Pulling up into a stand

Last night rosie was helping me fold laundry. She held on to the laundry basket and pulled herself right up into a stand! All by herself! Then she proceeded to topple over because she has no balance and not enough arm strength to hold herself up just yet. But she should be very proud of this accomplishment!

A near miss - we thought breastfeeding was over, but everything is ok now!

Earlier this month, I hit a barrage of hormonal issues. It's a long story, but suffice it to say that my nursing relationship with Rosie was in big trouble. I hadn't noticed how bad it was. The beauty of nursing is never having to wonder how many ounces... how much baby is getting. Babies are amazing self-regulators. And the breastfeeding relationship is perfectly symbiotic. Baby tells mom's body how much to make. That's all there it to it. But in rare cases, things don't work that way, and that's what happened to us. One day early in December, Rosie was clearly uncomfortable. She just wasn't right all day, and was crying a lot. She acted constipated, but wasn't. In the bath, she peed as usual, but her pee was bright yellow. Clearly she was dehydrated. How did this happen? That evening when I pumped, it was a dismal yield, and I knew then she hadn't been getting enough milk.

The situation declined for several days, so we began supplementing her feedings with my freezer stash. I had about 200 oz. in there, so I thought we'd be ok for awhile. The freezer emptied pretty fast. It wasn't long and we had to give her formula. Formula. I never thought any of that stuff would ever pass her lips. It wasn't in my plan. I was really sad.

The realization of just how bleak the situation was upset me a great deal. It was so bad, I didn't see that I could recover. Imagining losing this integral part of my relationship with her was like hearing a dear friend was dying. It was killing me inside. I cried a lot. I wasn't ready to give up.

Because of the milk supply issues, I had to pump often and Rosie had to get a bottle from either Leo or Libby, depending on the time of day. I wasn't even nursing at night. I immediately felt like I had lost part of my bond with her. It was really sad for me. I felt like she didn't know who I was. I don't know how to mother her if I can't nurse. I was really lost.

I was determined to turn it around. After I fixed my hormone issues, I worked my tail off to recover. I started pumping like a madwoman. Every 2 hours if I could. Once I started to see an improvement, I got Rosie back on the breast. I had to pump before every feeding for 2 minutes, nurse, and pump for another 15 minutes while Leo offered her a bottle. It took about 7 days once she was back on the breast to see a recovery... and when I did, it was sudden. One day I was supplementing about 25 ounces a day, and the next I was down to 5. The next: no supplements at all.
We are now supplement free! The formula was happily thrown out, and we are fully recovered. Overall the entire ordeal was 20-some days. I’m glad it is over because it was awful.

Not that I didn't before, but I now truly appreciate every second that I am fortunate enough to be a breastfeeding mom. I never fully understood the beauty of this relationship until I experienced it myself. It is an amazing feeling, to do something for your child that no one else can. And breast milk is so nutritionally perfect in every way. But it's more than just nutrition. Nursing is our "off" button. Nothing calms her faster, makes her sleep easier, or soothes her so happily. She loves it and so do I. I'm a happy mom.

do you want her to eat it? put salt on it.

Rosie comes from a long line of salt lovers, so it is no surprise that she loves the stuff. The only problem is, what kind of parents let their six-month old have salt? Oh it's not that big of a deal, she isn't getting that much and if it means she'll eat more avocado, who cares!

She had her first Saltine cracker this weekend. She loved it! You have to watch her like a hawk or she'll take a big bite and start gagging, but that's all part of the learning process. After she liked the Saltine so much, I thought, what the heck and put some salt on her avocado. After all, that is how I like them so why not? It made a big difference - she ate so much more than usual.

She did NOT like rice cakes - of course not, I got the unsalted kind! Silly me. I'll pick up some salted ones later.

And what do you do when you finish eating all that yummy salt and avocado? Brush your teeth of course!

Rosie makes other babies cry

Not only is Rosie physically strong, but she has a strong personality as well. Today in Gymboree, it was "tummy time" time. If you know Rosie, you know, she loves to be on her tummy! Especially because, at Gymboree there is a big mirror she gets to lay on. So the other babies in the class are a couple months younger than her, and they just don't "get" Rosie's obsession with the tummy.

So she gets on the mirror, and just starts yelling. YELLING. In a happy way, mind you. Then she starts laughing. She's looking into her own face, just cracking up. The other babies looked... and they looked... and then, the tears came. Both babies started completely bawling and Rosie looked up for about 2 seconds, and proceded to resume her yelling, screaming, and laughing. She was thrilled at this beautiful (blue-eyed) baby in the mirror.

