Month Three

     This is totally late, I'm sorry. This past month has been absolutely cu-ray-zy! I have subbed 3 full weeks, and that has led to many issues in itself, let alone just hogging up all my time and keeping me from doing important things... like blogging, obsvs! Never-the-less, Abby, you have continued to grow and grow at a ridiculous speed; you continue to blow my mind every time I look at you!

Growing:
     One great thing that happened this month is that you have begun talking... you make this strange sound that I don't even know how to pronounce! I'll try... it sounds like "khhkhhhkhh." I posted a video a few weeks ago in which everyone else can hear this cute little sound you're making. It's so freakin cute! I am so loving that you're making noises now. I'ts so fun!
     You are smiling like crazy! It's unbelievable! You have the most beautiful smile! I could stare at you all day! You smile at everyone! And everywhere we go you are such a hit with everyone that walks by; complete strangers in the grocery store will stop me specifically to look at you. And you just smile and smile and eat up all their praise. You love it.
     You found your hand, and you like to stick your whole fist in your mouth, it's quite funny to watch. You make a fist and try to shove it in your mouth, and you must find it to be very yummy because you make very loud sucking noises as well. You've managed a few times to get the whole thing in there pretty much.
     With that, you've also started grabbing only other things, like your rattle, and the little hoop on the birdie of your activity gym! You'll grab onto it and just swing it around in your hand while you lay there. You have a very strong grip!
     You also started to find your feet this month. You LOVE to bring your feet up so you can look at them and then you grab at your them. You love to pull your socks off. The other day I walked by you and you didn't have your socks on anymore. I was so confused because they weren't by your feet. I thought that maybe I had imagined putting your socks on a few minutes before. Then I walked to the other side of you and found that you had taken off both socks and laid them one on top of the other right by your side. What?! Strange! I was laughing.
     Speaking of feet, you have this thing with kicking your feet... constantly! No matter what you're doing, you're kicking your feet. Sitting in your car seat or laying on the ground, you are always kicking your feet. You even do it when something is in your way, like the wheel to the computer chair, or when you're in the tub, you'll kick the bottom of the tub. I'm worried that you're going to hurt yourself, but you don' t seem to be bothered one bit.
     Your daddy seems to think that you have some red in your hair. I don't necessarily see it, but that's okay. I think it has something to do with the fact that he comments on it every time you are outside or come back from being outside. But, we still have some pretty blue eyes!

Kaiser Visits:
     At the beginning of this month, you got a stuffy nose. It didn't seem to be too big of a deal at first because I was experiencing the same thing from allergies with the weather changing. However, it seemed to start waking you up in the middle of the night. After a few nights of this, I began to freak out, and one morning at around 5:30am, I called the emergency nurse at Kaiser and went through their ridiculously (but necessary) scary list of questions that only serve to freak a parent out more than they already are at the time. She suggested I bring you in, so we made an appointment, I canceled my sub job and we headed down to Bako. It turns out that you just had a little cold. Your doctor couldn't find anything in your lungs, so she didn't seem worried at all.
    Then, two weeks later, you started getting all these little spots all over. There were a few on your legs and arms, but none on your torso. I had initially thought that they were bug bites because we had dinner out by the river the night before, and I had some bite marks as well. However, two days later, we woke up to you having a lot more bites. That's when your daddy and I got a little worried. I was getting ready to begin a two week subbing stint and I was worried that maybe you got chicken pox somehow. I was worried that I would have to cancel my sub job (which by the way, I totally would have. I was only concerned because when you had a really stuffy nose two weeks prior, I cancelled my sub job for the day and rushed you to Urgent Care. I was just worried about having to cancel another sub job, and I didn't want the school to begin thinking that I was flaky and couldn't be counted on; man how things change when you have kids).
     So on Saturday, after dealing with a flat tire, your daddy and I rushed you down to Urgent Care to check out your little spots. We got down to Kaiser and got your out of the car, and we noticed that you had pooped. So, we began to unstrap you from your car seat to change your diaper, and that's when we realized that yup, you had pooped alright... ALL OVER YOURSELF! We had run out of Huggies diapers, and were using some knock off brand Babies R Us diapers that didn't have a poop catcher in the back of the diaper (New mothers beware: Huggies have a poop catcher which have saved us SO many problems!) Your poop went up both sides of your diaper and up to your chest and up your back as well. It went all over the car seat too. I had the worst time trying to tackle cleaning you up while your dad cleaned the car seat. When I took your clothes off, I had to be so careful, and I still managed to get poop on your arms and feet, but thankfully I was able to keep it off your head and hair. It was a very smelly situation, that's for sure!
     Anyway, that's besides the point, but a funny side story that was necessary to tell so that you will never be able to escape it in the future; and that's how much I love you (my mother taught me well; she's your grandmother, so watch out)! So, because you had a rash, we had to use a special side door to get into Kaiser. We rang the doorbell and waited for them to let us in. We went in and saw a very nice doctor who took one look at you and ruled out the chicken pox that we had been so worried about. Praise the Lord! She said that they were just bug bites, and that when we had been down at the river having dinner, that's when you probably got them. Since you weren't six months old yet, she didn't prescribe the ointment she normally would have (because it has steroids in it). So, we just went home to wait out the spots. After they went away, you got some more. Don't know where, but they found you! You just must be very tasty!

Sleep:
     When I subbed for the two weeks straight, you pretty much immediately started getting up once in the middle of the night. I was so used to you sleeping through the night that it wasn't that fun, but I didn't complain to much because once a night is still not that bad at all. However, by the end of that two week period, you were getting up twice a night. Gah! Not fun! Mommy wished you'd go back to sleeping through the night. I think it had to do with mommy's milk supply though. I think that when I was subbing, I wasn't adamant about pumping during the Nutrition break at school and so I just began to dry up. Mistake! So I think that you were trying to tell mommy's body to crank that milk production back up! And unfortunately, that meant getting up in the middle of the night to feed again.

Eating:
     Well, while your sleeping habits began to get all catywhompus on me, your eating started getting better; well, in terms of spitting up. You really started to spit up less... finally! Towards the end of the month there it started up again, but overall, you've really started holding your food in much better than before! Happy days! I no longer have to worry about you not getting enough because you're spitting it all up... and I mean... you were spitting it ALL up. It was ridiculous! Others that see you spit up get huge owl eyes in shock! I just look at them and say, "It's normal." You're gaining weight normally, so your doctor isn't worried about it, and therefore, neither am I.