Five Months

Janie is the sweetest little girl and we have loved spending the last FIVE months with her!

Janie Elizabeth

5 months old

~14 pounds

There hasn't been a whole lot of big changes for Janie this month, but she is growing & changing a little each day. Updates since month four:

Eats every 3-4 hours during the day I am still trying to get Janie on a 4 hour schedule. Being at daycare, she was still eating every 3-4 depending on the day and the circumstances in the classroom. Since I am out for the summer now I can see what Janie might need to make a 4 hour schedule work. Plus, I will begin trying solids next week again. I've tried cereal a few times but not consistently enough. So, by next month Janie should have tried a few different veggies and maybe some fruit, too! (If all goes well...)

Janie eating solid foods for the first time...

Eats 6-8 oz. bottles of formula This is about the same as well. She is usually taking about 7 ounce bottles. If we give her much more, some of it comes right back up. But she usually downs all of those 7 ounces. I think she will really benefit from those solid foods! I am ready for the spit up to get less and less...

Sleeps unswaddled in her crib Janie is still sleeping unswaddled through the night in her crib. We are hoping that her helmet wearing days are about over so we may get out the sleep sacks, but that is one of the next big transitions that I am not looking forward to. Hopefully it goes well! Janie's napping is a little inconsistent still. She doesn't seem to mind, but I would like to get her to take more consistent naps by the time summer ends so that she will transition back to daycare in the fall - in the "OLD" infant class!

Uses a pacifier for soothing Janie's use of the pacifier has been a little spotty lately. She has been chewing on it more than sucking on it, for the most part. We are considering taking it away to see how much we actually feel we need it. She self-soothes at bed time and nap times (usually) so we feel that we could probably do without it. I'm not too stressed about this, but it is on my list of things to try this summer with her. 

Nora giving Janie a kiss. I love that she loves Janie!!

Rolls from back to tummy sometimes Janie is serious about sleeping on her tummy. She rolls over very easily every time she wants to sleep. She enjoys her tummy time quite a bit and doesn't usually roll back over to her back when she gets tired - she just lays down her head and cries to let us know when she's done. I've seen Janie pull her knees up under her belly sometimes which is super terrifying because it reminds me that crawling is only a couple months away. Janie has also been trying to sit up a lot more. She can't hold herself up quite yet but she sure does try! She is ready to be more a part of the action around her, that's for sure. I think Nora is too. 

Reaches for toys Janie loves to put things into her mouth these days. I think she may be starting to teethe. She will put her burp cloth, her clothing, her fists, toys, and anything she can get her hands to grab and bring to her mouth, really. She is drooling up a storm, too. She  makes gross wet spots in her crib and gets mad about laying in them after awhile. I suppose we could start to see teeth within the next month or two - also terrifying!

Chewing on fingers!

Talks & yells Janie's favorite thing to do is smile, but she does talk & vocalize often and even gives us some giggles on occasion. She is ticklish and it is fun to watch her laugh when she is in the right mood. She also loves to play peek-a-boo. We get big smiles out of her when we play that game. 

Wears size 2 diapers We moved up to size 3 diapers. Nora is in size 4 currently (maybe it's time for her to move up??) so hopefully we won't have to make any big adjustments to diaper sizes for Janie before next month. She has been through 4 sizes in 5 months! We'll see...

Wears 3-6 month clothing Janie is still in this size though maybe not for too long! We will see next month how snug her clothes are fitting...

Overall Janie is doing great. We are still attending our weekly helmet fittings and physical therapy appointments. Our therapist has mentioned that bi-weekly appointments could be in our near future, so that is great news!

Reeeeeaaallly wanting to sit up!

I think at six months there will be lots of new updates for Janie. Her five month snapshot:

Eats every 3-4 hours during the day

Eats 6-8 oz. bottles of formula

Has tried rice cereal

Sleeps unswaddled in her crib

Takes a few 30-45 minutes naps a day

Wears a helmet 23 hours a day

Uses a pacifier for soothing

Rolls from back to tummy

Loves tummy time

Tries to sit on her own

Puts everything in her mouth

Talks & giggles

Wears size 3 diapers

Wears 3-6 month clothing

Nora wanted to participate in the photo "shoot"!

