Baptism & misc pictures

Here are a few pictures from Camila's baptism on Sunday. We had a private baptism for a couple of reasons 1) we didn't know if she'd still have severe reflux = lots of screaming and 2) this way we could take it slower and translate some things for Fabricio's parents. Camila did well, and only cried part of the time!

Here's my mom trying to untangle a cross necklace that both my sister and I wore when we were baptized. Just a few fun pictures Look at Dad trying to shush a crying Camila!

Just hanging out in her carseat!

By the way, we had a dr appt today to follow up on her reflux and check out her cold. She's doing well, we're keeping the same dosage, and her cold is just that for now. We just need to keep using hte humidifier and Little Noses drops. She's now 12 lbs 3 ozs! Oh, and embarassing moment...huge explosive diaper during dr appt; we had to change her clothes - which I'd left in the car! The dr had to help me change her diaper while Fabricio ran out to the car. What an exciting moment! :)

Sleeping through the night - 3 nights in a row!

OK, we're not sure if this is partially because she has a cold or if she's now ready, but Camila has slept through the night the last 3 nights in a row! She goes down around 9:00 (really easily, we just bounce her for about 10 minutes and she's out) and she doesn't wake up to eat until 6:30/7:00!! The funny thing is we can hear her sniffling, sneezing, coughing and crying a little, but then she goes back to sleep! It keeps us up (we want to make sure she's still breathing!) but it's surreal not to have to get out of bed. It's just in time for me to go back to work (I start Jan 8, working Tues, Weds, and Fridays during January, fulltime in Feb.) We're hoping the Prilosec is truly working, and we're beginning to see Camila's true temperament and personality.

Last night during her typical fussy time (5-8) she was great, even hanging out with Tio Chino and Abuelo Hugo for 30-40 minutes (usually she'd cry after about 5 minutes). Then this morning she hung out with us for an hour after her "breakfast", even just chilling on the couch for 30 minutes. Yes, you read that right. She wasn't being held, and she didn't cry!

Let's keep hoping and praying that we're on a steady improvement!

She loves sucking on her right hand.

So close, but missed getting it into her mouth on this try!

Hanging out with Tio Chino

Hanging out with Abuelo Hugo

And hanging out in the morning. Look! No one is holding me! ;)

Misc comments - screaming & sleeping through the night

I just wanted to add a few comments. The drive out to my parents on Christmas Day (usually a 45 minute drive) was two completely opposite experiences. On the way out there she only fussed a little (5 minutes) halfway through the drive, and didn't fall asleep until the last 15 minutes. Yes, she was alert, even smiling some, while in her carseat. But on the way home (which took twice as long b/c of the weather & horrible driving conditions) she screamed the ENTIRE way. She didn't stop until I was 15 minutes from home. I eventually had to turn the radio up to try to distract her and also give my ears a break from her crying. I didn't want to pull over during the drive b/c of the roads; I figured it would take just as long to get back home! Last night (Wed night) we had put her down for the night around 9:30. The last 3 weeks that means she's out for the night (well, until 3:00 or 4:00). Last night at about 10:00 she screamed. Yes, a single, solitary scream in pain. Both Fabricio and I nearly had heart attacks. The poor girl! Fortunately, she just needed a little comfort (we could tell she was having some reflux problems) and she went back to sleep by 10:20. And guess what...she didn't wake up until 7:00 this morning!!!! She's never done that before! We know it won't be like this every night, but at least it's a step in the right direction. Too bad her morning nap is out of sync now today! ;)

Some play time with Mom

As I just wrote in the last post, I usually get about 25 minutes of play time with Camila after she eats. Well, today I got probably 75 minutes! It was great! She fussed a little, but overall it was probably 75 minutes before she started her non-stop crying. We even got some tummy time in to help build her neck muscles (I'm worried about that, because she spends very little time on her tummy since we're always holding her upright -due to reflux and her general crankiness.)

