4 Months

Yesterday we had Orlaith's 4 month appointment with her pediatrician. All went well. Orlaith is now 13 lbs 8 oz (50%), 24 1/2 inches (60%) and her head is 40 1/2 cm (25-50%). We found out that her tooth is not actually a tooth at all. She has Bohn's nodules on her gum line. They are hard, white cysts filled with keratin. They are totally harmless and will just go away one day. They look and feel like a tooth. Her doctor said that most people mistake them for teeth. Even though she does not have any teeth yet, she is still showing signs of teething. Her doctor said this is normal and could go on for many months before we ever see a tooth. Orlaith had the TDaP shot yesterday. She cried and of course it broke my heart. I gave her Tylenol before the appointment and continued it every four hours yesterday. It helped. We did not do the Rotavirus vaccination because of the recent contamination issues. Her doctor is not giving them out at all right now. I am totally fine with that!

Tooth Update

Orlaith's first tooth broke through a week ago, and then it just stalled out. She has mostly good moments, and random bad moments where she is in pain from the tooth. Teething tablets are still the one thing that helps quickly. I have had to give her Tylenol a few times. She also like cold items to chew on. We have a few of those refrigerated teething toys, and she is enjoying cold bottles too. Tomorrow O has her four month check up and vaccinations. I am giving her Tylenol BEFORE the visit this time. I am hoping she does well with these. I don't like seeing her feeling badly.

We took her 4 month pictures on Friday. She was in a pretty good mood so we got smiles! I have included a few that I like the most.

She also had a bad case of cradle cap this week. It appeared overnight and it was BAD. I mean the entire top of her head was covered with dry, flaky skin. It was even red and cracking in spots. My poor baby! We tried putting Olive Oil on her scalp. That helped for a few days, but it came back. So I tried a concoction that Teresha over at http://marlieandmommy.blogspot.com/ recommended. I mixed 1 TBSP of coconut oil and 5 drops of tea tree oil. I let it soak in on her scalp for 10 minutes and then washed with California Baby Lavender and Tea Tree Oil Shampoo. The flakes combed right out. There were lots of them so I had to wash her hair a couple of times to get all of them out. I repeated the process 3 days later just to make sure it did not return. So far, we are good! Thanks Teresha!

Cloth Diapers

It is official! We have decided to switch to cloth diapers. My only regret is that it took us so long to make the switch. When I was pregnant, I wanted to use cloth really badly. I quickly became overwhelmed with all of the choices in diaper styles, materials and manufacturers. That said, I let that research go dry and I gave in to disposables. Every time I change Orlaith's diaper, I feel guilty that another diaper is ending up in a landfill. I follow a lot of bloggers, especially those that give away prizes. Eco Cheap Mom is having a giveaway event this month. She is giving away a different cloth diaper every day of the week except Sundays! I started entering her giveaways, hoping to win at least one diaper to try out. Then I came across one of her reviews of Sew Natural Diaper Company. This company is run by a mother of four who has cloth diapered all of her children. She makes quality diapers that have the same quality look and feel as other major diaper makers. She sells on her website Naturally Sewn http://www.mymamamadeit.com/ and she has an Etsy store - http://www.etsy.com/shop/dewdrophandmades?ga_search_query=dewdrop&ga_search_type=seller_usernames. She sells an AIO, a Grow With Me pocket diaper, PUL covers and all kinds of pre-folds and diaper inserts. She spent a lot of time emailing me back and forth, helping me figure out what will best work for our lifestyle and how many of everything we will need. We settled on pre-folds during the day and pocket diapers at night with a super absorbent insert. I ordered 24 pre-folds, 4 waterproof covers (in 4 pretty colors of my choice), 3 pocket diapers (in 3 pretty colors of my choice), 3 Owl inserts, 2 large and 1 small wet bag (I got to choose the fabric) and she even threw in a set of reusable wipes for free! This amount will allow me to go 2-3 days before I need to wash diapers. She had to order the colors of PUL that I chose for the covers and pocket diapers. That will be in this week and then she can make those. She is already working on everything else. Christine, the owner, was amazing at helping me with everything! She really took the time to make the process less daunting. I am amazed at her customer service. I can hardly wait to get my hands on her product and try everything out! I am very confident that I will be happy with my purchase. Once I get a chance to try out the diapers with Orlaith, I will definitely blog to let you all know how cloth diapering is going. I also can't wait to get some cute pics of O in nothing but her cloth diaper!

Blog Giveaway - WIN!

I finally won a blog giveaway! This is the first one since I came back from maternity leave. I have won a Bravado Nursing Bra from My Wee View. http://myweeview.com/2010/04/bravado/#comments I can't wait to receive it and get some use out of it! I am in desperate need of nursing gear, so this is a great win for me!

My Little Chomper

So, it is official. Orlaith cut her first tooth today! She has been having a very hard time since Friday... very fussy, not feeling well, crying. etc... I knew she was teething because I could feel 2 hard bumps on her gums. We tried Tylenol, Orajel and Teething Tablets. The tablets worked the best out of everything. I gave O a dose of Tylenol last night right before bed, and she only woke up to eat. There were no crying episodes in the middle of the night, and I didn't have to give her any more medicine. This morning she seemed to be in good spirits, which was a total 180 from this weekend. I checked her mouth and voila! Her tooth broke through! Now here is the weird part. It is way in the back of her mouth, on the top left side, where a molar would be. So I think my poor baby girl actually got a molar in before her incisors! The tooth is breaking through in 2 spots that are a little spaced out. If it is not a molar, then she is getting 2 teeth simultaneously. I will be able to better tell in the next few days as the tooth comes in more. My gut feeling tells me it is a molar. The other hard bump in her gums is an incisor on the top. That one has not cut through yet, but I will let everyone know when it does!

O's First Museum Visit and Other Updates

Orlaith had her first museum trip on Friday. We went to the DMA (Dallas Museum of Arts). She was a perfect angel and really enjoyed looking at the art. I wore her in our sling and carefully watched her expression change as she tried to take in everything she was seeing. I would stand in front of sculptures and paintings so she could see them... and she was thoroughly intrigued! I am so happy that she was looking at the artwork. I want to teach her to appreciate things like that from a young age.



She is growing leaps and bounds with every day that passes by. She is very tactile and obsesses over touching and feeling things. She finally grabs, holds and plays with her toys. She also moves her left hand like crazy when I feed her. She holds it above her head and then swings it in large circles almost like she was finishing up a crazy guitar solo. It is pretty cute! She can also get her pacifier back in her mouth now... sometimes. How exciting!



I can't believe how quickly the days go by. I can hardly remember her as a teeny, tiny newborn. Time is going by way too quickly for me. I miss being pregnant and feeling her move in my belly. You might think I am crazy but I am already ready for another one. I mentioned this to Brian and he changed the subject rather quickly. I know we need to give Orlaith some solo time before we do this again, but I have baby fever right now! I need to take some Tylenol!