Laugh Attack
I (Bryant) tend not to be home during many of Elise's laughing episodes, but this one today was the best yet.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
weeks 20 and 21 photos
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| i accidentally cut a piece of skin while cutting elise's nails...on MOTHER'S DAY! :( bryant had to keep it compressed for 20 minutes and elise was such a champ. |
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| at the breastfeeding support group we attend every other week |
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| she likes to "swim" |
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| thanks bo for the cute dress! :) |
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
week 21 and 22
wow, elise is now 5 months old. i'm starting to have some fun interactions with her. just today, we played a game where i would pretend to eat her hand if she put it by my mouth, leaving us both in giggles. it is such an exciting feeling to be able to share laughter together for the first time with your child, like it's a little inside joke.
the biggest happening in the last few weeks is a big medical scare that TOTALLY freaked us out. starting around 4 months, elise started to exhibit some strange jerky movements. i called the hospital immediately and after a quick phone diagnosis, the nurse said that it was ok, although i don't think she fully understood me because she referred me to an informational recording on asthma. elise continued to have these movements a few times a week, and so several weeks later, i called the nurse hotline again, and was informed to see someone within 24 hours. bry and i went to urgent care and the doctor there referred us to see a neurologist, based on our description of what elise did. that's when we really started to freak out. there is an absolutely horrific seizure disorder called infantile spasms, a condition that leads quickly leads to total physical and mental retardation. each seizure leads to brain damage and so we called every kaiser in southern california to get a sooner neurology appointment than the one that was scheduled for us 2 weeks later (seriously, how could anyone wait that long?). based on various symptoms, such as the age of onset, timing of movement, and because it looked similar to some videos we found on youtube, we were very concerned that elise had the disorder. it wouldn't be an overstatement to say that our life became total hell for a short period.
thankfully, we were able to get all of her appointments and testing done within a short period of time at riverside kaiser. yes, we drove there 3 times! we got her results last week and HALLELUJAH, they came back normal! words cannot describe the happiness we have knowing that our daughter is healthy. the neurologist said to continue to keep an eye on her in case the movements continue, but we haven't seen them in several weeks. my heart breaks for families who must undergo this nightmare of a disorder; it really is one of the worst ones out there.
its experiences like this that make you realize what people mean when they say parenting is one of the hardest things in the world. when you are confronted with the possibility of your own child's devastating illness, the entire world just shuts down and nothing else matters. even when elise had a small cold and coughed throughout the night broke our hearts. the love you have for your child just overwhelms you.
elise is such a happy baby. she loves charming people with her wide, gummy smiles. it's funny how you will hear the same things over and over again when people see your baby. i hear the following phrases constantly about elise:
"wow, her eyelashes are so long! they go to her eyebrows!"
"her eyes are so beautiful! they're so striking!"
"she's such a smiley baby!"
"wow, she's one of the cutest babies i've ever seen!"
the last one is kind of funny because, of course, bryant and i secretly think this to ourselves but we also know we're extremely biased. but when we hear this from other people, it fills us with parental pride. :) we really did not think we would or could produce such a cute baby.
elise is learning how to sit and can sit "tripod-style" for a good 5-10 minutes unassisted. i'm really looking forward to the sitting milestone. people say this phase is the best because they're the most independent without you having to chase after them. i can't even imagine her crawling, let alone walk. yikes!
sorry, my computer has been wonky and so i'm having trouble uploading photos... i'll figure it out soon and do a photo and video bomb. :)
the biggest happening in the last few weeks is a big medical scare that TOTALLY freaked us out. starting around 4 months, elise started to exhibit some strange jerky movements. i called the hospital immediately and after a quick phone diagnosis, the nurse said that it was ok, although i don't think she fully understood me because she referred me to an informational recording on asthma. elise continued to have these movements a few times a week, and so several weeks later, i called the nurse hotline again, and was informed to see someone within 24 hours. bry and i went to urgent care and the doctor there referred us to see a neurologist, based on our description of what elise did. that's when we really started to freak out. there is an absolutely horrific seizure disorder called infantile spasms, a condition that leads quickly leads to total physical and mental retardation. each seizure leads to brain damage and so we called every kaiser in southern california to get a sooner neurology appointment than the one that was scheduled for us 2 weeks later (seriously, how could anyone wait that long?). based on various symptoms, such as the age of onset, timing of movement, and because it looked similar to some videos we found on youtube, we were very concerned that elise had the disorder. it wouldn't be an overstatement to say that our life became total hell for a short period.
thankfully, we were able to get all of her appointments and testing done within a short period of time at riverside kaiser. yes, we drove there 3 times! we got her results last week and HALLELUJAH, they came back normal! words cannot describe the happiness we have knowing that our daughter is healthy. the neurologist said to continue to keep an eye on her in case the movements continue, but we haven't seen them in several weeks. my heart breaks for families who must undergo this nightmare of a disorder; it really is one of the worst ones out there.
its experiences like this that make you realize what people mean when they say parenting is one of the hardest things in the world. when you are confronted with the possibility of your own child's devastating illness, the entire world just shuts down and nothing else matters. even when elise had a small cold and coughed throughout the night broke our hearts. the love you have for your child just overwhelms you.
elise is such a happy baby. she loves charming people with her wide, gummy smiles. it's funny how you will hear the same things over and over again when people see your baby. i hear the following phrases constantly about elise:
"wow, her eyelashes are so long! they go to her eyebrows!"
