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.

Catching up

Well, working full time has moved the ol' blog down on the to-do list. But there is so much going on!

Libby is a solids-eating champ. At least, she loves cereal. She has also tried carrots, pears, and sweet potatoes. The carrots were a hit, the pears a no-go, and the sweet potatoes received mixed reviews. I'm going to buy some more baby food this weekend (we've been working through what she got from Nana for Christmas), and maybe make some of our own. I would like to point out that Nana did not buy any green vegetables. That is her right as a grandma. I'm also somewhat apprehensive about apples and bananas, since Todd used to be allergic to them, and you're supposed to wait to introduce foods your family is allergic to in order to try to prevent allergy in the baby.

Libby weighed in at 17 pounds yesterday, which I think means she's gained 1-1.5 pounds in two weeks, which is right on target. It is getting very hard for me to heft up into her car seat base in the van because the seat is so high, so I think we're going to buy her a "big girl" car seat next weekend. The car seat we're planning on buying is actually for 8-50 pounds, so she could have been in it already, but I'm glad we started with an infant seat that we could carry her around in. I know I'm going to miss being able to put her down anywhere, but I decided I'm ready to make that sacrifice.

Libby is sitting up on her own, or nearly, just not for very long. She will either fall sideways or face first. The other day, I had her sitting on the changing table, and she fell forward and clunked her head on the window! She was totally unfazed, but I felt pretty bad. Libby spends a lot of time at daycare in the Bumbo seat and the Exersaucer (stationary walker), and I think this is building up her core muscles and helping her get ready to sit.

She's also becoming more mobile as she's wiggling around to get toys, and rolling back to front (new this week). It's fun to see what position she'll arrive in next, and we talk about her "escaping the jungle" since that's what we call her baby play gym.

Starting 3-4 weeks ago, just after I started back at work, Libby stopped sleeping 6-7 hours, which she had been doing for over a month. She was up every two to three hours, and I was going crazy. So I decided the swaddle had to go, and we started putting her down without it last week. She is getting the hang of it, and slept 6.5 hours Tuesday, 6.5 Wednesday, and 7.5 last night. Starting Wednesday, I started trying not to feed her in the night, and was successful, so I'm hoping knowing she's not getting fed will stop her waking up at 4-5 am and she'll start sleeping all the way till 7, when I get her up and feed her.

Last night when she woke up at 5, I went in to check on her, and she had grabbed her swaddle blanket off of the crib rail and had it snuggled up next to her. It was so cute! It makes me nervous having her sleep with a blanket that big just loose, so I cut a receiving blanket down for her to sleep with tonight. I'm going to make her a blanket that is furry fleece on one side and satin on the other for her blankie.

Libby rolled over yesterday. She was on the bed at B & D's house. She has not yet repeated the feat. They say "be careful because you never know when they'll roll over." I didn't believe "them", but it really was all of a sudden. I looked, and she was over. She definitely had a surprised but proud look on. So fun!

Today, she gad a giggling fit. I love being the most hilarious person she knows. I plan to enjoy it while it lasts!

This post written with one hand while reaching over a cat on top of a baby in my lap.