Peanut

Before Lila was born, she was invited to participate in a baby study at the University and we agreed. Lila has been to the U twice since her birth, once at 3 weeks of age, and again at 3 months of age. The study monitors babies' growth over the course of their early months to predict factors for childhood obesity. During the visits, Lila is weighed and measured and then she's placed into a machine called the Pea Pod. The Pea Pod uses air displacement to measure Lila's body composition. When Lila was 3 weeks old, she screamed the entire 2 minutes that she was in the Pea Pod. Thankfully the Pea Pod is essentially sound proof, so while I could see her little crying face, I couldn't hear her. (Here's a video of the Pea Pod in use. Neat!)

Yesterday we went back for Lila's second visit and what a difference a few months makes! Lila was happy as a clam the whole time she was in the Pea Pod. She chewed on her fist and watched me intently.

How cute is the baby skull cap they put on her? I love it!

With yesterday's study, we learned that Lila is not the chunky monkey we were told she was at her 2 month well baby visit. I really thought that there was no way Lila could have been 15 lbs 5 oz at her 2 month visit, especially since she had weighed in at 10 lbs just a few weeks earlier at her old pediatrician's office. But then again, a scale's a scale, so what do I know? Well, at yesterday's session Lila weighed in at 13 lbs, 8 oz. Now *that* seems right! The researcher weighed her twice and assured me that their scale had just been calibrated for the purpose of accurate study results. She still recommended that I call Lila's pediatrician to make them aware of the snafu and see if they wanted her in the office to re-weigh her. I called and scheduled her next well-baby visit a week earlier than previously scheduled, but the nurse seemed to think that their scale must have been off. I wonder if they noticed a sudden rash of ginormous babies that day! Sheesh.

In other news, Miss Lila seems to have acquired her first cold. It was a rough night last night. Lila was terribly congested, and nothing we did seemed to ease her breathing and alleviate her frustration. She vomited mucous a few times which was really scary. The Baby Line nurse seemed to think that Lila just has a cold and advised that we let her sleep in her car seat. After finally settling in at 1:45 am, Lila slept straight through until about 7 am, but I barely slept a wink. Her breathing was so loud and labored that I just couldn't relax.

Today she seems to be feeling a bit better. She's at home with Grandma right now and all reports are that she is in good spirits with decreasing congestion. I'm so relieved! It's so frustrating and sad to watch your baby suffer and to not be able to explain to her why you're torturing her with a snot sucker.

We knew that Lila would probably get sick once we sent her to daycare, but we didn't expect to have to deal with illness quite so soon. Maybe she got the snot from daycare, maybe not, but still...ugh. I'm glad we have the weekend to stay home and help our baby girl feel better before we all return to the big, bad world again on Monday.