Say 'Oh'

Trying to teach Skye to eat solids is interesting to say the least. She has not quite gotten how to do it yet! At her nighttime feeding I try to show her the ropes. She laughs everytime I pretend to eat her cereal. Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum I say as I put the spoon to my mouth. Then I open my mouth wide and pretend to eat it. She looks up at me and opens her mouth too! Progress! But as I put the spoon to her mouth, she grabs it and spills it all over herself. Sigh. She does eat some though which is good. I also try to give her some water from a sippy cup for the first time which confused her even more. She pours most of it over herself. Messy things - babies!

Diaper rash is almost gone! Mummy has saved the day with her naked baby feedings! Yipee!

Skyes wee butt

Skye still has diaper rash and it doesn't seem to be getting any better so today I decide that maybe her wee bottom just needs aired out! So during her morning feed I strip her of her diaper and feed her naked! I lay her on a towel on my lap to catch any 'accidents' and nurse her there. Her little bottom is so cute! It's rarely seen as it's usually hidden under the confines of her diaper and she wriggles around showing it off! On closer inspection I think I have found a definite likeness to her father. She has a rather round wee butt!

Later I tell John that he should also air out Skye's nether regions. He apparently does this and when I call him later, he is pretty mad as she has decided to use this diaperless time to clear out her bowels. Yuk! It's not a pretty sight apparently. ...and she's messed up the cute little outfit he chose for her. Talk about Mr. Mom.

When I pick her up from daycare later that day, she is wearing a cute little white and pink dress with matching knickers. Summer has come at last to El Granada!

Tommy 's a happy dog!

The alarm goes off at 6:45am and scares the living daylights out of me!! Wow - am I tired and is that a slight hangover I feel? I only had 2 glasses of wine, but I guess I'm out of practise! I somehow manage to drag myself out of bed and get organised for feeding my wee peach. All tiredness falls away when I see her happy wee face smiling up at me. Feeding is a cozy blur and then I take her back to bed with me. There we are, the happy family of John, Alison, Skye and Tommy all lazing on our bed on a fine Sunday morning. Skye looks so contented with her little chubby cheeks. Eventually John gets up and I am allowed an extra hours sleep. I am so out of it that I keep drooling on the pillow (usually Johns trick!)

Today we plan to go hiking up Montara mountain in, you guessed it, Montara! It was supposed to be a morning hike, but due to our late night and me going back to bed, it is postponed. Whilst I was sleeping, John and his posse drive to Safeways to buy some bagels and fruit for breakfast. Ah - bliss. I LOVE the weekends! The hike is postponed further by the feeding of the cherub at 11am. I show John the ropes on the rice cereal front, which doesn't take a brain surgeon to work out. I think Skye eats a spoonful or so, but it's hard to tell! She seems to be grimacing less today, so that's an improvement!

Eventually we head out for our hike. Tommy is going absolutely crazy in anticipation!!! We arrive at Montara mountain and get ready at the car. Pop Skye into the baby bjorn and off we go. It's actually a nice day today. The fog is just lifting as we head up. It's a lovely walk with nice views of the coastline. Tommy is so happy running here and there. Skye is alert and looking around for most of the way up, but suddenly she just goes limp and starts snoring gently (she definitely takes after John ;-)). She sleeps for about 40 mins and wakes up just as we are getting back to the car.

We were going to go for lunch at Cafe Lucca and feed Skye there, but they are having a little arts sale so we give it a miss and decide to buy Calimari from the harbour and eat on Johns boat. The harbour is buzzing and it's lovely sitting on Johns boat soaking it all in. I end up leaving John and Skye there and heading home with Tommy. It's so hard to leave Skye but I'm jonesing for a run and know this will be my only chance! I take Tommy for a run up in El Granada park to the top of the hill. One of the favorite runs, so he tells me ;-) It's beautiful up there! After 45 mins I return and John and Skye are back. It's almost time for Skye's bedtime routine: bath, feeding, book and bed. Her favorite book is Barney (thanks Angie) which I read to her often. She also has fun in the bath playing with her toys. She's now a big girl and likes to sit up in the bath, although sometimes she falls over and mummy has to catch her! Soon is time for bed and mummy sings a lullaby called 'Little one' to Skye. Here are some of the words:
"Little one, little one, come let me hold you"
"Little one, little one, come here with me"
"Little one, little one , haven't I told you"
"Your the best little one, ever could be"
....She smiles up at me, rubs her eyes and goes to sleep......

Skye's first feeding

Skye starts 'Solids'

It's now Monday and I have to think back through the Monday morning haze to remember what I did this weekend. Ah - yes, big weekend for Skye as she started solids! Solids is a big word for all I can describe as bland, tasteless mush ;-) Let's start at the beginning of the day though.

John went fishing today, so spent the night on his boat. We felt pretty safe though as we were guarded by our big fearless dog, Tommy - ha ha! I woke up around 6:30am and dragged myself out of bed. Skye was her usual happy self this morning and gave me a big toothy grin. I changed her diaper and lamented on her nasty looking diaper rash. Poor wee thing....this is the first time she's had it and it's doesn't seem to be getting any better. All I can do is keep her as dry as possible, smear her in A&D and hope it disappears soon!

