I can roll over!

On Monday (1.31.2011) Christine rolled over! She was playing on her stomach having "tummy time" and I was working on my laptop trying to coordinate some visiting teaching and I glanced at Christine to make sure she was doing okay and she was on her back! I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get to see the first time she rolled over completely on her own, but that's okay she rolled over for me again that evening. Jeff had to wait until Wednesday morning to see it. Now I have to be MUCH more careful about where I lay her down and what's around her (not that I wasn't before).

In the Papasan Chair: See Her Grow!

At church last Sunday Jeff was holding Christine and one of our friends came up to him and asked "Who's baby are you holding?" We thought he was joking, but he was totally serious! Christine has been growing like crazy! So much that she is now too big for her Papasan chair. Time to pack it up and send it back to our Aunt Ali who is going to be needing it this summer! Yea! We are so excited that she is going to be having a little girl!

Tangie Bear and Charlie Bear

When Christine was the size of a tangerine (when I was pregnant) we joked that we were going to name her Tangerine and we'd call her Tangie for short. When the name Christine was chosen over Tangerine, the name was passed down to a cute little bear. (the name Tangerine was never a serious thought. When we went to the hospital we had two names in mind: Christine and Claire. Obviously, the name Christine won).

Introducing Tangie Bear:

one day old

two months old

four months old

Tangie Bear was given to us by our gigi in honor of her daddy's Charlie bear.

We love you Charlie Bear.

We love you Tangie Bear.

Green Beans?

At our last check-up Christine's pediatrician encouraged us to start introducing solid foods to Christine. Apparently the "thicker stuff" stays down better and will help with the GERD. So we started with rice cereal. Christine was very excited for the new experience and now LOVES her daily rice cereal. Once we got used to rice cereal (and waited the appropriate amount of time to ensure she was not allergic) we pulled out the good stuff... vegetables!

When I was standing in the grocery aisle looking at the enormous selection of food available to feed "supported sitters" trying to decide which ones to start with, I remembered hearing somewhere that you should start with the gross vegetables first before introducing sweet foods like peaches. So I thought to myself, which is the worst tasting vegetable? easy! green beans!

I'm sure my family is all laughing right now, but for those of you who do not know me very well, I do not enjoy green beans. When I was a child I protested green beans at the dinner table with "I hate green beans" stickers that I created. When Jeff and I were newlyweds and combining our pantry items into our new apartment somehow all of Jeff's cans of green beans ended up being donated to the local food shelter. Poor Jeff hasn't had green beans since (nor has he had hot dogs, but that's another story).

We wanted to document her first experience with green beans:

Spoonful of green beans is approaching

the spoon enters her mouth

WOA! that's not rice cereal!

"I don't know if I like that..."

Don't worry Christine, it only gets better from here. There is nothing worse than green beans.

4 Months

We had Christine's 4-month check up at the beginning of the month. Christine weighed 13 lbs 9 oz and measured 25 inches long.

Christine has always been 50th percentile in everything (perfectly average). But now our average baby is finally breaking out of the mold. She's still 50th percentile for head circumference and weight, but she's a getting tall! She's in the 75th percentile for length.

We are doing much better. After the screaming didn't disappear after 3 months like it was supposed to, we went to the doctors and were diagnosed with GERD (gastric reflux). Christine was prescribed Prevacid, and ever since we started giving it to her she has turned into a new baby! SOOOO much less crying and screaming. She is actually HAPPY. She eats and naps much better, and her "grumpy time" has disappeared!

When we came home from to Utah after Christmas, Christine started sleeping terribly! She'd wake up 4-5 times a night! AHHHH I seriously cannot do that! So next up... sleep training! We've just barely started, we'll let you know how it goes. Let me know if you have any recommendations for how to get your baby to sleep through the night. Baby Wise was thrown out in the trash (sorry if you like that book, it didn't work for us) I've since moved on to Ferber's book (seems better for sleep training toddlers), and Mindell's (very similar to Ferber's but more appropriate for infants- in my opinion). Right now we are going to go with Mindell's approach and see how it goes.