Pukie McPukester

Melanie got sick three times yesterday!! We're chalking it up to her not being a big fan of the fortified-formula mix we've been trying - adding more formula to the water to increase calories. She was perfectly happy and Melanie-ish all day, but just kept rejecting stuff. First, she ate breakfast and then since she was trying to steal other kids' bottles, they gave her one. She took it all, and then threw it all back up. Luckily Daddy had taken another change of clothes (since the day before she had to change because of food getting all over her!) Then, later in the afternoon, she got sick again.....and then, when Daddy tried to feed her KFC mashed potatoes, she let him know what she thought of THOSE! Change of clothes again. She hasn't been taking her bedtime bottle, which is odd; but she's been sleeping just fine. We are trying to get into a new pediatric GI specialist - this one was in Indianapolis Monthly as the best pediatric GI in Indy! Mel's records are being sent over there, and we'll hopefully have an appointment confirmed soon.
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Odd that Mel, who is really never sick, has so far in December had a fever, her first ear infection, a day o' puking, and on Monday has a flu shot (since she wasn't able to get it at her scheduled appointment because of her fever) She's trying to make Mommy SURE that working downtown is the best idea. With six weeks of vacation, I won't have a problem going forward, but I can't really use any of it this month!!

Mel's noises.

In addition to "dadadadadadadadadadadada" and "baba" and doing raspberries with her tongue and lips - and screeching when she's excited, Melanie now clicks with her tongue on the top of her mouth. Just suddenly as of today. She does it on her own, she will do it in response to the noise, she's incredibly patient while she's doing it, it's really cute.

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I decided I really liked the photo of Suzi with Mel from back in June, so I left it and added the ones from Saturday night here. Thanks for the pictures Alli!

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Mel is even happier now than she was before she got sick. She's nonstop laughing and smiling. Well, I guess that is how she was before she was sick, but it's just been a long couple of weeks between the reaction to the strawberries (at least that's what I think it was) and then the fever/teething. Despite not feeling well, Mel was still a trooper and still had a lot of smiles - but is now making it very obvious that she is 100% back!

New textures and habits

Melanie has learned the art - from her week or so of being sick - of throwing a temper tantrum. If she's upset, she now knows how to just stop, lay her head on the ground, and cry. She usually is honestly distressed by something - it's not entirely a manipulative tool (yet). Also, she has learned to cross her fingers. Well, she learned this a while ago, but man, has she been practicing lately!

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Two of Mel's new textures that she has discovered - scrambled eggs and running water - are photographed above. The water typically needs to follow the eggs!

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With her 1.5 teeth coming in up top (I'm still waiting for confirmation on how many teeth will pop through) - Mel is also learning how her mouth feels with these new inhabitants. She is making new noises as she explores her lip and gum/tooth interaction.

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Melanie continues to feel better - we got a little nervous over night/this morning, as she felt really warm to us, and then daycare called to report a low-grade fever. However, the doctor said that as long as she was acting and eating okay, there was probably nothing to worry about, so luckily daycare let her stay! She went to bed at like 5pm last night (after her 3.5 hour nap after returning from Suzi's!) - and woke up a few times over night, but didn't really want to eat or anything. She slept through the night at Suzi's - or at least that's what she reported - and then only took a 45-minute nap today!

Thank you Suzi!

I was in Jenny's wedding this weekend, and so Melanie had a fun weekend too! She stayed the night with Suzi, Ernie, and Wyatt, and had a fun-filled trip! She helped Alli celebrate her birthday (Happy Birthday Alli!) by going to the zoo and to dinner on Saturday night. Then, this morning, she went to church and on errands with Suzi - because, apparently, when my daughter is in good hands, I don't rush to pick her up! Suzi had to fly out of town today, and here I am making her cart Mel around while she does errands :)
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I can tell that Melanie had an awesome time, because she was asleep when I picked her up - and was asleep for the next 3.5 hours! - and then was back in bed after playing for no longer than 2 hours! I loved hanging out with Suzi when I was growing up (I still do!) - and now Melanie gets to see how fun it is!
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Thanks again Suzi - and all of the Maines and Boyetts - for taking such good care of Melanie while we helped the O'Donnells celebrate their new life together!
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Obviously the photo above is a few months old - but I haven't gotten the pictures of the weekend yet!

Happy Nine Month Birthday!

