Allison

Im trying to do better by bloggingy more about what we are up to as I know we will forget. Last weekend we were in Crockett for the Ronnie Milsap concert. It was a lot of fun. The Driskells hosted a party after the concert and Ronnie Milsap came to their house for pictures etc. Allison and the rest of the driskell kiddos went to a babysitter at the preachers house. She supposedly did great, I did worry about her since it wasnt one of our parents keeping her but it wasnt that bad. This weekend we are hanging out in Frisco and we want to take Allison to see the Easter Bunny. I will bet 99% she will cry b/c he will scare her but we will see. I will be sure and post pictures. I also wanted to blog about some special things Allison is doing. On Monday she got a cold probably from Longview as we both very allergic to something there, so I took her to the pedi b/c I thought she might have another ear infection but she was clear YAHOO!! so I decided to do a steam bath with her. She was so precious and so tired that she let me just hold her and she fell asleep on my chest while we waited in the steam shower. In my head I recorded that moment as it as so sweet as she just held onto my fingers and placed her head on me as I rocked and sang to her in the shower. MY LOVE!!! Other fun things she is doing is during night night time, she doesnt want to go to sleep right away so she stands in her crib smiling and then when I go in there she puts her small little hands and arm through the crib railings and grabs my hand. :) Melts my heart. Love that little one. Will is traveling this week so me and Allie have just been hanging. I worked tues and wed and tomorrow we have a play date with the Simpson girls and their baby girls. FUN! FUN!

9 Months Old

Well we have had a busy month. Baby girl is now crawling and pulling up on everything. She had been acting like she would crawl at the end of her seventh month just rocking back and forth but she didnt take the plunge until about the middle of march-right around 8 1/2 months. Although now she is crawling everywhere and following me around she at first would only crawl to what she wanted, toys etc. But she started pulling up the same day or the next day as she started crawling. It is so funny to try and put her to sleep these days as the second you put her in her crib, she turns over and immediately turns to her side rolls over, gets on her knees, and then grabs the side of the crib and pulls herself up. ALL within about 2-3seconds. Then she grins so big at her new accomplishment. It is the sweetest thing although crazy at times. I used to be able to put her to sleep with her bottle and she would be out but these days its a entire new ball game. My newest trick is to start with a bottle which she will drink about 2 oz and then she starts her game. I usually will play a little with her in her crib such as peekaboo or whatnot but then I will leave and let her play in her crib. She usually will play about 10-15 minutes but then get very angry in which case I go back up there and give her the rest of the bottle which then she will usually go back to sleep. So we will see. Besides crawling and pulling up on everything, she GOT 6 teeth within this month. Its like they all started sprouting at once. The third tooth she got was on her bottom right side, then she got her two front teeth at the same time, then she got her bottom left, and then the two by her front teeth. They are all through the gums and 1/2 way grown. She is also eating all sorts of finger foods like bananas, gerber puffs, veggie sticks (like cheetos), yogurt melts, and some cookies. :)We tried spaghetti at the end of her eight month but it made me nervous so we didnt do it again until recently. She is eating 2 meals per day still usually fruit with oatmeal in the morning and then veggies at night although we have moved to stage 3 foods- chicken noodle dinner and of course the regular squash, sweet potatoes etc. I am trying to add variety to her dinner as I have been doing a lot of the same things. Allison loves loves loves her leap frog table that sings to her. I try to read to her but she still doesnt have much interest in them, usually she bites the books or tries to rip the pages out. We have tried to put her in the duck bath tub a couple more times but she still will not have it and cries everytime its near. We have traveled this month to Austin but that is it. Allison is getting into her own spirit, she is trying to grab the spoon from me when I feed her. She also squirms much more and watches everything. She loves finger foods. She looks for toys when I take them away as well as if I drop them. She is so fun right now and is just so active. I can no longer change her diaper without her squirming and rolling over. Its a new adventure each day :) Stranger anxiety has started, she isnt as easy to hand over to people although she at this point warms up pretty quickly. She also lays her head on my chest and gets shy when im holding her and people come up. Allie is such a ham, when we are out and about, she will just wait until someone looks at her so that she can smile at them. Its absolutely precious.
Things to Remember:
Allison still listens to the sound machine- rock a bye baby-- every night
she is eating almost 6 oz of food per meal and/or botle with 6 oz every 4 hours
she sleeps through the night still from about 7-7
She crawls everywhere
She pulls up on everything
She is in 6-12 month clothing, but 9 months fits perfectly
She gets a bath every night, still in her bumbo chair in the bathtub b/c she hates her duck bathtub
She loves her leap frog table
She does double consonants but no dada, mama, but does like babababa,lalala,
she is starting to squeal and scream a lot

