September recap & October musings

I realize it's been awhile since I updated what is going on with our family. I've had flu-like symptoms since Monday, so pretty much everything has been neglected in my life, while I've rested. Will was an amazing help last night with dinner and dishes, my family always treats me so well when I'm not. Yesterday was our 13th anniversary, I felt bad for being sick on it, but I also felt too tired to care much. The weather has increased my mood. I love rainy fall days when the leaves still cling to the trees, when God send the rain at this perfect time to make the colors more vibrant as they change. Every season that comes, I say, "this is my favorite one." Fresh air never felt so good. Last week, before I was sick, I walked to Goodwill, Hastings, and the Dollar General one day. One, to conserve on gas, Two, for exercise. It was so windy and perfect and I felt great about the walk. I didn't spend much money, there was no need. I am beginning to like these frugal exercises.
I know that the cloth diapering business is probably a bore, but I have been doing it for 26 days now. I can't imagine going back to disposables. Why would I when I already have these cloth diapers? I don't have to buy anything anymore. We've also had great success with making our own baby foods. Below are my latest venture, Deo-Disks. Now, they can be bought, but why? It was so simple. Mixing baking soda with water, a few drops of orange oil, and wah-lah: deodorant disks that smell great and can go right into the wash with the cloth diapers. Now, they are setting downstairs right now, hoping they harden. Below that I put pictures that are cute and funny. I put the wrong video in, but I will put the right one in after I post this.

Grandma and PopPop from New Jersey sent this package, and Brielle thought it was a good place to sit!

One of my favorites: Brielle playing nonchalantly while football practice goes on behind her.

Love those chubby thighs!

Brielle's first time out of arms and the stroller, in the library:

Reading her first Library book:

Brielle meets the Gov, who she already knows and loves, she just doesn't realize that inside it's our good friend Elise, the APSU notable mascot!

This face reminds me of our former neighbor, Brenna, who we ironically got this jacket from.

Will's football watching "stance."

First Solid

Brielle had her first experience with a solid food today. It was soooooooooo messy. I mixed infant rice cereal (free sample packet from Beechnut) with a few ounces of fresh breast milk that I had pumped just for the occasion. I thought it was totally in vain while I was mixing and mixing to get the right consistency. I didn’t think she would eat it. But it wasn’t. She ate it like a she liked it. Let me say it was a complete difference to first-time-feed an almost 6-month-old baby than it is to introduce cereal to a four or five month old baby (as I did with the her older brothers). I was really fine with delaying solids for as long as Brielle was uninterested. But…she seemed pretty interested. At this point I still do not plan to buy baby food jars though. But I suppose that the cereal we receive from W.I.C. won’t hurt (mixed with mommy's milk). I am really interested in finding out more about baby-led solids and experimental feedings that involve exploration! FUN! I think Brielle will think so too..Until then...I'm not really concerned with feeding her solids that much over the next few months.

Brielle 4 months old: 3-28-08

Today Brielle is 4 months old. I told her. She is still so big, and yet still so small, something I say quite often. She is holding her head up quite well, and likes to pull her feet in close. Sometimes she pulls them into her mouth, though the boys noticed today that she has a harder time getting hold of the left foot. She smiles so much. Two days ago she had her well check up and shots. I hate shots. The first set (at two months) I bawled through, these we both did better at. She slept for hours afterwards. She weighed 15lbs 7ozs. What a chunk! She has rolls on her arms and legs that the creases never see the light of day! Her skin is improving, but I still have to cover four different special areas with four different special ointments and creams. Seems as if she will have this condition for a while. She is definitely more able to calm herself now. She also gives us warnings before she cries. She coughs, grunts, rubs her feet together furiously, or fusses for a bit so that we now have a chance to get her before she is raging mad. Changing scenery still works well with our little social butterbug. She still cannot stand for clothes to go over her head, or to have her arms forced through her shirt. The boys do wonderfully well with her. Just today Josh fell asleep with her on the futon in her room. Just like that. A nap sounds good to me right now. She was wide awake at 6:00am this morning, and that was the 5th time she had gotten up during the night. I counted…somehow. I think I could nap better if the neighborhood kids weren’t outside yelling (i.e. playing) in our front yard. It sounds horrible to be quite honest. I thought the sounds of kids playing was supposed to be beautiful. I guess not when they reach middle school and constantly scream as a part of their recreational outlet.
I love nursing (now-I wouldn‘t have said that a few months ago!). No bottles, no yucky formula (she spits up), and no bottles to prepare and wash. That’s just the anti stuff. What benefits have come with breastfeeding too! I love providing her nourishment. That she knows me, that she wants me, that she can see, smell, and even sense me is wonderful. Most of the time she actually fusses around me, and maybe it’s because she is hungry. Everyone else gets smiles from her when she sees them. But, that is okay. And while nursing bonds us, she is in no way particular about who has her or who holds her yet. I hope it stays that way. I hope she feels secure, snug, and loved so much that she is comfortable around everyone. She knows who loves her. And I know that one day she will have to be aware and cautious, but let that day be a long time away.
She has begun to grab everything. Every day she reaches for more. Soon we will no longer be able to hold things for her grabbing them. It’s amazing now. Now. She grabs my hair all of the time. She pulls me close to her. I don’t mind. I smell her. She smells like the most wonderful baby smell in the world to me. I kiss her soft cheeks and smile at her. I undo her feisty grip on my hair when it begins to hurt. She shakes her body. I love her. We all do.
I rock her sometimes to calm her in my arms when she is tired. I know that they say by this age that you should put a sleepy baby down, not a sleeping baby down. But sometimes I just want to hold her a little longer. I close my eyes and find the soft rhythm. She is so precious, asleep in my arms. I hope she doesn’t outgrow the bassinet soon. I don’t want her to sleep in the other room. I know they say she is supposed to be sleeping in her own room by now, but why? I can get to her faster in the middle of the night if she is right next to me.
Her daddy is nuts over her. He will do anything for her. Tonight he was on his way to shower and I asked him if sometime he could assemble her bouncer, and he just did it right then. Mumbled complaints at me the whole time, but I know the truth: anything for his baby girl.

Both of these pictures were taken on the day this blog was written, March 28th, her 4 month old day, while in her beloved Aunt Kelly's arms.