Cold and Tooth

When Jesse's folks were here last week, his mom got sick near the end of their stay here. She had a really sore throat with lots of coughing... she had to sleep on an incline on the couch to help the phlegm come out. Two days after they left, my throat began to hurt and I was soon in the same boat of hacking up a storm. My voice was pretty much gone and I was wearing a flu mask around the house in an effort to keep the sickness to myself. 

Today, I am feeling much better. Voice is still not back to normal and I am coughing here and there, but otherwise I feel okay. Unfortunately a couple nights ago, Gemma woke up in the middle of the night with a fever and last night she woke up with a hoarse cry... 

I suppose I should be thankful - she is nearly 9 months old and this is her first illness. I think she is also getting her top tooth and so that doesn't help either. Thankfully she is still somewhat happy during the day and still napping alright. Weirdly though, my little porker is not wanting to eat for the last few days, which is totally out of character for her. 

So far Jesse and mom are still okay; my brother is here visiting for a week and I hope he doesn't have to go back home sick. I sure hope Gemma sleeps better tonight (last night was really rough)...

First Boo-Boo

Last night while my mom was watching her, Gemma got her first real boo-boo. She was crawling around in the bonus room when she stopped to pat the glass on our TV stand. She was sitting at this point and when she decided she had had enough, she tried to go back on to the crawling position when one of her arms got stuck under her. In trying to get her arm out, she flopped forward and banged her forehead on the corner of the TV stand.

It looked really bad (i don't think the pictures do it justice) and we thought for sure she would wake up this morning with a full-blown black eye. After consoling her, I tried to ice it, but Gemma didn't like that very much. So then I grabbed an egg out of the fridge, washed it with soap and water, then rolled it over her own goose egg. This is a korean thing and it works quite well. It's definitely looking much better today.

Since this happend on my mom's watch, she was really beating herself up over it. Even though I was thisclose to crying upon seeing Gemma's forehead, I had to restrain myself as I didn't want my mom to feel even worse. I mean, I guess these things happen. Kids bang their heads, get scraped, cut, and bruised as they learn to be more careful and aware of their surroundings. As much as I want to, I can't wrap her up in bubble wrap and never let her move, can I? ............ or can I?.....LOL.

Weaning

I can remember the first few weeks of having Gemma home and how hard breastfeeding was. It sure has come a long way. If on day 3 of being at home someone told me I would still be nursing her, I may not have believed it. It was a tough struggle for 5 months, but I am so glad I didn't give in. Gemma is a healthy little girl, hasn't been sick yet (knock on wood), and is so incredibly smart. I'm sure I can't give breastfeeding all the credit, but I think I can give a little. 

It's hard to believe I'm here writing about weaning her. I ask myself this everyday, but... where has the time gone? I am returning to work on October 4 and I am now slowly starting the process of weaning Gemma. Since starting solids, Gemma was nursing four times a day. I'm now cutting that down to three, and hopefully to two by the middle of September, which is *gasp* just a few weeks away.

Yesterday was our first day of cutting down to three. I decided to give her formula to make up for the lost nursing session. This will continue until September when I will give her homo milk and formula (maybe milk once a day and formula once a day). By mid-late September, I hope to be down to two. 

How do I feel, you ask? Happy and sad. I look forward to having my "independence" back and not having that timeframe of 3 hours or so to be back at home to nurse Gemma (which makes having a dinner/movie date rather impossible). I look forward to not having leaky boobs anymore or waking up with a towel over me. I look forward to being able to wear a normal bra that offers some good support! And I look forward to the possibility of getting pregnant again. 

But I'm sad as I approach the end of this special bonding time between me and my daughter. She will no longer rely on me for this one-of-a-kind nourishment that only I can give her, which separates me from any other caregiver. I will miss her looking up at me as to say "thank you mommy". And now that Gemma is so mobile and independent, I will miss these moments where she lets me cuddle with her.

Once we go down to two times a day, I will decide whether to continue on with that until she is one or to just wean her completely. It's definitely been a struggle at times, but I am so happy I persevered and I hope I can do this again some day.

