Thursday, October 28, 2010

Myth? Not always...

I realize I am the luckiest person in the universe. After dealing with IF, that is... Easy pregnancy (the GD was very educational, and not a problem at all). Ideal delivery (the tearing wasn't great, but swapping quick for no tear? I'll take quick). Perfect, beautiful, amazing, happy baby. It couldn't get any better, right?

Well now, an unexpected gift. There are pants in my closet now in a size I haven't worn since I was in high school. I bought them last night, and they FIT! And not the "if I suck it all in and don't breathe or sit, I can wear these for a few minutes" kind of "fit." Nope, these fit with no muffin-top, no stressed seams, no un-done buttons. Comfortable.

I realize it doesn't work for everyone, but the combination of BFing and taking care of an infant (lots of walks... she loves being outside) CAN dramatically improve your physique. It's not a myth!

I am afraid of what will happen when she weans...

Monday, October 25, 2010

SEVEN !!

Is time flying for everyone, or just me?

Charlotte is 7 months old now. No ped visit to mark this, so I have no idea how tall or heavy she has become. I am certain, however, that she hit some kind of growth spurt immediately after her 6-month appointment because all those 9-month clothes I'd said were too big now fit. And she's too long for most 6-month clothes. And it seemed to happen overnight, after seemingly months of no growing at all (which means she was just growing steadily, as opposed to in spurts).

Big events... She waves, purposefully and with direction, before someone leaves or when she wants to grab their attention. And when she's done with being somewhere, she starts waving bye-bye. We went to two parties this weekend, and when she started getting tired at both, she began waving to me as if to say, "Isn't it about time we said goodbye to these people?"

She signs "eat" when she's hungry. At first, I thought she was just sticking her fingers in her mouth to gnaw on them, but the gnawing didn't happen. And the fingers didn't really go IN the mouth, just up to it. This is amazing. We watch her signing video together every day, and she especially loves the animals. Every morning, when we walk out of her room, she waves enthusiastically toward the office where one of the cats is usually sleeping on the desk chair. It's too dark to see if the cat is even there, so we have to flip on the light to check, but she starts waving as soon as we're out of her room. I'd be willing to bet her next sign will be "cat."

Sitting, rolling over, pivoting, getting up on knees and elbows... all old-hat by now. She's not crawling yet, but has begun trying to pull herself up on things- crib rail, my leg, coffee table, etc. She doesn't know how to put herself in a sitting position, but stays there pretty much forever now. She can lean and reach all over to get a toy, then return herself upright. She can also stand, unassisted (once propped up), while holding onto the couch or a chair or my knee, for about a minute before she gets wobbly.

She has to be on the move, all the time, until she's exhausted. In my lap, she's constantly up and down, standing and sitting, spinning this way and that, or trying to slide down onto the floor. Even when she's nursing, she can't stay still. She's come up with some creative positions. Apparently, the "cradle hold" is for babies and she thinks she's outgrown it (except for when she's tired, then she's all snuggly and calm).

I think she says "hi." It comes out more like "ha," but the timing is appropriate and it's usually accompanied by a wave, so I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt. There you go- her first spoken word. Hi!

She still has no real interest in "solid" foods. We've tried rice cereal, acorn squash, sweet potatoes, and peas. With each, she makes a face, then eats a couple of spoons full before something else grabs her attention. She did have a complete "meal" of rice cereal one evening when she was too congested to nurse.

She's awake... more later, and maybe some photos too.

Monday, October 11, 2010

hurray!

She claps...

Friday, October 8, 2010

quick

It's late, but I'm here so I'll post. Charlotte is 6+ months old already. Holy cannoli! At her pedi appointment, she weighed in at 14 pounds 12 ounces and measured 26 inches tall. That's 25th percentile for weight and 70th for height, or something like that. I can't imagine a baby in a high percentile for weight... at 25%, she's got double rolls around her thighs and chubby chubby cheeks (which she is kind of growing into). She's definitely lean through the middle, though, so I guess "big" babies just have bigger bellies than she does. She still fits comfortably into anything with 6-months in the size, although some of the 3-6's are getting a bit snug lengthwise. After seeing her grow so quickly through the 0-3 month stuff, I jumped ahead and bought some 9-month clothes. I thought she'd be in them already, but they're a little big on her. Cute, so I dress her in them anyhow, but a little loose.






I bought her first pair of jeans. Under $3! And so cute. I'm looking forward to flannel shirts and hiking boots.


She's working on cold #2 now, which came immediately on the heels of #1. The very day I meant to call the pedi to schedule her 6-month shots, she woke up with the sniffles. By day's end, she was having trouble breathing through her nose. At this rate, she might get those shots when she's 14 months old... I just can't give them to her when she's already feeling under the weather, so we'll put them off until she's feeling well. The first cold led to one middle-of-the-night feeding. #2 has included two late-night crying jags that lasted just long enough to convince me she was *really* crying. I picked her up and she immediately zonked back out in my arms. I'm not entirely certain she actually woke up on either occasion. Cold #1 was shared by one of her daycare buddies. #2 was given to her by friends we went apple-picking with last weekend. I checked... they're sick now too. Looks like I won't be letting anyone under 20 hold her until cold season is over.


Aside from the brief interruptions due to colds, she still sleeps consistently from about 7pm to 6am. I pump before going to bed at 10:00, then again at 4:45am when I usually get 8-10 ounces. When she's in daycare or with a sitter, I pump every 3 hours and get 4-5 ounces at a time while she eats 8 ounces 5-times a day. There's no way I could keep up with her if I had to rely exclusively on pumping. I'm nearly out of vacation time (I can't believe I managed to stretch it out this long) and may have to consider LWOP or officially reducing my hours. I worry that the company would never let me return to FT if I reduced my hours, and health insurance will cost twice as much if I'm less than full time. We'll be counting on my job for benefits in 2011, so that's a big concern right now. But if, or rather WHEN we start project sibling, I'll still need to buy individual coverage in order to take advantage of our state's mandates for fertility coverage. My company is not based in this state AND they're self-insured... ergo, exempt from state mandates. (What good is a mandate if everyone's exempt?!)



Ultimately, by the time #2 is born (pleasegodletusbethatlucky!), we'd like our small business to have grown to the point where I won't need my "real" job. I'll keep the books and take care of the babies. Once, I thought I wouldn't be happy with that. But now that I've been a mom for 6 months, it's all I want.



So, more about Charlotte... no crawling yet, but she's a pro at pivoting and rolling to get where she wants to go. She is definitely a morning person, waking up with a huge grin EVERY day, even with a cold. See-


She can sit up, unassisted, for as long as she wants to. Or until she gets excited and leans back to laugh, loses her balance and falls over.
She's got about half an inch to go before she catches up with her caterpillar.
She can hold and tilt a sippy cup to get water into her mouth. When she's upright, she actually drinks the water. Lying down, though, she lets the water run out of her mouth so it puddles below her neck.
She claps (video to come soon if I remember and have time).
She's starting to wave, usually to strangers as they walk by us in the grocery store. Or moments after someone has left the room.
To maintain a routine, we get up at the same time every day and try to get out the door by 7am. On non-"school" days, we go shopping or for a walk. I'm not sure we'll be able to keep that up when DST ends and it's pitch-black outside at that hour.
She babbles and sings and dances and laughs and fills my life with more joy than I ever imagined.