4 months!

Seriously, it's been 4 months since Val's dramatic and traumatic arrival in this world. Well, 2 days from now is officially the day but since we had her 4 month checkup today, I'll tell you about that.

She got weighed and measured again. Apparently the cardiologist has a different measuring system than the ped because she was shorter today - 24.5 inches. Sure, okay. Maybe they use the metric system or something. She weights 13 lbs, 8 oz, which is in the 50th percentile.

We discussed when to start solid foods (not for at least another month or so), upcoming vaccines and then the big question: how is she sleeping at night? Since our first appointment with this doc she's been urging us to do this system where we rub lotion on her, play the same song at night and lay her down asleep. That's just a little too complicated for us. She pushed her system again and again we politely said no.

It's a weird thing, the pediatrician's role. Maybe a lot of parents come to the office looking for advice on how to raise their kid, so I can see where she'd think that all her patients would look to her for that. But we never have so I wish we could skip that part of the visits.

We also got more handouts, this time on why walkers are bad, how we should never use one. Other topics included the solid food introduction handout.

She rolled onto her tummy on the table and laid there, arms propped up and flirting with the doc while we talked. It was the cutest damn thing.

The big awful moment was getting her next set of vaccines. 4 shots again. This time, I brought a bottle and she ate that while she got the shots. The first two, she didn't really notice. But the second two, she did, crying and wailing. It was just as hard for us as it was for her. Now she's got cute little bandaids that I can't wait to take off.

Yes, this was kind of a boring entry. Some days, you get what you pay for.

On The Move

Val's been busy lately. I'm still awaiting the arrival of that first tooth, the presence of drool keeps taunting us but so far, we're tooth free. Which is fine, because she still gets most of her food from a non-detachable source, me. So that can wait.

She started laughing a real laugh this week. It's ridiculously cute, those little ha-ha's. Her joy at seeing us every morning (or any time she wakes up from a nap) is shown with her whole-body smiles. Those are pretty hard to beat. She's getting quite good at scooching herself around, turning in circles and kicking like mad whne she's laying down.

Today I woke up to see her sideways between Andrea and I in the bed, kicking and hitting me for all she's worth. She also managed to take up the entire bed.

We're approaching 4 months of having her with us. I can't really remember what it felt like when she wasn't here. Along with that, I can't really remember what it felt like to sleep for 8 hours in a row and not have a belly that's all stretched out. At Disneyland, I saw a bunch of babies who were a lot younger than her, one 4 week old who cried a cry that brought me back to Val at that age. Which I hadn't realized was a whole lot different than today but I can tell you now, it totally is.

We also busted out the chime garden and man, she thinks that is Cool, Cool, Cool.

She's sitting up for short periods without help. It takes her a little longer to collapse in a heap each time she does it.

But so far, those smiles and that laugh are about the coolest things I've ever been lucky enough to see. Being her mom gets cooler every day.

Not Quite Sure Where To Post This

Whether this belongs on my main blog or here on Val's, I'm not sure. But it applies to us both, so here it is.

This week, I had my first ever Real Breastfeeding Meltdown. We were in Disneyland and at the parks all day so I had pretty much no chance to pump enough bottles to carry with us. Lucky for me, they have a really nice air-conditioned area where you can breastfeed. But after 5 days of shlepping to that area every 2-3 hours, then staring at the same uglyass pictures on the wall while Val ate, I'd had enough.

Looking back, if I'd been able to pump enough that we only had to go there once or twice a day, I think I would have fared better. But the logistics were pretty tough for that -- if I was at the baby care center, it was to feed Val, not to pump.

But I wasn't that wise at the moment. When we left the last night, I found myself thinking 'hey, formula's not so hard to mix, let's just give her some of that instead.' We thought about going back to the park for one more day, but I couldn't bear it. So we went home and back to our routine, which allows for more pumping.

All I could find on the helpful internet about feeling this way was some lameass shit about 'you won't love breastfeeding all the time.' Gee thanks.