I can't believe how much she can eat at one go! I guess I wasn't feeding her enough before. She'd sign (and say!!) more ('moe' with a soft r on the end) and I thought, 'really, she can't still be hungry,' and I'd sign and say 'ALL DONE!' But it dawned on me, SHE'LL stop eating when she's not hungry anymore. It's funny the things I don't realize as a first time mom. ;)
Well, I've been letting her go. This morning for breakfast she fed herself: 1 whole banana cut into chunks, 1/2 an avocado cut into chunks, 1 piece of whole grain toast cut into bites and several ounces of water! Later, she had two good sized snacks including our favorite, raspberries! Cottage cheese, 1 rice rusk and a few bites of apple. (I say snacks because she's napping at lunch and asleep for the night at dinner).
She loves to eat and feed herself :) She's doing so well and it's exciting that I can feed her basically what I'm eating for the most part. Yesterday, I went with some friends and their babies for Thai food and Ava had some Pad See Ew and some tofu from my soup. Mmmmm
She still loves to nurse... a lot... ;)
It's so exciting watching her grow up! It's happening so fast!
Lately, I've been even more overwhelmed with love for her. She's been more and more interactive and we've been having so much fun playing. We play chase. She crawls and I say, "I'm gonna get you!" and I crawl after her. She pants in her cute little baby pant while she high tails it away from me as fast as she can. I let her go for a bit and then I GET HER! and she shrieks with giggles. She's also ticklish... FINALLY! And laughs at funny faces and voices. I love it. I LOVE IT!
I'm madly in love with her. She's perfect. All our little ones are!
Lately I tell Uri "...but Maggie is doing such and such... or, Ava is eating this and that or that much... or Maggie says it is good for the babies to do..." hahaha... This morning we talked about napping for a second: I want to train her to nap in her crib (since she was sick she wants to nap on me), but he does not want to let her cry during the day. I told him it is ok and that some recommend that you let them cry for a little while and he replied by saying "who recommends, Maggie? what does Maggie do?" hahaha
ReplyDeleteWhat can I say... Ava looks amazing, I think you are doing a great job with her and I love getting your advice and comparing a little to see how our babies are developing!!
XOXO
p.s. Adiel naps in her crib as I write this!! :D
Ha ha ha, that's funny and I definitely feel very flattered. :) Thank you Mercedes. :* I read a TON before Ava came and I think that helped me to feel pretty confident just trusting my intuition. I also have a Masters degree in a field that encompasses the swallow function from a healthy swallow to the disordered swallow and ways to manage dysphagia (the fancy name for a swallowing disorder). I used to treat patients with swallowing disorders and babies are kinda similar to me! hahaha Plus, I had to know a lot about nutrition and have read even more and more since then since it fascinates me. I worked closely with physical therapists and learned a lot from them, so sometimes I feel like Ava is just a little old person in a baby body that I'm rehabilitating. HAHAHA I also studied child development pretty extensively in college and grad school, since a big chunk of my degree was in pediatric speech, language and cognitive development. I worked primarily with adults, but did plenty of work with children as well... even babies! Then, being in the medical field freaked me way out seeing all the sickies, so I started to become fascinated by prevention and learning as much as I can about homeopathics, natural medicine and preventative medicine, nutrition and overall health. It definitely all applies to raising a baby!!!
ReplyDeleteBut you know what, I have plenty of days where I wonder if there is more I should be doing. If I'm not giving her enough of this or that. You know, Ava still doesn't clap. All the other babies in our birth class clap, but Ava, nope. Oh well. Guess she'll do it one day! ;p Adiel is gorgeous. She often reminds me of Ava. I absolutely want to squeeze her. She looks so happy... content... confident.
And the crib napping, I did let Ava cry a few times and then she got that naps meant naps. She goes down easy now. She never has to cry anymore because she just goes down after nursing and sleeps for a bit. It's easy and there's no trouble. The morning nap was perfect and then the afternoon nap became a pain in the butt, so I cut it out most days, but if she's extra tired or only took a short early nap, then I drive her around in the car and let her sleep that way (while I drive through a drive thru Starbucks haha) Anyway, her morning nap shifted later and seems like it's going to shift down into being the one nap a day early afternoon nap here soon. I think the mid-afternoon nap is supposed to stay and just become their one nap a day, but Ava is doing it this way and that's just fine by me. It's working out. She pretty much just does one nap a day now (it's early for a baby to have gotten to one nap a day they say, but whatever, this is what Ava's naturally done and she's happy, so I'm happy!).
Let me know how it goes! :) Once you get all the sleep stuff down the way you/the baby want/need it, it's so much easier and the baby is well rested. It's nice to have a routine and it works with the baby's natural rhythm. Ahhh, rest. I think I'll go to bed early.
xoxo I hope to see you guys soon and give you all a big hug and chat all afternoon!!!
and yay for her sleeping in her crib as you wrote that!!! WOO! I want to know how it's going! :)