Weeks 21 and 22

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!

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.