On being finished with the baby years

'So are you done having kids?'

Short answer: Probably. Yes. I think so. Yes, we are done. I think. Yes.
Long answer: So many thoughts on this, get ready for some classic Julia rambling.

I often heard this question when we were a family of four, before Porter was that second line on a pregnancy test. 'You already have one of each, why would you want another?' they would ask. 'They' meaning a lot of my patients who are known to lose their filters with age, the same population that has always produced the most shocking statements during my pregnancies.

Actually, let me elaborate on the filter-less declarations I've heard from patients. Ah, the crown jewel in the collection of observations on my pregnant body might have been from a patient who birthed seven children of her own. So she *knows* how pregnancy works, okay? And when she asked me if I was absolutely sure that Porter was a boy in the third trimester of his pregnancy, I said yes. She then informed me that I was carrying him 'right in the back' gesturing to her butt, and she knows that is how people carry girls. Not boys. So I had a fat butt while gestating a boy, which did not follow the guidelines. Good to know. Another patient once told me when pregnant with Cecelia that, 'I can tell you are normally a fit person but your face really looks pregnant right now, just kind of puffy.' Ah, good times. I love how pregnancy and babies tend to bring out the best, most kind comments from others!

But I digress.

The assumption that we would be done after one boy and one girl brings up numerous other issues, such as the notion that the sex of your children should determine the size of your family. We weren't done of course, even though sweet Porter wasn't exactly planned. In fact, Nate would have been quite content with two kids (hate to say this now that Porter is here, I promise Nate is super happy about our third baby!) as both he and I grew up with one other sibling. I have always said 'two or three' for my desired number of offspring and I'm so grateful we've been blessed with the greater of those two options.

Now that we have three children, I think everyone assumes we are finished growing our family. And they are probably (very very very likely) correct. Of course I can't quite slam that door shut and say with 100% certainty there will never be a number four. But I can say it with 99% certainty.

There are so many reasons to be finished having babies.

First and foremost: one of the very first things Nate said when I told him I was pregnant with Porter? "Well, we are NOT having a fourth, though." Hahahahaha. He is really 110% finished, guys, and obviously his feelings on this subject really do matter to me. I like to tease that he wasn't sure about having a third and look who was right on that choice (Porter is the besssssssst), but in reality I know he's seriously done now.

But also, I do feel incredibly blessed with our three healthy children. I hate to be a pessimist but I worry that trying for one more might be asking for too much. I know the chances for having a sick child don't necessarily increase with each subsequent pregnancy but it still feels risky. We could surely handle having a child with special needs and we'd love that baby with all of our hearts, but it would mean adding challenges to the lives of everyone in our family.

And I'm not getting any younger with my 34th birthday rapidly approaching in a few weeks. So yeah, 'advanced maternal age' would be my label should I actually get impregnated with mythical baby number four. And being AMA does mean a few more risks for a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby. Obviously, things might also turn out TOTALLY NORMAL but some part of me believes it might not be the same experience of a healthy pregnancy and healthy baby four times.

Ah, pregnancy. I still truly love being pregnant but I think it has become less and less 'magical' each time, with more and more kids to care for while pregnant. Plus I need my beauty sleep with age and newborns are killer for the whole 'well-rested' concept. The first year is hard, man. Freaking awesome but also really hard.

But one of the biggest reasons I am nearly certain we are done is because I feel content with Truman, Cecelia, and Porter. It doesn't feel like someone is missing from this group. I feel happy and like I couldn't ask for much more in life with these kiddos in our house. This is a relief because when I was pregnant with Porter, I wasn't completely sold on that being my final pregnancy. Even when he was born, I sort of held onto the notion that maybe…..just maybe we could do this fantastic thing of pregnancy and birth and meeting a newly formed human being one more time.

And it's not that Porter has been particularly difficult, thereby changing my mind about a fourth. If anything, he is just so frickin edible and (dare I say it?) perfect that I can't imagine needing another. Which is strange, since I know a lot of moms love their babies so much that they want to do the baby thing over and over (and over and over) again. It's like saying, 'MAN I love this child so much, I never want this time to end and I never want them to grow up and change at all. Because this is the best. If I can't freeze time I just want to keep doing this same thing repeatedly since it's the bomb.' I completely understand that concept.

