I have a small knot in my stomach even typing this. I'm sure I'm overreacting, but it's my first "my baby could possibly be sick in kind of a big way" incident. Addie has been all over the place on her growth charts...she's varied from 25% to 75% back to 50% in length. She has maintain a pretty constant 50-75% in weight...Woot (14lb 6oz)! But her normal little 40-50% head circumference has now jumped to 90-95%. Why is this a big deal? Because a jump that large my indicate a condition called Hydrocephalus or "Water (CSF) on the Brain". Symptoms include large spurts in head circumference, bulging veins, irritability, feeding and sleeping issues, enlargement of the softspots, delayed development, and downcast eyes. The doctor didn't say she had it, but that we need to keep monitoring it. Addie has the first two symptoms listed. Enough to make me do what I do wonderfully...worry. Every mom knows the ache of imagining your baby going through an intense sickness. It's horrible.
I trust my doctor to be honest with me and tell me when we should be worried, and she hasn't done that. I also trust that my Heavenly Father loves Addie more than I ever possibly could. He has her little life in His sovereign hands, and I learned with our miscarriage that I had to give our children over to Him. I will chose to trust Him or else be a basketcase. Parenthood is scary, and this is not the first time I will get a knot in my stomach over something that affects my child. If you would like to add a certain little girl's head to your PR list, that would be fantastic.
On a lighter note, we definitely haven't had to worry about any developmental delays! She is talking, talking, talking, rolling over every which way, and I swear she would crawl if she could get her arms coordinated. I'm totally not ready for that kind of mobility! I usually get 3 kind of comments on her. They generally sound like, "She's such a happy baby!", "She's so active", and "I love her blue eyes".
Feedings have become interesting. She's very wiggly, and this applies to mealtime, as well. She still eats well, but it's a bit of a struggle to keep her focused and even somewhat still. It's like she expects to eat while moving around...doesn't work that way, Kid. Also, she's been waking at night for the last two weeks. At first, I thought it was a growth spurt plus teething. Maybe it was, then the waking became a habit. I fed her in the middle of the night for the first two weeks. Now, she's not acting as hungry, so I'm trying to hold her off until morning. She did sleep all night after she got her shots a couple of days ago, so I know she can...little stinker. I was spoiled by two solid months of 10-11 hours of straight sleep. She can't go back on me now! Any tips or tricks are appreciated. Right now, we're trying Tylenol and gas drops right before bed to see if we can find the culprit. In reference to the above mentioned symptoms of the Hydrocephalus, I don't think these count as feeding and sleeping issues. They are extremely mild and most people would laugh hysterically as my counting waking maybe once at 3 or 4:30 am as a sleeping issue. She always goes right back to sleep.
As far as the rest of the family, Brad is lifeguarding at the pool on campus a little this summer. Hopefully we'll both come out of this with a great tan:) We've been able to see my parents a good bit, have made the trip to Arkansas, and have seen my grandparents, aunt, and cousin recently. The Gaunts are probably going to come see us in a couple of weeks, and we can hopefully do Addie's baby dedication that Sunday. We also attended the graduations of some wonderful friends. It seems like such an exciting time in the lives of so many of our friends!
Here are a couple of my favorite pictures from the past few weeks...
Happy. Happy. Happy.
4 Month Check Up
Uncle Ben's graduation
Best daddy ever
Seriously, where did this face come from? Oh yeah, it's because she wakes up like I do!
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