Week 23

So tonight I had to try to remember what the weeks in the post titles were actually counting. It is the weeks since I've started this blog, which correspond to the weeks since Emmaline started solids.

Up until this week, I had felt pretty confident about the route we took with solids. My approach was to make sure that breastmilk was her primary source of nutrition and that all other food was secondary. Solids were to be more of a fun activity than a requirement. We took things pretty slowly. Started with just 1 meal every couple days, waited a while before making it a daily event, waited a while longer before introducing the 2nd meal, and we were holding off until close to a year to begin a 3rd meal. She's still nursing 5-7x/day (depending on how often she wakes at night to nurse). Her bottles at daycare still have 5 ounces each and of course, I can't tell exactly how much she is getting when she nurses, but it takes just as much time as it has for quite a while. Anyway, my bubble was burst when we went to the doctor this week (her cough has not gone away and now is waking her up throughout the night). She has lost weight. She's back to the weight she was at the beginning of May. The doctor wasn't terribly worried because she's still around the 50th percentile, but did want us to start giving her 3 meals a day in addition to breastmilk. She has her one year appointment in a month and we'll see what to do at that point. I know there are a couple factors that could be responsible for the weight loss: being sick all summer with colds and ear infections; starting to crawl and then walk. But I still feel like I'm responsible and that I should have been feeding her more or something. I started spacing her bottles out every four hours this summer, maybe I should have kept it every three.

I also feel horrible that she is still sick! I can't remember the last time when she was healthy for any decent period of time. The doctor couldn't determine if it's the tail end of a cold or environmental allergy (ragweed). If it's a cold, it should disappear in another day or so. If it's ragweed, it'll last a while. Either way, there's nothing to do. The one positive thing was that her ears look great! (Her lungs were very clear and that was a relief too.) And to top it off, whatever she has - Dan and I are starting to come down with it too. Good thing we have a ton of kleenex in this house with all the runny noses and sneezing going on!

We successfully completed the first week back to school with students. It was long and exhausting. I'm praying that we won't still be putting in 10 hour days this week. I miss Emma so much! It seems like we get home with just enough time to feed her, bathe her, and put her to bed. Even the weekend flew by and it doesn't seem like we got much play time (partly because I had to go into the school to get some things ready). I know I wouldn't be a good stay-at-home-mom, but I wish there was some kind of balance in between that and being at work allllll the time.

No major accomplishments or developments. She has started wearing shoes occasionally. She's learning how to run. And I also caught her trying to climb up her bookshelf today. We really need to get around to baby-proofing the house!!

Week 11

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

I think we had an enjoyable day. Emmaline woke up around 6 as usual. We were able to get her to take a nap around 8:15. She slept for about 45 minutes and then we got dressed and went to church. We went up to Target to print off some pictures since I'm trying to update the scrapbook. I know I'll have a lot to add after our trip to Cape Cod next week for K's wedding and want to be caught up with months 6-8 beforehand. After a long afternoon nap, Emma and Dan did some grocery shopping. We all had dinner together (Emma had puffs, kiwi, and banana; we had frozen pizza). The kiwi was new and she seemed to really enjoy it! She was absolutely covered in the black seeds afterwards. They were suck in her neck folds, between her fingers, in her hair, and all over her face. Such a mess! We tried pureed peas earlier this week and she didn't seem to thrilled about those. Because of the long late-afternoon nap it took almost an hour to get her to sleep tonight. Nursing was also a pain (literally) because she is getting more teeth and was chomping down again. Luckily, this was the first biting all week.

Speaking of teeth. Emma has cut 3 teeth this week and I have a feeling that 1 (if not 3) more can be expected very soon. I think that is going to make for a difficult vacation, but we'll take some tylenol (generic brand, not the icky stuff that has been recalled even though we have a brand new bottle of that). We could tell that she was getting another one this weekend because she tugged on her ear more and has been chewing on her tongue with it hanging out. I thought it would be the bottom side teeth, but finally thought to feel her top gum tonight and discovered that a center one has already cut. I think I mentioned last Sunday that we felt a top side tooth. By Wednesday we could see the opposite tooth as well. I'm glad that the center tooth is coming in, because I was worried that she would look like a jack-o-lantern. So far, her teeth have arrived in pairs so I think we should see or feel the other center tooth within 2 days.

