Big girl (11 weeks)

We've had many reminders this week about how fast time flies and how much Erin is growing up.

This is my last week at home. On July 28 I start back to work full time. I think that being in clinic a little bit this last month has helped me think about being back full time, but I am really starting to struggle with the reality of going back. Not only are the mental exercise and the stamina of working full days going to be very challenging, but I think that emotionally this is going to really tough. I just can't even imagine being away from Erin for more than a few hours at a time. Ugh. We are so lucky to have family to take care of her when we're at work, but I'm still gonna miss being the one to get to care for her during every day. I had no idea how quickly 3 months could fly by.

Erin has decided that she's a big girl this week. It's now hard to get her to sit on our laps because she always would rather stand. She holds her head up high and marches in place on our laps. It's pretty cute. She's also decided that she doesn't like to be held like a baby and she likes to be held facing the world or up on a shoulder. She only likes to snuggle now when she's feeling tired. When she was really little she thought that her hands needed to be involved in nursing, now she's decided that feet and legs must be necessary. Her feet now rest on the arm of the chair or on the couch when we nurse and she loves to push herself around with them. As you can imagine, this makes nursing a little tough and occasionally painful as she doesn't like to let go before she launches herself.

Erin has had a bit of a tough week. I think that she's uncomfortable in the heat and just not feeling herself, so she's been more fussy than usual. On those days she just seems restless and unhappy with everything and we rarely get smiles. It's hard to see a typically happy girl go through the day so serious. I also think that we are still trying to figure out how much sleep she needs during the day and when her ideal bedtime is. She's still not in much of a nap schedule and some days takes a few great 1-2 hour naps and other days she just cat naps in 15 minute chunks even though she seems to need more. Right now she's usually going to bed between 8:30 and 9:30 and is up at about 7:30. Most nights she's up once, but we're hoping that she's going to show us that she can sleep through the night again soon. Not that we are struggling with her up once at night, but I think that even a little extra sleep will come in handy when I'm back at work.

Erin has a quirk when she sleeps for long periods of time at night. On those nights, she is frequently dry when I change her. I'm not sure which it the cause and which is the result, but they really seem related. For example, last night she was changed at 9:00, ate at 9:10 and was up to eat at 5:00. Her diaper was dry. She ate and was up for the day at 7:30. Her diaper was still dry. The rest of the day her diapers are soaked, so I don't think that she's terribly dehydrated or anything, she's growing well and it's not happening every night. I'm just not sure what the story is. I asked our pediatrician about it, but she had no ideas. Anyone else had this experience?

Erin has discovered a love of ceiling fans. I put her down for a nap earlier this week like I usually do with her awake, but tired. I walked into the room a few minutes later to find her still awake, sucking on her pacifier and mesmerized by the ceiling fan. She fell asleep a few minutes later and it is now a common occurrence for her to fall asleep while watching the fan. She has also enjoyed watching the fan in our room, the one int he kitchen and one at a restaurant this week. Whatever floats your boat.

Matt has been working nights a bunch the last few weeks. Being on opposite schedules has been a bit of a pain, but it has let us go to our favorite restaurant a few times for breakfast lately. The other perk is that the Birchwood shows coverage of the Tour de France starting at 7:30 every day. Since we have no cable TV, Matt and I get our Tour fix (ok, I get mine, Matt reads about it online everyday and tries to get us invited over to watch it at various people's houses).