All she wants for Christmas

Are her two [bottom] front teeth.  Yes ladies and gentlemen, she has her first two teeth.  Now, this means a few things:

A) the reason that the Scheider household has not been sleeping has become very clear
B) her consistent warm forehead for the last week now makes sense
C) it's time to seriously consider weaning from breastfeeding

Now, much to my surprise, I actually enjoy nursing baby E (for those of you who knew me pre-pregnancy, remember how I was not very excited about this?) and am kind of disappointed that this happened so soon. There's definitely a difference in the comfort level between no baby teeth to (BAM!) two teeth chomping at the bit.  Looks like I'm going to be pumping for the most part, since I'm still producing like a cow - stocking a nuclear bomb shelter for nutrients and food supply.  You should see my freezer.

She's growing up so fast! I wish she'd stay still for a picture of the two little gems on her mandible, but alas, we have a squirmy baby.  Once the teeth start growing a bit more than the surface, I will try and post a picture.  Until then, Happy Holidays - we here at the Scheider house have oodles to be thankful for.

Dear Daddy-

Thank you for my ridiculously large, above average sized, but normally shaped head.

Love,
Elliott

4 Months Old...and a McDreamy in her future.

I can't believe that baby girl is four months old today!  Well, today we went to the doctor (our new doctor, Dr. Frand) and he gave us some updates:

Baby Elliott (who at first, he thought was a boy) weighs 14lbs, 7.5oz, which puts her in the 50-70th percentile (Mama's milk is good to her).  She is 25 3/4 inches long, which puts her in the 95th percentile (tall parents...) and her head is 41 3/4cm (16.4 inches) which puts her in the 75-90th percentile (re: Daddy's head).  Speaking of her head.  Today, I heard the word that no other Mother would want to hear.  "Neurosurgeon." Now, I know this was meant to be an uplifting post, but I'm kind of having a hard time with keeping it optimistic.  Despite the image that popped into my head (it was that of McDreamy), I knew that the question that I asked regarding the ridges in her occipital bone had sparked something in the pediatrician's brain.  Now being the physical therapist that I am, I had been keeping a delicate eye out for plagiocephaly and torticollis (neither of which she has...as of right now).  So, the doctor thinks that going to the neurosurgeon will do one of two things.  It will either give us peace of mind knowing that she has a ginormous head or she will give us a diagnosis of either Lambdoid Craniosynostosis or Plagiocephaly (which would be the better option of the two).  Big words aside, it could mean that her occipital bone suture (Lambdoid) may have closed prematurely and they may have to go in and drill some burr holes and make it all better so her brain can grow and develop like any other kiddo.  Or that she gets to be one of those cool kids with a helmet for the first year of her life.

Oh, and by the way, I am mildly disappointed that her McDreamy is a she.  Maybe I need to find a new Doctor.

So, lets all hope for the best, say a little prayer and know that she'll be okay eventually.  Or maybe she's okay right now and we're just being cautious.  Either way, she's a sweet little four month old girl.

See, I told you.  Sweet Baby Girl.

Fall Frenzy

So, what do you get when you have a giant pile of leaves, a baby, and a camera?

3 Months Old

Dear Sweet Baby Girl-

My goodness, I can't believe that 3 whole months have gone by since you have made your grand entrance into this wonderful world.  You have warmed our hearts and enlightened our minds and reminded Daddy and I about the innocence of a child.  You've made our lives important and meaningful in a sense you can't even imagine until you have a child of your own.  You've made us better people and you've made us want to be even better.  You are our world.

You're growing like a weed (in fact, you got up 3 times last night to feed - aside from your previous 11 hours of consistent sleep for the last few weeks) and your eyes are turning a delicate shade of blue.  Your smile lights up the room.  Your toes and fingers curl around ours, but you know that we are wrapped around yours.  You've almost rolled over onto your belly.  You make everything okay with your laughter and silly faces.  You don't get very grumpy often, but when you do, you are like a little banshee.  But we secretly love that little banshee noise and when we pick you up and you nuzzle next to us, we are quick to forgive you for waking us up and it makes us know that you love us.

You're the sweetest thing that could have ever graced us in this lifetime.

Love you,
Mommy...and Daddy too

Happy 3 Months, Elliott!

Three

Three is a great number.  It's the number of people in my family (excluding doggies),  Baby E has now been on three plane rides since she has been born and we have three weeks until a big move.  For some people, they don't even go on three plane rides in their life time.  Yes, three.  Why three you ask?  One of the plane flights was a one-way ticket to our new home, Denver, Colorado.  Yes, we have moved.  It's pretty nice to have weather that is half the temperature of that in the last place that you lived (it's a blustery 57 degrees outside, where as in Phoenix, it was 114).

Currently we are living with Scott's parents in their basement (insert jealous glares here) and waiting to close on a house.  We did have a house before we came, but things fell through and now, we have just accepted a counteroffer on a different house (one we both like better, so it worked out).

So, three weeks until we move into our new house.  I will post some pictures of our new adventures when I get a chance as my house basement room is in shambles.

Dear Lady in 3C:

Yes, you unfortunately are the one that is "stuck" with the baby on the plane, despite being catty-corner behind me.  I'd like to point out the obvious fact that there are 4 toddlers between the ages of 1 and 3 that are already screaming on the plane.  You have to point out to me that I have brought an infant on the plane.  Thank you for making me self conscious about it.  I hope the toddler behinds you screams in your ear and pulls your hair, forcing you to apologize to the innocent baby in my sling.  I also appreciate the advice that you gave me to "stick a pacifier in her mouth to quiet her down" upon the initial descent into the Milwaukee area.  I'd like to stick a pacifier in your mouth to quiet you down.  XoXo, Shari and Elliott

Yes, I was that jerk, the jerk that brought a baby (yes, a 5 week old baby) on a plane.  Baby E had her first official long distance adventure.  Really, it was an adventure for me.  It was a gift to my Mother for her 60th birthday.  The adventure started as I attempted to use a public restroom with baby E in her sling (I used the My Baby Nest, which was awesome) - this turned out OK, seeing as though I hadn't yet been in an airplane bathroom, which is 1/4 of the size of the one I got to use on the ground.  Needless to say, I have a new appreciation for public restrooms.

So, how do you prepare to take a baby on the plane?  I had done some research that advised me to bring a bottle and feed her as we started to take off and as we started to land.  Now, for a baby that has not flown before, I would assume that there is some degree of overstimulation within the environment.   So, I had packed two bottles with cold breastmilk and I was ready to go.  With baby E, she does not like cold bottles, in fact, she hates them.  I choose to ignore this fact and I paid the price.  As we were taking off, I started to feed her and she went bananas.  So, I quickly hustled the bottle away and whipped out a fresh nipple.  After she realized that there was indeed too much stuff going on, she threw up.  Everywhere.  There were three and a half hours left on this flight.  I burped her and she promptly returned to feeding and she was quiet the remainder of inflight.  Now we get to my thank you letter above.  You can imagine the degree of fumes that are coming out of my ears as I experienced 3C's comments first hand.  I simply minded my P's and Q's and ignored her comments and for the record, I was already armed with pacifier in hand.

Note to self and lesson learned: Feed 1 hour prior to boarding and use a pacifier with cabin pressure changes.  Oh, and try to have the seat next to you empty.


Well, needless to say that Grandma was surprised and my entire family got to meet little baby E.  We even got to take a four generation picture since baby E was officially a girl.  All in all, it was an amazing trip.  I'm glad to be home, but it's good to know that you can always go home, even if it's just for five short days.