+ Time flies +
I have been dreadful about regular updates lately. I will try to work on that. Work has been a little unpleasant of late, so that has hampered my blogging spirit somewhat.

Anyway, you are SICK again! You have a cough and runny nose, and started getting a fever Sunday night. Sunday night you WOULD NOT sleep, period. Nothing we did would get you to sleep. (post interrupted... I'll post more later!)

+ Vacation +
I'm back from my little mini-vacation. All is well. Just wanted to post a quick update that my little problem from last week resolved itself very quickly (thank God), and everything else is just fine. More later!

+ OWWWWWWWWWIEEEEEEE! +
(This entry written to the reader, not Ceili)
Ouch ouch ouch. I have some blocked milk ducts, I think. In case anyone's wondering, yes, I'm still pumping. Just as frequently as in the beginning, so I guess I'm going on 7 months of pumping now (wowza!). Well, I have been wondering lately why my supply has been dropping. I know Ceili's eating more solid foods, but I'm still making a pretty big demand with the pump on myself. Well, I figured out that one of the membranes on my pump was torn slightly, and it wasn't sucking like it was supposed to be. I replaced that before my final pumping yesterday and YAY! It was back to how it should be.

Fast forward to 2:30 a.m. The munchkin wakes me up - she has a bit of a cold - and I go in to feed her. I notice that my right breast is tender. At 5:00 when I am awakened yet again, it's VERY tender. After feeding her, I went to get a hot washcloth and curled up on the couch with it, to heat and massage the ducts into opening. I had very little response.

Now it's 9:00 and the right side of my right breast is hard as a ROCK. I don't appear to have a fever, lethargy, or any red streaking which are the symptoms of mastitis. I had this happen once before, when we were in Seattle. I - ahem - drank a little too much and basically passed out asleep before I could pump before bed. By the time I woke up in the morning, I was in agony. It took ALL day pumping to get the clogged ducts free, and it was sore for 2 days.

But I'm wondering if the pump's suction not working correctly combined with Ceili's half-a$$ed nursing because of her clogged nose the last 24 hours - AND combined with Fenugreek (which I have taken, but not a ton of) have resulted in too much milk and nowhere to go.

This sucks. And hurts. A lot!

+ Slow down! +
Why do I suspect I'll be saying that for the rest of my life? Somehow, in the last 2 days, you have decided to USE that energy stored up in that tiny little body. Goodness, I can't keep up with you. I followed you around last night as you explored the dining/living rooms for the first real time by yourself. You can crawl fast now, and go from lying down to crawling, to sitting, to pulling up all without hesitation. You can pull up on a WALL. And you like to climb me. I have to admit that last one makes me grin like a ninny and shower you with kisses, but I'm still amazed at how quickly you went from relatively helpless and immobile to... well... a child!

I took a TON of pictures as I followed you around and watched what you managed to get into. I'll post some here tonight, and all the rest in her album. Hope you like 'em.

+ FOUR +
Four teeth! Already! How is this possible? You upper lateral incisor is now matched by another one. It's just peeked through, but it's there alright. I wish those two central incisors would show signs of coming. Ach, well.

Your newest sound is a raspberry/motorboat sound. More like a motorboat since it's often accompanied by a soft humming. Silly girl. You mix that with growling and squealing. Geez, I can only imagine what you're trying to say.

You have weird energy lately. Last night you were bouncy and squirmy more than ever before. And this morning? You were bouncy and squirmy like last night. Good Lord, it took me 5 minutes to get your socks on. I set you down on the couch and the second your butt hit the couch, you were off, one direction or another trying to crawl away. I did finally convince you to sit still and we got your socks on. But I see signs of the toddler to come. Oh my goodness.

+ Teeth and Feet +
Well, you got another tooth on Friday and another one yesterday (Sunday). Go, Ceili! Your second tooth was the one to match your bottom right one. Like two weeks ago on Friday, you went to school without it, and came home with it! I was beginning to think every second Friday would bring a new tooth. But then yesterday came. You decided to pop out with your top left lateral incisor (i.e. NOT the middle one, the one next to it). Hmmm. This is not the "typical" order teeth arrive. On the other hand, that's the one I swore would come through four months ago because it felt like it was right there. The other one seems like it might be coming in, too, so hopefully your central incisors will pop through soon to keep them company. You have three teeth now, none of which match up - that'll make chewing tricky. So far, you have done nothing more than just barely grazing me when nursing. Please keep it that way.

Feet - We bought your first real pair of shoes yesterday. They're white leather first baby shoes with firm, flexible soles. They're really very cute, and you already like smacking your feet against the car seat and making noise. I think Grandma has this idea that you NEED them right now, but I don't agree with her. I don't think you'll be wearing them every day, just when you need shoes (i.e. if we go to the park and you're practicing your walking).

On that note, you took your first trip to the park yesterday! You were in heaven. We went down the slide 4 or 5 times, and you weren't quite sure what to make of that. You also went in the swing for a long time and seemed to really enjoy it. You held on to the handles on the infant swing perfectly, so I guess you really are old enough for it. When another little girl (22 mos.) came by, your doggie growled to protect you. Not charming for the little girl, but I was proud that Princess has grown so attached to you.

HALLOWEEN! You were a lovely purple monkey. Friday you happened to be VERY sleepy, which didn't help things, but you looked adorable. I took you around to our immediate neighbors, who all oooooh'ed and aaaaah'ed over you. And then we went to Uncle Chris and Mason's house for a little party. You played with everyone for a little bit, and happily went to sleep around 8. Big party girl! :) (I put Halloween pictures in her album, so again, if you don't have acess and want it, say the word!) The pictures I got aren't the best, so I might try to pose some soon and take good ones. We'll see.