For the first few months of your life, my constant thought was…

“Time is going by so fast — I can’t believe she’s XX months old!”

But now, I believe it. You are a little girl.

There’s still plenty of baby left, but with every passing day, I see less and less of my tiny newborn and more of my strong, growing, always-moving, babbling, nearly-crawling (you made it halfway across the room last night) toddler.

You are a ball of joy. While you still have serious moments, your default emotion is happy. You have this funny laugh — you don’t build up; you explode with giggles when something (Daddy making funny faces, Daddy playing peekaboo, Daddy bouncing you, Daddy flying you over his head — sensing a theme?) makes you excited.

Playing with you has taken on a new meaning. I used to be able to put you on your back and let you amuse yourself by grabbing your toes or looking at the fan, but now you need toys or a person to interact with.

You stack things and bang rattles against tables and pull my hair and pull blankets over your face to hide and hug stuffed animals and so much more.

We are so lucky that you’re a good “outside” kid, too — it means that we can and do take you to the beach, the zoo, restaurants, the grocery store and more.

It helps that you’re on a schedule of sorts. It still changes day to day when you will eat, sleep and play, but it generally follows the same pattern.

Although, your weekday and weekend schedules are very different. You do not like to nap at daycare. Maybe there’s too much fun to be had? You often sleep only an hour (or less) during the day, and then you make up for it with monster naps when you get home and lots of sleep during the weekends.

We have not found a food you don’t like, but you have a definite preference for bananas, avocado and puff cereal. It’s seriously messy, so I (and the dogs) just embrace it and figure that’s what baths are for. You love grabbing the spoon once I load it up with yogurt or applesauce or hummus, and you’re getting better at actually aiming it into your mouth.

The most remarkable change this month is your mobility. You not only roll back and forth, but you can roll almost immediately from your back to your front and then up into a sitting position. More and more, I go to get you out of your crib in the morning and am greeted by a chatty, sitting-up baby.

You’re getting better at transitioning from sitting into an all-fours position, too, and while I won’t say you’re officially crawling yet, you have started to inch forward on your knees (you’ve been scooting backwards for weeks) moments after I finished the first draft of this post, you started crawling across the room and back. I don’t know if you’re skipping the army crawl, but you have also mastered the art of rocking (very aggressively) back and forth on your knees.

You are my little daredevil. You’re happiest when riding on our shoulders, being thrown into the air, bouncing on our knees, being “dropped” (we hold you up in the air and let you freefall for an instant before catching you) and anything else that makes Mommy’s heart stop.

But overall, you are a smart, funny, fun little girl. It’s crazy to think that I didn’t know you 8 months ago. I can’t imagine not having you in my life.

I love you SO much, Buggy.

Love,

Mommy

I swam through middle and high school, got certified as a lifeguard in my teens, taught swimming for several summers and have adopted triathlon as my sport of choice in the last few years.

I am happiest in the water. Near the water. Listening to the water. Smelling the water. And apparently, I’ve passed that down to Audrey.

The child loves to splash. She gets giddy at bathtime, and now that we’ve opened the pool for the summer, she starts squealing as soon as we put on her swimsuit.

It’s such a joy to me. We took her to the beach this weekend and my brave little baby couldn’t stop grinning — even when the waves smacked her in the face (bad Mommy took her in a little too deep).

And my trouper was an all-star on a boat trip (well, she fell asleep but I figure it was because of the soothing sounds and smells).

So, I’m thinking it’s time to look into infant swim classes, perhaps for next spring/summer. I’ve heard good things about ISR, or infant swim self-rescue but I’d love to hear about your experiences!

I spent 40+ weeks preparing for a drug-free birth, hoping the stars would align (they did). My friend Michelle did not plan for it, but got it in a lightning quick delivery shortly after she arrived at the hospital.

She wrote a wonderful, thought-provoking post called “The Entitlement of a Drug-Free Birth” and it spurred me to put some of my own thoughts on tape.

And yes, I took her to bed. As soon as I finished shooting the video. C’mon, how could I not?

It’s been a month since I last updated, and my goodness how you have changed. I loved doing the weekly updates when you were a baby because everything was so new, and you developed by the second.

Things have slowed down, but now that I look back at the difference four weeks makes, I’m astounded. I’ll still do monthly updates, but there will be plenty of news to share.

Your face has changed so much. Every day that goes by, you are more and more like your Daddy. And he loves to hear it — the two of you are best buddies, and now that we’ve moved you into a running stroller, you spend even more time together.

You even did your first race, baby — a 5K…and you won the stroller division!

These days, you’re always moving. You can sit up by yourself (I still put pillows around just in case).

You have started to scoot, and if I put you on your tummy, there’s no walking away — I might lose you!

The pool is quickly becoming one of your favorite places to play. The bath is your second favorite place, so I probably need to get you into swimming lessons sooner rather than later.

