The last couple of weeks I have noticed that I have been becoming less and less of a control freak. If you would have observed me with my daughter a couple months ago you most likely would have noticed that I was very uptight about everything my daughter did. When I say everything, I mean absolutely everything! From what time she went to bed, what she ate, touched, played with, etc- I always needed to have control of everything in fear that something terrible would happen. I think that now Jayde is 7 months old, I have realized that being a mother is so much more enjoyable when your not constantly worrying about every little thing. I have also realized that almost every book you read about parenting is about what you should and should not do to your child. I almost feel like every book is just a big book of rules, which is probably the reason why every mother freaks out once something that "the book didn't say was OK" happens. "Do not let your baby eat anything with sugar or with added sugar." I get that you shouldn't be giving your child candy bars all the time, but I have given Jayde a lick of ice cream and she seems to be doing fine. I am no longer afraid of my daughter being exposed to germs. Don't get me wrong, I still sanitize the swing at the park before I put her in. But, I no longer have the need to wash every single thing every time it falls on the ground. (As long as I'm not at a place that is obviously dirty.) I have even let Jayde try a lemon, which I thought I wouldn't do until she was older. Even though I am veering from the book, I still keep it around. I think it's good as questions come up, but I don't think I should have my daughter live by it. I have found that parenting by instinct is so much easier.
Jayde tasting a lemon for the first time.
Saturday was my 21st birthday. I must say, my birthday weekend will be one that I will always remember. I woke up Saturday morning later than usual because Keith got up with Jayde, that itself was a wonderful birthday gift. After waking up, I got ready to have lunch with some family. We went to eat and BJs, and at that point, I ordered my very first legal drink- Mango Tango. When you read and hear the name "Mango Tango" you picture this pretty, colorful mixed drink. When they brought over a clear, water looking drink with some sort of leaf sticking out of it, I was a little confused. Don't get me wrong, it was still decent tasting. Just... not what I was expecting. I didn't really get to enjoy my drink anyways because Jayde was in such a fussy mood! The whole time I drank it I was nervous about me having to feed her when I wasn't able to. After lunch, we went over to my mom's house to open presents and eat cake. From my mom I got the ONE thing I wanted the most for my birthday, a BOB Revolution SE jogging stroller!! I was so excited!! I still can't get over the fact that getting a jogging stroller is now more exciting than getting the newest iPhone or iPod. I'm sure that at some point I'll have no choice but to get used to it. After receiving presents and indulging in cake, I went home and took a nap. (Yay, more sleep!!) After waking up, I put Jayde to bed, and then started to get ready for my night out in the city. Obviously, I drank. It was my 21st birthday so I was obligated to! I had a great time! But, I was a little upset that I didn't get carded, not even ONCE.
You would think that since I was turning 21 I would be most excited about going out and ordering drinks from bars legally. That part was fun, but I think I was most excited for taking Jayde to the beach. Keith and I left for Santa Cruz on Sunday after I came home from San Francisco. (And after my much needed long nap.) He decided that we were going to stay the night in a hotel as part of my birthday present. When we got there it was a little late, so we decided that we would just take Jayde on walk in her new stroller to the Boardwalk. It was pretty cold and overcast, so before we left I went to BabiesRUs to get Jayde a warmer outfit and a blanket since I had only brought her outfits for warmer weather. We ended up getting back to out hotel at about 9:30pm, which is obviously way past Jayde's 7:00pm bedtime. We had a one bedroom room with one queen sized bed. We brought the Pack-n-Play thinking that Jayde would sleep in there, but we were wrong. I have to say that it was a pretty rough night. Jayde slept with us in our bed and finally fell asleep at about 10:30pm, woke up at 11:45pm, slept again until 2:00am, and then woke up at 4:30am and didn't go back to sleep. I was so exhausted from my previous night that I was not in the mood to deal with all this. It would have been different if she was awake and in a good mood, but she was extremely grumpy. I understand that we were sleeping in an unfamiliar place and that I had put her to bed way later than normal, but her acting the way she did was so different. Where was my happy girl?
Jayde and I entering the Boardwalk in her new stroller!
