing it with food. At that point it was Friday night and I was tired of calling the after hours nurse, so I will call again tomorrow to see if they want me to do anything else. She seems to be doing ok, no fever and only her usual fussiness, not the horrid crankiness she had when she was really sick. The other way we can tell she feels better is that she doesn't want to take a nap. When she was sick she slept so much. It was great. Especially since we both were sick while taking care of her. Oh, and Shawn and I are much better as well. All of us have lingering coughs, but other than that we are good.

On to pictures! This is Georgia sporting her Baby Legs with her skort.



Georgia in her bathrobe. She looks like a boxer getting ready for a fight.



I kept putting Georgia on her tummy and she kept rolling over (not a fan of tummy time). This is an action shot of her rolling over.



Finally, this is our poor little sick baby. She did a lot of sleeping, which was great.

4 Months

Georgia was 4 months old on Saturday. She has been eating for over a week now. She started with rice cereal and did really well with that. I then moved on to testing her on baby food with bananas. She liked that too. Then today I gave her pears and that was a hit as well. We have several different kinds to try. The doctor said that normally the recommendation was to try one food at a time. However, he felt that trying out many things would be better. She will supposedly be less likely to have an allergy develop for any certain food if she tries several different kinds. We had a tiny smidge of progress with her taking a bottle. Today she sucked on a bottle for a couple of minutes. I got so excited that I called Shawn to tell him. As soon as she heard my voice she quit sucking and started fussing. As long as she didn't know I was nearby she seemed to be fine with taking a bottle. So, hopefully tomorrow when we try to give her a bottle perhaps she will take it if I make myself scarce.

As far as progress, she sits very well with support, has really good head control, makes lots of noise (a whole lot sometimes), she loves to kick her feet, she grabs things with her hands and will hold onto things that we put in her hand. She still has reflux and every few days she will erupt like a volcano. My mom had to leave early on Thursday because her entire shirt was soaked. She does seem to tolerate taking her medicine more.

The other day I took a picture of her after I finished changing her diaper. She was sucking her thumb and almost put herself back to sleep (I had just gotten her out of bed).



This is Georgia sucking on her Sophie giraffe. She loves to chew and suck on the giraffe, so why not a bottle?



Shawn was working on the sewing machine and needed my help, so we set Georgia up in her bumbo seat.



Here is Georgia getting some rice cereal.



And finally, Georgia's 4 month picture.

15 Weeks

Last Wednesday Georgia was 15 weeks old. She went to the pediatrician on Thursday and we heard some not so surprising news, she is big. Georgia weighed 15 lbs 6 ozs, 95th percentile, and was 25 1/2 in long, the 98th percentile. So, in short, we have a giant baby. She is healthy and doing well.

In other news, baby girl still won't take a bottle. I'm very frustrated now because I have to go back to work in two weeks and I don't know what I'm going to do. We ordered another type of bottle that someone else said worked for their baby that wouldn't take a bottle, and yesterday she wouldn't take it either. I'm going to try again with my mom or my dad giving it to her because yesterday it was just Shawn and my brother around. She never took a bottle from them before. So, everyone send up a prayer that she'll start taking a bottle. The doctor even said that we could try her with rice cereal. So today I tried her with rice cereal mixed with breast milk. That was an epic fail. The recommended dose for a first feeding leaves you with a very liquidy mixture. It seemed to essentially be milk with a little solids dissolved into it. As soon as I spooned some into her mouth she started crying. I tried two more bites and she got even more hysterical. I'm not sure if she thought we were just trying to give her milk in another delivery system or what, but it was not happening. So, I just don't know what I'm going to do.

Meanwhile, last week we had snow. After it snowed, it sleeted. So we were left with a snowy landscape covered in a thick sheet of ice. I actually didn't even leave the house until Wednesday when I went to the dentist. By then the roads were really clear and not a problem. We didn't take Georgia out in the snow because she had already been outside the day after Christmas when it snowed and it isn't like she will remember it. Plus, the way the winter has been so far, we may have more snow in the near future.

This is me and Georgia taking a nap. I didn't even know it had been taken until a few days ago.



This is Georgia with her hoodie on. Doesn't she look gangsta?



I also took a picture of Shawn napping with Georgia.



Shawn found a bandana of his that he decided to it put on Georgia. The first picture makes her look gangsta yet again.



This is more like her normal expression, looking at us like we are fools.



And finally, I had to show just how big she had gotten. So, here is Georgia taking a bath. You really have to see her in person to understand the fat on her. Her legs have several rolls.