4 month old checkup with Mommy and Daddy

Today Victoria had her 4 month check-up! Everything went well and Victoria is developing just fine. We were pretty surprised that our little porker weighed in at 17 pounds! But the real surprise is that she is 25 inches which puts her among the 95

percentile of her peers. Hopefully she will be a tall woman and with the latest statistics, it's a safe bet she will. My daughter addressed her concerns about her head always pointing to the left. She told her that she mainly uses her left side of her body..discovering her left foot, extending her left hand and waving it in a psychedelic way. The doctor reassured her that all babies choose different sides of their bodies individually and she has chosen her left. Daddy, mommy and I all let out a comforting sigh. At least now we know that she is developing at a good rate and yes..I hope that she turns out to be a lefty. We also found out that she has a birthmark behind her right ear on her head. This form of birthmarks are among 40,000 babies born each year. This birthmark is called Strawberry Hemangioma which appears shortly after birth. This type of birthmark soon disappears as the child reaches their seventh year of living. When my daughter observed it before, she was quite startled, thinking there was something growing on her child's head. “Well, Miss Priss. You, yourself have a birthmark as well. Its called Nevus Sebaceous.” She really does. As the day ended and my daughter was at work, Victoria was taking a nap in her crib. I've been wanting to set up her pack and play for so long. My bestie gave it to my daughter for Victoria. Fortunately I had time even though it kind of upset me. She is getting bigger. Growing up. She isn't that little newborn we brought home from the hospital. I let out a deep sigh and started to take apart the pack and play..or in my day (I'm really not that old) I have always called it a playpen. Isn't that what it is?

http://www.everydayhealth.com/kids-health-pictures/10-types-of-birthmarks.aspx#/slide-1

Victoria and her 3 month, 4 week milestones

Lately, we have been experiencing milestones with Victoria. She can now sit in her bouncer and reach for the dangling toys on the patted overhead bar. Well...a little bit. She actually grazes them with her left hand. As a grandmother, I think that is the best thing since sliced bread. Lol But what is even better is when she holds up her hands for me to pick her up. Its not a whole-hearted hands-out stretching-the-arms-out but its close. I see it. While it warms my heart so much, I wish she would hold her hands up to her mother who is always working. So. I mentioned that Victoria is going through a few milestones during her 3rd month of life. We want to believe she is teething. She shows all the signs except refusing food. (She is a member of this family; she never refuses food). Its hard to imagine all of the saliva that comes out of her mouth on a daily basis and then some. There is never a moment when she has a drop of saliva dangling from her bottom lip which, to me, signifies a baby. If we aren't careful and forget to put on a bib, you would find a big wet spot of drool on her shirt. Once we discovered a chaffed red ring around her neck from all the drool. A good friend of ours suggested baby powder but we found out that baby powder brings more bacteria to the 'fatty folds' and 'extra chins' that Victoria has gained over the 3 months of life. Mommy learned that using Desitin or some other form of diaper rash cream will do the job. She is also very fussy and bites on everything she can put in her mouth. Mommy decided to get a gallon storage bag and insert all of Victoria's teething rings 'just in case' and promptly put them in the freezer. We will never know if this is the reason of her little 'actions' but just in case, we keep this on the table. Victoria still does not like 'Tummy Time'. I've heard that most babies have a problem with this. When we place her on her stomach, she fusses. I shouldn't let this concern me. I've heard that some babies favor either side of their bodies and mostly use that side to view their surroundings. Victoria seems to favor her left side. Like I said before in the paragraph above, she uses her left hand to touch the dangling toys above her in her bouncer. I can tell when she is exhausted while playing or

watching “Baby Einstein” videos because she looks to the left. I Victoria Renee 6-30-14am assuming the left side of her neck muscles are tighter than her right. We have been helping her move her head to look straight, eventually looking right. This is a concern I hope her mother talks to the doctor about. She has her four month appointment in a few days to get her next series of her immunizations. So this means we are going to have to wait to see her roll over...maybe....because she could surprise us. She already does 'mini-scoots' and likes to see her surroundings in ways she couldn't before. As I mentioned before, her mother goes to work. I feel my daughter (and most working mother's) feel cheated because Victoria does pay attention to me more than her own mother. This is why I have to step back and let her mother care for her during the times when she is off of work allowing my daughter to bond with her mother. http://www.babycenter.com/0_your-3-month-olds-development-week-4_1477212.bc

Breakfast and Classical Music with Victoria Renee

Miss Victoria had her second doctor's visit today! She is now 7 lbs. 4 oz..a bit of a jump from 6 lbs. 10 oz. of her birth weight. She is moving right along. Unfortunately she has been dealing with constipation and reflux, (as I have heard a lot of newborns do) she has been prescribed medicine for the reflux and eventually, the constipation will stop. The doctor also said to add a bit of infant cereal which surprised me. I would think she would be too young. But for right now, she is hanging out with her hip grandmother listening to Bach and Beethoven. Gotta start them early with the music!