Naps are not your favorite thing, and not by a long shot. You barely close your eyes at school, and when you get home, you want to play much more than you want to rest.

Of course, eating is a fun hobby as well. You like everything we put in front of you (except corn on the cob — that was a big fail). Sweet potatoes, pears, applesauce, yogurt, cheese, bread, rice puffs.

You don’t form any words yet, but your babbles have become more distinctive. You are especially excited whenever Junior, our dog, is in the room. You absolutely love him, and can’t get enough of his kisses. You even throw him some food when I’m not looking.

I can’t believe how much I love you. I thank my lucky stars every day that you are mine.

Love,

Mommy

But while so many organizations recommend a six-month minimum, I don’t think they make it clear enough that if you stop there, you still have to supplement with formula. (Cow’s milk and other alternative milks aren’t recommended until after a baby is 12 months old.)

So I did have a mini-celebration on April 13th, taking an extra few moments during that morning’s nursing session to smile at my girl and thank her for being such a good partner. But then I geared up for the next six months of breastfeeding.

My goal now is to get to 12 months. After that, who knows? Ideally, I’d like to let Audrey lead the weaning process. If 12 months is her time, that’s OK. If she and I can go a few months after that? Even better. She still wants to nurse until two years old? I’m open to it.

I will be the first to admit, while I’ve had a few minor bumps, breastfeeding has been very successful for me, and I know that’s not the case for everyone. My daughter latched on immediately (something that I was very worried about as we were apart for a few minutes after her birth) and really seemed to get the process from the start.

A few notes:

• One of the biggest challenges has been supply dips and surges. I was blessed with a good supply from the beginning, and I had a freezer overflowing with bags of milk (so many that I was able to donate some of the milk that was set to expire). However, some days are good and some are really, really bad. I got my period back very early after birth, and during my cycle, I barely eek out half of what she needs, so I’ve had to dip into my stash. When I have a cold or am stressed or work out too hard, I have the same supply issues.

• I send 12 ounces of milk to school with Audrey, and it’s a constant point of discussion with her teachers. I’m now sending two snacks as well as the bottles, and that seems to have appeased their concerns that she’s acting hungry (for a million reasons, I don’t agree with this assessment, but I give them credit for continuing the conversation respectfully).

• I pump three times a day at work. I have tried cutting back to two, and will try again in a month or two, but I have found that I just don’t pump enough if I drop a session, and end up pumping at home, which I hate.

• Audrey eats about every four hours at this point. She does comfort nurse from time to time, but she’s pretty good about her routine.

• Audrey sleeps from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. or so. She does not nurse during the night. That may be partly responsible for my supply dips, since I am going a long time without expressing any milk. I have thought about pumping before bed, and will if I have to, but I really don’t want to.

• I don’t pump on weekends unless I’m desperate. I need the break from that blasted machine, and I prefer the physical contact we have with breastfeeding anyway.

• I am an enthusiastic nurser in public. We have nursed at the mall, in a Starbucks, at the park (several times), in the car, in bathrooms (yuck) and the list goes on.

I’m very proud of what the two of us have done. It’s been a challenge to balance breastfeeding and a full-time job, and I feel blessed to have had support around me to make it possible.

Today, you are six months old. Your Daddy and I spent some time this morning reflecting on where we were at this time a half-year ago — you, just hours old in our arms, homemade whoopie pies from Grampy to celebrate your birth, hot coffee coursing through our tired veins — and we just couldn’t stop smiling.

What a treasure you are. What a loving, funny, silly, gorgeous treasure. You’re still so small, but every day you amaze me with what you can do. Just a week ago, you were trying your first foods, with most of it falling out.

Now, you’re gumming big chunks of food and even showing some preferences (you’ll sort through a big pile of food to dig out the sweet potatoes first).

You roll with ease. You do better push-ups than me. You can almost sit up and you’re engaging with everything we put in front of you.

And sweet girl, you are alert. Alive. And the heart of our home.

Happy half birthday, Audrey.

Love, Mommy

We have started solid foods.

I did a lot of research on our options, in large part because I’m very choosy about what I eat, and I wanted to make smart decisions for helping my daughter learn to like real, whole foods. I also wanted to make sure she was getting a balanced diet, learning not only how to eat but how much to eat (that will make more sense in a moment) and other best practices.

(Yeah, I hear all of you been-there-done-that moms laughing. I know you can’t make your kid a healthy eater by will power alone, but I figure it can’t hurt to try, especially in these early months.)

After months of researching, reading, planning and educating ourselves, we ended up just jumping in.* And so far — so good!

We’re following sort of a loose interpretation of Baby Led Weaning (an English phrase that doesn’t make as much sense here in the States, where weaning indicates an end of breastfeeding) although we call it baby solids or first foods. Instead of feeding a lot of Stage 1 purees or packaged products, we’re offering Audrey babyfied versions of the foods we eat.

