Peyton turns 4 months!!!

The last 4 months have flown by! Peyton has had a HUGE month. Read on to find out about her adventures and milestones.

1st trip & 1st airplane ride:
We took Peyton to Hawaii for a big Minzel/Sumi family trip in August. Peyton did great on the plane, and even had wonderful sleep while we were there! She swam in the ocean for the 1st time, took naps on the beach, and swam in the pool at the Mokihana. We had a great trip, and its one we will never forget.

Sleeping:
Although she had a pretty tough week of sleep after we got home from Hawaii, she has been sleeping great since then. She wakes up anywhere between 1-2 times per night. Since Tiffany is back at work now, John and Tiffany take turns with who gets up with her. 1 night Daddy gets up with her, and the next its Mommy. She goes to bed promptly at 8:00 every night and does great going down. She is currently napping 3x's per day, each nap lasting 45minutes-2 hours. She has been swaddled for sleep every night (although not for naps). However, we just learned today from her doctor at her 4 month check-up that because she is rolling onto and sleeping on her tummy, she should no longer be swaddled. Tonight will be our first night to try this. Wish us luck!!

Eating:
Peyton is still getting 100% breast milk. A few weeks ago, we started her on rice cereal 1 time per day about an hour before she goes to bed. She does great with it, and its primarily teaching her how to eat from a spoon. We learned today at her check-up that she can start on other types of solid food anytime now. We are excited to try this, but may wait another month to do so. Peyton is taking her bottle about every 2.5-3 hours and is getting 4.5oz at a time, except her bedtime bottle, which is 5oz.

Daycare:
Peyton started going to Daycare a few weeks ago at Debbie Nelson's house. We are truly blessed to have Debbie watching her. Its a great environment for her to be in, and she apparently loves watching all the other kids. We hope for her to continue there as long as she can! Although it is hard leaving her for work, I feel so grateful that I have Wednesday's off to spend with her. I look forward to that day the minute I leave for work on Monday morning. Peyton is one lucky girl, as she gets picked up at Daycare by Grandpa Kirkpatrick. She spends a little bit of time with Grandma and Grandpa each day until Daddy gets there around 5:15.

1st overnight with Nana!!:
This past Friday night John and I decided it was time for us to have a date night, while Peyton stay overnight. Nana offered to take her for the night while we went out to dinner and had a good night's sleep. She did great!! We are so thankful to Nana for letting us have our date!

Pediatrician Change:
Because John's insurance changed with his job move to Old Republic, we were forced to change Peyton's pediatrician. Today was the first time we met with her and we really liked her. Her name is Dr. Melissa Walsh with Richmond Beach Pediatrics. Here are Peyton's stats from today:
-Weight: 16lbs (90th%)
-Height: 26 inches (95th%)
-Head measurement: 90th%
She also received another round of immunizations today, and while she let out a blood-curdling cry when the happened, we fed her immediately and she calmed right down. She was such a trooper!!

Milestones:
-Rolling over from back to front: 3.5months old
-Grabbing onto toys: between 3-4 months old
-Eating rice cereal: between 3-4 months old
-Babbling (lots!!)

Rice Cereal!!

Well yesterday, I broke down and called P's pediatrician in regards to starting her on rice cereal. Everything I had heard was that you needed to wait until baby is 4 months old before starting it, but because her sleep has been wack for about a week, and John and I were both exhausted, and we had heard that rice cereal sometimes can make baby sleep better, I decided it didn't hurt to ask her doc. I thought because she was in the 95th% for weight, they may say it was ok to start a couple weeks earlier. Turns out that it was worth asking, because we got the green light. It was so fun to watch her try something other than milk for the first time, and off a spoon at that. The nurse instructed us to start with 1 Tablespoon only at first, and we mixed that with some breast milk. She seemed to have really liked it. Here's the proof!

See the video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpYcTOYqVec

Peyton turns 3 months old!!

• Yes, its official. Peyton is a quarter of a year old! She had quite the month in her 3rd month. Lots of milestones, and lots of adventures for Peyton. Here is an overview of what happened in the past month:

Eating:

Peyton is eating 4.5 ounces about every 2 hours during the day. She eats 5oz right before bedtime. She is still getting 100% breast milk pumped by mommy.

Sleeping:

Sleeping has been quite the hot topic this month. She has been all over the board as far as her night sleep goes. At the beginning of the month, she was still doing 4-5 hours her first stretch, 3 hours her second stretch, and about 2 hours her third stretch. A couple of days before we left for Hawaii she had a 7 hour first stretch sleep, which was very nice for mommy and daddy. While in Hawaii, she had 3 nights in a row where she did between 7-8 hours of sleep. It all fell apart when we got home from Hawaii. The past few nights have been pretty rough, no sort of schedule, sometimes only sleeping an hour at a time. I have been reading the book "No Cry Sleep Solution," by Elizabeth Pantley to try and help us get her on a better sleeping schedule. We are currently working on establishing 3 distinct naps during the day, and working towards cutting out a night feeding. Hopefully I will have a better report on sleep next month!

Doctor visits:

Although Peyton wasn't due for a check-up this month, we did have our first non-routine doctor's visit. Turned out that Peyton had a clogged tear duct. Her continued to get really goopy, especially after a longer sleep. The only thing to be done for that is to massage the area so that the duct un-clogs. This only lasted a couple of weeks and seems to be gone now.

We did learn while at her doctor's visit that she now weights 13lbs, 13oz!! We also had to change pediatrician's since John's insurance changed with his new job. We will be attending Richmond Beach Pediatrics for her 4 month check-up.

Clothes:

Peyton is currently wearing some 0-3 month clothing, and some 3-6 month clothing.

