New theory

New theory: Maybe she was waking up 2-3 times a night to eat because she was hungry.  Duh!  I still think she had a bit of an ear infection, or at least some pressure in her ears because of the colds we all had.  But, I also think she might just be needing more food.  We discovered this by accident on Saturday.  Usually we've been feeding her in the late morning, but I had a church retreat on Saturday and so we didn't feed her until the evening.  That night, she slept a 6 hour stretch.  On Sunday and Monday, we fed her twice a day, and she slept longer stretches again.  So there you go, problem solved...for now.

Maya's new trick this week (aside from sleeping again), is blowing raspberries.  It is super cute and she does it all the time.  In fact, she does it so much that we may have to start having her wear a bib because she gets the front of her shirt completely soaked with spit.  We tried to get it on camera last night but, of course, she got a little camera shy.

Sleep

Remember when I told you how great Maya was at sleeping?  Well, not anymore.  For the past two weeks, she's been back to her up-every-three-or-four-hours routine.  Thankfully, she eats quickly and goes right back to sleep, but it's still a bit of a pain.  I have a few hypotheses about why she's not sleeping as well.
1.  It could be teething.  I think she's close, although we still can't see anything.  She's a bit more grumpy than usual, drools all the time, and sucks on everything. 
2.  It could be a bit of an ear infection.  She's had some issues nursing the past two weeks.  Often, she will suck for a minute and then turn her head away and scream for a bit.  She'll do this over and over for the entire feed.  Some friends suggested that this, coupled with the night wake ups, could be a sign of an ear infection.  I'm keeping watch for a fever.
3.  It could be a growth spurt.  Though, my understanding is that growth spurts tend to be shorter than two weeks.
4.  It could be the adjustment to eating real food.  She hasn't had any allergic reactions, but maybe it is just a shock to her system.

Whatever it is, I hope it doesn't last too much longer because I'm getting tired of waking up 2-3 times a night.  We have her six month appointment coming up in a week and a half, so if it is still going on, I can talk to the doctor about it.

Our soprano

If you notice a lot of dogs around our apartment, this might be the reason why...

Sick days

Yep, this is the second round of colds to go through our house this year.  Not fun!  Brian got sick on Thursday but was feeling better by Sunday.  I got sick on Friday and hit my peak (I hope!) yesterday.  We spent quite a bit on Sunday on the couch.

 We probably didn't help things out by having a fairly busy Saturday.  Saturday started with a pancake breakfast in Rundstrom.  We had a great turnout, with about 45 people coming by for pancakes.  As usual, Maya was a hit. 

Brian and I had a real date night on Saturday night.  We even got a babysitter!  We had dinner at the Co-op and dessert at a restaurant in town.  Then we went to a musical on campus called Assassins.  The play is based on the stories of 9 presidential assassinations or attempted assassinations.  A little morbid, I know, but it was actually really interesting.  The play was set in a sort of limbo land where all the assassins were together.  The entire cast was on stage the entire two hours and for a half hour before the play actually started when they were on stage, in character, as well.  It was impressive!

You know what else is impressive?  Being able to eat your toes.

What does a bear say?

First Food

Today was the big day...Maya's first solid food.  We wanted to wait until Brian had a three day weekend, so he could be around for the excitement (and so he could be around if she did have an allergic reaction).  We picked avocado to start with because it's a great baby food and because we love avocado, so we can eat the leftovers :).  We mixed a small chunk up with some breastmilk from the freezer (we didn't eat that part of the leftovers) until it was super runny.  Maya has been staring at us while we eat for a few weeks now, so we knew she was ready to try eating.  We also let her spend some time in her bumbo seat playing with a spoon.

The first bite...

All in all, I would say it was a success.  She ate about 5 spoonfulls of it, but she did make quite a few funny faces. 

We'll stick with avocado for breakfast for the next few days before moving on to her next food...sweet potatoes!

Persistence

It is fun to watch Maya figure out how to do more things each day. She's also getting stronger...so much so, that I'm a little worried she might break one of her toys. 

