So, I do want to catch up on a little since Sophi was still in my belly when I wrote last. I'll start by saying please be happy that I didn't blog the first few months of her life. Plenty of you would probably decide that I am the worst mother in the world and would turn me off completely. Pregnancy was so blissful for me and having my sweet amazing baby here was supposed to be, too, right?? Wrong. I had what some would consider a relatively easy labor. I went completely natural. My labor was quick (active labor was only about 4 1/2 hours. I pushed for what felt like a lifetime (but was only actually about 10 minutes) and at 1:15am on February 4th, 2011, I gave birth to an absolutely beautiful baby girl. She was 19 inches long and weighed a tiny 6lbs, 7.8oz. Most everyone has already seen her picture but just for giggles, here it is again:
And here is our first family picture
Yeah, it's ok to say it, we made one pretty baby! I may be just a tinge biased. ;) I'm trying really hard to not make this too long since the girl will surely be awake within the hour so I'll say that the first 8 weeks were pretty much a blur. Sophi was an extremely gassy newborn who didn't like to be put down. She got colic, she got reflux, I battled (and am still battling) a low milk supply and worst of all, in the midst of our already chaotic life, I was struck down with a nasty bout of postpartum depression. I want to talk about this for a minute because this is a subject that has become very close to my heart.
Postpartum depression (we'll say PPD for short) is very real. Scary real. I felt so alone. I had terrible thoughts. I thought about how nice it would be if she would just not wake up, I thought about putting a pillow over her face to quiet her, I thought things like "what if I just let her head slip down into the bath water". This isn't me. It's not who I am but it was the disease that had taken over my mind. Of course I would NEVER do these things to my child and I was terrified of myself for thinking these things. I wish that more women would talk about PPD so that women like me wouldn't feel so alone going through it. I am an open book and there have been several occasions where I have told another mom these things and the reaction that I get is so appalling. I've been glared at like I am such an evil person and a terrible mother for allowing myself to think these things. Sure, like I really wanted these thoughts going through my head, right. I finally went to the doctor and asked for some help. Moms, future moms, friends who think that you might some day be a mom, PLEASE take my advice and get help as soon as you can if you even think that you MIGHT be battling PPD. There is help out there and you are not alone going through this. I wish like crazy that I would not have waited to reach out.
Ok now, back to everything else. I figured out (again should have done this sooner) that a few trips to our family chiropractor was exactly what Sophi needed for her colic/reflux issues. Turns out that when some babies are coming through the birth canal, some of the nerves get tangled up in the spine and can cause these issues. Who knew, right?! So without having to switch to formula and without having to put rice cereal in my 8 weeks old baby's milk, Dr. Chad fixed her right up!
I'm sure that there is a lot to tell. We have done some fun things. We were part of The Great Cloth Diaper Change Event, which was a lot of fun. We made the front page of the metro section in the paper the next day. Sophi's picture was on the news for Earth day. Took her to see the Easter bunny (that did not go so well). When she hit 3 months old she decided that she was no longer going to sleep in the room with me and made a very successful move to her crib. And then, almost a month later, came our big day. It was finally time for her Daddy to come home.
Mitch arrived home on May 29th, 2011. It was such an amazing day. The happiest day of our lives, for sure. You can see the video of our special day here. It was nothing short of an amazing day. Even more than we expected. We thought for sure that when Mitch took Sophi that she would start screaming her head off, since that was what she did when ANYONE but mommy held her. But she didn't. It's like she knew right away that he was Daddy. She stared at him and reached up and touched his face. She made sweet baby cooing noises at him and smiled the sweetest smiles. My heart was filled with joy that day. Everything that was missing was back and I was finally whole again. Here are a couple of my favorite shots from that day:
At last, we're complete
Watch our Homecoming Video Here
Sophi's big sister, Sandra, came down to visit us last month. We were a little nervous at first about how Sandra would take to having a baby sister but we were so wrong in being nervous. Things went great! Sandra is SUCH an amazing big sister. She was so helpful and had such a good time taking care of her baby sister. She fed her bottles, picked out outfits and showed Sophi how to do all kinds of neat stuff. Sophi clearly was fascinated by her big sister and stared at her constantly anytime they were near each other. It was perfect. Here is a picture of Daddy with his girls:
The girl turned 6 months old on the 4th of this month. We started her on solids on the 27th of last month. She actually loved her cereal. We only did rice cereal for 4 days and then moved on to oatmeal, which she totally digs. Unfortunately, our first trial with actual food has not gone so well. On her six month half birthday I gave her carrots and while she loved them, I think that she is having a reaction from them. Her little belly has some red bumps and I have to assume that it's the carrots that caused this so we are scaling back for now and will just do oatmeal for a few days until the rash goes away and then try something new. I am making all of her food which is extremely tedious but it's a fun experience so far. I made butternut squash which I admittedly, had never tried before. It is delicious!! I've already found recipes for including it in with our dishes. It's amazing how naturally flavorful some vegetables are without seasoning! Who knew, right? ;) Here is a picture of her cereal face:
We have the girl's 6 month check up on the 15th. I am eager to see if she has put on a sufficient amount of weight. We've been having some problems with that. At her 4 month check up she was in the 42nd percentile for height and only the 5th for weight. Her pedi had us come back in at 5 months for a weight check and she was 5th, borderline 4th. She is hitting all of her milestones though and the pedi did not seem concerned. I think she's starting to chunk up a little now though, so hopefully we have a good report!
I need more coffee...
Ok. :) Some days I think that a coffee IV is completely necessary.
So I've been trying my hand at being crafty. I want to be the mom who makes all of the little dresses and Halloween costumes and blankets and what not for my daughter. While I'm certainly not up to the level of making dresses yet (actually, I can't say that b/c I haven't tried), I am learning how to use my sewing machine. I make bibs and pacifier leashes, some other various baby items that I can't disclose yet b/c they are a gift for a friend. I have sewn buttons on pants and sewn a bag to store my clothes pins in. This may not sound like much but believe me, I didn't know how to wind a bobbin or thread my machine a couple of months ago. I wish that I had more time to spend on the machine but I do not have baby who self entertains for very long. Anyway, I like it. It makes me happy, like writing does. It takes my mind to another place for a short time and gives me a mini mommy vacation. :)
So I should probably wrap this thing up now. The princess should be waking soon and I'll kiss her a thousand times and thank her for sleeping long enough for mommy to finish writing. She is the happiest baby in the morning and it warms my heart to see her amazing little smile. If you got through this, thank you. And be warned, this is not the last you've seen of me! hehe
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