Stranger! Danger!

We went to Houston (technically Missouri City) this weekend for my cousin's baby shower. When we got there around 1 on Saturday, I let my cousin Wendy hold Orlaith. Within a minute she was screaming bloody murder, with tears streaming down her face. I thought she was just off of her normal schedule with the car ride and everything. I calmed her down and fed her. Throughout the entire day, and continuing until late that evening, every time I tried to let someone hold her, it would happen. Her bottom lip would quiver and she would look at me with big, sad eyes. If I didn't take her back immediately, the tears and crying would quickly follow. She would happily give people smiles from the safety of my arms, but she didn't want anything to do with them beyond that. I was reading this morning that around this time babies can start to show their first signs of stranger anxiety. I wish I had known that BEFORE this weekend!

5 Months

We went to the doctor yesterday for vaccinations - Boo! She got Pc and HIB - one shot in each thigh. My poor sweetie didn't care for that at all. These were the shots that gave us such a problem last time so I gave her Tylenol before the appointment, and every 4 hours until bedtime. It helped and she didn't have the miserable, cranky reaction this time. Yay! Orlaith now weighs 14 lbs 13 oz! I am having trouble grasping how quickly time is going by. I am sure it will only continue to fly by, and she will be driving before I realize it. Look out!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

Playing in the Jumparoo like a big girl!

Orlaith is at the age where she is learning how to do new things all the time. She also gets obsessed with these new things and does them over and over. Her newest discovery is spitting. She sticks out her little tongue and blows to make noise. Of course this causes spit to fly everywhere too! It is pretty cute unless you get caught in the crossfire. She loves to babble and make noises and sounds. I am pretty sure with all of this noise she is going to take after the Markey side of the family when it comes to talking. They LOVE to talk!

We got O a jumparoo and she loves it! She doesn't quite reach the floor yet, so we had to put something under it so her feet would touch. She bounces all over the place, grabs at all of the toys/activities and gets excited when the music plays. It was definitely a great purchase!

O finally started feeling better. She was really sick for a good week before we saw signs of improvement. I am glad my happy girl is back!

Last week I won a $100 gift card to http://www.laylagrayce.com/. I ordered O a cute monogrammed onesie/tutu combo, a white pettiskirt and a cute flowered headband. We are taking her 6 month pictures at the arboretum, so I thought the white pettiskirt would look adorable for that!

Mother's Day was great. Brian and Orlaith got me a very pretty necklace with O's birthstone (mine too!). We went to brunch at Hattie's. I had the crab cake eggs Benedict and they were YUMMY! That place always lives up! My mom is coming in to visit Memorial weekend. Brian and I are going out on a date night that Saturday for the first time. I think we might go back to Hattie's and then to the Belmont for a drink or two. That is my favorite date night and we haven't gotten to do that in a long while.

Poor Sick Baby!

Last Wednesday afternoon, O developed a minor cough. I didn't think anything of it until at 5 in the morning she was awake, screaming and running a temperature. Her nose was also all congested. We went to the doctor and they told us she just had a really bad cold. Her lungs and ears were okay. It has been rough since then. Brian rode in the MS 150 last weekend, so I had a sick baby all by myself. It was so hard to see her so miserable, and there was nothing I could do to make her fill better. I did what I could, lots of saline nose drops and bulb syringes, Tylenol (which I find out now was recalled) and the humidifier. We have had lots of waking up in the middle of the night going on, as well as lots of crying for hours on end. When she does fall asleep, she usually has a coughing attack that wakes her up. She wouldn't go to sleep last night, woke up at 3 and cried for almost 2 hours, and then was awake again at 6:15. This was the first night since she was born that I asked Brian to take her for me. Usually she feeds and we go right back to sleep so it is no big deal. But with the crying marathon AND waking up early, I needed help. I still have not caught up on my missed sleep from this weekend. Tomorrow is my day off. Usually I would get to sleep in a bit and/or take a nap with O, but Brian is having surgery in the morning. We all need to be up and out of the house pretty early. I might get a nap tomorrow afternoon, but I am not getting my hopes up. This is the most sleep deprived I have been since she was born. She has always been an easy baby and a great sleeper. Plus in the beginning I didn't have to worry about work the next day. I am hoping that she feels better soon, for her sake and mine.

On another note, we started using cloth diapers last Thursday. Things have been going really well. We are using pre-folds during the day and pocket diapers with a super absorbent insert at night. The second diaper I put on her, she put to the test. I had changed her and within 10 minutes she decided to take care of some serious business! I was just looking at her, hoping that I had put the diaper on correctly... That it was in place well enough to hold everything in. I was scared to find out, but it had to be done. So, I changed her. Much to my surprise, everything had been contained! Whew. Disaster averted. I am pretty sure that this "business" would have caused a blow out if she had been wearing a disposable. All in all I am really happy with our switch to cloth. I have even done a load of diapers already and they turned out just fine... nice and clean! I am happy that she has soft, natural material against her delicate skin and I am happy that we are not filling landfills with diapers that will sit there silently refusing to decompose. It is a win-win!