Professional pictures

6 month pictures at home

Checking out the toes



I can stand, see Dad.



Oh, I can sit too.


And yes the comparison shot with the doggy.

6 month check-up...

Well, despite a snow storm down here, and a closed doctors office due to a flood, Delilah had her 6 month check-up. She is doing great. She has grown in legnth and has gotten all the way up to the 75%. So she jumped from the 35th to the 75th in two months. Her weight remians in the 88% and now she weighs a whole 18 lbs 6 ounces! Her head remains in the 95%. So she is above average in all areas now.

She is getting really good at sitting up on her own. She has made it through all the vegetables and all of the fruits except the prunes we just started yesterday.

She got her shots and the flu shot. She did very well with the first one and then not so well on the next two. But overall she did well and I am amazed at how fast she is growing.

She has entered into the stranger-fear stage so I hoep she will be ok with family for the holidays. Well will get the pictures up soon when I can get them resized.

The update

Yep that is right. She is holding her own bottle. She isn't always that great at it but she does do it most of the time. "Don't worry grandma, Dad is always right there with me so I don't choke."

Okay, no, she is not pulling herself on her own but if you stand her up and give her something to hold on to she will stand there for awhile. She sometimes needs a little support with it, but she is getting better. She is also sitting up on her own without support most of the time. As you can tell by my twitter she did roll over from her back to her tummy twice but she only did it that one day. She looks like she might do it again when we change her but she just wont do it. Jarrod thinks she forgot how to do it. I think she is just waiting and then she will just do it all the time and act like she has been doing it all along. She still shows no interest in crawling so we shall just have to see. She is definitely short and has quite the belly and thighs on her so maybe she will never crawl like her Dad. Oh and she loves her little bouncer. It is a little jumper that spins. It looks like a walker but all she can do it bounce, not walk. She loves it and I think she is burning off some good calories. We are figuring her out and starting to learn her routine. Bed time is going much better. If she would just sleep in a little longer in the morning again. We had finally gotten her to sleep through the night from 9p to 6 am but she was getting so tired at night that we needed to move bedtime up so we decided on 8 am and since then she wakes up at least once if not more and then gets really upset by 5:15 ish. So we are still working on that.

So this if more for Grandma Olson, but here is her schedule... usually. Eat around 5:15am. Go back to sleep and sleep until 7:30 or 8:30 then she is up. Eat 3 tbs rice at 9 then breastfeed after. Then play for a little while then nap from 10-11. Noon she eats rice again and breastfeeds. Then plays for awhile. 1-2 ish she naps. 3ish she breastfeeds. 4:30-5:30 takes nap. 5:30 eats vegetable/nurses, then plays. At 7:30 we start the bedtime routine which involves feeding, brush gums, read two stories, then to bed. We have tried to get her to take longer naps and try to cut out the evening one and nothing works. So this is her schedule for now.

Well twice a day she gets rice and then for supper we have started to move her through the vegetables. Started with Peas and she was not such a fan. Beans were a little better. She loved squash. Which is surprising but she loved that one. Carrots not so much. She gets one more day of carrots and then onto sweet potatoes which I know she will love. Then to the fruits, which all babies like. I can't decide what the order of fruits should be. Does it matter? She has progressed without difficulty. However, right after we had started the peas she had some major diarrhea. We thought maybe it was the food but even after we stopped the food it didn't get better. So we after five days we went to the doctor and sure enough it was a GI bug not an intolerance to the food. So 24 hrs of just Pedilyte and then she was back to normal so we moved onto the beans. Anyways so that is the food.

The one thing that has been frustrating is she has had six colds since she was born. So in 5 1/2 months, she is averaging more than one cold a month. When we went in for the diarrhea, she was also on cold number 6. So I asked him if it was allergies as both Jarrod and I have allergies. I fear that she may be allergic to the cats. The doctor wouldn't even listen and said it is to early to see allergies. He just totally blew me off and I was very unhappy about that. The chances of her having allergies are like a 60% chance and she has always been exposed to the cats so wouldn't it make sense for her to be allergic? He wouldn't even discuss it. So I am giving him a chance at the next appointment and if he wont listen I am just going to take her to an allergist. I just want him to draw a CBC with differential and if there are a lot of one of these types of cells then I will press it further.