Allison statistics: Weight 17.7, 28%
Height 28.25, 73%
Head 17.5, 63%

8 Months Old

Well we experienced our baby's first illness, an ear infection. She was really sick and her fever got up to 104.9. It was really scary and I felt so bad for her. She was so lethargic and so hot. At first she got a bad cold, which we gave her saline drops, humidifier and steam baths. She kept pulling at her left ear a couple of weeks before she got the cold so I ended up going to the doctor on a Monday to see if she had an ear infection. Of course she didnt but the doctor thought she just had a fever because of her cold. But by Thursday she was so sick I took her back and the doctor saw that she had a bad ear infection in that left ear so she was started on amoxicillin. She had a terrible cough with her cold that she ended up throwing up multiple times because she was coughing so hard. I felt so bad for her, it is such a helpless feeling when you cant do anything else for them. She luckily stopped running fever two days after the antibiotics which was such a relief. Poor punkin. Other than all of that, things have been great. Allison is still such an amazing baby, she laughs and smiles at everyone. She had started a little separation anxiety with me but hasnt done it since she was sick so I think it was just a phase she went through because she wasnt feeling well. Allison is squealing a lot more and talks a lot but I cant tell consonants yet. She does make a mmmmm sound when she eats but other than that she just mumbles. :) She is almost crawling, she gets on her hands and knees on her own and lunges for things but usually falls back on her belly. She does do better going backwards and now goes from a hands knees position to backwards and then sits up. When she is in her crib at nap time she gets on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth. Recently she has started sitting up in her crib and starts pulling on her bumper. I think its time to move the crib down to the next latch. Allison is still in her bumbo in the bathtub although she is getting too big for it. I bought her this big rubber duckey bathtub which is bigger and inflatable so if she falls it wouldnt hurt her. The second I put her in it she screamed and was completely terrified. Which was crazy b/c she never cries or gets that scared. bless her heart but I have laughed at the picture of her in this bathtub multiple times. We have started Allison on finger foods but just recenttly probably in the last two weeks, we do the puffs and yogurt melts. Also bananas and today I gave her some raisins. She does really well with them. She is still on a similar feeding schedule like last month where she eats two meals a day usually oatmeal and a fruit in the morning around 10 and then a veggie (although we have tried meats apples/chicken, beef/macoroni) with fruit as well. She still drinks formula and holds her bottle most of the time. She drinks about 6 oz every 3- 3 1/2 hours depending on when she ate solids. Although at night before bed I give her 7 oz. She loves loves loves computers or at least her parents, anytime Will and I are on ours she lunges at them and loves to type. I went and bought her own little play laptop she likes it but not like ours. She loves opening and closing things, her play computer and the microwave. haha. She rolls each way very easily. She is such a joy and I truly enjoy playing with her. She has also started giving wet kisses, she keeps her mouth completely open but if you put your cheek up to her mouth she leans forward and acts like she may bite it but you just feel her wet little lips. It melts my heart.She also reaches for me. That I love as well. if she is bouncing in her jumper or what not and I start coming over there she reachs her arms up. She has started pulling up on some things and will grab for anything close to her. She loves my watch and loves my phone to chew on of course. SHE IS GETTING HER THIRD TOOTH and not on the top but on the bottom. She hasnt been very fussy though. She has also gotten used to solid foods so we arent having to give her prune juice anymore.

Things to Remember:
opening her mouth up like a bird for more food. Sometimes I cant even get the spoon back in the food fast enough before she wants more
She still hates green beans, now carrots, avacados
She loves squash, mixed veggies, corn, apples, sweet potatoes, mixed fruit,oranges, pears,bananas.
She still has her music on every night- so I hear it over the monitor- either Rock a bye baby or twinkle twinkle
Third tooth
rubber duckey bathtub that she hates
her first illness
Mama Mel and Grandpa Fred keeping her an entire weekend
Sitting in highchair at restaurants
sitting in shopping cart for the first time
going to the park, swinging on a swing for the first time as well as going down a slide with daddy
going on walks with daddy and me

