Another root canal

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Geez, I've had a toothache lately and went to the dentist this morning. I need another root canal. This is almost a little embarrassing to admit, but I have had seven root canals already. By the time I'm 40 I won't have any real teeth left!!! By February 2006 I had already spent $5000 out of my own pocket (we're talking after insurance coverage...which by the way is only a lame $1500). So I have scheduled an appointment with my endodontist tomorrow. Thankfully I have a really good doctor. She makes it painless and is relatively fast (considering my first root canal took 6 hours at some awful dentist...thanks mom). Wish me luck. I just wish I could wait until the new year when my insurance is full again. Dang it.

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

Sunday, November 26, 2006

This afternoon during tummy time Isabella rolled over from her tummy onto her back all by herself!!!! It was so exciting to watch and Ed's dad was there to witness it all. Ed, however, missed it because he had to run to the grocery store. Tomorrow, Ed's mom's flying in for the week. She say Isabella when she was just four days old so I'm sure she will marvel at the difference since then.

Since we have been working on Isabella's sleep routine she has been so much more pleasant during the day. She is such a happy baby when she is well rested. She goes down to bed around 7:30pm. At her bedtime we've chosen to let her cry it out. We've been doing it about for two weeks. And now after about 20 (sometimes 30 and sometimes 10) minutes she's out for the night. It was very hard to do the first few times, but it has gotten easier to deal with. We just try to escape to another part of the house where we can't hear it. It pains Ed's dad to hear, but it is the decision that Ed and I decided to make together and it's been working for us.

Biggest Blowout on Black Friday!!!

And I'm not talking about the sales at the mall. Isabella has had a few bouts of explosive poopies that come up the back. But this one takes the cake. I was feeding her and felt and heard the explosion. This is not at all abnormal. She does this at least once a day. But suddenly I felt my hand (that was holding her bum) get warm and moist. Low and behold we had a blowout of monstrious proportions. Even my pj's got stained. The sleeper she wore went immediately in the washer. I had to wash it two times to get out the stain. I thought it was a goner for sure, but Shout got it out.

What's new

My Powerbook is still getting repaired, so I'm using my work computer to keep you all updated. So if I'm a little slow to add, it's work computer's fault. It's stinkin slow. Isabella has become so curious to her surrounding. She loves to look around the room. She loves starring at the ceiling at lights. Our favorite time of the day is in the morning when she first wakes up. She is all smiles and happiness. She will sit and star at your face with a cute curiousity. My favorite is when I stick out my tongue and she tries to mimick me and sticks out her tongue. I will try to capture that on video one day.

Here are some random pictures of Isabella this past week.

Sleepy time. Her favorite place to take naps is in the swing. We love the swing!

Tummy time! Isabella doesn't like tummy time for too long. She'll tolerate it for about five minutes.

And if you wait too long, the waterworks begin. Gosh mommy's mean.

Just lounging...

Happy Turkey Day

We had Thanksgiving at Merah's house this year and boy was it a full house. Here are some pictures of the family...

Isabella met Deda (Grandpa Kremer) for the first time.

After dinner, the tryptophan really kicked in. (Two seconds before this shot was taken Ed's Dad, Leo, was also asleep...though he claims he wasn't. Sounds just like Ed.)

The Aftermath

Saturday, November 18, 2006

It has been one full day since Isabella has had her shots. Overall, she was really very good. When we were at the doctor's office the nurses checked her vitals, weighed and measured her. She is now 11 lbs. 12 oz. and is 23 1/4" tall!!!! The doctor says that compared to other girls her age she is in the 75th percentile for her weight and between the 75th to 90th percentile for her height. What a big girl we have.

So the nurse gave her 5 shots and one oral medication. The oral medication was easy to swallow, for me that is, but the shots...I nearly cried as I held her hands. It was a cry I never heard before. When it was over I was happy to see the little munchin fall right back to sleep. There were very short periods of crying pangs, but she mostly slept all night. In fact, she slept from 7:30pm to 3:00am. Yikes! But, boy was she hungry at 3am. And then she fell right back to sleep. So far, she has been an angel this morning.

Two month appointment

Friday, November 17, 2006

Isabella is due for her immunization shots!!! Yikes. I don't know if I'm prepared for this. Ed can't come because of a meeting conflict. So I'm braving it alone with Izzy. I hear the shots aren't so bad; it's the aftermath that's terrible.