Yesterday we went to our first Baby Signs class. We learned food signs (eat, drink, cereal, milk, all done, and more). We had a good time other than the car ride. Looking back now I blame the tooth, but she was a little monster. I rode in the back seat with her the whole way back (about 45 minutes) and she was very unhappy. I am praying that she is better on our trip this week since she will be in the car about 5 hours for 4 days (2 days there, visit for 3 days, 2 days back). I don't know how we are going to fit everything in the car for such a long trip. We were planning on taking the travel swing, but there's no way to fit that. We bought an umbrella stroller because her other stroller won't fit with luggage. The pack'n'play has to go even though we know she won't sleep in it. With all the crawling she is doing, we need some way to contain her occasionally. She is also pulling herself up and learning to climb things. She is already taking steps if she's holding on to something (table edge, crib rail, hands, etc).

Few random things- Tuesday was officially our last day at work for the school year. I had a job interview that afternoon for a different position within the district. I went to the dentist on Wednesday for my fillings and a cleaning. My experiences with this dentist haven't been horrible and I may actually go on a regular basis (cleanings twice a year and yearly exams). Dan had his exam on Thursday - he doesn't have any cavities though. Dan & I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary on Friday. It was nice to be able to drop her off at daycare and spend a day together. That same day we also said goodbye to the doctor who delivered Emma. She finished her residency at our family practice so we took Emma up there after we picked her up from daycare and let her see the doctor. We are going to continue going to the same practice, but will probably keep seeing the nurse practitioner there. She is really nice, adores Emma, and is easy to schedule with.

Week 9

More firsts: Emma figured out how to go from the crawling position to sitting up on her own. She is now working on pulling herself up from the sitting position. She loves standing up (with help) and seems to get more balance every day. Her new favorite sound to say is "na-na-na-na". Yesterday we took Emma to the mall for the first time. She had a blast riding around in the stroller. We went in search of a dress for her to wear at the wedding later this month (3 weeks from today) and found a ton of other cute clothes for her too. As long as she doesn't have a major growth spurt anytime soon, she is now set for summer.

We also took Emma to the doctor yesterday because she has had a very runny nose and bad cough since Wednesday. (Thank you very much sick babies @ daycare.) She was sounding wheezy so we wanted to have her checked out. Lungs are clear and ears look good. If she's not improving by this Wednesday or Thursday we'll take her back. Dr. wants to make sure all the congestion doesn't lead to an ear infection. She's fussy off and on, but mostly her happy self.

The school year is wrapping up. Only 4 1/2 days left with students. My testing is finished (did pretty well overall, couple disappointments) and Dan's test is tomorrow. I'm looking forward to this year being over. I'm not looking forward to having larger class size next year, but ready for a fresh start. Also looking forward to a summer break! We are heading up to Cape Cod for the wedding this month and flying out to Las Vegas in August to see family.

I guess the solids are going alright. Emma's favorite vegetable is currently carrot and her favorite fruit is mango. She still gags when she bites off too much or shoves a whole piece in her mouth. It totally freaks me out and Dan has to deal with it. Tonight was one of the those nights where I want to just stop with the real solids and stick with purees, but Dan keeps us going. He does well being the voice of reason when it comes to stuff like this. He's been a great supporter when it comes to breastfeeding. I remember all the times I sat in tears telling him that I was giving up and we were switching to formula. And here we are, 8 months on Tuesday and still never used a drop of formula. I'm not enjoying this biting phase, although it seems like she only bites on Saturdays - no clue what's up with that. But it's just something else we'll work through. It isn't nearly as painful as mastitis or thrush and doesn't crush me heart like a nursing strike (although I do hate how sad she looks when I tell her 'no biting').

Week 7

Emma had a variety of food this week: at the beginning of the week (Sunday, Monday) and at the end (Saturday). All the in-between days were too chaotic. It did give us a chance to eliminate some things to see if we can figure out where the rash is coming from. We eliminated her vitamins, apples, and have tried to keep her off the carpet. The carpet one is quite difficult since she doesn't like to stay on the blankets we put on the floor. We thought it was working, because the rash was starting to clear up. But it returned tonight! I'm now thinking that the culprit is her high-chair. The new plan is to feed her with clothes on and put a blanket down over the chair. It's going to mean messier laundry.

Over the past few days, Emma has been a little monster. Evenings have been especially rough, she wants to be held every second and cries when you move away from her at all. With Dan being away at soccer most nights, it made for a very worn-out mommy! I've noticed that she's tugging on her ears again (they were clear on Monday at the doctor's so I don't think it's an infection + no fever) and today she was sucking on her top lip. The last time she sucked on her lip was right before she sprouted the bottom teeth. I'm thinking that the top tooth might appear soon and explain this extreme fussiness. I miss my easy-going baby!

