Standing

Yesterday G slept 14.5 hours overnight. Crazy, I know! How does she do it? Well, apparently she does it be eating her hair in the middle of the night. I've noticed hair in her diaper a few times and wondered about it but just thought that her loose hair somehow wiggled its way down into her diaper since it's often on her clothes. Then, after talking to another friend whose baby did the same thing, I figured out that she's eating it. That explains why I only see it in her poop. I know for a fact that G loves pulling on her hair. If I didn't hold her hand down while nursing, she would be pulling on it (the second I let go of her hand it springs up towards her head and grabs a little fistful and I have to pry her fingers open and say, "Don't pull your hair!"). It doesn't seem to hurt her. She also will pull my hair and E's hair if she's given the chance to. So, anyways, it doesn't seem to hurt her, so if she wants to eat her hair in the middle of the night, I can't really stop it. Funny baby!

I caught her sucking her thumb the other day when I peeked in on her sleeping, so cute!

So what's with the grabbing? G's hand dexterity has grown to open and close her fists in a pumping motion, grabbing and holding on to anything she can get her little hands on (and her hair seems like such an easy one because it's always available, it doesn't roll away after she lets go, has access even in her crib, etc.), and waving her fingers in a flicking motion (for spinning a toy on her jumper).

G's new favorite thing to do is standing. She has loved jumping and standing with us holding her. But just recently we figured out that she can actually support her own weight now. All we have to do now is hold her hands for balance. She loves it!

Coming soon... toe grabbing pics!

Mommy & Baby Problems

S is dealing with recurrent plugged ducts. It's no fun. Especially when it tends to get bad at 4-5am. We think it's related to G sleeping longer at night (common according to the lactation consultants and other mothers). S is now taking Lecithin which is supposed to help prevent them from recurring, it's apparently an emulsifier, which means it helps keep the fat from separating from the rest of the milk. That, in addition to the heat pads, massage (not the comfortable spa kind, but the hard pressure on an already sore and tender area kind), pumping, and repositioning G's latch to the affected area. We hope it works.

We also discovered this week that G has cradle cap. Apprently this is common in babies, but from talking to friends, it is even more common in babies blessed with lots of hair. Probably because you can't see the scalp from under all of it. We're giving her more frequent shampoos and combing her scalp. This picture was taken after a major combing session, the flakes were everywhere! It seems to be going away tho, it was never really severe, so we'll see over the next few days if it clears up. And just like her Mom, G's hair gets curly when wet (and also looks better after the first day), and less curly when dry.

Anatomy of a Blowout

G's bad hair day...


So G's latest thing is to have these tiny poops that are just like single little dots all day in order to give her parents one of these surprises. While S was giving G her morning breakfast, G was grunting and clenched her body and let out a big squishy noise. This is the middle layer:

This is the bottom layer:

In case you needed more details:


So after E cleaned her up and carefully peeled off her layers, we gave her a bath, S finished giving her breakfast, and E went to start her laundry. Now she is sleeping peacefully.