The whole day on Monday she was pretty grumpy, but I didn't let it ruin the day. I was FINALLY going to take my baby to the beach, and I wasn't going to let her bad mood get in the way.Keith took her on a long walk in the morning, for almost 2 hours, so I was able to get some more sleep. If it wasn't for those two hours, I probably wouldn't have been able to get through the day. Before heading to the beach, Keith and I went shopping and went out to lunch. While shopping I found Jayde a tie-dyed onesie, I was pretty excited. I had told Keith that I had wanted to get her something tie-dyed while we were in Santa Cruz. After lunch, we drove back to the hotel and walked down to the beach. As soon as we got to the there, Jayde was happy. She was so amazed by the ocean waves. I immediately took her to the water and let it wash up to her feet. I then took her back to our towel and put her in the sand to let her play. The sand was by far her favorite part. She sat there grabbing handfuls of it and letting it fall through her fingers. She then started to grab the sand and throw it to the side, almost as if she was digging a hole. She had SO much fun! I smiled the whole time as I watched her explore this new place with amazement. She then fell asleep and took a mini nap on the beach, it was the cutest thing ever. I need to take her back again soon, she absolutely loved it there!
Jayde's feet in the ocean
Long day- Taking a nap on the beach.
Jayde is almost starting to crawl. She can turn in circles and scoot backwards a little bit. So far the most productive way of her moving is rolling across the room. It is so funny watching her. She will be intesely consintrating on getting somewhere, and once she has made some progress she will look at me and smile. She is so proud of herself, and I am proud of her as well. Everyday she gets closer and closer to crawling. I know that it is only a matter of weeks until she will be completely mobile and I will have to watch her all times. I know she is going to try and get into absolutley everything.
Jayde's first time rolling across the room. She started from the middle of the blanket, and made her way over to play with her gym.
In a few more days I will be 21 years old, the age I have always dreamed about is finally here. Now that it is only four days away, it doesn’t seem as exciting as I had anticipated. Sure, it will be cool because I will be able to buy alcohol legally. When I go out to eat at restaurants and the waiter asks if I would like a glass of wine, I can accept his offer. Also, I can feel all grown up when I ask my friends, “Hey, do you want to go out for drinks?” Maybe now that I’m a mom, I have more exciting things to look forward to other than drinking- my daughter crawling, talking, taking her first steps- now that is something to look forward to. Maybe it's not exciting because of the fact that I'm breastfeeding and have to monitor what I drink. Maybe it’s not exciting because being a mom has made me feel more grown up than drinking a glass of wine ever will. Regardless, turning 21 is a lifetime milestone.
I think the main reason I'm not excited for my birthday is because I feel so stressed out about it. I have to make sure I have all this extra milk pumped, and right now I have NOTHING. On Saturday, I'm going out to lunch with my mom and I plan on having one drink. Only one, because I need to make sure I can feed Jayde before I head to San Francisco. (I can feed Jayde 2.5 hours after having a drink.) I'm going to put her to bed before I leave for the night to make myself feel better, so I really only need to make sure she has milk for if she wakes up at night and also for in the morning. The even more stressful part is next Saturday, the 27th, because Keith and I will be heading out to Sacramento to have dinner at The Melting Pot. Obviously, I'm not going to bring Jayde because it will be late and I will be drinking. She will be spending the night at my mothers house. THAT is the thing that stresses me out the most. I have so many concerns; what if I don't leave enough milk, what if she doesn't go to sleep, what if she cries the whole time. The thing that actually concerns me the most is that my sister will be there. I can already see her fussing about not being able to feed Jayde a bottle or waking her up while she's sleeping. Even though I'm so stressed, concerned, and nervous about leaving her with my mom, I have decided that it is the best choice. I much rather leave Jayde with her grandma since she knows her well. If she does happen to wake up in the middle of the night, I'm sure she would be terrified seeing someone unfamiliar. I've already talked to my mom about my concerns with my sister, and she has promised to keep everything under control. For the not sleeping part, I assume that at some point she has to fall asleep, right?
