9 months

As of Sunday, Aesha is 9 months. There's a big shift occurring in her. She's eating food 90% of the time and only nursing 10% - usually in the mornings or at night when she needs comfort and liquids - since she's very much like me and doesn't enjoy water. I'm working on making water a habit.

So far she's loving everything, especially steamed carrots and zuchini. Yesterday I boiled some purple potatoes for her and she loved it. In her food repertoire we also have organic eggs (steamed) and today I included bits of tender chicken from my homemade chicken veggie soup (I had made for AG). Hoping to get an update on that this afternoon. I added a big chunk of sweet potatoe and lots of these squirly little pastas made out of veggies (from Trader Joe's). She and I went shopping at Wholefoods yesterday and also grabbed some organic red grapes. She gobbles these down as well. I also bought organic lentils which I'll try to make tonight or tomorrow night. Her favorite new game is to spit out everything I put in her mouth and then play with it.

Last night, while AG was working late, I tried to let her put herself to sleep. She lay wailing for over an hour, grabbing her ears, writhing in emotional agony and making herself hoarse. I picked her up once just to check her diapers. Eventually, I could not handle it and held her for awhile... She was still sobbing and holding on tight. Then I nursed her and put her back down. At this point she was too tired to struggle much. I also leaned over the crib and put my head on her chest so she could smell me even in her sleep. She passed out almost immediately, but it took me another 5 mintues to untangle her fingers from my hair.

She slept until midnight and then I brought her into the bed with me and we snuggled until AG came home at 6:30 this morning from work. Am missing her very much today. All of a sudden, I'm feeling as if her babyhood is almost gone and part of me wants to selfishly hold on to that for as long as I can. Seeing pictures of Tikva, so small, so vulnerable, made me nostalgic for those times ... www.growinginside.blogspot.com. Babies are wonderful in that way, they make you forget about everything and remind you what is important about life. Yes, the job pays the bills and we are always trying to catch up on bills...but it's the little beating hearts and the gummy smiles that makes our hearts melt and turn mushy - it's like falling in love, every day.