The big news of this week (I'm a few days late with this post) is that Nora is officially 4 months old. It's hard to believe. Yesterday I was in the check out lane at the grocery store, and someone asked how old she was. I said "3 months...no, no! wait. 4 months." Oops.
At her 4 month appointment, she weighed in at a whopping 13 lb 1 oz, and measured 24 inches long. She had another round of vaccinations - not much of a reaction (knock on wood...we're not to the 48 hour mark, yet), but we've been giving her Tylenol fairly regularly, because last time we didn't (well, we did, but not until she already had a low-grade temperature) and she wound up spending the better part of the next day screaming.
Loves: playing with her toys; putting everything into her mouth; mirrors; just recently, holding onto her feet (she hasn't figured out how to get them in her mouth just yet); looking around at everything and "talking" to people; the dog (we are trying to teach her to be gentle and not pull on her hair...but, really, she's 4 months old and it's kind of a futile attempt. In the meantime, we're giving Zadie lots of praise for putting up with the ear/hair pulling.)
Hates: bottles (oy.), napping for longer than an hour at a time, which can sometimes make for a fussy evening (though she's typically a very happy girl)
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| "These toys are cool, and they're always there! Neat." |
She is also rolling over. Okay, well, she's done it twice. I'm not sure if she loves it, but we clapped and cheered as if she had just won a Pulitzer, and she thought that was pretty cool.
As for me, I'm still adjusting to mommyhood (and I think I will be for the next 18-25 years). I feel like I desperately need a break that is more than just a quick errand on my own, but since she's refusing the bottle, this is tough. It's something that leaves me praying for patience quite often, because as much as I love this little doll and enjoy being with her, mommyhood (and breastfeeding) is busy and requires me to be ready to go at all hours of the day.
I'm not sure why, but I read and re-read this birth story: http://www.kellehampton.com/2010/01/nella-cordelia-birth-story.html. It is written by Kelle Hampton, the mother of two girls, the youngest of whom has Down Syndrome. I'm not sure why I find it so comforting, but I can't tell you how many early-morning nursing sessions I have spent reading it again. (It's also the prologue to her book Bloom, which goes through the first year of Nella's life.) It's a beautiful story, and I guess I love it because even though I can't relate to having a baby with Down Syndrome, I know what it's like to feel so blessed but at the same time worry about that little one and feel like you don't know what to do or how to handle it all.
The last, but not least, new thing in our lives is that I resigned from my job as a teacher. When I was pregnant and even in those first couple of months at home, I wasn't sure if I wanted to stay home. But the more I thought about the hours I worked and the huge amount of time I spent grading (and grading, and grading, and grading) at home in the evenings and on the weekends, the more I realized that I wasn't ready to go back. I know it's possible to be a good teacher and a good mom, because I know so many incredible women who do it every day, but Ryan and I spent many evenings discussing our options, and we feel like this is right for our little family. I know I will miss teaching - there are so many incredible moments that I had as a teacher - but I also know that I would always be thinking about her while I was working, and about working when I was at home. We are very blessed to even have the option of me staying home, and it's something I will always be grateful for.
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