Giuliana's 8 Month Update!

Giuliana has changed SO MUCH in the past 2 months!!

* She is crawling EVERYWHERE! She officially started crawling on Monday, 8/23 (7.5 months). On that day she took 4 crawls forward, twice, with no dragging or leaning on anything. Since then, she has been a baby on the move!

* She now LOVES solid foods! Two months ago she was still refusing them completely. Well, now she eats like a queen. Her favorites are squash and sweet potatoes. She does NOT like apples/applesauce. We have to thank Gammy for this, as she is the one who got Giuliana to actually eat solids.

* She is saying "ma ma ma" and "da da", but I'm quite certain she doesn't really know yet what they mean. However, I AM noticing that she's starting to say "ma ma"when she needs me... like when she's hungry or wants to be picked up. Not consistent... but I think she might be getting a hunch that "ma ma" actually means something.

* She is pulling herself up to standing position! Officially started doing this without any support/help from us yesterday (Wed, 9/15). Now, everything is a prop for her to use in standing up and she loves practicing this new trick.

* She spends a LOT of time doing the "downward dog", or "headstands". Seriously. She does this all the time! It looks as if she's prepping to do a front somersault... even standing on her tippy toes. We often tease that she treats her head as a third leg... that's how often she does this. None of my other children did this, so I find it very amusing. She's been doing this for at least a month, if not a bit longer.

* Her papa is her best pal. Seriously... if I am holding her and he walks in the room, she will often start elbowing me and trying to dive out of my arms into his. It's really very cute. I only worry that she is REALLY going to miss him a lot when we move in 10 days. He spends so much time with her, letting her crawl around on the floor, letting her climb him, and making funny noises to make her laugh. She's developed this love for him that is really cute to see.

* She thinks her brother and sister are the funniest people on the planet. She is completely entertained by them. They always make her laugh and smile. She honestly gets sort of needy and fussy when they are not around... probably because she's bored. I guess I can be quite boring. I'll need to work on that.

* Nursing her can be a bit of a circus now... she is very easily distracted. She's often busy trying to simultaneously do a headstand or twist her body WHILE she's nursing. Good times for mommy.

* She has developed a fake cry. It sounds very different from her real cry and she knows it's a tool to get what she wants. It's funny when she does it. And, yes, it usually results with her getting exactly what she wants. What can I say... I'm a sucker for a cute kid.

* Still no teeth! Ack! I keep thinking... "Hmmmmm... she must be waking up in the night because she is teething." And, then I keep waiting for those teeth to appear. And nothing! Gabby had her first teeth at 5.5 months. Rocco had his first tooth at 6.5 months and Matteo cut two teeth just as he hit 7 months. Where are little G's teeth?












* Current hobbies: She loves crawling up and down stairs. She loves to practice her standing (I think scooting is just around the corner). And she LOVES to find tiny things on the floor... and of course, put them into her mouth. Yum. Maybe she just does it for the attention... you know, it does result in me diving at her super-fast to grab all these tiny little particles that she seems to find (but the vacuum cleaner doesn')t.

* Nicknames: Giuls (pronounced "Jewels"), Giulsy (prncd "Jewelsy"), angel, monkey

* She'll get her very first flu vaccine tomorrow, along with the rest of the family.

Giuliana is truly the easiest, best baby. She goes along to all the big kids activities, she rarely cries or fusses and is just a little ball of smiles! The only challenge that Giuliana brings to the table is that she is still waking up to nurse during the night. More details on that in the below post.

****** Photo FYI: The photo of Giuliana in the flowers and the photo of me holding Giuliana were taken by Dana Young. ******

Tired or Off Balance?

We've been bouncing around and essentially living out of our suitcases now for 2.5 months.

It has been a lot of fun... vacationing as a family, exploring different landscapes with the kids, going on new adventures and seeing new things. We've been able to visit with and spend quality time with friends and family that we rarely get to see. I've been able to connect with lifelong friends that I haven't seen for years. Making a million fun memories with Gammy and Papa. And, the kids have been able to make lots of new friends, participate in gymnastics and other activities, do LOTS of swimming, and a million other things that I'll write about in a future post. It feels as if it's been a summer of adventure, reflection, change and new outlooks. We've all truly enjoyed it.

But, it's also been challenging at times too. Not having the comforts and conveniences of our own home or a consistent routine. The kids still stuck on Pacific Time. Living out of suitcases. Wishing we had our baby stuff with us for Giuliana to play with. Often being separated due to daddy's business travel. Trying to help the kids understand the transition phase we've been in. Mommy still emotionally and mentally coping with all the change in the past year... Matteo's death, new job for Dan, sale of home, move to new city, and quitting a full time job I loved. Having a booked social calendar (mostly revolving around the kid's play dates and appointments). Reassuring the kids that they will see all of their toys again, have their own bedrooms, a yard to play in and make lots of new friends. Reminding the kids (and myself) that no matter where we are... Matt will be with us... we have lots of photos, videos and he is always in our heart, on our shoulders he's a special star in the sky and he sits on the moon at night watching the world go 'round. And, we've also tried to be very respectful and helpful in the homes we've been so welcomed into. Lots of adjustment and change... yet... sort of just floating and waiting to move into the new house.

