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.

We were beat after a weekend with the grandparents!
Julia at the Mall of America (the amusement park part)

Playing with my gymni mat with Grandpa

I've never got to taste this part yet...I am always laying on the mat!

This bib is so true; I was grouchy because there are no more grandparents here!

I still need my bottle; grandma was nice enough to oblige.

My first solids...rice cereal!

Mmmmmm! Yummy!

My small tufts of hair on my head (hard to see), but look closely-there is hair there!

The Conservatory

Just when Julia recovered from her terrible cold, RSV and bronchiolitis, she got an ear infection. The docs think she probably had it for a while and it was a result of the terrible cold. She was very congested with the cold and bronchiolitis that eventually things just backed up in her ears and caused the infection. On Wednesday, I picked her up from daycare and she had some nice, yellowish-brown, foul smelling stuff draining from her ears. She didn't have a fever, but we figured it was an infection. We took her to urgent care that evening and sure enough her right ear was infected. Her ear drum had perforated because of the pressure of the infection and was now draining. We would have never known she had an infection because she never showed signs of one (fever, pulling at her ears, etc...). She is a tough little gal. They prescribed an antibiotic for her and she will take that for about 10 days. It is some lovely smelling pink stuff that we have to give her twice a day. We just give it to her in the side of her mouth when she is eating and she doesn't really notice the extra fluid or taste. She does a good job.

Other than having many visits to the doctor, we had visitors ourself last weekend. Grandma and Grandpa Mock came to visit. They babysat Julia on Saturday night while Mike and I went out to dinner alone for my birthday (on the 11th...a late celebration). We went to a nice seafood restaurant in downtown Minneapolis. It was so great to have a night out alone. We ate some wonderful food. Mike had steak and lobster and I had Alaskan King Crab (like the ones they catch on the TLC channel show "Deadliest Catch"..if you are a fan of the show you know what I am talking about). It was excellent crab and all the other food we had was wonderful. Still I missed Julia and she was sound asleep when we got home. It was a fun night, but of course we won't go out that often and eat at that restaurant for a long time because it is quite pricey! During the day, Julia got to go on her first walk outside. Since the weather was nice (around 50 degrees), we went for a walk with Grandma Mock. Julia loved it and of course fell asleep!



Julia is doing well. Her two front teeth are coming in pretty fast and are almost all the way out. She is now rolling over from tummy to back again after not having done it since New Years Day. She finally figured out how to do it again and it also almost rolling over from back to tummy. She gets on her side quite well, but just has to figure out where to move her arm to get on her belly. She loves tummy time and also wiggles around and scoots on her belly to move. If we leave the room for even a second, she might be in a different position or facing a different way than when we left the room. We took this as a sign to get the house ready for her when she gets more mobile. Better sooner than later! Julia is a happy, giggley little gal. We find more and more things everyday to humor her. She just loves to giggle and laugh when we laugh. She loves to kick her legs, move her arms and thrash her toys around to make noise. She still puts everything in her mouth, but not before inspecting it with her eyes and hands first and swing it around in her hands and arms. It is so fun to watch her explore new sites and objects.

Today we went to the Como Park Conservatory and Zoo in St. Paul. The conservatory was having its annual Spring Fling where they have a display of spring flowers in one of their greenhouses/atriums. It was a beautiful day to be out. The conservatory was busy, but it was nice to see the green plants and flowers. We walked around for about an hour and then had lunch in the nearby cafe. We met up with our friend Jenny and her son Noah who is 6 weeks younger than Julia. Jenny's mom and Jenny's godmother also joined us. We pushed our strollers through the greenery and flowers and took some fun pictures of the kids. Julia really enjoyed the koi pond and the flowers in the Sunken Garden. Afterwards, Julia was beat (as were mom and dad) and she slept all the way home.

Ready for my first walk...

It actually does get sunny and warm here!

The Sunken Garden with pond


Mike and Julia viewing the pond and fish








Enjoying the flowers

Looking at mommy's favorite flowers...tulips!

Who's hiding in the trees?

Julia and daddy by the fountain

Looking at the fish in the koi pond....she was reaching out too them and wanted to touch them (and probably put them in her mouth!)

And some random pictures....


This is not a staged picture, she loves chewing on the giraffe's leg!

Cute little toesies!

This chair is comfy!


Playing baseball with daddy....home run!

Teeth, Bronchilitis, RSV = NO SLEEP!