Well I think that about covers it. She is so much fun now. She giggles and laughs and grabs stuff but she is still immobile so she can't get into trouble. It is so much fun now. Finally starting to feel like we have a handle on things now and catching up on sleep.

Jarrod is busy winding down the semester and I am getting slow at work. I have had a student that is wonderful so it has been even slower for me. I am very proud that I have made it this long with the breastfeeding and surprised that I haven't quit. Still going strong and hope to make it" just another day" has been my motto. Well all for now from the Olson clan.

Happy Thanksgiving...

Family picture with our tree and resting after dinner just playing. Will write more very soon. I promise.

New Pics...

I was asked to get more pictures on here. So here is her pretty in pink. Always have to have the pink shots for girls.

Here is her first bite of peas. She gave the look like, "you really want me to eat these?" That is okay I hate them too.

Delilah doing tummy time and was just looking around. Then she was just chilling in the leaves during one of those really nice fall days.

Halloween...

Jarrod decorated the house and then Delilah got to dress up and just be cute. The bib said "I love Mummy."She had a great night. She got to make a pumpkin bat at daycare.

Generations

Here are pictures from early and late October. Finally got some nice generation pictures.

Just teasing...

Okay so I give up. I don't understand. I really don't get it. Delilah has not slept through the night since my last blog. She woke up after 5 hrs then after 3. Last night she was even worse. She woke up at 2, then 4:30 then would not go back to sleep. I have people asking me all the time, "does she sleep through the night yet?" And man she just teases us with one here then one there but never does it even two nights in a row. Right now it may be due to her cold, it may be due to my lower milk supply (which last night she got bottle since I was at bridge so can't be that) or is she afraid of storms? I don't know but if one more person tells me that oh my baby slept through the night at 8 weeks, 9 weeks, or even 3 months I am gonna blow. We are at 4 months and she still doesn't sleep through the night. Now we have the fun of she can easily roll from her tummy to her back but when she sleeps she needs her belly so she gets mad and rolls herself over but then can't fall asleep on her back. She needs to roll back to her belly to sleep. Oh please if anyone has ideas please help!

4 months...

Wow how time flies. It just seems like yesterday I was writing the 3 month update and now here comes the next one. I will get pictures on here hopefully soon but right now just the update. Her four month check-up went well. She is still in the upper 80 percentile for her weight, upper 70th for her head and she climbed from the 20 to the 38 percentile for length. She is 15 lbs now! She is getting better with her rice cereal and we got the okay to go to twice a day cereal if we want. She is not so keen on the cereal in the morning thing but is getting better. Doctor gave her a clean bill of health. She truly is amazing.

Well last night for the first time ever Delilah slept the entire night through and mommy got almost 8 hrs of sleep. Almost like 15 mins short. Tonight I am going for the gold and as soon as she goes to bed I am crawling into my bed and going to go to sleep as I work day three tomorrow. So hopefully she treats mommy good. She has been slowly getting better and sleeping longer, and sounder without waking up. So we shall see.

This upcoming weekend, Delilah is going hunting. Okay well not really but she is going to go up and root on Grandpa and Uncle Dave on the hunt for pheasants and hope that she can feel her first pheasant feather. Will be good food, good company, and I am sure lots of laughs, yeah the hunters may be the butt of the jokes but we will see.

Other than that life is good. Delilah has another cold. That makes 4! Yeah 4 colds in four months. Jarrod says not to worry that they have 6-10 colds in the first year of life, but we are on course for 12! Oh well.

Jarrod loves teaching but has quite his hands full with two of the kids. I am busy at work and just enjoy what I do. Would like it better if I was a little more rested at times but hey that is having a child!

Rice...

So you can see the face from the first bite which is to be expected. Then she settled in and made quite a mess but she did eat a about half of it. She did sleep 7 hr which is better but it is not the miracle everyone said it would be and that she would sleep through the night with a full belly and we would get great sleep. Oh well keep trying and will see how tonight goes.

Time for the rice...

