4th of July

Peyton and I headed down to the lake house on Wednesday to celebrate the 4th. Brad had to work Thursday and joined us late Thursday night. We had a total of 15 people (and four dogs) at the house for the weekend - super crowded but super fun! My paternal grandparents were able to make the drive from Concord, N.C. along with my uncle Marshal (dad's bro), aunt Anna, and cousin Wainwright. We haven't seen them since December of last year so they were very excited to see how much Peyton has grown since then. Peyton absolutely adored all the attention throughout the weekend and hit another milestone for everyone to see! She took one step all by herself!!! Granted, it was a very wobbley step and she most likely didn't intend to take it on her own, but hey, it counts in our books. I just cannot believe she is almost walking. Crazy!
On the night of the 4th, 10 of us piled into the boat and went over to the amphitheater (located next to the lake where they often have concerts during the summer) to watch the fireworks. For some reason (we blamed the economy) the fireworks weren't as good as usual but it was still fun to watch. Peyton wasn't even the slightest bit fazed by them which surprised us all. While anchored, the boat was rocking at a perfect pace and Peyton eventually fell asleep on my chest. I love it when she does that and it sure is a rare event for it to happen.
I now completely understand why parents blame their children on giving them gray hairs. Peyton ventured off to the stairs many a times this weekend and just loved climbing up them. However, it's when she is at the top that gray hairs sprouted from my head. She would peak over the landing at the top of the stairs and decide that she wanted to climb back down. I tried to teach her how to do it the right way but that's similar to teaching a dog not to bark - just ain't gonna happen (well with my dogs at least). She would attempt to scoot down like a toddler would and this is not good for a infant who still doesn't understand the concept of center of gravity. The inevitable happened and Peyton tumbled forward and did a flip in the air after bouncing off the step. Thankfully I was only two steps away and caught her in mid air. Good Lord child. Give your mom a heart attack why don't you? We both cried for a second and then I burst into uncontrollable laughter for whatever reason as the rest of the family rushed to the steps to see if Peyton was ok. Oh boy, parenthood.

Loving the baby pool!

Peyton's beautiful blue eyes!

Peyton "helping" me clean up.

Sorry I haven't updated in a a few weeks. We have been super busy with work and taking care of sweet Peyton. She is still doing great! We are working on eating solid foods and while she has progressed, we still have a ways to go. I am just amazed at how she completely lost her interest in baby food after she got sick. She is eating carrots, bananas, applesauce, and peas every now and then. She only finishes an entire container a few times a week, but it's progress. She does love her bottles though, boy! I think she has lost a little bit of weight, which is not too worrisome since she is incredibly active. She still looks like a chunky monkey!

She loves the baby pool we got her a few weeks ago; she is definitely a water baby. I am thinking it won't be long before her daddy teaches her how to surf! I believe she is not too far away from walking. She still gets a little nervous when I try to walk her with just one hand instead of having both of my hands in her hands. When I take one of my hands away, she immediately plops herself down. I wish she was always that careful! However, she has no fear looking over the side of the bed, ugh, and loves to rough house with the dogs (don't forget that in addition to our two very large dogs, my parents have three large dogs so she is constantly surrounded by huge puppies!). I already plucked one gray hair out the other day!

She is still sleeping pretty great. Usually goes down around 8 - 830 then wakes up about 8, so 12 hours which is awesome to us! Last Saturday she slept until 10 am!!! Amazing. Every now and then she does wake up in the middle of the night or she wants to stay up late with her mom and dad, but we cannot complain; we have been so blessed with her sleeping through the night since 6-8 weeks old.

On June 14th, my grandfather passed away. He had been suffering from Alzheimers for the past 7 years and it was incredibly difficult to watch him suffer from the disease. Although we are all devasated by his passing, I find myself relieved because I know he is in a much better place and is his happy self again. Grandpa was an incredibly independent man and it was so hard to watch him become so dependent on everyone and everything. He was a navy pilot for 20 years, even flying his own plane after his retirement. I always felt that he and I were extremely close and cherished every moment we had together. I am also so incredibly happy that I got to introduce him to Peyton last October. Peyton and I are flying down to Florida in July and I was hoping Grandpa would still be around then by unfortunately during his last few weeks, his health declined rapidly. Yet, I have some pictures of him with Peyton and I am truly blessed that I will be able to share them with Peyton as she grows up.

