4 Month Check Up and Our First Shots! (and mommy survived!)

Today was Nicolette's 4 month check up...baby girl is still "long and lean" - up to 13lbs 14 1/2oz (38th percentile) and 26 inches long (94th percentile) :)  The doctor said not to be surprised if people say that she's a little baby but that she really isn't.  She's obviously "big" height-wise.  I did ask if she was healthy since her weight was below 50th percentile and she said, "Oh my goodness, yes.  Her rolls are BEAUTIFUL!"  Ahhhhh, if only it were still beautiful to have rolls at the age of 35.  :)  

*The Italian was convinced that we're going to have a 7 foot tall daughter so out of curiosity I looked back in my baby book and I was 26 1/4" at my 4 month check up, so she's about on the same pace as her mama was at her age.   

Mommy was super nervous about this appointment because we've chosen to go with a delayed vaccination schedule along with our Doctor's guidance and today was the first of the vaccines.  The Italian was traveling for work so I was going through this alone...or so I thought.  About 10 minutes after we checked in and were still in the waiting room guess who walked through the door???  DADDY!  I literally had tears in my eyes when he walked in.  We got to the end of the appointment (i.e. time for the "shot") and Nicolette was totally passing out asleep in my arms.  I felt so guilty knowing what she was getting ready to endure.  The nurse prepped the area and went ahead and had the bandaid placed on her chubby little leg and said "One, two, three..." and in the needle went.  It didn't take long for it to register with Nicolette...her little face turned red and out came the bottom lip.  She looked at me like, "You TRAITOR!".  As soon as the nurse pulled the needle out, I popped Nicolette on to nurse and she immediately forgot all about it.  She whimpered a little bit when I put her back in her carseat but was fast asleep by the time we pulled out of the parking lot.  

I know that people have a LOT of opinions about vaccinations and I hope that we can agree to disagree when it comes to this topic.  I'll certainly respect the opinions and choices of those who choose to follow the proposed schedule and hope that I'll be given the same respect.  I would encourage EVERYONE to do their own research on the topic and to research BOTH sides of the matter so that as a parent you can feel confident that you are making an INFORMED decision.  I literally spent 7-8 months researching vaccinations and talking to parents who have vaccinated per schedule, parents who are not vaccinating at all and parents going with the delayed schedule.  Some books that were helpful to me were: 

"What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children's Vaccinations" Dr. Stephanie Cave

"The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for your Child" Dr. Robert Sears

Knowledge is power - you shouldn't just blindly trust the medical industry...remember that it is a business as well and there are BIG BUCKS being made by these vaccines so that has to be taken into account as well.  There...off my soap box now.  

This week I started trying to work harder at getting Nicolette to nap on her own.  I was able to get her down for 3 naps on her own yesterday for about 30 minutes each.  The doctor said that we could/should work towards 2 naps per day.  I'm not sure exactly how to make that happen but we'll see.    Any tips would be appreciated.  Nicolette currently naps 4-5 times per day anywhere from 20-30 minutes (on her own) up to 2 hours (if she's on me).  The goal is to get her napping longer on her own. She currently goes to bed between 7 and 8 at night and sleeps until around 7 in the morning.  As I mentioned earlier, we bed share so she'll fuss maybe twice per night and I'll feed her and she goes right back out.  Hoping to be able to cut out the night time fussing/feeding over the next few months as well. The doctor thinks that getting better with the naps will help with that. 

Nicolette "found her feet" this weekend.  It's so cute how she grabs her toes, especially at diaper changing time now!  She hasn't really gotten them into her mouth yet but was really working on it yesterday :)  

She is a PRO at rolling from her back to her belly!  I can't leave her on her back for more than a minute before she's already flipped onto her tummy!  But somehow in the meantime she's forgotten how to roll from her belly to her back.  So she'll be on her tummy "playing" for 10 minutes or so and then all of a sudden go all "Hulk" on me.  When she's finished, she is FINISHED!  

We've also started using the Exersaucer and she LOVES it!!!!  This girl has loved standing since she was a month old so now to be able to "stand" on her own in the Exersaucer she's in heaven!  The Exersaucer has a mirror on it and she REALLY loves staring at that beautiful baby in the mirror.  Every time we look in a mirror she smiles and I tell her to look at that pretty baby in the mirror....that baby must really like us because she follows us everywhere!  All over the house, to Gramma and Grampa's, in the car...she was even at the doctor's office today :)  Speaking of that pretty baby....here are a few photos from the past week!

These eyes!  I can't get enough of them!!!

Enjoying a cat nap with daddy

Just playin' my piano 

Celebrating Grampa's birthday this week!

Looking Back - Month 3 in Review

Gosh...I feel so behind and have totally neglected updating my blog...I know many or you could care less but this has also been serving as my digital baby book until I have time to sit down and update that.   It's been difficult to keep up online because my stupid MacBookPro has some sort of a glitzch where the screen slowly fades to white shortly after being turned on and no amount of shutting down and restarting seems to fix it...very annoying (and of course when I took it to the Apple store it wasn't acting up at all and the only thing they could tell me was to ship it off to the magical Apple store repair facility which costs $250 or $300 just to have it looked it). Oh well...if anyone has any tips on how to remedy that little problem please let me know.  In the meantime I'm stuck working on the laptop in very short intervals...most of the time I only have 5 minutes or so before the stupid white screen appears...#firstworldproblems

Anyway on to more important topics... Nicolette's third month has been a whirlwind.  At the end of month 2 Nicolette had started rolling from her tummy to her back.  And before the end of month 3 (on Halloween actually!) Nicolette was rolling from her back to her tummy...now I had no idea what might me a normal timeframe for that to happen but when I looked it up online most sites said that it would be month 5 or 6 before a baby starts rolling from back to tummy so my child of course has superhuman strength and is an absolute genius. Apparently it takes much more back and neck strength to roll that way.  We're not surprised in the least since Nicolette popped her sweet head straight up to look at me as soon as they placed her on my chest.  She's always been really strong and was never a "floppy baby" like most newborns are.  Daddy is very proud of how strong his little girl is.  He still tells people that her heartbeat was like something out of the movie "Gattaca" throughout the delivery (you have to have seen the movie to get the reference.  Her heartbeat was like a metronome, never sped up or slowed down.  The nurses were amazed!). 