Jayde has tried almost all fruits and vegetables for the most part, so now the fun begins! I finally get to make real recipes with more than one ingredient for her to eat. Starting next week, I plan on giving her new multi-tasting food. Along with feeding her fun recipes, I will start feeding her two meals a day instead of one. It’s going to be crazy because I know by adding another meal I will be taking out a breast milk feeding. Right now I have tons of food containers for Jayde in my freezer. Even though it seems like it is a lot, I know it really isn't with how much she eats! Most of the recipes I have for her are a mixture of things she has already tried, maybe with one new ingredient. The thing I'm most interested in her trying is chicken. I made a puree called "fruity sweet chicken," which has chicken, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and apples. Unlike fruit and vegetables, chicken has a distinct taste and texture. So, we will have to see how she takes to her new food!
My stash of baby food in the freezer.
In about a month, Jayde will be ready to eat more solid formed foods (chunks of banana, cheerios, cubes of fruit/veggies, etc.) I am seriously SO nervous. What if she chokes? I know the Heimlich and infant CPR just in case, but I really do hope I never have to do those things! How is she suppose to know how to bite a piece off and then chew it before swallowing? I’m sure it’s instinct, but STILL! Yesterday, my mom and I let Jayde try an arrowroot cookie. She absolutely loved it. she was able to gum them easily because the cookie melted in her mouth. The only thing bad about this is that I was freaking out! Jayde would bite off a big chunk and sometimes even shove the whole cookie in her mouth somehow. My mom would have to take it out of her mouth because I was so nervous about her choking. Even though she enjoyed it, I think that I will wait to introduce the cookies until a little later. I guess I'm the one who isn't ready...
Jayde eating an arrowroot cookie.
Jayde hasn't outgrown her baby bathtub, but every time she takes a bath she manages to get my entire kitchen wet. She splashes, throws her toys onto the floor, and tries to grab everything on the counters. Because of this, I have decided to move her into the big bath in the bathroom. The experience is... interesting. She refuses to be in the bath by herself, even with all the bath toys that she has. The only way I am able to get her to take a bath is by getting in the tub with her. Today I bought a faucet cover and a colorful mat for the bottom of the tub, so I am hoping that maybe it will disguise the scariness of the tub to look like a fun place. I can't continue to take baths with her for too long. It's such a small place for both of us, and by the time I'm done washing her my legs are completely cramped. Hopefully, I will be able to get her to start taking baths by herself.
I have been trying to do fun things with Jayde since she rarely takes nap. Even if it's something as simple as taking her on a walk to the store instead of driving there. I just learned that there is a park somewhat close to the apartment, so I sometimes take her down there to take her swinging. Not only does she love the outdoors, but it stimulates her. I feel the the more I teach her and show her, the more she will learn. She loves taking walks, swimming, swinging, and even doing something as simple as laying on the blanket in the grass. Seeing how happy she is doing all of these things makes me happy too.
Feeding the ducks!
Swinging in the park.
Oh, and did I mention I finally got some piggy paint?!?!?!?!?!?
The last couple weeks, things have been a bit off...
After Jayde got sick with the stomach flu, she refused to eat anything. I tried feeding her everything, even her favorites: squash and peaches. The only thing that I was able to get her to eat was yogurt. Finally, two days ago, she finally started eating again. Not only has she been eating more regularly now, but she has been eating A LOT! Yesterday she ate two containers of apricots, one container of peach, and a banana YoBaby yogurt all in one sitting. I always feel like I should be concerned by how much she eats because she always eats so much, more than any other baby. Every time I bring it up to her pediatrician she tells me that I should let her eat to her hearts content. So, I guess me letting her eat as much as she wants won't hurt her. You would think that with all she eats that I would have a fat baby, but she is still my little petite girl.
Jayde's sleep got out of whack. She started getting into this weird habit of crying when I would put her down to go to sleep. I think that this was actually my fault, because I was the one who started picking her up. Literally every night I would put her down, she would cry, I would pick her up, put her back down, and then the cycle would go on for at least an hour. Finally, I decided that I had to sleep train her again. The first two nights she cried for about an hour. Every single night since then, I have been able to put her into her bed without hearing a peep come from her. I think this time, it has worked even better. I don't know whether it's because she is older or because she has already been sleep trained before. Every night at about 6:30pm I feed her, and at about 7:00pm she looks at me like, "Mom, put me to bed!" I will put her in her crib, she will roll around for about 5 minutes, and then she will fall asleep. Most nights she sleeps through the night! She occasionally wakes up at about 3:00am for a night time feeding.
