The past three weeks have been absolutely nuts-o in the Ball household. Scratch that - the past three months have been nuts-o in the Ball household. We moved, we changed daycare schedules, Blake took comps, I had surgery, Maleah started sprouting teeth...
Really, I'm complaining about nothing. Things haven't been that bad - just different. And this coming week, Blake is going to California for nine days - right after I just had abdominal surgery! We're crazy.
Comps
Blake's PhD comps started the last week of August and ended this past Friday. Anyone who has not lived through this has truly not lived! Comps are every bit as awful as they sound. It's just a terrible time for the whole family because the person taking comps, in our case - Blake, becomes a different person. He was staying up late at night, constantly worried, constantly reading, easily frustrated, etc. I feel like I earned a PhD, too, because somehow I managed to stay relatively sane during all of it, as well. But, comps are over and now all my husband has to do is write a small book, have it approved, and get a job! Yay! We are praying that he will be able to secure a job for Fall 2015. Praying!
Surgery
On Monday, I had surgery to remove an ovarian cyst. The cyst turned out to be a teratoma (google it, it's really gross!) that had caused damage to my ovary, so my ovary also had to be removed. The surgery was laparoscopic so the damage isn't too extensive, but it has definitely been painful! This is the second surgery I have had like this, so I was a little nervous going in. At 16, I had my appendix removed and while they were in there, they also found that I had endometriosis and removed those adhesions. So, naturally, having a second surgery on my reproductive organs was unnerving. My doctor said that everything looked great, though. She did see some spots of endometriosis, but nothing concerning and she actually left those spots where they were because they have not caused any problems.
Santa Rosa
Blake is leaving tomorrow to go to California on a research trip. Yay for him. That means Maleah and I will be roughin' it (literally, since I still am not "allowed" to pick her up). Thankfully we have help lined up all week and I will just enjoy the time with my sweet girl and our helpful friends and family! Blake wanted me to be able to go on this trip with him because he went by himself last year. After having to use a lot of my PTO for sick time (for me and Maleah) since January, we decided that I should stay home and save up my PTO. Well... now I'm using all my precious PTO to heal from surgery but... WHATEVER! I will get to go to Santa Rosa eventually!
That's about it for us. I haven't blogged in so long and for that, I'm sorry. I promise to get back to it. But I am running out of topics other than my boring life. So if anyone has anything they'd like me to discuss, let me know! You name it, I'll write about it!
Friday, September 13, 2013
Thursday, August 22, 2013
7 Months
Stats
At her very first sick appointment at the doctor last week (summer cold), Maleah weighed 15 pounds 14 ounces and was 26 inches long (up from 15 lbs 1 oz at 6 months). I can tell those ounces have landed in her belly & thighs. :) And, for the record, she had her first official cold. She has had congestion and she has had fevers post-shots, but never both together. She was sickly for about five days, then the fever went away, and then the congestion lasted another 5-7 days. Thankfully it wasn't TOO bad... except for one night when her fever spiked and she woke up every hour from 11:15-4am. :) And I still went to work the next day!!!
Schedule
We had another month of transition since Maleah started a new daycare class, but we're finally settling back into a routine. She is now only going to daycare three days a week so we've been trying to figure out what those days will be like so we can keep a similar routine on the days she's home. Lately her days have been something like this:
6:45/7 - solids & bottle
9:45-11 - nap
11:15/11:30 - solids & bottle
12:45-2 - nap
3:15/3:30 - bottle
4-6 - somewhere in there she takes a 30-45 minute nap
6 - solids & some water
7/7:15 - bath, bottle, bed-time!
7:30 - nighty night!
Eating/Solids
Maleah now takes 7 ounces in her bottles and eats 1-1.5 containers of store-bought baby-food or 4 cubes of the homemade stuff. Some of the new things she's tried over the past month: strawberries, blueberries, plums, mango, and potatoes. I have learned what I feel comfortable making and what I do not - mostly I stick to making squash, zucchini, apricots, plums, pears, avocado, carrots, and sweet potato. I buy the rest! I also learned to buy unsweetened applesauce instead of the baby-food variety - lots cheaper and just as good! She still loves rice crackers and from time to time I'll give her a piece of produce to gnaw on, as well. We still haven't tried meat because the thought of pureed meat still just totally grosses me out. But we might try it next month. Okay, we probably won't! Oh, and the holding-her-own-bottle was a fleeting thing because now she practically refuses (okay with me!).
