Once again, I missed a week! Beginning of the school year = crazy busy and stressed parents. Kids start this Tuesday and with the new middle school opening (and totally not ready), I'm the more prepared one this year.... which doesn't say much. I think that last Monday I realized I'd forgotten to blog, but didn't have any new pictures to post along with it and so I didn't bother. This week, I made sure to take a couple pictures of Emmaline so I wouldn't have any excuses.
Emmaline's 8th tooth finally broke through and we've managed to have a week of good sleep! Unfortunately, I can see the gums swelling around her lower right molar and I'm expecting the cranky baby to return very soon. Keeping my fingers cross though that we can make it through the first 2 days of school before it happens. She is also officially walking! She's been taking steps since the beginning of August, but now she seems to be much more confident about letting go of tables and just heading off. She gets so proud of herself, it's adorable! Today we bought her a pair of shoes and she loves them. You can tell it's a different feeling and she stumbles more, but she gets pretty mad when you take them off. (I'm going to enjoy that while it lasts, because I'm sure that by next week she'll be yanking them off every five seconds.) She's also consistently waving hello and bye!
We had kept her in daycare this summer on half-time hours (9-2) to try to keep her in a routine and allow us to get things done during the day. Because of that, I didn't think it would be difficult to 'leave her' once school started up again. I was totally wrong! Going back to 7-4 (closer to 5 this week) hours has been really tough. I do fine for a good portion of the day, but as the afternoon wears on, I really start to miss her (and Dan). Coming home and barely having time for dinner, bath, and bed stinks. I miss our afternoon play time and trips to the pool or park.
I am going to start cutting out pumping sessions so that I can be done with the pump by mid-October. I'm hoping that will give me back my planning time at school and allow me to leave work at a decent time (and maybe even go in closer to 8 instead of 7). Last year I pumped at 8, 11, and 3. Now I'll just be pumping at 11 and eliminate that one in about 6 weeks. I still have a decent freezer stash so she'll be getting 1 fresh bottle and 1 thawed bottle. After her birthday we will continue with BM until the stash runs out and then switch to organic cow's milk (in a sippy cup). By that point, the goal is to give her 3 solid meals and a snack. The thought of switching to a solid diet is freaking me out. I really liked breastfeeding because I was able to trust my body to provide all the nutrients she needed. Then I really liked BLW because the focus with solids has been to just provide her the experience of flavors and textures, but the nutritional emphasis remained on breastmilk. I just don't feel ready to trust solids to provide for her and even though I'm still planning on nursing her in the evening/morning, I'm still nervous about it. I think part of the issue is that I feel like she already eats so much when we give her solids. I can't imagine how much this kid will scarf down when it's her main thing every day.
Pic this week comes from The Little Gym. We started taking Emma there 2 weekends ago. She loves it and we enjoy having a fun family activity on the weekends. We decided to go ahead and have her birthday party there. It's a little pricey, but it takes the planning and managing off our hands and therefore seems worth it! Basically, we provided the guest list (addresses) and the cake - they do the rest.
In other news, tomorrow (God willing) we will be trading in both our cars and buying a 2010 Ford Escape Hybrid. We have already talked with the dealer and made arrangements. They are going to NoVa to pick it up in the morning and it should be ready in the afternoon! Hopefully, the pic next week will be of us with our new eco-friendly suv!
*Apparently, I have too many tags this week so here's a list of (most of) the foods she had in the last two weeks: avocado, apple, watermelon, strawberries, grapes, pasta, corn, kiwi, green beans, peas, kidney beans, chickpeas, tomato, chicken, english muffin, flax/bran flakes, puffs, yellow squash, blueberry, broccoli, cauliflower, button mushroom, pears, peaches, plum, pumpkin pie. I'll just put tags for new foods!
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