5 Months Old!

Wow....I can' believe our girl is 5 months old! These are some pictures that I had made about 2 weeks ago at Kim Murphy's.

We had a good weekend. The weather is perfect for strolling and we are taking advantage of it. Sunday, John and I took Julia to Memphis/Collierville to the outside mall to do some shopping. Julia was a trooper and it was great to have John to help. I was long overdue to get some clothes that fit this post-pregnancy body the way that they should! I have about 12 pounds to lose before I am back to pre-pregnancy weight and about about 30 or 40 to go before I am where I should be! I can't/won't go to the gym at this point because I am ready to be with Julia as soon as I get off. We are still walking about 2.5 miles when the weather is good. I need to buy a treadmill and than I won't have any excuses for not walking!

We watched Juno Saturday night and we thought it was great entertainment. I didn't really understand the relationship that Juno had with the adoptive father, but I guess that's what makes the movie interesting. I love the weekends and Julia and I start to look forward to them by mid-week.

Oh yeah...the baby whisperer. Kristen thinks that someone will ask her for her autograph if I put in my blog that she is one of very, very few that has been able to hold Julia without her crying. Yesterday, she proved her baby whisperer skills once again, and pulled off holding Julia and stopping her from being fussy. It cracks me up that while she was holding Julia, she said, "You know, you could mention me being able to hold her in your blog sometime." So Kristen, there you go......

Things We Swore We Would NEVER Do!

I have always made fun of people who iron their kids picture onto a t-shirt or tote bag. John was making some band t-shirts around Christmas time and decided to iron Julia's picture one a t-shirt for himself. I remember thinking it was kind of cute and quirky.....another Johnism. I didn't figure he would wear it in public. He proved me wrong this week when I got home and he was walking out the door to go to class. I was shocked to see that he was wearing his "Julia" t-shirt under his standard denim shirt! I had to laugh and remind myself that we both will probably catch ourselves doing so many things that we SWORE we would NEVER do!

Anyway She Wants It.....

It has been a busy week with night activities almost every night this week. But first, an update on Julia's weird condition. Dr. Beth called yesterday with a reading on the ultrasound from LeBonheur and they say there are some small cysts under her skin. They say that this is normal for breastfed babies, but that they should go away by the time she is four months old. I can feel them and they feel like small knots. Julia will be 5 months old in 4 days, so they are a little concerned about these, but not so concerned that they feel they need to be "aggressive." So this, coupled with the bleeding and increased estradiol levels in her blood were enough for Dr. Beth to consult with a pediatric endocrinologist at LeBonheur. He seemed to be a little bit baffled by the condition and told Beth that he had never seen anything quite like this before. He told Beth to check her estradiol levels again at her 6 month appointment and if they were still elevated for her to send us to him at LeBonheur. Beth told me to be grateful that even though this was a rare case, there are no indications that anything will come of it. We are hopeful that it will spontaneously resolve itself soon.
Going to LeBonheur was definitely an eye opening experience and I was reminded of how grateful I am that we have a healthy baby! Not to sound callous, but hearing about sick children never bothered me before Julia near as much as it does now!
Wednesday night, I had to come back to work and help the hospital Auxiliary (volunteers) with their annual $5 jewelery sale. They made a $1400 profit this year and were very happy. I brought Julia with me since John was at school and she was again fussy when anybody tried to hold her or talk to her. Last night, Julia and I attended the Endowment Foundation's spring celebration. She cried as soon as we walked in and was pretty fussy the entire time we were there. Dad was there and had to take her outside in her stroller while I was making a presentation. Julia's friends Sol and Emmy were there too, and were perfect angels. They smiled and talked to everyone there. When I put her in the car to go home, she starting singing and was all smiles when we were at home doing our nightly stuff....eating rice cereal, taking a bath, playing and getting her pajamas on. Julia is teaching me that she has her own personality already and that she does not like to be out of her environment and around people that she does not know. And I am learning that there in nothing that I can do to change it!
John was in a great mood last night because he found out he made an A in his math class at college. I was so afraid of how he would do in school, but I think even with all the stress that college brings, he is loving it. He is very proud of himself and is realizing that he can actually do this stuff! We will have to celebrate when he gets his final grades....I think he will do well and I am so happy for him!

