We marked the eve of Greta's six month birthday by being up all. night. long. Vito had a lump removed yesterday and is wandering around bumping into things with his cone. MJ came down with a stomache bug today. And Greta has decided that she will wake every two hours to comfort eat throughout the night.
I scheduled her six month appt. on the actual day, so that we could get the flu vaccine into her asap. Our family has so far been remarkably healthy this year (don't tell anyone, because I'm pretty sure no other family on earth has been) and would like to keep it that way. So her stats: 16.3 lb, 25 in. Another way to see this: her weight for length has skyrocketed to the 80th percentile and her head is at the 95th percentile. So the many times a night she's been waking up ravenous? The pediatrician assured me she's doing just fine and can we can work on feeding her less.
Up until the last few days, she was doing pretty well at waking one or two times a night, eating quickly and falling right back asleep (honestly, it was more of a dream feed that she prompted). But the few nights have been h-e-double-hockey-sticks. Wake ups every 2-3 hours all night long. Clearly, she is now expecting to be fed every time she wakes up, and it's killing me.
So tonight we started trying to break that. Rather than her usual six o'clock bedtime she was up until eight, trying to fall asleep and not doing well at it. Because we wouldn't let her nurse to sleep.
But now she's still asleep, 4 hours later! 6 hours since last fed. And me? I am not asleep. Because hubs was kind and let me get a nap in. ALWAYS a bad idea, why don't I learn?
Anywho, this month Greta got fun. She plays with toys, and anything else she can get her paws on. She tries to grab everything out of my hands, particularly my phone. She already sits like a champ (at the 9 month level according to our Pedi) and is happy to sit and play with things. Unlike MJ, she will actually be engaged with the same toy for ten minutes or more. She seems more focused. The flip side of that is that she's not really rolling; any time she does it seems to surprise her. She'll lay in tummy time for half an hour, but won't flip over.
And did I mention that 95th percentile head? GIANT noggin. Crazy girl. I was thinking it looked big...
This little girl melts my heart. She is such a part of the family. And DH has warmed up to her. She can always make him smile, and clearly recognizes that he's someone special. I love starting to get the first inklings of the person she'll become. I love that she's becoming so interactive and yet is still so cuddly. I can't believe her baby hood is half over.
This also marks six months of me being home, and so far it's wonderful. I was reflecting on that today, so exhausted from the family, and still so much happier than being in the office. I am ready to get this house rented, though... after 2 nearly signed leases, ugh.
But I digress. This is not the most well thought post out there. And the photos will have to come later, because my camera's in Greta's room.
I was thinking today how much harder the prospect of letting her cry to sleep is than it was for MJ (not cry a ton, mind you, but there will inevitably be some tears). Are other people bigger softies for their second born? I don't think it's differences in their personalities, I think it's just a fuller appreciation of how fast this all goes. Why have her cry when I could be in there rocking her? Because I'm not going to get enough opportunities as it is. With MJ, I felt like these days would go on forever...
Other stats on Greta: loves sticking everything in her mouth, flapping her arms wildly while she eats, motorboating when she's tired, her big sister's antics.
This is also the month that nursing essentially ended. I still nurse a couple times a day, but she gets barely anything. I wish it wasn't so, but it is. It was good while it lasted.
Sorry for not giving you a more well though out epistle, Greta. I'll try to do better for the one year, okay? Maybe in exchange, you'll sleep better by then?
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