Ok, this is a rather poorly written entry but I am exhausted and should be getting to bed soon! I will update more later this week!

9 month check up

Peyton had her nine month check up on Wednesday and it went pretty well. She weighs 19 lbs and 13 oz (down to 60th percentile from 75th) and she is 27 inches long (30th percentile). So in other words, she is short and stocky! The did a fingerprick to check her hematocrit and calcium levels, and those are both good. I wasn't aware of this procedure, but they also took pictures of Peyton's eyes with a special camera to see if her eyes are developing normally; those results will take several weeks and I was told that if we didn't hear anything then everything is perfect. Pretty neat.

Developmentally Peyton is right on target. I discussed the whole eating finger foods then turning blue because she chokes so easily thing with the pediatrician and she was somewhat concerned since Peyton has also been less interested in eating stage two foods since she got really sick in the beginning of May. She said that Peyton may actually have reflux and that could also explain why she dropped from 75th to 60th percentile in weight. Obviously, Peyton is getting enough nutrition, especially since I have been offering more bottles with her decrease in foods so the pediatrician is not too worried. She laid out a plan regarding Peyton's diet and what it should be like at 12 months, and we will be working on that for now. Other than that, everything looks great!

Oh, I did forget to write an entry on Peyton's hearing test - she passed with flying colors except for two tests with her left ear (three tests were done on each ear, so a total of 6 tests in all). The audiologist believes it is because Peyton still has fluid behind the eardrum in her left ear from when she got really sick with the sinus and eye infections. So Peyton will have another hearing test done in 3-5 months just to make sure. We are fairly certain that Peyton's hearing is perfect, but as the pediatrician reminded me, we don't know what caused my hearing loss so we will have to watch Peyton's closesly.

Other than that, Peyton is doing fantastic and growing perfectly!

9 months old already?!?!

Our sweet baby Peyton will be nine months old at 6:43 pm Wednesday night. It is crazy how fast the time has passed us by!

Sweet Peyton at 9 months old (stole this from Mary Noller):

Feeds:
Peyton is eating stage two foods with bananas and carrots being her favorite foods. Recently she has decided that green beans are no longer acceptable and refuses to eat them! Peyton also has stomach issues when she eats peaches and pears, so we are staying away from those. I still haven't tried meats either (oops). She still drinks several 6 ounce bottles of formula a day, too many most likely. She loves drinking out of her sippy cup, which only contains water. Haven't introduced Peyton to juices yet and I am not sure when I will. I just don't want her wanting to drink juice only. Finger foods have not been compatible with Peyton yet and I will be speaking with the pediatrician at her nine month check up about this.

Sleeping Habits:
Well one thing is for sure - she sleeps GREAT at the lake house, 12-14 hours a night with two good naps during the day. I am considering relocating to the lake house because of this :)
Usually Peyton goes down between 8:30 - 9:30 pm and sleeps till about 7 am, but occasionally she does stay up late and wake up early. But overall, Peyton is a great sleeper! She does not nap well at our house compared to my parents', but I believe this may be a result of our dogs who are crazy and love to bark at anything and everything and run around the house. Needless to say, poor Peyton has been woken up by her big 'brothers' several times. Also, Peyton still likes to fall asleep with her blanket touching her head or covering her eyes. A quirk shared by her moma!

Milestones:
Peyton is a speed demon when it comes to crawling and she has even developed a technique that drastically improves her crawling speed. She is a smart little girl alright. She crawls anywhere and everywhere and now is climbing up certain objects such as her chair (mini chair made for toddlers). She hasn't quite understood the whole concept of falling off high objects equals pain and bruises, and I believe little ones don't realize this until they are much older. Oh well, I am impressed with the fact that she is already trying to climb! Brad and I thought she would be walking by nine months, but I don't think she is quite ready yet. She can stand on her own for short periods of time and spends the majority of the day standing with the aid of props. I really need to baby proof the house before she walks!