On Isabella's development
She smiles more and more everyday. She is most fun to play with in the morning until around 2pm. When 3pm hits, it gets a little grizzly around here. But everyday is a little different. Some are better than others. My Apple computer is down at the moment, but once it is fixed I will post more videos and pictures.

Last Tuesday, she fell asleep a little later than usual with nighttime fussiness, but she slept an entire seven hours straight. After going to bed at 9:20pm she didn't wake up to feed until 4:45am!!!! Woo hoo! There hasn't been a repeat of that performance yet, but I am hopeful. Lately she has been sleeping at 8:30pm and wakes up at 1:30am, then at 5:00am, then around 7:45am. But it is so much better than every two hours like the early weeks after birth.

Well, we're off to see the doctor. Wish us luck.

The Language of Babies

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

I was watching Oprah yesterday and she had a segment called "The Secret Language of Babies" and it was fascinating. She interviewed Priscilla Dunstan who claims she has a photographic memory for sounds and has learned what babies (0-3 months) are trying to tell us in their cry regardless of race or ethnicity. The five sounds and their meanings are:

Neh
Meaning: "I'm hungry!"
Where it comes from: The noise made when a baby pushes his tongue to the roof of his mouth because he wants to eat, "neh," is an infant's sucking reflex with sound added to it.

Eh
The word: "I need to burp!"
Where it comes from: When a big bubble of air is caught in your baby's chest, the sound you hear is "eh," as your baby tries to get the burp out.

Owh
The word: "I'm tired!"
Where it comes from: An audible yawn, you can spot the word because your baby's mouth will be in an oval shape as he says it.

Heh
The word: "I'm uncomfortable!"
Where it comes from: Your baby's response to a skin reflex (the same one that governs sweating) signals irritation -- a wet diaper or an itchy bodysuit.

Eair
The word: "I have gas!"
Where it comes from: If a burp doesn't make it out, it moves through your baby's digestive system -- "eaire" is the sound you get as the muscles of the intestine and stomach tighten to force the air bubble out.

You can see a short clips of the show on Oprah's website or watch the rerun on Sunday night on ABC. It is scheduled to be on again at 10pm (PST).

http://www2.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/200611/tows_past_20061113.jhtml

Priscilla Dunstan is coming out with a new video later this month titled "Dunstan Baby Language".

Just passing along some helpful tips to other new mothers out there.

Playtime home video

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Everyday we spend time playing with the Baby Einstein baby gym that we got from the baby shower. Izzy just loves looking at all the animals, lights and mirrors. Not sure if she can see color yet, but she enjoys all of the interesting patterns and lights.

Check out this new video of Isabella that I loaded onto the site.

Here are the most recent photos...

Frank meets Rita

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Well...not quite.

Last Friday was the first night without Isabella. In fact, it was the first time without her for more than two hours. Friday night was Ed's sales conference party...this year's theme was Old Hollywood at The Highland in Hollywood, of course. I borrowed a few things from my sister Merah -- who incidentally has a themed outfit for any occasion -- and together we did my hair and makeup. And as I whisked away to this fun evening I left Izzy with Auntie Merah. Thank goodness for supportive aunties!


The hair, makeup, and dress up was fun for an adult evening without baby in tow. I wanted to do my hair like Rita Hayworth in the film Gilda. Ed's inspiration was Frank Sinatra, of course. Guys really have it easy. They don't have much to do with hair and makeup.

So I found some websites to help me with the look. They suggested using foam rollers to wet set my hair. I didn't think anything of it. But as I was setting my hair in rollers I began having flashbacks to my old drill team days in high school. And if memory served me correctly, which it did, my hair use to turn out extremely curly. But I went with it anyway because I trusted these websites.

Well, my hair did not have the soft curl like I had hoped for so we had a change of plans. I was then stuck on the cool hair curls that women wore in the 40's. Sort of like Betty Grable in the picture to the right.

And my hair turned out pretty good. Thanks Merah!!! She didn't have faith...or was it really her patience that she didn't have??? Anyway, it all turned out very well and I received many compliments all due to Merah's help and wardrobe.

I finally got to the club and partied like it was 1999. Too bad I decided to pack light and left my camera in the hotel room. Several people did take pictures and as soon as I get them I will post them. It was too much fun. And Ed looked awesome in his fedora hat that he so proudly purchased. We did get one photo that I scanned so take a look -- it's hard to see the hair.