Busy week and lots to remember!

So, I missed my "Things I don't want to forget" post because I was enjoying a lovely week in Gulf Shores, Alabama. It was beautiful, if hot, most of the week and, until the last day there, we neither saw or smelled oil. Unfortunately, all that changed on the last day when it began washing ashore in little spots. It makes me so incredibly sad, and mad. The beautiful Gulf will never be the same. I'm sorry that Sprout will not remember the beautiful white sand and blue-green water.

But it was a great week, even though staying in a beach house with a bunch of in-laws is definitely stressful. We had our moments, but for the most part, everyone behaved well and had a nice vacation. Now, we are home with my 7 year-old niece who will be staying with us for about a week and a half. She is full of energy and a lot of fun, but she keeps us busy. It should be interesting.

So, to the things I don't want to forget:

1. Sprout got up to a sitting position on her own twice. I went in to pick her up from her nap one day and there she was sitting up (crying). She did it again another time when she was with DH, but we did not see her actually do it. I'm still waiting for that. We moved the crib down a notch. It kind of makes me sad.

2. Yesterday, when we finally made it home, she decided to commando crawl for the first time. Yikes! She is on the move. I predict that she will be onto a regular crawl soon. I am so not ready for mobility, but I guess that doesn't matter.

3. On our first flight on the way home, Sprout was crying when we landed and were waiting to get off the plane. When I stood up, I accidentally bonked her head on the overhead bin. I apologized and felt awful - then I realized that she had completely stopped crying. The passengers around us just laughed. Poor thing.

4. Speaking of the crying baby. We have 4 more teeth on the way. Sprout was teething all week, so she was a little on the fussy side constantly and very clingy. She was a trooper, though, and still managed to have a good time. The two top middle teeth are starting to poke through, and the ones next to them are definitely on the way. Poor baby. I'm also wincing in anticipation. I hope breastfeeding doesn't suffer (or more accurately that the breastfeeding mama doesn't suffer!)

5. Sprout met all 7 of her cousins on DH's side of the family. We had a big family portrait done with his dad, 3 siblings, and all of the grand kids. It was fun, but trying to get 8 kids under the age of 8 (6 of them under 5)to look at the camera at the same time, was definitely a challenge.

6. As you can see by the picture, Sophia has learned a new skill - the fish face. It is hilarious and kept us all laughing. She was hamming it up at a restaurant on our last night in Alabama and all the servers and front staff had to come by and see for themselves. I love that little girl!

I actually could detail our beach memories for hours, but I'll leave it at that. We definitely enjoyed the trip and feel so blessed to have such a good traveler.

Things I don't want to forget

• This afternoon, my little girl babbled "mamama" for the first time! I realize that it's meaningless babble, but I still love it!
• I inked her up to put her footprint in DH's Father's Day Bible and I couldn't get all the ink off. It's still under her fingernails (I tried to do her hand, too, unsuccessfully), but DH hasn't noticed. If he does, I think I'll tell him that it was like that when I picked her up from jail. Must be from the fingerprinting.
• Sprout attended her first wedding on Saturday and she was an angel. She was also doted upon by her aunts and cousins. It was a fun trip, even though the wedding wasn't really my cup of tea.
• New phrase in our household: "How did she get all the way over there?" Can't keep our eyes off of her for a second anymore!
• Packing for a trip to the beach with a baby is stressful. I hope we enjoy it, despite the oil.
• When you shake a stuffed animal in her face, Sprout laughs hysterically. That and bath time zerberts are about the only way to get her laughing reliably.
• She reaches out to me now when I go to pick her up. She's been doing it for a little while, but I don't think I've written it down. It makes me want to melt. And she's either trying to kiss me or nurse on my cheek. Probably the latter, but I'll pretend it's the former.