I tried her out on my Boppy pillow for the first time, and she really enjoyed it! She liked munching on the fabric, and I was able to get her to lift her head quite a lot. And to my amazement, I heard her squeal a few times! This was a complete first for her!

I love this picture!

Here she is munching on the fabric. Yum!

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was just as exhausting as Christmas Eve! Here's how we started out the day (you can see the crabby look on her face!) We kept her in her Christmas pjs until 3:00 b/c we didn't want to risk making her cry!

Her Christmas Day outfit (which hopefully she'll be able to wear for normal "dressy" occasions!) And hopefully Fabricio won't mind that this isn't the most flattering picture of him, but I wanted to show you the face we saw most of Christmas Eve and Day! Camila's, not Fabricio's ;)

But to find something positive to say, she slept through CHristmas dinner at my parents, so we got to enjoy both Christmas Eve and Christmas day meals! Opening gifts on Christmas Day was a challenge (I still don't know what we received and who gave what to us!)

I suspect a lot of her crankiness the past 2 days was because of the distruption to her routine, missing naps, and being in unfamiliar places. Today (Wed) she's been a little better, taking her normal nap over lunchtime. But she's now skipped her afternoon nap, and has only slept two 20 minute chunks since 1:30, and it's aready 5:30! It's going to be interesting trying to keep her up until her bedtime around 8:00!!

Oh, I also wanted to mention that her usual overnight schedule is falling asleep around 9:00 (give or take 45 minutes depending on the day) waking up around 3:00 (again, give or take 45 mins) and then up again around 7:00. Not that many of you will care about her sleeping schedule, but I want to write this stuff down so I can read about it 2-4-12 months from now!

Christmas Eve

Hope everyone had a great Christmas! Ours was eventful, to say the least. Camila completely skipped her noonish nap (which is her longest, usually 2-3 hours!) on Christmas Eve, so she was in quite the mood at church at 2:00! Fortunately, we were able to enjoy the first 30 minutes of the service, then it she started crying so it was bottle time! Because she skipped her nap, she slept in the afternoon from 4-7:30, so we were able to enjoy Christmas Eve dinner with Fabricio's family. And again, fortunately she went to bed by 10:30 and didn't wake up until 4:00!

Here's her Christmas Eve outfit.

And her Christmas pjs! :)

She was just starting to cry in this picture (the last one of our photo session.) She'd had enough pictures by this time!

Her reflux seems to be improving, but there's no doubt that she's a very difficult baby (very colicky!) While she doesn't seem to be in as much pain as she used to, she still cries and fusses a lot and needs to be held pretty much all of the time. Fortunately, we can (usually!) handle that as long as she's not crying/screaming. It's just very tiring and frustrating. However, as I've said before, she sleeps well at night, so at least we know we have that break at night.

I don't think I've mentioned that her dark hair is now coming in blond (with hints of red.) She'll probably have lighter hair than me! She smiles quite a lot, and we're getting more vocalizations from her. Hints of laughter (more like a squeal). It's those precious moments that help us get through the difficult times. On average, I get about 25 minutes of "play time" with her after each feeding, so I try to get as much fortitude from those moments as I can!

2 months

Here are a couple of pictures of Camila at 2 months. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone! On Monday she had her 2 month appt. SHe did well with her shots (and the expected crying!) She's now 11 3/4 lbs (75%), 22 1/2 inches (50%). As Fabricio says, she's taking after her father's body shape! ;)

Her dr is putting her on Prilosec, but it will take 2 weeks for it to fully work. Hopefully we see some improvement, as life has been challenging. Fortunately, she is a great night sleeper, so we can't complain about that!

RIght now she's sitting in my lap, propped up with my arms (which is a first!) trying to stretch (she just woke up from a nap) and watching my hands & fingers move. Speaking of which, she's discovering her feet. WHen sitting in my lap (facing me) she stares at her feet & kicks them around. She won't be grabbing at them for a while yet, but it's fun to watch her.