Jayde hasn't been napping, at all. She wakes at about 6:30 or 7:00 every morning, and she goes to bed at about 7:00 every night. That is about a 12 hour stretch without her sleeping. You would think she would be exhausted, but she's not. She does get a little tired around 4:00 in the afternoon, but she still makes it to 7:00pm without sleeping. I really do wish she would nap, it would be nice to have a break sometime during the day. Sometimes I'll be feeding her and she will be sleeping while eating, I sit there hoping she doesn't wake up so I can set her down to sleep. Then, all of the sudden, she will open her eyes and sit herself up as if she was never sleeping. It's so frustrating, but I'm starting to get used to it. I mean, she's generally a very good, happy baby. I can sit her on her blanket and she will play with her toys for a little bit while I clean. I just need to find more activities for us to to during the day to occupy our time.
I think the only reason why I get so frustrated with her not napping is because I want to take a nap too. You would think that is she sleep for 12 hours at night that I would be sleeping wonderfully. However, even though she goes to bed at 7:00pm I still continue to stay awake until about 11pm or later. I get so occupied with cleaning, watching movies, and relaxing that when I look at the time it's already late. I've been trying to get to bed earlier, usually around 9pm or 10pm, but It's been hard because Keith and I are in the middle of watching the third season of Weeds. I really only plan on watching an episode or two, but Keith always convinces me to watch "just one more." I always regret staying up late when I wake up in the morning, EVERYDAY. All I know is that I need to start going to bed earlier consistently, period.
Jayde had another go-see last Wednesday. It was for the Pottery Barn Kids, and they are so organized! Them being organized made it so much easier to deal with. Everyone had a specific time to be seen, Jayde's time was 10:13am. I literally went in, got her number, they took pictures of her, and then we were done. The only thing that sucked was the I forgot to take her earrings out! Her agent told me that she needed her earrings out for all go-sees and shoots. I was so pissed! I was reminding myself all morning to take them out, but I never did. Ahhhh!
Half of a year is 6 months, and that is how old my daughter is. I cannot believe half of Jayde's very first year has already past, it's definitely bitter sweet. There are good things about her being 6 months. She can sit up by herself, I can leave her in a room and she can entertain herself while I wash the dishes, she can sit in the "big girl" part of the shopping cart, and eat food. Ahhh yes, eat FOOD. She no longer depends solely on me to give her all nutrition anymore. Breastfeeding only gets easier from here. From this point on, the days where she demands to get nourishment from my boob are slowly coming to an end! In 6 more months, I will be to eat all the junk food I want and get belligerently drunk. Well, that is, if I really wanted to. Which to be honest, I don't. But, the option is always there.
Jayde sitting in the "big girl" part of the cart. Can't you see she HATES it?!
There is ONE thing that is sad about her being 6 months, and that is that she growing up so quickly! As listed above, she can do so many things. Just think, 6 months ago she could do absolutely nothing. It's amazing how much she has learned in just the short amount of time she has been here. In 6 more months she will be crawling, speaking her first words, and possibly even walking. And let's face it. Even though I'm sitting here and day dreaming of the day I won't be breast feeding anymore, I know when that day comes that I will be missing feeding her terribly. While these are all wonderful things, they are also sad. In just a few more months, my baby girl won't be a baby anymore. Six months is such a beautiful age. They can be independent without yet crawling and getting into everything and they can laugh & babble with you without being able to talk back yet. If I had a choice to pause at any age, it would defiantly be 6 months.
With 6 months come a horrible experience, teething. Keith and I have always thought that Jayde was going to get a tooth early because at 2.5 months she was already showing all the symptoms; drooling and chewing. Still, there is no tooth in sight. Now, we are pretty sure that she is officially teething. She has been cranky, not sleeping well, and she has been chewing intensely on absolutely everything in sight. Including my finger which at this point is raw. Hopefully those teeth will come soon! In the meantime, I am prepared with all the teething rings, gel, rags, and toys imaginable.
