This Week in Mommyhood

It's one thing after another here. First, I had the stomach flu and then I got a cold. I blame it all on Alex working on the pediatric unit the past few weeks. He needs to stop bringing home germs! Even Cati got a case of the sniffles. Poor girl!

At 5.5 months Cati really does impress us. Granted, this is the only baby we have, but we both feel she's so advanced when it comes to certain skills. She loves to sit, laugh, and smile. The newest thing is that she wants to hold her bottle when it's time to eat. She gets excited when she sees her bottle (I love that she recognizes it as food), reaches out for it, grabs it, and brings it to her mouth. Then she plays a little game of cause and effect and spends a couple of minutes moving the bottle in and out of her mouth. When she's ready to seriously eat, she puts her hands down and then it's our turn to finish giving her the bottle.

We call Cati Thumper now because she likes to lift and drop her legs over and over again when she's laying down. It cracks me up every time she does it.

We saw an itty bitty one month old baby (hi Nicolas!) this week and it made me sooo nostalgic. I could hardly believe Cati was ever that small and fragile. Cati looked like such a giant next to him. It's so amazing how a difference of a few months in infants is marked by even bigger differences in appearance and mental and physical development. Still, seeing a little one made me excited for the future and for our future child(ren).

My milk supply is still down but it seems to be regulating itself at a new output. It sucks that it's less and that I'm not storing as much but I keep reminding myself that this is a good thing because Cati's intake is going to decrease either way once she gets really into eating solids. I'm looking forward to starting her on solids and have been wrestling with the idea of starting her on cereal the day she turns 6 months. Or should I wait until her 6 month appointment later that week? I think excitement might make me start sooner. Plus, she turns 6 months on a Saturday and it would be nice to have Alex around to see Cati eat her first solid food. I've also been wrestling with the idea of just bypassing cereal altogether and starting her on something like avocado first. Ahhh, decisions decisions.

One great thing about Cati getting older is that more people say she looks like me. I'll admit that I don't see myself in her at all. I see Alex in her in certain features (her lips, eyebrows) but I don't see where I've made my mark. I think Cati is way too beautiful to look anything like me.

I love being a mom and it has gotten so much easier now that Cati is older, but this week has been tough. Between recovering from feeling ill and Alex having an extra busy schedule this week I am tired. No, tired doesn't even really describe it. I am exhausted. Cati is still sleeping great stretches at night but it's not enough for my body to recover. What's keeping me going is the thought of going on vacation in 54 days. It's a whole family vacation in celebration of Alex's mother's birthday so there will be plenty of hands to help with Cati for an entire weekend. Then after that, Alex is on vacation for a whole week. Just thinking about all the naps I'm going to be able to take gives me energy to make it through the day!