But in reality, I can't keep having babies forever. At some point we all have to be DONE with this baby gestating/birthing chapter in our lives. It's hard to admit I'm done having babies, but it's not all about me and how much I adore the scent of a newborn (intoxicating, I tell you). Babies turn into two year olds, babies grow into actual human beings that need to become productive members of society with their own lives to lead.

Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in this season of motherhood with small kids and think this will be the best part of the gig, that the peak of motherhood might have already happened sometime between hearing a baby's first cry and seeing his first wobbly steps. It's all I've ever known as a mom to be pregnant, nursing, pregnant, nursing, then pregnant again and nursing again. But now that I'm not nursing, not pregnant, and not actively plotting to become pregnant I find myself in this new, exciting stage of life. My body is finally my own. We are sleeping (!!!!) and finding our groove as two parents outnumbered by three kids. I'm realizing that our time as parents has really just begun and our kids keep getting more fun by the day.

I'll miss the impossibly small newborn sleepers but there are shadow boxes for that. I'll miss haze of the first few weeks with a baby but I've done my best to document that time here on the blog. I'll miss the anticipation during pregnancy of meeting a new member of our family, but I know the anticipation also drove me certifiably insane when it was actually happening. All of the firsts, the milestones, the innocence that comes with another baby will always hold a special spot in my heart. But instead of feeling like I'm losing something by admitting the baby years are over, I have to remind myself that there has been much to celebrate. And there's many more celebrations in store for us, too---newborn sleepers or not.

But that (highly annoying) 1% of me who entertains the notion of a fourth likes to whisper 'never say never' and 'these kids are amazing, you need another' and 'you're up for the challenge.' I hate to even admit there's a tiny part of me that would welcome a fourth child because I don't want it to seem like I'm fishing for people to say DO IT, or YOU COULD HANDLE IT, or whatever affirmation us moms sometimes like to gain from the internets. Because really, I'd probably feel a little wishy-washy about being finished with babies no matter how many children we had.

Three is a good number. Babies are magic and I'm glad we've had three particularly awesome ones complete with hundreds of memories and blog posts. I'm only showing one itty bitty baby Cecelia picture in this post because LOOK AT HOW TINY OMG THE SWEETEST GAHHHHHH.



Anyone want to let me borrow their newborn sometime? I can't be held responsible for any head sniffing that occurs.

Answer: Two or Three

Question: How many kids do you want to have?

Even before we got married, I would always answer with the above response. And it's still the accurate response because I'm maddeningly torn between having a third child and being done with my two. I feel that I must write this overly analytical, wishy washy post on whether or not to have a third but I do NOT want you all to feel like I'm begging for the following comment: 'You should totally have a third kid!' Because I'm not asking for that validation in putting this indecisiveness out there. Prom. I'm sure there are other moms in my position, going back and forth over the prospect of another pregnancy and I remember reading Laura's thoughts on this topic (loved it to death). Plus, I love to plan and over-think and control things. Hence this post. And this blog.

So, my kids are pretty freaking rad. Not sure I've ever used the word 'rad' before and that probably makes me incredibly lame and geriatric....but they are. Truman and Cecelia are freaking awesome. I adore being their mother---it's the most rewarding and the most challenging role of my life. I love my kids so much that I frequently find myself grinning like a creepster when I'm looking at their pictures or thinking about something cute they did the other day. Especially now, after crossing the magical first year milestone with my 'baby', I find myself feeling both settled and ready for the next shake up.

It's a paradox that I didn't really expect; I figured once Cecelia turned one I would just know whether or not we were done having kids. In fact, whenever anyone asked the golden question prior to her birthday, I'd say, 'We aren't even going to discuss it until CC turns one.' Because, duh. The first year is crazy hard and I feel like life has to be on the 'just getting by' setting until babies grow up a little bit, life settles down, and the dust settles. And now that the dust is settling (and we are all sleeping again), I'm kind of like, 'Well, that wasn't too awful. Let's do it again.'

To which Nate replies, 'You are crazy, woman.' Not really, but he would definitely be MORE than fine with 'just' these two whipper snappers. His take on the matter is that we have two happy, healthy children...one boy, one girl...and they are more than enough to keep us busy over the years. Also, he likes to put on his dollar sign glasses and the cost of a third kid would be no joke, just like the two we have now tend to make a big impact in our budget. Cha-ching!

