Juliet & Her Romeo + 1: Julia is 6 months old!

It is so hard to believe that our little gal is 6 months old already! Ok, technically she will be six months on Monday, April 6th, but close enough. We can't believe a half a year has gone by. Her newborn troubles seem so far away to us. It seems like years, not months, ago that we were sitting at Children's Hospital watching the fluid increase and decrease around her left lung. I guess it is something we don't want to remember and we are putting it out of our minds. Of course we are always reminded of it when we change Julia's diaper or clothes because we always see the small scars on her chest from her surgery that ended the whole fluid dilemma.

Julia is still battling with her ear infection. She was on an antibiotic for 10 days (amoxicillin) and finished that last Saturday. After that Julia continued to not sleep well at night, cry when we put her down in her crib and I had to sleep with her in our spare bedroom on Monday and Tuesday night. On Wednesday, daycare called and said she had a fever of 101. I picked her up and took her home for some R & R with mommy. I took her temperature and I never got a febrile (fever) temperature, but she wasn't acting like herself. She napped with me on the couch for about 3 hours! She wasn't very playful and not kicking around on the floor or in her exersaucer like she usually did and the fact that she wouldn't sleep in her crib or lay down flat, also concerned us. So, on Thursday we went to the doctor (again, yes, we know she is there all the time, but with her lung history we and the doctors/nurses never take chances). Well, her ear infection never cleared and it doesn't seem like the amoxicillin ever touched it. Julia was prescribed a stronger antibiotic (augmentin) and some numbing ear drops to help her sleep at night and ease the pain. The doctor also said she could have motrin for pain instead of tylenol now that she was close to 6 months old. So, that night we gave her the antibiotic (which she has to take for 10 days also), the numbing ear drops and motrin. She slept in her crib the whole night which was a step in the right direction, but still woke up 3 times that night. Friday night she only woke up twice; same for Saturday night. Since starting the new antibiotic she is looking much better. She is back to her normal, giggly, smiley self.

Time for Solid Food!

On Sunday, March 29th Julia got her first taste of solid foods. The doctor really encouraged us to wait as close to 6 months as we could to reduce the risk of allergies and other problems. Julia was showing signs pretty early on, but we held off as long as we could since Mike has some mild food allergies. She has been able to sit up in the high chair since she was about 3 months old, hold her head up and steady for a long time now and she also contently watched us eat foods all the time (all signs of readiness for solids). She was certainly ready to eat solids and gobbled down about a tablespoon of rice cereal on Sunday. She loved it! We tried the following evening and she ate a very small amount but didn't seem interested in it at all. Tuesday night she ate a little again; Wednesday she didn't want anything to do with the rice cereal and wouldn't eat it. We figured it was because she didn't feel well from the ear infection. On Thursday night after having some motrin for pain, she gobbled down some mashed carrots (baby food) mixed with cereal. We continued to advance the solids over the weekend and she is now eating about 1-2 tablespoons of rice cereal three times a day with either mashed carrots or mashed pears. We introduce a new food and try it out for about 3 days before introducing another to make sure she isn't allergic or has a bad tummy reaction to the food. So far so good! So Julia's first food was rice cereal; first vegetable was carrots and first fruit was pears. We have a whole cupboard full of other veggies and fruits (sweet potatoes, peas, squash, applesauce, prunes, peaches) for her to try soon! A tasty buffet of mashed up goodness!

Julia is growing big and strong. She is a talkative little gal (not really talking, but blabbing a lot!). She loves to make noise with rattles, toys or any object she can get her hands on. She bangs toys against a table or her high chair tray to make loud noise for all to hear. She will get your attention when she wants it! She is also rolling all over the place. She has mastered the tummy to back roll (though she doesn't do it often because she loves being on her tummy and side). When on her back, she rolls from side to side, grabbing her toes and rocking side to side. She can't quite get her toes in her mouth yet, but she loves to pull off her socks. She is also starting to sit up on her own. She can sit up, unassisted, for about a minute but then topples over trying to move or grab a toy. She sometimes assumes a tripod sitting position with her hands together on the floor supporting her head and upper body. She can also imitate movements or noises that you make. Today we taught Julia how to smack her lips and she imitated us right back. It was hilarious. She can also make raspberries with her lips. Julia is also growing lots of hair on her head. She doesn't have the small layer of fuzz anymore; she has a good 1/2-1 inch of nice, soft hair. Julia is getting very tall too. It is getting more and more difficult to rock her to sleep at night or hold her over your shoulder while sitting because she is so long! At her doctor visit this past week she was 18 pounds; 9 ounces! (they didn't do a height check, but she will have that done in about 2 weeks at her 6 month checkup)

Last weekend Grandma and Grandpa Mock came to visit again. Grandpa Mock had a work meeting in Kimball, MN (west of the Twin Cities), so of course they took the opportunity to visit again. Of course we didn't mind and Julia didn't either. Though we felt bad because Julia wasn't feeling very well at all and was quite crabby most of the weekend. We went to the Mall of America with Grandma Mock to just get out for a while and see if we could see the Easter Bunny. The mall was extremely busy that day and the line for he Easter Bunny was quite packed with strollers, toddlers and other kids wanting to meet Mr. Bunny, so we skipped the visit with him. We did stroll the mall and I made some clothing purchases. We also cruised around the indoor Nickelodeon Amusement Park. Julia loved watching the roller coaster cars that raced above our heads ( the tracks hover above the walkways in the park). I wanted to find Sponge Bob to take a picture with him, but he was nowhere to be found.

This weekend, Grandma and Grandpa Stephany came to visit. This weekend was a planned weekend for Mike and I to clean out the garage and clean out our basement. When we moved into the house in September, we just threw and stacked stuff in the garage and basement thinking we would get to it a few weeks after moving in. Well, weeks turned into months and since I was so pregnant at the time we moved, there was no way I could rummage through boxes and all the piles of stuff. Then Julia came along and our time was dedicated to being with her at Children's Hospital. So, we set a date for Grandma and Grandpa Stephany could visit and watch Julia while we spring cleaned and went through our stuff. We tackled the garage on Friday afternoon and that only took about 1 1/2-2 hours. We cleaned and organized the basement on Saturday and that took a good 3 hours. It feels great to have it all done and throw away a bunch of junk and stuff we never knew we still had. We have finally organized every room in our new house and it is starting to feel more and more like home.