Temper, Temper

Gemma is really enjoying her new found independence now that she is crawling and standing up on virtually EVERYTHING, keeping me on my toes all day long. She also throws a fit if I don't let her pull up on something or open something or just basically if I try to stop her from doing anything that she is determined to do. She also doesn't really want to sit very much anymore and if I try to sit her down, she straightens her legs out and pushes back and screams her head off - like a full-on temper tantrum. Yesterday, I had her sitting on the dining table as I was trying to put a bib on her before I gave her some watermelon... Well, she didn't want that bib on and threw a fit and... hit her head really hard on the table. Of course she began screaming even more (it must have hurt so bad...) and I was busy trying to console her after that. 

I can see that I have to be very diligent in disciplining her and teaching her what she can and can't do... I don't want to be one of those moms having to deal with her kid throwing a tantrum on the floor of the grocery store because the kid didn't get what she wanted...

Can't Fool Blood

That's something my mom says all the time and it seems to be true. As you know, Gemma is quite shy and not a big fan of strangers talking to her, nevermind holding her. Grandma and Grandpa are here right now for a visit and even though Gemma hasn't seen them in quite some time (grandma since April and grandpa hasn't seen her since she was 2 weeks old!) she has really warmed up to them fast. It's like she somehow knows that they are family and so she can relax around them. 

...and now she is enjoying all the attention, not to mention the extra playmates. 

... and i would be lying if I said i wasn't enjoying the little break... hehehehe

Pediatrician

A few months ago, Gemma developed this odd head movement where she would shrug her shoulder/head on one side. Some days, she would only do it once or twice and other days she would do it ten times in 1 minute. I took her to the family doctor and while we were there Gemma actually did the movement. Dr. McCracken wasn't sure what it could be, so sent us to see Dr. Klym, a pediatrician. 

Thankfully the wait wasn't long to see her, only about a month. Unfortunately the wait to see her today was really long (over an hour!) and by the time we got to see her, Gemma was extremely cranky. 

I had taken a video of this head movement just after the referral was made and showed it to Dr. Klym. She then asked me a hundred questions regarding my pregnancy, Gemma's birth and development, and Jesse's and my family histories. 

She told me she thinks they are stereotypies, a transient movement disorder in children under 3. She thinks that Gemma will grow out of them (and in fact, she hasn't had these movements in weeks) and that I shouldn't worry unless it got much worse or it was starting to hurt her. She said sometimes stereotypies are linked to a developmental disorder or autism, Aspergers, etc., but by seeing and examining Gemma today and by hearing about Gemma's milestones, she doesn't think I have anything to worry about in that respect. In fact, she said Gemma seems even advanced for her age...*phew*

We still need to follow up with her in 3-6 months, just to make sure things are still good. Needless to say, I'm glad we got this sorted out.

Trying to Keep Up

Well, I suppose Gemma has been "crawling" for weeks. She could get across the room pretty fast and get into mischief just by army crawling. But I think it's official now - Gemma is crawling... on all fours. Unlike most things that happened overnight, this was a long time coming work in progress. At first, she was only inchworming. Then, she could come up on all fours, but not go anywhere. Then, she could move one hand or one foot and then plop on her face. Then, it was like she could move one "step". Next was two "steps". Next was three, etc. 

Yesterday, for the first time, Gemma crawled on all fours and then sat back down on her bum. 

Poor thing has a bit of a rug burn on her knees from all this crawling and so I bought some leggings to put on her. 

While it's so cute to watch her crawl around and enjoy the little independence she has, I have to say trying to keep up with her all day is getting more difficult. Jesse finally got around to childproofing all the kitchen and bathroom cupboards yesterday. And I find myself vacuuming nearly everyday just so Gemma doesn't grab a clump of dog hair and stuff it in her mouth...

In other news, we're off to Gemma's specialist appointment tomorrow morning. It's right when she has to go down for her morning nap, so it's gonna be a challenge to keep her happy while we're there, but I hope everything goes okay. Keep us in your thoughts!

