22 March 2014

20 March 2014

Otso's 5th Month

Summary
Otso is a cheerful little guy and we like him very much. He is becoming more interactive all the time, which makes him more fun.

Events
20.2 first swim
23.2 Silver Springs
28.2 flight to NYC, visit with Nikki and Uncle Dudu and Nova
2.3 - 3.3 trip home to Norway
8.3 first "solid" food
10.3 first roll from belly to back

Play / Development
He loves to grab people's hands and stuff them in his mouth to chew on. He was great on the flights, and even slept through a flight attendant spilling warm coffee on him.
He enjoys anything with crinkle paper, and loves chewing on Sophie the Giraffe. He also will grab at books when they are read to him.
11.3 almost complete roll from back to belly, a day after going the other way for the first time.

Eating
He is pretty efficient at eating, though he is now able to be distracted by loud noises. We are now trying out the nursing cover borrowed from Nikki.
8.3 we decided it was a fun afternoon activity to try to feed otso. we started with an apple-raspberry puree from nestle. he seemed surprised that we were putting something in his mouth but he was able to process some of it. lumi fed him a couple of spoonfuls herself. we gave him about 6 tiny bites, and froze the rest to try again later.
We tried rice porridge on 15.3, and are trying spoon feeding about every other day.

Sleeping
He is now ready for a regular bedtime schedule, instead of just napping until we go to bed. We started this program the first week of March: around when Lumi goes to bed (about 19:30) we change him to pajamas and read a little book. Then he nurses in bed and I sing a little song. So far he has stayed asleep with this for maybe 30 minutes before crying again. At that point, we try to nurse and sing again, and continue this cycle until it's time for us to go to bed.
He is not easy to get to sleep at night, but after midnight he is a great sleeper through most of the morning. He will wake up to nurse and smile at everyone, but then go back to sleep if we let him.
On 7.3, we started trying to really put him in the co-sleeper crib instead of simply in the bed with äiti. He has a lambskin, with another cloth under his head, and then on top is Lumi's old baby comforter from the maternity package from Finland. He is not a fan of this arrangement and prefers to be in the big bed.

Health
In NYC he picked up a bit of a cold and was stuffy on the trip home.
He also has a little spot on his belly that looks a bit like a bug bite, but it has been there since we were in Atlanta. I took him to the helsestasjon on 10.3 but the nurse wasn't sure what it was. She said to keep an eye on it and if I was concerned I could go to our doctor. I'm not too concerned yet.

Stats
He is still growing rapidly, and at the beginning of the month was fitting into a size 80 body quite well (that's a 12 month onesie). His torso is long, so he was only in a 68 or 74 pant.
At the end of the month, he is pushing the limit on the size 80 (they need the extender to fit over the cloth diapers) and he is in a 74 or 80 pant.
On 10.3, was 8.025 kg.

17 March 2014

Clothes for a long baby

I found a onesie in our collection that fits without the extender thing, and I can snap it closed over a cloth diaper. The size? 18 months.

I am surprised and proud.

03 March 2014

Lumi: 3 years and 1 month

Summary
We spent this entire month in the US visiting friends and family. It was great to have that kind of time with everyone, and Lumi seemed to really enjoy it.

Events
3.2 sushi lunch, Monkey Joe's playroom, arm break
4.2 cast put on
8.2 flight to Atlanta
14.2 party at Kathy Rudolf's house - she had a great time playing with Hadley
15.2 Isä arrives in Atlanta
17.2 Georgia Aquarium with Susie Cone and grandma - a great time for everyone!
18.2 flight to Orlando
23.2 Silver Springs and glass-bottom boat
24.2 swimming in big pool, with inner tube "by herself"
26.2 root beer at World of Beer
28.2 flight to NYC, visit with Nikki and Uncle Dudu and Nova
2.3 - 3.3 trip home to Norway

Food
I had expected her to start eating ketchup in Indy, but she still doesn't eat sauce.
She has eaten pizza happily, and all kinds of new junk food in the US.


Language
We are having a "language bath" in the US, and it was difficult to start speaking (but understanding didn't seem to be a problem) Finnish again when Isä arrived.

Learning


Toys, Games, what have you
She is loving all the playtime in Indy. Lots of kids, which is great. She calls them all "friends". Samari also introduced her to sword toys, which she liked.
In Atlanta, Grandma has been reading a lot of books, but she also saw her first movies: Brave and then the Lion King.
In Florida she watched a lot of Mickey Mouse and Doc McStuffins on the tv, as well as the movie Finding Nemo.

Health
She had a runny nose in Indy.
On her birthday, we went to Monkey Joe's, a play place with lots of bouncy slides. She was having a great time sliding with Sophie when she bounced off a bumpy slide and fell on her arm. At first we didn't notice and in fact she went again on the slide before Troy brought her to me because she was still crying. I thought she hurt her face and was helping her put cold water on it when I heard her say "my arm" and then we looked down and saw that it was at a funny angle.
Des called the family while the staff got us some ice (which lumi rejected). We decided to not go directly to the hospital and Uncle John met us back at the house. John recommended to go to Urgent Care for an x-ray. Zac had gotten us an appointment with his friend (a pediatric orthopedic doctor) the next day, so we just needed the x-ray. Des took us to Urgent Care and we waited for 2 hours but the doctor there said he wouldn't do anything and we needed to go to the ER. They said that if they did the x-ray they would be required to treat her, so they wouldn't do it. We were quite irritated and decided that since it was already late and we had an appointment the next day that we should just go home. The nurse wrapped up her arm in an ace bandage (which didn't do much at all).
All the family was upset about this, and Zac asked his friend Dr. Bill Bean to come over. Dr. Bean had just finished a whole shift at the ER but he nonetheless stopped by and put a proper splint on lumi's arm. She was happier and so were we. Lumi watched TV throughout the splinting and the Doc McStuffins episode that happened to be on was about splinting a broken arm, which was great and a little creepy.
The next day Zac picked Lumi and me up and took us to Peyton Manning Children's Hospital. We registered and did the x-ray. Then we went to breakfast with Zac while we waited for his friend Dr. John Wilhite to come out of the operating room. Troy came to meet us with Otso and Zoe after he dropped Samari off at school. Eventually Dr. Wilhite came. He looked at the x-ray and showed us that her radius was broken and the ulna had a
plastic deformation. He said that with a growing child, the plastic deformation will simply correct itself and straighten over time. He put the cast on (waterproof because they can use goretex wrapping instead of gauze) and straightened her arm as the cast was drying. This hurt, and Lumi cried and cried but still patiently held her arm out. It was hard to watch, much harder than anything else. She chose the color green for her cast. It was "off the books". He said to walk out and don't "check out" and if someone said anything to just keep walking. It was a new experience for Troy and me.
We had a good experience overall and Lumi was quite calm and brave. She held her Doc McStuffins toy (a gift from the Herringtons) tightly throughout. I am so grateful to Des and John and Zac and their doctor friends for taking care of Lumi. Knowing that they were handling everything helped me to be calm and just concentrate on Lumi, and I think that calmness helped Lumi to stay calm too. 

She is moving around well despite the cast, and since it is waterproof she can swim and bathe easily.

Stats
?

Random
She saw the eagle in her US passport and said "mine has a flamingo!"

bear in my sweater