Sitting and swimming

Elise's new favorite thing is sitting. She is no longer content to lay on the floor to play and will whine until we pull her upright. While we used to pack pillows around her in case she toppled over, we no longer have to do that as long as she's not apt to bang her head into something hard. She rarely losses her balance.

The heat has finally found its way to Ohio and we've set up our baby pool. Initially, Elise wasn't convinced that she wanted to sit outside in the water even though bath time still continues to be the highlight of her day. But after playing in the pool (without water) and playing next to the pool (with water), multiple times, Nana was able to show her that swimming was fun.... especially sporting her pink swimsuit (already getting a tad small!)

We are back to having a few sleep issues....rats. Poor Elise isn't always able to sleep straight through the night, leaving mommy a bit tired again. We're working on some new techniques for Elise to comfort herself back to sleep in the middle of the night. Hopefully in a few weeks, we'll be back on track. On a side note, we're starting to grow some hair! Maybe Elise isn't sleeping well because she's dreaming of future hairstyles she wants to try out!

6 month checkup

Ahhh...we are finally (knock on wood!) sleeping through the night. Just as soon as I compiled a list of 'sleep' questions to ask the pediatrician at our 6 month visit, Miss Elise started sleeping 10-12 hours straight a night. Thank goodness! Now that she has finally mastered rolling over, she has no more worries. However, sometimes she rolls herself into the corner during the night and gets herself a bit upset. Nothing that a pacifier and a minute or two of back rubs and butt taps can't fix! I'm up and back into bed in a flash!

Our six-month checkup went wonderfully. Elise is up to 14lb 8oz (25%) in weight, 25 inches (40%) in length and 16 inches (10%) for her head circumference. Guess she just has a cute, petite head like her mom! We were given the green light to cut Elise's gastric reflux medicine in half-- so far so good and to continue on with eating a meal or two a day of food. While Elise hated her next round of vaccinations, we were pleased to learn that her developmental skills are either at or have surpassed her age (not even adjusting back for prematurity!). We are currently working on sitting unassisted. As of now, we wrap a boppy pillow around Elise in case she topples over- which she does after a few minutes or if she loses her balance.

The food eating is going well. I've been making some of my own food otherwise Elise has been eating organic baby food. So far we have eaten and enjoyed green beans, peas, carrots and squash. Yesterday, Elise polished off her first full jar of food-- yummy squash! Soon we will be adventuring to the land fruits. If we continue at the same rate, she'll love each and everyone of them too!!!! I think all these vegetables are starting to make her hair grow!

Making friends

Elise and I took a road trip down to Columbus this past Monday to visit with my best friend Sarah, and her new daughter Riley. Riley is a little over 2 months old. This was the first time our girls got to meet. Elise and Riley bonded over their bottles of milk and Sarah and I got to catch up on the topic of motherhood. As for the girls, we are sure that this will be the beginning of a long friendship too!

Elise continues to roll-- now from both the front and back. It's not uncommon to find her awake in her crib 'practicing' her moves in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, Elise still is not sleeping well-- even after our previous praises in her blog. She's up every 3-4 hours crying-- sometimes to eat and sometimes she's still asleep. We plan to discuss this with the pediatrician next week at her appointment. Maybe then we'll start introducing more solid foods (we are eating rice cereal 1-2x daily along with our bottles) and Jeff and I will be on our way to more Zzzzzzzzzzz's!

Still Rollin'

Elise continues to improve on her rolling. She can officially roll from her stomach to back either from the left of right-- all in a matter of seconds. Of course Elise finds this quite handy since she isn't a fan of spending time on her belly. We still have yet to roll from the opposite direction (back to stomach) but we are getting close. Our little girl is slowly getting mobile. She's enjoying all the wiggling and squirming around which makes it difficult to hold her at times. You never know when she's trying to jump ship!

Rolling over!

We spent father's day weekend with both my parents and Jeff's parents and sister up at Clearlake. While the weather was stormy on Friday, the rest of the weekend was warm and sunny. On Saturday, Jeff and the grandpas spent the day golfing while the ladies stayed home to relax with Elise. Elise has been trying and trying to roll over for about a month but with no success. Wouldn't you know with the boys gone, Elise rolled over! She rolled over from her stomach to her back three times. While I truly believe this was an accident, Elise enjoyed all the clapping and excitement. Not to worry, she rolled over for Daddy the next day-- on Father's Day! What a present!!









(Brutus on the left)


(Garth on the right)

Nicu followup

Elise had her first of several followups with the special care clinic. The Toledo Hospital has a followup program that they offer most of their Nicu preemie patients. Since Elise had such low APGAR scores immediately following delivery, we were offered this followup care. So, this past Thursday, Elise met with a neonatologist physician, nutritionist, speech therapist, and physical therapist. The news was good-- she is developmentally at or past where she should be at 5.5 months. Developmentally Elise should be functioning at a four month level as she was born almost 6 weeks early. But Elise can do most of the things that other 5.5 monthers can do.

The only concern was from the physical therapist. Like a lot of preemies, Elise has a stiff neck on the right hand side. Apparently this is common with preemies because they are treated and cared for only on one side as they stay in their islet beds! If we help Elise to stretch her neck muscle over the next several months this is of no concern. However, if untreated, this tight muscle can develop a hard knot that can affect many things from rolling, walking, down to hearing issues. So several times a day Jeff and I have to carry Elise in a modified football looking hold. This allows her head to passively hang and stretch out the tight muscle. Personally, I think she looks super comfortable and enjoys her new view of the house.

Our next followup won't be until November-- unless Elise's neck doesn't improve beforehand- which is unlikely if we keep carrying her around like a football!

Great grandmothers and cereal

Jeff and I loaded up the car on Saturday and made the trek to Medina with Elise and dogs in tow. We were headed for a visit with my parents and for the first official visit with the great grandmothers (both my parent's mothers). When I had previously been in Medina with Elise, back in March, the flu bug had hit both of my grandmother's assisted living residences. Needless to say, we passed on a visit then!

On Saturday, we stopped in to visit with Granny- my father's mother. Even suffering with Alzheimer's, Granny knew she loved a visit from a baby! She brought up the fact that she'd be willing to keep Elise if we should ever be selling her. Of course, Granny had a funny smile when she said this. We visited for about 30 minutes in her room until Elise became a bit too warm and fussy. We will have to visit again soon.




On Sunday, we stopped in to see Grandma Sophie- my mother's mother. She was ecstatic with the visit! The four generations of women poised for a picture together. What a memory. Of course, Grandma made sure to 'show' Elise off to all the staff and residents when she walked us out. Being the first great-granddaughter in the family has its perks! You get treated like a rock star!

Elise has taken a turn for the worse in the sleeping department. Previously, we had been sleeping a few days a week all the way through the night while the rest of the nights we would get up once for a feeding. However recently, Elise has started to awaken twice for feedings each night. We figure Elise must be going through a growth spurt- something the doctor had warned us may happen around the 5-6 month mark. Our pediatrician had told us that it was ok to start feeding her rice cereal if we found that her normal bottles would not sustain her for long periods of time. Last night, was Elise's first spoonfuls of her 'delicious' cereal. A few tablespoons of cereal were added to her nightly bottle routine. There was no difference with her sleeping last night- but a few tablespoons really isn't a lot of food. Hopefully within the next few weeks, we will fine tune the amount of food we give and Elise will get the hang of eating with a spoon. She seemed to enjoy the first few spoonfuls but quickly became frustrated that her belly wasn't filling as quickly. All within time!