Gemma at ONE year!

Gemma on her one year birthday!

Our Gemma love is ONE! Here's what she was up to between her 11 and 12 month birthdays:

• Intentionally puts on necklaces. All the time.
• SO wiggly during diaper changes
• Pulls herself up on things
• Starting to sign - "more" and "food / eat"
• Is a voracious eater
• Has a rug burn on her left forearm from army crawling
• Likes being upside down. Especially after nursing before bed. Not really upside down - she lies back and hangs her head upside down off the nursing pillow.
• Nursing only first thing in the morning and right before bed
• Definitely knows her name and has for a while now
• Splashes and lunges in the bath - she'll get on all fours and lunge forward then slide back on her belly then get up on all fours and do it again and again.
• Points at things with one finger
• Frequently gets her leg stuck in the crib slats even though we have crib bumpers - she'll get her leg stuck way up high above the bumpers. Even though it's hot, we've started putting her in the light sleepsack for naps again to prevent this. Even with the sleep sack she can get a leg stuck.
• Likes playing with the old gift cards
• We still wake her in the morning and from every nap - she doesn't wake on her own. I still wonder how long she would go if we let her. A few times we've let her sleep in until 9:30 then we wake her...
• Still loves playing "Where is Gemma?" under any blanket or piece of clothing she can find. She's been doing this since around 7 months.
• Started crawling August 3rd. She was naked outside on the grass before bedtime and just started crawling like it was nothing. Maybe she didn't like the feel of grass on her chest? She never got up on all fours and rocked back and forth - just went right to actual crawling.
• Upon waking Gemma immediately starts scootching around in bed with no idea what she's doing / where she's going. She's been doing this for a while now and it's adorable.
• Hugs from Gemma makes the other girls cheer up. (I hold Gemma and put her arms around the girls and pat them. Gemma doesn't seem to mind and the big girls LOVE it and it almost always makes them cheer up.)
• Like to close the Mickey Mouse pop up toy thing and can open the turn one and the push button one.
• Nods yes and shakes head no. Gemma knows they mean something she just doesn't know what. It's still pretty cute to see her nod or shake in response to a question.
• Gets red forehead, temples, and eyebrows when crying (even when it's not a lot of crying).
• Does gutteral growlies. I'll try to record this sometime.
• Says "ba" then waves (like goodbye). First word?
• Always wants to get into the Polly pockets which is basically tiny small everything.
• Likes the tactile experience of books (chewing on them and turning pages) but not actually reading them.
• Likes putting clothes on her head. Especially Pippa and Roxy's underwear.
• We (me or T) take Gemma on a stroller walk almost every night to combat the last fussy hour before bed.
• After nursing at night she loves doing "upside down Gemma" - she'll hang her head over the side of the nursing pillow. I'll pull her up and she'll push to go back down. She's not so snuggly after nursing anymore.

This girl had so many great outtakes from her photoshoot. I think I'll do another post of all of them.

Gemma at 11 months

Gemma on her 11 month birthday

Here is what Gemma was up to between her 10 and 11 month birthdays:

• Very mobile with scootching around (army crawling)
• Her cheeks are finally clear of excema - this actually happened last month. I thought we were done with it two months ago, but then T rubbed his beard on her cheeks to make her laugh and it came back. So now she's really been free of it since last month.
• Gemma had a fever for three days on the hottest days of the year so far. She was also pretty lethargic and just wanted to snuggle me all day. Pippa had just started swimming lessons and she wasn't sick so... I took all the girls, made sure Pippa got in the water with her teachers, then went back out to the car. I gave Roxy the iPad to watch a movie and snuggled and nursed Gemma in the front seat while the car ran on full AC for 30 minutes. Then we went in and got Pippa and came home. (We did that Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday - no swimming on Wednesdays.) I was pretty sure it was roseola (this is exactly how it was for Pippa - fever and lethargic during the hottest days of the year) but because Gemma had that UTI in December I had to take her to the doctor. We had to do another urine bag and she actually fell asleep on the table while we were waiting (she was so hot and tired, it was sad). She came back positive for a UTI that I was pretty sure was a false positive (the quick dip was free of blood and white blood cells) but we gave her the meds anyway (because she's too little to risk it). Anyway, the fever did turn out to be roseola. On the fourth day she got the roseola rash. Here Gemma is being snuggly and hot and lethargic, then falling asleep on the doctor's table waiting to fill the urine bag.