Three days ago Jayde got her very first case of the stomach flu. It was probably the worst thing I have experienced in a very long time. It all started when I was about to leave the house. Jayde was in her car seating waiting for me by the door while I was checking to make sure all of the lights in the house where off. While I was in the other room, I heard this large spill of liquid. Confused, I looked back over at Jayde. She was sitting there completely covered in what looked like spit it. Her whole body and car seat was covered! I grabbed her, changed her cloths, cleaned her off in the sink, and started ripping apart her car seat so I could clean in. Afterwards, I walked over to where she was playing and picked her up. I walked into the kitchen with her in my arms to grab a glass of water, and she spit up large amounts of liquid again, twice. It was crazy how much liquid there was. I knew at this point that this wasn't spit up. The way it was coming out of her mouth and the amount of it led me to believe she was vomiting.
I changed my clothes, changed Jayde's clothes again for the second time, and then dialed the number for the advice nurse. After speaking to her, she told me that she was pretty sure that Jayde was indeed vomiting. She told me what to do, feed her every 20 minutes to keep her hydrated (breast milk and Pedialyte), and then we hung up. Immediately I called my mom, who was at work, and told her what was going on. I wanted to her to come over after she was off work to be with me and Jayde and to bring over some Pedialyte. While I was talking to her, Jayde started vomiting again. This time she threw up about 4 times. To say that I was freaking out would be an understatement. I was crying and screaming at my mom that she needed to come over RIGHT NOW. She couldn't, and she told me to call my step mom to help me calm down.
I called my step mom and she told me that she would come over with my dad to bring some Pedialyte. While waiting, Jayde fell asleep in my arms. I think that this made me even more sad and made me realize how sick she actually was. If you know Jayde, you know that she doesn't sleep, ever. My dad and Jeane came over for a little bit, then my mom came over when she got off work. I must say that I am so very thankful to have family close by. It gives me a piece of mind knowing that I have people to depend on when Keith is at work. Her getting sick was definitely scary, but I know that there will be plenty more times like these in the future.
Call me a paranoid, crazy, obsessed, creepy, or whatever else comes to mind. I, Michelle Hanson, have a baby monitor with a camera on it so I can look at Jayde in her crib while she sleeps. No, I do not sit there and stare at her all night long. It's just something that gives me a piece of mind. I sleep better with it on my night stand, and I'm sure Jayde sleeps better without me barging into her room to check on her while she's trying to get her beauty sleep. Friday night I woke up at about 2:00 in the morning and went to the kitchen to get some water. When I laid back in bed and glanced over at the monitor I noticed that Jayde's little legs where flailing up in the air. Was she crying? No. I rolled over onto my side thought to myself, "I'll just go back to sleep until I hear her start crying." I woke up about 45 minutes later to silence assuming she was sleeping. When I looked at the monitor, there she was, still awake. It was weird to me that she had been up for almost an hour without making a peep. What was even weirder was what she was doing while awake; rolling around in her crib from her back to stomach while doing some short intervals of intense tummy time. I was probably watching her while laying in bed for a good 15 minutes in amusement. I then decided to wake Keith up and show him her crazy behavior. After playing around in her crib for an hour, Jayde decided to stop and lay her head down the exact moment Keith woke up and looked at the monitor. He must have thought that I was either dreaming or going crazy. Last night I woke up briefly and saw Jayde moving around in her crib again, this time I didn't stay up to watch the show.
Why is Jayde having periods of the night where she is actively awake and playing in the crib? I don't think I will ever be able to answer that question. What I do know is that I am very thankful that she keeps her awake time to herself and doesn't feel the need to wake me up with her. The only thing that does concern me is that fact that these last two nights she has been sleeping on her stomach. I do put her on her back when I put her to sleep. I do remember the doctor telling me that there is nothing I can do if she chooses to sleep on her stomach or side rather than her back. I do know that since Jayde can roll over and push up on her arms that she can protect herself from suffocation. And I do know that Jayde has past the age in which SIDS is at it's peak. (For those who don't know, SID deaths occur in babies between the age of 2-4 months. It rarely occurs before 1 month or after 6 months of age.) But still, it is only natural that I continue to worry.
