These Weeks in Mommyhood

The stress, drama, and exhaustion of the past few weeks finally caught up with me this weekend. Unfortunately, it caught up with me in the form of what was surely mastitis. Father's Day was spent with me pumping as often as I could. Thankfully, things are better but it's a reminder that I need to do a better job at taking care of myself. The girls are both growing and developing spectacularly and I won't be able to enjoy it if I'm not feeling well. I won't be able to spend as much time taking care of myself as I do taking care of them, but at the very least I need to try to rest more. I think I might just make that my daily goal and challenge. We'll see how it goes!

Here are Cati's developments from the past two weeks:

Peak Into My Brain. My favorite development is definitely language because I get to see how Cati processes and understands the world. I am also constantly impressed by the things that come out of her mouth. She likes to ask, "Mommy in Spanish?" when she wants to know what things are called in Spanish; thanks to that she knows her colors and numbers in both languages. Or one day, after me saying Elina needed to eat, Cati said, "Elina no tiene hambre. Porque? No esta llorando" ("Elina's not hungry. Why? Because she isn't crying"). Or another day when she was trying to show Elina something and she said, "Enseña la. Elina no sabe" ("Show her. Elina doesn't know"). She's just such a little sponge right now and making connections left and right. It's pretty amazing!


Imagination Expansion. Cati now pretends to be playing with things. She will pretend to change the diapers and, all weekend long, her and Alex would pretend to play with cats and bikes. Cati would come up to me to hand me a cat and then she would come back to take the cat back.


My Name is Pepito. File this under funny. Apparently, Cati's bunny's name is "Pepito." I have no clue where that name came from but I think it's great she is starting to give her toys real names.

Winnie the Pooh Obsessed. Cati had never seen Winnie the Pooh on TV but she did have Winnie the Pooh and Piglet stuffed animals. She recently discovered them and has since become obsessed with all things Winnie the Pooh. After the dogs ate Piglet, I took Cati to the Disney Store and she came home with a new Piglet, Roo, Eeyore, and Tigger. Now Cati spends the days at home with a Little Mermaid bag at her side filled with all her stuffed animals.

Here are Elina's developments from the past to weeks:

Wakeful Period? Elina had a few days of waking up at night. The first day she woke up and ate an entire bottle. The following few nights she didn't and eventually she stopped waking up at night. Even though it was only a few nights, I was amazed at the body's ability to get used to sleeping straight through the night. I felt like a zombie during the day after those night wakings. She's lucky she's so cute...

Oh the Horror. Elina's cries have changed. They have been changing over the past few weeks but the most significant change is the screaming. Whereas before it was a high-pitched shriek, now she sounds like someone screaming out of a scary movie.

Grab, Hold, Mouth. Elina has been working on her hand-eye coordination. First, it started with her grabbing on to my hand when I was feeding her. Then, it progressed to her holding on to the bottle. Now she's taken to pulling the bottle in and out of her mouth. She also reaches out for things now and brings them to her mouth.  is  things and bringing to mouth

Raspberries. Over the past week Elina has started blowing spit bubbles and raspberries. As if she didn't have enough drool coming out of that beautiful mouth of hers!

Sleeping Unswaddled. Elina is sleeping without the swaddle. It started when Elina fell asleep in my mother-in-law's arms and I decided to see if we could lay her down in the crib and have her stay asleep. She did and ever since she has been sleeping without the swaddle. This reminds me that changes are easier for the kids to accept when they are ready for them.

I think that just about sums up all the fun that's been had over the past two weeks. As always, I'm sure I've forgotten things. Here's to another week of surviving and living in the moment.