The Gift of Life

We have moved this blog too. You can now read our entries at our new site. Please update your links.

Hope to see you there!

I love surprises. But, only the pleasant ones, of course!

This morning, the mailman handed over to me three parcels which came from our relatives in the States (J’s uncle, to be exact).

They were all addressed to J and me, but we knew they were all for the little girl.

Thank you, Tita A and Tito E for all the wonderful pressies!

And just when I thought that that was the end of our excitement for the day, I heard another knock on the door. It was the mailman once again. He forgot to drop off a bigger package that was still addressed to us.

And yes, it was again for Erin. This bub sure is getting spoilt!

Yes, you heard me. Remember my post on QE? Well, J and I are thinking of having ourselves booked once again. We thought we were doing fine with Erin in the last few months. But recently, she’s been very difficult with us and it is so hard for all of us to get a good night’s sleep.

We were watching the first episode of Parent Rescue on SBS last night and we could relate so much to one couple who’s baby had basically the same settling issues as Erin. After watching the show, J and I now think that maybe trying QE would not be such a bad idea at this point. But still, it will be our last resort.

I have bought the Sleep Right, Sleep Tight book to see if we can manage to employ the same settling techniques on Erin on our own. If this still doesn’t work, then I’m afraid we’re off to QE for good. Wish us luck!

We were supposed to give Erin her first meal this coming weekend. J wants to witness it since it is, in a way, Erin’s rite of passage, as she will be no longer an infant solely dependent on milk. Unfortunately, I developed a cold last night and Erin had trouble sleeping as well so J took the day off to help me here in the house (sweet!).

I saw it as an opportunity to finally take that step — to give Erin her first real meal. I just could not wait for the weekend anymore! J took care of documenting the entire event by taking pictures and a video clip of it.

Notice how she’s smiling the whole time? She actually enjoyed eating! And she swallowed all her food without choking or spatting it out. I prepared three spoonfuls of rice cereal using her spoon and mixed it with approximately 70 mL of formula to make it really runny. But she only managed to finish two-thirds of the mixture. Still, not bad for a first-timer, eh?

We’ll be doing the cereal thing again tomorrow and for the next couple of days to see how her tummy reacts to it. If all goes well, we might add a few other things to the menu on the weekend. Yay, something new to look forward to!

Erin officially turns six months today! And among the three of us, I am the most excited person with this milestone. Here’s why…

She’s been very active these past few weeks, rolling around in bed all by herself. We can’t leave her alone anymore! She has fair trunk control now so we’re constantly practicing her sitting skills. She’ll need to be a fairly good sitter once we start feeding her solids. It’s also time now to consider buying a portable cot and a high chair for her. (Yay, shopping na naman! )

She’s due for another round of vaccinations this Friday. The next set will be given when she turns one next year in March. So, we’re saying goodbye for now to those painful injections.

I suppose there are still more new things happening with Erin but that’s all that comes to mind at the moment. In the meantime, wish us luck with feeding. I hope she won’t give us a very difficult time. *fingers crossed*