11 Weeks!

I think I'll end up starting every Milestone Post this way -- holy shit! Val is 11 weeks old now. This last week has brought on some exciting changes -- more laughing, more smiles (good god, more smiles), less fussiness and on a serious note, a couple of days of Boobie Hate.

Thanks to advice from Kellymom, I was able to get her back to the boob for her meals. The downside to this is that I'm no longer able to keep as many full-ish bottles of pumped milk in the fridge. But the upside is renewed boobie love, complete with a gigantic smile at the end that lets me know she's all done.

Other excitement included her first bathing suit, swimming again at the magic swimming pool in Newark, a party where Andrea managed to unknowingly fling a cherry pit into her sleeve while she was sleeping. We also met some really interesting other parents, encounters that have me already bracing myself for what it will be like when Val goes to school.

She's grabbing everything within reach now. Blankets, toys, stray objects. They all find their way into her hands and then, into her mouth. Along those lines, she got this badass new toy from Sarah and Greg:

She can hold her head up like a pro (most of the time) and has taken to trying to sit up in her car seat. Soon, the Bumbo seat will be her highchair. She hates the car seat in my car, bitches and moans about how much it sucks every time I drive her somewhere. We're trying to remedy that, stay tuned.

Now that we're nearing the end of my maternity leave, each passing day means that I have one day less at home with her. And it breaks my heart, knowing that I'll have to stop spending my days gazing into Valerie's eyes and start looking at my computer instead.