Picnic

Today was the annual Bay Area Homebirth Collective Picnic, so we finally had a chance to visit with Michelle. It’s been such a long time since we got together; it was a real treat to see her again.

We made a quick baked mac n cheese that we like a lot and headed out after Milo’s first nap. We got a Lyft there (because I didn’t want to waste valuable visiting time on public transportation) and found that we were among the first to arrive. We were sad that Orna couldn’t make it, but Michelle was there, so we spent some time chatting. Milo showed off her walking skills and smiled a lot at everyone. We gave her a little bit of all the food, though the grapes turned out to be her favorite.

While there, we ran into the woman who I used to see for acupuncture, who was also pregnant and now has an adorable son. I was amazed that she remembered me! We talked for just a few minutes, and on our way out, Chase and I made plans to meet up with Michelle for a sort of going-away lunch in a few weeks.

The rest of the afternoon was pretty uneventful.

Highlights:

• Milo flipped over the stool and pushed it around like a walker. She does this pretty regularly now. She also sits inside of it all the time, which can’t be comfortable because of the plastic grid. But I tried putting a blanket in there, and she just took it out and sat right on that grid. Oh well.

• I spent some time finishing up Chase’s Father’s Day present for tomorrow. I was late putting it together because I couldn’t decide what to do for him, but I think it’s pretty cute.

Other Notes:

• Milo gets super excited when she gets her hands on something she’s not supposed to have, like a cell phone or the AppleTV remote. Sometimes she approaches it slowly and looks over at either me or Chase, as if to see if we’re looking. Other times she’ll grab it and bring it right over us, as if she’s so excited that she wants to share it with us. Still other times she runs in the other direction when she sees that we’ve seen her with it. Sometimes she lets out a little squeal of delight.

• Milo has learned to put her arms through sleeves, so dressing her has become kind of easier. In fact, when we put a shirt over her head, she now knows that her arms are next so sometimes she initiates the sleeves herself. Smart girl!

Day Three Hundred and Nine

Nursing

Another one of Milo’s speakers quit yesterday, right in the middle of her nap. Luckily, I got a different one in there in time, and she went right back to sleep. So we’re using my speaker for her nap times now, which isn’t ideal. But it works.

We found out today that Chase’s company hired (unofficially) his replacement, so we can commit to leaving SF on August 1, which is super exciting! We can actually start packing and planning now!

Food: Milo continues to be confounded by chickpeas, so I’m giving up on them until she has more teeth. She did eat nearly an entire cheese stick, along with a jar of baby food for lunch, so that wasn’t bad. We’ve continued giving her oatmeal in the mornings, and she’s usually receptive and eats a good amount.

Tonight, Chase got home on the early side, so we made a trip to Costco for a few items. We also ate dinner there (pizza) and Milo ate most of the food I took for her. She’s such a good eater sometimes.

I’ve been thinking a lot about when to wean her from breastmilk, but I haven’t picked a deadline, really. All of the research says that breastmilk continues to be beneficial in so many ways as babies get older, so there’s no reason to discontinue nursing after one year. I might try to wean at 18 months or 2 yrs, but probably it won’t be close to 12 months. Mostly I just don’t want to stop, and that’s a good enough reason. I love nursing my girl.

Day Three Hundred and Eight

Day Three Hundred and Seven

New Music Class

Milo was a wild animal. She did not adhere to the “cautious for a while and then outgoing” pattern that she’s done for so long. She was all over the place! Normally I don’t have any trouble keeping her in my lap for the singing, but today she wanted to be everywhere else!

This music group is younger, so Milo is one of the more mobile ones of the bunch. There are a few babies who don’t move around yet, and there are only two bigger kids. Lots are Milo’s age, though she seems more mobile than most of the others. It seems like it’ll be a good group; the moms and nannies definitely watch their kids and participate, which is great.

Notes:

• Sleep last night was good. She woke again at around 3 or 4 am and slowly put herself back to sleep without too much fuss.

• Naps are great these days, probably because of the new routine. I could kick myself for not doing this sooner.

• Milo’s hair was wild today after her nap. She looked like Drop Dead Fred, but cuter, of course.

• We’re working on the 3 meals per day. So far, so good. I’ve tried to feed Milo chickpeas for a few days, but I think they’re too hard for her to chew right now. She’s also dumbfounded by the skins. But she’s been good about trying all of the foods I’ve been giving her. She is nursing less, which means my breasts are fuller than usual, but that will go away very soon if we keep up the schedule.