Okay so as many of you who have read this blog knows that this rice thing has been a great debate for me. Well we are just a couple days off anyways from what the doctor said and she is sleeping less again. She woke up at 1:30, then 4:30 then 6. Okay enough waiting. Tonight I think (Jarrod and I have not discussed it yet) but we are going to go all out with the rice tonight. Give her the full amount that the doctor recommended and give 'er a try! I am nervous and excited but I think twice a day we are going to give her the rice cereal. So my question... do you give it to her before or after you breastfeed? I could argue both ways. If you give before she is likely to be hungry enough that she will eat but then she might not take enough liquids. You breastfeed first and I doubt she will take any of the rice because it is so different, so I guess rice first. If she is thirsty she will wake me up and let me know! So anyways we will see, stay tuned.

The exciting news! She rolled over. Okay now as some of you know Delilah sleeps on her tummy. I know, I know, NICU nurse puts her baby on her tummy but that was the only way Delilah would sleep. Well anyways last Thursday night, September 25th, after her 4:30am feed I went to lay her back in bed. I laid her on her belly and when Jarrod woke up at 7:45 to go check on her she was just awake and content in her crib on her back! Well Jarrod asked me if I laid her on her back and I said I didn't think so but I was so tired I didn't remember for sure. Then she didn't do it again so I thought ok I must have put her on her back. Well last night after the 1:30 feed Jarrod went in to get her at 4:30 and she WAS ON HER BACK! And I know that I had put her on her tummy because when I laid her down I had to give her her pacifier to calm her down and she kept digging her face into the mattress to knock the pacifier out! So she is shy. She doesn't want to do it where we can see but does it when she is alone! So yeah Delilah!

Great Grandparents

Family...

Pictures of the family at the family tree and the three of us. For some reason I can only add two pictures at a time. I think because they are so large, so more pictures will eb added with no titles etc.

Visitors...

Well today we had some very special people arrive. They brought an adorable little robe which was just perfect because I had saved her bath until tonight. During the bath she was leaned forward and this was the wonderful face she was giving. Hope you enjoy.

Growing up...

Well on September 18th, Grace's 2nd birthday, My sister and I were able to visit the newest member of the English Family. What amazed me the most is that Chloe was 7 lbs 7 oz at birth and Delilah was 7 lb 5 oz. When you see her every day you forgot how much she really has grown. So when we lined up all the girls you have Chloe Elizabeth, then Delilah, and then Grace you can see the major size differences. The other picture I was holding Chloe and Delilah was in front of me. We pulled Grace away from the TV and tried to get the girls. It is just amazing to me the size difference and how a little time can make such a difference. It was so nice to be able to see the girls. There was a lot of estrogen in that house that day. Dave was outnumbered 6 to 1!

Just another day...

Okay so our daycare had suggested trying a little rice cereal before bed, to help maybe get her through the night. Well after only two hours of sleep on Tuesday night, Wednesday nigth we decided to try a little. So I put a few flakes on a spoon, slowly added drops of breastmilk (which Jarrod found hilarious becuase I just took it from the source and if you do not undertand what that means I am not oging to enlighten you) and then tried to feed it to her. Yeah she did not get really any of it except maybe a few drops which was probably breastmilk anyways. So it didn;t go real well, and she still woke up at 3 in the morning. Then had to wake back up at 5 to go visit Chloe (newest neice). Last night she went down at 8:30 cried about 10 mins then asleep until 3. then had to wake her up at 6 for feed before I left for work and so she could get ready for daycare. Eveyrone keeps saying to just go full out for the cereal but I am nervous. The doctor said not for another 2 weeks minimum. I am just hesitant to try it too soon!

Like Father, Like daughter...

Okay so as many of you know Jarrod loves being on the computer. He is always surfing the web and investigating the newest urban legend. Well he gets home from work and one of the first things he does is grab Delilah and get on the computer. Well apparently she is starting to get into surfing the web. She was very intently looking at the screen and even when I took these pictures, neither one turned from the screen.

Coos and grins...

"Grandma and Grandpa this one's for you!"

"Well see I now know that when mama is going to work, I don't get to see her, so I don't sleep before she works. Mama is on two hours of sleep so hope that she did this right."

So I lied...

Okay so after further investigation the picture beside was taken at two weeks of age. So it isn't a perfect but it took us a while to even find one that would show the size difference but man, that dog sure looks small now. Compare for yourself.

More pics please?