Milestones:

1. Learned to grab her monkey down off her play mat
2. Establishing a belly laugh (love this!)
3. Rolled over from back to tummy while sleeping several times
4. Sitting in walker
5. Rolling over onto her side

Trips/Activities:

Peyton had a couple of "trips" this month. While Mommy and Daddy went to Las Vegas for Daddy's 30th birthday, Peyton got to spend 2 nights with Auntie Jill and family and 1 night with Kim, Brandon, and Parker. This was her first overnight away from Mommy and Daddy, and although she did great, it was hard for Mommy.

Peyton also traveled to Kauai, HI with the family, which meant she took her first airplane ride. She did great on the plane there and back. While in Hawaii, she swam in the ocean for the first time, and did lots of pool swimming as well.

Peyton took a day road trip with Mommy and Nana to go and see her great grandmother, Bea DeMaris. She enjoyed the car ride for the most part, and had a great time meeting her great grandmother.

Peyton got to spend a few hours with her great Auntie Trudy and Trudy's girls while Mommy and Daddy went out to dinner for their 2nd wedding anniversary. She did great!

Peyton's hair is definitely starting to turn a lot more blond. The top of it is almost all the way blond, but the back still had dark left in it.

Its been a great last month, and I feel like as parents we are continuing to learn so much about taking care of a newborn. I only have 1 week left of maternity leave, and then Peyton will be starting daycare at Debbie's. I am looking forward to having Wednesday's off to spend with her.

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Peyton turns 2 months old!

Our baby girl is already 2 months old!! We are absolutely loving being parents (more and more each day). Peyton is turning out to be so much fun to be around (most of the time...), and such a joy in our lives. We absolutely love her to pieces. Here is what she has been up to in the last month.

Eating:

Peyton is still taking breast milk through a bottle and it is still working wonderfully. She eats 4oz every 2 hours during the day and eats 4.5oz for night feedings. She is a fantastic eater and rarely does she not want her bottle. During the day, she is like clock-work wanting to eat on the dot at 2 hours (and sometimes even a bit before). She gets a dropper full of Vitamin D in one of her bottles each day (instructed by Dr. Stevens) since adults in Seattle lack Vitamin D (because of the lack of sun here).

Sleeping:

We feel pretty blessed to have a good sleeper. Peyton goes down in the evening between 9-10pm and sleeps anywhere between 4-7 hours her first stretch of sleep. She then wakes up (usually around 3-4am), eats 4.5oz, and goes right back to bed for another 3 hours. She then wakes up once again (usually around 6-7am), eats another bottle, and goes back down for 1-2 hours, waking up for the final time around 8:30am. She is now napping in her cosleeper, which is a great milestone for us. Every so often, she will still nap in her car seat, lascal, or the moby wrap depending on what our day holds. She sleeps in a swaddle blanket with white noise on the Ipod. She doesn't have a set nap schedule during the day yet, but she does usually take 2 naps sometime throughout the day (and even sneaks one in sometimes in the early evening).

Doctor:

Peyton had her 2 month check up with Dr. Steven's on July 16th. She weighs 12lbs14oz, is 23 inches long, and is in the 93rd percentile for height and weight. Dr. Stevens again has commented that Peyton is a beautiful, thriving, healthy baby. She commented today also that Peyton has beautiful skin and seems like a happy baby. My mom went with me to the check-up since John had to work. We asked Dr. Steven's about Peyton's fussiness since Peyton goes from 0-10 in a snap of a finger. By this I mean she can be completely happy and smiling one second and the next second be screaming and crying. There was a little worry about colic, however Dr. Steven's set our minds to ease about that. She stated that going from 0-10 simply is Peyton's temperament, and that its actually a good thing because it means that Peyton knows what she wants. She stated that colic is the rule of 3's meaning that a colicy baby is between 1-3 months old, crying for 3 straight hours a day for 3 days straight. Peyton has never even come close to doing this. She also stated that it could not be reflux because if it was Peyton would be unhappy after each feeding, which is definitely not the case with her. Peyton received 3 shots and 1 oral vaccine today. She received Diptheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Haemophilus Influenzae Type B (Hib), Polio, Pneumococcal Conjugate, Hepatitus B, and Rotovirus vaccine's. After receiving the shots she definitely has a blood curdling cry, but as soon as I held her close to me for a few moments, she settled right down and fell right asleep. She actually liked the taste of the oral vaccine, so that one wasn't bad at all.

Babysitting:

Peyton has now spent time being babysat with my mom, John's mom, auntie Katie and auntie Jill. She has had great experiences with all of them. She spent a full day with my mom last weekend when both John and I had weddings. I brought over her bed and bouncy seat to my moms house and she did great (even napping in her bed a couple of times). We are so lucky to have so many great people close by to watch her when we need a babysitter.

Miscellaneous:

• Peyton is really starting to look at her toys, especially enjoying her bouncy seat, playmat, and bumbo chair.
  



• She is a master now at the social smile, and we receive many of these from her throughout the day




• She coo's, and even has a high pitched laugh sound that we adore




• Peyton enjoyed not only her very first 4th of July, but she got to do so at the cabin at Vashon where John and I got married. It was also her 1st time spending the night away from home (John and I were with her of course), but she did great. We just brought her cosleeper and set that up in our room upstairs, and she slept well.
  



• The roots of Peyton's hair are now starting to grow in blond.
  



• Peyton enjoyed her 1st swim in Nana and Papa's pool and loved it. She was a little unsure about it at 1st, but then she really enjoyed it.




• Just as she always has, Peyton still loves her bath's. We do bath time as a family and its always a fun event. She kicks her little legs and arms around, and really enjoys it.