Malena Therese Marchetti » December 2004 Journal Entries » AboutMyBaby - online baby scrapbooks, photo albums, videos, birth and pregnancy announcements

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Mon, Dec 20, 2004 8:57 AM
Yay! In a fit of absolute rage and defiance of tummy time, Malena FINALLY rolled over from tummy to back! It all happened on Friday, Dec. 16 in the early evening. Then it all happened again 5 minutes later because Mommy had to get it on video. ;-)

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Thu, Dec 16, 2004 9:19 AM
Little Miss Chatterbox gave us a poop for the ages today. I really don't know how it didn't blow out the side of the diaper...especially considering the shady way her Daddy fastened it. We started giving her 2 oz. of formula every other day, and somehow this has clogged up her system. The poor girl only poops every 48 hours or so now. This is so gross, now that I think about it. It's a shame the way discussions about poop and spit-up are so blase in our household. I think it is nearly impossible to be both sophisticated AND a new parent!

Malena has finally decided to resume "talking" and boy oh boy does this child love to talk. I'm sure it's completely normal. She just likes the sound of her own voice so much that she has become so rude and won't let ME get in a word edgewise. Guess she's had enough of the sound of my voice. It's her turn! She is most gabby on the changing table. She must enjoy conversing about poop as well.

Her "words" start off as the sound of the letter "A," such as "aaah aaaaah aaaaaaah." But it soon leads into a sort of straining, grunting sound.

What else has she been up to. Let's see. How about her new habit of screaming in the middle of her naps and nighttime sleep? Ah, yes. I suppose it is kinda lonely behind those bars. She thinks to herself...

I'll just scream bloody murder so they'll come in, sniff around for poop, and pat my belly. Then I'll drift back off to sleepy land as if nothing happened. Lord knows they can put themselves back to sleep - they're big kids!

Also, I've been wondering if she's teething. She hardly wants to eat anything during the day, often crying as she nurses. She drools a lot and is constantly chewing on something...everything...including my knuckles, nose, chin...anything in close proximity to her slobbery little mouth. I'm trying to teach her to chew on her teething bunny toy, but I guess she prefers the cannibalistic cuisine.

She is getting extremely particular. She refuses to nurse if I'm talking. It's so funny! As soon as I start a conversation with someone, she starts arching her back and fussing and won't eat until I shut up. The days of getting my phone calls out of the way while nursing are OVER! Also, it used to be that Malena only liked being held with her chest in, but these days she fusses until you turn her around to face out. If you don't, she'll nearly break her neck trying to turn her head to see what's going on outside the world of "Mommy."

Malena has been getting into the Christmas spirit. She plays in her activity gym next to the Christmas tree, and she enjoys watching the blinking lights. I usually play DirecTV's Sounds of the Seasons while she's playing there. Sometimes I have to leave the room because of all the annoying pop artists' versions of Christmas songs. Honestly! What ever happened to good ole Johnny Mathis? Anything to make a buck, I suppose.

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Thu, Dec 9, 2004 5:23 PM
Malena is 4 months old today! We celebrated by taking her to the doctor for a second round of shots. I still can't get over how long those needles are. 5/8". Seems too big for her little legs.

Well, as extraordinary as she is, it turns out that Malena is just average...in terms of height and weight, that is. ;-) She weighed in today at 13 pounds 8 ounces and is 24 1/2" long. Her head circumference is 41 1/2 cm. All of these things fall in the 50 percentile range, according to the doc. She started out so big at birth, so naturally I was confused, but the doctor alleviated my concerns by telling me that maybe I just ate too damn much when I was pregnant. Ha ha! Just kidding. She reminded me that Malena's head circ has always been at 50th percentile. Now the rest of her body is finally starting to get with the program. Anyway, everything is okay. She is healthy and doing fine, so, for that reason, I'll take "average" any day of the week.

Monday (Dec. 6) was a special day for T.J. and me. It was exactly one year since we found out that I was pregnant. One year from the day I ate gumbo for breakfast. One year from the day I started a 3-week-long hard-boiled egg binge. (And I haven't had one since. YUCK!) One year from the day we realized our lives were about to change forever.

I am still at home full-time with Malena, and these days I spend a lot of time just holding her and staring at her...trying to capture these precious moments in my memory (and Smart Media Card) for safe-keeping. I know that very soon she will want to crawl and walk and run and beg me not to kiss her in front of her friends. The fact that I'm already able to carry her on my hip breaks my heart just a little.

During those middle-of-the-night feedings, I just watch her...the way she opens and closes her hands...the cute way she crosses her feet and pushes her tiny toes on the arm of the chair. T.J. and I often check on her together as she is sleeping. We race to the crib because both of us want to see her first. We just stand there and stare down at her little body...and we laugh at the way she makes like an inchworm to rest her cheek on the bumper, making a sucking motion as if she is still right next to me.

We are so lucky. Nothing else in the world really matters when I'm with her. I wish she would stay this little so I could hold her forever.

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Sat, Dec 4, 2004 8:31 AM
I can't believe Thanksgiving has already come and gone. This year has absolutely flown by. Malena took her first extended trip. We were in Louisiana for 8 nights. She was an angel on the plane rides. She was a little stinker at night, though. She just wouldn't sleep, and, of course, I didn't get any sleep either.

Malena is currently on a nursing strike. I don't know what the deal is. I think maybe the lack of sleep caused my milk supply to dwindle. Nursing is a wonderful thing, but sometimes it causes so much anxiety because you have no idea if maybe the milk tastes bad, or the baby isn't eating enough, etc. I am worried this may be the end of nursing Malena. :-(

She did a very funny thing the other night. I was feeding her in the middle of the night and took a break to burp her. All of a sudden, she started sucking on my neck. Like she was going to give me a hickie! It was weird. I guess the poor thing was starving!

I would love to start Malena on cereal, but her doctor recommended waiting until she is 6 months old. I don't know what to do. I had to give her formula for the first time the other day because she just refused to nurse. What a bummer.

At this very moment I'm re-attempting to get her off the swaddling habit. We've tried several times to stop it, but she was just so colicky before. She needed it. Right now she's in her crib with one arm loose and NO pacifier. She cried 18 minutes and is now quiet. Hope she doesn't start up again.

Malena has a new toy. It's a little exersaucer thing. She can sit/stand in it and spin and bounce. It has toys all around it. She doesn't like the swing or bouncy anymore, so I had to resort to this. I'll post some photos of it soon. Can't wait for Santa to bring her new carseat and high chair.

She did something pretty neat yesterday. I pointed to something and she followed my finger to look in that direction. She repeated this a few times, but today she just looks at me like I'm crazy when I try to show Daddy her new trick.

Tummy time is still an issue. She just hates it. She almost rolled over the other day because she was so PO'd about being on her tummy.

We are looking forward to our first Christmas with our baby. I think we're getting our tree today! She is having her first portrait done on Tuesday. Then, Thursday we have the nightmare of another round of vaccinations! Can't wait to see how long she is now!

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