• Gemma intentionally helps get dressed by putting her arms into her shirt or onesie.
• Pulling up on things to a standing position. 
• Pushing to sitting from lying on her tummy.
• Points with one finger.
• Still fussy the last 1.5 hours before bedtime.
• Learned to navigate the one step in our house all by herself. She can go up and down it by herself. 
• Nods yes as a response if you nod.
• Sort of signs "more"
• Has tan lines in her arm rolls and has for a while
• Waves
• Doesn't mind sitting or crawling on grass, even when her legs aren't covered.
• Has the same scar looking birth mark on her lower right back like Roxy does
• Sucks both thumbs, sucks the left a bit more I think.

Gemma at 10 months

Gemma on her 10 month birthday

Here's what our sweet Gemma was up to between her nine and 10 month birthdays:

• Has the start of curlies? When Pippa got curlies, it was a surprise. When our second baby, Roxy, was born I thought it was unlikely that she would get curlies (she did). I thought having a third baby (Gemma) with curlies would be a statistical anomaly, but here she is with the start of curlies! We will see if they turn out to be lasting curlies or baby curlies that eventually grow out. 
• Rolling all over and scootching forward a tiny bit.
• Makes lots of b and d sounds and lip smacks.
• Likes to put her bottom lip on top of her top lip.
• Interlocks / laces her toes together.
• Loves playing "Where is Gemma?" and will move the blanket on and off her face by herself. She's been doing this for a while now. 
• Her army crawl is adorable. Gemma tilts ALL the way to one side then the other to push forward.
• Is less yell-y during her last feeding before bed.
• Prefers her right hand to eat with.
• So yell-y when she wants more food.
• Pippa and Gemma like to say, "We're going to cut cut cut you off" when Gemma is done eating. She always wants more food - she's never stopped on her own I am always the one to stop giving her food (and I say, "Ok Gemma, we're going to cut you off here." which is why the big girls say it). With my other two I definitely believed that a baby would stop eating when they were full. I don't know if Gemma does that. She wants more, more, more and then she'll spit up / puke. 
• Likes patting her mouth while saying "ahhhhh."
• Still loves the doorway jumper

Outtakes:

Gemma at 9 months

A progression of Gemma on her 9 month birthday

Here's what our sweet Gemma was up to between 8 and 9 months:

• Lets you know (loudly) if you're not getting her more food fast enough.
• Sometimes sucks her thumb during the day.
• Sleeps on her side
• Upon waking up she immediately leg thrashes (both legs up and down, slamming on the carpet).
• Can pincher grasp peas and such. It's such a gentle grasp though. She doesn't crush or squish the peas (or whatever small food) at all.
• LOVES jumping and swinging in the bouncer (and has for a while now). We call her jumping bean.
• Ticklish on her feet. (Pippa playing with a paintbrush discovered this.) Also ticklish on her neck and armpits.
• Has long eyelashes but they are so blonde.
• Is excited to nurse - she does little pants and has all four limbs flapping.
• Likes to swing outside with big pushes.
• Sucks her thumb and puts her head on my shoulder when I sing to her before sleep. I love this so much.
• Gags more often than I expected with baby led weaning (basically, she eats what we eat from the get go instead of starting with purees). But has never choked.
• Blows raspberries a lot and on me, too. It tickles!
• Is a happy, calm, long nurser first thing in the morning. Is a very unhappy, screaming, short nurser before bed.
• We let her sleep in (we woke her at 9 - I still wonder how long she would go if we let her) and then only had two naps for the first time on May 6.
• Pats her mouth with her hand while saying ahhhhhh.
• Sucks her thumb a lot while awake. Gemma loves sucking our fingers, too.
• Gemma is an ambi-turner! (Instead of just rolling to the left.) This happened at the end of the month.
• Occasionally Gemma will stop nursing to suck her thumb for a bit then she'll go back to nursing.
• Puts her bottom lip up over the top lip often.
• Claps when I walk in and have been gone for a while.

