1 Month Home - Nina's Update

Yeap, we have all been at home for a bit more than a month. I have meant to write some many times, but I found myself every night around 11 pm finally done with little things here and there after both kids are down (Nina by 7:30 pm ish and Diego around 8 to 8:30 pm ish!) and just going to bed afterwards!

So, let's start with Nina. She is still a trooper! I feel that I still spend about 70% of my time paying attention to Diego's needs and only 30% on her. We really don't get too much one on one time, only when she wakes up (if Diego is still sleeping) and when I put her to sleep. I feel bad about it, but at least God sent us a sweet girl that so far is happy with just tagging along to whatever Diego does.

She is still a good eater and fortunately I took her to the naturopath doctor and we found out that she is also sensitive to dairy, wheat and corn. The doctor also analyzed a urine sample and the results showed that her digestive system is working great, processing proteins well and being balanced. I was a bit sad about the food sensitivities, but it's alright, that means she will totally fit in with our dairy free/gluten free diet once she starts eating table food. Right now, following the doctor's recommendation, she is pretty much eating puree veggies and fruits (green beans, peas, spinach, carrots, avocado, apple, pear, strawberry, and blue berries), coconut milk kefir, and rice cereal and will wait until she is 18 months to introduce meats, eggs and goat's milk yogurt. Oh yes, our girl drinks goat milk (about 24 oz per day) and loves it! Since she is on this diet a lot of the eczema and dry skin she had has disappeared and by using Calendula cream we are keeping it nice and hydrated. She weighted 19 lb 9 oz and was 28.5 inches at the beginning of this month when I took her to the pediatrician and yesterday when she was at the naturopath for another check, she weighted 21 lb 10 oz, so she has gained about 2 pounds in less than 1 month!!

Nina is crawling and has no interest in walking right now. She can stand up by holding to something and move around with support. But what she REALLY likes is tumbling!! After both are up from their afternoon naps, Diego asks to go to our bed and they just tumble and jump imitating each other! Even though I have to continuously telling Diego to be careful and holding her so she doesn't fall off the bed, it is a nice daily activity when they have a chance to connect to each other well. She also loves to climb and dive head first from our coach to a papasan and then just hang out with Diego while he watches TV.

She sleeps through the night (she was waking up the first days and my mom suggested giving her a bottle of milk at midnight - once we did that she stopped waking up) from 7:30 pm to about 6 am. At the beginning we noticed that if we put her in the crib, she was very content with playing for a bit and then fall asleep by herself. So, in Russia we didn't rock her too much and she never complained. She was also not a big fan of being carried and would push us away; so we decided not to force it too much there. Few weeks ago I noticed that at bed time she would babble more and make amazing eye contact. She seems to be now more relaxed, because after she drinks her bottle, she totally lays on my chest, facing me, and starts falling asleep; then she turns to my right and I am able to cradle her. Right now my goal is to snuggle and cradle her as much as I can, but to put her in the crib just before she is asleep. So far, it is working.

As I mentioned, she babbles quite a bit. We hear some pa, ba, ma and da's here and there. I also think she knows her name, since she turns to me after I say her name couple of times. Also, yesterday and today she has done something funny. Weeks ago when I had a chance, I would face her and tap my collar bone two times and say "momma" and the tap hers and say "Nina". Last night it took a while for her to settle down to sleep (she is teething and was quite cranky) and I said something like "yes, your momma is here" and then right after I said "momma" she tapped me twice. I was a bit surprised and said "yes, momma" and then she tapped me again! So, that's our little game now, when I cradle her, she sucks one thumb and with the other hand she makes little taps on me and then I say my name, momma!

So, in general, we are at a new level of exhaustion with Nina and Diego, but we feel pretty good about how she is adjusting to the family. The main thing we feel is that she is not in stress or shock like our Diego was, so she is able to relax, to start trusting us a bit and just enjoy her day (eating, pooping, playing and sleeping). We need to limit our outings since we have noticed she starts "flirting" around to get attention from others. That's a downside of this confident little girl; our Diego was so scared that he never looked for other people's attention. But when we had family around we noticed she prefer being with me than with others, and she starts jumping with joy every day when Mark comes from work, so at least she has started establishing that we are her main caregivers. And that's a good beginning, right?

And, as usual, now pictures of our sweet girl and boy!

With her abuela (my mom)

Yes, I have attitude!

Playing outside!

Yes, I like to pull my mommy's hair!

tumbling around in the papasan

just chilling with my brother!

In few days I will try to post an update on Diego, since he is still adjusting to being a big brother!!! Have a wonderful Memorial Day!