Week 20

Another busy week! Emmaline had surgery to insert ear tubes on Tuesday. After the surgery, the doctor told us the left ear was infected which was the 4th infection this summer. She seemed to recover quickly. She was a super happy baby for about 2 days after the surgery and slept great. Then the sleep issues returned. She woke up 6 times last night that required us to go in and put her back to sleep and a couple times where we heard her, but she put herself back out. We're trying to convince ourselves that it's a teething issue. I've been able to see her bottom tooth (#8) for a week or so, but don't feel anything yet. I'm also wondering if she's working on a molar. Unfortunately, I also have a fear that it's something with her ears still. I've been holding off on taking her to the doctor b/c I don't like taking her in all the time (she's gone at least every other week the entire summer). Of course, if something is wrong and I don't take her I will feel horrible. Her follow-up with the specialist isn't until mid-October (a few days after her 12 month well-baby appointment).

The lack of sleep has pretty much consumed our week and I can't think of much else. We had swim lessons and went to the pool one other time. The weather was grey and rainy most of the week. We also went to Olive Garden with a friend from back home. I allowed Emma to eat a bunch of stuff that I normally wouldn't. I wouldn't feel horrible about giving her parts from the salad, but I know they are doused in dressing. We also gave her about 1/3 of a breadstick. She definitely enjoyed it. I am very happy to report that her tummy handled it fine! Perhaps we will allow more breads. I think I might start giving her some toast with puree on it so I can use up what we have left of purees.

Emmaline got her first haircut (I did it). I'm not happy about her bangs, but the rest turned out okay. She's been standing on her own for longer periods of time and is taking a lot of steps! I think I'm willing to officially say that she is walking (although she still crawls most of the time). A new development that I'm enjoying is that she can now put things away! She loves putting her blocks and toys back in the box and tennis balls back in the container. She has also become a complete chatterbox since her surgery! It's adorable. The only problem is that the little stinker still does not say ma-ma.

We go back to work Thursday and daycare hours will be back to normal. I'm really going to miss the extra time during the day with her. I know we'll really have to take advantage of weekends and holidays.

Days 23-26

Day 26

Nap and milk schedule are off today so we're skipping solids again.

Day 25

Menu: Sweet potatos and pureed prunes

Not much for variety, but we had leftovers. She did have a gagging incident with the sweet potato today (actually got quiet for a fraction of a second which freaked me out). Dan handles these things much better than I do! She, of course, cleared it and was happy as can be.

Day 24

Menu: Sweet potatos and pureed prunes

Newest food - pureed prunes! We went with prunes to help correct our recent "too many bananas" issue. It seems to have helped. I still can't tell if she loves purees or if she really just loves her spoon, either way she tends to have a good time. For now, I think prunes are in the top 5 foods for her (#1 is carrots and #2 is butternut squash). She flipped out a bit towards the end. We think it was a combination of her still being tired from last night's lack of sleep and the prunes starting to dry and get sticky on her face.

Day 23

Emmaline was a very good girl for Jess while Dan and I had our eye exams (and got new glasses). By the time we got home things were too rushed getting ready to go out of town and so we skipped solids for the day. Part of me feels like I should feel guilty when we skip foods, but I know that all of her nutritional needs are being met via breastmilk (and the vitamin supplement she now takes). The point of BLW is letting her experience textures & flavors while she develops a healthy relationship with food. I truly think that if we pushed ourselves to do solids everyday, we'd be stressed and that would start to make foods a negative thing for her.

Speaking of our out of town trip. That was quite a learning experience! Dan learned to never try to put Emma to bed without a bottle. We both learned that she won't sleep in a pack 'n' play - so we need to get rooms with a king sized bed unless I want to wake up with her turned sideways kicking me in the back! Generally, we are not co-sleepers and we are very proud that Emma has slept in her crib since her first night home. We are, however, very comfortable with letting her sleep with us on trips now. :)

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.

Day 18

Menu: sweet potato "fries"

Emma really enjoyed the squash last night! (Not as much as she loves carrots though.) Dan baked up some strips of sweet potato tonight. It is quickly becoming a favorite snack of ours too. Since it's not very slimy and Emma can hold it really well, she didn't have to sit in the bumbo to eat. She got to sit up on daddy's lap. It was a nice experience.

Doctor's appointment went well. She is 18lb, 2oz and 26.5 inches long. I can't remember her head circumference, but she is in the 75-85th percentile for length, weight, and head size! I am convinced that she somehow 'knew' why we were at the doctor's office, because as soon as we put her on the exam table she FLIPPED OUT! The bright red (almost purple) face, red blotches down her chest - there was no mistaking that this was one UNhappy camper! That continued off and on for the entire appointment, so the crying at the actual shots wasn't a big deal. I nursed her briefly afterwards and she bit me like 3 times! She has never chomped down on me before - it was more of a surprise than a pain since she still has no teeth. No thrush, no ear infection, even her adhesion is still looking good - perfectly healthy! On the other hand, I have a temp over 100 tonight (I usually run 97ish). Not sure what's going on.

The doctor was glad to hear that Emma is experience a range of fruits and vegetables. She asked if she was getting cereals, we said no, and that conversation was over. She did recommend starting a vitamin D supplement and suggested the Tri-vi-sol drops. We will pick those up tomorrow since I have been reading a lot about the need for more vitamin D. I still take the prenatal, Expecta DHA, and soy lecithin supplement (I swear by this to help prevent clogged milk ducts!). I've also been taking iron off and on because I'm pretty sure I'm low on that. I'm thinking about going to the doctor to get some blood work drawn up to check. I've had low iron issues off and on since (at least) middle school so it wouldn't be a surprise.

Day 11

Menu: sweet potato

I think the picture says it all tonight. :)

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 4

Menu: avocado and sweet potato

We decided that it was time to try a new food, so we bought 10 pounds of sweet potatoes at Costco! It wasn't our intention to buy SO much, but we forgot to buy any at the grocery store. We were at Costco to pick up some other stuff and decided that it was worth $8 to avoid another trip to the grocery store. (At the end of the month, remind me of this decision when I'm wondering where our money went!)

Dan sliced up the potatoes into fry-like strips and baked them in the oven. (He added some oregano to the ones we munched on.) They were delicious! Emma was intrigued and kept grabbing for that. The avocado was pretty much ignored until all the potato was smushed up or dropped on the floor.

Our system is to let her experiment with the food however she wants, but when she breaks pieces down too small we move those from the tray. Those are the pieces that I smash up with a fork and pre-load on the spoon for her at the end of the meal. We put the spoon portion at the end because she loves the spoon so much and will throw a fit once we take it away. (Although she seems to understand when we're reloading it and will wait anxiously.)

I think she knows when meal time is coming because she gets really excited when we put her in the bumbo now! (I might want to let daycare know about this or they might have an angry baby in a bumbo waiting for a snack.) ***Side note on the Bumbo -- we attached the tray to the stand part and cannot get them apart. Does anyone know a special trick to pull these apart?

No gagging tonight. Still not sure how much she actually ate- have to wait for a dirty diaper to figure that out.