margaretyagan

It’s my birthday! I’m gonna party like it’s my birthday!  No birthday cake, but did eat cereal twice and played outside with Nana and Grandpa. 

Wednesday I got back to my normal schedule.  I started the day with a very early three hour nap and then ate a cube of cereal with my bottle.  For the first time ever I got to eat real food twice in one day, with another cube of cereal around 5:00.  I also spent a lot of tim with Nana outside on the stairs and in the yard.

Tuesday was pretty uneventful.  Nana skipped my morning cereal to get my stomach back in order.   I didn’t have any major spit-ups in the evening, so it was definitely a success.

Today Nana and Grandpa fed me a meal for the first time.  They really enjoyed seeing me eat real food and I could have eaten even more than they had ready for me.  I took a really long (3 hour!) nap and then was a great mood.  I had another huge spitup in the afternoon and Nana hypothesized that it was the powdered formula that was causing my problems, so they discontinued the powder and switched to liquid concentrate after that.

Another weekend morning with Dad, which means vigorous physical exercise and a trip to starbucks! I hung out with while Dad did some work, but eventually I got too fussy and Dad and I decided to take off. Instead of heading home, though, we went to Jewel to pick up a green pepper. (Weird, I know.) Then we went to K-Mart. Dad was pretty determined to come up with a way for Mom, Nana, and Grandpa to prepare a day’s worth of powdered formula each morning as easily as possible. This required a total of three trips in and out of K-Mart and another trip to Jewel before we headed home with four 1-qt clear bottles and a huge red funnel.

I ate (and I don’t mean drank!) breakfast (rice cereal, again) and this time Dad caught video footage of my meal. Al got back from his hot date and the four of us headed to Moonshine for lunch (some of you may recall that Moonshine was one of my very first outings back in March). We then headed to Oberweis for ice cream and then back home. Al held me and played with me before taking off.

The rest of Sunday was pretty low-key until my bedtime feeding. I had just drank about seven ounces of formula when I had a HUGE, GINORMOUS spit-up. Not only did get all the way through every layer of Dad’s clothing, but it made a huge stain on the couch. Of course, this made Mom quite worried, but I made up for that by sleeping almost all the way through the night.

Wow, today was so busy and exciting!  I woke up and like good ol’ Saturdays, Dad spent the morning with me and Mom got a chance to catch up on sleep a bit.  We played downstairs and Dad was in a particularly playful mood.  We rolled around on the floor and we did lots of “Super Maggie” games.  Dad was also cooking something on stove–which he’s definitely done before.  Then, as usual, we headed out for our walk to Starbucks.  Dad had hoped that his friend Chris would come meet us, but that was not to be.  We didn’t stick around at Starbucks as long as usual.

When we got back home, Mom’s and Dad’s friend Al was hanging out in the living room.  I hadn’t seen Al since back in NYC.  When Mom came downstairs there seemed to be a lot of commotion and excitement.  I had no idea what it was all about.  Anyway, I was getting hungry and finally Mom gave me my bottle.  But half way through, she just stopped.  What?!  Then she took me to my high chair, where I usually go when Mom & Dad eat.  Was she trying to torture me by making me watch them eat while I was still hungry?

All of a sudden Mom and Dad descend on my high chair with huge smiles, a camera, and … a bowl of rice cereal!  Solid food is so cool!  Mom gave me my first bites of food whlie Dad took dozens of pictures (and video!).  When Dad finally got the spoon, he started making all kind of train and plane sounds and hand motions to get me to open my mouth.  I even got to drink water for the first time.  I way prefer normal adult cups to baby sippy cups, but I guess I have to practice with both.

After breakfast (and post-breakfast-cleanup!), I changed, took a nap, and then we headed out for a play date with Conor!  I hadn’t seen Conor since March when he was just about the age I am now.  He’s really cool and fun.  He can crawl really well and can even balance standing up for a couple seconds.  I’m so jealous.  He taught me that remote controls are really cool to play with. After hanging out at his parent’s place, we all went for a walk at the Lincoln Park Zoo where I got to see in real life most of the animals I read about in my books!

We got home, I ate, and then Dad and I went to Dominick’s for our weekly grocery shopping trip.  By the time we got back it was getting pretty close to my bedtime.  What an exciting day!

I woke up to a great surprise: Mom picked me up out of my crib and carried me into her bedroom, where I found…Dad!  I hadn’t seen Dad in over a week!  He was so, so, so excited to see me!  We played around in his bed until about 7:00, when we went downstairs where Nana was waiting for me with open arms!  Dad went to his office to work and Nana and I went for a walk to the park.

Dad came upstairs to see me several times throughout the morning, which was cool, but mostly he worked and I hung out with Nana and Grandpa.  They took off around 3:00 and there was a small window of time until Mom came home from work, so I hung out downstairs in Dad’s office.  Now that I can sit up and amuse myself, it’s a lot more fun to hang out in the same room as possible, even if she or he is not playing with me.

