Great minds think alike...

That's funny that mommy and daddy just posted about the same thing.

Mother Mother I am sick...

So a call to the doctor was in order. The cold I wrestled with last week has made its way from me to Chris, Ashton, & Gemma. She doesn't seem to bothered but has a phlegmy cough and snotty nose so we took her in last night just to make sure. And in true Taiwan fashion we left with half the pharmacy, so we'll see what she hacks up today. We got three different cough syrups; one for the cold, one to help the phlegm come up, and one more for something...(we did look them all up last night to make sure we knew what they were). Oh, and the four month totals are in: 6kg and 60cm. (13lbs 2 oz, 24 inches)

We had some giggles last week, and full out laughing last night, Daddy was giving her whisker rubs. So cute!

So, question of the day; How long do I have to wait now to take her for her four month immuizations since she is sick? The doctor said 2 weeks...

Sick baby

Gemma has been fighting her first cold this past week. Last week, as mentioned by my wife on her blog, started off with 3 straight days of angry baby. Nevada and I were both suffering from a cold at the time and we passed it to her. The fussiness went away but she was left with this 50-year-old-Bingo Hall-lady cough. We waited a couple of days to see if it would run it's course but it stayed. So last night Mommy took Gemma to the hospital to see a doctor and get some medicine. Now Gemma is taking her first medicine. She handles it quite well. Hopefully in a couple of days the cough will be gone. The best part is that one of the medicines has a drowsiness side effect...she's currently having a drowsy medicine nap which has afforded me the time to write this blog post.

Baby Tylenol

We cracked the baby Tylenol for the first time this week. Monday night she didn’t sleep well, and she had grouched all day for Chris. Tuesday she fussed and fussed, and when she woke up at 3:00am to eat she was so hot. So I got out the thermometer and sure enough she was at about 101F. Fortunately 3am here is 1pm at home and I got some advice from Shelen, gave her the Tylenol and she rested pretty good the rest of the night. Other than that our baby has been a star performer all week. She spent all last Saturday at Track and field day, cheering on the kids and being played with. She napped all afternoon with Mommy on Thursday when I was sooo tired. Friday night she was out at Fun Night and had a blast. Yesterday she let another mother (of a student) hold her for the whole recital, which was so great for Mommy. I love this portable age.
Funny thing this week: Now that she can hold her head up she likes to be held up in a sitting position. So when you put her in the stroller and strap her in she pushes her head forward, like she’s trying to sit up, but she can’t, and she gets really frustrated. Of course as soon as her fingers get into her mouth she forgets all about it. And on that note, all you mommy’s out there, what are your favorite toys for babies to put in their mouths? Gemma wants to put everything in her mouth. If she is laying on the floor and I’m sitting in front of her with my legs up kind of over her, she’ll try and grab my leg and pull it to her mouth. If you go in for a kiss, she’ll try and suck your lips. When I get dressed and put her on the bed, she’ll grab whatever T-shirt or pyjama is within her finger grasp, pull it to her mouth and suck on that. So I think some teething toys are in order.

Great New Pics

Click the photo below to check out the awesome new Gemma pics courtesy of our good friend Andy.

Bottle Advice

For all soon to be parents out there, here is something to consider:

When you are buying bottles and pumps do not commit to anyone brand name. I had heard lots of positive about Avent so I got the Avent pump, a tonne of Avent bottles, the different sizes of Avent nipple, the Avent sterilizer... And when I went back to work Gemma would NOT take that bottle for nothing. I had to run home at every break I had to feed her (three or four times a day) because she would not (could not) suck on that bottle. I borrowed a NUK bottle from a co worker and ...SUCCESS! And this co worker said that her baby has switched three times; she liked NUK at first, then at three motnhs changed, and then changed again at about 6 months. So my advice is to buy one or two of a few types of bottles, or borrow, until you know what your baby will like. The positive of having so many Avent bottles is that I store my milk in them in the freezer with those special caps and then don't need to mess with the special milk freezer bags. (which are super expensive here) I defrost a bottle, pour it into the NUK bottle and away we go. And because I have the Avent pump (which works great) I can only pump into Avent bottles. So watch out for that, too.

Gemma is still exclusively on breast milk, I wake her up at 7 and feed her before work, she has one bottle in the morning with Chris, I go home at noon and feed and then at 3:00 when school is done. And then at 5:30ish, 7:30ish, 10ish, 12ish, 3am ish...5am ish....

Gemma's Baby Dedication

Click the photo below to see the photoset.

Baby Dedication Pics

New Friend!

Here is Gemma's latest friend here in Taiwan, Atticus Vincent Lu (nephew of Allison and cousin of Jared). Can't you just see his little brain cells growing in that baby enistien onesie? hee hee

Here is some light reading Gemma picked up over the weekend.

Isn't she cute?

And spit bubbles....the never ending spit bubbles

twitchy

The new thing this week is crib movement. I remember when she was this little tiny bean of a thing, drowning in her crib and now she fills up more na dmore of it everyday. The game is to kick the blankets off when she wakes up, so by the time I stumble down the hallway she's been cooing and talking and kicking for a few minutes and she can get them all the way off. She even did a 90 degree rotation a few nights ago; I left her feet at the foot of the crib and when I returned hours later she had her head up at the side.

She's having trouble sleeping this week; maybe a growth spurt? She's ultra twitchy and jumpy, and eating a lot... every three hours all night long last night. Not to mention that Chris is exhausted from his travels to Australia and me working all day again... Pray for us.

Right now she is fast asleep in her snuggli. Finally, free hands! We are trying to get her more used to it and hopefully enjoy more handsfree time to come.