End of summer fun!

Here are some photos from our last few days of summer. We packed a lot of fun into it to go out with a bang! 

Going back to school has been very, very hard on one hand. I miss Leah so much and handing her over to our loving, yet "not me" babysitter every morning is not the highlight of my day. Picking her up is heaven, though, and Paul and I feel like we savor every fleeting moment with her in the evenings. Being a working mom is way harder than I ever thought, but I am learning as we go, and doing the best I can. Through this experience, I have realized how much I really do love my job, and how ridiculously much I love my baby girl. 

We found a bug in the sand

Beach day with some of my fabulous work pals and kids!

Trying to get a picture of Leah in her bird outfit. She is so busy these days and asking her to sit still does not go well.

Snuggles

2 little teeth!!

She's getting good at this!

Practicing the splits

With our awesome friends at Chicago at Ravinia. It was a blast!

I adore.

Our fab family

Loving the swings at Arts Fest!

Last nap of the summer....

Our new car!

First real pool day!

I hope you all had a great summer, too! It flew by, but it was wonderful. On to fall, my very fav season!!!

6 Months have flown!!!

My Dear LiLi-

You are a whole half a year old (ten days ago... woops)!  At six months, you...

- Weighed in at 13 lbs, 14 oz at your six month appointment last week, and you are 25 1/2 inches long. You are still a  peanut, and in the 15th-25th percentile, but you are moving up and doing well! You are meeting all of your milestones and then some!

- Have started daycare, and you are doing really well! Joan has been keeping me updated, all the time, and she is impressed with your sunny disposition, easy-going personality, and adaptability. Leaving you with her is my least favorite part of every day, but picking you up is so awesome! I adore seeing that dimply smile!

-  Have 2 little teeth! They popped up last weekend, on the day you turned 6 months old! You had a very rough time the night before, but since then, you have not seemed bothered by it much.  They are too cute when you smile.

-  Eat like a manic.  You "liquid" feed 5 times a day now, and eat two solid meals. We have been making lots of different foods. So far, you have had (and have loved it all) sweet potatoes, avocado, banana, apples, butternut squash, peas, green beans and oatmeal. Next up are peaches, carrots and plums. I have kept my promise to not feed you anything I would not eat, and I try everything before you do. Your Daddy has, too!

- Make cuter and cuter noises every day. You giggle a lot now, especially when we play peek a boo and blow on your tummy, the classics! You are also super giggly in the bathtub now, cause you have figured out how to splash around. Bath time is even more fun now.  You also squeal all of the time, especially when you are sleepy. We sometimes have to leave wherever we are to give everyone peace. 

-Love to sleep on your tummy. We put you down on your back every night and every nap, but half the time, you flip over and sleep on your tummy with your thumb in your mouth. We still sneak in your room every night to watch you sleep, and gently touch those round little cheeks. When you wake up a little, we giggle and quietly run out of the room. Moments like that make our hearts melt. You are such a miracle. 

- Speaking of sleeping, you sleep about 10-11 hours a night now, and take 2 - 1 1/2 hour naps a day, on average. I would love to keep you awake longer at night to play now that I am back to work, but you are a mess by 7 pm and so ready for bed. I think you will be one of those people who just needs a lot of sleep. I hope you learn to stay up longer soon, cause I miss you!

- Still adore that thumb. You suck it vigorously any time you are tired at all, and it works like a charm. You are an excellent self-soother.

- Are finally getting over "Baby Beluga". You still smile when you hear it,and it still soothes you, but it does not have the same effect on you as it used to. 

-  Are very into books, your jumperoo, anything that plays music or lights up, taking walks, touching grass, drives, the swings at the park, touching faces, and especially watching Maisy. You suddenly notice that we have a cat, and you LOVE looking at her now. It is so funny.

-  Almost completely refuse to snuggle with us, unless you are super sleepy. You are so busy these days, and you always want to look around and see what is going on. Tonight, when I fed you before bed, you passed out on my shoulder while I burped you. I did not move for 30 minutes so that I could feel your sweet breath on my neck. I take all the snuggly moments can get. 

-  Have lots tons and tons of that pretty red hair. I hope it comes back soon, cause it looks pretty goofy. You are really balding- poor baby!

- Still love taking your vitamins at night. You get so excited you can barely stand it, and it mkaes us laugh every time. Your Daddy and I actually have to take turns giving it to you because we think it is so fun. Pathetic.

-  Focus more and more on tasks and things now. you love pulling hair and grabbing for jewelry, and you have a curiosity now more than ever. Watching you learn and  soak up your environment is fun.

-  Are giving me a run for my money with nursing! You are so into looking around now that it is getting harder and harder by the day to keep nursing you with my not so great supply. I really, really want to make it to a year.... so I hope this is a phase! 

-  Are starting to look more like me, and people are noticing. For someone who used to look so much like her dad, we sure are getting a lot of comments about how much you  look like me!