A third would mean we'd definitely need a new car sooner than later, although that is probably going to happen even if we don't procreate again. My beloved ride is twelve years old and starting to show some signs of the end of her sweet life...but she is a trooper and hanging on for now. We have a three bedroom home that we don't plan on moving out of anytime soon, if ever. I think having two kids share a bedroom is totally acceptable and seems kind of fun. Nate thinks it would never work. So then he thinks that the dream-worthy addition we like to talk about adding onto our house would be another 'must' which, of course, makes him grab his wallet for dear life. Another partially unpaid maternity leave, more clothes, more food, more diapers, etc.....and then of course the 'big kid' expenses like sports and activities and freaking college. Which will probably be a bajillion dollars each semester by the time our kids are there, but whatever.

Kids are expensive. But kids are freaking amazing and even Nate will say that he's not totally opposed to a third kid (cue the inner squeal!), but he's not totally convinced that is what is best for our family.

And honestly? I'm not totally convinced I want to push for a third, either. I love being pregnant, I love the magic of labor and delivery (WITH drugs, thank you very much), and that special dreamlike time when a new member of the family arrives? I could bottle it up, I love it so much. Newborns are hard but they are cleverly adorable. It's the daily routine with three kids that freaks me out the most. Three in and out of the car. Three baths. Three mouths to feed. Three kids all sick at the same time, creating messes at the same time, wanting to be held at the same time. The NEEDS of three kids, all resting directly on my shoulders when my parenting partner isn't there to share the weight of those needs. Would three be the straw that breaks the camel's (my) back? Would I be able to handle the chaos? Would I lose it mentally? Reading this article makes me very, very nervous, my friends. I think life is crazy with two but sometimes I cannot even imagine the stress level with three.

But it's a blip in the radar of life, right? So quickly we forget the pain of birth, the sleepless nights, the frustrating moments of mothering young kids. Selective momnesia, I suppose. I'm a good mom and I think I would be up for the challenge of three. When my inner skeptic questions if I'm cut out to be a mom of three, my inner competitor likes to say, 'Watch me.' I might have multiple personalities, yes, point taken.

As I packed up Cecelia's bottles the other day, I felt a rush of excitement and butterflies in my stomach thinking about getting these bottles out again for another baby. When I dig through baby clothes bins in our attic I can't help but get a little giddy thinking about whether we would see the boy clothes or the girl clothes on another little bitty baby. I will pass by my 'pregnancy test/ovulation strips/charting stuff' box in the attic and smile, because how fun/exhausting/exciting to think about doing it all over again. A growing belly. Kicks from the inside. Another birth story. And then another newborn blur for the first weeks/months/year. I could totally do it again. In a heartbeat.

Without being too 'out there', somedays I have a flash forward vision when I picture myself driving a mini van all over town, and the van is packed full of three kids. I see three spunky kids throwing food at each other/yelling/singing/laughing behind my drivers seat. I see three different personalities and activities and three different backpacks strewn across our house. A calendar jammed with soccer games and tee ball and dance class and Lord knows what else. The taxi-cab years are something I'm actually looking forward to, although I'm sure it will be ridiculously crazy. But a good crazy. I imagine three kids coming home from college, three weddings, three sets of grandkids. I like to dream and a lot of them include three.

I hate letting negative thoughts sit in my head, so I might as well get them all out here. I also worry that we'd be pushing our luck with a third and what if we had a baby not as healthy, one with special needs or behavior issues, or one that is seriously ill? Part of me is still quite shaken up from my last two pregnancies. Having one really horrible/prolonged miscarriage and then Cecelia's pregnancy when she was not supposed to make it either has really left an impression on me. As they should, I suppose. Maybe I would have a really hard time even getting pregnant next time. Or another loss. Or worse. I'm not naive enough to think that I can just snap my fingers and make the decision to have another healthy baby in my arms. And I know there are women out there who would give almost anything to be in my shoes with two precious babes napping upstairs as I type this.