Having a hard time

So, I've been avoiding writing or blogging about this, but I've been having a really tough time lately. I was really concerned I would have PPD, but then the early months came and went and I was fine. I was tired and nervous like any first-time mom, but I was doing well. Over the last month or so, all of that has changed. I don't know what's going on. I'm irritable and snippy. I want to strangle the dog half the time and I get upset with my husband over stuff that shouldn't matter. I cry at the drop of a hat and I feel like I'm going to explode any moment.

I love my little girl so much and I feel like I'm failing her and like I've let my whole family down because I can't do a better job with her, with the house, with everything. I thought that it may be related to my menstrual cycle at first, but now, instead of ebbing and flowing, it seems like I feel like this most of the time. DH made a counseling appointment for me, but we had to cancel because I had no one to take care of Sophia, which made me feel even worse.

We're going on vacation next week. Hopefully, the beach won't be covered in oil and it will be a nice getaway and I can deal better with life when I return. Right now, I just feel kind of rotten. I may very well delete this post later because I don't anyone to know, even people I only know online. I know I shouldn't be embarrassed, but I am. And I'm scared. I grew up terrified of my mom because she exploded in anger all the time. I can't be like that. Sophia deserves better. I will get help, but I just don't know how right now.

Things I don't want to forget

Hey, I'm on time this week!

Sophia has started saying "dadada" and "gagaga" in addition to her "bababa" she's been babbling for awhile now. She has also mixes them up into "gagadadga." I love it. I'm pretty sure I heard a "papapa" once, too!

She is on the move. The pack-n-play doesn't cut it anymore. We got one of those big plastic play-yard fences to put in our large living room. I can let her play and roll around while I cook dinner or clean the kitchen. I'm amazed at how much she moves. She has lunged and scooted some, but no real signs of crawling.

We have to retire the Bumbo. Sophia figured out how to get out of it. I am not exactly sure how she did it. I liked to have her sit with me when I was working in the kitchen, but earlier in the week, I had her there, turned to stir a pot, and when I turned back around, she was on the floor staring up at me flat on her back! I didn't hear a thing, so she must have done it gently, since it's a hard tile floor. I'm glad she didn't hurt herself. I now set up a little basket, just outside the kitchen door (where it's carpeted) with a few kitchen toys (her favorite is the egg separator).

She has become a very good eater, often eating two full stage 2 jars of baby food at a meal. She's gotten mashed up banana and sweet potato a few times and loved it, but she wasn't a fan of the avocado. I don't think I mashed it up enough. I'll have to try again sometime.

We bought and ordered a bunch of baby-proofing stuff. I cant believe we're going to need it all soon. We tried not to be too crazy about it, but it's still a lot - gates for the stairs and the fireplace, outlet covers, stuff for cords and such, cabinet locks. We have a lot of work to do!

I ordered DH a Bible for Father's day with his name engraved on it. I'm going to put a special inscription in it and, if I can manage to get it done, cross-stitch a bookmark with a special verse. Please feel free to leave your recommendations. I have a few in mind, but haven't decided yet. I really hope he likes it.

I took Sophia to my old school on Monday to see my former students. We both had a blast. Everyone thought she was beautiful (which she is, of course). It was good to see the kids and my former coworkers again. I really do miss having adults to talk to.

I guess that's all for now! We're either going to go to the pool or the library this afternoon. I haven't decided which one. We need to get out and have some fun!

Things I don't want to forget

So, while I was inspired last week, I let this Thursday come and go. Oops. It's never too late to remember, though, so here's my installment. It's been pretty exciting!

We took Sprout in for a weight check and after months of worrying, she is doing great! She went from the 14th percentile at her 6 month check (which was okay, but still needed a little monitoring to make sure she stayed on track), to the 24th this week. Wow! I'm so relieved that I can relax a little in terms of her eating. She's been trying to drop a nursing session and now I'm going to let her. That makes mommy happy, too, as I feel like I can't do much because I spend my entire day feeding her!

Sophia is on the move! She figured out this week that she can roll to get somewhere. She is loving it. I'm scared, because this is just the beginning of mobility, I know, but I love seeing her have so much fun rolling all over the floor getting toys that are scattered everywhere. She also sticks her bottom up in the air and tries to inchworm a little. Once she figures out how to get up on her hands, it's all over!

