Feeling better and a nice long update...

Kat is and has been feeling much better, looks like that was just one of those lovely 24 hour tummy bugs (which I had earlier in the week) paired up with a fever from teething. She's such a happy kid though, it barely put a dent in her style. She just slept a little extra to make up for the sleep she missed the night before.

Otherwise, I swear she grew last night in her sleep... almost a full inch. You'd think I was exaggerating, but I just put her in her activity chair, and before she kinda tippy toed her way around it, today her feet are both flat on the bottom with room to spare. She sits up higher in it too. I wish I had a picture to compare last night to this morning, but no one sent me the memo that she was going to grow last night :) Gotta love the 4 month growth spurt.

Seems like the frantic feeding part of that growth spurt is over... something not only my left but my right breast are thankful for. (Add that to your 'Things I didn't need to know' list) Growth spurts are rough when you're breastfeeding, if I did formula I could just give her extra bottles no problemo. - as is, the kid just yells until your body starts doubling production for a few days, then you're left sore as heck when it's over and your body adjusts back to where it was! I still wouldn't trade it for anything, and as much as I'll be grateful to wean when she's ready, part of me will miss that special cuddle time with her every day. We're over 1/3 of the way to the 1 year milestone, one that I never thought I'd make it to. In the beginning I was praying just to make it to 3 months! That has got to be my most proud mommy thing.

I also made my first batch of homemade organic babyfood a few days ago- Banana puree. Kat was ambivalent about her rice cereal. but she LOVES her bananas!! She will start crying when they're all gone. I'll have to get some video of her devouring her bananas. I had a few folks question my decision to make her first baby food a fruit rather than a veggie. The standard thinking being that if you start them on fruits they'll get a sweet tooth and never eat their veggies. For formula fed babies that tends to be true, as formula isn't very sweet. What most people don't realize is that breastmilk is very very sweet... and that fruit is usually a step down from that in most cases and better tolerated by breastfed babies. Bananas are also really gentle on the tummy. Our Pedi recommended it, and it's so the right way to go! Next week we're trying avocados. They have lots of good fats in them, and we're hoping it helps with her awful eczema.

She's sitting in my lap dancing to celtic music I have playing so forgive my typos, she likes to rock and swing her arms and legs when there's music on she likes. Come to think of it, this was the music I played for her a lot in the womb, perhaps she remembers it :)

Things are going well here in Michigan, it got nasty cold again. I'll be so glad when Winter is over, I love the summers here- enough to tolerate the winters. It still keeps me dreaming of a tropical vacation. We'll be taking our summer vacation this June, going back home to the East Coast. We'll spend a weekend at a festival I used to frequent so we can introduce Kat to all my scattered festival buddies, then we'll be driving to spend 4-5 days with my mom. I may land a teaching spot at the festival too, so we'll see how that goes. At least I get to see my mountains again for a week or so. I find I miss their friendly presence on my skyline. I guess you grow up so used to something like that, you take it for granted until you land in lake country Michigan :)

The Great Babyproofing has officially begun. We spent last night tearing everything down, dusting, and reorganizing things so that cables are neatly tied together or hidden. And so that we can take anything off lower shelves that Scooter here might get into when she's officially mobile. We also have to bribe Grandpa into coming over and helping us anchor our shelves. Our living room is still in a transitional phase, it almost feels like we're moving because the room feels emptyish. We should be finishing the living room either today or tomorrow, and tackle another room in the house later this month. We're trying to do it gradually so we don't have to rush and

stress ourselves out even more.

Life is busy, and there's little free time... but that's just the way life works when you're a new family. :)

And since you were so good and read through, here's a Kat Picture. She fell asleep in my lap yesterday so I had to snap a picture.