Gemma at 8 months

Gemma on her eight month birthday

Here's what Gemma was up to between her seven and eight month birthdays:

• Likes to pull her lips in and bite them.
• Likes to blow air out through her lips after she's done nursing.
• Smacks lips.
• Loves eating solid food.
• Likes to suck left thumb.
• Still not an ambi-turner (she only likes to roll over her from her tummy to her back over her left side).
• Legit sleeps through the night 8:30 p.m. to 7:45 a.m.
• Not a happy nurser, she's a yell-y nurser. Especially before bedtime.
• Sometimes looks like a strawberry blondie.
• Has little tan lines in her arm and leg rolls (you can see it in the first photo on this post).
• Does a run then jump thing while in the doorway jumper.
• Flails with all four limbs when she's excited and being held.
• April 3 started clapping.
• Likes tickles under armpits. 

She's the best! We can't get enough!

Gemma at 7 months

Gemma at 7 months

Here's what our sweet Gemma was up to between her six and seven month birthdays

• Still the biggest hair puller.
• Still really loves the stroller. She's never cried in there and has even fallen asleep a few times in there.
• Three times we've put Gemma in the crib awake and happy (after a period of screaming sleeping waking eating) and she falls asleep on her own happily. If only we could get her happy in the crib all the time.
• Got chicken pox but wasn't too upset about it. More on this later.
• Red eyebrows and temples when crying
• Cloth bibs won't stay in front. They move to the back and look like capes.
• Big loud gasp - she likes to do this while nursing.
• Still not a happy nurser.
• Excema on her face. I thought it was drool rash from the increased drooling from two teeth coming in, but it hasn't gone away.
• I started doing 3 weeks of dairy free to see if that helped her excema.
• Little lady like sneezes.
• LOVE her chubby little hand / wrist / arm resting on me while I nurse her.
• Great at sitting up alone.
• Still really into biting my chin.
• Back to napping in the carrier (for a while she wouldn't nap there, only in the rocking chair).
• Started legit sleep training.
• Buries her head in my shoulder with strangers talking to her (or me).
• Toward the end of six months Gemma rolls from back to front.
• Only nurses well at home in the rocking chair with the boppys - I use two one upside down and the other stacked on top of it right side up. (Two stacked this way is INCREDIBLY helpful for a newborn and it's just easier for me / my arms to keep doing it this way.)
• Gemma really likes to nurse when it's just me and her (no sisters or dad around). It's just that this doesn't happen very often!
• For a long time (since around 3 months?) Gemma does a big sigh when she's almost totally asleep. 

Gemma at Six Months

Gemma on her six month birthday.

Here's what Gemma was up to between her five and six month birthdays:

• Likes to suck / chew on her bottom lip
• Roxy still says "Binn wants you" or "Binn wants to eat" when Gemma is crying.
• Roxy says "Binn drinks MILK!" very loud and insistently when we pretend to offer her food. (I think it's sunk in that the big girls should never give her food.)
• Grabs her toes when lying on her back
• Has chin dimples (two of them!) when she smiles big. We'll see if they stick around as she grows...
• Loves music and dancing when she's fussy - dancing music with a good beat, not relaxing music.
• First tooth poked through January 31 - it was the bottom center left
• Likes to nom on my chin
• Is a HUGE hair puller - my hair and especially Pippa and Roxy's hair.
• Start of sleep training - aka sleep without a swaddle
• Drool rash on chin and right cheek
• Second tooth on bottom - Feb 6
• Gemma is now too big to bathe in the bathroom sink
• Spits up a lot less
• Usually three naps a day (I still have to hold her for all of them)
• Loves the doorway jumper
• Not a happy nurser - lots of screaming then a bit of eating then a bit of screaming then a bit of eating.