Sometimes I think that I need to learn contentment with the many blessings I've been given. How could I ever say that Truman and Cecelia are not enough, when they are the dearest blessings I could have ever imagined? To say that I'm grateful for my babies is the understatement of the year, and I try to never ever take them for granted. I worry that asking God for a third baby would be like saying I'm not happy with my current two. Which is obviously NOT the case but that is my inner pessimist talking.

After I think about the fears of a third kid a bit I always come back to this: I was also scared and nervous about adding Truman and then Cecelia to our family. Going from 0-1 was hard and going from 1-2 was also hard, but in different ways. And we all survived and I am so thankful we took those leaps of faith each time. I didn't know what it would be like to juggle one, and then two kids. The day-to-day stuff scared me then and thinking about it with a third scares me now. But I know that if we were blessed AGAIN with another child we would never regret that sweet baby. We might have some pretty low moments in the middle of the night after getting horribly broken sleep and tending to the needs of a preschooler and a toddler on top of a newborn. Oh, there would be hard times, for sure. But in my heart I absolutely think that the highs would still outweigh the lows. Kids are just the best, and having more kids would bring even more joy. Right?

So I've always wanted two or three. Nate would be fine with two but I'm sure I could convince him about a third. Plus I think technically he has also always said 'two or three' as his answer, even before marriage. But no matter what, we will wait awhile to make our final decision. There's no rush. I love our 2 year and 3 month age gap but waiting even longer than that would be fine, too. So for now I will continue to go back and forth over this matter every.single.day. One day I am certain we are done and the next I'm even MORE positive we'll have a third. Which basically means we are 50/50 at this point. Totally undecided, and that's ok.

Because life is still awesome with T and C as the epicenters. And feeling content is never a bad thing. And there's never a dull moment with these guys.

She eats!

Let's discuss the progression of moving from all milk to some 'real' food, shall we? I've literally had this post drafted for over two months which is a new record for me. Not really sure why it's taken me this long to discuss Cecelia eating real food, but I guess I just figured it may be a boring post to many. I really liked reading back over Truman's baby food post, though, so what the heck. Here we go again.

This time around, I put off feeding Cecelia any sort of solids until she turned six months old. And then I was like, 'Um, how do I feed a baby food again?' I thought about going right to finger foods a la Baby Led Weaning but then I figured I should do purees for just a little while. Mostly because that is what I know from my first time around as a mom. ;) And I totally forgot about this website that is really fun and helpful when making combinations and little 'meals' for baby. It's where I go when I need to know how to prepare a food that I want to make into a puree and it also has great ideas for food choices I'd never think about on my own.

Making your own baby food is incredibly easy. And it saves a lot of money (though you can find store-bought purees for pretty inexpensive, too.). The first things I decided to make were squash and sweet potato. And this time around I actually had a real food processor to help with the chopping instead of trying to use a little Magic Bullet.

Basically, for a lot of the foods you puree it means: baking in some water, scooping out, adding to a food processor of sorts with extra water, and then storing/freezing it somehow. Not bad, a little messy, but kind of fun.




(forgot about the food processor with this first batch--still using the Magic Bullet here. Whoops!)


Oh, his black eye;(




I just add the purees to ice cube trays, but I know they have some really cute 'baby food' storage trays out there, too. I like having a cube to pull out of the freezer though---pretty sure that it's 1 oz per cube and pretty easy to microwave/thaw out.


I also kept some of the sweet potatoes back after baking, to use as 'chunky' foods instead of puree. She started loving chunky/finger foods around the 7 month mark and I'm pleasantly surprised at how well she handles bites of real food.


Also kept back some of the baked squash without pureeing.


And, well, the bib was the biggest hit of all.


Oh, these pictures of my little doll just kill me. This is the first 'real' time I gave her purees and also chunks of sweet potatoes and squash--right at 6 months old.




Then came some pears. Despite the facial expression, she really did like them! Keeping the peel on part of the slice helps her grab them easier.


But girlfriend has always loved a spoon something fierce.


And bananas (partially peeled)--she loves those, too.




Spoon again!


Why isn't this working?


Close!


I forgot how messy it is to feed a baby real food.


Oh, hi! 7.5 months old here and enjoying some yogurt!


MY SPOON IS A SEPTOR!


I can't.

