This Week in Mommyhood

Did you hear that? No? Well, of course not. That is the sound of Cati not waking up at night! That is the sound of Cati Sleeping.Through.The.Night. It took 7.5 months to get to this point but we got there. Cati first slept through the night on Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2010. Mind you, I didn't sleep through the night because I kept waking up to make sure she was ok and I kept wondering whether I should wake her up to eat. I decided against waking her up to eat because (a) if she wanted to eat she'd let me know and (b) she slept through all by herself and not because of any sleep training method. She's ready to sleep through the night and give up that night feeding so who am I to tell her differently? I still have trouble with sleeping through though. I wake up a few times overnight to look at the monitor and make sure she's ok. I wonder when and if this worry goes away.

Because Cati gave up that overnight feeding her daily milk intake is down. To offset the decrease in milk, I've increased the amount of cereal and solids she gets. Now she gets 3 Tbsp of cereal (with about 3 oz of milk) for breakfast and about 3.5 oz of veggies and fruit for lunch. She eats everything I give her which makes me wonder (again) how I'm supposed to know when to increase the amount of food she gets. I'm afraid of increasing her solids intake too soon and having her milk intake drop to below what she's supposed to be getting. It's all so complicated.

What's even more interesting about Cati's milk intake going down is that my supply has also gone down. It's as if my body is responding to how much Cati drinks and is producing just enough for her. Nothing has changed other than my knowledge that Cati drinks and needs less milk per day. I feel this proves my theory on breastfeeding being 90% mental and 10% physical. Your boobs and your brain connect in a way that defies physicality.

Cati's motions are becoming more and more fluid. She can go from crawling to sitting and sitting to crawling with relative ease. She's getting stronger and is beginning to pull herself to standing and to lift up on her hands and toes. She is still pretty wobbly when standing but is very determined to try to stand whenever she grabs hold of something she feels secure with.

 

I think Cati has learned how to clap. I noticed this week that she'll pat one hand with the other whenever she does something she's proud of. I think that's clapping but I don't know if it is because she doesn't clap in response to my clapping. Also, she does this thing with her hand where she opens and closes it (like saying "hi"). The way she does it makes me think there's some kind of meaning behind it. I have been searching my brain for what it could be. I don't like the thought of Cati trying to communicate something and me not being able to understand what she's trying to say.

My friend Jen is planning her daughter's 1st birthday and all the birthday talk inspired me to write down all my ideas for Cati's first birthday. It's going to be ballerina themed and I really hope all my ideas are doable. I can't wait!

That last paragraph just blew my mind away. I can't believe I'm already thinking about Cati's 1st birthday. It's going to get here sooner than I know it.