I have been told to put more pics on my blog. So I am going to get them on here. The only problem is that our camera takes such detailed pics that the size limit gets exceeded very quickly. I am still learning about this whole process. So I will find a way to include more pics. Now the reason for this. The dog in the picture was used for a picture on 7-18. So about one month old. I can't seem to find one of her being two months old with the dog but her is three months old with the dog. So those of you that have the other picture. Compare. You can see how much she has grown. I am going to try to keep the dog as steady object and each month on her day, take a picture with it. So check back for the progression!

All smiles

She is really starting to smile more but it is hard to catch them on the camera. She seems to be very camera shy. I have tried to catch video of her smiling today but every time I pick up the camera she stops smiling and cooing. I think sometime when she is interacting with Jarrod I will just have to sneak up and catch her. Well starting to get better about getting her down for naps. Starting to figure out a little bit of her schedule. Never realized how much sleep we were really taking away from her by not putting her down for naps and getting her to bed earlier. I can't believe it but she is actually an even happier baby. I thought she was good after we got the colic under control but man, with the increase sleep she is just so much happier. I am a little frustrated again because the stools are getting worse again and I am not sure why. I am not pumping at all, I never feel that full and I only squirted her once and that was just cause her nose was stuffy so she took a break so why is she acting as if I have oversupply again. Oh the sad new but good news too is I had to pack all her 0-3 month clothes away. They are just to small so I had to get all her 3-6 month clothes washed. It is just sad to see all her clothes get put away. It means she really is growing up. I did okay putting away her newborn, because she couldn't wear those for long but man now to see the clothes she has worn for three months go away, it is just a little hard. I hope I don't get this way every three months as I upgrade her clothes!

Sleep...

I know, I know. This is probably the most common complaint among new parents. However, my complaint is slightly different. With all the issues we had with colic the routine for sleep was to say the least unpredictable and difficult. So as the colic improved we still found ourselves fighting with the bedtime routine and getting her to sleep. We were told you can not spoil them before 3 months of age so if she cries, hold her or try to soothe her. Well we didn't always hold her by we did go in and try the pacifier. It was such a battle that we all became so frustrated. Well she is now three months old so we were trying to find out, well no we just let her cry it out. So last night (in the middle of a very long and hard stretch of work) we decided to give this a try. So we do the routine. We change her into her PJ's, I nurse her, I lay her in her crib and turn on the CD. I shut the door and walk out. She cried almost immediately. We tried the pacifier once and then said okay enough is enough. We just let her cry. She lasted 30 mins. Then was out. She slept until 4 then woke and wanted to eat. So feed her laid her down and she cried about 10 mins then asleep. Woke up at 6:15 to eat again before I left for work. She woke up on own not me waking her.

So now my complaint, WHAT TOOK US SO LONG! I mean the colic has really been over for a least a week and everyone tells you to let them cry it out but I was stubborn and thought well she isn't 3 months. Well the first night we try and man what a difference. I feel so frustrated that we didn't try things a long time ago. And the worst part the colic may have been caused my my oversupply of breast milk and we could have made the colic better even sooner. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! No one tells you that to much milk can be just as bad! So I wonder if we could have saved a lot of heartache if we had tried things sooner! We would have gotten a lot more sleep sooner. Now we need to get this routine down which will take some time but hopefully it wont take long. I am just frustrated that we waited so long on the colic, the sleep. It is just hard to know these things and then we are finding out things much later than we would like. I had just always heard that sleep was just a battle and deal with it, but you combine it with other things people are telling you and you get mislead! So now finishing a 52 hr work week I am overly exhausted and now have to try and go home and hold to this new routine! I passed out last night and didn't even move. When I woke up to her crying at 4 my body was so stiff and sore from not moving. I think tonight will be even worse as far as the passing out, not moving. I am so exhausted. Everything is just finally catching up with me!

Return to work

So I have officially worked two days. One on Monday, one on Wednesday and now work tomorrow, Friday. I have to say, it actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Being able to have Jarrod take Delilah to daycare I think helped. Actual work was interesting. It surprised me how much I actually remember. It is like riding a bike. It never changes really. They are still sick babies. There are still heartbreaking stories. The only changes are computer issues and just politics. Day two was even easier. I think tomorrow will be even easier, as long as she sleeps okay. She seems to sleep really well after coming home from the day care, not so much on my days off. Back to the grind and realize that I am meant to be a bedside nurse and mom not a stay at home mom all the time.

