+ Tinkle Winkle, Tinky Winky, Woo Woo Woo +
Oh, yes, my dear daughter. This morning you discovered the wonders of Teletubbies. I fear our lives may never be the same.

+ All better +
I've been bad about posting, but you are all better now. You were feeling a bit better by Sunday, and seemed pretty much back to yourself by Monday evening. Thank goodness for that! You are smily and happy and energetic again. In fact, Maria told me that you crawled on Monday. I won't believe it until I see it. But I think it probably is true. What kind of baby crawls before she can really sit? Of course, you're very close to having that mastered too. Your favorite new thing to do is drink out of my water cup. In fact, I cannot hold a glass of anything without you nearly falling out of my arms to grab and drink from it. Silly girl. You lap it right up, too. You may bypass sippy cups completely at this rate. Nah. You like to swing your bottle around too much. I know you'll do the same with a cup so it needs a lid on it for sure.

Michelle came over last night. You seemed to like that. You were very happy when she was holding you. But you were pretty darned sleepy and conked right out when I nursed you. Oh, well. She'll be back to visit next week, we hope!

+ Sick baby +
You are sick sick sick today. (Notice I said you were clingy yesterday, and my mommy instinct was to stay home with you). Well, last night you had a slight fever, about 101.2 and you were throwing up a fair bit. I gave you some Tylenol and you slept ALL evening, then all night and off and on all day today. We had a Dr's appointment midday, and your temperature is better but you're still sick. You screamed bloody murder when she felt your tummy. She said you were the fifth baby she'd seen by noon today with a stomach virus. We stopped at the store and you threw up a TON. That was gross. You're in your pack and play right now, sleeping again, after I gave you about 2 oz. of apple-flavored Pedialyte. Poor thing. Nothing is more sad than a sick baby, especially your own sick baby. Daddy and I are just so sad to see you like this. I had to miss work today, too, but thankfully it was a family illness day.

+ m-i-s-s-i-n-g +
I'm missing you today something terrible. :-( Don't know why it's today, specifically. Might be the way you were so clingy this morning. Or how good your hair smelled with Lavendar soap from your bath last night. Or how you reached for daddy's face when I was holding you and he came up to kiss you. *sigh* Just made me want to stay home this once...

By the way, if anyone needs access to her second 3 months album, send me an email to kerry@prettyinpurple.net and I'll send you the link. Her third 3 month album will begin shortly. And I still am going to make a passworded area eventually, I promise, and the links will be on that.

+ HAPPY SIX MONTHDAY! +
Six whole months old. Can you believe it? I can't. On one hand, you seem so much "newer" than that. But on the other, being in the hospital feels like years ago. I guess that's how it goes.

You had an eventful weekend. Grandma's home from her vacation, so we spent some time with her. When we went shopping you sat facing forward in the stroller like a "big girl." It's still big for you and you slip around a little, but in all I think you really enjoyed it! Sunday night you got your first taste of cereal! Woo hoo! Furthermore - THAT you really enjoyed. See?



Daddy got into the action for your second bowl (yes, you liked it so much I made a second small bowl!).



Your crawling is getting ever closer, and so are those teeth. You were up on all fours in your pack-and-play on Saturday, and daddy moved your toys away to tempt you. You lifted one leg, just like you were going to crawl... and rolled to one side. Okay, so your balance isn't quite there, but it's close! Your teeth are right under the surface and you keep sucking on them (and, really, everything else).

Nursing you is becoming a sport. Apparently, when grandma picked you up at daycare and helped you finish your bottle, she got to experience part of what's causing our current fun... You like to pull the bottle out of your mouth ("tthhhhWAP!") and look around, then shove it back in, suck and repeat. Yes, well, that's cute with a bottle. Okay, it's cute when you're nursing too but also a little annoying. :)

+ Mixed feelings +
You're already growing up too fast. I love that you have this wonderful personality coming through. I love that we get winning smiles as you try to crawl, or giggle when you spot us in the mirror, or talk to yourself in the mornings alone in your crib. But I miss the teeny-tiny baby that came home... just a little.

There's a new baby at daycare. His name is Caleb, and he's two months old. Just looking at him reminded me of not-so-long-ago when you were that little (or moreso). Not only does it make me realize how much you've already grown, but it makes me sad that you're not "the baby" anymore. Someone else's baby gets to make all the rounds in Maria's arms for the Ooohs and Aaaahs of the other teachers. And you will be in a bouncy chair somewhere while it's happening. I know this is all the natural progression of things and I wouldn't trade the months of watching you grow up already for anything. It's a bittersweet thing I think I'll have to get used to. The thought of you graduating from high school gives me a cold sweat.

Anyway. You had a nice weekend. You spent Saturday evening with Grandpa and Grandma and showed that you really are in another growth spurt. Great. Well, you're going to get some more formula. You'll be 6 months in a week, so I don't feel horribly about this. I just can't pump enough for your normal needs, let alone a growth spurt. I will keep pumping the max my body will allow (and some mornings now I'm getting 4-5 oz. easily out of one side with some careful planning), but if I can't get enough, I am allowing myself to give you formula. I just need to figure out what kind is best now. There are too many darn choices.

There's a new afternoon person at daycare. I'll meet her this afternoon. I hope I like her. I'll really miss Kate; you and I gave her a thank you card last Friday. Too bad you won't remember her. :(

+ Trying +
Oh, how you are trying to crawl. My new favorite thing is to bring you in to our bed in the afternoon or evening and play with you. That's where you get the most tummy time with me, because you can still see me okay. I try to get where you can see me on the floor when we play, but you get frustrated more quickly there. Lately, instead of either pushing your butt up or doing push-ups with your arms, you bring your feet in and your chest up - just like crawling. But you keep your head ducked down on the bed and don't realize you can lift it and crawl like that. Just a matter of time, I'm sure. You're really trying hard to figure it out, and you're very happy to look around in that push-up position for a long time.

