She sucks on her two middle fingers

I have not been able to get a picture of it but Marissa is so cute sucking on her two middle fingers. I knew she was going to have to be a thumb sucker or something because no way, no how would she take a pacy! (Unless, of course, it is duct taped to her face...not that I've ever done that!) She is such an easy baby because she will comfort herself and put herself to sleep sucking on those fingers.

Tomorrow morning we got free tickets to see LarryBoy and the Bad Apple at the movies. Right now though Molly is not feeling very well. I hope she will get to go tomorrow. Ikey LOVES going to the movies! Jake, not so much. He'd just as soon stay home and play or have friends over. Bruce and I actually had a date night last Friday and went to the movies. We saw the Break-up. Don't recommend it...Vince Vaughn just curses way too much! Besides, if we wanted to hear a couple fighting we could have just gone next door! LOL (I was under the impression that it was a comedy. Not so.) Oh well, our dinner at Hemingway's was nice.

Marissa turned six months old on Wednesday. Next Tuesday she has a well check and her first visit with the OT. I'll update with her new weight and what the OT says about the wee one. Until then...

She's growing!

Now a whopping 9 pounds 3/4 ounce! She really loves her Daddy. Every time she looks at him she just breaks out into huge smiles. She really likes to "talk" to him too. The vowel sounds she makes is like she is really trying to tell him something very important! She's adorable! Friday the kids and I went to Gold Mines to pick out some "purposeful toys". Toys with texture and sound to help her senses. The one major area of delay we could have with Marissa being so early is 'tactile defense'. It is common for premeeies to have sensitivity to touch and texture. There are things we can do to help this like buying these toys, exposing her to grass, dirt, sand etc., different types of materials, things like that. This is so not my parenting style! I like the kids to be clean, avoiding dirt and sand especially! I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks! 

Nine pounds 3/4 ounces

Went to the doctor for a weight check Monday and found out that Marissa is now 9 pounds 3/4 ounce. That's nearly a two pound gain in one month! I was concerned because she isn't getting as many bottles as a 2 month old (her adjusted age) should be getting. She only takes about 5 four ounce bottles a day instead of the 6 to 8 that is recommended. Some days she only gets 4 bottles. This happens because of what time she gets up in the morning. I am a firm believer in letting a sleeping baby sleep, but because of the weight that Marissa needs to catch up on I still wake her during the day time every 3 to 4 hours. During the day she pretty much wakes up herself actually. But once we hit the 7 p.m. feeding it's lights out for her! She could easily go to bed at 8:30 p.m. and sleep until 8:30 a.m. I wake her up every night at 10 or 11 for that last bottle but she just doesn't take more than an ounce and a half. I'm glad I took her for the weight check because I looked back at the records I keep for the other kids and they had a lot more feedings. Sometimes I feel like a brand new mom taking care of my first baby! I guess I am a brand new mom taking care of Marissa Kay. I never had her before!