Angelica Rocks!

As promised, here's the video of our little Angelica almost crawling! She's been doing this for probably about a week now (so starting at 4 1/2 months). She gets up on all fours and rocks and then throws herself forward, like you see at the very end of the video. Also, at the end, I promise she doesn't fall off the bed. She still had about a foot to go, she was just too close for my comfort!

Isn't this just crazy? The pediatrician, the ladies at her daycare, other moms, all tell me that this is way ahead of what she is supposed to be doing, and I am just in awe of her!

The solid food eating is going well too. I haven't mentioned much about it lately, but she hasn't found much of anything she won't eat. She's had rice cereal, applesauce, bananas, sweet potatoes and carrots so far, and scarfed them down like nobody's business. She also likes to "feed herself", which consists of me putting food on the spoon, then handing it to her and she shoves it in her mouth.

Solids = big mess though. This morning she got a rice cereal/banana mixture followed by a bath...she was a MESS. So was I. So was the floor. So was her bumbo seat. I think it may be time to get a high chair :)

Angelica roots for the Rays!

As if there were any doubt which team Angelica wanted to win the world series (given who her father is and all), this footie sleeper she wore to bed tonight should be a dead giveaway! The game was on a little bit later than she's allowed to stay up, but she still showed some Rays solidarity by wearing this sleeper to bed tonight. Isn't she cute? (Forgive the off color and lighting - the picture was kind of impromptu, taken in her bedroom between fussies...she was tired!)

So much craziness is going on with her these days, in the way of growth and development. I picked her up from daycare today, and she was in the jumperoo, just jumping and jumping away. That's a new one. She used to just sit there and kind of dangle. She's also ::thisclose:: to crawling now! She gets up on all fours and rocks and rocks, and sometimes she'll just rear back and fling herself forward, and land on her face a few inches in front of where she started. She also rolls around and pushes herself like an inchworm to get where she's going. Silly girl, I love it!

Sitting is also coming along very nicely. She's almost sitting unassisted. I'm thinking it'll just be another week or so and she'll just be sitting up on her own.

They grow too quickly, but I'm still so proud!

Angelica's trip to the park...plus new tricks!

Two great things to report from this weekend!

First and foremost...this is adorable and kills me every time she does it...Angelica makes raspberries now! This started a few days ago, but now she is full-on, sticking her tongue WAY out and making raspberries at us. I'm guessing she does this because I used to do it to her all the time to get her to smile. She must think it's some form of primitive communication. It is HILARIOUS though, especially since she is so blatant and deliberate when she does it.

Also, this weekend she discovered that she has hair! She is fascinated by this discovery. Whenever she's reclined and getting a bottle, she always has one hand on the bottle and the other on the top of her head, just playing with her hair. It's super cute!

So, those are her two new milestones. She's also doing incredibly well with the solids. She even grabs the spoon away from me and puts it in her own mouth. I guess I don't do it right. :)

Here are some pictures to enjoy from this weekend. We took a trip this afternoon to Lake Eola park with my sister, brother in law, and their kids. Here are a few shots to enjoy of Miss Angelica taking in an afternoon at the park!

Angelica eats solids!

I can't believe I forgot to mention this yet!

These pictures are from this past Saturday...we had tried rice cereal a few days before this and she hated it, so we tried bananas instead...

Before Bananas:



After Bananas:


So, she kept that bite in her mouth and swallowed. And that was about it.

Fast forward to today...I sent her to school with a mixture of the rice cereal and bananas, and lo and behold, she ate every bite! Wow! So when I got home, I tried it again because I had to see it for myself, and sure enough, she scarfed it down! She got incredibly sticky and messy in the process, and I wish I had pictures of it but I don't, because after she got covered in sticky bananacerealness, it was time for a bath.

But...yay for my little girl and her munchie munchie of the cerealbananas!

Angelica's neurologist appointment recap, plus, she's sitting assisted!

Lots of good stuff all around today! Most importantly, the appointment with the neurologist went very well. The cyst is benign and doesn't even require surgery. The doctor said it will likely go away on its own within the next six months. We'll have a follow-up appointment in April to just make sure it's gone away. That's really exciting news, and such a relief!

In other good news, our little girl is making more progress in the mobility department. If you look to the right here, you'll notice she's sitting up! She can sit up for pretty much an indefinite period of time now as long as she has the Boppy pillow around her. It's so exciting, I'm so proud of my little lady!

That was today's good news. The rest of the day I spent with my very fussy baby girl. She did cheer up toward the end of the day though and we had a good time playing and singing songs. I miss days like these, which we had all the time when I was on leave. My daughter is truly a wonderful little girl and I'm still amazed at how much I love her.

An aside from my normal routine...

I'm going to break from my normal posting routine to pay tribute to a mommyblogger on my blogroll whose story has inspired and moved me, and who is going through just about the worst time that a mother could ever go through...