Today we introduced mango - it seemed to be a hit. She literally sucked down a couple slices (and terrified me). We also gave her a few rice puffs to start working on her pincher grasp. She managed to eat 1 and learned how to pick the others up and fling them on the floor. Part of me feels bad that she doesn't "eat" anything at daycare. I'm a bit surprised that the ladies have never asked me about food since Emma is the only baby who still only gets bottles (she's also the youngest, but not by much). Perhaps when she figures out the puffs, she can at least have those as a snack during the day. I wouldn't mind them giving her purees, but I want her to still use the spoon herself and that leads to a HUGE mess (as evidenced by the photo this week).

On a sad note, my aunt Bonnie lost her battle with cancer this week. She had gone downhill fast and was in a lot of pain. The family will miss her, but we are glad that she is no longer suffering. Dan's aunt Mary was diagnosed with a brain tumor. They operated on Monday and determined that it is a cancerous glioblastoma. The prognosis is 3 months without treatment, 1-3 years with treatment. It reminds me of how lucky we are that my sister is alive and well 9 years after they found her glioma (her prognosis was 5 years). It also makes me extremely thankful that the clusters they found on my brain a few years ago are "not of clinical significance".

Days 21 and 22

Day 22

Dan had another away game.

Emmaline has officially learned how to resist being put in the swing for her evening nap! She almost flopped out of my arms onto the floor while I was trying to put her down. This led for a very loooooong evening since she was already crying when I picked her up at 5. I ended up nursing her at 7 which put her to sleep, but she woke up as soon as I put her in the crib. By 8, I tried the swing again and finally had some success. She's still in there snoring away. I'm going to take her upstairs now that Dan is home, nurse her again and put her in the crib for the night. I'm exhausted!

Also discovered tonight that we need to ease up with the banana - I think that was part of the extra crankiness this evening. We might try some apple juice or prune juice (mixed with water) tomorrow. It would give us a chance to use the sippy cup again.

On an unrelated note, the Easter box from my mom finally arrived yesterday. The pic is Emmaline in one of her new outfits playing with one of her new toys.

This is going to be an interesting weekend - tomorrow morning Dan & I have our eye exams. Jess is going to come babysit for a couple hours while we're doing that and getting our new glasses (@ Lenscrafters). I really hope Emma does okay- she is starting to get stranger anxiety. Hopefully the cats will behave too - they go a little nuts around her pregnancy hormones! In the evening we are heading down to JMU for a senior recital (voice) of one of my old Gov. School kids. We're going to spend the night in the 'burg - it'll be Emma's first night away from the house since she was brought home from the hospital. Figure we'll give traveling a test run before our big trips this summer. We will probably do solids before we leave on Saturday and then again on Sunday evening.

Day 21

Menu: sweet potato and banana

Emma is really starting to eat more! We noticed that there was a lot less food on the floor afterwards. She did gag once on the sweet potato tonight and had me in a little panic for a second when she got quite. I was doing the dishes and couldn't get to her right away, but she cleared it just fine and went on eating like nothing had happened.

Days 15, 16, and 17

Day 17

Menu: Pureed pears and butternut squash

Obviously, I'm starting to slack on these daily posts, so some are being combined. I'm actually writing this before her meal tonight, which is part of why the picture is completely unrelated to food (it just happened to be a cute picture we took at Walmart this morning). Hopefully she will like the squash tonight and be a little more interested in the pears.

We ordered a crinkle cutter on amazon.com today. I've read that cutting the food with the crinkle cutter can help give them a better grip. Sometime this week Dan is going to do a stir-fry so Emma will get to try some broccoli.

Tomorrow is her doctor's appointment. I'm excited to see where she is on the charts for her weight & height. Not looking forward to the shots. I can't remember if she gets more or less shots this time. She has done really well on the last two sets of shots, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Dan is great and he helps hold her during the shots, while I sit across the room. As soon as the nurses give the ok, he brings her over and I nurse her. It takes a couple minutes, but settles her down. By the time we get home she usually sleeps for a while and then is ready to play! Hopefully she'll be willing to stick with that routine ;)

Day 16

Menu: banana and pureed pears

Emmaline has been super sleepy for the past week. She slept 11 hours last night (woke her up once to nurse), was awake for 3 hours, then took a three hour nap, up for two hours, back to sleep, etc. We keep telling ourselves that it's a growth spurt - but this is a pretty long growth spurt. We have her 6 month appointment on Monday and I won't be surprised to find out that she is sick. I've started to think 'thrush' because there are a couple white specks on her tongue and another part of me is thinking 'ear infection' although I have no real reason to suspect that. She's not being fussy, just sleepy! She gummed away on the banana and was biting off pretty big chunks. She ate some of the pears, but I think she was getting tired at that point because she wasn't very interested.

