4th Trimester Is OVER...Sniff, Sniff...

Our little girl is growing so big so fast! In one of my favorite baby-preparation reads "Happiest Baby On the Block", Dr. Harvey Karp suggests that human babies are meant to spend a fourth trimester in utero, but evolutionary and environmental factors stepped in and made it only three (Thank the lord!) Dr. Karp's theory is that you should then try and recreate the fourth trimester as closely as possible by mimicking the sights, sounds, and feel of your uterus. His "5 Ss Technique" works wonders for calming a screaming baby down, I'm told. Thankfully, I've never had to try Swaddling, Side (lying on), Sucking, Sushing, and Swinging since little Alessandra is such a good baby. (Should I knock on wood NOW or later???) Once the "fourth trimester" is done, your baby is ready to be a real citizen of humanity! With that school of thought in mind, I was very adamant to get Alessandra accustomed to all of the changes this would entail before she is old enough to realize that she can manipulate us with some good all-out crying that WILL call for the 5 S's in action.

On Monday, December 1st, which also happened to be her 3-month birthday, I started cutting up her milk with formula. I'll start a quarter of her ration this week, move to half next week, three-quarters the week thereafter, and then she will be officially weaned. A little early, I do realize, but it's not so easy to produce enough for this bouncing baby any longer! She is drinking nearly 8 ounces at night, and would keep going if we let her!

I also started the month off by putting Ali in her "big girl bed". She is no longer at an arm's reach where we can hear the softest whimper of hers when she needs us. She is now in her very own room all by herself and thus far seems to be doing fantastic so long as we feed her enough before bed. (See previous paragraph.) :)

And finally, I switched out all of her 0-3 month clothes for 3-6 month. Again, I am reminded about how lucky we are to have so many generous friends and family who gave us oodles of beautiful clothes!!

Please note that in all of this I am saying "I" did this, and "I" did that. That is because daddy is a big softy and was having some trouble with letting his little girl go into a different room! I told him it was a probably a good idea to do it now or else I was going to let HIM rock her to sleep when she's screaming her head off at 6 or 8 months when she's trying to understand why she's being put up in another room all by herself all of a sudden. He reluctantly agreed to let me proceed. :) Don't get me wrong, it breaks my heart too!! I can see it now, fifteen years down the road when she wants to go to prom with a senior, or to a bonfire out in the boondocks. Dad will say, "Oh, just let her go for a few hours". I think I'm going to be the one laying down the law after all! Who would've thought that I would be the enforcer out of the two of us?!?!?

We had a wonderful Turkey Day and missed our families, but our friends made up for it. I made my first turkey and if I must say so myself, it turned out great! It was nice and tender and moist! I also made the green bean casserole, REAL mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing and rolls. The rest of the gang all brought a dish so we had PLENTY to go around! This year I am thankful for the basics, but they are ever-so-important. Ricardo, Alessandra, family, friends, a roof over my head and food on the table, a job, a car, my health, and the list goes on...

Is Toto running for president in 2012? He sure does like holding babies!





The Turkey Day Crew



Alessandra can chill on the couch with us now in her new Bumbo chair!



The trials and tribulations of bath time!





Have a good week!

Danielle

Don't forget to register for Snapfish BEFORE you login to the group room if you haven't already:

address: http://teamtorres.snapfish.com/netscape
room code: alessandra