I am looking forward to spending time with both Janie and Nora this summer & trying to figure out fun things to do with them!

May Days

We are SO looking forward to summer!

We have had lots of fun with the girls this past month. Nora has really liked going outside more often. 

I realize that I take way more pictures of Nora than Janie, I guess because she is moving around and doing cute things and Janie is still pretty immobile and quite a bit wobbly. And she sleeps a lot. So, this is mostly Nora overload, but here's what we've been up to...

Nora loves taking pictures these days!

Swinging with Pops at the park. 

We celebrated his birthday this month!

Nora has developed a love for watering the flowers.

We've been taking care of these in our backyard since Easter weekend.

Pretending to get water for her watering can...

Nora is a helper!

Taking a walk with cousin Hunter at Grandma's house.

We celebrated Grandma's birthday this month, too!

Playing on the slide. Nora likes to go down the big slides!

Nora singing "Twinkle, Twinkle".

She loves to sing!

Memorial Day

We loved spending the Memorial Day holiday together as a family!

It rained in the morning, so we stayed inside in our pajamas for awhile. We decided to go out to eat for hamburgers at lunch time so we packed up and headed to Town Square. Nora played around the fountain until it was time to go back for nap time.

Nora & mommy

Playing by the fountain

We played in the backyard after nap time & grilled our dinner to eat outside.

Tummy time outside

Ready, set, go!

We are looking forward to summer & more time together outside!

Halfway We Hope

We have had Janie's helmet on for three weeks as of today. After just one week, her doctors were very happy with her progress that they were hoping that she might only have to be in it for 5-6 weeks, which would mean that today marks the half way point! We can hope...

Sweet baby Janie, first week in the helmet

Whenever I do get to take off her helmet, it actually looks strange in a way since I am used to seeing her with it on now. But her little peach fuzz covered head does look a lot more round than it did a few weeks ago. We are thrilled!

The first few days were definitely the biggest adjustment for all of us. Janie didn't mind wearing the helmet as much as she minded not being swaddled. But after a few nights and a few tears, she has been sleeping soundly in her crib, with no swaddle and most of the time, no pajamas either! Poor baby.

Sleeping on mommy, first weekend in the helmet

We had some issues with redness, but only because her skin is pretty fair. We have no issues now. Also, one morning she woke up with one eye so swollen it TOTALLY freaked me out... Apparently that is normal and it never happened again.

Since that first weekend and after talking with the doctors a couple of times for those issues, we have been wearing the helmet 23 hours a day, give or take. We only take it off of her to clean it each night, to give her a bath, for physical therapy, and sometimes for stretches at home, if she hasn't gotten her time in yet.

It took me about 2 days of the standard white helmet before I had to do something to it. It was just too industrial looking. So, I got some paint, brushes, & sealant and went to work. There was one night we didn't have her wear her helmet that first weekend because we were watching her redness closely and took the opportunity that night to paint it so that it could have time to dry.

Helmet before...

Helmet before...

Helmet after!

Helmet after!

Helmet after!

I decided on gold dots with some colorful accents & put a Bible verse on the side for something extra. I was happy with how it turned out - simple but still something cute.

Janie has also been attending physical therapy sessions to help with her muscle tightness and strength. We have seen lots of improvements but she has been a little stubborn about using her neck muscles the same on both sides. We have tried some new things the last couple of weeks and it seems to have helped quite a bit. We'll see how it continues to progress with those adjustments. We are happy that she is improving and will keep you updated throughout the summer!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers, grandmothers, aunts, friends, and anyone else who plays an instrumental role in the lives of children. It is not easy to be responsible for the upbringing of a little person, but it sure is a wonderful thing. We all do the best we can every day!

This year we started our Mother's Day fun with Mimi & Pops plus Krista for brunch. We went to Mimi's cafe, of course!