Here are a few of the resources that I’m following**:

• Baby-Led Weaning
  • I ordered and read (four times) the book by Gill Rapley and love it
  • I also ordered the BLW cookbook
• Wholesome Baby Food
  • the http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/ website is a great place for recipes and tutorials
• Introducing Solid Foods for the Breastfed Baby webinar from Isis Parenting




• 

  Early hits include sweet potatoes, broccoli (and broccolini), cheese and scrambled eggs. Avocado and banana are a bit slippery for her to hold onto, even when rolled in cereal or bread crumbs, but I’ll keep trying.

  

  We even gave her a tiny “pizza” that my husband made of some dough, homemade tomato sauce and organic cheese! For now, I just cut everything into long finger shapes and either lightly steam or roast veggies. She kind of gums the food off the skin or squishes it into her fingers and then sticks her fist in her mouth. I’d say about 90% of it falls out, but every meal, she’s getting better at her aim.

  

  Especially in these first months, I’m being very careful about the quality of the food we give her. Little to no salt/sodium (their little bodies don’t process it well), little to no sugar, organic fruits and veggies, whole milk cheese***, etc. I’m also continuing to breastfeed, and make sure she has a full tummy of milk before I offer any foods. For now, I’m not worried about how much she actually eats — she gets all the nutrition she needs from me — I just want to introduce the concept of eating to her.

  

  One of the best parts of baby solids, at least in my opinion, is that Audrey feeds herself. I lay out a lot of options at every meal and she picks what she eats, how much, etc. I don’t encourage “one more bite” or worry if food goes to waste (or in our case, to our dogs). It’s fun to watch her make faces at new tastes and try to maneuver chunks of food into her mouth.

  

  There are a lot of conflicting opinions on how and when to feed babies solid foods (you’d be surprised at how many people gave me the side eye when I refused to start any earlier, and when I told them I was not doing jarred foods or baby cereals) but I’m very confident that this is the right plan for us. Just a week ago, there was a big hubub when even more experts came out and recommended that parents not start solids at 4 months as previously recommended:  http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/08/advice-shifts-on-feeding-baby/. I know that we’re not necessarily the norm when it comes to how we’re planning to raise Audrey, but I’m extremely concerned with setting her up with healthy habits.

  

  I’d love to answer any questions you have about what we do or why we do it — and I’ll be updating our journey once we have more than, say, four days behind us.

  *I’d planned on waiting until Audrey was at least six months old and even then, letting her guide me on when she was ready. But at a week shy of 6 months, she reached into my bowl and grabbed a handful of food — then tried to stuff it in her mouth. Since she’s able to sit up (supported forever, without support for about 10 seconds, but the high chair lets her keep a straight back), seems interested in foods and has control over bringing objects to her mouth, I thought waiting seven more days was a bit arbitrary. See http://kellymom.com/nutrition/starting-solids/solids-when/.

  **like with everything, I’m trying to be very flexible and figure out what works for us, especially with the added challenge of getting daycare on board with our plans.

  ***my next big hurdle is deciding whether or not to offer her cow’s milk to drink after a year — but for cheese, yogurt, etc., I’m fine with her having it.

What can I say, other than…you are awesome. I think about you all day, and get so happy when I see you at night. Truly, while I know I am blessed that you do go to sleep, it’s kind of sad when we have to put you in your crib every night!

Daddy was on a road trip this weekend and he just kept saying how much he missed you. I hope you grow up and like spending time with us, kiddo. Because we sure like you.

Speaking of sleep, despite my best efforts and a few restless nights, you are officially a stomach sleeper (just like your Mommy). I barely lay you down and you begin flipping over to your tummy. You terrify me because you press your little face into the mattress and then hide your head in your hands, but thanks to a great video monitor and hourly visits to watch your back rise and fall, I’m starting to be OK with it. Honestly, you seem to sleep more deeply and certainly longer than you did on your back.

You smile all the time now.

I can tell when you’re smiling even when your back is to me because you get these little dimples in your cheeks and next to your eyes. It’s like your whole face changes when you’re happy.

A week from today, you’ll turn 6 months old, and that feels like a huge milestone. We’ll probably start to let you try some foods then, now that you’re showing more interest (you keep trying to grab my fork from me!). I’m excited about that.

You also have a doctor’s appointment next week. Can’t wait to see how much you weigh!

I cleaned out your drawers — again — and moved all of the 6-month clothes up to the top and put away the remaining 3-month and 3- to 6-month outfits. It’s a little sad but you have some great clothes in the closet now. It’s so fun to play dress-up with you!

Grampy came to visit last weekend and … sigh … you two love each other so much.

I love you, Bug.

Love,

Mommy