Last night when you were pitching a fit, you were essentially standing on my legs. I was just barely holding you under your arms (more to keep you vertical than anything else), and you were even gently bouncing your knees - but keeping control and maintaining your standing position. I never dreamed that would be getting so close. I think once you figure out crawling, you'll start pulling up VERY quickly.

You hold on to me more now when I'm holding you. And you figured out how to put your binky back in your mouth when you pull it out. And you figured out - much to my chagrine - that it's amusing to drop toys from your high chair to the floor while I'm doing the dishes, thus making me stop what I'm doing to pick it up, dust it off and hand it back to you. Neat trick. I know I need to get used to that one.

No poop at daycare yesterday; you saved it for me. Yep, I got the grody poop last evening, thanks. It actually didn't seem to bother you much, and you got a nice bath in return.

So full of love for you this morning. When I came in to your room to get you up and your face lit up to say "hi mommy!" my heart just melted. I think that's one of my favorite things in the entire world. Someday I'll miss these baby days.

+ Poopyhead +
All right, this post is about baby poop. If that bothers you, just pass this one on up.

Yesterday and the day before, you had some interesting poop experiences. Tuesday morning, you pooped normally. Tuesday afternoon you had three watery diarrhea diapers right in a row. Then, nothing. Wednesday morning, you had a diarrhea diaper, and yesterday afternoon, you had a green diarrhea diaper. Okay, alarms are going off. Last evening, nada. Luckily (or not), daycare got all of these. So nice of you. When we got home, I called your Doctor's office, and the nurse (finally) called me back. She asked me a ton of questions, and we reviewed a ton of information. Basically, she said not to worry too much. You don't seem dehydrated and I know now the specific symptoms to watch for. Thankfully, you don't seem bothered by this current problem, so that's a blessing. The green one is just because it ran through your system so fast it wasn't properly absorbed. I informed her that with my Celiac, I was sadly and unfortunately familiar with green poop.

Hopefully I will pick you up this afternoon and NOT get a run-down on your diarrhea for the day. The entire point of breastfeeding is to save you from these kind of afflictions. Sorry. Must've been something I ate.

Your afternoon daycare girl, Kate, is leaving after this week. :-( I'm very sad about this. I like her very much and felt she really listened to what I was requesting. Hopefully whoever they get to replace her will make me as confident. I am nervous about it, I'll admit.

+ Big girl +
Daycare told me yesterday that you're holding your own bottle now. What a big girl you are! This is a milestone I wouldn't normally know about, since I don't ever feed you with a bottle. I wondered, though, since you've been happily reaching for the pacifier/binky whenever I go to put it in your mouth. You also wrap your arms around my arm when I'm playing with you, rooting. (You'd think I never feed you the way you root, but that's beside the point).

You've outgrown some of my favorite outfits on you. Your purple Ceili outfit is too small now. :-( I'm sad about that, but it is the first in a long line of outgrown things I'll just have to accept. I'm going to try to find you a cute cuddly doll to put the outfit on so you can enjoy it. Not like we'll find another Ceili to give it to, so we might as well get some use out of it!

We had a bad evening last night. You were super-cranky. And I am thinking daddy woke you up by being too noisy when he came home, since you woke up screaming around 11:15. I'll have to talk to him about that.

+ Sniffle +
I was just going back and looking at some of the pictures from the baby shower our family and friends held for us less than 2 weeks before you were born. I look at my little baby belly and it's so hard to believe that was you in there! I look at the room before you lived in it and it seems so plain, so impersonal - even though it's not technically all that different now. But now it has memories, warmth, months of midnight feedings in the dark, tears and laughs... It's like the difference between a house and a home. And that's all from you. I remember how I felt that day, how excited and nervous, and really just lost I felt! I had no idea what I was really getting into, and in some ways I still don't. But to see the little clothes you've actually worn (and even outgrown!), to see the excited looks on my face and daddy's, and how happy everyone was to see us just makes me teary. What an amazing change in just six months.

+ This week +
This is World Breastfeeding Week. Congratulations to anyone who has ever tried to breastfeed, and to those who will. It's not the be-all, end-all, but it's an excellent first start for your beloved infant.

+ Oh, yeah +
Incidentally, in 18 days you will be SIX MONTHS OLD. That simply cannot be possible.

+ No worse for wear +
You're still fine today, thank God. Of course, you fell asleep around 7 last night which was nice... until 4 this morning, when you decided you were awake for the day. (Don't get excited, readers. She woke up at 12:30 too. Heh.) Oh, well. Fortunately, I took myself to bed around 8:30 so I wasn't too tired.

You are squealing and "talking" SO much, it's amazing. You're not babbling as early as I was, but you're way ahead of your daddy. In fact, you're much more physically advanced than I was at your age, but behind your daddy. It's weird how much you're a mix of both of us, and ending up right on target. I still think you're kind of petite, but you are so filled out it's really neat. You've got these great thighs - I call them your thunder thighs. :-) I'm such a nice mommy. I like them, though, so it's not a negative thing.

Anyway, we're still working on sitting and crawling. And food isn't too far away. I have to admit, I'm looking forward to worrying slightly less about whether or not you're getting enough food from me. The thunder thighs should indicate I have nothing to worry about, but the disapproving attitude of your daycare folks (well, Maria anyway) always makes me second-guess myself.