Trying SO Hard!

Our Bubbles is trying so hard to walk. She stands on her own regularly now - without holding on to anything. She's also gotten advanced enough that she can do other things while standing on her own (like dance, bounce, clap her hands, squat to pick things up). And she knows the basic principle. When she's holding onto our finger (just one hand is necessary), she will lunge forward and do the drunken baby walk.

She's very wobbly and just not confident enough. But it's coming. Soon. We're thinking within the next month, she should have gotten it mastered. As with everything else, we haven't pushed her...we're just encouraging and letting her do her own thing. We both wait with baited breath every time we're hanging out with her for those first few real steps.

She's recently gone through a major growth spurt. Let me give you a basic understanding of how much food she's eating right now:

Breakfast #1: 6 oz formula, half a Kashi blueberry waffle, half cup of berries (or apples, peaches, strawberries or banana)

Breakfast #2 (hour or so later): rest of blueberry waffle, more fruit

Mid-morning snack: 6 oz formula

Lunch #1: 6 oz formula, 3/4 of container of Pasta Pickups - Chicken & veggie ravioli, 6 meat sticks (chicken or turkey), 1/2 cup of broccoli

Lunch #2: rest of pasta pickups, leftover fruit from breakfast, couple handfuls of puffs, cheerios

Afternoon Snack: 6 oz formula

Dinner: 1/2 cup of peas or carrots, 6 meat sticks (or a veggie burger or beans), fruit (if she wants it), 3-5 oz soy milk

Right before bed: 6-8 oz formula.

That's a lot, isn't it??? Except that she is not gaining a bunch of weight. In fact, her weight has completely stabilized and she is exactly where she is supposed to be. I guess I would be worried if she was gaining weight rapidly, but she is not.

The thing is, we don't force her or deny her food. We offer her what we are willing to let her have. She eats tons of veggies. She gets fresh (we prepare it ourselves) fruits and lots and lots of veggies every day. We let her eat the meat sticks (because it is just pure chicken or turkey packed together). We've agreed to start weening her from her bottle when she's 10 months old. We'll begin by replacing one or two with soy milk. Or maybe, we'll start putting everything in a sippy cup, but give her the same amount. Who knows. We'll figure it out and go with what is right at the time.

For now, we are just sitting back and watching her grow. She's working so hard and learning things all the time. We love just hanging out with her, sitting on the floor and watching her discover.

We've talked about how sometimes it feels like we are wasting time. We spend every evening on the floor with her, interacting, reading, playing, dancing, singing and talking. We don't talk baby-talk, and sometimes we just ignore her. But we're down there with her and we get to watch her as she discovers things over and over again. Sometimes, the time crunch gets the best of us (by us, I mean me, of course).

But then, I remember that Bailey is already almost 10 months old. She is growing up so fast. And I refuse to say that the dishes being done is more important that this time with her. It's hard work sometimes, to prioritize. It really is. I like the order. I want my house clean. I don't like dishes or dirty counter tops. I can't stand clutter. And very simply, sometimes the decision to be made is to deal with those things and have time with our daughter or take care of those things and wonder what I'm missing when Kelly and Bailey break into peals of laughter in the family room. I choose them. And the dishes are still done, most of the time...LOL!

Wow - this post is like my mind recently - darting in and out of random thoughts constantly. Every day moves at warp speed. It only slows down in the moments when I'm with my girls, sitting on the family room floor, listening to Bailey's favorite music, dancing, laughing, being crawled over, watching Kelly over the top of Bailey's head and seeing that my life is truly a gift.

Happy Sunday, everyone!