Happy 9-month birthday to Melanie Grace! She had a rough birthday week - she was out of daycare for 2.5 days, and pulled an all-nighter (as did her parents) on Tuesday night. She's on the mend now - she had a fever due to her teething, and she is on antibiotics for the start of an ear infection. She's getting at least one, if not two, of her top teeth - first teeth since her two bottom ones came in over her 5-month birthday weekend! She is 99.9% better now, and thankfully sleeping much better. She even took a 2-hour and a 1.5-hour nap at daycare today!!

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Mel is continuing to thrive. She stands on her own. She can get to standing without support - and she can bend down, pick something up, and stand back up all without support. She waves hello and bye-bye (not really correlated to someone coming or going, but still....) She loves to play peek-a-boo and be tickled, or have her feet kissed, and her favorite things are her silky, her rubber giraffe, and her phone. She's wearing 3-6 month clothes now - some are still a little big, but overall they fit the best. She's going to get her mattress lowered for the second time this weekend, and she's still on Level 3 nipples on her bottles (we've tried 4, but we're easing her into them). She's eating cereal in the morning and night, and during the day she has fruits, veggies, and often macaroni and cheese. She's tried peaches, mandarin oranges, and bananas. She's averaging about 22oz of formula a day. At her nine-month appointment, she was 15lbs 1oz, and 27.5 inches.

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Thank you to Grandma Doan who helped with Mel's daycare absences this week! Since I started a new job on Monday, I wasn't very flexible to take care of the little peanut!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great weekend with all of our family these last several days! My mom stayed the night Tuesday night so we could go out with my Lauth coworkers for my last day. Wednesday Melanie and I went to visit Jeff at work so she could start the weekend out right by being fawned over! Then Jeff's parents got to town mid-afternoon, and were here through Sunday morning. Wednesday night dinner was just Ron, Diane, Jeff, Mel and me.

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Thursday was the crazy day. We hosted (and by "hosted" I simply mean we provided the venue; everyone else did the work!) Thanksgiving dinner for Jeff's parents, my parents, Uncle Rick, Aunt Sandy, Becky, Randy, Cory, Charlie, Sammie, Julie, Matt and Molly! We were thrilled that everyone got to spend the day together, especially enjoying the four kiddos!!

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Friday was a lazy day around the house; Jeff's parents, aunt, uncle and cousin were all here; there were several Costco trips, a fun ladies lunch with Cory's family, some more time spent with Charlie, and Monical's for dinner!

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Saturday saw the departure of half of the houseguests; Rick, Sandy and Becky headed home, and we had family photos scheduled for Christmas. Last year, Randy, Cory, and we got our photos taken - at the time, we only had one child between the two families. This year we wanted to show the difference with all three! So Ron & Diane came along, and we got some good Worzala photos! We were definitely not the only people who had this great idea on the Saturday after Thanksgiving! Saturday night both sets of grandparents watched Mel & Molly while we went to see the Flying Toasters at the bar right down the street.

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Today was a recovery day - not from the bar, mind you - just getting the house back together and ready for my first day at work tomorrow!

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Mel is doing great; after a few days of feeling under the weather, and eating only Pedialyte, applesauce, and bananas, she slowly came back, feeling better every day, (Tuesday she started the Pedialyte). She was never too grumpy about not feeling well, but we could tell she was a little sick. She got back on formula Wednesday night, and has been eating like a champ most of the weekend!

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We have so many things to be thankful for, and our combined family is at the top of our list! We are so lucky that not only do we have great families, but that they get along so great and enjoy each others' company. That makes holidays so great, because we can spend time with everyone together! And Melanie is one lucky little girl!! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Poopie McPoopster

Melanie had a rough day today, although you would never know it to see her. She was her typical happy self - but just went through a few changes of clothes! She was always alone with Daddy when these messes happened, so I'm not complaining - I just hope she's okay since with her performances today, she about doubled the amount of times she's done this! I'm sure she'll be so excited to see this post if it still exists when she's 16!

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Mel was in bed by about 6pm this evening, after 2, 2+hour naps. She loves her weekends to get caught up on her sleep - I just wish she'd sleep better during the week! But, she's too busy holding court at daycare!! She continues to change her mood when she gets her silky in hand. Today, she was playing as normal, no sleepiness indicated.... started pulling all the clean clothes out of her basket, one by one. Everything's fine.... oh. there's a silky blanket. Thumb in mouth, head on floor, different baby. It's her kryptonite.

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As of today, Miss Melanie is 15lbs! Well, at least before her multiple changes of clothes (and the reason for them!)