8 Months

It's amazing how time flies when you are a parent. I know every month I say this, but man I can't believe Gemma is already 8 months old. She is so incredibly smart and strong and it's already getting harder to keep up with her every day! Not to mention (and as you can see from the previous posts) her personality and temperament are really "shining" through...

At 8 months, she can:

• Weight: 18 lb 7 oz!!!!! 
• Length: 27 inches
• Wave bye-bye.
• Pull to standing from a sitting position.
• Extremely mobile (and fast!) even though she hasn't yet mastered the proper way of crawling.
• Knows "umma" (mom), "appa" (dad), and "harmony" (grandma) and will look at the said person. Oh and she knows "Reggie" too.
• Nurses four times a day and eats three meals. 
• Can drink from a cup all on her own.
• Loves any kind of fruit and favorite veggies include: yam, green beans, cauliflower, squash.
• Loves to feed herself, whether it's finger foods or just grabbing the spoon out of my hand.
• Loves books and being read to. 
• Very talkative - bababababa and sometimes it sounds like she is saying "appa" (dad), which gets Jesse terribly excited.
• Likes to open and close cupboard doors (we're gonna do more childproofing tomorrow).
• Hates hats and sunglasses - any advice on this?
• Favorite toy at the moment - a can of gingerale.

She is very attached to me and will whine if she sees me leave the room, even if someone else is with her. I'm going back to work in 2 months and I wonder how we'll do...

...Sigh...

The last few times I've gone to a social "thing" with Gemma, she has been very difficult. She usually enjoys things like Baby & Me and playdates, but lately I spend 80% of the time or more just trying to shush her because she is whining and screaming. She will sit and play for a minute or two, sometimes only a few seconds, and will start to cry for no reason. Things would be easier if I could quiet her down by just holding her, but that doesn't always work either. It's getting to be embarrassing and even though most of the moms I see have known Gemma for a long time, it doesn't make it any less mortifying. 

All the other babies are so mellow; they are happy to just sit, lie, roll, whatever. They don't need constant attention and are fascinated with just the toys or each other. If they're tired, they'll just fall asleep in their moms' arms, but most of them can stay awake and be just fine the entire time. So if these babies can, why can't Gemma? 

I have to admit, today when I got home, I was really frustrated with her. Even angry. I let her scream it out while I went to wash my hands and then nursed her and then let her play in her exersaucer while I sat in another room. Ten minutes later I came out, cooled down, and asked her for a kiss and she gave me one on the lips. I can't stay mad at that, can I? 

When we're at home, MOST of the time she is fine. I think she is getting some of Jesse's personality in that she likes to stay home, but getting my personality in the way she shows her unhappiness. What a combo. 

Of course the other moms are super nice and tell me they don't even notice her screaming, but I feel bad every time they have to speak over her screams or stop talking because of her screaming. Nonetheless, I'm very lucky these women are so forgiving...

Heritage Festival

Every August long weekend, Edmonton hosts its heritage festival at Hawrelak Park. For those of you who don't know, it's basically 50 different nationalities who each put up a tent and serve the food of their culture and show off arts, crafts, and performance art. It's a great chance to get to know other cultures better and get a taste of different foods. 

Jesse and I LOVE the heritage festival and we try to go every year. Unfortunately it didn't work out the last 2 years, but we were determined to go this year and so we did. I was nervous about how Gemma would do, but she ended up sleeping in the stroller for about an hour while we walked around, which was a huge surprise. It was extremely hot and I got sunburnt despite the SPF 55 sunscreen I was wearing.

For food, we had Indian (which I am not normally fond of, but it was delicious!), Korean hotteok (mmm...), Chilean cheese empanada, Croatian donut (which is just basically a giant slab of fried dough covered in icing sugar and DELICIOUS), a mango slushy drink, and a "refreshing" pineapple drink. 

As for Gemma, even while she was awake she didn't seem too interested in her surroundings. We stood and watched the Aboriginal dance, which was incredible to watch, but Gemma couldn't care less. 

We also stayed in a hotel, which was Gemma's first time, and while it went better than expected, it was still rough and I don't think we'll do that again for awhile. 

Now we can rest up today and catch up on some ZZZs.