Abby's First Nom

As I mentioned in the Father's Day post, another first for that weekend was Abby's first solid food.  Or, as I like to call it, "The Day the Diapers Changed."  Only they really didn't, because she hasn't really eaten anything.  Much, anyway.

We're trying something called Baby-Led Weaning, or BLW.  In this case, "weaning" doesn't mean "weaning off of breast milk," but rather "weaning onto food."  The idea is that babies can handle appropriately sized and prepared whole foods and don't need to be spoon-fed purees.  It's supposed to foster independence and adventurous eating because baby chooses what she wants to eat and figures out how to eat it.  Something about it intrigues me, so we're giving it a go.  We're supposed to start with finger-shaped fruits and vegetables, because babies can pick them up and still have a bit to eat sticking out of their little fists.

We decided to start with pieces of avocado.  Nice and soft, and mild-flavored.

Abby was all ready!

I don't think she knew quite what she was ready for, though!  She didn't really acknowledge anything in front of her, at first, so I tried handing it to her. She just squished it in her fist.  Kevin's mom offered Abby a piece on her finger, which Abby seemed to enjoy.  After wiping her own mouth (really!), she picked up a more solid piece of avocado and gnawed on it.  I don't know how much she really ended up eating, though - I was unable to detect any evidence in the diaper! But that doesn't mean that she didn't get any - she did get to taste it, at any rate.  And, for now, food is all about exploration for her.

Since then, we've tried steamed broccoli (good because it has a handle!), cucumber, banana, steamed asparagus, and boiled potato.  She's not terribly interested in any of it.  She just looks at us, clearly wondering what happened to the toys we used to keep on her high chair tray during meals.  She was perfectly happy to stick those in her mouth and gnaw on them, but regards the foods much more warily.  It takes a lot of encouragement - like putting the food in her hand and guiding it to her mouth - to get her to try it.  She has seemed to enjoy gnawing on cucumbers and potatoes, and licking banana goo.  

I keep reminding myself of the mantra, "Food before one is just for fun."  I can't wait until she gets more interested and eats more voraciously!

First Father's Day

Two weekends ago, we celebrated Kevin's first Father's Day.

Kevin's parents and brother came down.  It's always nice to have them visit, and they looove hanging out with Abby.

I texted this picture to Kevin, and his reaction? "Looks like Dad found the Murphy's!"

Abby's starting to distinguish between "Mommy" and "Daddy" and "Everyone Else," so it did take her a little bit to warm up to Grandma and Grandpa, this time.  She loves this little barking dog, though.  She had started to fake cough about a week earlier, and Grandpa swears that she fake coughs when the dog barks because she's trying to talk back to it.  Maybe!  And Grandma is certain that when she reads Moo Baa La La La that Abby sings along with the "la la la."  This is just one of the reasons why grandparents are awesome!

And, as far as fake coughing goes, Abby found it HILARIOUS when Grandpa fake coughed at her:

My favorite part is when Kevin tries it, and Abby just looks at him like, "What are you trying to do?" It's also great when she starts looking at Grandpa expectantly, her face asking,"Well?  Are you going to do it?"

Abby also tried her first solid food while the family was here!  That's a post for another time, though.  For the grown ups, Kevin's mom helped me make Pioneer Woman's Ribeye with Whiskey Cream Sauce.  Yum! The steak is done very simply, but the sauce is fantastic - and easy, too.  Abby just had some avocado - I hope she didn't feel cheated.

I, er, Abby got Kevin, his father, and his brother beautiful engraved pint glasses (you know, because none of them have enough pint glasses) that say "Dad," "Grandpa," and "Uncle" (respectively on each glass), "EST." and Abby's birth date.  I don't have a picture of the actual glasses, but I got them from Dustyroadgurl on Etsy.

From Dustyroadgurl's Etsy page

After Kevin's family had left, Abby gave one last Father's Day present - she sat without help for the first time!

She's getting to be such a big girl!  And sassy, too!

Definitely in a good way,

Baby Multi-Tasking

On June 13th, Abby celebrated her half birthday!

Google Plus does it again!

She's doing a lot of new things these days...rolling over, practicing sitting, standing, and crawling, trying solid foods...but all work and no play makes Abby a dull girl!  And look at how much better she's gotten at playing!

This video was from when she was four months old, in the middle of April:

I love how she plays with the dangly bugs like they're a musical instrument.  She looks like she's taking it so seriously!  But now, she can multi-task!  Not only is she more coordinated in hitting the toys, she can even grab and pull the one that makes music...sometimes multiple times.  She can also chew on another toy AND chat at the same time! 