Two months

Okay even though Delilah actually turned 2 months on Monday, I couldn't feel like I could post a blog about it until I had her 2 month check, which was today, so here we go. As I look back over the last two months it is hard to believe what has happened. Our world, and our life has turned upside down. Something I have always wanted is here and I am amazed. However, today as I sit and type at one in the morning I can't help but feel some sadness. No one likes to talk about it but I am going to discuss the little bit of disappointment I am feeling. I knew having a baby is difficult. I knew there would be long nights and many tears shed. I knew that there will always be something to worry about when you have a baby, but nothing prepared me for the world of Colic! I imagined being able to set a schedule, to have a period of a nap in the morning and a nap in the afternoon. I imagined rocking a baby to sleep around bedtime and reading her a story as she slowly drifted off to sleep and slowly lying her in the crib as I kiss her head goodnight. Well in these two months, I have yet to read her a story. I have yet been able to have a reliable bedtime routine. She of course has no concept that anything is wrong. I never thought that I would dread the "bewitching" hour of 4pm. I never thought I would dread the evening and question when I will be able to lay her to sleep. I never thought I would feel blessed to be in bed by two am. I never thought I would let my baby cry for some hours on end, and be okay with the fact. I never thought I would be happy that I can have her fuss and cry for 8 hrs rather than have a balistic cry for twenty minutes. I never pictured this world. However, tonight as she feel asleep and was in bed before midnight I find myself frustrated and unable to sleep with the lack of energy exerted to put her to bed. So how confusing is that? But even as I complain about the horrible world of colic, would I trade any of it to go back to life without her... simply put, no. It still amazes me how perfect she is. I can't believe that Jarrod and I created such a beautiful being from our love for each other. As she sleeps peacefully in her crib (most likely from the Tylenol givento her due to her shots) I can't help but be amazed and find myself wanting to just pick her up and stare at her (which I will not do for fear of waking the colic within her).

So now the goods. She is healthy. She has great head control and is starting to want to stand (with much support) rather than sit. She officially weighed 12 pounds 14 ounces, up from 7 lbs 5ounces at birth! She is in the 91 percentile. He length was 21 3/4 inches putting her in the 21 percentile so she is solid but short, takes after Dad I guess. Her head remains in the 78 percentile growing to 15 3/4 inches. She got her "lovely" shots and did quite well being swaddled in a blanket during her shots. She likes her Tylenol and has slept well but has not eaten well. I don't think she will starve though. The doctor says she is healthy and he had no concerns. About one week prior to her next visit (in two months) we get to try rice cereal, yeah!

So, now I am try to stay in the moment and enjoy this time because the time goes fast as apparent by the last two months, but I can't help but wonder, when will she roll over? When will she crawl? Will she say dada first? Will she learn the baby sign sa we hope she will? I have to force myself to just enjoy the snuggles and the coos. Maybe I will go sneak in and hold that beautiful girl and remember how precious this time really is.

Roses...

Okay so the great debate of the day. As many know, I love roses. I always wanted to have a beautiful rose bush in my backyard that I can go smell the roses and look at their beauty. Well when we bought this house there were two bushes but neither of them actually had what I would have planted. I like the deep red long stemmed roses. Plants that have beautiful large red roses. Well I still decided to nurse them back to health and this year got just beautiful roses for a while, but then the baby came, and I ignored the roses. They grew wild and stopped blooming and now started to lose leaves and the leaves have turned yellow (a disease that effects roses). It created the great dilemma, do I leave my daughter to work in the yard, or stay with her? The more I think about it the more I feel like I am not a gardener. I don't like to weed. I don't like to prune the bushes. I don't find it relaxing. So which do I want more, to overcome weeding and pruning to get roses for maybe three or four months. Is it really worth it when I can go to the store and buy the roses I want when I want for maybe $6? I love spending time with my daughter rather than slaving away outside at a rose bush. So maybe it is time to just dig them up and plant something that doesn't need to be tended as much. Maybe just some grass....

So everyone can see...

Okay so not a lot of people have MySpace and since trying to send out emails all the time isn't working I thought "give this a try." So I also have included twitters, little blurps about what I am doing. So hopefully you enjoy...