Activity
Those of you who follow my Facebook feed already know Maleah is crawling! We are pretty shocked with this because I didn't think it'd happen for another few weeks. She had been getting up on all fours for a couple of weeks, but she'd just rock back and forth. Then, last week, she'd take a couple of moves and then collapse. And on Saturday, she just went for it! She is still very methodical and robotic when she crawls which is just the funniest thing to watch. But I'm impressed that she wants to move so much! I think she's impressed with herself, too, because she likes to practice A LOT!
She has also been "talking" a lot and has a fancy for "Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma". I think she understands what she's saying, of course science and Blake tells us she probably doesn't. But, who knows? She certainly says it a lot when I'm around!
Personality
Maleah is a fun-loving little girl, but it's easy to see that she is a little timid and cautious. It's so funny to be with her at home and hear her squeal and yelp and laugh, but then to be "shy" in front of others. She does get warmed up though - she was partyin' it up with our Sunday School class this past weekend! I wonder how this will play out as she gets older - will she be bashful or will she be more outgoing? Who knows. I like her just the way she is!
Note: Please ignore any formatting issues on this post. I really don't care to go back in and fix them!!!
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Happy [Half] Birthday!
Y'all, I cannot believe I am writing this. I almost don't want to write it because if I write it, it's true: Maleah is six months old! Six months! SIX MONTHS! To say this time has flown by is a gross understatement. I know every parent says this. But when it's your first time to see this happen right before your eyes, it is truly amazing. Anyway, let me climb back down to reality!
Stats
Maleah weighs 15 pounds 1 ounce and is 26 inches long! She is in the 30th percenile for weight and 50th for height. She has officially doubled her birth weight - finally!!!
Schedule
The past month has been a little weird because we went on vacation and moved. So, we're trying to get back into something more predictable. She seems to be moving towards going 4 hours between feedings, so we're just letting her lead the way there! She goes back and forth - she'll go 4 hours one day and then only 3 the next. We're not pushing anything, just letting her tell us when she's hungry. So, I can't really give a sample schedule we haven't totally kept one this past month! We are trying to move to something like this:
7am - solids & bottle
9-10 - nap
10:30/11 - bottle then solids (for fun ~ gum on rice crackers, fruit, etc. - not a full solids feeding yet)
12:30-1:30 - nap
2:30/3 - bottle
4-5 - nap
5:30 - solids & 2-3 oz formula
7:30 - bath, bottle, bedtime (usually in bed by 8)
The evening nap is still a touch-and-go thing - some days she needs to sleep around 6:15/6:30 and some days she doesn't. We just keep playing it by ear!
Eating/Solids
Maleah takes 5-6 ounces per bottle, usually. She is a good eater and really likes different flavors and textures of food! So far, she has tried: avocado, banana, apples, pears, peaches (which she does not like!), apricot, prunes, sweet peas, green beans, zucchini, carrots, sweet potato, and squash. We have also let her try watermelon, which she really enjoyed! In coming weeks, I hope to let her try: asparagus, blueberries, plums, and maybe meat. The meat thing grosses me out - I refuse to puree it. If we let her try it, I will just let her gnaw on it! Now that she is six months, I am going to try to let her gnaw on more foods more often - this morning I let her gum a large piece of apple - she loved it! Oh, did I mention she LOVES water and likes to hold her own cup/bottle!? She doesn't hold the bottle for too long - just during random bouts of independence!
Activity
She can sit up fairly well on her own, which really happened so quickly! The daycare ladies told us they let her sit up to play for a while one morning and we were like, "What???". We hadn't seen her hold herself up - but this is probably because we only had her in the evenings when she was tired. So this weekend, that's all we did - practice sitting up! She still needs the Boppy around her if she's sitting for a long period of time because she leans too far, but she'll learn! She also gets up on all fours and "crawls" backwards. She gets really frustrated that she is going the opposite way of what she wanted, but she'll learn! She loves to grasp onto things, too - her favorites being my earrings, necklaces, and our phones! Quite possibly our favorite new development is that she will lean towards you if she wants you to hold her. Blake & I passed her back and forth about a dozen times one night because she would lean towards us! So cute. She's a very noisy baby, too - once she gets warmed up, she will blow raspberries or "roar" or just let out a good squeal! Love it!