A very helpless feeling

Here I am. The grandmother of a 10 day old infant. Although I have been getting enough sleep, the 'every two-hour' feeding time has not yet bothered me. Looking at her face mesmerizes me every time I hold that little bundle of joy. She is such a good baby; always sleeps, never cries and has a great little disposition as of late. Both families are truly blessed with her. I am in charge of cleaning and preparation of the bottles. My daughter has decided to breastfeed but also use formula. We have already gotten the 'green light' from the pediatrician to do this. She seems to be satisfied with two ounces every feeding: one ounce of formula and one ounce of her mother's milk. But we have noticed something missing: it has been ½ a day since she has had a regular healthy bowel movement. I know this is not something one should blog about. If anything, I would love to hear some advice. I am in route to the store to get her some Karo syrup for her tummy. We tried gas drops last night but still little pellets are found in her diaper. She is having so much trouble staying comfortable that she seems to always lay on her side. Imagine what my little grand baby is going through....still...she doesn't cry about it.

Baby..It's a Polar Vortex outside!

This has been an exceptionally long two weeks. First, my daughter had a prenatal appointment scheduled for 8 A.M. 20 minutes away from our house. A few days later we, like much of the Northwestern hemisphere, got to experience what is called the Polar Vortex of 2014. Like you, I have never been in a Polar Vortex. So, with my inquisitive mind, I decided to The midnight snowinvestigate about this amazing meteorological phenomenon and I have come to understand what it is and how it has affected me and the community around me. During the Polar Vortex it was safe to assume that most, if not all of the population in my small town had stayed inside. The wind chill was brutally cold for the most of us (even my friends and family down in South Florida got to experience this!) and the wind currents seemed to strike you down through to your soul, it was that bad. Fortunately my daughter and I had to (and I hate these words) hunker down before this atmospheric episode was upon us by shopping for the staples that we needed to fill our cupboards and refrigerator.. But what makes it such a tremendous scenario? The reason why it is such a tremendous scenario is because I grew up in a place where cyclones were the norm. This is not a tropical cyclone for what I am used to. This is a winter storm of epic proportions. So this has sparked my interests. I mean, come on! It was so cold in some parts of Canada that it brought on an earthquake in the tundra region. That must have been so frightening for the residents of that area. I'm pretty sure the citizens of the area in this day and age aren't used to that sort of thing. Not only are they not used to earthquakes but did you know that the temperature in some parts of Canada was lower, (yes lower) than the not-too-distant planet of Mars. Can you believe this?? What I REALLY can't believe is that my daughter was having a craving at 10 A.M.!! So as any good mother would do, I began to wrap my scarf around my neck, wore my cap and managed to find both my gloves while I took my heavy coat out of the closet. She wanted a jar of dill pickles and she 'had to have them'. I walk downstairs to the outside of my building and struggle to breathe the low-density in the air. As I am passing the naked trees and bushes, a current of bone-chilling wind blows through my body and makes me lose my breath. She better believe how much I love her. :) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/13/polar-vortex-scariest-word_n_4589975.html?utm_hp_ref=green http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/09/polar-vortex-strange-stories_n_4557126.html

Understanding Hypermesis and wanting it to stop.....NOW!

Having to watch my only child nauseous on a daily basis is so hard to look at. In a perfect world, I wish mothers-in-waiting would not have to deal with changes in their bodies or disruptions of their mental state. There would be fewer stories about the mother killing their own children or the notion that 'they are going crazy' only if they were given attention. Fortunately, my daughter has a very strong support system all around her to help her through such troubled times. Although she will Locket Grampa Joe and Grandma Cheryl got mommyhave to experience these things, she has a strong family that will always be there in her time of need. I hope she remembers that. On our last visit to the OBGYN, we were told that she has been dealing with Hypermesis Gravidarum, or simple 'Morning Sickness'. This is not so simple to deal with. Although my daughter has actually gained a few pounds in her pregnancy

