Six Months (and a bit of catch up...)

Half a year?! How the heck? Time flies when you are falling in love with an adorably chubby little human! This lady is all sorts of fun and it just keeps getting better. Her newest trick is to wave - you can see it in one of the outtakes below. We try to get it out of her constantly, but, of course, she only does it when it pleases her. Then she is obscenely proud of herself. What else? We've started giving her little bits of food here and there. I'm being my weird hippie self and just giving her what we are eating rather than pureeing stuff or doing rice cereal. I'm not really against any particular thing, this just seems so easy! If it doesn't progress well then I'll step back and start running stuff through the food processor. So far we've tried - banana, carrot, roasted cauliflower, apple, and mango. The mango was the biggest hit by far!

We had her 6 month check up and she is still on the bigger end of the scale... 16lbs 5oz and 65th percentile for weight and 95th percentile for height (27.3 inches)! Funny thing is that her weight to height ratio puts her barely in 10th percentile! I'm so interested to see how her appearance will change as she starts moving more. I hear babes thin out at that point, but I can't imagine that with our girl!

We just love her so much it hurts! I just can't wait to see what the rest of our life with her brings!

you'll have to ignore some of the videos I post...I put them up here, even if they are only interesting to me, so we are sure they don't get lost in the ever growing archives of family pictures!

In other news... Edrie and Papa have been getting more and more used to taking care of each other as I've been back to work for 2 weeks now. Its been so hard for me to be away from Edrie, but I am so comforted by the fact that Grant is with her and that she is in her own environment. Last week I worked days for orientation and she still didn't take much milk from the sippy cup - just an ounce or two here and there. This had me quite concerned for this week, my first week of night shift. Our girl still gets up at night and I usually just lie next to her and nurse her as we both fall back to sleep...meaning she it still getting a fair bit of milk at night. Bad if the mama is away and you don't take milk from any other source! Well, that is no longer the case! She took over 5 ounces of milk in one sitting the first night and just as much, if not more, last night! Its a double edged sword... bummer that she is still waking up, but a good thing that she isn't screaming incessantly because mama isn't there. She is just waking up once after Grant goes to bed so its pretty manageable for now. Mama on the other hand has been TIRED...oh man! Night shift without any real time to sleep because you are caring for a babe is WAY harder than night shift before Edrie. In St. Louis I didn't love nights, but I would get into a good rhythm and it wasn't a problem. I have been trying to get some naps in when Edrie naps, but she doesn't nap for more than an hour lying down. She'll nap forever in the Ergo, but its impossible for me to get any sleep if she is on my chest! Oh man how this kid has changed my life! We're making due and happy that this is only for a short while as I get oriented to the unit and then I can just be there 1 day/week. 

That reminds me... I don't think I've ever posted what this job is all about. I will be working as a Resource RN on the Postpartum Unit at Providence St. Vincent. Resource just means that you work limited shifts and without benefits. Its perfect for what we need right now. I will work just 4 shifts a month unless I sign up for more and I can pick the shifts I work. There may even be opportunites for me to cross-train into their NICU or pediatric units! I am really sad to be working because I love staying home, but I'm thrilled with how perfect this position is. I am happy to be starting with a lower acuity patient load and also having an opportunity to keep my skills up while still mostly staying home with Edrie. And I get to contribute to our family financially, which is a good feeling. All around, its great. Just hard while we get through this initial period of full-time nights!

What else? We've just been in a constant tailspin since we moved into this house. Its been a shuffle of family dropping by, spending quality time with our girls, getting the house in a livable (but still hardly presentable) state, and fixing things as they happen... water in the basement, what?! a refrigerator that freezes everything and then when you turn it up completely thaws the freezer and the 50 ounces of breast milk in it, what?! a kitchen that drives us both insane, but will cost an arm and a leg to renovate, what?! oh, this life! its quite the juggle and roller coaster, but we are having so much fun!