Too Close

One of the scariest things happened last night. I am still recovering from it and the experience has really upped the paranoia of my already worrying mommy brain. Maisie has had a couple close calls with choking. Both were caused by our Christmas tree. One time at the farm and the other when she rolled under and tried to eat one of the lower branches. Both were scary, but we were able to fish the debris out of her mouth without a hitch. Last night was different.

After dinner Austin just started a show via netflix. I sat on the other couch with Maisie in my lap and I proceeded to fold the heaping pile of laundry to my left. Maisie was half way standing up bouncing on my right knee while hitting the couch cushions with her hands. Suddenly she started to cough. Not the I want attention cough, or I swallowed wrong cough. It was definitely trying to get something out of her throat. I turned her around quickly to hear her gasping and to see her eyes red and watery. I stood up in lightening speed and panicky said " She's choking, Oh my gosh she's choking!" Austin put out his arms and I put her belly down in his hands. I collapsed right by her face so I could see her. That's when she stopped coughing and breathing. Her face was bright red, her little body squirmed about and her eyes locked onto mine and were filled with terror. Austin turned her around tried sweeping her mouth and felt nothing. He also got a good look and still there was nothing there. Whatever it was, was in her throat and so he turned her back around and patted her back firmly. At that moment I thought "I am going to watch my baby die." Right then one of the most glorious sounds. A huge inhale followed by a very scared whimper and then she belted out a big cry. Now we all could breathe, together.

After the ordeal was over and Maisie was back to her giggling self I thought "what if this happened when I was by myself" During the scare I couldn't even think straight, I was filled with emotion and literally turned into jello. What if I didn't have Austin's calm hands to take over. He was seriously so calm and relaxed and thank Heaven for that because had he showed even an ounce of fear I would have really lost it. So I am now going to sign up for an infant CPR class. I took a course in high school, but obviously I lost that training. Plus it is entirely different when it's your child choking. So hopefully brushing up will better equip me with the knowledge and confidence to take charge and not flounder.

We still don't know what the culprit was, but we were on the couch next to laundry so maybe a lint ball or a small piece of paper? I really have no clue, but there was nothing dangerous on the couch to the best of my knowledge. She didn't even have toys on the couch, no tags, small objects what so ever. I went a little crazy last night after she went to bed and throughly cleaned. I vacuumed like a mad woman this morning before I set her down to play. I am still paranoid that at any moment shes going to find something she could potentially choke on.

Since the event last night Maisie has been extra needy. Wanting to be held more than anything. I don't blame her. It's scary not being able to breathe. I am just so glad shes okay and doing just fine. I think we are just as (or maybe even more) traumatized as she.

Lefty?

Since Maisie was tiny I had a inkling that she might be left handed. For some reason she seemed to favor it, but she still used both hands a lot so it was hard to tell. I have noticed more and more that most of her actions I.E shaking, examining, reaching are done with her left hand. She still picks up stuff with her right, but it almost always ends up in her left. Maybe shes ambidextrous? I guess only time will tell.

Today while going through all of the pictures on my phone I noticed again how much she does in fact use her left hand and I have the goods to prove it...

Evidence #1

Maisie 4 months old

Evidence #2

Maisie at 5 months old

Evidence #3

Maisie at 6 months old

Evidence #4

Maisie at 7 months old

So what do you think?

Gift of Gab

This week Maisie has been surprising us with her new vocabulary. She woke us the other morning by loudly saying "WOO WOO WOO". Also she finally caved into Austin's "Maisie can you say Dada?!" By finally repeating it back to him. She has totally put it together that I'm mama too. She will be playing and all of the sudden she will stop, look right at me and say mama. I think she has also put it together that Austin is dada. She will go all day without saying dada until he comes home (either for his lunch break or when hes off work) and then she will belt it out all of the sudden. We are no longer Austin & Sammie. We are now officially mama & dada. We have been upgraded and it feels great!

