Anything new?

I think so. Since I haven't been blogging for the last month or so, I didn't write down any of Ariela's developments. So here they go:
- Ariela is such a talker lately. In the last couple of weeks she'll have conversations with us or she'll just babble out loud.
-She now spits. Yes, my daughter spits but I think she is too little for me to lecture her on this. She purses her lips, making the brrrrr sound and spits around her. Her chin will get wet and everything/everyone around might get some saliva on them. Watch out!!! Mr. V showed her how to do it a few weeks ago and now this is all she does when she is not talking or when she is mad/upset at us.
-She loves attention. I think she actually craves it but it is totally cool with me since I always want to see what she does/says.
-She is a flirt! But only with Mr. V and my dad. Whenever she sees them, she'll smile and then she'll turn and hide from them with the biggest flirtatious smile.
-She is eating better. She now eats 5-6oz of BM per feeding. We stopped giving her formula since I now have enough BM.
-She has been trying to roll to her belly for the last few weeks. She gets about 3/4 of the way but her head is not turning so she goes back on her back. The girl won't give up though.

I am not sure how much she weighs right now. Her doctor's appointment is coming up very soon.

Pumping

Pumping at work is tough. I get to carry my pump to/from work everyday, set up the pump for each pumping session, pack the pump, and then wash the bottles. And I get to do that 2-3 times per day at work? I am just that lucky :)

I am lucky to have an "available" office at work. Lately it is been occupied by out of town business people, so I get to go downstairs and share that office with another girl who is also pumping at work. That girl takes her time though and takes about 45 minutes for each session. One day, I went downstairs three times thinking she was done using the room, but nope she was still in it.

I know I complaining, but I still do it because I want the best for my girl. My plan was to make it till 4 months. And I can proudly say that I made that goal. Now I think I want to make it till 8 months.

My milk supply increased since I started eating and pumping at work more regularly. At home it wasn't always the case. So, as of two months ago Miss A has been getting the BM only. Speaking of BM only, I was sitting at work the other day and thinking about how it is nice to know that finally I have enough milk for Miss A and we don't have to supplement, when it hit me that she is not getting vitamin D for the last month. Only formula has enough vitamin D. I felt horrible and ran to Target to pick up some Trivisol drops for Miss A.

I don't like pumping. Here I said it. For some reason it doesn't make me feel like a woman, more like an animal I would say. I don't like pumping at home in front of Mr. V thinking that he won't look at me like he used to when we were still in a honeymoon stage. I do it because I have to. I do it because I want Miss A to be healthy. I do it because otherwise I would feel guilty. Everytime, I gave formula to Miss A for a feeding before bed (since babies digest it longer) I felt horrible because I had some extra BM in the fridge that she could "eat". And speaking of pumping, I have to go and pump now.

Where was I?

Well, yet again it is been a while since my lost blog entry. The V family has been very busy lately adjusting to a new routine. I returned to work as of February 1st (Ariela was 2.5 months). I used 12 weeks out of 13 of my partially paid maternity leave. I also wanted to take a few more weeks without pay till March 1, but our plans changed. My mom got laid off and with a little bit of convincing (she wanted to look for another job right away) she agreed to watch Ariela. With my heart a little bit at ease, I returned to work. I was so happy that my little girl can spend a few more months at home with grandma. I know eventually she'll have to go to daycar, but I want her to be at least 10 months or so.

I am not going to lie, things have been difficult. By the end of the day all I want to do is crawl into bad without even washing my face and changing into PJs. After all, it saves about 10-15 minutes and I can sure use it for my sleep.

Miss A has been changing and growing. She turned 4 months last week. She is absolutely adorable and makes my day everytime she smiles or does something new.I never understood when people said it before the love grows each day, but after having Miss A I can totally relate. Even though being a parent is the toughest job I've had to do, it is definitly the most rewarding one.