Baby Bliss (and sleep deprivation)

This little one is 6 months old today.



6 months old. I find myself with a rare moment in the late afternoon to post, only because I made dinner earlier. Pulled pork on buns with fresh veggies...yum.

But I was talking about 6 months of baby. A happy baby (with a rather strong temper, with thankfully doesn't surface often...) a chubby baby, a cute baby with wonderfully round, dimply legs.



Our easiest baby transition by far. Mostly I believe because of the decision to not nurse quite early. I nursed Kaylin with tears and frustration for about 7 months, Jacob with more tears and frustration and a constant fight with his weight for 3 months and Maddie we lasted 3.5 weeks. I love the idea of nursing, I hate the pressure and the thoughts that every can nurse. Dreading each feed and topping up with tylenol before feeds to get through feeds is not fun. With Maddie it was going to be successful, I had a nurse with me for every feed in the hospital, lactation consultants for the first 4 days helping. For some reason no one can seem to explain it doesn't work. Its painful, I swear when they latch on, the first couple of weeks normal, but not the first couple of months. My babies don't seem to gain weight like they are supposed to. I cry, they cry, we all have a party. but not really. I'm stubborn and insist its going to work.



Baby number 3 and I finally had the courage to say "no" early on after a good attempt. Family and friends were encouraging for they saw the struggles. Strangers and not so close friends can be rather harsh. And yet, she grows, she smiles and she's HAPPY. In the early months we did a lot of skin on skin and she thrives. She responds to me the best of all the kids, the weight and burden of nursing lifted and for me, this made me a happier mom. Sometimes looking back the decisions that seemed so difficult, painful and agonizing now seem so simple and so right.

And this little one brings much joy into our home! And we are thankful, that we are able to watch her grow and smile and wave her cubby arms. She grabs at toys and shoves them in her little mouth. She grabs our plates at dinner to try to things we put to our mouths. She smiles at us and her eyes follow us around the room. And already, only 6 months and we can't seem to remember what life was like before her.