On Friday was Jayde's very first Go-See. At first, I didn't think we were going to be able to go because the labor office was taking their time in processing her entertainer's work permit. However, after stressing all week, I finally talked to her agent and she informed me that I was able to go to go-sees without her work permit and that I just needed to have it for shoots. The night before the go-see I planned on going to bed early so we could get an early start. However, Jayde had other plans in mind. She was being the most difficult baby that night. I wasn't able to get her to go to sleep until about 11:30pm, which is way past her 7:00pm bedtime. Not only that, but she decided that she was going to choose this night to wake up for a feeding. The next morning I woke up exhausted. The go-see was anytime between 9:00am and 12:00pm and Keith and I had planned on being there at 9:00 since our agent said it was going to be a busy one. We also wanted to stop and get some breakfast on the way there so we planned to leave at about 7:00am. Let's just say that nobody was out of bed before 7:30am. Keith and I quickly got ready and then woke Jayde up to get her ready. We ended up leaving at about 8:15am to head out to Richmond and we were able to still get there early.
Our agent told us to not be there too early because we could overwhelm the client. While waiting in my car I saw a few other moms walking in the building with their kids, so I decided that I would go in a little earlier then I had planned. When I checked in, there were already 29 people ahead of me. (Jayde was number 30.) Most of the time spent there is just you waiting for your number to be called. I'm not going to lie, it was a little hectic. I think the reason for it being hectic was because it was all new to me, next time I will be more prepared on what to expect. I think the experience would have been better if the lid didn't pop off my Jamba Juice. Thank god the company didn't see me spill my Caribbean Passion all over their waiting room floor. At least I had to courtesy to clean it up. It would have also been a lot easier if I didn't keep loosing Jayde's measurement sheet. First it dropped out of my baby bag, then I left it in my car when I went out there to change Jayde's diaper. It was just a disaster. Having to clean up Jamba Juice, keep track of a piece of paper, and listening for your number while holding a baby and a diaper bag in a crowded room is stressful! Other than that, everything else was great! All they really do at go-sees is take measurements and then take a picture of your baby in an outfit from their clothing line. All the employees at Le Top where very nice. I can't say that Jayde for sure got the shoot because there were at least 100 other kids there. I can say that the everyone adored her and that she looked cute in their clothes that she had to try on. Even if Jayde doesn't get the shoot, it was good for us to go and see what everything is all about. Next time, I'll skip the smoothie and bring a folder to keep the measurement sheet in.
Saturday night I went out to dinner with some friends. I left at about 4:00 in the afternoon, which meant that Keith was going to have to put Jayde to bed without me being there. I wasn't nervous about leaving her with Keith, but I was nervous about me not being there since I've always been the one to put her into her crib at night. Usually if I go out to meet with friends I will put her to sleep before leaving. Jayde's bedtime is at about 7:00pm, so at about 6:45pm I called Keith to see how everything was going. She was already in bed when I called because she was tired, but she would not fall asleep. I ended up getting home at about 8:20pm and of course she was STILL awake. Even though she wasn't crying, I went in her room to let her know I was home. She was obviously happy to see me with her huge smile, so I picked her up to give her some hugs and then I put her back into bed and kissed her goodnight. I walked out of the room and said jokingly to Keith, "watch, Jayde will go to sleep now that she knows that her mommy is home." I checked on her literally 2 minutes later and she was fast asleep. I thought that it was one of the cutest things ever, I almost cried. At the same time, it made me feel like a teenager all over again. Except this time around I had to check in with my baby instead of my mom when I got home.
One of my favorite pictutes, I just had to post it!
Jayde eating food is going awesome. She has tried apples, bananas, squash, and green beans. She loved the apples, squash, and bananas! However, green beans were a different story. She took the first bite willingly and she was shocked. She had this horrible look on her face and then she started gagging, I really thought she was going to throw up. I tried to make her take a few more bites, but she refused. I ended up feeding her green beans for two more days after the first attempt. She did get better at eating them eventually, but it was obvious that she wasn't fond of them. I think in order for her to eat green beans I will have to disguise them by mixing it with another vegetable. Her favorite food so far has been squash. When I fed it to her she ate 2 whole servings, which is about 3-4 oz! I don't know if she legitimately liked the squash or if it was just because she was so happy that she wasn't getting green beans again.
Jayde doesn't like green beans- can you tell?
