Our baby girl is getting so big...

Rylee is finally getting over her bug that's had her for over 3 weeks now. After week two of wheezing and still just not being right, it was back to the doctor. A chest x-ray was ordered for Rylee in hopes to find out what was really going on and why the wheezing wasn't getting better. An initial report of the x-ray said that Rylee had pneumonia, but after an exam by our pediatrician, it was clear it wasn't pneumonia that was invading Rylee. In fact, Rylee had a portion of her lung collapsed and was still dealing with an ear infection. But Grandma (Na-Na) was coming to save the day. Two days later, on Thursday afternoon, Grandma abandoned Pa once again and flew in to help take care of Rylee and keep her while at home since she couldn't go to daycare. After three weeks of the gunk, it was another trip to the doctor to check out the ears and we found out that Rylee had fluid on her right ear. So we were sent home with Round 2 of antibiotics in hopes it would help.

We had our 6 month well child visit today and Rylee did great! No more ear infections, no fluid on the ears and lungs sounding better. Rylee still has thrush, but once we finish the antibiotics and ween off of the breathing treatments, we should be clear of that as well. We'll have to go Tuesday night for the repeat chest x-ray to be sure the portion of her lung that collapsed has reopened, but things are really starting to look up for Rylee.

Rylee is a pro at rolling over now (thanks to tons of floor time with Grandma) and immediately flips herself to her belly when she gets in her crib to go to sleep. She's realized that if she continually rolls on the floor, that she can get to her toys. We're imagining that crawling will take place any day now, as she's begun to get up on her knees and rock back and forth. We try to entice her to crawl to toys, but Spencer has learned how to nudge toys with his head towards her so she doesn't cry when she can't reach them. I guess he's just taking care of his baby girl!

We were given the green light to start finger foods as well with Rylee, like the puffs, teething biscuits, small soft vegetables and over-cooked pasta. We started today with a few puffs, to see how Rylee would react. She doesn't pick up the puffs with her thumb and forefinger, but instead with her forefinger and middle finger--she's super skilled! She isn't quite sure she likes them, as she melts them in her mouth and spits them back out. We'll give it a few tries and see how it goes.

Rylee's weighed in today at 18 pounds and 12 ounces (90-95th percentile)and 28 inches long (>97th percentile)-she must get it from her daddy--and thank goodness because short length jeans are hard to find!

Rylee took her first trip to the zoo last weekend. Rylee, Mommy, Daddy and Grandma all went to the zoo in Asheboro. Rylee rode in the stroller and got to hang out in the Baby Bjorn. Although she did enjoy seeing the animals (she's used to seeing ones in her bedroom as it is the jungle babies theme), we think she enjoyed seeing all the crazy people more! We're excited to get her on her next zoo trip, possibly one of the two in South Carolina!

The two new pictures are from this morning (4/24/09) before Rylee went to her doctor's appointment. In the one, she's looking at her Elmo basket that the Easter Bunny left her, trying to figure out how she's going to get to him.

6 months

Well, Mommy hasn't done the best job of keeping up with the blog like she thought--but it's true what they say, time flies by with little ones! With Mommy and Daddy both working full time, Rylee consumes much of our time on the weekends. Mommy and Daddy enjoy just hanging out at home and playing with Rylee.

Rylee will be spending her half birthday and first Easter, stuck at home with Mommy and Daddy getting some much needed rest. It started a week and a half ago with an upper respiratory infection that was supposed to be gone within four days. After day 8, Mommy knew something wasn't right, so we were back at the doctor. Turns out, Rylee has a double ear infection, a sinus infection and wheezing. We started some antibiotics and breathing treatments. With a suppressed immune system and probably the corticosteroids and antibiotics, Rylee developed thrush in her mouth ( a fungal infection)--so we started medication for that as well. After two days of treatments and medication, Rylee sounded and looked no better, so it was back to the doctor. Just as Mommy has suspected, her breathing had not gotten better, and maybe had gotten a little worse, so it was a dose of prednisone to see if that would help. Rylee will have three days of prednisone and should be feeling better by Monday we're told--so we're hoping for that!

Rylee is doing all the things a baby should. She's rolling over from her belly to her back, but refuses to go the other way. She despises tummy time so much, there's no way she'd put herself on to her tummy. When we actually can get her to stay on her tummy, she tries pushing herself up and is starting to scoot. She's also beginning to sit up, doing what they call the three point sit where she'll prop herself up using her arms. On March 14th, Rylee began holding her own bottle, although we're still working on her lifting it high enough to get the last of the milk in it. On March 24th, Rylee had begun saying Da-Da. It wasn't certain that she had actually associated the word with Jeff--but Mommy is almost certain she does now. Mommy is still waiting for Ma-Ma and although sometimes it sounds close, it hasn't happened yet.

Rylee started cereal right after her 4 month birthday, and quickly moved to vegetables--trying everything from sweet peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans and avocado. After doing multiple vegetables, we moved to fruits. So far she's had apples, prunes, pears and bananas. At this stage, Rylee hasn't meet a food she doesn't like! We are using all organic fruits, vegetables and cereal with Rylee. Although we do have a plentiful supply of Earth's Best food in the house, Mommy really enjoys making Rylee's baby food. We use the homemade at home and send the jars to school (since they don't provide organic).

It was late February when Rylee noticed that Ally and Spencer reside in the house with us. She loves them both and gets really excited when they run around and play in the yard. Ally doesn't pay too much attention to Rylee, but Spencer--her protector is fascinated with her. He loves to kiss her wherever and whenever he can. We are constantly telling him to stop licking her hands and face, so he's decided the top of her head is now a good spot. You'll never find him far from her, whether she's on the floor playing, in her crib or in her exersaucer. There are times when Rylee wants to play or talk to Spencer, and if he doesn't pay attention to her (sometimes food around wins out with him), she gets very upset and will sometimes cry.

In early March, Rylee got to see her first snowfall in Cornelius. We had about 4 inches in our backyard, so Mommy put Rylee in her snowsuit and Daddy, Ally and Spencer came out to join in the fun! We just stayed outside long enough to do some pictures.

Today Mommy and Rylee are at home, trying to recuperate from the gunk that's gotten Rylee. It was also today that Mommy noticed two little white squares poking through Rylee's bottom gum. Rylee's teeth have broken through-and we didn't even know. If that doesn't tell how easy going and calm this little girl is, I don't know what will.

Here's some new pictures from the past couple of months!