Life:
Well, now Harmony's settled into her new daycare and she seems to really like it there. It's a bit different from the old one, but the staff is just as nice and she seems to have just as much fun. :) Today is her first full day so I'm actually spending some time at home by myself for...well, I think maybe for the first time since she's been born! Uusually when I can get a babysitter it's cause I'm going out. And when she was at Bethany, I had to stay in the building and ditto for the Y. So this'll be a nice change. I'm very glad she got a spot too, because it only takes about 30 or 40 mins to get home so I'm wont be spending my whole day on the bus. I got my courses selected and I'm very happy about how it worked out. I didn't get to take the "Intro to Computers" class and instead am taking Economics as an elective cause it fit into my schedule a lot better, but because of that and a couple other minor sacrifices (like having Sociology for 3 hours at a time every Wednesday morning in the winter), I managed to create a schedule with no night classes!!! Two days a week, I finish at 5:30, another two days I finish at 4:00 and on Fridays I only have one class- from 11:30 'til 1, so I can spend the rest of the day getting a jump start on my homework so I can spend a good part of the weekend with Harmony.
Despite the fact that I do get kinda sick of her after spending all day with her, I do miss her when she's at daycare. I think often about what she's doing, and if she's ok. It's weird because today when I was home, I'd hear a noise and think "Oh, the baby must be up from her nap." and then I'd realize, no, I'm home alone today! It's just the weirdest feeling! And I don't know why it's so weird... it just seems like a very foreign thing to not know what your child is doing all the time, but I mean, that's what happens most of their lives. I think the positives of regaining my sanity and replenishing my patience supplies will outweigh the negatives of missing her and feeling guilty about not being a SAHM (stay-at-home-mom).
Harmony had her first taste of a real carrot last Sunday night when we were at my grandmother's for supper. I gave her a cooked carrot to chew on and because it was soft, she was able to use her little teeth to break a few little pieces off to chew! Also last night she had a bit of real banana for desert and after the minute she spent chasing the slippery piece of banana around her high chair tray, she caught hold of it and explored it for a bit before biting off a little piece. It is so cute to watch her chew real food. She gets this look of concentration on her face and you can tell she's paying close attention to what's going on in her mouth!
I tried making a new adjustment to Harmony's schedule last night and it seemed to work pretty well so I'll keep it up and see how it goes. Usually Harmony will have her last bottle at 7 pm, and then wake up for her next one at 5 am. But she often wakes up at 10 or 10:30 pm, although she will go back to sleep if I give her her soother. Last night, when she woke up at 10 pm, instead of giving her a soother, I gave her a bottle. She took the whole bottle, and then didn't wake up until 6:30 am , which is pretty close to her usual 7 am wake-up time. She didn't seem to be any more hungry for breakfast than usual, so I'm going to try this a few more nights and see if it keeps working like this. This certainly works a lot better for me, since I'm usually still up at 10 pm. I'd much rather prefer to give her a bottle before I go to bed, and then have us both sleep right through until morning. Plus, if she gets onto this schedule and is pretty consistent, I can start waking her up a little earlier for her bottle, then give her a little less, then wake her up a little earlier, then give a little less, and hopefully push the time back enough for her to decide it's not worth it to get up for a bottle in the night at all. For example, she had a bottle last night at 10. Once she's consistantly getting up for a bottle at 10, I'll start giving her a bottle at 9:45. Hopefully she'll still sleep until 7. Then I'll move it back to 9:30. Then after a few more nights, I'll cut back an ounce. Then move it back to 9:15 or even 9:00. Eventually (or so the theory goes!), she will decide it's not worth it to get up for another 3 oz an hour and a half after she last ate, and she'll just sleep through the night. It would be really great if I could get her into that routine by September!
Harmony's Growth:
We visited Bethany on Tuesday to get Harmony weighed at the Well-Baby Clinic with Margo. Harmony's up to 18 lbs, 12 oz. Not much of a jump since a couple weeks ago, but considering the big huge jump between 3 weeks ago and 2 weeks ago, it evens out.
Harmony's "crawling" is improving and she can now creep backwards all around the living room floor, just not very fast or very far. Also, she seems to go around in circles, so hasn't ventured out of the main living room area. She can also move around quite a bit while on her tummy, such as turning around in one spot. Unfortunately, since her goal seems to be what's in front of her, her backwards and sideways crawling mostly just frustrate her. Sometimes it gets her closer to a neat toy (I try to keep a lot of extras lying around when she's having floor play time) but other times she still wants that first toy, so usually I pick it up and put it slightly behind her, so she can still feel a sense of accomplishment at having reached the toy herself.
Her bending and reaching is also improving, and she's now discovered how to get from sitting to being on her stomach without falling! She just bends over while sitting until she's pretty much on her stomach and then just lets her legs go behind her. It's pretty cute to watch. She's also almost moving to a crawling position from a sitting position, so I don't think it'll be long before she's crawling! Uh oh, I'd better get cracking on my babyproofing and buy that gate for the kitchen!