About 3 weeks ago, Julia's front, bottom teeth starting breaking through. She now had two nice pearly whites shining through. She is teething very well and seems to be tolerating it. She chews on anything and everything she can get her hands on and we give her teething rings as much as we can, though she seems to prefer mommy's fingers for her sore gum relief. Mommy is quite used to it now, but those teeth are getting bigger and sharper everyday! I just have to make sure she doesn't bite too hard and draw blood since I am prone to bleeding and bruising on the blood thinner medication. We also cool our fingers on some ice and then massage her gums to soothe the pain.

Julia also had her first experience as a wedding guest. Our cousin Jenna got married on February 20th. Julia didn't last very long and was asleep by 8pm in the hotel room. That weekend she has another first...a bowling outing with the Stephany family. We had a great time bowling and drinking some good old Miller Lites at the lanes. Julia enjoyed watching the family bowl and she even took a stab at bowling a frame...ok, mommy held the ball in one hand and Julia in the other and did most of the work, but she enjoyed going up to the lane and watching the ball roll down the lane and hit the pins. We got 5 pins down on the first try and then another 2 on the second throw, so no spare.

Julia at the bowling lanes








Grandma and Grandpa Stephany with their two little grandgals at the bowling alley.

Over the past week or so Julia hadn't been sleeping well. We thought that it was because she was teething, but she developed a very bad cold. She was waking up 3-4 times a night and one night she wouldn't sleep in her crib. I ended up sleeping in our guest bed with her because she didn't want to sleep a lone and wanted the comfort of someone sleeping beside her. Luckily, this was on a Thursday night and I have off of work on Fridays. We ended up staying up from 12:30-3pm when she finally fell asleep. Then one day last week she sounded wheezy, so I whipped out my stethescope and she had wheezes throughout her lungs. Mike thought I was being paranoid, but I called her doctor's clinic anyway. The triage nurse told us to bring her in to be seen considering her lung history. The doctors and nurses all heard the wheezing too. They gave her two nebulizer treatments of medications to open up her airways and the wheezing subsided. They said she had bronchiolitis and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus). RSV is extremely, extremely common in infants and is VERY contagious. We are pretty sure she got the RSV at day care because one of the teachers commented that other infants had the same cough weeks prior to Julia having it. Julia has been on a steroid, prednisolone, since last Friday and just finished her last dose this evening. We have also been giving her a nebulizer treatment of albuterol if she sounds wheezy, but she hasn't needed that since Sunday. She is doing MUCH better now. She is back to her normal self and her sleeping is back to normal with waking up maybe one time each night.

Daddy giving Julia a nebulizer treatment

My puple dinosaur mask giving me my neb treatment (mommy was trying to make it fun by making chicken, doggy and turkey noises....though the mask is clearly a dinosaur!)

Mommy assisting with my nebulizer

Besides Julia getting a little sick, everything has been great. Julia is growing well and developing very well. She is almost sitting up by herself, though she still hasn't figured out how she rolled over three times on New Years day (hasn't rolled over since). She does get about halfway and then stops. She likes tummy time and lifts her chest high off the ground, but she also shimmys on the ground like she is swimming. If she just knew she could lift her body up, she would definitely be crawling. She is as smiley as ever and is such a ham when you get out the camera. She is still a happy little gal and making many, many more noises. Sometimes we wonder if she is cooing, ahhing and making sounds to just hear herself talk or she is trying to tell us something. Julia has also discovered her feet and toes and we find her playing with them more and more. She hasn't stuck them in her mouth yet, but that is only a matter of time. She is a good eater and we will soon try to get her to drink from a sippy cup. The cup won't be her sole means of eating/fluid, but we are just going to slowly introduce it so she is used to it. Since she is 5 months now, this is a great time to introduce the sippy cup with a small amount of water and then milk/formula because at this age she is more malleable to new things.

Julia's eye color is pretty much apparent. Her eyes are turning brown and we are pretty sure she will be a brown-eyed girl like her mommy.

My new job as a cardiac CNS is going very well. I am getting settled in and there is a lot of work to do. It is an exciting challenge and every day I learn something new and become more comfortable in the job. The nurses are wonderful as are all the other professional staff. Mike is also doing well at Best Buy HQ. I am sure you all heard about the Best Buy layoffs...don't worry, Mike's job is safe. He is doing well at his job and hopes to be there for a very long time.

Here are some more pictures....just random ones.

Always smiling and happy...

Oh, the things I do to humor my parents.