I am obsessed with making Jayde's baby food, it's a little bit ridiculous. Last Thursday Keith and I went to the Farmer's Market and bought squash, sweet potato, green beans, and carrots for me to puree. I was literally in the Kitchen all night preparing her baby food to store in the freezer, I will probably be good on baby food for at least a month! The Baby Brezza makes it so damn easy! I literally wash and chop each item and then throw it into the food processor. It steams and then purees everything together. I can walk out of the kitchen and when I come back everything is done. The clean up is easy too. There isn't a million pots and kitchen utensils to clean up, just the Brezza! I highly recommend it for anyone who is planning to make baby food by scratch. Yes, it is a little expensive, but it is completely worth every penny! ( Wow, I totally just sounded like a Brezza sales person.) I am so happy that I have committed to making Jayde's baby food by scratch. With all the breastfeeding and fresh food, I am going to have the healthiest baby in town! Well, so I hope.
My very first puree, apples!
Speaking of breastfeeding, everything is going good for the most part! There are only 2 things that have been bothering me:
1. In all honesty, it SUCKS to be breastfeeding during the summer time. By the time Jayde is done eating, we are both completely covered in sweat from all the skin to skin contact. I'm not gonna lie, it is absolutely disgusting!
2. I always pump because it gives me a piece of mind to always have some stored milk in the freezer. However, lately I've been hating pumping because it has been ruining my boobs! My nipple is literally dried out and peeling, I think that when I pump it rubs against the flange. I know that this usually means that your using the wrong size flange, but I have tried every size and nothing seems to make it better. I have also been putting Lanolin on my nipples and although it seems to be helping a little, it still hurts! It all started when the weather changed to being hot. Maybe I need to increase my water intake? We will try and see if that works..
Jayde has reached yet another milestone. She can now SIT!!!!!! When people say that babies are awake and eat more before reaching a big milestone, they aren't kidding. I think it's because their brain is going through some sort of growth spurt. I was starting to get frustrated because the week before she learned to sit up by herself she was literally waking up every night, sometimes even twice. Then, all of the sudden, one day she was sitting all by herself. After that, she went back to sleeping through the night like the little angel she is. Not only that, but she has even been napping more frequently, which is very unusual for her. It so crazy how babies can't do something one day and then the next they can.
My baby girl is growing up, sitting all by herself!
Since I could remember, Jayde's favorite song has been "Apples and Bananas." (I like to oat, oat, oat.. opples and bononos.) Who would have known that Jayde actually did in fact like, or should I say love, eating bananas! For the past month Jayde has been eating and enjoying oatmeal and rice cereal almost every morning. Today, as I was eating my own breakfast, I was starring at the extra ripe bananas that were on the table thinking to myself, "I should have eaten those while they were still good." (I don't like bananas once they ripen to a certain point.) Then I looked over at Jayde who was playing on the floor and had the perfect idea that would make her happy while not wasting the bananas. Jayde had her very first fruit puree this morning- bananas and expressed breast milk! It was actually really simple to make since bananas are one of the few things that don't need to be blended or steamed. I just mashed it up with a spoon until their wasn't anymore chunks, stirred in some breast milk, and then gave it to Jayde to enjoy. Usually Jayde is a little skeptical of what I'm feeding her at first, she will get a little cereal in her mouth and taste it for a moment before she decides to continue letting me feed her. Today was very different. As soon as the spoonful of banana went into her mouth, her eyes widened with excitement and she reached out at her spoon for more. She ate almost the whole serving that I had prepared for her, which was about half of a large banana. Now that I have introduced something new and exciting to her, I don't think she will ever go back to cereal. Let be honest, who would? So, for the next 4 days I will be feeding her banana to make sure she is not allergic to it, and then move on to other fruits and vegetables. I am so excited, and I'm sure Jayde is just as excited too!
Jayde trying to get somewhere, but she hasn't quite figured out how:
Jayde has forever hated tummy time since the day she was born. I would put her down on her stomach and within a minute she would be screaming. However, the last past week she has loved tummy time. I started using the Boppy that I had used previously while breastfeeding to prop her up. Not only does this let her look around the room better, but it is suppose to help strengthen her arms so she will eventually be able to push up on them on her own to crawl. It also keeps her from rolling over right away. I know her rolling is suppose to be a good thing, but how is she suppose to get any tummy time in if she is constantly rolling back over onto her back? So, I use the Boppy for at least 10 minutes. I will then take it away and let her spend some time rolling and playing on the floor. I can see some improvement in her arm strength, but not too much. I know these types of things just don't happen over night and it may take weeks or even months to notice a big difference. But what I have noticed is that she is tucking her knees under her body and trying to push off from them while she is on her stomach. If she could get more arm strength and some coordination, I know she will be crawling in no time.