She's trying so darn hard to crawl, but she's just not there yet.

Taming the wild tree

On Saturday, we decided to take a trip up into the mountains to get our Christmas tree. If you've ever gotten a wild tree, you'd never want a lot or store-bought tree ever again. For one thing, it's 5 bucks. Plus, you pick the exact tree you want, and none of the trees have been trimmed to look like "Christmas trees". The best part is (as long as you don't forget to water it), it will live way past new year and still smell good. To top it off, you can't beat the experience of packing a lunch and some hot coffee, and heading up into the mountains for the day.

It took us awhile... a 35 mile drive off the highway took us about 2 hours to navigate because we got so ridiculously lost it wasn't even funny. And what else wasn't funny? The excessive amount of shooters we came across. It's news to me that people bring loaded weapons and start shooting on the side of the road... at trees, signs, whatever. It was a little disconcerting when a loaded gun was pointed at our car, but hey, it's all about the experience.

Rosie loved the wilderness! (no shooters nearby)

It took us only 15 minutes to select a tree once we finally found the perfect tree-hunting location. It was about 10 feet tall, perfectly shaped, and left lots of room between branch layers for ornaments.

After we got home, we put a tired Rosie-girl to bed, and decorated our tree.

Rosie's favorite dinner & beverage

How many 6-month old babies do you know who eat cottage cheese & avocado for dinner? Well, Rosie does and she is CRAZY for this combination. Crazy for it! Tonight she at HALF an avocado and 3 of her mini-bowls of cottage cheese. And she always lets you know when it's time for a drink of water. She drinks (i.e., guzzles) from the sippy cup, and every day she gets better at it. Tonight she drank so much I thought she might puke! And, she likes her water COLD. The colder, the better.

Ok but there is one thing. She has not pooped since Thursday. We're readying the bomb shelter so we can hide while Libby changes her diaper when she finally goes, because you can be sure we're not touching it!

Christmas joy, it isn't

I love Christmas. I love the lights, the decorations, shopping for my friends & family, and most of all, I love the family time. I am especially excited for this Christmas, because this time, we are a family.

Ok, now that I've gotten my disclaimers out of the way, I have to tell you that I HATE WRAPPING PRESENTS! Why is this so hard??? Ok first off, howcome every time I start a new wrap job, everything is lost. I JUST USED them two seconds before on another gift, but now I'm scrambling for the scissors. Of course, I measure and cut, and why do they make wrapping paper so CHEAP. Of course it's tearing all over the place. And somehow I got "extra long" paper so the roll is about 9000 feet long. Ok, it's cut and I wrap it around the gift, and WHERE THE HELL IS THE TAPE. I just had it. *sigh*. Oh here it is. Get the main part taped, and it's time to fold up the sides. Oh great it's completely crooked and I have to trim it up so it doesn't look all fat and wrinkled. Finally, all wrapped, tagged ... and... oh my God you have got to be kidding me WHERE IS THE FRIGGIN PEN. Get another pen, and as soon as I finish writing the tag, I find that I am sitting on the first pen.

And then, what do you do with all the little scraps that you had to trim from the piece you just cut? The ones that look like they just might be big enough for a small gift at some point... it seems wasteful to throw it out. But then suddenly you have a big pile of what is really trash, because you are waiting for that perfect size gift that never materializes.

Ok that's it for now... back to the insanity.

Rosie's first Thanksgiving & 6-month birthday

It's hard to believe half her first year is over. It went so fast, but at the same time, it's exciting to imagine what's ahead. I don't mourn the time passed - I look forward to what's next. I absolutely can't wait to see her crawl! A crawling baby is just one of the cutest things in the world. Have you ever seen a room full of crawling babies? It is hilarious. They are like a bunch of giant beetles going every which way.

We spent Rosie's first Thanksgiving at Papa & Grammy's house. It was a lot of fun. Rosie's favorite part, without a doubt, was the dogs. I have never, ever heard her laugh so hard for so long - and EVERY TIME she saw them! The first day she seemed to not notice them, and then the next day, she just suddenly realized they were there. You can see a video of the laughter. It was too much.

So, what have we been through in the last 6 months? Let's see . . .

• a 210% increase in weight


• a 146% increase in height


• baby acne


• early smiles and early giggles


• one cold


• one cough


• a flight to salt lake city


• a flight to new jersey


• non-sleep sleep


• swaddle weaning


• pacifier weaning


• sleep training


• two teeth


• sleep retraining


• learning to sit


• sleep re-retraining


• starting solids


• rejecting solids


• starting table food


• learning to give hugs

Happy six month birthday baby girl! There is so much in store for you for the next six months! We love you!

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