It's amazing how much she's grown and changed in just two months!  I can hardly keep up with documenting all Abby is doing these days, but I'm going to try!  Be on the lookout for more.

Roll Over, Roll Over!

Rolling over is a significant developmental milestone.  It signals the start of mobility, and, consequentially, the end of household sanity.  Before rolling over, you can put a baby down anywhere.   Once they roll, you can't put them down on anything they could roll off of, and the next thing you know, you have to safety-lock your cabinets and put up the liquor.  I decided that I would be perfectly happy if Abby didn't start being mobile until right before she went to preschool. at which point she could hop up and walk just like any other four-year old.  I know this won't happen, though, so I guess I just have to celebrate these milestones in stride.

By the way, did you realize that Abby is almost six months old?  I know, you might not, since I never posted any five-month pictures:

"Go Abby! It's your (five-month) birthday!"

And Google Plus was kind enough to make an animated GIF out of all the five-month photos it uploaded, which seriously weirded me out, because I was like, "WHY IS THE PICTURE OF THE BABY MOVING???"  But now that I understand that it's just something Google Plus *does* when it senses a "burst" of photos, I think it's pretty cool:

Typically, babies roll from belly to back, first, which is what Abby did, way back at the end of April (I know, I'm such a slacker!):

The funny thing is, even now, a month and a half later, often, when Abby is on her tummy, she'll start crying instead of rolling herself over.  It's like she forgets that she knows how to do it.

She's been working really hard on back to front for some time.  For awhile, she was getting really close.  At first, she couldn't get the opposite hip flipped over, then her big noggin was weighing her down.  She eventually got almost the whole way over, but then her arm would get stuck and she'd end up rolling back on her back.  Poor girl would get so frustrated!  She'd just lay on her side and whine, poor baby!

But then, last weekend, we visited my parents' house.  While we were getting packed up, I put Abby down on her back on her play mat.  I went to the bathroom, while Kevin took a few bags out to the car.  I had just come out of the bathroom when Kevin called to me, "Did you put her down on her stomach?" To which I answered, "No!"  That little sneak rolled over when no one was looking!

And this is how her daddy found her!

She's rolled over a few times since then - and I still haven't seen it.

Thoughts for My Mom

Tomorrow morning, my mom is having an operation to remove an aneurysm from the underside of her brain.

Michael Temchine Photography

My mom has a long and sordid medical history, but the short of it is that, about a month before Abby was born, my mom fell and knocked her noggin.  When she had a CAT scan to ensure there wasn't any damage, the doctor spotted this aneurysm.  There's no way to say how long it had been there.  The risk of it bursting was small enough that if my mom was 80, the doc would say to not bother, but great enough that, if my mom was 30, he would recommend she have it operated on.  It wasn't urgent, but after months of consideration, my mom decided to have it removed, rather than spend the rest of her life worrying about whether it was going to blow at any moment.

By nature, I am not a worrier.  It may be because my mom is a worrier, and I grew up seeing how stressful that was.  It may also be because my dad is not a worrier.  So, after talking to the nurse at my mom's doc's practice, and reading the consent form that listed all of the risks for the procedure, I wasn't particularly worried.  The risks seem pretty small.  That is, until I talked to my dad today and asked, "You're not that worried, are you?" My mom is beside herself with worry.  She can't sleep, and is making sure to call everyone she loves.

"Well, yeah, I'm worried," my dad answered.

"But not that worried, right?"

"Well, with your mom's medical history..."

So, if my dad is worried, now, I am worried, too.  But I also have a lot of faith that everything is going to be okay, and told her as much.  I know she has a lot of people pulling for her.  And while I'm not the praying sort, I do believe in the power of positive energy and  thoughts.  Whether your good thoughts happen to come through prayer or not, please send some my mom's way tomorrow and over the next week or so, while she goes through this procedure and recovery.

Baby Breakfast Groups (+bonus picture!)

I am not crazy about the term "lactation support group."  It sounds very technical and is a mouthful.  So, Kevin and I started calling the groups "Baby Breakfast."  It's morning and the babies are eating, right?  Although, I guess with starting at 10AM, it's really more of a brunch, but Baby Breakfast has stuck for us.

When Abby first went to the group at Upper Chesapeake,  she was only five days old, and one of the smallest babies there.  Everyone fusses over the smallest babies.  I saw moms with these enormous babies, and I gaped at them.  "How old is your baby?" I asked.  I was shocked to hear that these gigantic babies were sometimes only three months old.  It was hard to believe that my brand new little girl would be that big in three short months.