Six months have flown in a way, but in a way, I feel like you have been part of my life forever. It's not that I can't remember my life before you, it's just that you make our world so much more fun and lovely.  You are, simply put, the joy of our lives. Your middle name is so fitting. Your dimply smile can light up a room in no time, and you make the world a more joyful place. I am thrilled and proud to be your Mom. 

This highchair has been getting lots of action!

Leah has been eating "solids" for a little over a week now. My baby food maker has been burning up!  We started with sweet potatoes. which were a bit hit. She really liked it and took to it much, much better than her icky rice cereal. Next, we tried avocado, one of the most well tolerated and nutritious foods you can offer a baby! She absolutely FREAKED over it and has every time since. She flails her arms around, opens her mouth, and begs for more avocado! Yesterday, she got her first bananas, too.  

I highly recommend the Beaba Baby Babycook to make home made food. It is amazing, and makes it so easy. You just steam or bake the food, put it in the Babycook, buzz away for a minute or two, and it comes out smooth as pudding. It is economical, we know exactly what Leah is eating, and super easy to make! I can't WAIT to explore more combinations for our little foodie as she gets older! 

For anyone interested in making home made baby food, this is the site I use for ideas and guidelines. It is fabulous!!!  

http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/

mmmm...... sweet potatoes!

Bananas!

Here is the sweet potato I baked last week. Ninety-five cents worth of sweet potato made 22 servings for our little one!

First tray of homemade baby food!

First bite!!!

Can you tekk she loved it?  :)

Orange food, orange bib, orange hair. 

She likes to wash it down with fingers. 

Bring it on!!!  

More adventures in baby food making to come...

God Bless our sweet boy!

This past weekend, Leah and I went up to the suburbs of Detroit for the baptism of a very special boy, our beautiful "nephew", Carter. It was so nice to finally get to snuggle him a bit, and for all the cousins to get to be together!

Here is sweet Carter snuggling with his Mama.

The proud grandparents with their grandsons.

Caden, the new big brother, all dressed up for the occasion! I love this kid.

All the sister and brother cousins together at last! They already have such a special bond.

Kayli adores LiLi, and the feeling is mutual. For the longest time, Kayli was our "baby girl"- the child we were closest to, and seeing them together is so special!

The whole fam, minus the men!

I heart this sweet little love!

God bless you, Carter. You are loved by many, and we can't wait to watch you grow up!!!!

Letting go... (warning- I think I needed this as therapy!!)

Long before my baby girl was born, I knew I was going to breastfeed. Being a green-loving,  (mostly)earth friendly, (mostly) organic and meat-free eating, child development teaching Mama, it was a natural fit in every way. Watching my belly swell as she grew made me even more sure that I was going to want to bond with her in a way that (in my opinion, anyway) only breastfeeding could provide. During pregnancy, I longed to feel her warmth as she snuggled in close and nursed, as I would  continue to provide her with all the nutrients she needed. What a miracle it was when she was born, and those dreams came true. I nuzzled her close, took in her smell, kissed her red cheeks,and bathed in her warmth as I made my first nursing attempt with my 45-minute old bundle of joy. As I brought her toward me, I could feel the bond already starting, and I thought "ha- no way this will be as hard as everyone says". Uh, WRONG! Trying to get her to latch and stay awake quickly woke me from my idealistic haze, and I was sent straight into the reality of it- breastfeeding is not for the faint of heart.

The first couple of weeks of breastfeeding were two of the hardest I have been through. It has a learning curve that I was not prepared for, but with the endless support of my loving husband, a lot of patience and a LOT of help from some very amazing and supportive women, we plowed through. My goal was to exclusively breastfeed until Leah was one year old, and, in my mind, nothing was going to stop me. I loved feeding my daughter, and she seemed to enjoy it, too! Perfection. Leah was never going to have a drop of formula- done and done.

Then, I went back to work. Once I could no longer put LiLi to the breast whenever she needed and or wanted, my already mediocre supply dwindled. When I was away from her at work, I pumped twice a day, giving up a precious hour of work time each day to do what I had to do to feed my baby. While my red-headed babe slept soundly through the night, I set my alarm for 2 AM for 3 months so that I could pump to keep up with her. They say breastfeeding is all about supply and demand- the more the baby needs, the more your body makes. Well, my body did not get that memo. Turns out milk supply has nothing to do with the size of the suppliers, if you know what I mean. I happen to be a crappy milk-maker, and it was catching up to me. Leah was growing, but not as fast as she should have been, and this laid-back Mom started to worry that we were underfeeding our most precious gift. I kept on going, though, feverishly pumping and feeding at just about every opportunity possible, while speaking to specialists to help me increase my low supply so that I could do everything in my power to keep my girl off formula. I took herbal supplements that lactation consultants swear by. Nope. I drank 120 oz of water a day and drank brothy soups, as a wonderful nursing friend of mine suggested. Uh-uh. I totally stopped dieting to ensure I was getting enough calories to feed the both of us. Nada. I even tried pumping while smelling Leah's clothes to stimulate let-down. Zero increase. Finally, I tried a hard-core prescription to boost my milk supply. It STILL did not increase as much as it should have. I was defeated and feeling awful about it.