Mom came home and played with me all afternoon, including a nap together in her bed.  After Dad was done working for the day, the three of us went for a walk and eventually ended up eating at Picante.  I was in a good mood and quite talkative.  We got back home and Dad gave me my bottle, gave me a bath, and then put me to bed. 

I woke up on Tuesday morning missing Aunt Sarah!  Mom was there when I got up and Nana was waiting for me when we went downstairs.  We watered the flowers and headed out to the park as we do pretty much every day.    We got back and we read and played with my toys.  I ravished a bottle and then took a short nap.  The afternoon brought a big poop, a pretty long nap, and another trip to the park before Mom got home from work.

Wednesday was more of the same but Thursday was totally different because it rained all day!  I don’t know what winter is, but it sounds like I won’t get to go outside much then, either.  I ate well, slept well, and pooped…well, Nana described it as “massive.”  Massive is good, right?  I overheard Nana saying something about solid food?  That’s something to look forward to!

Well, as you read in the last blog post, there was just a little too much worry yesterday and apparently Mom made me a doctor’s appointment.  I weighed in at 16 lb, 15.5 oz which is the 90th percentile for babies my age.  Woo woo!  Go me (and Mom!)!

The doctor pretty much said that I was totally healthy and that maybe I was getting bored during my feedings because we were still using a slow-flow nipple on the bottle.  Finally!  I’ll be able to gulp down my bottles and get back to fun time.  She also said “Maggie is robust” and “Don’t let her keep you up [worrying] at night any more.”  Oh, this was cool: I had a huge chunk of ear wax in my ear that the doc had to scoop out to see into my ear canal!  Mom!  Dad!

Anyway, the doctor’s appointment shouldn’t overshadow the highlight of the day, which was that on Friday morning I discovered that Aunt Sarah was staying with us!  Yay!   Mom worked from home while I hung out and played with Aunt Sarah.  Aunt Sarah and I went for a walk and I was doing a lot better, but Mom and Aunt Sarah still took me to the doctor.

Mom & Aunt Sarah and I went to Picante so they could eat lunch.  I want to eat real food!  I kept trying to grab the burrito out of Mom’s hands, but to no avail.  That afternoon we started a new game of putting plastic rings in and out of my soft toolbox.  We then went to Babies R Us which ended up taking forever.  I was really, really unhappy on the way home because I was starving!

We got back home and I ate.  Aunt Sarah accompanied us on my night-time routine and I went to bed.

Saturday morning I woke up and played with Aunt Sarah.  We walked the triangle in the afternoon and then Mom was getting ready to leave to go to a wedding…I decided to have a huge good-bye poop in her honor!  Aunt Sarah cleaned me up and the I took a couple short naps in the afternoon / early evening.  We went for a walk down Division, stopping by the Starfruit smoothie place.  

A/S gave me a bath and then I went to sleep.  She was so worried about me that she slept on the floor in my room so she could keep a super-close eye (ear!?) on me!  I didn’t take it easy on Aunt Sarah, as I was up from 2:00 to 3:30 — but she was patient and took care of me.

We took an early morning walk on Sunday, through the farmers’ market and to Starbucks, where the barista thought I was a boy (despite wearing a red dress!).  She ran out after us to apologize (to me – not to A/S!).  I took a good nap around lunch, after which we walked over to K-Mart.  A/S thought I was over-heating, so I got to jump around in the jumparoo naked (well, diapered…).

Monday morning came around and still no sign of Mom and Dad, which meant I got another day with Aunt Sarah.  The morning was pretty uneventful; I was quite a bit more chatty than usual and even more drooly than ever.

Around 2:30 Aunt Sarah and I took off for the airport to pick up Mom.  I excited to see Mom but sad when I found out that Aunt Sarah was leaving!  I hope I get to see her again really soon.

I drove home with Mom and nursed with Mom for the last time ever.  Mom, thanks so much for nourishing me for almost six months!  I’m so big and so healthy and you’re to thank!

We did the usual night time routine and I dozed off to sleep.

Tuesday was pretty uneventful and very much back to the normal routine.  Mom & Dad were at work and I was hanging out with Nana and Grandpa Yagan.  We skipped our morning walk to Wicker Park, instead opting for playtime in the front yard.  I faught my  naps prettyhard and didn’t sleep for a stretch longer than 1 hour at any point today.  Not surprisingly, I was really sleepy by 5:00 pm, but even then only managed a 15 minute nap.  I’m definitely losing my reputation as a great sleeper…I even saw Mom reading a book about solving babies sleep problems!

On Wednesday morning (after watering the flowers with Nana) I spent about 30 minutes reading four of my favorite books.  I pooped, played in my jumperoo, and then went for a walk around the block with Nana.   When we got back, she took sooo many pictures of me!

Thursday I really wasn’t myself, which caused much consternation to Mom and Nana.  When it was time for my midday bottle, I really didn’t want it.  I’m usually such a good eater, but it was a struggle for Nana to get me to take it.  I felt pretty congested, too.  All in all, it wasn’t a fun day and I wasn’t feeling great.  Nana keeps telling Mom & Dad not to worry, but I know that means she’s worried!