"her eyes are so beautiful! they're so striking!"
"she's such a smiley baby!"
"wow, she's one of the cutest babies i've ever seen!"
the last one is kind of funny because, of course, bryant and i secretly think this to ourselves but we also know we're extremely biased. but when we hear this from other people, it fills us with parental pride. :) we really did not think we would or could produce such a cute baby.
elise is learning how to sit and can sit "tripod-style" for a good 5-10 minutes unassisted. i'm really looking forward to the sitting milestone. people say this phase is the best because they're the most independent without you having to chase after them. i can't even imagine her crawling, let alone walk. yikes!
sorry, my computer has been wonky and so i'm having trouble uploading photos... i'll figure it out soon and do a photo and video bomb. :)
Friday, May 11, 2012
week 19 and 20
elise is truly evolving and it's all moving quite fast for us (don't all parents feel this way?). just this morning, we had our first opportunity to discipline elise. notice i say "opportunity" because we couldn't resist her cuteness in the end. every morning, we play with elise in bed and one of her favorite activities is to bounce on bryant's stomach while he holds her. as soon as she wakes up, between 5:30 and 6:30, she is ready to bounce. so bry bounces her for a good while and then puts her down in between us to rest. well this morning, she started to cry after she was put down and we assumed she was hungry. nope, she wanted to bounce. so he bounced her some more and then put her down. commence more crying. this cycle repeated a few times when it became clear to us that she had far more energy than both of us combined. we could have just taught her to deal with it, but we just bounced her all that we could and then moved her to her exersaucer. i have a feeling some permutation of this incident will repeat itself well into her childhood.
she's starting to roll more from belly to back. she probably needs another week before going back to belly, but she's nearly there. we bought her an exersaucer for home and a jumperoo for my mom's house and she just loves bouncing around and playing with toys.
she's also growing even more attached to mommy, if that were even possible. even our friends notice that she just stares at me intently at all times, even when others (including bryant) are holding her. today, my sister grace was treating me to (my first!) pedicure for mother's day while bryant stayed home with elise. well, she ended up screaming hysterically and inconsolably around her bedtime and bry had to call me three times, with the last time asking me to come home since she was nearly hyperventilating. i left right before they put any nail polish on and ran home. as soon as i held elise, she let out one long screaching scream and then started to calm down.
speaking of which, we are hoping to sleep train her in the near future. we tried a little bit back when bryant's mom was here, but we've decided to wait a few more weeks because a lot of the baby sleep experts recommend starting around 6 months since it is a good developmental window. that and she's been waking up so frequently due to her persistent and stubborn eczema on her neck! it's so hard as parents to see her scratching her neck at all hours of the night. we've talked to 3 doctors about it, have bought high-end french products (got the best reviews), and tried medication but it's taking awhile to heal. so as long as she is waking due to her itchiness, it's probably not a good time to train. anyway, i just hope this sleep training thing works out although a part of me wonders if she will fall into that small segment of babies who just resist it. she's quite the determined one.
she also seems determined not to grow hair, haha. most of her newborn hair has fallen out and her regular hair is growing back eveeeeeer so slowly. it looks like she will have dark brown hair to go along with her dark brown eyes. asians, for the win! just kidding.
ok, enough talk. here are some photos. this is just half of what's on the camera now...will post the other half later when i find the cord. :P
she's starting to roll more from belly to back. she probably needs another week before going back to belly, but she's nearly there. we bought her an exersaucer for home and a jumperoo for my mom's house and she just loves bouncing around and playing with toys.
she's also growing even more attached to mommy, if that were even possible. even our friends notice that she just stares at me intently at all times, even when others (including bryant) are holding her. today, my sister grace was treating me to (my first!) pedicure for mother's day while bryant stayed home with elise. well, she ended up screaming hysterically and inconsolably around her bedtime and bry had to call me three times, with the last time asking me to come home since she was nearly hyperventilating. i left right before they put any nail polish on and ran home. as soon as i held elise, she let out one long screaching scream and then started to calm down.
speaking of which, we are hoping to sleep train her in the near future. we tried a little bit back when bryant's mom was here, but we've decided to wait a few more weeks because a lot of the baby sleep experts recommend starting around 6 months since it is a good developmental window. that and she's been waking up so frequently due to her persistent and stubborn eczema on her neck! it's so hard as parents to see her scratching her neck at all hours of the night. we've talked to 3 doctors about it, have bought high-end french products (got the best reviews), and tried medication but it's taking awhile to heal. so as long as she is waking due to her itchiness, it's probably not a good time to train. anyway, i just hope this sleep training thing works out although a part of me wonders if she will fall into that small segment of babies who just resist it. she's quite the determined one.
she also seems determined not to grow hair, haha. most of her newborn hair has fallen out and her regular hair is growing back eveeeeeer so slowly. it looks like she will have dark brown hair to go along with her dark brown eyes. asians, for the win! just kidding.
ok, enough talk. here are some photos. this is just half of what's on the camera now...will post the other half later when i find the cord. :P
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