big girl

aviyah is officially a big girl.

we visited dr. watson in early december for her 6 month checkup. the doctor gave very positive feedback, but we were kind of frustrated because aviyah still had trouble sleeping. it was really hard because she woke at least twice during the night, and her daytime naps were really short. she was getting older and older, and we knew that she would learn to sleep longer. still, it felt like so long!

we'd tried several ideas to help her sleep longer, and it was frustrating to hear her cry so much. i think now that she wasn't ready yet. many babies sleep longer earlier, but other babies take a bit more time. we know that babies overall develop in similar stages, but sometimes it's hard to remember there is a wide range for individual development. there feels like so much pressure sometimes when you hear so many different kinds of stories. certainly, there may be choices we made that delayed her sleep, but other choices might have helped out. it's hard to know for sure. it's hard to know if she was supposed to be a better sleeper or maybe even worse?

it may be just that she's really ready now. aviyah's been improving so much. she's sleeping longer and longer, and she is able to go without nursing at all during the night, now. last night, she slept for almost 11 hours straight through. when she's sleeping, it's still so strange. i think, "is she really still asleep? really?"

aviyah can also take a bottle!

we missed the boat earlier. when aviyah was very young, samantha had surgery. my mom visited to help us, and aviyah was able to drink from the bottle while samantha was away. it seemed like aviyah had no problem, and we switched back to nursing when samantha was ready. you read and learn that there can be different kinds of problems breastfeeding, and we were nervous that aviyah might not nurse as well as before. when she did nurse well, we forgot to reintroduce the bottle early enough. the next time we tried to feed her a bottle, several months later, she absolutely refused!

last weekend, samantha went away for jocelyn and will's wedding. on friday, jenny and david played with aviyah during the day, but she refused to take any bottles. she was incredibly cranky, but i gave her some liquids from the sippy cup. she was hydrated, but she wasn't able to really take a bottle. we were all worried, and the next morning she woke up hungry and thirsty. then, she took the bottle right away! it was so strange. she fought and fought the bottle for so long, but shabbat morning she was hungry and thirsty enough to drink from the bottle.

what a big girl!

: )