Allison Weight: 16.12lbs

7 months old

Allison is busy busy busy. I am thoroughly enjoying her as she is just so animated and smiley. She is a great baby and smiles at everyone. She is laughing a lot more and its hard to keep her in my arms because she is trying to grab at everything. If I have anything in my hand she definitely wants it, such as last week when I got my coffee and looked away and she grabbed the drink. Needless to say there were a few tears because it was hot and she got some on her hand. Allison is almost crawling I think :) she is moving back and forth on her knees and is trying to go after toys on the ground. Although she had rolled front to back when she was real young she is just now doing it both ways all of the time rather than just rolling from her back to stomach. She does not like being on her back much and most of the time is trying to lift her self up, I call them her "baby sit ups". She is eating twice a day usually around 10-11 and 5-6. She loves pears, peaches, apples/applesauce, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, squash, bananas, strawberry/apple/bananas, but DOES not like green beans nor sweet peas. Although she is starting to try sweet peas some more and carrots. I just started giving her some oatmeal and she seems to like it as well. I dont give her rice cereal much because the solids has made her somewhat constipated. We give her some prune juice, "poo juice" as Aunt Natty calls it after her meals. Seems to help some. :) okay enough of that talk. Allison is talking a lot these days, she makes all sorts of noises and gets quite vocal when she wants to do something else and/or get our of the highchair. Allison is still sleeping great, usually gets her bath around 615 and is asleep by 645 and sleeps until 7. We had a huge ice storm/icestorm last tuesday.We were pretty much stuck inside from tues-sat. Good thing I only worked on wednesday. We played with Allison on Friday outside although there isnt too much to do with an infant in the snow besides take some pictures. OH biggest milestone we have hit is that Allie is sitting up by herself. She did this about 6 1/2 months although she sat for about 10 seconds before that but about 6 1/2 months she did it for long periods of times and can sit and play with her toys. Its so great!!! She is very much into toys these days, she loves toys that play music and still always puts them in her mouth. She recognizes her name and always smiles when I or Will come around. Pretty much everyone for that matter but I always want to think its me or her daddy that really lites her up :) Allison has just now started to recognize when I come to pick her up, I start clapping my hands and act as though I am going to lift her up and she smiles and starts laughing. She reaches her arms out for me to hold her, and it just melts my heart. I read about that just now and they "the experts" say to be warned b/c as cute as it is the baby girl will start learning that everytime she squeals she can get me to come get her if she puts her arms up. haha I will work on that next month as it is just so cute I have to get her. She is definitely a wiggly worm and it has gotten hard to change diapers etc because she is wanting to do something different, but I have noticed if I give her a toy to distract her while I change her/dress her it works for the moment. We will see..... I think its time to start play dates more as she has really started taking a interest in other babies. I also need to start reading with her more, I do it some but she is so squirmy at times she wants to go go go. I am going to start that this week!!!! We have been somewhat busy, went to Wimberely one week, then one week Mama Mel/Fred,Aunt natty came to stay for Lynnes baby shower. The other weekend I think we just hung out at the house and hung out with Jt and Sara. We are going to Longview this weekend.
Things to Remember:
Solid Foods- I call Allison a little bird as she opens her mouth after the food (she likes) she immediately opens it back up as to say I need more Woman
Prune Juice
Paci- she is using these more especially for nap times as she does not like to take naps although we have lengthened them to about 1.5-2 at least for one. She still takes 2-3 naps per day.
She is drinking 6-8 ozs of formula
She eats about 3.5oz of food twice a day
I call her my little Drool Monkey
She sweet sweet laugh
Jumperoo- she still loves this thing
trying to pull up on everything with my help of course
She has started pulling at her ears when she is sleepy as well as rubbing her eyes
she still pulls at hair, faces whatever she can get her hands on
She likes opening and closing the microwave door

Life is great, I am still working part time which I am so thankful as I have more time with my baby girl. I truly cherish the time we have one those days that I am not working. She is at such a fun age and I am enjoying it immensley. Being a mother is truly an amazing gift. Will is such a great daddy too, he will go and get Allison in the mornings so she can come snuggle with us, he missed her all night. He is smitten with his little girl.

llison Weight: she was sick 2/14/2001 17.1, 45%; 2/28/2011 16.6, 28%

6 Months Old

Man, I need to get better at blogging. I have so many thoughts in my head and I am truly trying to cherish and remember every memory. SO I have to get better about recording all these memorable times. We had a great 1st christmas with our baby girl. Although she didnt know it was Christmas, it made it so much more special to have her here with us to celebrate. She wasnt eating solids during the holidays so she enjoyed her milk :) She got lots of presents, clothes, and toys. Especially her jumper, walker, octopus, musical toys, tea set, etc. She would get a present in her lap and try and chew on the bow. She is defintely teething again and I think her left front tooth is coming through the gums. We spent some time before Christmas with Mama mel and Fred and then went to the Driskells for Christmas Day. During her 5th month were were still sleeping though the night and most of the nights Allison would sleep from 7-7:30 and have no night feedings. We started some formula this month but Allison mainly got breastmilk. She at first hated the taste of formula so we would do 1 oz of formula and the rest breastmilk until she got more used to the taste. We tried enfamil ar but that caused her to spit up a lot. So we switched her to Similac Sensitive for Spit Up which she seems to be doing well. I am no longer breastfeeding and actually stopped about december 10th and just used frozen breastmilk. It wasnt painful at all mainly because I weaned myself where I went week to week and stopped pumping as much.