On Tuesday, our friend Sarah took her brand new little girl to Baby Breakfast.  At only two days old , her baby was definitely one of the smallest.  We took a picture of them, along with our other friend Jenny and her six-week old boy, and me and Abby.  Look who has the huge baby, now!

Small, Medium, and Large.  The babies, that is.  Don't worry, we won't let those nicknames stick.

I go to two different groups, and enjoy both of them for different reasons.  Both offer opportunities for weigh-feed-weigh, if you want to see how much your peanut is eating.  If you're in the Baltimore/Harford County area, here is the info for them:

Upper Chesapeake Medical Center - Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10AM - 11:30(ish).  It is basically a big, social breastfeeding hour with two lactation consultants coming around to assist and answer questions.  It's a good way to meet other moms and get one-on-one support.  The upside is that the consultants will sometimes spend a half hour with someone who really needs it; the downside is if you're not that person, you might have to wait awhile to get the help you're looking for.  Usually, though, you can get the help you need.

Mercy Medical Center - Mondays from 10AM - noon(ish). This is run more as a support group, with everyone sitting around a table, introducing themselves and sharing their issues.  The issues are usually feeding related, but are also sometimes about other things, like sleeping or behavior.  These issues are addressed by the consultant who runs the group, Dee Dee.  She has a wealth of information and experience, and is good at acknowledging how new moms feel, which we don't always feel that we can admit. I like hearing everyone else's issues, personally.  Helps me feel less crazy.  :-) Dads are also welcome to this group, but only a few come.

Those are the only two I've been to, but there are many more all across Maryland.  The Maryland Breastfeeding Coalition has a great list if you're looking for one in a different area.

Our Breastfed Baby Girl

Our little angel baby was four months old on Saturday!

It's hard to believe that this wiggly, 13lb chunker with the chubby cheeks and double chin is the same little newborn who struggled to reach her birth weight by the third week (the goal is by two weeks).

 

Look how big her diaper was on her!

I am so proud of her; so proud of us, for fighting through our eating challenges.  Those first few weeks were rough - the problems latching, the nipple pain, the hour to an hour and 45 minute feedings.  Those two days when I couldn't wake her up to eat for more than three minutes before she fell back to sleep, and sometimes couldn't wake her up at all. The waiting for weeks to get an appointment with the ear, nose, and throat doctor and pinning so much hope on that getting her tongue tie clipped would solve all of our problems (which it didn't).  I would whisper to her all those hours at night - "We're two smart girls.  We can figure this out."  

I remember when the lactation consultants advised me to pump after feedings to keep my supply up, and I only had a hand pump at the time, so 15 minutes on each side added up to a half an hour.  After trying to feed her who-knows -how-long.  Before they told me I didn't have to do it at night (OH THANK GOD), I sat, pathetic in a bean bag chair, pumping away and longing for sleep.

When she didn't gain her birth weight back until her third week, another lactation consultant looked grave, and got us on a plan to pump and bottle feed.  I know I already posted about this, but I was so relieved to have a plan, rather than just, "Eh, give her a syringe of milk if it seems like she didn't eat enough." LIKE I HAD ANY IDEA! But, at the same time, I was so scared that if we bottle fed, she wouldn't breast feed.  However, there were two moms at the support group who had been in the same boat we were, and they had chubby, healthy four-month olds.  So I had faith.

And now, here we are, with our very own chubby, healthy four-month old.  We've weaned her off of bottles (save for special occasions and a night time one with Daddy), weaned her off a nipple shield, and gone down from an hour, to 45 minutes, to around 20 or sometimes even less.  So, I'm here to say to moms struggling with breastfeeding their babies:  Hang in there.  You and your baby can do it.  Get help, and there may be more than one way to reach your breastfeeding goals.  When I told Lactation Consultant A that Lactation Consultant B had told us to pace bottle feed, Consultant A looked stern and said that she would've had us use a Supplemental Nursing System (SNS), where Mom hangs a bottle of milk around her neck and tapes a tube to the nipple for the baby to get extra (these are the same people who had us using a syringe and never mentioned an SNS).  Consultant A said she'd never seen a pace-bottle fed baby transition successfully to nursing.

WELL, HERE IS ONE:

I see that a lot of women find the SNS or syringe feeding to be what they need to help them and their baby get through their feeding challenges, so I don't mean to trash those methods. I just want to say that different approaches will help different people, and to find what seems to work the best for you and your baby.  I couldn't be happier with how things worked out for me and my little girl.

I'll write a follow up post with information on some local breastfeeding support groups.