What is Jen doing right now? She...

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Miss Independent

It's a slow process but a sad one. Each day Emily gets less and less dependent on me. It of course starts the instant she's born where she once was 100% dependent on me is now more like 95%. Then she moves from sleeping right next to me in the co-sleeper to sleeping down the hall in her crib. Then she plays by herself for longer periods of time without needing me to constantly pick her up and hold her. To now when I am no longer breast feeding. If I think about it too much (the fact that I will never breast feed her again) it gets me sad but obviously it has to end sometime. And since I'm producing very little at this point, it's not worth the extra effort to nurse her anymore. So yet another way she is becoming less dependent on me. It's as if our days are filled with training our children to depend on themselves. From holding the bottle to potty training to driving a car. That's what parenting is though, it's such a weird combination of being proud of your child for becoming self-sufficient and sadness that they no longer need your help. I'm in for much much more I'm aware.

Wanted to include this picture of her sleeping. There's really no feeling better than this...seeing your child fast asleep. I have been so happy with how she's been sleeping!! She's always been a wonderful sleeper (takes after me). These last few days she's been going to bed around 9pm, waking around 6am, I then feed her and put her back down and she sleeps until a little after 11am!! Loving it! My mom warns me that just when you think they're the perfect baby they start teething and it all goes downhill from there (at least for a period of time). So I'm expecting that will happen so I don't get TOO frustrated when/if it does. In the meantime, I'll continue enjoying the quiet nights and pray for my friends who have not-so-great sleepers.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Glorified Formula

So I started on solids today. She seemed to be eating a lot of formula lately and it just felt like the right time. I'm actually kind of nervous to start solids. Partly because I'm afraid of the portions and whether or not I'm going to be giving her enough or too much. Then there's so many options it's overwhelming!! Plus it's just more work than the bottle honestly so I know I'm in for more planning ahead. Like everything else though it will just take getting used to. My sister reassured me that really she's getting most of her nutrients from the formula and breast milk anyway. Starting on solids this early really is just to get them used to eating with a spoon more than anything.

The first batch I made for her was pretty much glorified formula in a bowl. Just a bit thicker than formula. Here's a video and some pics.