She is not napping very well. I don't know if she's already ready to drop a nap or she's just decided that she's going to protest more. I think I need to crack out that Ferber book again and figure out what to do because we've had one too many failed naps to explain away. Something is changing.

She now loves peek-a-boo. She has never cared about it before, even though I've been trying it since she was a few weeks old. She always just stared at me blankly. Now, she thinks it's the best game in the whole world. When daddy hid behind pillows and popped up to say "boo!" the other night she thought it was the most hilarious thing she'd ever seen. It is so cute!

The other day I was holding her up by her hands in a standing position, which she has always loved. For the first time, on her own initiative she started taking steps. She wants to walk!

Yesterday, daddy bought her first piano - the little one that you pound the keys to hit the xylophone. She loves making noise. She definitely did not need another toy, but dad couldn't resist.

She is beginning to show signs of separation anxiety. Not too thrilled about that. It's not terrible yet, but if I'm in the room and leave, she fusses, even if she's with DH. She can be distracted out of it most of the time, but it's still no fun. I think this may be the source of some of our napping issues since she's also been protesting bedtime much more lately.

That's all I can think of right now, even though I feel like there is so much more. It's been a full week!

Lillian

I think all of you who follow my blog already know about Lillian and her amazing mom, Sarah. If not, read up on her journey with Prader-Willi syndrom and a world that can be so different than the one we we live in with our "normal" struggles and fears and triumphs and the grace with which this family has faced such a scary diagnosis:

http://fallingforbaby.blogspot.com/

Some amazing girls are trying to do something to make life better for little Lillian and others with PWS. Please consider following their journey and contributing to their efforts:

http://www.runningforlillian.blogspot.com/

Living WIth a Pediatrician

So, DH is a pediatrician. He is not officially our little girl's pediatrician, but he's still the first line of defense. This has its many advantages and disadvantages.

On the plus side:

1. And this is the biggest one - he can tell me when something is worth worrying about, or more often, completely normal. Bumps, rashes, odd stools, whatever. Being able to text DH about a poop question is pretty handy. How many other people send their DH's messages that say, "poop has been getting runnier all day, should I be worried?" and get a response, "Probably just from her cold. As long as they aren't more frequent, no need to worry."

2. Medicine: He can tell me when to up the dose on Zantac or whether this is an appropriate occasion for Tylenol. He even ran out to get Motrin when she first started teething because she was now officially six months old and he thought it would help more. When it says, "consult pediatrician," he's very handy.

3. He has connections. Need an appointment? No problem. Just want someone to take a quick peak into the ears? Just swing by the office. Want to weigh her? Come by around lunch time. He can get a prescription or an extra bulb syringe or just a second opinion about mundane baby stuff.

The downside:

1. He sees really, really sick babies. This means that a) He tells me about them, which makes me sad and concerned and b) He tends to jump to conclusions sometimes and worry about a worst-case-scenario that would have never crossed my mind. It's kind of like on our honeymoon when my legs hurt from wearing heels all day the day before and he was all worried about blood clots. It can stress me out.

2. No rule bending: If it says for 9-months and older, then we wait until she's 9 months. I wanted to try giving her some puffs or other finger foods, but no dice. He says she's fine and there's no hurry and I know he's right, but still. No snuggling in bed or bumpers or loveys or mirrors in the car...you get the idea.

3. He works a lot. His practice is very busy and he works on rotation with the other physicians to cover the hospital, too. When he's on call, he attends c-sections and has to go in when a child comes into the ER and has to be admitted. He works some weekends and a lot of holidays.

There are plenty more, I'm sure, but those are the first things that come to mind. In general, I feel very blessed to have an "expert" in the house. He also says that Sprout and I have made him a better doctor in a lot of ways. I hope that's true. Maybe some of our struggles help other mommies get better help and advice from their pediatrician!