Baby time at library

Today Max and I headed to the library to participate in baby lap time. It was a short session filled with songs, movements, and a little bit of book reading. I think Max enjoyed it - she didn't cry at least! There were a lot of kids there. (at least 25!) The group is for ages 0-18 months. It looked like most of the kids were at least a year. The group is every Wednesday and I'm pretty sure we will attempt it again.

Mmmm carrots

Max was definitely fond of eating carrots for the first time. I'm hoping the next few times go just as well.

We are starting her on veggies first. We decided to hold off on fruit for a little while - no need to develop that sweet tooth any earlier that necessary!

New Doctor?

How do you know if you have found the right pediatrician? How many things do you "let slide" before trying to find a new one? We have had ups and downs with our current pediatrician but the office is convenient. We really want a pediatrician that's nearby, but there seems to be only a small handful of doctors in Gahanna. Below are our concerns, are we asking for too much out of the doctor?

He seems to be going thru the motions, but not really paying attention. It's almost like it's a scripted appointment. Look here, tap there, say this, etc.

He "misses" details that should be in her file. Recently we had some mishaps with the cereal she was eating. We called the office, the nurse helped us thru (after consulting a doctor) and she said all the info would be in the file for the doctors review. Granted, our doctor was out that week and a practice partner fielded the question, but the info would be there. My point here, is that during this week's appointment, he asked if she started food yet. I said yes and mentioned the problems she had. He shrugged it off and said ok. Personally, I would have thought he should have seen that info in her chart.

Another thing that started us off on the wrong foot was when the doctor showed no concern with Max's stomach problem when she was just a few weeks old. We ended up getting a second opinion. The 2nd doctor made a simple suggestion and we solved the problem immediately! I told our pediatrician the problem/solution and he said "oh, well that will do it". Seriously?!

We would love to switch to a friend of ours (from whom we got the 2nd opinion) but her practice is on the other side of town.

Any opinions? Thoughts? Are we just being silly? Are we expected to much?

6 months

Half way to a year! Max had her 6 month check-up and is doing well. She has slowed down a bit on growing. She weighs 14 lbs 10 oz and is in the 25%, which is down from the 35% she was at during her 4 month appointment. Her 25.75 inches puts her in the 50% which is down from 75%. She's tiny, but healthy. We are going to try "solid" food again this week. This should help kick start her growing.

Visiting

Today we did some visiting on the west side of town. Alex had a dentist appointment and Dr. Ford (and the staff) really wanted to see her. I have been going to Dr. Ford since before I met Alex, and he started going to her once we started dated. She's been thru a few big milestones with us so it only seemed right that she get to meet Miss Max. From there we went to our old veterinarian. Dr. Sue helped us thru a lot with Titan and we hadn't been back to her office since Max was born. Our final stop was to the old house, or at least next to it. Our neighbor, Deb, was thrilled to see us standing on her porch step. Max wasn't too thrilled with her yappy dogs but got over it quickly. All in all it was a good day. Maxalynn showed off her personality and won everybody over with her drooly grin.

Sleep little one

I need to keep reminding myself that Max is still very young and this first year is just a very short period of our lives. It has been very difficult the past month or so. About once a week we will get lucky and Max will only wake up once during the night. The rest of the week we live in reality, getting up 2 or 3 times per night. The other night, for example, she needed checked on at 11:00, 12:00, 1:00, 3:00 and 4:00. I guess the positive is that she did not wake up at 2:00 also. Most of the time we can get away with a quick check and she will be back to sleep in 5 minutes. Unfortunately it still requires us to get out of bed (...and climb the stairs, deal with the cats, get a drink of water, go to the bathroom...only to come back to a bed that has mysteriously shrunk because the other person has taken over the middle of it...) I know these days will soon pass and before we know it we will be waking up at 11:00, 12:00 and 1:00 to check to see if she made it home safely. I just hope there are a few good years of sleep between now and then.

Poor baby

Our poor little thing caught our cold. She's stuffed up and sneezing a lot. Last night was rough getting her to fall asleep. She wanted her pacifier but couldn't breathe with it in. She eventually fell asleep. She is still her cute self, but with a little extra cranky on the side.

Prayers needed

I have developed a terrible cold sore. Because Max is so cute and I simply want to eat her, I have been smooching on her (prior to the sore developing). After doing some research, I discovered that infants can get the virus before the blister even appears on "the host". The virus is passed from skin to skin, and it only takes 1 small kiss on the cheek to become infected. I have dealt with this terrible disease my entire life and I am praying Max hasn't contracted it already. I had no clue it could be spread prior to the blister appearing! I feel absolutely horrible about this situation. She may have the virus and not show symptoms for years (or ever), or she may develop a sore that will be extremely painful and potentially dangerous to the rest of her organs. This virus can be very dangerous for infants, in addition to causing problems the rest of her life. Please join me in praying that Max has not contracted the virus. Thank you.

Game of chase

Maxalynn is really starting to become fun. This weekend we discovered the game of "chase". Alex was holding her up to his shoulder so her head was looking behind him. The two of them started down the steps and I followed. I pretended to "get them" and Alex would move ahead just enough so they were out of reach. This continued down the stairs and thru out the first floor. Max was laughing so hard! She was cracking up! I then attempted to get it on video tape but couldn't quite capture the true excitement. We look forward to playing this game a lot more.