So anyway, that's my child eating. And now that she is loving the finger foods a lot more than spoon-fed stuff, I have no problem moving away from the homemade purees and trying out some more chunky stuff. I also have no problem buying the store-bought containers because she really DOES love their smoothness a lot more than my homemade attempts. Both of my kids have preferred their purees to be silky smooth and I feel like no matter what I do, I can't get mine to be THAT perfect. So Gerber is consumed just as much if not more than mommy's version over here at 8 months. But I also feel like we  won't be doing purees that much longer anyway. Her pincer grasp is insane and her sense of independence even more so. Which is why she is holding her own spoon in many of those pictures.

Kind of like how I cloth diaper and love it....during the day, and on my days at home. But nighttime and daycare? No problem using disposables. Same with homemade baby food---I dig it, but I also like to go the more 'traditional' route and mix in the store-boughts. I suppose I'm kind of a hybrid-crunchy mommy, huh?

I wanted to make a list of things we've tried so far in the 2 months we've done food. More for my own record-keeping than anything, since it's not like I've gotten all that creative with food choices just yet.

Homemade food by 8 months: (separately and mixed together)
baked squash, pureed and pieces
baked sweet potato, pureed and pieces
baked pears with cinnamon and sugar, pureed
pumpkin puree (from a can--why am I including it in the homemade list?!)

Store bought foods we've tried by 8 months:
puffs
yogurt melts (hates the orange, gag-city. Loves the strawberry with a passion.)
Yo Baby yogurts (a fave!)
green beans pureed (surprisingly loved them. At least one child will eat greens)
mixed garden vegetables puree (peas, carrots, spinach)
mixed fruit with oatmeal puree (apples and banana)-not a fave for some reason
banana mixed berry puree (the bomb-bananas with blackberry and blueberry)
apples and cherry puree
peach pureed in a pouch
carrots puree
banana puree
applesauce

Whole foods we've tried by 8 months:
bananas
pears
shredded cheese
sliced block cheese (loves. A Wisconsin girl already)
deli turkey breast
black beans (a fave. Hate the resulting diapers, though).
watermelon
cantaloupe
avocado (another fave)

How about a few videos? Because what mother doesn't love to take an absurd amount of video documentation of her children slopping food into their mouths?

First solids (proud mommy)

Green beans----anti-climatic, for sure

Puffs!

Slamming her sippy cup with authority

Oh yeah, we are doing pretty good with a sippy cup over here. I'm only putting water in it so far but I love watching her face when she actually gets to drink a few sips instead of just chewing on the spout. I have about 10 billion different kinds of sippy cups to try with her because apparently I couldn't find the 'perfect' one for Truman? I don't even remember that ever being an issue. Perhaps Cecelia will take a cup better than she did a bottle at first. Since now we own 10 billion types of bottles (because of CC) and 10 billion types of cups (because of T). Yes, 10 billion each. It's insane.

Love sitting my big girl in her high chair, scattering some finger foods across the tray and letting her go to town. I will usually feed her with a spoon at least twice per day if not three times and I've found that (duh) it's a lot easier to feed her BEFORE I eat my own food or else it's way too much going on at once. Feeding myself, feeding a baby, picking up numerous spoons/cups/food-related items from the ground, tending to a toddler who refuses to eat 50% of the time, etc etc. It's a lot. So if I can sit with CC about 20 minutes before the rest of us actually eat, and take the time to feed her it seems to go much better. And then she can still dink around with her finger foods and cup and her FAVORITE banana toothbrush while we eat. Win-win.

Any ideas for fun baby-friendly foods that you've tried and loved? I'm not quite ready to plop down some of our pepperoni pizza in front of her on pizza night or anything, but I'm all for moving her towards big-people food.

Cecelia at Five Months

October 28 | Five months



Likes: That lady with the milk jugs, nursing while falling asleep, delicious hands/toys/anything, watching big bro be rowdy, drooling, pretending to be teething just to put mom's mind at ease about awful sleep, smiling a HUGE open-mouthed grin (silent laughs) all day long.

Dislikes: sleeping longer than two hours in a row, being overtired, being held by anyone other than mom when overtired.

(comparison time! My how time flies...)






Biggest Achievement of the Month: Tolerating a few true crib naps. Gotta start with small goals, people. 