Personality
Maleah seems to be a teency bit bashful, but once she opens up, it's hard to get her to settle down! Sound like anyone we know? (Me!) She loves to be active, but can sit through a book or two (and likes to help flip the pages). I can't wait to see how her personality develops in the coming months as she becomes more active!
We are loving this little girl! Today she had a little shots-hangover from her doctor's appointment yesterday, so I spent the morning with her. It becomes more and more difficult to let her go each day because she is so precious and I just love spending time with her. She is a joy, for sure, and we are so grateful for her!
Still not into smiling for pictures...
Stats
Maleah weighs 15 pounds 1 ounce and is 26 inches long! She is in the 30th percenile for weight and 50th for height. She has officially doubled her birth weight - finally!!!
Schedule
The past month has been a little weird because we went on vacation and moved. So, we're trying to get back into something more predictable. She seems to be moving towards going 4 hours between feedings, so we're just letting her lead the way there! She goes back and forth - she'll go 4 hours one day and then only 3 the next. We're not pushing anything, just letting her tell us when she's hungry. So, I can't really give a sample schedule we haven't totally kept one this past month! We are trying to move to something like this:
7am - solids & bottle
9-10 - nap
10:30/11 - bottle then solids (for fun ~ gum on rice crackers, fruit, etc. - not a full solids feeding yet)
12:30-1:30 - nap
2:30/3 - bottle
4-5 - nap
5:30 - solids & 2-3 oz formula
7:30 - bath, bottle, bedtime (usually in bed by 8)
The evening nap is still a touch-and-go thing - some days she needs to sleep around 6:15/6:30 and some days she doesn't. We just keep playing it by ear!
Eating/Solids
Maleah takes 5-6 ounces per bottle, usually. She is a good eater and really likes different flavors and textures of food! So far, she has tried: avocado, banana, apples, pears, peaches (which she does not like!), apricot, prunes, sweet peas, green beans, zucchini, carrots, sweet potato, and squash. We have also let her try watermelon, which she really enjoyed! In coming weeks, I hope to let her try: asparagus, blueberries, plums, and maybe meat. The meat thing grosses me out - I refuse to puree it. If we let her try it, I will just let her gnaw on it! Now that she is six months, I am going to try to let her gnaw on more foods more often - this morning I let her gum a large piece of apple - she loved it! Oh, did I mention she LOVES water and likes to hold her own cup/bottle!? She doesn't hold the bottle for too long - just during random bouts of independence!
Activity
She can sit up fairly well on her own, which really happened so quickly! The daycare ladies told us they let her sit up to play for a while one morning and we were like, "What???". We hadn't seen her hold herself up - but this is probably because we only had her in the evenings when she was tired. So this weekend, that's all we did - practice sitting up! She still needs the Boppy around her if she's sitting for a long period of time because she leans too far, but she'll learn! She also gets up on all fours and "crawls" backwards. She gets really frustrated that she is going the opposite way of what she wanted, but she'll learn! She loves to grasp onto things, too - her favorites being my earrings, necklaces, and our phones! Quite possibly our favorite new development is that she will lean towards you if she wants you to hold her. Blake & I passed her back and forth about a dozen times one night because she would lean towards us! So cute. She's a very noisy baby, too - once she gets warmed up, she will blow raspberries or "roar" or just let out a good squeal! Love it!
(Please ignore all the mess surrounding her - we are still unpacking!)
Personality
Maleah seems to be a teency bit bashful, but once she opens up, it's hard to get her to settle down! Sound like anyone we know? (Me!) She loves to be active, but can sit through a book or two (and likes to help flip the pages). I can't wait to see how her personality develops in the coming months as she becomes more active!
We are loving this little girl! Today she had a little shots-hangover from her doctor's appointment yesterday, so I spent the morning with her. It becomes more and more difficult to let her go each day because she is so precious and I just love spending time with her. She is a joy, for sure, and we are so grateful for her!
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