Sick of the Comments

I know my baby is small, but I'm sick of all the judgy comments.  Everywhere we go mostly well-meaning people have to point out how tiny she is.  And generally, people don't think before they speak. 

Yesterday we went out for breakfast.  Abigail was sitting in a high chair, devouring a piece of pancake.  The manager actually had the nerve to come up and ask us if her pediatrician ok'ed "table food".  As if it's any of her business!  I could see if we were being abusive or neglectful, but actually calling us out in a public place for feeding her food in a high chair when she's 6 1/2 months old is so offensive.

Here are the most common questions I get:
"How premature was she?"
"How old is she? 3 months?"
"She's little! She eating ok?"
"Do you breastfeed? Do you have to supplement with formula or have her on a special diet?"
"How much did she weigh when she was born? She must have been so tiny!"

I would love to yell at people for being so rude. In my mind I come up with clever responses, like "We actually don't feed her. We make her eat what she catches. Teaches valuable life skills".  But instead I just get upset.  I feel bad enough already that she's in the first percentile for weight, like it's somehow my fault that she's not the typical chubby baby. Of course, she's perfectly healthy, just petite. It's just that I could do without the constant reminders and feeling like someone's going to call CPS on me for making my malnourished 3-month old eat pancakes in a high chair.

Happy Half-Birthday Abigail!

Abigail turned 6 months on Wednesday. Yowza!

Feet!

Excited for her 6-month vaccinations!:

Speaking of, she did very well with the shots. She cried for all of about 6 seconds and proceeded to smile at the MA on the way out.  She slept a lot the next day or so, but otherwise had no issues. What a brave girl.  The rest of the appointment went great, she's still "petite" but everything else is perfect. The doctor is a fan of baby-led weaning (BLW), which is a method of feeding your infant that skips mushy purees and cereals and goes straight to real food!  I was planning on doing this anyway after 6 months so it's great to have the dr on board.

Here are the updated stats:

Weight (in pounds.ounces):
NB: 7.10
2 months: 9.3  (12%)
4 months: 10.13  (1%)
6 months: 12.06 (1%)


Length:
NB: 20 1/4"
2 months: 22 1/2"  (56%)
4 months:  24 1/4"  (40%)
6 months:  25" (16%)


So we started the BLW process with carrots.  The first attempt was a fail. She'd rather eat the high chair:

Yuck! What is this stuff!

So we tried again later.  Success!  Well, some of it got in her mouth I think:

Very proud of herself:

We also tried pasta:

And she shared my Mother's Day breakfast (pancakes):

Speaking of Mother's Day, my brilliant (and thoughtful) girl made me a card at school:

Ain't she the greatest?

Too Cool for School

Showing off some recent pictures.
Jelly rocking the Baby Banz:

Out and about at the park:

Fun time in the bumbo:

Playing in her "jungle gym":

Who's that good-looking baby?:

Angry at Mortimer the Moose:

There are at least 2 things wrong with this picture:

 Baby and me:

Back to Work/Starting Daycare

So last week was my first week back at work. Getting back into the job wasn't too difficult; not much has actually changed in the 26 weeks I was home.  Leaving Abigail, however, was a completely different story!

We decided Steve will stay home with her Monday and Tuesday, and she will be in daycare Wednesday-Friday.  So my first day back (Monday) she got to spend the day with Daddy!  I missed her terribly, but it was bearable.  Wednesday was awful.

I brought her to daycare in the morning and they showed me how to sign her in. Then they just wanted me to hand her off to some strange (but very nice) lady through the doorway into the infant room.  There were babies everywhere it seemed - on the floor, in cribs, in swings and jumperoos...  So I handed over the baby and the bag (with her bottles, change of clothes, wipes). And left.  I cried for 10 minutes in the car.

I had so much anxiety.  What if she cried all day and they didn't know what to do?  What if she doesn't like it there?  What if they ignore her?  What if something bad happens when I'm not there?  And the guilt, oh the guilt.  I'm heading off to work and dumping her in some strange place. I should be home with my baby. She's going to grow up hating me.

My brain was swimming. And I cried some more.

Work was busy though, and I only called once the whole day.  They lady I talked to said Jelly was happily playing on the floor on her tummy. It made me feel a little better, but I couldn't wait to see for myself.

When they day was finally over I signed her out and poked my head through the doorway.  She saw me from across the room and she smiled this enormous beautiful smile and started kicking her legs with excitement. She didn't look like she'd been crying.  In fact, they told me she was the happiest, most easy-going baby they have! It was quite a relief.  Thursday and Friday came and went, and she did great.  I actually did great too, considering how awful the first day was.

Finally it was the weekend, I was so excited to spend 2 whole days with my sweet happy baby.  Except when she woke up on Saturday morning, she was crying this pathetic whimpering cry and was just radiating heat.  Her temperature was 101.8 and she was miserable!  6 months of not even a sniffle, and after 3 days of daycare she was sick as a dog.  Her fever broke by Sunday night, but the mucus and cough linger on.  Le sigh. At least we both made it through the first week, and if getting a cold is the worst thing that happened, then I think we did ok!

Happy Easter!

Here are some pictures from today.

C'mon Mom, enough already!:

Of course, the photoshoot wouldn't be complete without these 2 in a photo or two:

Happy Easter!

A Story in Pictures

This is Jakkals:

She is super stubborn and smart.  She will do whatever it takes to get what she wants.

We decided to turn the living room into Abigail's play area since she's more mobile now (she rolls/scoots across the floor.. tries to crawl but not quite there yet!). We also decided to block the dogs out because they leave clumps of fur everywhere and even with lots of vacuuming I'd still like Jelly to have her own space. We barricaded the entry way with the Pack N Play:

First she got her head stuck trying to squeeze through:

I had to rescue her. She was really stuck!  I took Abigail to the supermarket, and when I came back, this is what I found:



She jumped over the back of the couch and got stuck on the other side.  Now that she's figured it out she keeps letting herself in.  I can be sitting right there on the couch, and I'll see this large animal come leaping out from behind me.  What a bad dog!  It's a good thing she is so sweet.

5 Months!

Abigail is 5 months old! Ain't she a cutie?

Here she is playing with her crinkly block, while sitting up in the boppy:

Some other pictures showing off that tummy time isn't so bad, really:

Showing off that she can flip over, even in her RNP sleeper:

Her new thing is standing.  No, she can't stand on her own yet, but she pushes off with her legs and if I hold her up she can stand on my lap.  When she does that I usually make a huge deal about it ("WOW! Look at this big girl standing up!!!") and she loves it!  She grins from ear to ear, totally proud of her accomplishment.  I'll try to get a picture of her standing and add it in later.

Here she is standing in her bouncy seat.  Yes, she's strapped in, but it doesn't seem to hold her down very well:

And here are a couple pictures of her with Jakkals, because it's so cute to watch them hang out together:

She's also extremely interested in big-people food.  Apparently that's a sign that she's ready for solids, but I'm in no rush! I still plan on waiting another month.  It's funny to watch her though, she tries so hard to grab whatever we're eating/drinking.  Soon enough little girl!