She wants to put that red toy in her mouth so badly!!!

Lake Walk

It was a beautiful day yesterday, despite the cold temperatures.  Since we had a free afternoon, we took a trip out to Lake Emily for a walk around the lake.  There is no snow on the lake, which makes it pretty cool looking.  In some places, the ice is clear enough to see the rocks down at the bottom.  Maya enjoyed most of the walk and looked pretty stylish in her new sunglasses.  Here we are in our bay. We ended up walking all the way out to the island.

Go jump in a lake!

Brian did the Polar Plunge in St. Peter today.  Our friend, Drew, put the group together.  It included another guy from our small group and our pediatrician (as well as a couple other guys). The temperature today with the wind chill was 3 degrees.  Don't worry, it was all for a good cause!  Here they are lining up before the jump.

 Ready, set...

Jump!

 

 

Followed by some time in the hot tub.

 Brian is already ready to do it again next year!

This is not a test!

We had our first middle-of-the-night fire alarm in Rundstrom last night.  I guess, though, since it was at 12:30 on a Friday night, it was only "middle-of-the-night" to us.  We were all fast asleep when it went off and Brian said that the first thing I said when it went off was, "but I just fed her a few hours ago!"  Ha!  Apparently I wasn't awake yet. 

Anyway, since my husband always has his emergency plan ready to go, we managed to get ourselves and the kid out before 90% of the students were out.  In the case of emergency, Brian decided it's best to take Maya out in her carseat and head for the car.  That way, if we are out there for a long time in cold weather, he can keep her warm.  So that's what he did while I helped the students figure out where they had to go.  He even remembered to bring the diaper bag!

In the end, the "fire" was just smoke from someone overcooking bacon in the kitchen.  We only had to wait outside for about 10 minutes while the safety officers cleared the building.  Maya did great and went back to sleep easily after I fed her.  I'm glad it didn't end up being anything serious and it's good to know that we can get out of the house pretty quickly when we need to.

Today Brian is leaving work early to jump in a lake with a bunch of guys to raise money for the Special Olympics.  I will bring the camera and blog about that later.  For now, here's a photo of Maya's newest obsession...her feet.  She found them a few days ago and takes every opportunity she can to play with them.

Monday Funday!

Brian had Monday off and so we were both around to welcome some visitors, Laur and Jill.  It was a beautiful day in St. Peter...sunny and almost 50 degrees!  We hung out in the apartment for a bit and then headed up to the Caf for lunch.  I love taking new people to the Caf because it reminds me of how good we have it.  After 7 years of eating there it can get a little old, but with visitors, I appreciate it more.  After lunch, I snuck away for a little work time in my office.  I finished up my book proposal, cover letters, and sample chapters and put together proposals for seven publishers.  Now it's just a waiting game to see if anything comes of it.  When I got back to the apartment, it was time for a little photo shoot.  Laur got some really cute family shots for us:

So big!

Who can resist those cheeks?

Feels like spring!

Thanks for the visit, Laur and Jill!!!

Miss Manners says...

No talking with your mouth full.

No wearing hats indoors.

Rollover

Yesterday marked the first back to front rollover, but today was the first full rollover...and we were both there for it...and we got it on tape!  So, here it is...not much for style points, but definitely a full rollover.

The rest of the day was a little more low key.

Five Months!

Maya is 5 months old today and it's like she decided she wanted to amaze me today.  First, she rolled over on her own from her back to her front.  I was up in my office and she was laying on her back on the floor.  The next minute when I looked over, she was on her tummy!  I can't believe I missed it!  Then, we got home and I put her in her exasauser.  There are some buttons you can push to make different animal sounds.  If you push the same button four times, a song plays. Maya has only been able to push hard enough to make the animal sounds come out one or two times before.  But today, as I was making dinner in the kitchen, I suddenly realized that "Old MacDonald" was playing in the background and that it had been on more than once.  That girl figured out how to make the music play!  Watch out world...Maya has learned cause and effect and she's mobile!!!