This Week in Mommyhood

The past 72 hours have been miserable for me. I don't know how but I manged to get clogs in both breasts and then mastitis in the right one. I've been pumping around the clock and started a round of antibiotics but I'm still quite uncomfortable. What's worse is the guilt I feel over feeling so sick I Can't be with my family. Alex was a trooper yesterday and did everything; the only thing I did was rock Cati before bedtime. I don't know how much longer I'm going to pump but I'm going to follow the advice my friend gave me, "Don't decide to quit on a bad day. Doing it on a good day removes some of the regret." Right now I feel so torn because I want to pump but the physical pain of when things are bad and everything that needs to be done to make things better makes me want to stop. I simply don't know and I Just have to remind myself that things will get better.

Here are Elina's fun developments from the past two weeks:

Drool. I forget how much babies drool. Elina's clothes are always soaked from all the drooling.

Reaching for Things. Elina has gotten really good at reaching out for things. Her hand-eye coordination is improving daily and she's even able to swivel her body around if she wants to reach something that's at her side.

Airplane Position. Cati calls this position "avion" (airplane) and that's exactly what Elina looks like when she lifts both her arms and legs off the ground.

Sitting. Elina loves being on her belly and I mean she loves it. It's hard to have her in any other position because she is constantly trying to find a way to get on her belly. She does, however, sit for short amounts of time and she has the trunk strength to sit but she prefers being on her belly.

Hair! Elina's little bald spot is growing in and it's made me more aware of how much her hair has grown in general.

Cranky and Fussy. Elina has been a little cranky and fussy lately. She's been fighting sleep and crying more than usual. At first I thought it was because of the Gential Violet in her milk but I stopped using it and she has still been cranky. One of the weekly newsletters I get said that from now (22 weeks) until about 6 months is another period of crankiness and fussiness due to developmental changes. I hope that's it because I miss my sweet, calm baby.

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

No Quiero. A while back, one of the bloggers I follow mentioned how her daughter (a little older than Cati) told her "I don't like you." I told Alex about this and he couldn't believe a child that young would be capable of saying something like that. Now when Cati's upset she will say she doesn't love you and the most heartbreaking thing she has said was "Papi no quiere Cati. Papi quere trabajo" (Papi doesn't love Cati. Papi loves work). Now when she says she doesn't love us we tell her it's a shame because we still love her and eventually she comes around and says she loves us. We've also made more of an effort to tone down how much we talk about Alex's job.

Paprika & Red Pepper. I bought Alex paprika and red pepper infused oils as a gift. He loved the oils but the best part was having Cati learn the words paprika and red pepper. Cati is learning words at such a rapid pace that we need to be mindful of the things we say around her because we don't know what words will stick.

Paper Boats. My mother-in-love likes to make paper boats for Cati. Cati must love it too because every time she comes across a little piece of paper, she will crumble it up and say it's a boat. I love seeing how her imagination works and how she's able to pretend.


Teething. I can't wait until Cati is done teething. The past few weeks have been tough with her because she's having trouble sleeping and has been sick to her stomach. Her bottom right molar is coming in and I wish I could do something to will all her molars to come out so that she can go back to being a happy toddler.

Yo, Tu, Mi, Nosotros. Cati is getting really good at using the Spanish equivalents of I, you, me, and us. She still talks about herself in the third person, but it's about 50-50 now where she'll say either Cati or Mi/Yo. She's also gotten really good at changing what I say about her (example, "tu quieres cookie") to apply to herself ("yo quiero cookie"). Again, language development is simply amazing. I like that she's learning how to talk properly but I'm going to miss how she refers to herself in the third person; I love hearing her say her own name!

I pray more than anything that today is the day I return to normal. I don't know how much I can take.