New favorite activity- eating her toes!
On Wednesday was the meeting with the agent, Shannon, from the modeling agency. She absolutely loved Jayde! When we got there she went over everything; the go-sees, the shoots, the pay, etc. She then gave us a contact to take home to look over, which made us think that they were already planning to sign Jayde before we even got there. Before leaving, she also told us that Le Top had requested Jayde to attend their Go-See on July 8th. I guess that Shannon had shown them the pictures that I had previously submitted of Jayde and then they wanted her to come! This doesn't mean that she is going to be shooting. This just means that Jayde, along with other babies, will be observed by the company so they can choose who would best work for them. Although I am just doing all this for fun, how awesome would it be to see her in an advertisement? I just need to sign all the papers and get Jayde her entertainers work permit before hand. Jayde is officially going to be a baby model for JE Model in SF, so look out world! I know you must be thinking, "don't do it, it's a scam." I think that is the first reaction I got from everyone. I do know that there are a lot of scams out there, but this is not one of them. It's not like I found the agency by some random person coming up to me on the streets telling me that my daughter was beautiful. I found and researched this agency before submitting and agreeing to anything. Also, they aren't having me spend any of my money. The only money they get is the commission from the shoots that Jayde will appear in. So thank you for your concern, but I promise you that this agency is legit.
After Jayde was born I applied for her to get Medi-Cal. The whole process was finally completed just before she turned 5 months, ridiculous right? Of course I still took her to her regular check ups and she still got her shots, but they were just through the county hospital while I waited for her insurance to go through. Finally, her medical insurance was all set up and was set to be activated on June 1st. After seeing this, I called Kaiser to set up an appointment with her pediatrician for her 4 month check up and the operator told me that Jayde didn't have coverage through Kaiser. After hearing this, I called Medi-Cal and got everything straightened up after they verified that I was covered under Kaiser as well. ( I guess you can only submit your child for Kaiser if your currently a member with them too.)Every thing was perfect. I took Jayde to her 4 month check up to get her shots, and then a week later I got a letter in the mail stating that her coverage with Kaiser had been terminated. When I saw this letter I was so irritated because this whole medical coverage thing has been so stressful. Why do they keep messing up Jayde's medical insurance? And why did it take them a whole 5 months to set up her insurance and then only a few days to terminate it? So, I called Kaiser's member service and they told me that I had to call Medi-cal because they were the ones who terminated it. So I called them and they told me that Jayde's membership with Kaiser was never set up.I was a little irritated because I was positive that I had already set it up previously. I gave them all my information, they confirmed I was a member with Kaiser, and then told me that they processed everything and that she now had coverage with Kaiser too. So, hopefully it stays that way. Otherwise I might just flip out!
Just when I thought that all the problems with Jayde's medical insurance was solved, it gets worse. In the beginning of March, Keith and I brought Jayde to the emergency room. ( It was something we thought we should worry about, but ended up being nothing.) At this time, Jayde didn't have Kaiser but we knew she would eventually and also knew that Medi-Cal would cover it once it eventually went through. They sent me one bill for $900 and another bill for $500, which in total is $1,400. (Holy shit, right?!) So I called Kaiser's financial service and told them what was going on and how she was about to get Medi-Cal and that they were going to be covering it. They then looked at their computer and said that the payments were actually all taken care of, so I thought that maybe they had already gotten into contact with Medi-Cal. They then told me that if I receive any further bills to just ignore them. So, I get more bills and like I was told I ignored them. I kept getting the bills so I thought that I should call just to make sure that it was taken care of, because it's better to be safe than sorry. I call Kaisers financial services again, and the woman I spoke to said that nothing was ever covered and that she didn't know why the last person would have told me that. I gave her my Medi-Cal number, and she said that she was going to send the bill over for them to take care of. Today, I get this bill in the mail for $520 instead of $500. At the bottom of the bill it says that my account is past due. If I have to pay anything, let alone the extra $20 for being past due, I am going to be pissed. How is Kaiser going to tell me that everything is taken care of and then charge me extra for them making me think that everything is settled? Keep your fingers crossed that Medi-Cal takes care of everything and that I won't have to deal with any of this anymore!