Biggest Challenge of the Month: Sleep, or the lack thereof. What else is new?



Secret Tricks of Parenting: Well this is awesome--I honestly didn't realize until staring at this topic right now that baby girl doesn't really require any tricks anymore! I mean, sure---her sleep sucks but she is not having super fussy moments anymore. Praise.The.Lord.





The Mecca (aka Sleep): Eh, I don't even feel like complaining about it right now, but alright...twist my arm. ;) Cecelia still hates to sleep for long stretches at night. We had a great week thrown in the middle of October when she lasted until 1, 2, or even 4 am before waking and then she might go another few hours after that before demanding the boob. My new definition of a good night is if she sleeps past midnight without waking, by the way. So we had a few good nights this month. And then? Back to her old habits of waking around 9 or 10 for the first time then every two-ish hours after that. Sigh. Last night she woke at 11, 1, 4, and 5:30 before waking for the day at 6:45. That's actually not too horrible in our world, so I can't be all full of doom and gloom for this post.

Currently I'd say that bedtime itself isn't too awful if I can get her to stay asleep for the first 20 minutes of laying her down---if we get past that magical point, then we will probably sit pretty until around 11:00 before she wakes. But some nights she will just not.go.down without a fight. Meaning, she pops her eyes open as soon as she hears the freaking floor boards creaking when I leave. Or she wakes within 5 minutes of me sitting downstairs, assuming 'she's asleep!' I really dislike spending the majority of my evening hours going up and down the stairs, soothing baby girl back to sleep by popping the pacifier back into her mouth or rocking her. During these rough evenings I usually do not nurse her again just because I hang onto any shred of control that way:)

Naps are getting a little bit better because I'm getting her to nap in her crib for about an hour at a time, maybe 2-3 times per day. Yesterday she napped for 45 minutes in the morning, a TWO HOUR nap in the crib around lunch time, and another hour nap in the afternoon. She will also cat nap while nursing during the day if I'm home and will sleep in the Ergo or the BOB if I must be out and about with her. I am pretty proud of the fact that she can fall to sleep for a nap without nursing down, and without being rocked to sleep. I will usually give her the pacifier, rock her a bit to get her nice and comfy (and to get my fill of cuddles, since she buries her face into me while we rock), then before she falls asleep I'll lay her down. She might squeak and squawk a bit but usually not more than 5 minutes.



Temperament/Personality: CC is so happy and content 98% of the time now. It's awesome. Do you see those giant smiles in the 'five month' pictures? Just.so.happy. She will laugh if I'm tickling her now and also had her first real laugh that was unprovoked a few days ago. I was carrying her up the stairs and Truman was walking in front of us, when all of a sudden she busted out a belly laugh. I guess she found Truman's stair climbing hilarious, and why wouldn't she? Because anything her big brother does seems to give her the biggest open-mouthed smile. Blowing raspberries and trying to get us to do it in return is a favorite hobby right now. She's still super vocal, too, and will let you know if something is not right in Cecelia-land. But luckily for us all, it seems that this child is pretty darn happy despite the persistent sleep issues. She's the best snuggler and is super touchy-feeling, preferring to be held and will almost always grab onto your hand or your clothes. I love it so much. Hope her sweet cuddles don't go away any time soon.







Eating: Still nursing great! Basically have to pull her off each time we nurse to end a session because CC could nurse all day long if I let her. On a typical work day she will nurse at 7:30 before we leave, then she takes 10 oz in two bottles while at Lori's around 11:30 and 1:30. She will nurse right when we get home at 4:30 and then at 7:00 for bedtime, which makes about 5 feedings on the days I work (and probably about 4 more at night, so whatever). On my days at home with her, I'm guessing we bump it up to about 6-7 feedings during daytime hours.

We haven't introduced any solids yet--not even rice cereal or oatmeal. We gave Truman rice cereal on his five month birthday but I'm just not feeling it this time around. I kind of want to research baby led weaning a bit more and would prefer to skip rice cereal all together, maybe jumping to finger foods at 6 months. We'll see. I'm in no rush at all for 'real' food this time around.







The Superficial: The Hair is still my fave.