I breastfed Skye for about 30-40 mins whilst reading the paper, then lay her on her blanket to roll about and play with her toys. I had a mommies and me exercise class at 10am to go to in Half Moon Bay so had a bit of time to spare before I had to head out. Did mundane tasks like laundry and making breakfast and changing Skye's diaper 3 times!!! The bowels were really active this morning!!- (i told you this blog would be pretty boring ;-))

The time just flew by and before I knew it, it was time to head out! Fed Tommy, put the jogging stroller in the car and tried to leave. Tommy was soooooo upset. He saw me in my jogging gear and was convinced that I was taking him out for a walk. He made me feel so guilty that I almost took him to the class with me!

The class was ok. There were about 5 of us there. Skye was really tired and fell asleep in the 5 minute car ride there. She woke up when I took her out of the car though and then fought sleep the whole class! She was not too happy! At one point I had her on my stomach as I was trying to do situps and the instructor Pam held her for a bit. I still had fun though.

Afterwards, we headed home to an estatic Tommy. Poor Tommy wouldn't get a walk until much later though as I had to head out to Menlo Park to buy a 'So Easy feeding Kit' for Skye. But before then was Skye's first feeding!! I b/fed her for 10 mins or so, then gave her some formula. Then I put Skye her new highchair. She seemed to quite like it in there. I heated some breastmilk in a bowl and added some baby rice cereal. I made it quite milky so it wouldn't be too much of a shock for her! Now for the first taste... I lift the spoon to her face and quick as a flash her hand fly's up and grabs the spoon. Mush everywhere--except in her mouth! Not a good start. She was really curious as to what the stuff was. The second try was better... I actually made it to her mouth. She gave me a 'yuk - what is this stuff - what are you doing?' look and pulled back. After a few tries I think she might have swallowed some but was wearing more of the mush than she had consumed! I even tried to demonstrate and show her how to do it, by eating it myself. Then I remembered that my breastmilk was in there! Yuk! Anyway, above is a photo of her AFTER the feeding. She looks quite pleased with herself. I'll try again tomorrow.

Drove to Menlo Park to Planet Kids to buy the feeding kit. I took Skye in there in the baby bjorn and everyone we passed said 'Ooh ahh what a cute baby' or words to that effect. I fed and changed her in the car, then we drove home. She was the perfect baby this whole time.

Back home, Tommy finally gets his walk. Just over to the school - me carrying Skye in her baby bjorn and throwing the ball for Tommy. He was a ball-retrieving maniac!!

That night we went to Andy and Kathleens for dinner in San Francisco. Kathleen is pregnant and due in three weeks, but she managed to cook a fantastic meal for us. Also there were Alan Peebles and Greg and Nikki. Alan is my old Scottish/Trinidadian friend and Greg is Irish and Nikki is Scottish. They have a 6-week old baby boy Frazier who they brought. The babes slept in the bedroom whilst we ate. They both woke up later and we fed them in unison. We didn't get home until 1am!!!! Skye got transferred from carseat to crib without making a sound!!

All in all a nice day...

Skye giving Tommy some Lovin' 

Friday night back at home

I couldn't resist posting again here...really just so I could post a cute photo of Skye giving Tommy some lovin'. I picked Skye up from daycare where I was told by the daycare assistant Daisy that Skye had been grumpy for the last hour or so. Well I got her home and she was just as happy as can be. As soon as she saw Tommy she started flinging her arms up and down and swivelling her head around so she wouldn't lose sight of him! I got up to the living room and put her on her playmat where she played for a minute or so. I then got Tommy to come over to say hello. He's always a bit jumpy around Skye and gets a bit scared when she grabs his coat. He was a good boy though and lay down whilst Skye petted him. It was soooo cute. I'll post a photo of them in a minute or two. I then gave Skye a bath and put her to her bed. She went down quite happily after I sang her a wee lullaby. Now it's time for me to put her high-chair together, wash all her bottles, have some dinner and do various other chores...all before pumping again at 9:30 (a mere 1hr 20mins away!) Ahhh - it's all worth it though ;-) And tomorrow is Saturday so NO WORK - yeeha!!

Skye at nearly 6 months 

Skye just turned 6 months old!

This is my first blog entry for Skye.
She was born on 2/23/2005 and life has definitely changed since then. But all for the better! Not that life was ever bad before though! Skye is such a great wee girl and really has been a good baby. Let's hope she stays this way, even through those teenage years!

Skye had her 6 month checkup on Tuesday. She is 15lb 11.5oz and 25.75inches long. She is in the 50th percentile which is great and right on track. She is now sitting pretty well, but still needs to be spotted as she falls over a lot! She also managed to move around quite a bit which can be unconcerting at times! She's not exactly crawling, just schmooching around on her belly. She can move pretty fast though! She absolutely loves Tommy (our dog) and reaches out for him at every opportunity to stroke him and pull his hair. Needless to say, Tommy runs like the clappers when he sees her (after a quick sniff and occasional lick!)

She was so cute this morning. I heard her cooing in her crib when I got up. I then got all my stuff ready for pumping and made my mothers milk tea before going to get her. When I got there she just looked up and gave me a huge smile. It really makes my day when she is like that - which is most days! I b/fed her for about 30 mins - but she took breaks to pull my hair and look up and stick her tongue out at me. I made stupid noises to make her laugh. I love her wee giggle. After all this fun, I was of course running late for getting to work, so it was a quick diaper change (her not me!) and a dubious choice of clothes (her AND me) then I took her in to snuggle with her dad and Tommy on our bed. I was made even later as I frolicked on the bed with the three of them, before managing to drag myself downstairs to the car and off to work!

Can't wait to pick her up from daycare tonight...and am looking forward to some quality time with her this weekend! We start solids tomorrow!!!! Looking forward to that too.