September

It has been SO long since I have written. I have nothing but excuses, but here they are:
I started my work from home job at the beginning of the month and have been grading papers and answering students' questions all day and evening for the past several weeks. Since Lorelei does not take naps that are long enough to really get anything done, and I still need to clean my house, I often cannot get any "work" done until Allen gets home, and then I work from about 7-10. With that and some personal struggles, I have just not had the heart or mindset to blog. BUT since I do not keep a baby book and this is my SOLE record of Lorelei's babyhood (I know, bad mommy!) I wanted to update with where the little peanut is:

First of all, she is indeed still a peanut. Weighing in at a whopping 13.5 lbs, she is in the 5th percentile for weight, and only the 20th for height/head. She still is verrry slow at gaining weight, and the doctors keep scheduling weight checks to monitor her. I am not nearly as nervous about it as I used to be, as I truly think she is healthy, but it is making the whole sleeping through the night thing complicated. With her not gaining that much, I do not want to drop her night time feedings until she is ready, but the older she gets, the harder it is going to be. And the battle continues.



She is MOBILE! Lorelei started crawling at five months, beginning with a army/belly crawl + a worm thing. Now she can get on her knees and rock back and forth, but still does most of her actual moving on her belly. She is ALL over the place and FAST! She makes beeline to the computer, the cat, the front door and the bathroom the moment my back is turned. She also sits up without falling over (unless she is intentionally trying to get out of sitting position to crawl,) and just last week started pulling herself up to standing position. THAT is all kinds of fun when I am trying to get her to sleep. It is very sad and pathetic to me to watch my baby standing in her crib crying for me. I need thicker skin!



At six months, after half a year of nothing but breastmilk, we started Lorelei on solids (specifically cereal mixed with formula.) She.loves.it. She is also very good at eating it, which I attribute to the fact that we waited until six months, and we practiced with ice chips (side note- she now gets excited and happy when she hears the ice maker running...SO cute!) She has had rice, wheat and oatmeal cereal, and just started green beans and carrots last week. Now she has solids twice a day (cereal in the AM and cereal + veggies at dinner,) but still nurses 4-5 times per day with 1-2 night feedings. Gotta get some meat on this girl's bones so she can actually fit into her 6-9 month clothes! She is barely in 3-6 month clothes still! I do miss the ease (and lack of smell) from washing exclusive breastfeeding diapers, but I am thankful for this change.


Aside from these more obvious milestones, she is growing and changing and developing her own little personality more every day. She is VERY clingy to me now, which can be kind of sad sometimes. She definitely sensed the change in her life from my working (since she was being cared for primarily by daddy or nonnie or Aunt Gretchen and Uncle Daniel on many occasions as I worked,) and it made her cling to me whenever I was around. It melts my heart to do that to her, but if it were not for the blessing of this job, I would have to work outside the home. Ironically, however, she is very good for nursery, which she goes to for MOPS and either Sunday School or the sermon at church. I do wish that I could keep her with me, but to be honest, she squirms too much for me to get anything out of it. I know she would be welcomed in these places, but I would rather her crawl around the nursery for a little bit on Sundays than sitting my lap for several hours straight (sunday school + worship and sermon + after church Bible study is a lot for a little girl!)

I love watching her play with things! She has incredible dexterity in my opinion. She loves to pick up her blocks and letters and knock them together or transfer them from hand to hand. She still does not have a favorite stuffed animal or anything. She normally falls asleep with just a pacifier, though I try to let her snuggle with small objects if she would like. Her favorite "toy" in the world is our incredibly patient cat. Lorelei loves to grab the cat's tail, fur, ears, face, feet...everything she is not supposed to touch. The cat just seems to like the attention, since I do not give it as much as I should :-) She also is just so very thoughtful. She is alert and concerned and interested and thrilled with different things on a regular basis. I know I am biased, but I think she is quite special :-)

Also, though she is still getting up once or twice a night, her days seem better scheduled. She is eating and napping at pretty much the same times per day, and it is working for us. She is supposed to be napping now, but is instead standing in her crib and screaming. Oh the joys :-)

Overall, I am enjoying her very much. I love that she plays with me now, and is definitely a momma's girl. It is incredible to feel this kind of love for her and from her!