• I’ve been making good use of Milo’s naps. Today I made hangers for the air plants, and they look pretty good, I think. It also feels good to do little projects that interest me during her naps. I feel more confident about doing these things now that her naps are more predictable. I’m feeling a lot better lately.

Day Three Hundred and Six

This girl is TEN months old today!!!

Tuesday

• We went out to Bob’s Donuts early this morning since Milo was up with plenty of time before Chase had to leave for work. I love Bob’s mornings.

• After visiting the doctor yesterday, we realized that we’ve been really, really forgetful about giving Milo her Vitamin D in the past months. Also, we need to make a great effort to increase her food intake. So, during one of her naps, I made a Milo Food Board so that we can remember what we’re feeding her and record whether we’ve given her Vitamin D drops.

• Milo ate well today and slept well last night. After she went to sleep last night, she didn’t wake up until 3am and she put herself back to sleep pretty quickly! We were super excited! I got so much consecutive sleep last night! It was amazing.

• We met up with Serena in the park and had some fun letting Milo walk around and get dirty in the sand. We all talked for a while, and then we went to 4505 BBQ for dinner. It felt nice to spend some time with Serena.

• Milo went to sleep easily again tonight; cried for about 3 minutes at bed time and then she was out. Fingers crossed. I still nurse her before naps, but I’m planning to stop that this weekend.

Day Three Hundred and Five

10 Month Checkup

At Milo’s last checkup, they did not schedule our next appointment because it was too far in advance. Because of this, we took a while to get around to scheduling the appointment. Anyway, we finally remembered to do it, and this morning we took her in for a check up.

As we expected, she’s looking good. She is 20.12 lbs and 28.5 inches. The doctor kept saying she’s 9 months, which was kind of irritating, but whatever. She asked questions about Milo’s sleep that went a little something like this:

Doc: Is she sleeping through the night? Me: No, she wakes up about twice. Doc: What do you do when she wakes up? Me: I feed her. Doc: You need to stop doing that.

So that’s how Chase and I decided to change Milo’s nightly routine. The doctor suggested removing nursing from the routine by nursing a bit earlier, incorporating teeth brushing and reading, and having Chase put Milo down instead of me. No more nursing to sleep, and hopefully some longer durations of sleep at night.

The doctor also told us to increase Milo’s food intake significantly. By 12 months, she should be up to 3 meals and 2 snacks per day. So, when we got home, we gave Milo some baby oatmeal, which she ate up. Hopefully it remains this easy to give her food.

Chase got home late this evening, but dinner was easy because I put a roast in the crock pot early in the day. At bed time, we did the new routine. Chase put Milo down to sleep, she cried for less than 5 minutes and then she was out. I’m really nervous about tonight.

Notes:

• For some reason, Milo has renewed interest in the bookshelf in the living room. She’d forgotten about it for the longest time, but lately she’s been hovering over there, trying to get books off the shelf, trying to climb it, etc. It’s very frustrating.

Day Three Hundred and Four

Haight Street Fair

Notes:

• We went out to Brenda’s for breakfast. Milo ate a good bit of banana while we waited for our food, but was uninterested in food when we were eating because she was so busy watching everything around her. She waved at a few of the servers, which I still think is the cutest thing.

• Chase built a tower out of 30 blocks and Milo was still unimpressed. She avoided it, played around it, and then eventually knocked it down on accident, as usual. Chase was disappointed.

• We went out to Haight for the fair, which we usually don’t go to. It wasn’t great, but also wasn’t awful. There was some live music which was just ok; there were lots of people, typical fair foods, and lots to look at. We ended up having pizza for lunch, and then Chase bought cherries to snack on and gave Milo some, which she LOVED.

• In the afternoon, we spent a while working on Milo’s birthday party invitations. We had to print the and cut them out, which took a little while. I realize it’s a bit early to work on this, but I need to feel prepared.

Our tour guide

Milo has changed a lot in the last few months again, of course. A few weeks ago I woke her up from a nap, sat her down on my lap, and opened a stack of mail. She watched each envelope intently, not grabbing or writhing, not distracted. Patient. She saw that I was doing something, and she wanted to know what it was. She wanted to learn.

She also watched me vacuum today, and she watched me mow the lawn at our new house last week. When we visited what we hope will be her future daycare — Habibi’s Hutch, a place where toddlers get dirty and learn to be themselves by playing with other dirty children — she watched every kid who crossed her path, and she even waved at a few, and a few waved back.