This mother, Stacy (http://sgirl79.blogspot.com/), delivered her son Isaac this morning - he had a condition that was incompatible with life. She and her husband were able to spend 16 wonderful minutes with Isaac before he passed on. Her story, her strength in her faith and courage is genuinely moving. I can honestly say that I don't think I could have been half as brave as she was had I been in her shoes, and I really admire her for giving all that she could to her son.

So, if you have a moment today, if you could, send them some prayers or wishes for strength to get through this difficult time.

Angelica's neuro appointment is scheduled

What an eventful day in the world of Angelica...

I mentioned in the previous blog that it was difficult to get her appointment with the pediatric neurosurgeon. They wouldn't even talk to me without her records being faxed over.

All total, it took SEVEN phone calls and three voicemails to get it accomplished. Why on earth it should ever take seven phone calls, two voicemails, and over 24 hours to simply schedule an appointment is beyond me (and believe me if the lady who finally called back hadn't been so nice, I'd have had words for her...I was seeing red at that point. What if it was urgent??)

Anyway, she's scheduled for October 14th at 11 am. So that's when we'll get to have her cyst looked at and diagnosed. Scary.

She didn't do so well with the shots this time around, either. Yesterday was a complete wash...I was trying to work from home but eventually gave up until she went to bed for the evening, and then spent all night getting caught up. Poor thing was just so fussy and refused to let me put her down...she only napped for an hour. I even tried putting her in her bouncy seat right next to me so she could see me, but it wasn't good enough.

We did have a good hour somewhere in the late afternoon where she was just full of giggles. It started with me poking her nose, and she just burst out laughing. After that stopped being funny, we played peek-a-boo, then that got old...then I tried making her toys disappear (holding it up to her then hiding it behind my back)...she found that hilarious...then when that got old, I took to doing what my nephew used to love...scaring the beejezus out of her by yelling "boo"...she'd startle and squeal and then start laughing like crazy. It was the most I've ever heard her laugh, and it was great.

Once that got old, it was back to crying her little heart out.

Today it was just full-on fuss from morning to night. She woke up angry, then got dropped off at daycare, and the moment I sat her down she started not just crying, but screaming until she choked and had big, huge, fat tears just streaming down her face (also something new). Donna from daycare called later on to tell me she was running a fever...poor thing. She took a long nap and the fever was gone by the time I picked her up, but she was still unhappy tonight.

I did actually get her to smile for a bit, and put her favorite toy in her hands (a Baby Einstein caterpillar rattle). She was thrilled with that for about five minutes, until she got overexcited and hit herself in the head with it really hard. Then the screaming started again...big fat tears and all.


(Angelica and the rattle, before she hit herself on the head with it.)

She's doing the sweetest thing the past few days though...when she gets upset she'll look at me and reach for me. The first time she did it, I thought it was a coincidence, but she does it all the time now.

On that note, I've had a headache pretty much all day (thanks to playing phone tag with doctors and having a sick, cranky child) so I'm going to go to bed now. (This also explains why this post is somewhat inarticulate and rambly...to tired/sore to think.)

Angelica's 4 Month Checkup!

As promised, here's the update from Angelica's checkup today!

In good news, she's still falling right along her growth curve. She was 13 pounds, 6 ounces (50th percentile), 25 inches (80th percentile) and had a 16 inch head (50th percentile). So she's still tall and skinny with an average sized head.

The doctor was amazed at her development so far. She was very impressed by how well she holds her head up and can flip herself over...she said she'd never seen a baby do that well at only 4 months. (Little does she know, Angelica's been doing that for about a month...my girly's always gonna be ahead of the curve physically it seems).

She got her vaccinations and cracked the nurse up afterward by shooting her a dirty look. The nurse said she doesn't usually get dirty looks like that from kids until their 12 month shots.

In bad news...about a week ago, one of the daycare people noticed one of her eyes was a little swollen. I checked it out and noticed that she had a tiny lump just below her eyebrow. I asked the pediatrician about it today and she checked it out and says it seems to be a cyst...she thinks it's probably benign (she said not to worry about it being cancer or anything because it's not), but referred us to a pediatric neurosurgeon to have it checked out nevertheless. Her vision is fine, and she said it's probably on the bone and not on the eye, but if it grows it could compromise her vision. So, I've been trying to call and schedule an appointment with the place they referred us to today but I've been getting a runaround. Who knew it'd be so hard just to schedule an appointment??

Anyway, that's the update for now! She's finally sleeping after fussing pretty much all morning and early afternoon, and I'm finally getting to eat something. And now I'm going to go do some work.

Angelica is four months old today!

She's four months old today, and look how pretty! Forgive the fuzziness of these photos - I was having some camera/lighting/squirmy child issues.

We've got our four month checkup tomorrow, so stay tuned for a weight/length update and tales of the four month vaccinations. Yikes.

Here's a few more photo for your enjoyment, in the tradition of the monthly photo style...