This was Nora last year, announcing her big sister-ness to the family. Janie was a bean in the belly.

Do you see those thigh roles??

This year, there was no big announcement. Sorry to disappoint.

Mothers and daughters!

 We spent some more quality time together at our house before Nora's nap. Then, as part of our Mother's Day tradition, we went shoe shopping! Nora got a new pair of pink Converse sneakers and I got some lovely gold sandals.

We finished out the day at home by watching Frozen and snuggling on the couch. Sweet Nora is really into Frozen though I don't think she really knows why. It's probably the music... "Lego, lego" she says!

Mommy & Nora

It was a great day! The only thing missing was time with Grandma Peipert, but she was enjoying Michigan all weekend! We will see her soon. 

My Mother's Day gifts from the girls are proudly on display in our kitchen. 

Lily bouquet from Nora - made from the outline of her hands! So sweet!

A flower pot from Janie - complete with fingerprints and footprints!

I love my sweet babies! I am so proud to be their mommy!

Nora, Mom, & Janie

Mothers Day 2014

Five Years

We have been married for FIVE YEARS!!

May 9, 2009

Honestly, we haven't finished celebrating. We did go to dinner at Trulucks for the first time - it was SO yummy! - but we haven't quite figured out gifts and made our annual outing to La Buena Vida for a glass of wine. Hopefully that will happen soon.

Our lives have changed so much in the last 5 years... Cheers to us!

Helmet Hair

For the past three months, we have been keeping a close eye on little Janie's head shape. We started to notice a little bit of flattening on one side of her head when she was a month old. She always seemed to prefer to sleep with her head facing to the right. We saw our pediatrician and at the time the flattening was mild so we were going to try repositioning at home.

Janie's head shape had continued to worsen and we even started noticing a preference for other things, such as rolling over and sitting as well has her head position. Two months and two visits to the pediatrician later, we were referred to a physical therapist and Cranial Technologies for a Doc Band consultation. She not only had the flattening but also some cranial shifts.

This was the best picture I had saved,

...about 2 1/2 months old.

We've been doing stretches and strengthening exercises with Janie at home and at school to help with her neck and core strength as well as her muscle tightness. We have seen some great improvements in her preferences but decided to also move forward with her Doc Band treatment to make sure we were doing everything we could to help Janie out.

This past week, Janie was fit for her Doc Band. She now has to start wearing her new accessory 23 hours a day until her head fills out in the correct places. Although we are checking it more often these first few days, the idea is that she will only take it off to bathe and to clean her helmet each day.

I will admit that I cried when I saw her in it for the first time (and many times before...). The Doc Band looks so cold and foreign on my sweet little baby. I am afraid of the ugly things that people will think when they see my beautiful baby. I know it doesn't matter what other people think or say, but I want to protect my baby from any cruelty she may encounter! I will admit though, she is rocking her new little helmet!

Since her head is covered and she will get warmer and be unable to regulate her body temperature as well, she is no longer allowed to sleep swaddled or in a sleep sack. This was a bit of an adjustment for her since she was sleeping all swaddled, warm, & snuggly until a couple days ago.

All things considered, I think she did very well the past couple of nights. I think the un-swaddling has bothered her more than wearing the helmet. She has waken up a couple of times and only needed the pacifier to get back to sleep. We are going to work on her self-soothing skills in the next week or two so that she can get herself back to sleep without mom or dad having to come in and give her the pacifier.

So now, we are going to weekly physical therapy appointments as well as weekly helmet fittings, at the very least. This is one reason why Janie's well-visit had to be rescheduled! With me working, Justin out of town, doing stretches and baths every day as well as having Nora running around, you can see how our lives got a bit busier! One of my students made me this card which is fitting (though he really has no idea what is going on...)

I know it's a little all over the place, but..

"Dear Mrs. Peipert, 

You worked so hard you should get 50 million [dollars]."

I agree.

Hopefully after about 6-8 weeks, we will be finished with all therapies and treatments for her little head and muscles!

I am now trying to decide how to jazz up her helmet so that she doesn't look as "white" and scary...