Day 15 - Dan @ soccer game = no solid food for Emma

Days 12 and 13

Day 13

Menu: banana and pureed carrots

Tonight I gave in and tried a puree with Emma. We still let her feed herself with the spoon and she had a blast. Even though we ended up with a big mess, I think she still actually swallowed a good amount. She was awesome with the banana. Picked it up with ease and put it straight into her mouth. She's been working on the chewing motion lately. If she sees one of us eating, she will mimic the movements.

Day 12

I could never be a single mom. I find myself completely lost on evenings Dan is away with soccer. Although I feel comfortable doing most things with Emma, I still don't like to give her a bath alone. Since I skip baths on those nights, I can't actually give her any solids. Well, I guess I could but her crib would be a mess!

Day 9

Menu: apple and banana

We introduced apple for lunch today. Results were mixed. She seemed to have a good time sucking on the apple for a while, but eventually got frustrated because the apple was too hard and the banana was too soft. We left the peel on the apple to help her grip it better, but she kept picking it up on the soft side and putting the peel side in her mouth. I guess that is a benefit of doing purees - everything is one texture so it doesn't take practice to get it right for a baby! She finally managed to get a couple "bites" off the apple slice and gagged. This was the most coughing she has done yet, but she successfully got it back up on her own. By the end she was a fairly upset baby (the frustration from not being able to actually hold/eat much, I think) and even the spoon didn't cheer her up.

I need to be better and do more research on how to actually prepare these things before we decide "hey, it's time to feed her" and attempt to wing it. Perhaps that is why I already prefer avocado and banana - they don't have to be cooked!

As to the nursing strike - she has been a good baby for the last three feedings. She was also a very good sleeper last night! Around 10:30 we brought her upstairs, nursed and put her right into the crib. When I went in to check on her at 6:30 she was sleeping on her tummy (which is a first). She must have been starting to wake up, because she rolled onto her back and opened her eyes as soon as I got to the crib.

Day 7

* The battery on the camera died as soon as we started dinner tonight so I had to take pictures on my phone. I deleted most pictures because they were too blurry and then I realized the ones I was left with were still blurry and don't really show her with food. This one is still cute - so enjoy!

Menu: sweet potato and some mashed up banana mixed with breastmilk

Emma was a good eater today and Dan was home early from soccer practice so we tried some solids again tonight. She picked up the sweet potato very easily tonight and seemed to actually eat more than she has in the past. She got super excited as soon as she saw the blue spoon though. The banana on the spoon ended up all over the place (and the milk combo made it especially messy tonight), but she absolutely loves playing with that spoon and chewing on it. It was hilarious to see little banana chunks floating in the bath water tonight!

Today was also her half-birthday! Luckily she's not scheduled for her shots until the 19th so didn't have to deal with that extra fussiness today.

Day 5

Menu: banana

We debated tonight on whether or not to offer food. We were hesitant because 1) she took a very long evening nap and it pushed "dinner" time very close to bedtime and 2) she has been refusing to nurse more often than not. Reason #2 has been going on for about a month. It started as a weekend phenomena - she would absolutely throw a fit if I tried to nurse her during my regular work hours. We figured she was just in a routine of getting a bottle so I went ahead and pumped and let Dan give her a bottle. Then she started spreading her daytime bottles out which caused her final bottle to be late and pretty much knock out the chance to nurse her after work. Since I've been home on spring break she has cut back to only nursing 2 1/2 times a day (yes, it's possible to nurse her 1/2 a time). Other than that she absolutely throws a fit if I try to nurse her. Doesn't matter what I try: different room, different position, different side, lights off, noise off, daddy in room, daddy away from room. She also spreads her bottles out on days we're home and only eats about 5 times instead of her 'usual' 7. I don't think the solids has made this worse, but it hasn't helped.

In the end, we decided at the last minute to give her some banana (easy choice since it doesn't have to be cooked in any way). You may notice that she actually has clothes on tonight - that's because we didn't think and just tossed her in the bumbo. We also put about 1/2 oz of water in her sippy cup. Most of it ended up on her, but she did get a sip. She definitely does better with the sippy cup that has handles on it. The mush on the spoon was still the hit of the night.

