First Tooth Finally Out

Julia has been showing teething symptoms since she turned 5 months. She was drooling on everything and shoving all objects into her mouth. Basically she would pick something up with her pudgy fingers and then it goes directly into her mouth. Jasmine never did this (Jasmine didn't like putting things into her mouth). Maybe because we had her hands in little mitts all the time, due to her eczema (so we covered her hands with mitts).

Anyways, right now, we are changing Julia's bib every hour because her drool is causing her to have a face rash. Her poor cheeks. It's very red, not quite angry but if we don't constantly change her bib or put cream on her face, I'm sure it would turn very bad.

Finally this morning when I was wiping Julia's bottom gums, I can feel her tiny tooth erupted through. Hooray! At least it should make Julia feel a bit better. She is still constantly drooling though so I have a feeling her second tooth is on the way and about to come out as well. We are using Hylands teething tablets as well as baby Tylenol. People have recommended Motrin instead so I'll look into that.

I originally thought that she had 1 tooth on the bottom side because there was a white spec that poked through but that white spec has mysteriously disappeared now. At that time, the doctor had ran fingers along Julia's gums and confirmed that it was a tooth! So I don't know what happened there. I'll have to do some investigation.

Currently, Julia is super moody, doesn't want to play, doesn't want to sleep and doesn't want to feed either. She's just a ball of grouch. Not nice to be around her. Too bad for Mommy though, I have to be there to carry her around...

Long Night - Rolling and Rolling, Sick

The last couple of nights have been extra, extra long. Julia is rolling from her back to her tummy all the time in her sleep and I end up going to her crib every few minutes to turn her onto her back again. Last night, she was up from 1am-3:47am rolling and rolling, until she got so exhausted and finally konked out. But she woke up in again at 6:30am to start her day.

It seems she does it even more when she is tired, when she is trying to take a nap or go to sleep at night. She wakes after 45 minutes of napping and there is no way for me to get her to sleep again. She's going all over her crib, turning this way and that way. It's cute watching her during the day playing on her belly but it's a nightmare in the evening. I hope this phase will pass by quickly and she'll master this skill very soon.

At the same time, Jasmine seems to have caught a cold from somewhere, possibly from attending Courtney's birthday party on Saturday at McDonalds. McDonalds is Jasmine's favorite restaurant. Anyways, so now Jasmine has a stuffed up nose and slight cough. She's waking up a few times at night screaming as well. Lucky for me, she's upstairs so Richard has to attend to her needs while I take care of Julia's needs downstairs. Life is fair, huh?

Courtney's 3rd Birthday party

It is Courtney's 3rd birthday today and she had a birthday party at McDonalds, which happens to be Jasmine's favorite restaurant. (Who doesn't love french fries?) There were all these little kiddies running around the play structure at McDs so it was hard to keep track of your own. I chased Jasmine down while Richard held Julia.

Unfortunately, we didn't get a pic with Courtney but we did get a photo with Chloe, Courtney's younger sister, who happens to be 3 weeks older than Julia. Oops, Sorry Courtney!

Jasmine sings ABC (video)

On a normal day in our house, you will likely hear Jasmine talking to herself, blabbing about everything in her loud voice. She can talk but also mixes in some of her own gibberish, which only she can understand. She also loves singing.

Jasmine was singing the ABC song just before bed and I tried catching her on video. Too bad she wasn't cooperating 100% and was a little camera shy at first but I guess getting the video is better than nothing:

7 Months - Julia

Julia turned 7 months today. I can't believe she is growing up so quickly. This month is an easy one, as we don't have to visit the doctor's office for another 2 months.

After converting to bottle feeding, Julia seems to be drinking a fair bit of milk nowadays and she feels heavier so I'm certain she gained some weight. She drinks on average 22-24oz a day of breastmilk. On the low end, she could consume 16oz and on the high end, she can consume 32oz. I'm fortunate enough to produce slightly more than what she drinks so even when she wastes a bit of milk (when she doesn't finish the bottle), we have enough to cover.

What's that sound? (video)

I was hanging out with Julia today and put her into her portable swing. While listening to music and swaying back and forth, I decided to record her because it's been a while since we last made a video of her. How lucky I am to film her make her daily pooping session (listen for it at 23 sec and 54 sec).

BBQ with Digital Payment Technologies

Richard's company had a BBQ today and all families were invited. It was a very organized event and they had activities for all ages, including a bouncy castle for little ones (12 and under) and a wrestling bouncy thing for adults (12 and over). The weather held up nicely until mid-afternoon. There was tons of food catered in and a games area, sort of like at a fair.

Jasmine really enjoyed herself today, jumping with all the little kids, running around everywhere. She even got a grab bag at the end of the BBQ with some toys and candies. Julia looked around at everything and just chilled. She didn't fuss much so things were good.

Julia's Wedding

Richard and I went to a wedding on Saturday; it was a long time friend's (Julia Chow) special day. She was gorgeous, as usual. It was an all-adult's wedding so no kids were invited. We had to leave Julia at home with the inlaws and boy did they have their hands busy.

Julia has converted to bottlefeeding just recently and we thought that she would be ok with staying home. But as it turned out, Julia decided to be unhappy the entire night and she wasn't hungry while we were out. She didn't take any milk for the entire 6 hours Richard and I were away. She missed 2 feedings.

I have a feeling that the inlaws did not know how to feed her (because they've never fed her with a bottle before) and at the same time, Julia has slight separation anxiety so she didn't feel comfortable with the inlaws. Both of these things combined made it an awful night.

We left the wedding early (after 11 speeches) at 10pm and got home by 11pm, just in time when Julia woke up screaming. We gave Julia her bath and a full bottle of milk before going to bed. It was a long day.

Bath with Elmo

Jasmine loves taking her bath each night. If we gave Jasmine a choice, she would take Elmo into the bath with her. Unfortunately, Elmo is nice and furry (and contains electronic parts so this isn't an option). Jasmine still wants to share all her bath toys with Elmo though and this is how she does it.

I love how she put a couple of toys on top of the head.

Taking Bottle now and Pumping

Julia finally took the bottle today.

The last time I breastfed her in peace was Thursday, September 2 at 3:45am. We did breastfeed at 7am but it was a struggle and she drank very little. She sucked for a few seconds expecting to get milk right away, and when that didn`t happen, she popped off and started screaming at me. Julia seems to expect to get milk right away which of course doesn't happen.

At the 10am feeding, Julia did the same thing. Sucked for few seconds, popped off and then started screaming. I know she is hungry, chewing her hand continuously. So at noon, I offered her a bottle and she drank 2oz. Not much but better than nothing. Throughout the day, I offered the bottle and she took little sips here and there. I think she`ll get it after all.

Do I miss breastfeeding? Well, a little. I miss the quiet time with her and the closeness we had. But ever since she is easily distracted during feeding, it`s more work than anything keeping her still enough to feed, not to mention the punishing bites she gives me.

I do want Julia to receive all the health benefits of breastmilk so I am pumping every 4 hours and giving her all the milk she needs. I am producing enough for her daily consumption so things are ok on that front. That just means that I have to wash the pumping equipment and all the bottles every day.

Now, if only I can get her on a feeding/sleeping schedule...