The past few days she has started conversational babbling. She really sounds like she is having a full conversation minus the correct words, of course. She plays with her toys and chats away and even changing up her facial expressions. It's amazing how babies pick that stuff up. They learn so organically, just by watching and listening. I still can't believe it. What happened to my stationary, only cried if she needed something baby that was here just a few months ago!?

Since Maisie is so good with her hands (and now communicating) it only made sense to start signing to her. I have been doing it for last couple months and just the basic signs that would make every mom's life a little less crazy. Like milk, more, all done/finished, hungry, thirsty even please and thank you. I thought I saw her do milk once, but right now it's too hard to tell. She watches diligently and I think in no time she will be signing what she needs. Austin isn't 100% convinced, but we'll show him!

Austin is also starting to speak more German to her as well. We are ordering a bunch of board books in German that way they can have a special reading time. Hopefully in the process of him teaching her I will get a little better as well. Our goals are not for her to be necessarily fluent, but to have an ear for it and to have an understanding of the language. She loves to talk and copy cat so I am sure she will love learning the guttural sounds.

I see her growing and learning every day and it's amazing to say the least. There are some days where I stop and all of the sudden it hits me "oh my goodness this beautiful baby is mine." She is my pride and joy and sometimes if it weren't for her squirming away I could seriously kiss her all day long. She is just too cute!

Revamp

I just posted, but I forgot to mention the cosmetic work I did on my blog. I decided it needed to be spruced up a bit. I loved the background that I had. It had Maisie written all over it. It reminded me of her nursery (Woodland creatures). Since I started this blog I have been wanting to make a series of pictures from birth to Maisie's current age (almost 8 months ah!). I started that project today while Maisie was taking her afternoon nap. I kept the old background, but with all the pictures it made it look so busy. Too busy in fact. So I started the hunt to find a background that is still "Maisie-ish" yet much more simple. So I found the orange flowers that look a little vintage and that did the trick. It no longer looks super busy. I love how it turned out.

Return of the Swaddle

Maisie is normally pretty easy to put to sleep. At about 8:30-9 o'clock shes ready for some shut eye. She will rub her eyes, yawn and if we wait a little longer then that she will start fussing. Then a couple weeks ago all of the sudden it was almost impossible to get Maisie to sleep without breaking a sweat. We hit a wall. Austin and I are both so exhausted by days end and in order for her to fall asleep we had to bounce and shush her so hard that it was becoming a chore. "It's your turn to put her down tonight." ...sigh. She was just restless and wanted to practice her new learned source of transport. She always wanted to be on the move. We would get her almost to sleep and then set her in her crib and then all of the sudden shes wide awake either rolling or grabbing onto the crib bars. She would do this until she wanted to be held again (probably about 10 minutes) and then start crying. One night we were so desperate for her to fall asleep that I busted out one of our Aden and Anis swaddling blankets and like a ninja I quickly wrapped her in a tight, near impossible to escape out of swaddle. And you know what? She fell asleep almost instantly. We have been swaddling her every night since and she is so easy to get to sleep now. I am sure she would be fine without the swaddle, but seeing how it is winter I love knowing shes snug as a bug. She seems to enjoy it as well. She always lets out a little giggle as I am swaddling her and it never fails to make me smile.

Little Maisie Bear

The past few days have been beautiful. No rain, nice sunny skies, but absolutly freezing. Yesterday for example didn't get above 35 degrees. Most days I don't mind the dry cold, but I HATE the wet, chilled to the bone weather that Oregon is notorious for. So with this unexpected and rare sunny winter weather we decided to take a nice walk on Monday. We dressed in our winters warmest and put Maisie in a full onesie plus a full body winter bear suit. You can't help but giggle when you see her in it. Our dear friends and neighbors gave it to us and she has already used it quite a few times. It's definitely cozy and warm, which is perfect when we decide to brave the weather for a stroll or to check the mail. We took a couple pictures of Maisie sporting her winter outfit and I knew I would regret not documenting the cuteness that is my Maisie Bear.