Fabricio is currently at the airport picking up his parents. It will be really nice to have his family here for the holidays so they can get to know their granddaughter!

ANyway, she's starting to fuss, so I'd better go. Merry Christmas!

Crying, crying, and more crying!

Sorry I haven't updated the blog in over a week, but it's been difficult lately. Camila pretty much cries 75% of the time she's awake. And during the times she's not crying, we're holding her anyway. She clearly is colicky, but I think her reflux has gotten worse. Fortunately we have her 2 month appt tomorrow, as I definitely want to talk to the dr about this. It just doesn't seem normal that she's crying all the time! It's really difficult for us to go anywhere with her, which means we're pretty much cooped up at home trying to soothe her.... Things in our arsenal: bouncy ball, hair dryer, vaccum, Snugli, swing, swaddling, shooshing. At least they usually work for a while. When I posted earlier, I thought she was the perfect baby on Monday. Tuesday was a completely different story. Crying (and screaming) all day, even when being held. FOrtunately, she had a good day on Wed (I assume she was exhausted from Tuesday) and took a few good naps. But since then, it's been a struggle. We just want to have some moments of quiet time to play with her! Silver lining: she's still a great sleeper at night, sleeping usually 4-6 hours straight, and going right back to sleep after her middle of the night feeding. So, at least I'm not sleep deprived! Last night at her 8:00 feeding (which we're trying to make as her bedtime) she took 6 oz like a champ and went to sleep with minimal fuss! We're going to make that her bottle feeding time (usually we were doing the 5:00 feeding) but this way we know she's getting enough to eat. We're considering that still being hungry may also be contributing to her crying. Anyway, she generally sleeps from 10pm-8am, getting up only once or twice to eat. We're trying to push her bedtime up to around 8:30 so we have some time to relax ourselves before going to sleep. Anyway, I just wanted to put an update since it's her 2 month birthday today, even though there aren't any pictures. I'll try to take some later today (thankfully she's napping right now), but only if she's not crying! ;) I also wanted to write this down so *hopefully* I can look back in a month and see things differently! Hopefully we'll have our happy baby to play with!

Christmas Elf in the making

On Friday Camila and I went out to my parents to make Christmas cookies with Grandma Nelson (ok, my mom made the cookies while we watched!) Camila just HAD to wear her new outfit. We think she likes the color red, which is great for me because it's my favorite color!

She's smiling all the time now, and we even think she's beginning to laugh! It's hard to know for sure, but we think those extra gurgles and coos while smiling are just the beginning. Grandma & Grandpa Nelson and Aunt Melissa were able to hear her first laugh, as Camila was having a great time seeing Grandma Nelson making funny faces!

The medicine seems to be helping her reflux, as she seems to be in a lot less pain that she was just a week ago. Plus, we've had some exciting developments in the naptime area. She took a nap last Wed from 11-2, and THurs from 11-3. We're learning more about her sleepy cues, and are trying to put her "down" for a nap every day around 11:00. Monday (Dec 10) we met Angie & Lily Quale at the MOA, and Camila slept in her stroller the entire time (again, starting around 11:00.) Hopefully this is just the beginning of a routine for her. If only we could get her to go to bed earlier at night. No matter what time she wakes up in the morning, or what time we start to put her to bed, she won't stay down for the night until 10:00pm. Fortunately she sleeps well overnight, only typically getting up twice from 10-9. The funny thing is, we think she actually entertains herself for a while after her 5:00 feeding, but I'm so exhausted I fall back to sleep without knowing for sure! I just hope we can get her to either drop one of her overnight feedings and move her bedtime up to at least 9:00. I go back to work in just 4 weeks (part time during Jan, full-time starting in Feb) so I'd like to have her overnight sleeping a little more in control.

Right now she's entertaining herself in her swing! We just have to remember these good times when she's fussing/crying from 5-10pm (which is usual for her!)