Health:
She hasn't had her nine month check up yet, so I do not know her weight or height; will update when I get this information.
She has had a few colds now, one episode of stomach virus that lasted 8 days (so fun to clean up), one ear infection, one sinus infection, one ringworm infection (has lasted 6 months, UGH!), and one bout of hemorrhagic virus of the eyes. Other than that (which is far plently enough), she is exceptionally healthy! Especially since I am around lots of infectious diseases at work; thank goodness I haven't brought anything home to her! Her hearing seems to be normal, almost above normal actually. She hears anything and everything and startles easily with loud or unexpected noises. This is sometimes funny to watch because when startled, she flings whatever object that is in her hands across the room. So adorable!

So, to sum it up: Peyton is PERFECT!

Rainy yet Fun Weekend at the Lake!

I was fortunate enough to get cancelled from work on Thursday so Peyton and I packed up our things, loaded the car, and headed to the lake house where my parents, sister, neice, brother, his girlfriend, some of of my brother's friends, and my parents' four dogs - Murphy, Gunner, Luke, and Boone - were waiting for us. Brad had to work Friday, but joined us Friday afternoon after he was able to take a half day (yay!). I was so looking forward to sitting out on the dock, chatting with everyone, introducing Peyton to the lake water, and sipping on afternoon cocktails.

It rained the ENTIRE time we were there, with the exception of an hour on Friday afternoon. Ugh!

But still, we were able to all have a great time hanging out and relaxing. Peyton is really, really using her voice when she feels like no one is paying her enough attention. I swear, while sitting on the porch (which is covered thank goodness so we weren't stuck inside the entire time), Peyton would holler and her voice carried so far with the water's help. But she is too adorable to scold! She really is trying to talk, and will have conversations with you. I can't wait till she really talks! I am so curious to see what she thinks and talks about. It won't be much longer!

The adults minus my parents stayed up late every night playing drinking games and let's just say us older folks (me, Clare, and Brad) could not keep up with the college kids. Anyways, it was a great time and I was sad that Brad, Peyton, and I had to leave today since I have to work tomorrow. That's one thing I hate about working in a hospital - we are never closed!

Ok, side note. Peyton has been either early or right on track as far as acheiving her milestones. In fact, she has actually been early for all of them except rolling over (which is my fault since I never put her on her belly). But we are really, really struggling with finger foods/solids. She is eating stage 2 foods perfectly, but when Brad and I try to give her crackers, cheese puffs, even cut up bananas, Peyton ends up choking and throwing up. She now has had two major choking episodes that have scared the hell out of us. Thank goodness I work with babies because I am required to be certified in infant CPR and choking rescue and we do training seminars yearly. I have always had a big fear about babies choking. When I would babysit, I would always break out in a sweat if I had to feed the infant/toddler. Anyways, I am concerned with the fact that Peyton cannot eat any solids, even mashed up bananas! I have tried several different snacks (all approved for her age), and she has choked every time! I now will not allow anyone feed her any solids unless I am present because I've had to use choking rescue on her twice. Peyton has her 9 month appointment soon so I am planning on discussing this with the pediatrician.

Alrighty, I have rambled. Time for sleep!

My Little Chunky Monkey!

I swear, you would think all I do is feed this sweet child! These are even after a week of not eating as much as she usually does!

Inside voice, please

Peyton definitely has discovered her voice. She now hollers for any and every reason possible, and then some. And she has developed this thing called 'talking back' which I am so not happy about. It goes something like this:

Peyton: (hollering)

Me: Peyton, can you please use your inside voice?

Peyton: muh ya

Me: Are you talking back to me?

Peyton: ahh yoo

Me: That isn't very nice Peyton.

Peyton: muuuu yah yeh

Me: You are going to make me have grey hair soon aren't you?

Peyton: (smiles and giggles)

Me: I knew it.

I am not ready for this sassy side of Peyton. I can't really complain though because she has been such a model baby and we have had no problems with her at all, but I am just not ready for all of this hollering and talking back thing. I guess it is a way of preparing me for the terrible twos and the teenage years. Ahhhhhh.