Anyway, I digress...month 3 also brought lots of chatter.  Nicolette talks to us all the time now.  I love how animated her little face is while she's talking...she clearly has some very important and interesting things to say!  We've joined a local playgroup and have been getting more involved in weekly activities.  Once a week we go walk the Greenway with other mommies and babies.  We had to move our walk indoors to the mall one time due to rain.  Here's a pic of Nicolette and her BFF Leela checking each other out after our walk that day.  

Leela and Nicolette - checking each other out

 Nicolette is getting better and better with tummy time!

 Nicolette can sit up on her own (when supported) on the couch or bed.  :)

Daddy likes to teach Nicolette to crawl...He'll lay down and put her on his belly and hold her feet and tell her to "push, Push Nicolette" and she'll muster up every bit of energy she has and she always makes it all the way up to daddy's face for a kiss!  :)  It's her new favorite game.  I'm so thankful for my husband...daddy's play with their babies in ways that mommies just don't quite match...it's very sweet to watch.

We had our first vacation as a family...a short trip to Hilton Head Island.  Daddy played in a golf tournament and mommy and Nicolette slept in every day and went for nice long walks!  Nicolette also had her first little cold while we were in HHI.  Just some sniffles, a runny nose and the most pitiful little cough.  Her temp was about one degree higher than usual and she was pretty cranky for about the first 12 hours we were there but she healed up real quick!  I dread the first time she's really sick...those little sniffles and cough nearly broke my heart. (note to self...Nicolette HATES the bulb syringe...Screaming. Bloody. Murder). 

Chillin' poolside with mommy after one of our walks

Our sweet family on the beach

Lunch by the pool with mommy and daddy

Nicolette big pimpin' in her suite at Hilton Head

First time in a big girl stroller (i.e. the umbrella stroller)

During Month 2 Nicolette had discovered her hands and loved rubbing them together (she looked like a precious little evil genius wringing her hands together :) and while we were in Hilton Head Nicolette also started realizing that her hands could be used to pick up stuff...namely mommy's hair and her toys!  It was so fun to watch how quickly she realized that she could pick up a toy and shake it around!  Her hand eye coordination was still a little off so we had a few occasions where she'd bang her head with a toy but no tears were shed in the process.

We also went to the sweetest little pumpkin patch near our house!  I hope this will become an annual tradition for us.  They have a corn maize, hay rides and all sorts of fun little games for the kiddos.  This year we just picked out a pumpkin and didn't play but as she gets older I'm sure we'll get into all the "extras".

Our family!

Silly Nicolette

We also had a fun play date with Leela and Tiffany.  They came to our house to play and eat some delicious Bum's Rum Cake that I won in a Facebook contest.  You HAVE to check this cake out...it is PHE-NOM!  You can check out their website HERE.  I highly recommend the chocolate but all of the flavors are amazeballs!  Anywho...Leela was trying to teach Nicolette to crawl during our playdate....she didn't pick it up this go round but maybe next time!

We also went to a fun Halloween Party as a part of our mommy group.  Nicolette made a picture frame and showed off her costume.  She had so much fun that she was a bit of a cranky pants when it was time to get back into the car seat to go home...

Month 3 also included Halloween!  We were dressed as characters from Petere Pan.  The Italian was a dashing Peter Pan, mommy was Wendy and Nicolette was a sweet little Tinkerbell.  We had a few friends over for a Trick or Treating party...our neighborhood is usually PACKED with Trick or Treaters but the traffic was way down this year...I was a little bummed cause I really like seeing all the kiddos dressed up for Halloween...stupid Wednesday night Halloween...I still say that Halloween should always be the last Saturday in October...kinda like how Thanksgiving is always the fourth Thursday in November...not sure who I need to talk to about that...I've already got our costumes planned for 2013...now just have to make sure the Italian buys in and we'll have to celebrate with the Sayeghs again because I know they're guaranteed to dress up and play with us!  

Daddy (Peter Pan), Mommy (Wendy) & Nicolette (Tinkerbell)

Our buddies, The Sayegh Family...winners of best costume for 2012 - Big Bad Wolf Victor, Granny Tiffany and Little Red Leela

Leela and Nicolette - Nicolette had something very important to say, apparently)

Come on Nicolette, give us a smile!

So here we are in the month of November and time is flying by more quickly than I ever could have imagined.  I'm really enjoying every second of motherhood and don't want to wish any of my time away.  She's my best little buddy and I love spending all my time with her!   I wouldn't have it any other way!  I LOVE MY LIFE!  

Guess who's 4 months old today!!!!

Someone's a HAPPY GIRL!  Nicolette is 4 Months old today!!!!

We started out with our Monday walk with our Mommy Group and then hung out at home together.  Nicolette kept mommy in "nap jail" for 3 hours today!!!!  Then we had our monthly photo shoot with Ellie the Elephant.  Nicolette was feeling rather photogenic and is increasing interested in Ellie...especially her ears.

Outtakes: