What are these??

We have been waiting and waiting. It has finally happened, Laney has discovered her hands! Today she was highly offended that these fancy new things on the ends of her arms would hit her in the face. One second she is facinated by the site of her hands and the next she had a cranky look on her face because her new friends had smacked her in the face. I couldn't help but laugh at her. Which then got me a little sideways glance. I love these little milestones. I feel so lucky to have had all this time to spend with her. It makes me anxious to go back to work but I think it will be good for both of us.

A little progress has been made with the bottle. I have started giving her bottles when she wakes up from a nap. I discovered that when she had been awake for a while and got hungry it just didn't work. She was much to aware of what was going on. By giving it to her when she was waking up hungry, she was still out of it enough that you could sneak a bottle in without her knowing. It seems to take 2 oz. before she figures it out and won't take any more. Hey, progress is progress. Right now I will take what I can get. Hopefully over the next couple weeks it keeps getting better. Now if I could just convince her that rice cereal is to be eaten, not worn!

When did bottles become evil????

The newest challenge at the Meyer household is, yep, you guessed it, BOTTLE FEEDING! Not having any other kids, I assumed that bottles are a natural transition. When you boil it all down, you suck and milk comes out. Bottle, breast, doesn't really matter, right? Not with this kid! Anyone out there who has encountered the challenge of switching a breast fed kid to some bottle feedings (not even all feedings, just a few a day) (and not formula, still breast milk) please let me know any trick you used to make taking a bottle less than a national crisis!

What prompted all this bottle feeding stuff you ask? Well, it is back to the real professional world for Angie. Yes, I got a job. I will be working nights on the telemetry unit at St. Lukes. What is telemetry you ask? Basically it is anyone who has a heart monitor on that is not in intensive care. Mostly cardiac and pulmonary patients. I am very excited to put my education to use but a little melencholy about leaving Laney through the night. In order to make the transition easier we wanted to introduce some extra bottle feeding to her now. What were we thinking? The ironic part is that she gets at least 1 bottle every day in order to give her vitamins. Today, absolutely not! We broke into hysterics many times. Every time I put the bottle in her mouth the lower lip came out and this pitiful, tortured cry came out. When I ignored that drama and kept trying the meltdown quickly ensued.

Really, if you have encountered this problem I would love to hear how you solved it without feeling like you were starving the kid to death.

I guess we will get up tomorrow and try, try again! That seems to be basically what parenthood is. Try, try again.

ZZZZZZzzzzzz.........

Things are trucking along in the Meyer house as usual. Kevin is still working an on and off type of schedule, which is great for Laney and I. It makes getting to her doctors appointments and things much easier. Laney is doing great. She is getting stronger every day. She can hold her head on her own about half the time and she is starting to coo, or as we say, she is "using her language skills". She just looks so intent on speaking. She just talks like she has the greatest story to tell. This is mostly in the morning and it sure is fun to interact with her. She has developed some mild colic in the evenings starting about 6pm. By about 8 or 9pm she has tuckered herself out and ends up asleep. I don't have the heart to wake her up and to be totally honest I am just glad at that point that she has stopped fussing. Unfortunatly, this late nap usually turns into a long one and sometimes she doesn't wake up till sometime between 11pm and 1 am. I have to say I am not at my best at this time of night. But she is happy rested and ready to play. We have tried to curb this habit by trying to keep her awake and not playing with her when she wakes up late. We just try to put her back to sleep. This usually results in the waking up every 2 hours because we are hungry! Ugh! I still have faith we can turn her clock so she goes to bed later but no success yet.

For the 4th of July my mom and stepdad came to visit and we had a BBQ with some friends. Kevin and my mom and stepdad climbed up on the roof to watch the fireworks that they had downtown. Laney and I sacked out in the living room. I was a little concerned because the neighbors had their own fireworks but she never even flinched. One good thing that came from her being in the NICU for so long, she is tolerant of noise!

Other than that we do tummy time and play most of the day. I don't seem to get a whole lot done, but, I have to say, I don't really worry about it much. We just have fun hanging out with her for now. I know the day will come soon when I will have to go back to work so for now we are enjoying every minute!