*On a side note, she refused to nurse at bedtime. This was the first time I've ever had to give her a bottle at night and it made bedtime much more difficult since she didn't get to nurse herself to sleep. She didn't refuse the bottle and chugged down all 6 oz. I'm really not sure what to make of this nursing strike -- I'm really hoping that it's just the change in weather (it was 90+ degrees today). I'm feeling worn out and don't have much of an appetite. Maybe she was just too sweaty being up against me. We'll see how she does when she wakes up in a couple hours. I'm not holding my breath for the morning feeding though. I did try to go see the lactation consultant, but she was out. I won't be able to go this week because I have meetings on the days she's at work. We may put a stop on the foods until she gets her real eating schedule back on track.

Day 3

Menu: avocado and banana

Tonight we skipped the cereal dust and she was happy again! I took the suggestion from another mom to break the banana along the natural thirds instead of cutting it lengthwise so it isn't as slippery. This does leave the banana fairly thick and was a little difficult for Em's chubby little hands - but the part I'm really enjoying so far is watching her try to figure it out. I love her face when she's concentrating and trying to think of a way to pick it up. There was one time where she just reached down and picked up a slice of avocado like it was something she'd been doing forever. I think it's funny that she hestitates a little before putting food in her mouth - toys and cloth go directly to the mouth, but she thinks twice on a banana?!? She also had fun licking her fingers.

We discovered tonight that Emma loves mush! There was a chunk of banana left over that she'd already drooled all over so I decided to smash it up. We pre-loaded the spoon and handed it to her. She went to town. I'm not sure if she was more excited about the banana or the spoon. That led to the only gagging incident tonight - she stuck the spoon too far back. Although my instincts told me to pull it away from her, I paused and she corrected the problem on her own. Although a big part of BLW is skipping purees, my take on it is that it's more about letting Emma take charge of her eating - whether it's in solid form or mashed up. We will not be putting food in her mouth; she will control what goes in.

Tomorrow we will introduce something new - probably sweet potato.

Her diapers today proved that she has managed to swallow some food! :)

Day 2

Menu: avocado and banana - coated with mashed-up cheerio "dust"

Tonight was didn't go so hot. We tried the cheerio "dust" to see if she could get a better grip. She was not happy. I think that she just couldn't stand the texture, because after her hands got messy she held her arms out with her fingers spread and wouldn't really touch anything else. By the time we took her out of the bumbo, she was crying. I don't think the food touched her mouth more than twice and she definitely didn't eat anything.

Dan is thinking that maybe she's just not ready. We'll try again tomorrow (without the cheerio "dust"). If she doesn't seem to enjoy it, we will wait until next weekend before we try again.

Even though everything I've read says that this time period is for experimentation with textures and taste, I already have that little voice worrying that she needs to be eating something. Part of me is ready to run out and buy a little jar of food to shove in her mouth. I guess in a way, I just need to trust the process. I'm doing this because I want her to develop a sense of independence and confidence. I think that she would be very resistant if we tried to spoon-feed her (although she would probably have fun taking the spoon away from us to chew on it). I also want her to have a good relationship with healthy food. It's kind of funny that for 6 months I've taken such pride in the fact that I've been able to provide all the nutrients she has needed and now I'm doubting that.

*It's late and the camera is downstairs so I will post pictures tomorrow.

** Also, in case you think that starting solids will magically help your baby sleep through the night - don't believe it! Emmaline woke up at least 6 times last night.... which is why I am off to bed now.

Day 1

Menu: avocado and banana

I know I should probably only introduce 1 food at a time and wait a couple days before introducing the next thing, but since thing is baby-led I wanted to provide Emmaline with some options.

We set her up in the Bumbo about 1 1/2 hours after her regular nursing. We gave her a sippy cup with 1oz of breastmilk and a spoon to play with. Then we put some slices of banana and a slice of avocado on her tray. She immediately went to the sippy cup and eventually we took it away from her so she would notice the other items on her tray.

We made a couple mistakes - 1) we didn't leave any of the peel on the avocado so it was very difficult for her to grasp and we didn't have any plain cheerios around to coat it in "cheerio dust" and 2) the banana was too mushy. She did start to get frustrated that she couldn't pick it up sometimes and a lot of food ended up on the floor. We knew she wouldn't actually eat much, but wish she could have been able to grasp things better. She did gag several times, which I had read would happen, but still wasn't prepared. At those times, we didn't intervene and she pushed the food right back out without a problem and kept going like nothing had happened.

In the end, we had a happy baby who desperately needed a bath. We will do it again tomorrow (but with a firmer banana and some cheerio-dusted avocado)!