Eight and a Half Months

Life has been so busy and now Amelie is nearly 9 months so I am determined to post something about eight months in the next seven minutes.

So, somewhere right around the eight month mark, Amelie started pushing up on all fours. The week before Thanksgiving. I thought it would take a month to start crawling... and then a day later, I thought it would take a week. But she stalled for a while. Or rather, she progressed, but very, very slowly.

But today, at least, intentional forward movement!

It's not true crawling, really, but it's very close. Now that she's moving, I expect her to perfect it into a true crawl very quickly.

I'm pretty happy that this video captures only the second time she did this!

In other news... she's an enthusiastic eater, and has liked everything so far except for a meatball... but then she got a serious case of constipation and I had to exclude a ton of foods from her diet because it went on for a month. It seems better now but after having some noodle kugel yesterday, today was a bad day again. I think wheat is a big trigger for her. I have no idea if this is common and she will outgrow it, or if this is something significant.

She's still nursing but my supply took a big hit over the Thanksgiving week -- I took a full week off of work and the girls and I went to my family's for the week. It was great but I think the total change made it hard for me to pump effectively. So I started pumping again at night and wow, what a difference it makes! I have more milk all day long, and wake up engorged when I pump at bedtime, but man, what a pain to add one more task at the end of the day. So now I'm doing it intermittently again. My supply is caught up and I topped up my freezer stash as well. I'm trying to achieve that impossible balance of just enough, and it never works.

The last few days, it seems like Amelie is eating less, and her thigh rolls are getting whittled away. I'm sure all that busy work on the carpet is contributing, also.

Still, though, this baby is just too delicious for words. Was I this crazy for Calliope at this age? I think so. But maybe there's also a last baby thing going on. I just want to nibble her all over.

As far as last babies go... I was seriously jonesing for a third for a while. Despite how hard the pregnancy was at time, particularly the digestive issues (which caused stomach aches, frequent diarrhea, nausea, occasional vomiting, dizziness, difficulty eating and breathlessness), I still loved being pregnant. Especially when I felt well. The last trimester flew by. And then my delivery was amazing in so many ways. I really wanted to do it all again. And to get to experience infancy again.

But as Amelie grows older, I relish her short babyhood even more while also recognizing that... I wouldn't be a good mother to the children I already have if I had another.

I wish my baby days didn't have to end. But I can't have a third child.

But don't ask if I've stopped paying for embryo storage. That might take many years.

If I met someone -- and I have no desire to do so -- I would totally have a third. You know, if everything else was ideal with this person.

Amelie's first Hanukkah. She is mesmerized by the candles. Also by wrapping paper.