Gemma at Five Months

Here's what our sweet Gemma was up to between her four month and five month birthdays:

• Plays with things hanging in her jungle gym play mat
• Rolls over from tummy to back (always on the same side) but always in slow motion.
• Grabs things
• Had the flu (more on that whole saga here)
• Blows rapsberries
• Likes reading when we lie down on our backs together
• Sits in the bebepod and likes it and likes the attached toy (which is one of the reasons the bebepod is so much better than a bumbo)
• Moves a ton more
• Had her billionth cold
• Started wearing 2T pants (to cover her legs / feet, but they do fit her around the waist)
• Barely fits in 6 month clothes
• Sleeps until 4/5 in the morning, sometimes even 6/7! 
• Taking a shorter time to fall asleep at night generally 2-3 hours
• While nursing on my right side she very frequently hits her head with her right hand
• Happier and spitting up less
• Has a little dry spot on her right knee dimple
• Has a bald spot on the back of her head

Gemma - The Flu, a UTI, and two imaging appointments

The day after Gemma's four month appointment she had a fever of 101.  I called about it during the day and the advice nurse said it was from the vaccinations. But that night (11 p.m.) the fever got really high - 105.3 degrees. We called again and the advice nurse said to not bring her to the hospital until it hit 106. We gave her tylenol and it went down to about 103.

Our pediatrician called us in the morning and had us take her to get blood drawn to check for the flu. (Everyone in our family had the flu vaccine but babies don't get a flu until six months.) T took the day off (Friday) to help out at home. It was much easier to take Gemma alone instead of bringing all three girls! Getting Gemma's blood drawn was traumatic - they drew it like she was an adult and the person couldn't get a vein and was wiggling the needle around and Gemma was screaming and I was crying. A different person tried on the other arm and got it with less needle wiggling. The pediatrician had us start Gemma on Tamiflu that day (twice a day for five days). The pediatrician was pretty sure it was the flu (Gemma had also been spitting up a lot more than usual (baby throw up), had a tired soft cry (unusual for her), and had less energy).

The pediatrician also wanted us to come in to the office to get a urine bag put on Gemma to check for a UTI (urinary tract infection). So I took Gemma in and the medical assistant put it on and gave me instructions how to get it off and take the urine to the lab. Gemma fell asleep in the carseat on the way home so I let her sleep. She eventually woke up during a poop explosion which caused the bag to come off and the urine to leak mostly out, plus be contaminated. I had T take the sample to the lab anyway (around 4 p.m.) where they told him the sample likely was not enough. That night T and I were supposed to go to the swanky work holiday party but Gemma still had a fever of 102 so we cancelled the babysitter.

The next day (Saturday) I took Gemma back to the pediatrician's office (they have secret Saturday hours!) and got another urine bag placed on her. By the time we got home the bag had come unattached and the urine leaked out. I called and they had me come back and this time I told them I would wait in the office with Gemma until the urine bag was full. I didn't even put a diaper on her so I could keep a close eye on things and so the diaper wouldn't pull the bag out of place.

I kept Gemma naked and we hung out. I mostly had her standing up on the doctor bench. Eventually I nursed her while she was lying down and I leaned over the top of her. I didn't want to do anything that would disrupt the urine bag at all. Finally, Gemma started to pee and the bag started filling but the bag wasn't on all the way so some of the urine started to leak out. I shouted out the door that the bag was leaking and a medical assistant came to help me. She held the bag in place and ta-da there was finally enough of a clean sample to send to the lab! If it was that hard to get a clean sample in the dr's office I really think we never had a chance trying to take Gemma home and get a sample.

The sample came back positive for a UTI so we started her on antibiotics (twice a day for 10 days). Since Gemma was so young the doctor wanted us to have an ultrasound done to make sure her kidneys weren't harmed by the UTI. Luckily, ultrasounds involve no discomfort for baby. So on December 27 I took Gemma for an ultrasound. The timing worked out just right that I had just fed her and she just had a nap so she was happy for all of the ultrasound which showed no damage to her kidneys.

