Checkup

Alaina had her one-month checkup this morning even though she's 6 1/2 weeks old now. That's because she was in the hospital when her one-month appointment passed.
Alaina weighed 10 pounds 11.2 ounces and is 21.5 inches long. She's in the 70th percentile for her weight, whereas her head and height measurements are in the 30s in terms of percentile (but the dr seemed fine with that).
For those not interested in extremely detailed information about all Alaina's "issues," skip this part. We asked a bunch of questions and here's what we found out:

• Lingering congestion: probably either newborn congestion or due to dry heat (her lungs sounded good and no ear infection).
• Rash/acne on face: probably due to dryness, so a steriod cream was prescribed.
• Crying after feedings: probably needs to be burped more.
• Gassiness: basically this will get better with time, and extra burping may help, too. (Sounds like if I haven't had luck with giving up dairy by now -- 5 1/2 weeks without it -- it is not likely to be the cause of her gassiness.) I will probably gradually back off of the elimination diet I'm currently on and just take note if the gassiness worsens. Yay -- I may be able to eat cheese and ice cream again! Not to mention bread, pasta, etc. (I've been mainly eating turkey, rice, potatoes, pears, and squash for the past week and a half.)
• Irritability/squirminess: it was suggested that getting her on more of a schedule will help with this. I had started out trying to introduce a loose schedule, but I ditched it when she was in the hospital and afterwards because she seemed to feel better if I followed her cues. I'll try more of a schedule this week (while remaining sensitive to how she's feeling/what she needs). She sometimes stays awake for pretty long periods of time during the day (not always fussy -- often it's calm alertness) and the dr seemed to think she needed to sleep more.
• Precautions when going out: Dr suggested continuing to keep her away from crowds and going out much until March or April! Apparently they're seeing more RSV cases than ever this year, and she said flu season follows RSV and doesn't end until March/April. She suggested taking her to a local mall and pushing her in the stroller if I get cabin fever.

OK -- that was extremely detailed! But many of you have kindly been interested in all her various issues, so I thought I'd let you know what we were able to find out from the doctor.
***If you skipped the previous paragraphs, start reading again now!***
Alaina has started doing two new things: 1.) If the pacifier is in her mouth and she wants to get rid of it, she sometimes will grab it with her hand and pull it out (rather than just spitting it out). 2.) She is starting to imitate faces. Last night, Todd was sticking his tongue out at her and then she did it in response (several times). This is a fun new game to play with her.
By request, I'm finally including a photo of Alaina with me (OK, so that request may have come from my own mother...). I'm more comfortable with the camera, so we have more photos of her alone or with Todd. We'll do more photo sessions that include me from now on. This was taken this morning before we left for her appointment: