Month Six

Chunko, I have been unintentionally consuming entirley too much of my own breastmilk this month. While I love the fact that you are eating solids, I'm in the habit now of finishing your sister's food and that has translated to me eating your mashed fruits and veggies after breakfast and dinner so that nothing, not a teaspoon, gets wasted. And since I've been mixing your food with breastmilk and rice cereal to up the calorie content (and hope you sleep longer) that means.... I keep ingesting my own milk. When you think about it, it's a little weird, like a cow sucking her own teat. Yum.

But you are loving the food. I think your favorite cereal is probably barley though we give you oatmeal for breakfast and mix the rice cereal with fruits and veggies. You ate the heck out of the watermelon but got really bad gas that night so we're going to wait a bit longer to give it to you again. The sweet potato was a hit, probably your favorite veggie so far and the peas were well received as well. People think I'm crazy when I tell them that you are eating 8-10 tablespoons of food a day, plus 20 oz pumped milk and nurisng at least 4-5 times, but you are and you do and you are a happy little thing.

And you are sleeping so well now from about 8p-7:30a only waking up once around 2:30 to nurse. It's working well with me being back at work because you sleep late enough for Papa to take a shower then Taryn plays with you until it's time to eat. You have been doing okay at daycare, not sleeping as much as I'd like but we just put you to bed a bit earlier and hope the next day you'll nap really, really well so we can keep you up later to play. I miss you guys so much but you are both having so much fun that I console myself with the fact that although this separation is heart wrneching for me, you don't seem to be suffering any adverse affects and I know the socialization will benefit you in the long run.

So this month my wish for you is that you always feel loved and never neglected, even though your Papa and I both have to work. I hope that the relationships that you build at daycare will last a long time and that you will have a solid foundation to function in the world, and always know that your Papa and I adore you, and that even when we aren't there with you, we are always thinking about you guys. Like I told Taryn the other day, every time I blink, I'm thinking of my girls.

If there is one thing we need to work on, it's the hair pulling. When your sister was a baby, I always wore my hair in a ponytail and out of her reach, but I started wearing my hair down curly (which I hadn't done in years) and I know its tempting but you got to stop trying to eat it! Aside from the fact that it hurts, I'm sure my conditioner doesn't taste too good. And when we are all sitting reading a book, you are already making Taryn cry by yanking on her hair. I know you aren't trying to hurt her and I actually think its sort of cute when she's trying to get your hand out of her hair and you've got a white-knuckle grip on it (and your hands are almost the same size...wow) but I feel bad for her so I have to help. Let's just try to nip that one in the bud, okay?

I can't believe I almost forgot the swimming! I've taken you out a couple times and you love the water, splashing your hands around, kicking like the frogger we used to call you, and sucking it up off the floaty thing we use, but after about 30-45 minutes I think you're just worn out and want a break. The first time I nursed you and you fell asleep under the towel for 30 minutes, then wanted to jump right back in when you woke up. And you sleep so well afterwards, probably from wearing yourself out and being out in the sun (though there is a shade on the floatie so no burns) so it's good for us all. Taryn likes swinging and pushing your floatie around, and best of all, you wear the same size swim diapers! You are wearing Taryn's bathing suit from when she was 12 months old, and I'm dying to see how big you've grown at your appointment next week. I'm sure you're pretty high in the percentages, but still perfectly proportionate.

Baby, I love you. Thank you for making me smile all day, every day.

Love, Mama