Growth Spurt - 8th Month Regression

Over the past few days, Jasmine has been getting up really early in the morning hungry. I'm guessing she's right in the middle of a growth spurt, which corresponds to the 8th month regression that everyone talks about. She's eating more often, napping horribly and pretty much grumpy all the time.

The eating part I don't mind so much, since I want her to gain weight. The problem is when she doesn't finish the bottle, I end up pouring the unused milk down the drain. And that part hurts me. Liquid gold as they call it. I have a small stash of frozen breast milk since pumping in the 5th month, but if Jasmine keeps up with her NOT-DRINKING-THE-WHOLE-BOTTLE-ROUTINE, the stash will be depleted quickly. We have introduced some formula in the past so it's not a big deal, but I am hoping to provide breast milk to her until she is one years old.

About Jasmine's naps, well she used to nap 1.5 hours in the morning, then have 1 nap early afternoon and another nap late afternoon. Right now, it's like she can nap for only 45 minutes at a time. And because of her short naptime, she ends up staying awake for an hour or so and then wanting another nap. She does this several times during the day.

With only 45 minutes break, I need to eat breakfast/lunch, do dishes, wash laundry, sweep the floor, pump milk... what should I do first? I'm exhaused and it's driving me insane. And to make things worse, Jasmine is not in a good mood with her lack of sleep. Poor Beeps.

Well, it's been a few days like this already. I can't imagine it lasting much longer (crossing my fingers that it'll be over soon).

Stuff Happens

It's one of those days when stuff happens.

We wanted to visit the Firehall Library for Babytime session (sing songs and play games) at 2pm. So when Jasmine just woke up from her nap, we needed to get ready to go.
Jasmine was crying so I picked her up, fed her, changed her diaper and she was still crying. It was odd, Jasmine didn't want to move her left arm. Every time I moved her arm, she would whimper but if I left her arm alone, she didn't seem to be in pain. I didn't know what was wrong so I took her to the clinic for a quick check-up.

As it turns out, Jasmine had a "nursemaid elbow", where the elbow bones are partially pulled out of a joint and did not align properly (ligament that goes around the radius bone has slipped out of position). No, I did not dislocate her elbow and no, I don't know how it happened. The doctor "popped" it back in easily though. He asked me a bunch of questions:

"Did you drop her?" "No."
"Did you yank on her arm hard?" "Uh, no."
"How did this happen?" "Um, I don't know."

Then the doc scribbled some stuff into Jasmine's chart. I just hope that he doesn't think that I am abusing Jasmine... I feel terrible that Jasmine was in pain and have no idea how her elbow got that way. I hope I don't get blamed for this. Anyways, we left the clinic and went on our way.

We arrived at the library just in time and found free parking around the corner. I felt lucky to find parking so easy in the Broadway area. We spent an enjoyable 45 minutes singing and playing with other Mom's and babies. After that, I walked back to the car. As I approached my car, there were only 3 cars left on the street (2 on my block and 1 car one block behind me). There were also 2 tow trucks, waiting to tow our cars. I checked the signs on the street - no parking from 3pm-6pm! Yikes, I had no idea and I am soooooo glad I left the library when I did. Just 5 more minutes and I would have had to take the bus home.

Although nothing major happened today, I feel that luck is on my side. I passed by a convenience store and saw the 649 jackpot on Saturday is $16 million so I purchased a ticket. Maybe you are reading a future millionaire's blog right now. Now wouldn't it be nice if that came true???

8 Months - Sitting Up (video)

Jasmine turned 8 months a few days ago. She is developing in all areas right now including rolling around and sitting up to play with toys. She can see the world in different angles now, rather than lying on her back and staring at the ceiling.

Just a few days ago, I placed Jasmine on the carpet and walked to the fridge to get a drink. When I turned around, Jasmine had rolled and rolled and rolled across the entire carpet and banged herself up against the TV! She was still trying to roll, but of course she can't. I quickly pulled her away from the TV stand so she doesn't break any electronics (those are Daddy's toys!). At least, she didn't hit her head on anything yet. I better be careful.

Stats:

- weight is 16lb
- loves the jumperoo
- sitting up (but then tilts to one side and falls over)
- when placed on belly, immediately rolls over.

Here's a video clip of Jasmine's sitting up....unsteadily (we flipped the screen of the video cam so that Jasmine can see herself in the screen; she thinks she's looking at another baby).

Hairdos - Snap, snap, snap

This morning when I woke up, Daddy picked me up to watch some TV. Mommy took a picture of us, before we had a chance to brush our hair... I LOVE Daddy's hairdo in the morning.

Ever since Daddy said to Mommy that she doesn't know how to use the camera, Mommy has been fooling around with the camera and snapping pics everywhere. At home, at the park, and every where we go. I guess that's ok, since I like taking pictures. Here are some of them:

Playing in my exersaucer

At the park

On the Swing with Daddy

On the Swing with Mommy

In the shade with Mum and Dad

I'm so glad it is summer now. It's so hot, I get to show off my legs. Can't wait until next year when I get to play in the pool. I guess I'll just munch on a cookie for now.

Rolling Around and Summersaults

Ever since Jasmine hit 6 months, she's been rolling around, from belly to back to belly again nonstop. She's getting good at it and it's fun to watch....back, forth, back again. No wonder she's not gaining weight. I should try doing that for 20 minutes, looks like a pretty good workout.

Jasmine even rolls around when she sleeps. You place her facing one direction to sleep and when she wakes up, she's facing the other way. Here's a good example of it:

Facing Right going to sleep

Facing left when she wakes up

The above pics are from our vacation where they provided a portable crib in our suite. It really makes me curious how well she sleeps at night, rolling around and all.

I absolutely love it when she sucks her toes....

First Family Trip - Portland, Oregon

We went on a week-long family vacation to Portland, Oregon and just got home. We drove along the Oregon coast (Astoria, Seaside and Cannon Beach) seeing the beautiful sandy beaches and awesome views. We went crazy tax-free shopping where we bought a SLR camera and 3 strollers (yes, 3 of them). There were so many good deals that we packed our car full before driving home. Luckily I winked at the customs officer and he let us through without any trouble.

PS - I'm kidding about me winking... instead, imagine Richard pulling up his shorts (showing legs) and dancing out of the car? J/K

While we were there, we visited OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) and the Oregon zoo. We also shopped at Woodburn outlets, Seaside outlets and Prime Outlets. Here are some pics from our trip:

At Astoria Column, beautiful view
Taken at Hug Point
Oswald West Park, just off Hwy 101
At OMSI (dinosaur exhibit)