So So Suck My Toe.....

Julia learned a new trick this weekend! She learned to suck her toes. What a smart girl!

If you still don't believe me, look closer!

There are a few things that Julia can look at and smile. One is her cupcake mobile that I put together with some cupcakes that my cousin Anna knitted as wedding favors for her wedding. I hung them on an old Fisher Price mobile and put it over Julia's bed. She LOVES to look at them. Anna....you could make a fortune making these for baby mobiles! Then she took a nap in her typical spread eagle form. She sleeps this way when she is really, really sleepy.
We are still waiting on our ultrasound results from LeBonheur. Dr. Beth called yesterday with her blood/lab results and everything looked fine except her estradiol level was a little higher than normal. She was not too concerned about this. I will be happy to get the ultrasound results so that we can move on. In the meantime, Julia still has small blood spots on her shirt about every day. I guess this is going to be one of those things we can look back on and scratch our heads.

Figuring Things Out as We Go....

Julia and I went to a baby shower for a friend of mine that I work with Sunday. She cried anytime someone got in her face and talked to her. She cried even louder when two different people tried to hold her. Everyone says she will get over this eventually and I hope they are right. For now, I am trying to expose her to different people and places so she can get used to it. One thing that I have learned about Julia is that when she is crying really hard and other people are around, the best thing to do with her is to put her down in her seat or lay her down in another room where noone else is. Its funny, but it always seems to work. John and I are guessing what it is that causes this response from her. I think that she gets overstimulated and wants some quiet time. He thinks that she is very sensitive to smells. If only we could ask her......
I forced John to go on a stroll around the neighborhood with us yesterday. It will probably be the first and last time. He walked so SLOW! We went around the first block, and he said he had had about enough and was ready to go back to the car! He blamed it on his weedeating that he did earlier. Our normal walk is fast pace and is 2.2 miles up 2 big hills. Needless to say, I didn't get my exercise. And to top off the walk, John wanted to stop at Sonic on the way home and have a chocolate creme pie shake. Must be nice to be so skinny and not have to worry about exercising or eating an extra 300 calories. I just hope that Julia gets his metabolism.
Today is our appointment at LeBonheur. I really feel like everything will be okay and the news will be good.

The Waiting Game

Julia kept having little blood spots on her shirts for the past three or four days and I kept thinking it was us getting a little blood on her. Finally, yesterday at lunch there was another one so I stripped her down and looked for the source. I couldn't see anything! I squeezed her tummy and then her nipple and a little bit of blood came out. I know....bizarre. So I immediately called Dr. Beth and she told me to bring her in. It is extremely rare....only 9 cases ever documented. She says she thinks it will spontaneously resolve itself, but she drew some lab and is sending us to LeBonheur for an ultrasound just to make sure that everything is okay. I am not too worried even though it is so weird. She printed out the article that she found and it sounds like the 9 documented cases turned out to be nothing serious. They are supposed to call me with an appointment time and date today.
In the meantime, Julia is totally oblivious and spends most of her spare time smiling at her Dad!

Some pictures for the day

This is Julia last night after her bath. She still loves her bathtime and is very playful when I am getting her dressed in her pajamas. This is her new toy that John got for her this weekend. Our house if beginning to look like romper room! She loves looking at it and is learning to use her hands and feet to grab the dangly toys. She is very strategic about how she gets them. Brilliant.
This is Julia and Sol at Evan's birthday party. You can't see Sol's sweet face very well, but I thought it was so cute that her little elbow was propped on his back.
Future classmates! Julia, Sol and Parker. These three were born within three months of each other. Julia is definitely the smallest of the three. She is taking after her mom and is going to be so petite.......hope you are laughing at that!Pretty Becca and Julia! I had to post this one because I think this is among the first time that Julia was held by someone else and has a pleasant look on her face!
So tired after the party! She didn't even make it home to her bed.