Then, two weeks ago, as my husband got on the scale with Leah and found that she had gained a measly 4 ounces in 6 weeks (they should gain about 1-1.5 lbs a month), I hit my breaking point, cried about it for the last time, and sent my beyond supportive husband to Target to purchase the dreaded formula, as we were literally out of extra milk to supplement her feedings. We had no choice, and I had to give in. I was convinced this was the end of me being the best mom I could be.

As I watched Paul sit on the foam playmat or daughter loves so much, take our beautiful girl in his arms and give her the first swigs of Similac from her Born Free bottle hours later, something happened inside of me. I LET GO. I felt as though someone had climbed off my shoulders. I had a sense of relief more than I sense of disappointment. See, I am not the kind of person who typically stresses out about things or puts huge amounts of pressure on myself. I am pretty laid back, both as a person and a mom, and rarely do I let things get to me like this. For some reason, though, I had it in my head that I MUST only give my daughter milk from me or the world might end. I had spent months stressing and days crying and feeling guilty, which is so not like me at all. "Get over yourself" kept scrolling through my thoughts. Well, guess what? I did. Once she took that formula, and I saw that neither one of us died, I was ok. Two days later, I felt even better, as P got on the scale with her once again, and we watched with disbelief and joy as the numbers climbed- she gained 9 ounces in just 2 days- all from taking just one bottle a day of formula! Turns out we were underfeeding the poor Love. Awesome... 

All of a sudden, the guilt I had harbored for having to supplement went away, and I felt like we did not only the necessary thing, but the right thing. Big lesson learned... you make the best choice you can for you child at any given moment, and you don't do it based on what you hope for. There are no rules- you just do what is right and do the best you can for your kids. You let go when you have to, because sometimes the most selfless thing you can do is get over what YOU want, and do what your child needs. 

As I write this, the baby who was a teeny 12 pounds, 4 ounces exactly two weeks ago is laying in her crib, sucking on her thumb, fast asleep- all 13 lbs, 11 oz of her.  :)  She has put on a pound and a half in two weeks! She is finally catching up, and we are still managing to just give her one bottle of formula a day. In my eyes, we are both getting the best of both worlds now. I am still primarily nursing, but LiLi is getting the precious extra calories she needs, and watching her grow is a beautiful thing!

Last week, we also started our little Smushie on cereal! Here are some shots from her first foray into chewing and swallowing. She does fine with it, but it is not her fav... a little gross, perhaps?

(a special thanks to Nonnie and Papo for the gorgeous Tiffany silver spoon, Aunt Peggy for the beautiful spoon with her name on it, and Uncle Jim and Aunt Jeanne for the beautiful Tiffany dish set. She ate off all three for her first time.)

She seemed excited!  :)

First bite



hmmmm......




Over it!



Nonnie give it a shot

Glama's turn!!

...and we are back to the thumb! 

Randomness

Things have been going really well in our neck of the woods. Paul is done with summer school, so the three of us have had a lot of time together, running around, visiting family and friends, and making sure we have down time for Leah every day, which is a challenge for us! Getting her and keeping her in a schedule has been tough, since we like to be go-go-go all the time, but we have been blessed with an easy, very adaptable baby who is very tolerant of our social calendar.

We have three more precious weeks til I go back to school, so we are trying to make the most of every day. Here are some random photos from the last few weeks.She is getting bigger and more fun every day. 

The Children's garden at the Arboretum!

Hangin with the fam in Aunt Peg's backyard

The OTHER side fo the fam at Auntie D's Dirty 30!

One of our many playdates of the summer. Ben didn't have an outfit to match the girls, so he just got naked. :)

The girlie girls in one of their many matching ensembles. 

Talking up a storm in her bouncy

Another day matching her besties!

Wtching the big kids play int he pool from Auntie Morgan's lap

Leah and her big sister cousin, Kayli. They are super cute together

This was her first bath in her big bathtub. She was flailing herself out of the old one, and she can sit up in here.

Matching outfits, round 30. Thanks for the adorable bee outfits, Auntie Allie!

Oh, how I love my little Smushie

Our most recent zoo trip. It was 95 and humid. GROSS. This trip did not last long....

With the monkeys at the zoo. I think we all stunk more than the animals.

Another heat melting moment with my parents and LiLi. We took a nice walk in our neighborhood last week after a couple glasses of wine. This looks like a nice moment, right? We were actually ripping on my Mom so hard she was laughing til she cried.  :)

In the pool at yet another birthday party. Loved the sun tent!

For all of you who stalk this blog and say you love the pictures, here you go. For those of you bored to death, try a new site.  :)

Happy last few weeks of summer!!