Still our surprise baby

Libby has been full of surprises since the day we found out she was joining our family. Libby was a surprise. As in "Surprise! I'm pregnant!" I've always been irregular, but I had a weird feeling about things back in January 2009. I thought it had been a long time, even in the face of the stress of starting a new semester and a new exercise regimen. I thought I should take a pregnancy test "to be sure I'm not pregnant". But I was. The blue line showed up immediately, as soon as it was wet. No wonder--I was already at least 8 weeks along!

She then surprised us by being two weeks early, but that's not what I want to talk about today.

Lately, her surprises have been to learn a new skill allofasudden. I had been fretting for 2-3 weeks about when she would start enjoying standing up (with help) and when consonant sounds would emerge. This week, she started both like she's been doing them for weeks. Old hat.

I am not kidding. Last week, when I took her to the portrait studio on Wednesday, the photographer wanted to get a pic of her standing with me just out of the shot holding her hands. She refused to keep her legs straight like a toddler in tantrum mode. This week, all she wants to do is stand. I was trying to show her how to hold onto the crib rail while standing, but she's not quite ready for that.

So far, the only consonant I have heard is "d", as in "ah-da" and "da-da-da", but I am excited for more! The cooing has been adorable, but come on, she's been doing it since Thanksgiving. I was ready for more language development. And the new babbling is really fun.

She's also started razzing like it's her job. She first started doing that back in January (figured out how to do it while nursing, yay), but it hasn't been a frequent occurrence until now.

Sigh. I love her.

It's been almost two weeks! Ugghh, teaching is such a busy job. I just don't know. I really want out. If I didn't work, our lifestyle would have to change drastically, though. Like, no cable or Internet and possibly only one car. But maybe I could get a job that didn't involve so much take-home? I just feel like nothing is ever done and I never get anywhere. I'm always doing things at the last possible minute because there is no other time. And I know that staying home wouldn't solve everything, because stay at home moms have plenty to keep them busy, but... I just think I would be a lot happier.

The last two weeks have been times of change. Libby is done breastfeeding and is taking a bottle. She's eating at least two solid "meals" a day, and has tried many different fruits and vegetables. We never swaddle her for sleep anymore, which was a somewhat rough transition until about 2 weeks ago, and now she's doing really well. And on Friday night, we said "goodbye" to the evening nap in favor of an earlier bedtime.

Libby is starting to look like an older baby. She is six months old. All of these changes are bittersweet. She is such a good girl, and so happy, and every new thing is so fun and exciting. But thinking about how much she's changed and will continue to change makes me wish she'd slow down a little bit. I try to keep Future Me in mind and be in the moment with her now, because I know I'm going to wish I could return to these moments someday.

She did really well at her six-month appointment last week. When they gave her the shots, she got a big pouty look on her face and didn't cry for several seconds, just looked at the nurses saying, "Why?" She calmed pretty quickly, though, and actually almost fell asleep in my arms while I was comforting her. Then she fell asleep on the ride home.

I have to go grade some papers or plan some lessons or something. Ugh.