She is in 6 or 9 month clothes, but the sixers are getting too short in the legs. My tall girl;) And for disposable diapers, we are moving up to size 3's because the 2's are barely covering that precious booty anymore. In cloth, she has bumped up a row of snaps in the rise already which seems nuts to me. But hey, my baby IS almost half of a year old so this growth stuff is bound to happen. ;)

(winter coat in size 12 months, just a little too big right now;) )


Another superficial thing? Tons of constant drool graces her pretty face in every picture now. Had to bust out a few bibs this month but I generally dislike bibs and how they 'ruin' outfits:) So we deal with a lot of saliva up in here.







Motor Milestones: She rolled from her tummy to her back for the first time this month! I think it sort of surprised her and I'm sure my maniacal cheering and clapping didn't exactly soothe her, either:) But it's just so much fun to see babies hit milestones and I hope she keeps up the rolling. Perhaps it will be the key to sleeping longer at night? (notice how everything is potentially the magical 'key'?) She's SO close to rolling from back to tummy---that darn arm keeps getting in her way and she just keeps on trying to plow it over anyway.

And the girl can spin like a champ when she is laying on her back. If I put her on a blanket facing the windows she will almost always wiggle her booty around in a 180 degree turn to face the opposite direction. I think she accomplishes this simply by attempting to roll over and over again, making it to her side then falling back each time. Hilarious!



She can prop sit for a few seconds before her stomach is basically on top of her outstretched legs:) This month marked her first time in the kitchen sink for a bath, and then her first dual bath with big brother using a bumbo seat! Can't wait for her to sit unsupported to make baths easier, if nothing else.





Her hand-to-mouth coordination is amazing at this point, because she can finally grab the pacifier and purposefully pop it in and out of her mouth. I still remember this milestone with Truman---so sweet to see them control objects like this, and so weird to see her with a pacifier in her mouth when nobody put it in there for her. If you hold a toy in front of her she gets a really excited face and will bring both hands to the toy, grabbing it with gusto. I've gotten a couple of good old hair yanks from little miss myself and yep---her grip is pretty strong!





Out and About: Biggest event this month was her baptism on September 30! Already did a separate post about it, but I'd say that was a major outing for sure.

(two great-grandmas and one vain little girl, checking to see how cute she is on camera)


Favorite Baby Gear: 
 -Pulled out the Baby Einstein Exersaucer this month! Loving it.




-Sophie the Giraffe---because seriously? She HAS to be teething!





(double-fisting, loves this wooden rattle, too)


Little Sister and Big Brother:
 

Reading back over Truman's five month post leaves me with a few comparison thoughts. Both kids have been super alert at 5 months. Both love to put things in their mouths, especially Sophie. Both vocal, both happy, both crappy sleepers and into the half-rolls. Truman's eyes were already starting to change to his pretty hazel color but Cecelia's are still a bright blue right now---wonder if that means hers will stay? But the only thing that makes me sort of sad when I read his 5 month post is that Truman would totally let Nate soothe him back to sleep at night. He loved his mommy but he allowed Nate to help out a lot more than Cecelia will tolerate. And I hate that, because it makes me feel like Nate and CC can't bond like he did with Truman. Obviously, as a second child it's just different because we each take a child now, since it's 1:1 defense and no longer 2:1. Nate usually handles Truman and I usually handle Cecelia when we are all home---and I know all little babies need their mommies most of all. But I want to be a little bit better about switching it up and having Nate change C's diapers on the weekends, holding her just to bond, and spending more time just the two of them while Truman and I get a little one-on-one time, too. I mean, it's not the end of the world and I know that Cecelia does love Nate, too. But I just want him to be able to help a little more without her freaking out, because he's an amazing dad who is more than willing to offer some daddy-time to his little lady. He watched her for two hour long stretches on Saturday this weekend and it went great, so maybe we are turning the corner with the daddy-daughter bond:)

The kiddos
















And this video is too cute not to share. Truman's take on Simon and Garfunkel's song. 'Oh Cecelia--you're breaking my heart. You're shaking my calm and my baby.' I die.



We all love you so much, boo-tiful Cece. You are so happy and fun and sweet. Not a day goes by that I don't feel humbled and incredibly blessed to be your mommy. Yes, even when I'm exhausted because of your lack-of-sleep. Even then, I love you. :)