In conjunction with ultrasound the pediatrician also wanted Gemma to have a VCUG. Which is basically a real time x-ray to watch how urine exits the bladder, ureters, and urethra. The doctor wanted to see if Gemma had vesicoureteral reflux which is when urine flows backwards back up into the ureters and sometimes all the way back to the bladder. The only symptom of this is frequent UTIs.  Vesicoureteral reflux is rated from grade 1 to 5 with 5 being the most severe. Most of the time vesicoureteral reflux resolves on it's own before age 4, but some grade 4 and 5s require surgery.

On January 12 I took Gemma in for the VCUG (T stayed home with the big girls). She had to get a catheter so they could get a pee sample (to check for a UTI) and also to put the dye up her. She cried the whole time but it wasn't screaming so it wasn't totally terrible. It was only 10-15 minutes until the procedure was finished. The VCUG showed a grade 1 reflux but no UTI and we made an appointment with a pediatric nephrologist (kidney doctor). I wasn't sure why they wanted us to see a nephrologist instead of a urologist, but I made the appointment anyway.

I did some research about vesicoureteral reflux in preparation for the appointment. Sometimes it's nice that I have this background in anatomy and physiology so I can read actual medical papers / journals and understand them instead of reading random internet articles and hoping they are true. Anyway, for lower grades of reflux typically nothing is done, as the child grows the ureters straighten and lengthen and the reflux stops on it's own. The American Urological Association used to recommend daily antibiotics to prevent UTIs for all grades of reflux but stopped recommending that when several studies showed the same number of UTIs in patients taking daily antibiotics as those not taking antibiotics. The studies also showed that those taking daily antibiotics were three times as likely to become antibiotic resistant. BUT daily antibiotics were still recommended for children under age one because the risk of complications from UTIs is higher. I didn't want to go the daily antibiotic route because Gemma had only had one UTI, and I didn't want her to become antibiotic resistant, and giving her medicine is so hard (nine months of daily trying to get Gemma to open her mouth and squirt in the medicine a little at a time and letting her suck my finger between squirts sounded terrible - giving her the tamiflu for five days had been hard enough!) I had actually already started looking for another doctor for a second opinion in case the first doctor wanted us to do daily antibiotics.

Gemma's nephrology appointment was February 9. Aunt B was visiting us (to help because I had shingles! more on that later) so she stayed with Pippa and Roxy. The appointment was such a non-thing of only five minutes. The doctor was nice and said that usually a urologist sees vesicoureteral reflux patients. She also said that she wouldn't recommend doing anything unless Gemma had one or two more UTIs.

So a happy ending of us doing nothing and Gemma hasn't had a UTI since then. Hopefully she's already outgrown it. :)

Gemma at Four Months

Here's what our sweet Gemma was up to between her three and four month birthdays:

• When nursing on left side her left arm moves all over her head and face.
• She does "scheming hands" (I'll try to find a photo...)
• Looks like she has a tiny bit of red in her hair
• Needs to be transitioned during her long nap in the afternoon. The first and last naps she naps one me in the carrier. The long middle nap I rock her and hold her for like 40 minutes then move her to the bed, snuggle her on the bed for 5-10 then I can ease away from her (or stay and nap with her). She stirs / sometimes completely wakes 30-45 minutes after that and I can mostly snuggle her back to sleep on the bed then ease away from her again.
• Usually naps at 10, 1, and 6.
• Had bronchiolitis
• Bald spot on the back of her head
• We call her B-bop barilla cop most of the time
• On 12/6/2016 Gemma laughed for the first time. Gemma was in the bouncer in the kitchen and Pippa was hanging over her laughing and that made Gemma laugh.
• This has been happening (and still happens) since Gemma was a newborn and I was trying to get her to open her mouth to latch to nurse. Lila would stand next to me and open her mouth really big and say, "Like this Gemmy!"
• At her four month appointment Gemma weighed 17.1 pounds

Gemma at Three Months

Gemma on her three month birthday

Here's what our sweet Gemma was up to between her two and three month birthdays:

