Two Mommies AND A BABY!: Fall Update

It certainly has been a while since I wrote anything here.

I was thinking about the past few posts and I realize that it has been a good long while since I wrote just about...Millie.

So here it goes.

Millie is now solidly into her ninth month of life. At her last doctor's appointment, she had gotten herself to the 97th percentile in weight! Yep. She just keeps growing.

She is chubby and happy and the most recent development is that we have crawling! Just like everything else, Millie crawls in her own way and in her own time. She is still pretty content to sit still, but when she is really motivated, off she goes. The things that are most certain to motivate her include any and all pets who happen to walk by, dog toys, dog bones, and her favorite stuffed animals.

In addition to crawling, there is also some serious dancing. When upbeat music comes on, Millie starts to bounce up and down in the cutest way. It is like she doesn't even know that she is doing it. The music overtakes her. It is delightful.

And the eating. She will eat anything. Honestly. There is nothing that girl won't try to put into her mouth and she loves meal time more than any other time of day. She loves avocado, banana, chicken, butternut squash, and anything else that ends up on her high chair tray. And when she has had enough, she lets us know by squishing her food so tightly in her hands that it pops out from between her fingers. It is a real treat.

Millie has really started playing with her toys. She loves any type of musical instrument. She loves cars and trucks of any kind. She loves blocks and Little People figures and her stuffed animal owl, Prudence. While I would like to say that she is mesmerized by books, mostly she likes to grab them out of my hands and throw them around the room. She also really delights in pulling them off of book shelves.

And Fall. Fall has come. This house loves Fall in a serious way. Even the dog loves the onset of the colder weather. I truly love everything about Fall. I love the colors, the smells, the foods, the clothes, the way that the school year starts to settle in and feel like normal. It all makes me so very content. This year, there has been no shortage of Fall activities. There has been a trip to the apple orchard, two trips to pumpkin farms, and many pumpkin flavored goodies. Millie seems to love the outdoors in Fall as much as any other time of year. We are now looking forward to Halloween. Millie's costume promises lots of cuteness.

So, yes, things are good.

Please don't mistake my happy updates as an assertion that life is without it's struggles. In hopes of keeping things real, I will say that the start of the school year has been a struggle. I still struggle to feel as if I am enough both at home and at school. It seems that when I get on top of things at school, things fall apart at home and when I get on top of things at home, things fall apart as school. Nothing drastic, but things slip and fall through cracks and I have to stop and remind myself that sometimes I have to be okay with good enough. It's a work in progress.

Millie still does not nap at daycare. It leads to some pretty cranky afternoons once she gets home. Luckily, the girl likes an early bedtime and there are many nights that she is asleep before six. I would love for her to make it up a bit later, but I am thankful that she sleeps well at night. I am thankful that when she is home with us she still naps. But those hours after daycare, those can suck.

There is some pretty awful diaper rash at the moment. I won't say too much about that. It's gross. Enough said.

We haven't heard from Millie's birth parents in a while. They will come back to us. To her. We all know they will. But, still. The silence sometimes worries us.

There was a small freak out about day care this past week. There was a mix up with what she was eating for snack. There was a new worker who didn't inspire the highest amounts of confidence. You know. Nothing big, but everything feels big because it's your kid and there isn't anything that is too little to worry about when it comes to the care she is getting. But bottom line, we love where she is. She loves where she is. We are absolutely in love with the main teacher in the infant room and she is in love with Millie. We are happy. We will remind ourselves of that.

This week was a tough one. I had two nights of parent-teacher conferences, which were all lovely, but still, they were long long nights. I didn't even get to see Millie awake on Thursday. That was hard. But today, we made up for it. I didn't have to work. Carla didn't have to work. Millie got to be home with both of us. We made it a family fun day at the Shedd Aquarium. It was a good day.

Well. Now I feel more balanced. If you made it through all of that, I am impressed. I will reward you will Millie pictures. This kid. She is everything.