Other new things: she climbs. Up the baby gate, up the bookshelves, onto the bed (via the stool). When we were not too much older than Milo, my brother and I terrified our mother my scaling the chain-link fence in our back yard. Milo, it seems, will be a terror too. She also moves her hands in new ways that look vaguely like some of the ASL signs we’ve been teaching her. She responds appropriately to a word or two. She claps. She gives high-fives that are actually high-fives and not just slaps.

Best of all, I’m bonding with her. She squeals when I walk in the door at the end of the day, before I even see her. She hugs my legs when I look over the baby gate. Earlier this week, I even shushed and hummed her to sleep for a nap in my arms, which is the first time since her infancy that I’ve put her to sleep on my own (the most I usually do is sing along to Blowin’ in the Wind with Misty every night). She’s learning to love.

I always knew that introducing a child to things in the world for the first time was one of the aspects of parenthood I would relish the most. Yesterday I got a glimpse of what that might be like, because I helped a bit while Misty was babysitting Avani, who is a year older than Milo and has begun to talk. Every time we pointed at something and called it by its name, Avani faithfully repeated the word, rehearsing it and — I’m sure — committing it to memory. I know Milo is secretly already soaking everything up, but I can’t wait until she has the words to go with it. I want to be able to point to something and see it through her eager eyes. I want her to be our tour guide.

Day Three Hundred and Three

Influence

Notes:

• Milo learned a couple of things from Avani. First, she learned to climb on the baby gate. I found her suspended on it at one point today, feet off the ground. The second thing she learned is to totally steamroll over everything with the walker. She’s a demolition machine now!

• The biggest news of the day is that Chase got a hair cut for the first time in probably 2.5 years. It’s short now. Milo didn’t really have a reaction, maybe because she was there when he got it cut? But also, he doesn’t look too different.

• Milo had a nectarine for the first time today, and she really liked it. It was so juicy, though. What a mess.

• There was a succulent show in Golden Gate Park, so we decided to head that way after the hair cut. We stayed out way longer than we anticipated. Milo was SO ready for a nap when we got home. I was frustrated. But we got air plants to put in the bathroom to help keep the moisture out, so that’s good.

Day Three Hundred and Two

Two Girls

Today was the big day when I got to babysit Avani! Chase stayed for a little while in the morning, long enough to watch Avani while I put Milo down for her first nap, which helped tremendously. I was worried about how to get her napping while also keeping an eye on Avani.

Playing with Avani was so much fun! She is so vocal and has so much energy! She had a lot of fun playing with all of the toys, which are new to her. While Milo napped, Avani and I stacked blocks and pushed them over, read a couple of books, counted things, pulled cars around the living room, had a snack, and so much more. She’s a ball of energy and it was so exciting to spend time with her one-on-one.

When Milo woke up, there was a little bit of rivalry (if you can call it that) when they were both playing. Milo doesn’t play with all of her toys the way they’re intended to be played with. So Avani kept getting slightly frustrated because Milo wasn’t doing it right. She’d yell out, “Milo!” and then show her how to play properly, and then Avani would quickly forget about it and go on with whatever she had been doing. It was pretty cute, and Milo didn’t get fussed by it at all. Milo was so curious about having another kid around.

Highlights:

• Avani kept calling me mama all day, even after I told her my name’s Misty. But then when Chase came home from work, I heard Avani call him mama, too.

• Initially, Avani wouldn’t let me change her diaper, which Puja had warned me might be a problem. But then Milo needed her diaper changed, and when I was finished, Avani just came right over and let me change her. Magic.

• Both girls were really interested in jumping on the bed. They got up there and wanted to roll around and play. It was lots of fun!

• Lunch was slightly challenging. Milo ate some pasta and mushrooms from dinner the other night, and Avani ate her mac n cheese and chickpeas. Both girls shared well, but Milo’s appetite was smaller than Avani’s, and she got fussy when she had to stay seated while Avani finished her lunch. I didn’t get to eat much, but I snacked later.

• Both girls pooped twice today. Lots of diaper changes.

• Avani’s nap time was so stinking easy! I just read her some books and took her into the room, laying her down with a hug and a kiss and an I love you (and a blanket and piggy). She talked for a minute or two and then she was just asleep! I hope Milo’s naps are this easy someday.

• Avani slept for 2 hours, so Milo and I played during that time.