The positives have outweighed the negatives. And, I wouldn't change a thing about how we spent the summer of 2010.

Anyway, I confess... I've been a horrible blogger lately. My kids will someday read this and wonder why there was such a long break in blog posts (please God tell me they'll actually read this someday and that I'm not wasting my time).

I think I'm either extremely and extraordinarily tired lately... or I'm just off balance.

Off balance because of everything mentioned above and the stress of just floating while trying to keep everyone happy. Hopefully, the balance will magically return to me in 10 days when I walk through the doors of our new home. Snap. Back to reality. Ok... we all know that's not going to happen. But, I think it will help once we start establishing our new routine, get settled in the new home and aren't having to deal with the stresses of living like gypsies.

Tired... I'll blame this partly on Giuliana, partly on my need to have an hour of time to just be awake doing my own thing after the kids have gone to bed. But most of the blame will sit with my new companion of the past 14+ months... night fear. Yes. I'm terrified of night time. Night to most people equals sleep. To me, night equals sudden, unexplained child death. It means emergencies. It means prepare as if an emergency is going to happen before you go to bed (know where the phones are, make sure the paths are clear, etc.). Living in my parent's home has helped calm this anxiety in me considerably. Probably because it is only very natural to feel protected when you're with your parents. And, when Dan travels, I feel like I have two more people who can assist me if/when that night emergency occurs. I wonder if my anxiety will go up again when we move or if I've sort of conquered a lot of that. Only time will tell, I guess.

The only difficult thing with Giuliana right now (she's seriously the world's BEST baby!) is that she is still waking up to nurse during the night. I think that is one of the downfalls of choosing to solely nurse your baby. You sort of become a snack bar and/or a pacifier. On a good night, she'll only wake up once or twice to nurse. On a bad night... four or five times. She'll always nurse and go right back to bed. But, it's exhausting if she has several bad nights in a row. It creates a sort of dilemma for the breastfeeding momma.

A dilemma of food source vs. sleep. I sleep trained the twins at 7 months... and after that, they'd wake up once in the middle of the night for a bottle, if at all. And with Gabby, she was also just a breastfed baby. She actually refused the bottle completely. I made the mistake of bringing her into our bed because she also woke up multiple times throughout the night. Bringing her into our bed allowed me to nurse her on demand throughout the night, and not have to get out of bed. At the time, I couldn't deal with a full time job and getting up multiple times throughout the night. I laugh at that now... oh boy... those were the EASY days. Well... 4.5 years later and we still often get a little 4.5 yr old visitor in our bed at some point in the night. Fun. Uh huh. I like the snuggles... but not the feet in the back or face.

After having my own four little experiments, my personal opinion is that bottle fed, sleep trained babies are the easiest path for both momma and baby/ies. And, I totally believe in the benefits of breast milk. But, everything has the positive and a negative, right? If you choose to bottle feed your baby breast milk, then you've got to have the time to pump AND feed the baby. Easy with one. More difficult with two or three. I was able to somehow pump for 6.5 months with the twins and then I just couldn't do it anymore. I was exhausted and had a 2.5 year old to manage as well as a full time job outside the home. So we slowly worked formula into their bottles and they were on 100% formula starting at 7 months. Gabby and Giuliana have both only been fed breastmilk. Both refused formula completely. Giuliana still refuses it... she gags if I try to put it in a sippy cup for her.

So, for Giuliana... I have chosen to just continue nursing her for now and forgo a solid night of sleep. Decisions, decisions.

Well... and I have to admit that it's honestly reassuring to me when she wakes up throughout the night. It's reassuring because then I know she is still alive. I can't possibly explain how strong this fear is inside me that death is just right around the corner and these little ones can just stop breathing in their sleep. Again, we don't know why Matteo died... one theory is that it was an unidentified virus. The other theory is that he died of SIDS (although the coroner wouldn't consider this due to his age and the fact his face was not obstructed). Not knowing the exact cause of death is a nightmare. It creates immense fears within me... fear of germs (yes, you have to wash your hands before you touch my baby). And, a fear of a child that sleeps through the night.

We used to think a sleeping baby was the best thing in the world... don't disturb the sleeping baby, right?! Well, when your child dies in his sleep... you can't help but disturb the sleeping baby and kids. If Giuliana isn't waking up throughout the night, then I am waking up on my own to check her pulse. And, then I check on Gabby and Rocco next. Call me crazy, but I'd rather wake up 10 times a night than have my 8 month old sleep through the night.

So yes... I'm back. Just tired or off balance. Lots of blog posts in the works...