4 month appointment

Amelia had her 4 month appointment today and all was good!  The doctor said that she is definitely "thriving".  She weighed 14 pounds 7 ounces (60th percentile), measured 25 7/8 long (95th percentile!!), and her head circumference was 16 1/8 (60th percentile). 

We talked a lot about her sleep habits since she is not a good napper and still wakes up frequently during the night.  The doctor gave us the okay to let her "cry it out".  She can cry up to 1 hour for a nap (after that it is considered a "failed nap").  She can cry indefinitely at night, meaning 2 hours if she needs it.  Apparently she needs to become accustomed to "learned helplessness", meaning that she learns that crying isn't going to bring mom and dad to the rescue. 

He also gave us the okay to start solids, but also said that since she is doing so well on breastmilk we really don't need to start it until 6 months.  I have already been giving her rice cereal and still plan to start some solids even though it isn't necessary. 

She also had some shots, but was a trooper and hardly cried.  She did go down early tonight though, I think the shots made her tired.    Next visit is her 6 month appointment in January.

Here are some pictures of her today after her bath:

And here is a video of the first time we fed her rice cereal

Thanksgiving

Our family had a great Thanksgiving!  We all (including Freddie) made the trip out to Freeport where my Uncle Kenny and Aunt Lorraine hosted Thanksgiving dinner.  As always, it was so nice to see everybody and to hear that they think Amelia is doing better than her last visit.  We were able to see Kevin's family over the weekend too, Amelia loves seeing her cousins Christopher and Vivian.  Make sure to keep scrolling down for a VERY special announcement. :)

Amelia is comfy with Uncle Kenny

Maddie loves to hold Amelia

Close up!

Amelia with Debbie :)

Jessi and Amelia

Lisa and Amelia

Amelia with Aunt Lorraine

All the girls

 

Grandpa O and Amelia

Amelia and Vivian reading together

Cousins!

Cousins!

And now for the special announcement-
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Ziesemer Baby #5 is on his/her way!  That's right, Pauline is pregnant and due just one month after Mara!  That makes 5 Ziesemer cousins in just 3 years, and 3 of them will be 9 months and under.  How fun is that!?!  Greg and Pauline will not be finding out the sex of the baby either, so a double surprise will be coming this spring.  I can hardly wait, being an only child - I really appreciate this growing family.  What a great Thanksgiving, we have a LOT to be thankful for!!

Christopher loves his little sibling already!

Almost 20 weeks!

4 months old!

Happy 4 Month Birthday Amelia!  Her doctor's appointment is next week, so we'll post more then, but here are some pictures from today.

California Bound

We spent the last week in San Diego with my mom's side of the family.  We were able to see my mom, my Aunt Fe, Uncle Ernesto, and cousins Mark and Jesse.  We also saw my mom's cousin Ester and many of my mom's childhood friends from the Philippines.  Surprisingly, Amelia did amazing on the flight out (4.5 hours!) and pretty darn good on the way home.  There were other babies on the flight who behaved worse than her so it took the heat off of us.  The weather was perfect and it was so fun to watch Grandma Olthoff play with Amelia, they both had a blast.  My family out there thinks that Amelia looks very "white", but is confident that her "Asian Beauty" will emerge as she gets older.  We also were told many times that she has big ears (she obviously inherited those from Kevin).  Good news though - in the Philippines it's said that big ears = long life.  So there! ;)

Amelia's first trip to the ocean

With Mark, Fe, and Ernesto

Grandma O and Amelia!

Ice cream at the park

Amelia LOVES to swing (only in the real thing though)

Guava picking

Persimmon picking!

Never seen her so happy

Just loving that swing!

Ester, Amelia, and Grandma O

Mark, Amelia, and Jesse

Happy Halloween!

Check out some pictures from Halloween and some videos of Miss Amelia!  We have had a great couple of weeks!  If she cries now, she cries for a specfic reason and can almost always be consoled.  I think the acid reflux medication she is taking is a miracle.

This seemed to be an appropriate costume

Being her usual self

I couldn't get a single picture with her not crying.  :(

Freddie the Ladybug

He wanted to dress up like his cousin Viv

Freddie hugging Amelia

November 2, 2011

You can hear her giggle in this video with Kevin, so cute!

Talking to her mama