bathtime fun

Allison really enjoys taking a bath. She seems to really like the warm water and she acts as if she could stay in her bath forever and be perfectly happy. Lately she has even begun to splash around in the water by kicking her legs. We are pleased that bath time is not a struggle but is actually a fun time for all of us.

look how big i am!

Allison had her 2 month check up on Monday. This included her immunizations. She did very well considering she was receiving 3 shots. She only cried while they were giving her the shot and stopped as soon as she was picked up. But she has definitely grown over the past month:

Weight - 11 lb. 4oz. (50-75%)
Length - 21 3/4 in. (25-50%)
Head - 15 in. (25-50%)

We are also participating in a research study with Arkansas Children's Hospital. It is comparing breastfed versus formula fed versus soy formula fed babies. They track the babies growth and development as well as their nutrition until they are six years old. We had our first visit on Monday. We have to go once a month until she is a year old and then, once a year until she is six.

The first visit went pretty well. First, we had a consultation to make sure that we understood everything that we were getting ourselves into, and after that, they asked me a lot of questions about what I eat, and I had to give a detailed description about what I had eaten for the last 24 hours. Then they took all of Allison's measurements.

Next, they have a machine that measures her body composition (it's very high tech) - they call it the "pea pod" (see photo above). She went into this little clear tube that has warm air blowing through it for 2 minutes. She seemed to enjoy the warm air and was calm the whole time.

The last thing that she had to do was the brain lab. In the brain lab, she wore a cap that had lots of sensors on it that measures her brain waves, and then they introduce different stimuli to her to see if she is understanding them. I knew about this going into the study but never thought that the cap would be so scary looking (see artistic rendering below). Allison did not like it at all, and the hardest thing was that she has to be quiet and somewhat still (but not asleep) for each test.

It's kind of a lot to go through every month, but the greatest part of the study is that we get free diapers for a year, so we are happy to help out with the study.

old friends

Aren't they cute?

sleeping beauty

Allison went to sleep Wednesday night at 10 pm. We woke up to her becoming restless (this is what she does before the full fledge cry), and while we were trying to decide who was going to get up with her, we realized it was getting to be light outside. We looked at the clock and it was 6 am. 8 hours! Allison had slept for 8 whole hours. It was fantastic to get a full night of uninterrupted sleep. While we know that this is not yet going to happen every night (last night she only slept 5 hours), this gives us hope that more restful nights are to come!