Saturday 29 June 2013

"it's not that serious"

i find myself thinking this so many times every day, particularly when it comes to discussing parenting with other women. babycenter is an annoying non-stop barrage of neurotic mothers stressing over the tiniest of things. how and when do i transition my baby from this thing to this thing? how many ounces should my baby be eating on this exact schedule every day? how and when and what kind of solids can i feed, and will she choke or die or poop a different color or texture? i need the most expensive, fanciest car seat and high chair or my baby will die, right? if she's in the walker for more than 20 minutes will she get hip dysplasia? my sister in law let my baby lick a popsicle... is she ruined for life? i made a bottle an hour and 15 minutes ago, did it magically turn into poison after exactly one hour?!

just stop. we should of course strive to be the best parents we can be, but how good can we be if we can't trust our instincts and simply enjoy our sweet little babies? feed your baby when she's hungry. give her some baby food or a chunk of whatever you're eating when you feel like it. it's not necessary to stress about the life time effects of not breastfeeding your kid until she's 5 and feeding only organic non-gmo homemade baby food recipes you found on pinterest. all car seats sold in the US have to meet very high minimum standards. high chairs are high chairs. i could go on and on, but i'll just say it's not a competition and it's not that serious.

i have an extremely easygoing baby and maybe i'll eat my words some day when i have another one, but i believe she is so easy and relaxed because we are. i have no idea how many total ounces of formula she eats per day. when i wanted to stop swaddling, i swaddled her with one arm out for a few nights, then no arms for a few nights and then a sleep sack or no swaddle. i didn't ask anyone what to do or freak out every day over how it would go that night. kitten used to take hours to nurse to sleep and only nap on me. it was exhausting, but i kept trying periodically to put her down for naps and eventually she figured it out with no drama or crying it out or sleep training or stress.

this isn't to say that we shouldn't do all the research and make good decisions, but if you find yourself panicking over the latest greatest baby product or something you think you should be doing to be a better mom than the next lady, take a deep breath and relax because it's just not that serious.

Saturday 8 June 2013

when i was 22, i was diagnosed with endometriosis and advised that i would have problems conceiving. i loved my doctor and trusted her opinion when she told me that i would need infertility treatments and that after 30 it would probably be completely impossible for me to get pregnant. around that time there was a tv commercial with a mom changing her baby and kissing his feet. i don't remember what the commercial was for, but i do recall crying and thinking that was all i wanted and i would never be happy until i had that. as my 20s flew by, i started losing hope.

yesterday as i changed cat's diaper, i kissed her little feet and she giggled. i remembered that commercial and smiled. it's more amazing than i ever imagined all those years. she's our perfect little miracle baby and she brings us so much happiness!

Thursday 6 June 2013

6 months

it's kitten cat's half birthday today! she's now rolling both ways and can occasionally sit up from laying flat on her back if she rolls to one side first. she sits up longer and better every day. when she's bored with sitting, she throws herself into a crawling position and inch worms around. the only time she'll attempt a real crawling motion is when she's trying to get to the dog, and she's not very good at it. she has been noticing sebastian more and more every day, and loves to pet him. he's surprisingly tolerant of her occasional fur-grabs, but most of the time she just rubs her hand across his back gently.

cat loves her walker and has figured out how to move it where she wants to go, which is pretty much always either straight for sebastian or the box fan in the living room. that thing hurts when she runs over your feet! she isn't doing as much talking with the consonant sounds lately, but she's laughing up a storm. she loves the words "stupid" and "stop" and laughs hysterically when we say them. she also cracks up when i knock or tap on things, especially the mirror.

we tried oatmeal cereal once and avocado a few times and so far have had zero success with solid food. she threw up all her formula one day, so in a desperate attempt to keep some food down, we offered cereal. she hated it and also threw that up. a few weeks later we gave her a slice of avocado and she ignored it. i tried showing her how to eat it and handing it back to her, but she wasn't interested whatsoever. i mashed some up on a spoon and tried to feed it to her, but she made a face and spit it right back out. every time we've tried since then, she has been uninterested and then sebastian stole it!

we are officially cloth diapering and only using 1 or 2 disposables a day because right now i only have 4 pocket diapers. i'm probably going to order about 6 more and get some bamboo inserts and we'll be 100%. i've been putting a disposable on her in the afternoon before she poops because i'm afraid of washing poo diapers, but she got me today so we'll see how that goes when i do the laundry tomorrow.