Commando crawling is her specialty right now.  She gets up real good on her hands and knees, then bobbles and wobbles and falls to her belly.  That doesn’t stop her though ….   off she goes!    Such a big girl!

Mommy is so proud of my wee baby commando crawler.

In a failed attempt to block her from the kitchen and office area, we used our storage boxes as a room divider.  It worked for a bit, but for the grown ups in the house it was a bummer to keep hurdling over these road blocks!   I pushed a couple boxes apart,  just wide enough to get my legs through and I thought I was being a clever mom in doing so.

Well she found that opening straight away and made a dash for it.   She was like a kitty cat squeezing through a too small of a space, but she made it through!  Bad mommy for laughing at her, it was just too cute to see her squirm her way through the opening!

My

wee

baby

girl

is

not

so

wee

anymore.

Time

to

buy

a

safe

play

area.

Mariella is a fantastic explorer! She pokes her fingers into tiny crevasses, including my nostrils.  She decided to explore the underside of her activity center.  Again and again and again.  She got stuck the first time and I thought she wouldn’t go back.  I think it was a challenge for her, something for her to conquer.  And conquer she did!  She is a daring and happy Wee Baby Explorer!

It is time to put this semi-mobile baby in a confined space!  lol just teasing.  I did search for something fun and colorful for her to play in and not feel confined to a small space.  I found the playzone and bought two of them.  They are colorful and plastic and fun and she just loves it so much!

The first time she saw it, I sat her in the middle of it and she just looked around smiling.   Probably saying thank you Mommy and Daddy for giving me a safe play area to roam around in!   She is totally welcome too, it was time for something besides boxes!

Mommy ~ “Here you go Mariella!”

Wee Baby ~ “Now what Mommy?”

Don’t worry, I didn’t just let her fend for herself!  I filled the playzone up with toys and trinkets and we both played for the rest of the afternoon.

Below is a slide show of some picture through out the last couple weeks.  Visit the flicker album if you want to leave individual photo comments.

February 4, 2010

I knew babies with colic were fussy.  I knew they were uncomfortable.  I knew they cried a lot.  But I was not prepared for this!

Thursday my DH came home and watched Wee Baby so I can go to the gym (in the apartment complex) and have a little me time.   I was on the elliptical when he cam running in saying “somethings wrong!” I ran to see what was happening, my husband said she started screaming after a diaper change.  I heard her screaming and immediatly got worried.  She had never made such a ruckus before…

She was screaming.  Arching he back. Couldn’t catch her breath.  Lips were completely dry.  Arms and legs flailed about.  Her face was red.  She was stiff like a board.  She wouldn’t look at me… it was absolutely the most frightening thing ever…

My husband in on the phone with a nurse, and I said lets go to the ER, and the nusrse on the phone said not to because she was not blue and could still breath. She said to bring her to urgent care and off we went.

She calmed down on the way there, and started up again when the nurse weighed her…     after all is said and done, the Doctor said it was colic.   I couldn’t believe it…  I thought she was going to scream her self silly…    It was so traumatic to me…    it was so scary I didn’t want to change her diaper in fear she would have another fit.

I just wanted to say to the parents who have a sweet baby with colic, that I love you and your babies!  And I pray all the discomfort in these babies are resolved sooner than later.  It broke my heart to see her inconsolable, and I suspect if you are a mom/dad with a colicky baby it breaks your heart too.  So much love and respect to these parents..  being patient, loving and nurturing to your baby in their times of discomfort.

The picture was taken the night before….  who knew she would have such a hard night the next day.   I hope she never has to go through that again.

Well…  scared to use the mist too..   I let a couple days go by since it wasn’t affecting her, I just thought she would sneeze it out or something.  (which she did once before)

mistake, yeah I know

It is morning… 9ish…  I am holding Wee Baby in the kitchen heating up a bottle.   It is quiet and we just woke up.  The bottle is almost done, I open the kitchen drawer to get a towel so I can wipe the steam off the bottle.  I grab the towel as I was talking to Mariella, “good morning sugar poo!” ” did you have a good nap?”   She went to talk and make some morning ohhs and ahhhs and as she did, some snotty stuff must have went in her throat.   She did an eyes closed – noses scrunched – mouth open – gaggy thing – and she didn’t take a breath.    My immediate response was to reach for the saline mist to squirt up there to loosen the snot so she could swallow it or cough it up..   ?  As I reached for the saline mist, I closed the kitchen drawer with my hip, I caught her little foot it the drawer.  So now she can’t breath and she is flailing her arms and legs all over the place because her mommy hurt her foot and she still needs to swallow or cough up a lump of snot.

I have the mist, pop off the clear top and do you see that little white top??  I tried to remove it too.  I pulled… I pinched…  I grabbed a steak knife and tried to slice it off..  Mariella is still jerking and flailing all over the place…  “damn this plastic is thick” one handed, trying to use a knife, too risky, I got halfway through the cap..  it is now jagged and sliced up.   “this is f**king ridiculous!”  I throw the knife across the counter…  back to the towel drawer to get the scissors… I chopped the tip off with the scissors.

Finally I got the damn cap off!!!

Freaked out, scared, using saline for the first time ever (for myself or baby) I give the bottle a test squirt.   I pressed the trigger and saline shot up and hit the ceiling! “OH MY GOD What the hell?  this is not right! Saline mist MY ASS!” arghhhhhhhhhh  helppppppppppppppp    meeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

I have some saline drops in her bedroom….   so I run down the hallway to her room…  laid her on her changing table…  and successfully put a few drops in each nostril.  By this time, I think all the flailing and jerking movements from me running down the hallway knocked the snot down and out of the way.   She was happy and content laying there, and I was in tears from all the terror and chaos of the last 60 seconds.

You probably already know that there is no “white cap” on the saline mist bottle.  The way you see it is the way it is supposed to be.   In my panic, I thought I had to cut the top off to release the saline solution.  You know, like cutting the tip off of a tube of super glue, or a rubber silicon tube.   My brain just thought, get the white cap off so the spray will come out!

I can laugh now!  So can Pat, he nearly busted a gut when he came home and pressed the trigger on the saline mist bottle and saw the saline shoot up 6 feet.

Pat wasn’t scared ~ he didn’t feel weird or awkward at all!  Look how natural he looks sitting there with his pillows and mat!

We learned lots  of good stuff!  From anatomy and vocabulary. Labor and Delivery. Stages of Labor and birth. Tips for a better labor.  Coping Techniques. and More.  :-)  We go again this Saturday and Sunday for part 2 and 3.   Looking forward to it!

Wednesday night, I was sitting at the table reading throught the information I received from the class….   and I got my first wave of nervousness that went through my body…  my teeth got numb and butterflies were in my tummy.    Baby is coming soon!

Right now, my body is releasing hormones that soften the cartilage of my body, especially the pubic bone that is in front of my pelvis.  Because my pelvis will expand 1 to 1 1/2 cms to help Wee Baby get out of there!  I am a little more clumsy and when I do something silly, I tell Pat, “Sorry it’s my loose joints!”  lol  yeah…    I am blaming a lot on my loose joints right now!  heheheeee