2 Months Old

Lydia is 2 months old today. Whew. Three kids is no joke.

Just found this draft, almost 11 months later. Three kids is definitely no joke.

Lydia Drinks From a Cup!

It seems silly to have a post devoted to just this, but this is probably this year's most memorable "milestone" for me. After being cut off abruptly from nursing after my hospital stay a few weeks ago, we have really been struggling to get Lydia to drink any kind of liquids. We tried bottles, various sippy cups, and various straw cups. With everything she would chew a little on the straw/nipple/spout and get upset and push it away. She had no idea what to do with the cups, and eventually started getting upset at just the sight of them. So for a while we were using a straw to drip water, milk, and diluted juice into her mouth all day long. Very tedious, and she really wasn't getting enough to drink. But, at long last, she started drinking from a straw cup a few days ago!! The next morning after this amazing feat, she acted like she'd never seen the straw cup, but she slowly warmed up to it during the day, and drank a lot at dinner. This repeated for a few days, but then finally today, she was happy to drink all day long. Whew. I have never been so excited about cup usage. I really don't recall it being such a struggle with Noah and Sarah. Or maybe I just had more time to actually wean them versus just cutting them off all of a sudden. Either way, I am done with breastfeeding (FOREVER), and Lydia is consistently drinking from a straw cup, so it's time to celebrate.

Lydia turns 1!

My littlest baby is 1!!! It has been such a crazy year and I barely remember any of it, but I am so thankful for my sweet Lydia. It seems like just yesterday I was holding this tiny little peanut of a baby, rocking her to sleep, and laying her on my chest for naps. Now she's crawling all over the place, cruising around, and getting better at maneuvering the stairs every day. 

Lydia has been such a sweet tempered baby and an awesome eater. She will eat just about anything I put in front of her - and she'll eat a LOT of it. I haven't been keeping very good track, but I feel like she often eats just as much as the older kids do! Some of her favorite foods are strawberries, raspberries, peaches, yogurt, grilled cheese, and chicken nuggets. I give her vegetables too if we happen to be eating something that's soft enough for her, and she seems to like eating those as well. She only has two teeth, but she doesn't let that stop her. She is having a hard time with the drinks though. She was abruptly cut off from nursing last week because I somehow got mastitis again, and this time the infection leaked into the bloodstream, which landed me in the hospital on IV antibiotics for 3 days. Everything is fine now, but I was advised to wait until after finishing my oral antibiotics before nursing again, and since Lydia is already one, I'm not going to start again and then wean again. But poor Lydia. :( When I came home from then hospital I cried every time she cried to be nursed. It was so sad!! But it's been about a week now and I think she's moved on. Unfortunately I am now using a straw to drip cow's milk into her mouth for her to drink and every time I try to get her to actually use the straw, she gets upset. I just keep telling myself she'll grow out of it eventually…

Lydia is a curious little girl and is always moving around and exploring things. She's not putting things in her mouth as much these days, but for a while every time I turned around she had some new hazardous thing in her mouth. She's always checking out Noah and Sarah's toys, climbing up and over things, and when she's bored she'll make her way back to the dining room to see what random Cheerios and other leftover food she can find on the floor. She is, overall, a pretty chill baby and doesn't cry much, but she does get startled very easily by loud noises. When Noah and Sarah start shouting, whether it's an argument or just being rowdy, Lydia starts looking around with a panicked look on her face and starts crying. Just yesterday I was drying my hands in a public bathroom and she started crying from the dryer sound. When she gets scared, she has this pouty crying face that's just so cute! 

It's been a fun year. Babies are so cute. Now, let the toddler fun begin!