I love Daddy

Just wanted to share a couple of pictures of Camila propped up against the couch. This is one of her new favorite positions (in addition to being held!) She likes to watch what's going on around her, which gives us (and our backs!) a nice break from holding her. SMILE!!

Poor girl - she has reflux!

Well, some of you know that we've had a very difficult week with Camila. She basically cries from 9am-9pm every day, unless she's being held or is in her Snugli. We finally decided to call her Pediatrician, and he recommended that we come in for a visit. We saw him this morning, and he thinks the poor girl has acid reflux! That's why she cries whenever we lay her down (and won't sleep during the day), and wants to be held all the time. Hopefully the medicine he gave her will help; Fabricio and I were getting pretty frustrated and worried that we were looking at a future of having to hold her 24/7! We've also eliminated any possibility of being able to use a norma diaper rash cream with her. Camila has super sensitive skin, and we can only use lanolin. Otherwise she breaks out into a nasty rash. It doesn't look like she'll be able to love Bath and Body Works like her mother! On another note, I definitely need to give up the newborn clothes... She's 10 lbs 6 oz!! We were completely shocked (she's gained 2 1/2 lbs in 4 weeks), but her doctor said it was fantastic. She'll be outgrowing her 3 month clothes soon (8-12 lbs!) But it's nice to know that even though she has reflux, sensitive skin, etc, at least we're doing well as parents in helping her gain weight. ;)

Camila's First Thanksgiving

Camila celebrated her first Thanksgiving, and she was nice enough to let Fabricio and I enjoy the first 10 minutes of dinner before she started to cry and want to be held.... We had a great dinner (thanks Mom!) and it was nice spending time with family.

Here's a picture of Camila showing off the beautiful red sweater that Angie Q knitted for her. Isn't she cute!?

I don't know if this picture does full justice, but Camila is outgrowing her newborn clothes. Granted, we were able to keep her in them for 6 weeks, but I'm having a difficult time accepting that she's grown out of them. I keep trying to squeeze her into them. I guess it's time to pull out the 0-3 month sleep & plays!

My parents watched Camila for a couple of hours on Saturday so Fabricio and I could see a movie. ALthough we both kept whispering during the movie (August Rush - we loved it!) that we couldn't stop thinking of her, it was really nice to go on a date! :)

Fortunately, Camila behaved at Grandma & Grandpa's, so hopefully they'll watch her again! ;)

We almost cancelled our Saturday movie because she had a really rough night the night before. She was up until 3:00am! She slept all day Saturday, had a good night that night, but then Sunday was really tough. She would cry if she wasn't held, wouldn't sleep unless she was being held, etc. Frankly, it was exhausting for us and for her. So much so that she slept through the night on Sunday (12-6)! We're going to try to keep her on more of a routine so hopefully she'll sleep better during the day. Already today (Tuesday) I tried to implement a daytime napping routine, and was able to get her to nap for 40 minutes in her pack and play, which is huge for her. We're going to continue trying to teach her that her pack and play (and eventually her crib) is the place where she sleeps. Wish us luck!

A few other things about what she's been up to - she's getting better at finding/sucking her fist. Her fingers are too little to suck on, so she's taken to sucking on her entire fist. She's not too interested in her pet`e (spanish for paci) anymore, which is fine with me. We also took her to the mall again yesterday, and she was great! She's starting to enjoy being in her carseat (imagine!) and loves to look around at everything. She also demands to be held and walked around because she's interested in everything around her (too bad that means we have to hold her often!)

Oh, I forgot to mention that she's developed a new skill - lip smacking! It's hilarious to watch her smack her lips. She's clearly learning more about what she can do. We're really enjoying interacting with her, watching her follow us around the room with her eyes, smiling at us, licking her lips, cooing back, etc. It's amazing how quickly time goes by during those moments (and then she gets cranky and starts to fuss!) ;)

1 month old!

