Mothership Confessional

Week 34: Ava has a few new interests and abilities: She likes to play hide and seek! We call it peek-a-boo. We run around the house and I try and hide around the corner from her and then I pop out and say "peek-a-boo"! She loves it and asks for more every time I stop! She's learning new body parts! She's understanding "arm" and "leg" more, and her new favorite is "neck"! She has also become interested in the creases of the inner arm (elbow pit??) and my arm pits! She likes to play with my hair (I think we may have moved passed pulling it...for the most part) and I've caught her playing with her own hair a few times! I can tell she's putting short sentences together because she looks at me with such meaning and intent when she talks. The trouble is, is that we don't always understand what she is saying!  She's getting good at undressing herself! She giggles the whole time while I promt her to take off each...

It's becoming a frequent discussion now that I have a 1.5 year old: what do you feed your toddler ? Toddlers come in all shapes and sizes, with different abilities and preferences. On top of that, those abilities and preferences can change weekly. Or hourly. That is the joy of raising a tiny human!! My daughter was exclusively breastfed until 6 months, with no solids introduced during this time, per her pediatrician's recommendation. I knew I wanted to do Baby Led Weaning, which her pediatrician had actually never heard of and wanted me to do purees instead. But I chose to follow my own plan and continue with Baby Led Weaning; I had done a ton  of research and had seen other babies thrive on it. So at 6 months, in addition to breastfeeding, I started Ava on table food, and she took to it better than I could have hoped! After she got better at not gagging and had tried a variety of foods, we began offering her whatever we were eating for dinner. Fast-forward a year,...

Week 31 This weather is crazy!! We had to go buy shorts for Ava and I had to dig out my maternity shorts again! I caved and turned the AC on for about an hour the other afternoon. The house hit 74 degrees and I was melting ! The humidity is super high, too. It's been odd to have temps hit 80 in December! I feel like I am in some sort of strange land full of heat and lizards and sand and pine needles and fire ants and the occasional palm tree! I feel like Liam is SO BIG! According to my app he is almost full length already; he will spend his remaining weeks filling out! He's already over 3 pounds, too! My belly is stretching. I've really been feeling it. It feels like a side cramp from running, but across my belly! My back hurts. I get Braxton Hicks contractions a lot. I feel pretty good in the first half of the day, but the afternoon and evening I get "needy", haha! It's almost like Ava knows  and wants me more  because of it. A few days ago she insist...