• Milo’s second nap coincided with Avani’s nap, so it was difficult. I put the travel crib in the entry way of the apartment and tried to get her to sleep without waking up Avani. Eventually she fell asleep, but she only slept 30 min.

• When both girls were up, we finally got to go out to the park. While there, I made friends with Avani’s friends from daycare. It was so much fun talking to and playing with them!

• I think the hardest part of the day was loading up the 2 girls and getting to the playground and back. Maybe just because I’m so out of shape. Also, there was so much sand in the stroller and in the shoes after the park!

Day Three Hundred and One

Circles

• I indulged at lunch time and bought myself some fried chicken from the BBQ place. It’s so good! I have only gotten it once before because it’s a lunch special and I can never remember which day they serve it. I saved a piece for Chase :)

• Milo totally tore through the living room today. She just went around and ripped up all the foam tiles, like she was desperately looking for her car keys or something. It looked like a tornado rolled through.

• Today she successfully got off the bed without my help. She put her feet off first and then slowly slid down onto the stool. I was so excited and very impressed.

• It was a difficult nap day in the afternoon. Milo just refused. She kept popping off the nipple totally awake just when she should have been ready to sleep. Very frustrating. I wanted to cry a bit. She finally went to sleep at 4:30 after being awake since noon.

• At one point during the day, Milo started doing circles around me while I laid on my belly on the bed: She got up on the bed via the stool, climbed over me, and then lowered herself off the bed on the side, only to come back around to the stool and start the process over again. It was so much fun!

Day Three Hundred

My Time

Milo was up super early today - around 5am - and wouldn’t go back to sleep. Her first nap was at ~8, but I let her sleep past the 2 hour mark because I figured she needed it. I also needed it. Chase left late for work, so he was home for part of her nap time. It always feels weird having Chase around for her naps during the week because I’ve gotten used to her weekday naps being ME time. It’s a little slice of time that I can take just for myself to do whatever I want. Most of the time it involves watching crap TV. Luckily she slept a good while after he left so I still got some ME time.

Today we had music class, and it was the last day of the session. We sang goodbye to those who aren’t going to be back for summer. Milo was great - she was crawling all over and just loved being there. I think the nap did her well.

Notes:

• Milo still climbs on her walker instead of pushing it around like she’s supposed to. She treats it like a ladder, but she hasn’t learned to put it up against things that she wants to get on top of.

• More steps every day, though I can’t really say she’s walking just yet. She’s very unsteady still.

• Still just 3 teeth.

Day Two Hundred and Ninety-Nine

Tuesday

Notes:

• We were up bright and early (as usual), and today we took advantage of it by going out to vote. Our polling place is about 2 blocks from the house, so it was a nice walk. Then, since we had extra time, we went and picked up some Bob’s Doughnuts! I love mornings like this.

• Milo wasn’t too fussed during the day, and she adjusted to the time change quickly, as she nearly always does.

• Chase went back to work, of course. Tonight he was out late at a work gathering, watching a movie to say goodbye to someone for their last week. I am never excited to do bedtime by myself, but it went well.

Day Two Hundred and Ninety-Eight

Tired Girl

Chase arranged to have some electricians come out to the house to work on some electrical issues that needed addressing. We’d hoped they could come on Friday, but this was the day they scheduled. The day of our flight out. Of course, they couldn’t get everything done in such a short amount of time, so they’ll have to come back out after we move to town.

Milo napped during their visit, and we were thankful that we’re still using white noise while she sleeps because it helped block out their noise and her sleep wasn’t interrupted.

Around noon, Pearl came to visit, and we talked a lot about baby stuff and moving and generally what’s going on in our lives since it’s been a while since we’ve seen each other. She and Miles are big on BBQ, so hopefully they can educate us about good BBQ and show us some good places to dine.

Milo was very active while Pearl was over, and we spent some time both inside and out on the deck. After Pearl left us, Chase made a quick pass on the lawn with the mower, but the battery died before he could finish the whole thing. Maybe with practice we’ll be able to get the lawn mowed with only one charge.

The flight home was pretty awful. In fact, it was our worst flight yet. Milo was super tired but she wouldn’t nap. Each time I tried to get her to sleep, she’d end up biting my nipple, and then there would be lots of crying, which is always stressful on a flight in such an enclosed space. Finally she wore herself out and napped in Chase’s arms for about an hour. I was ready to cry.

We got home just in time to put Milo down for the evening, and she went to sleep easily, thank god.