Allison still doesnt like to be on her tummy and she still doesnt like to roll over from her stomach to back. She definitely has gained strength in her neck and will lift up a lot more from her stomach. She loves loves loves her jumperoo and she is starting to lift herself up. She grabs at everything and watches everything we eat. Speaking of food she started rice cereal and applesauce around 5 1/2 months. She liked it although I still dont think she really cares for rice cereal, its either in my head or she truly doesnt like it. At 6 months to the day she started sweet potatoes which she seemed to like a lot although at first its hard to tell as she kept spitting some of the food out or she would make weird faces. But now I think she has figured out how to swallow so we keep trying. We at this point have done rice cereal, sweet potatoes, apples/applesauce, and now we are on butternut squash. She seems to really like all of these things. I also mixed some butternut squash with applesauce and she really liked that. She is sitting in her high chair although she is still a little small for it and often has a "gangsta" lean :) but she was licking her lips tonight so I think she really enjoyed her meal. We are supposed to feed her twice a day but its hard b/c if I am working then she goes to Nicole's early so we just do an evening meal. We may get Nicole to start feeding her on those days but for now its just practice and fun. She is still eating every 3 hours and she eats about 6oz. We went and got new bottles b/c the 5oz bottles no longer cut it b/c we are always adding more ounces. But its weird b/c sometimes she will only eat 4, who knows. Allison is much more vocal these days too although I havent noticed any consonants or anything recognizable but I am not good at diciphering b/tw sounds. She is also throwing some things and defintely playing more with toys.She still has her sound machine on every night although we have twinkle twinkle little star this week.

6 month appointment: 15lbs 14 oz and 27 inches; she is in some 3-6 months but we are moving mainly to 6-9 as many of the pants are creeping up.

Her first snow was on January 9,2011 although daddy thought we shouldnt get any pictures in case she were to get sick. I am hoping we get another one this year so I can get some photos. :) although if she were to get sick I would just die.

Things to Remember:

Allison meetinng santa-twice; first time she pulled his beard and smiled but then got scared and cried, but then the second time with daddy she sat in his lap and smiled.

Pulling hair- I cant go one minute without Allison pulling my hair out literally

JumperRoo

Sound Machine-Twinkle Twinkle and Rock A Bye Baby

Talking- babbles to self a lot especially in the morning before we go get her

People always telling Allison how pretty her eyes are

Trying Foods for the first time-faces were priceless- some were of disgust and others were confusion and then some were of joy

She still loves bath time-mommy singing to her "splish splash" and "rubber ducky"

Bedtime Routine- play, bath, lotion/masage, nightgown, sleeper bag, and bottle while I rock her then put her to bed. sometimes I will finish feeding her while she is in her crib.

Love Love Love my little girl and I am cherishing each moment

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Allison statistics: Weight 15.79, 45%; Height 27 89%, Head 16.75 53%