Camila had her 1 month "birthday" on Friday. While it sounds like a cliche, I can't believe how quickly the time has gone! I know she's getting bigger (her newborn clothes are getting tight) but it's difficult to remember just how small she was when she was born. We bought a video camera to hopefully capture some memorable moments. :)

We had a difficult few days with her, so Friday I decided to just get her out of the house and go for a drive. I ended up driving her around for a couple of hours, and she slept in her carseat the entire time! She slept like a champ that night (seriously, 5 hours straight!) We also had another great night Saturday night (another 5 hours). I think she was getting over-tired earlier in the week, as she wasn't sleeping at all during the day. Hopefully we'll continue to get good nights out of her, even though I know it will be mixed with difficult nights here and there. Hopefully the good nights will continue to outnumber the difficult nights! The picture above is of her actually sleeping in her carseat!

Just a fun picture of her. :)

Here's a picture of Camila, Grandma Nelson, and Phoebe the cat. My parents' and Melissa's cats were very interested in Camila when we were out there on Friday and again on Saturday. They were especially interested in (or afraid of) her crying!

And another fun picture of her with her Daddy, showing off her cute outfit!

We've noticed that she's starting to smile more regularly in the last week, and while the books all say that she's too young and it's likely gas, she usually smiles when she's interacting with us. If we make a funny face or smile at her, she'll smile back. Even if she's not actually smiling at us, it's fun to think that she actually is!Also, we've noticed that she's "finding her voice" this past week. If we put her in her swing when she's alert, but don't start the mobile, she'll make a soft "ahh" sound while staring at the mobile. It's her way of telling us "hey guys, I want to see my birdies flying!"

4 weeks old!

I can't believe how quickly the weeks have gone by. Camila is already 4 weeks old today, and will be a month old on Friday! We snapped a few pictures of her this morning trying to get a shot of her smiling.

Misc pictures

I thought I'd post a few misc pictures. Below is her new favorite sleeping/hanging out position. Yep, she LOVES being in her Snugli. The funny thing is she has to have her right arm tucked inside the Snugli, but her left arm can hang out. She'll fuss and cry if her right arm isn't close to her (probably because she likes to suck on her hand!)

The other morning Fabricio and his mom were downstairs with Camila, and all of the sudden Camila started to cry. Well, she was pulling her own hair! I was able to get a picture of her holding on to her hair (maybe she learned not to pull it!)

Ummm... a picture of her when she first goes into her carseat. Fortunately she is starting to like it more than she used to, and the crying (ok, screaming!) stops as soon as we get the car in motion. Yesterday we went to Target to pick up a few things. She was crying when we first put her in (as seen below!) but stopped in the car, was quiet the whole time at Target, but started crying as soon as we got back in the car. Go figure! (But the timing was great for us!)

This might not be the best picture, but here is Camila in a newborn onesie. She's already outgrowing them! I can't believe how quickly she's growing!

Mall of America

This past Saturday we went to the Mall of American for a fund raising walk (at 8:00 am!) We almost didn't go because Camila had a really difficult day on Friday, but she woke up Saturday morning just in time for us to be able to get ready and go to the MOA. She was such a trooper, and let us stay until noon! It was so nice to get out of the house and do some shopping. She was quiet most of the time (sleeping and quietly alert) except for a few moments. Fortunately, she started crying right when we were walking by the Rainforest Cafe, and they have that waterfall on the wall. Camila loves to hear the sound of running water (plus it was loud enough to cover her crying) that she settled down in just a few minutes. We took the opportunity to take some pictures. Below are a couple pictures of us in front of the Rainforest Cafe (so she's peaceful!)

More pictures

Wow! Camila has changed a lot. We were just looking at some pictures from her early days, and she looks quite different. She's beginning to interact a little bit with us, and that is really rewarding. She is also trying to focus and to follow objects and things. It is quite amazing her transformation. The pictures include her first bottle with me, a bath with Grandma, and just hanging out with mommy after breakfast.