Merry Christmas Anna

Anna enjoyed her first Christmas. It was full of family and friends and of course, presents. The bad part was there was lots of traveling which is not her favorite thing to do. Santa Clause brought her a high chair which she loves to sit in and watch everyone.

She had her 4 month appointment this week. She weighed in at 10 pounds 3 ounces. She remains at the 3rd percentile but is growing.

I feel so blessed this holiday season to have Anna here to celebrate with us.

Our happy baby

I thought I'd make a rare appearance on this blog, since Jessica's been tied up at work with the worst possible combination of nursing home survey and county budgets.
We're seeing a whole new side of Anna lately: Happy. On a hunch by Jessica, we tried a different type of formula to see if it'd help with Anna's grumpiness and intestinal upheaval. It worked pretty well.
Now we're trying a soy-based formula. The results are even better. While we still have our occasional battles with her between 5 and 10 p.m., she's generally much happier. She's smiling at us. She's giving us these looks that make you proud to be a parent.
Jessica and I have come to grips with certain parallels between our two youngest and ourselves: Jill and I are very similar, in temperament, facial expressions and even our love for milk.
Anna and Jessica are very similar, in temperament, facial expressions and even their disdain for milk.
Thanks for the continued prayers and well-wishes. I hardly go through a week without someone asking me how Anna's faring. I truly believe the power of prayer and well-wishing helped bring her to the point she is now: A fussy 3-month-old, just like she's supposed to be.

Smilling Big at 2 Months

Anna continues to do very well. She is eating 5-6 ounces at a time and is growing really fast. She weighs almost 8 pounds. All of her recent test have come back normal. Fortunately Anna has survived the begin part of the cold season. Everyone else in our home has had some cold symptoms, but Anna is doing well. On Friday of this week, Anna will get her first dose of a medication to help prevent RSV. This medication is only available to high risk babies. It was shipped to our home and has to be given by a home health nurse. She will continue to get this medication throughout the winter every 28 days. We return to her Pediatrician in 2weeks for another well check-up.

This is my last week of maternity leave. Anna starts day care on Monday morning. I have tried to prepare myself. I have all of her stuff labeled and ready to go. Emotionally I have tried to prepare myself to leave her. I know that it will be difficult but it also a fact that I need to work and that I enjoy my career.