• Got a terrible cold and was super congested. She just can't seem to get rid of this cold.
• Is a good sleeper. This needs some explanation. It takes her a long unhappy time to get to sleep but once she's down she will sleep 5-6 hours straight, eat (takes an hour to put back in the crib) then sleep 4-5 more hours. This means this is the most sleep I've ever had with a newborn.
• Getting Gemma to sleep is now down to two hours of mostly calm / some fidgeting / some sleeping instead of three hours of screaming.
• Gemma is usually asleep enough to put in the crib around 10:30 at night and I usually go to bed right after. There isn't time for me to do anything else around the house or errands or things for myself.
• The night of October 27-28 I fed Gemma at 6:40 p.m. then she slept from 8:30 p.m. to 5:45 a.m. It was awesome.
• Gemma still won't nurse to sleep. What baby doesn't like to nurse to sleep?!
• Nicknames of B-Bop, Gemma-Gemma, Gemmigan (rhymes with Finnigan)
• Gemma is a smelly baby - a mix of sweat and spit up. There just isn't time to bathe her as often as we bathed her older sisters!
• Only naps in the carrier (how do people survive without a carrier?!)
• Has the BEST wrist rolls
• Is happier
• Gets a million kisses a day from all of us
• Has a swirl hair cowlick like her dad
• All three girls nap at the same time most of the time
• Has the best frown and pouty lip before she starts to cry
• Getting away from poop at every single diaper change. Sometimes it's just pee now.
• Naps 3-4 times a day.
• Likes baths except when we have to pull her out at the end. 
• Wears size 2 diapers
• Legit slept through the night Nov 11-12. She was asleep in the crib from 8:45 p.m. to 7:15 a.m.
• Finally started using cloth diapers
• Likes riding on the bottom in the double stroller 
• Will put weight on her feet and "stand up" which means we've started singing "Stand Up Girl" to her. It's literally "Up Town Girl" by Billy Joel but saying Stand Up Girl instead of Up Town Girl. Roxy and Pippa sing it, too (and we sang it to them when they started doing the same thing).
• My mom came to visit and help and more than three times she was able to get Gemma asleep in her arms! Gemma hasn't fallen asleep in my arms since she was a week old.
• Roxy calls her Gemma-kins
• Gemma won't turn her head and rest it on me in the carrier. She still likes to put her face straight-on on me. 
• Still a blue eyed blondie

Gemma at two months

 Gemma on her two month birthday

Here's what Gemma was up to between her one and two month birthdays:

• SO vocal
• We bought a swing - we really wanted her to like it and take naps in it, but so far no luck. And we can't return it either because the very first time we put her in it she had a poop explosion that got all over it.
• Takes her best nap between 1 and 5 p.m.
• Hiccups all the time
• She's starting to get chunky! Yay!
• Has more than four eyelashes now
• Intentionally brings hands to mouth
• Had baby acne
• Had a bit of cradle cap
• Off nipple shield
• Spits up a lot volume wise (as opposed to frequency)
• Flaking skin especially on and behind ears
• Social smiles at five weeks
• Small poops all the time - so many diaper changes in one day!
• Co-sleeping a lot. Sometimes we can't get her to sleep (normally it takes 3 hours of screaming - no joke) and so we end up with her in bed with us because we are just tired. We usually put her in the crib around 10:30 and if she's still up after that she ends up in bed with us.
• Going along with that Gemma is a light sleeper. Once she's asleep in our arms it takes another hour before we can put her down in the crib. Every little thing wakes her when she's asleep in our arms - twitching, reaching for something in the pocket of the rocking chair, rearranging your legs.
• Started the "agoos." Roxy and Pippa have been saying "agoooo" to Gemma since she was born and they are so excited that she's reciprocating.
• Naps on me in the carrier (mostly k'tan but sometimes the becco) except for her long afternoon one.
• Sucks her right thumb.
• Roxy and Pippa are still so gentle with her. 
• At Gemma's two month appointment she was 12.15 pounds

We're all pretty much obsessed with her and she literally gets 100 kisses a day from me, T, Pippa, and Roxy.