Nineteenth Week Birthday

Nineteen Weeks, July 1, 2010

Bam-Bam Style Hair-do

Katy and her Asian Dolly from Grandparents Tinkey

Katy finds her feet!

"If I laugh hard enough and smile big enough, maybe they won't give me a bath tonight, what do you think?"

Today, you are nineteen weeks old, Katy! This week, we've noticed that a bunch of your three month shirts and bottoms are getting too small and too snug! We're currently dressing you in some size 3-6 month and 6 month clothes.

Your grasp has gotten steadier and more purposeful. If you see something you want to grab, you now just reach out and grasp it without haphazardly batting around at things hoping to find something to grab. Because your grasp is better, Daddy and I have been having you help us "choose" our coffee, in the morning. The game goes like this: We sit you on the counter and put the K-cup coffee holder next to you. Then, you reach out and "choose" which coffee Daddy and I are going to have. Today, you even spun the holder to "decide."

Speaking of grasp, you like to grasp onto Daddy's fingers and pull them to your mouth. You have also found your feet and you like to either hold onto them or pull the closer to your mouth. You like to grab onto glasses and hair, too. I think we are starting to enter the teething stage where everything starts to go into the mouth!

When laying on your tummy, you are able to get your head up in the air for longer, steadier periods of time. You will respond to voices and noise and turn your head smoothly toward something of interest.

I caught you peering around the corner, the other morning, to watch where I was going when I left the room. This shows that you have a sense of expectation and a sense that just because something is missing doesn't mean that it's gone.

When I took you out of your beloved Jump-A-Roo, the other morning, you were sure to voice your discontent at my actions by fussing and giving me an upset face. Miss Silvia, at King's Keep, even mentioned how much they noticed that you like to jump (they have the same Jump-A-Roo at daycare).

We've fed you squash and green beans, this week. You weren't too keen on either one but if they are mixed with something you do like (such as sweet potatoes), you seem to eat the offensive food, better. Speaking of food, you now eat four heaping baby spoons of rice cereal mixed with 3/4 ounce of breast milk every morning. This is opposed to the three heaping baby spoons of rice cereal you were eating just last week.

With all of your hair on your head, we've been a little late in noticing that you have cradle cap (separate blog post)- a dry, scaly scalp. Daddy called the pediatrician to make sure this was normal and to see if there is anything we can do about it. The doctor confirmed that this is normal, to watch it to make sure it doesn't spread (sign that it's something other than cradle cap) and he didn't seem too concerned. From what I was reading online, about fifty percent of babies get it, due to an excess of mother's hormones and other causes. Luckily, all of your beautiful hair covers up the dry patch and the patch itself is fairly small and localized.

You are able to blow raspberries and bubbles with ease and on a whim. When you giggle really hard, you tend to get the hiccups. Daddy and I do lots of crazy, silly things to get you to laugh. I end up repeating myself (repeating myself) a lot just to see that sweet baby smile and hear those cute baby giggles!

North Carolina has been going through a HEAT WAVE! The temperatures have been hot, hot, HOT! We went 19 days with temperatures in the nineties (over 100 degrees with the heat index). Because of the heat, we purchased a soft-paddle fan to attach to your stroller (battery operated). It just came in the mail and we are looking forward to taking some (cooler) walks with you. Finally, toward the end of this week, we are seeing temperatures in the eighties- what a relief!

I am breastfeeding you, Katy, which means I can't take a lot of the medicines that I need to control my eczema. With all of the heat, my eczema has been especially bad and terribly annoying and painful. I am glad to be breastfeeding and and I don't regret the choice because I believe that it's best for you, Katy. Hopefully, it will guard against things in the future and help you developmentally. I believe that because I have such horrible skin, I am extra sensitive to your skin and various marks and dry patches (which the doctor reassures me that occasional dry patches on babies are normal because they just spent 40 weeks in water, in the womb).

Katy, you've been at King's Keep for one month now. You no longer like to be swaddled while napping. Though, we still swaddle you at night so that your legs don't get caught in the crib slats. Just this past week, you experienced your first fire drill at King's Keep. When the alarm goes off, the teachers put all of the babies into two cribs and cart you out of the building.The alarm didn't seem to bother you. According to the teachers, you did great and were chatting the whole time!