4 Months Old

Well I havent blogged in a while, but things are changing and changing around the Driskell home, at least with Allison. She has two TEETH. She started teething around 13 weeks although I didnt know that was for sure what was happening and then when we went to the doctor on November 5th she already had a tooth budding at the gums. Poor Allison as I didnt know what was happening but the doctor explained that all the symptoms that Allison was going through were all related to teething. She went through screaming fits (not bad though), diarrhea, not eating hardly at all for three or four days, drooling all the time, and her hands were always in here mouth. When she wouldnt eat I had to call the pediatrician and start watching her diapers as we were concerned she was going to get dehydrated. Bless her heart!!! So once we knew she was really teething I went and bought all that I could, I am such a sucker. Lets see I got her some small teething rings that you put in the fridge, nighttime oragel, tylenol at night, teething pacifier, teething tablets and teething strips. Right now she loves this teething bee, that was given to her in Wimberley. She always tries and bites peoples hands, if you give her anything she puts it straight into her mouth. Allison is also making so many noises really more recently within the last week or so where she will squeal or babble more rather than just coo. She still loves to bounce on things especially legs but she is loving the jumperroo. She still loves her acitivty mat, her rattle, pulling on mommies hair, her swing-although she is getting too big for it b/c it swings very slow b/c she weighs more, her bumbo chair, and now her exersaucer. She is still pretty little in that her legs barely touch the bottom but she still sits in it and tries to play with some of the toys on it. She is wearing between 3-6 months although in some dresses she still wears 0-3 months. THE NEW NEWS is that Allison is sleeping in her own room!! Yay, although I miss her especially in our bed sometimes, but things are so much better in that Allison is sleeping 7-8 hours most nights. She gets to sleep around 7-7:30 after her bath and bottle she is out. Sometimes she will wake up at 11 and sleep until 6 or 7 and others she will sleep from 7-330 and be hungry. I really dont mind getting up at that feeding b/c it honestly takes 10-15 minutes and she is out again until 8. We finally had to take her paci away as the doctor felt like she had developed a habit of it with trying to go to sleep and thus the reason she was getting up so many times per night b/c she truly didnt know how to fall asleep. So we did the cry it out method and we got a sound machine that plays rock a bye baby all night LONG, so on the monitor that is all we can hear all night :) THE cry it out method was terrible although it really only lasted two nights. The longest she cried was about 40 minutes, but it was the longest 40 minutes ever! I had to go take a shower b/c I kept wanting to go up there and comfort my sweet baby. But honestly it worked and it didnt take long before she herself was getting more sleep. I read Healthy Habits, Happy Child, and it was a great book with many good references. All the other sleep books I didnt care for, but this one was straightforward and explained things in great depth. We also had our first weekend away from our baby girl. The Driskells kept Ally all weekend long for Alaina and Brett's wedding. I thought it would have been a lot harder, but with being so busy and me already used to leaving her some during the day it wasnt as bad as I thought. Since then she has had another slumber party with Mama Mel over Thanksgiving while dad and all of us went to Bandera. Allison is drinking between 5-7 ounces at this time every 3-4 hours. She is growing so much and is such a joy and good baby. She honestly cries when she is hungry, overly tired, and if she is bored. But she never cries long and is easily comforted. She recognizes people, especially me and Will. Its so cool to see her and her smile just light up. She is such a precious gift in our lives.

Allison Statistics: Weight 13.49, 47%, Height 25.25 84.9%, Head 16 41%

16 Weeks Old

Allison is getting cuter and cuter by the day, at least I think so :) She is so active and is laughing all the time. She rolled over from her back to her stomach at 14 weeks and now will not quit rolling over. I can no longer put her on her back without her rolling over. She rolled over from her stomach to her back a while ago but for some reason she wont do it anymore. She gets upset when she is on her stomach for a while and will start crying. She is so animated right now too. She grabs at things and loves her activity mat. She has noticed she can make things move when she hits them. She also loves her hands and they are always in her mouth. She is drooling a lot which makes me wonder if she is starting to teethe.
I went back to work a couple of weeks ago. I cried and cried the day before and the day I went back to work. It was so many strange feelings all rolled into one. On one hand I truly miss her and am wondering what she is doing all the time. Its hard going from being with a baby every minute to being away from her for eight hours. I think also it was a chapter that ended that I didnt want to end. You think you have so much time and then its gone. So I think I cried for that reason too.I absolutely loved my maternity leave and truly got to spend such wonderful time with Allison. But after the second or third day I got more used to leaving her and getting back in the full swing of things. If I had gone back full time I truly dont know if I could have done it, so I am so thankful I am able to work part time for now. I am getting some time still with her.
We have been relatively busy or shall I say poor Will has been busy traveling almost every week. It has been hard without him at home espcially when I have to work. Allison was doing so well with her sleeping but right when I started back to work its like she changed and no longer really sleeps until 3 like we had it. She can only stay up until like 730 or so without crashing. So I usually do a dream feed at nine and then she gets me up at 1, 3, 5, but there is really no pattern. Sometimes its better than that and then others it can be worse. But I will say I can get her back down in 10 minutes or so or less if I dont feed her. We go to the doctor next week for her four month appointment so I hope I can ask her what she thinks and also about the cry it out. Although she does very well going to bed, I just dont know how to handle the mid-night times.
I took Allison to the pedi at 12 weeks because she developed a really bad rash, which turned out to be eczema. It was really bad so we have to put cortisone cream on her and cetaphil lotion every day. AND cannot wash her clothes in anything scented. Once I rewashed everything and put the cream on her she is much better although it still flares up.