All About Baby Prout

Time to eat solids

The day finally came. Roselyn is no longer exclusively nursing- it was time to start the solids. The solid of choice for most parents is rice cereal. I bought a box of rice cereal Friday knowing the day would come Monday. This morning (Monday) was the day. I got Roselyn out of bed and changed her diaper and changed her clothes (some how, she peed out of her diaper). I nursed her a little then brought her downstairs to the high chair. I had taken some breast milk and mixed it with one tablespoon of rice cereal in a cup. I sat her in the high chair and went to find Rob (he was on picture and video duty). I placed the cup in front of Roselyn and she immediately grabbed for it. I realized it was better to keep the cup with me at the table and spoon out small portions of the cereal. The first time the spoon went to Roselyn's lips she slowly opened and I gently poured the substance in. And it slowly came out- thank goodness for bibs! Future attempts went better, but Roselyn had a strange look on her face every time the mixture went into her mouth (I envision her wondering "what is this junk in my milk?"). She did seem to swallow a bit, but by the end she was just spitting and coughing it out. She nearly finished the one ounce I made for her, so I felt it was mission accomplished. Now on to many more days and eventually, many other types of food (and the stinky poop that accompanies it).

Roselyn stays with Mimi!

Saturday, March 14th was Roselyn's first night away from Mommy and Daddy. Rob and I had tickets for the Billy Joel/Elton John concert for the evening and decided this was a perfect opportunity for a night away from baby Prout. It was decided that Mimi (Rob's mom) would keep her along with her cousins Brett and Carl (their parents were attending the same concert). Were we nervous? Yes. We didn't doubt she would be well taken care of, but there is always the unknown (not to mention a 4 and 6 year old) to deal with. Were we going to miss her? Oh yeah. However, as we walked out of the house looking at Roselyn on Mimi's lap reading a book- a sense of peace and relief came over us. We deserved a time away to remind us that first of all, we are a married couple. The evening went well for us, and after a phone call from Mimi, we knew the evening went well with Roselyn too. Sunday morning was the first morning in a while I slept passed 7:30am and did not have to rush out of bed to feed a baby. Rob and I took our time getting ready, had breakfast, then went to pick up Roselyn. There she was, happy as she could be, playing with her cousins. We were very proud of her, and of ourselves for allowing her to stay the night somewhere else. Now we have done it once, I am sure more will come in the future.

Roselyn is 6 month old!!!

So Roselyn is now 1/2 a year old! Where does the time go? Of course, that means time for her 6 month check up. I was a bit nervous because the last time Roselyn had vaccinations she did get a low grade fever and was grouchy and unhappy all day. I prayed God would comfort her (and me!). The day of the appointment I was coming down with a cold, but Roselyn was all smiles. At the doctor's office she continued to laugh and smile at everyone. Her weight was 16lb 10oz and length of 15 3/4in. She was in the 50 percentile for both. Her head, however, was in the 75th percentile (she's one smart cookie!). Dr. Cheeks checked all the regular development markers and told me that Roselyn looked great. We discussed starting her on solids, which will being Monday. Then came the vaccinations. Roselyn was given the same three shots as before and one oral. Yes, she cried when she had the needles stuck in her, but she seemed to get over them faster than before. I nursed her afterwards, which seemed to calm her down. She even was smiling when we left the doctor's office! I gave her tylonal every six hours, but really, she never seemed to get a fever, and was as happy as ever the rest of the day. What a relief! And was an answer to prayer! On to the 9 month appointment (but there are no shots again until 12 months!).

Happy Birthday to mom!

I (Roselyn's mom, Laura) is offically thirty. Luckily, it doesn't feel any different than twenty nine. For my birthday my husband (and Roselyn's dad) Rob organized a surprise birthday for me. What started as a small group coming to the house Saturday evening ended being about fifty people! I knew we were having a few people so I spent much of the day cleaning. Rob and I did take Roselyn for a walk in downtown Newnan, and she loved the beautiful weather. I made sure to dress Roselyn in a cute dress for the people to see. When the "small group" began to arrive we were all on the front porch enjoying the afternoon. Roselyn was able to spend time with her friend, Rachel, and we held by our neighbor Donna. I took her upstairs for a feeding and that is when the surprise happened. After the feeding I left Roselyn's room to use the restroom. When I walked out of the bathroom I looked down into the den and noticed our small group was a large group! I immediately grabbed Roselyn and came downstairs. Unfortunately, lack of an afternoon nap caught up with her, and she was very fussy and tired. Luckily, Mimi was there and took her for a walk in the stroller. When they returned Roselyn was asleep in the car seat, and she remained asleep in the car seat in our bedroom until her 9pm feeding when I put her to bed.

Snow!

It was Roselyn's first snow! Both Rob and I didn't expect to see snow since the night before it was nearly 70 degrees. However, the weather men were right, and by 11am we could see snow falling through the windows at church. The drive home from church was very slow and controlled. The snow was coming down so hard we could not see very far in front of us and snow covered the road just as quickly as someone drove over it. Once we were home Rob and I got lunch while Roselyn watched the snow out the window. When the snow finally slowed down a bit it was time for Roselyn to play in the snow. Unfortunately, it was close to her nap time- and you could tell by her behavior! But I was determined to get the pictures and video I wanted. We bundled Roselyn and headed outside. Mac led the way and immediately went to the bathroom on a bush along the sidewalk. Roselyn didn't know what to think of the wet flakes hitting her face. I stood her in the snow hoping it would make her smile. She really seemed consumed with figuring what was going on- there was such a serious look on her face. Since it was so close to Roselyn's nap time we were probably outside a total of 3 minutes. It didn't take long for her to get unhappy and start to cry a bit. Luckily, we got a few cute pictures of Roselyn in the snow. She immediately went to sleep afterwards in her crib, which tells you she was very tired since she normally will not nap in her crib.