(only 8 lbs due to the morning sickness since the beginning), she has been put on anti-nausea medicine and has been on bed-rest for the duration of her pregnancy. She has been able to eat a lot more and exercises frequently which I am glad and my stress-level has lowered a bit. Much of the population does not understand how severe this Hypermesis Gravidarum can be to an expectant mother and her unborn child. Not only is this severe form of nausea and vomiting during a period (or like my daughter's case) throughout the pregnancy term, but it has been described as preventing the adequate intake of the important foods and fluids that the mother and child need. If it is not treaded in a timely fashion, dehydration and nutritional deficiencies may happen, metabolic imbalances and difficulty with the daily activities can occur. Although HG is not fully understood and severely under examined, new theories and findings are emerging with every year. The finding are complex and it is thought to be a physiological disease caused by many factors. As the symptoms of the HG bring on other new symptoms, repeated vomiting and severe nausea rears its ugly head for a whole new set of other problems we have to worry about. Common complications can include debilitating fatigue, gastric irritation, ketosis and malnutrition. That, my friends is scary. Scary of not knowing what is going on inside my daughter's metabolism, scary to know this could potentially harm my grand daughter and scary to know there is little that I can do to combat it. How do you prevent this potentially life-threatening complications? As a mother, I want to take this pain and suffering that she is enduring...and experience it for myself so she doesn't have to. This is not over... For more in-depth information about Hypermesis Gravidarum or Morning Sickness, please visit: http://www.helpher.org/hyperemesis-gravidarum/ http://americanpregnancy.org/pregnancycomplications/hyperemesisgravidarum.html http://www.babycentre.co.uk/a1018905/hyperemesis-gravidarum

New Adventures for 2014

Sorry I haven't been writing any stories lately. The whole house has been sick on and off since around the thanksgiving holiday. A lot of new things have happened but there are also things that haven't changed at all. I want to plan a baby shower for my daughter only inviting my side of the family and a few of my friends. That's all. She was sick with the flu/sinus infection as bad (and maybe worse) than I was. Coughing and drainage everywhere from the both of us made it a very dreary situation to live in. The house was always dark and cold as the medicine stacked up on my bedside. I couldn't find the strength to lift my head and make something to drink. Luckily my daughter felt well enough to serve me drinks on the days that she was able to get up and in turn, I was able to help her when I was well enough to get out of bed. Thank goodness the month was over and we can begin cleaning and sterilizing the house. As I lay in bed, I had a lot of time to think. I thought about where we were going in the next few months...my daughter is going to continue in a long line of single mothers in my family. Monmae was basically a single mother (given the time in her generation when a woman wasn't supposed to be raising children on her own), my mother Geema who was a single mother of three children which turned us into Latch-Key kids of the 1980s, I was the one who was responsible for raising my daughter on my own and finally, my daughter...who is about to do this alone. Most of the fathers were in the children's lives, some were non-existent. Now that we have a new year upon us, we can strengthen our minds and hearts with planning towards the future on the things that mean so much to us. What are the things that you are hoping for this coming year? Leave a comment about what you are planning this year for your family.

12 weeks and counting!

The is the day that I would see the wonderful creation my daughter is holding and nurturing inside her body. Meeting at the OBGYN doctors office, I sat in the waiting room playing my favorite game "Bejeweled" on my phone. Seeing the ultrasound actually was important to me but I never knew of the emotions that would emerge from my heart. As we wait for our name to be called, sitting in the waiting room watching the other families that came in to sit down and wait for their turn, I felt that we were all collectively in the same circumstance and it put me in a better, more hopeful mood.

Our family was called to see the ultrasound technician. We seem to walk in an endless hallway of doctor office doors. Soon we reached our destination to the sonogram room where a woman dressed in a lab coat with denim jeans was waiting for us. My daughter sat on the table and got ready as instructed from the technician. It seemed more modern than when I went for her ultrasound in '93. I was alone when I found out that I was having a girl, unfortunately her father had to work.

The beautiful profile with (her) arms at either side of (her) head.

As the wand was waving across my daughter's stomach, I could see a piece of perfection emerging on the screen. The baby appeared to be healthy but stubborn. (She) was laying on her back with her legs laying on the wall of the uterus. It was, in my opinion, the cutest introduction. Floating in the embryonic fluid, there was my reason for living (inside my other reason for living.)

I've never been a "kid" person although I was blessed with a child. Now I am blessed with a grandchild and I couldn't be more happy knowing that beautiful angel will be in my arms in about 6 months.