The weekend before she got sick, Gabby got baptized by Brian's childhood Presbyterian church in LA. Brian's parents still attend, and they baptized Gabby's cousins Audrey and Olivia, so now it was Gabby's turn. It was a very sweet little service, and Gabby couldn't have handled it better. She went right to the pastor, didn't cry when she had the water on her head, and even let Pastor Cathy carry her all around the sanctuary without me having to follow! I really didn't think I was going to get Gabby back for a minute! We had a strong Romo turnout--Brian's parents, of course, and the Wards, but also his uncle Ron and Del, and his cousin Steve, Raquel and Justine. We all went to Brian's parents' house afterwards to have lunch and cake and just to visit and chat. This was pretty much when I knew Gabby didn't feel well--she took unusually long naps, and was more listless than usual, but she seemed to enjoy all of the attention. Here are some pictures from the weekend:
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| At the altar |
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| Our family outside the church |
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| With Grandma and Grandpa Romo |
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| With Grandma and Grandpa and the Wards |
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| Cousins |
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| Cousins with a smile from the youngest |
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| Fun on the floor |
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| Smiling for the camera |
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| Playing with mommy |
So now we have a 7 month old! At her 6 month appointment, she was 26.5 in, with a 43 cm head. She's basically 50th percentile on height, and still in the 10th for weight (I expect that to go up when they re-weigh her on Oct. 1 and give her the rotavirus vaccine that we held off on this time because of her GI issues). However, the big news was her mental development. Her doctor commented on how advanced she is in her interactions with the world--looks people in the eye, is very interested in anything and everything going on in the room, and just very alert in general. And he was very surprised when I told him she was out-and-out crawling (he even asked "with her butt off the ground, right?"). He said that he expects to see these skills in a 9 month old, not a 6 (or 6.5 at that point) month old. I joked that she seems to be using all the calories she eats for mental development and none for weight gain, and he told me that they used to say when he worked in New Mexico that the pediatricians' kids were always the skinniest for that reason!
Gabby continues to develop well ahead of what I'm ready for too--she's started to pull herself up to standing already! She would only do it at first while holding onto someone's hands, but just yesterday did it while holding onto the furniture. I told her she could slow down--she just mastered crawling, and she doesn't need to walk yet! Oddly, she doesn't actually sit unsupported yet. She does the tripod, or leans against something. She seems to have just skipped it for some reason. But here's a video of her standing. I did give her a hand, but she can absolutely do it on her own!
She's also now switched to 2 naps/day. I think she's been trying to do that for a while now, but refused to move her second nap later in the afternoon, meaning she wanted to sleep from 9-10, again from noon-1, and then stay up until bedtime. Yeah, wasn't happening. So we and daycare finally got her to go down later in the afternoon and stay asleep longer as well. She seems really happy with this schedule, and so am I--it's easier to get things done when she's sleeping longer stretches!
She continues to eat solids really well. She gets oatmeal in the morning, then a fruit or veggie at noon, and a fruit and veggie at night. We've introduced peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, bananas, prunes and peaches. Everything but the green veggies has been a hit. We can trick her into eating the peas and green beans by mixing them with something she likes. We have pears and apples still to go. Then we can start with the fun combos and the meats (even though the thought of pureed meat makes me want to gag). She's in Stage 2 foods now, and they look like a lot more fun than the Stage 1's were!
Vocally, she's making a ton of sounds. She has b's, d's, m's, p's, f's, g's, h's, l's and all vowels down pat. I've heard some v's, n's, and s's, but she's very sparing with those right not. She does the "ma ma" cry when she's upset, which is just not fair. Brian tries to use this out of getting up to get her at night. I let him get away with it during the week, but we split the weekends! She'll also say da and ba a lot, but hasn't quite connected any sounds to specific people or things.
I have now almost completely stopped breastfeeding. I still give her some in the morning, but it's mostly just to tide her over until I can make her bottle. I was only getting 3 oz, at most, per pumping session Tues-Thurs, and it just wasn't worth the time and effort to get so little. I tried doing morning and evening, but she was getting too frustrated with the evening one. I'm a little bummed, but we made it 7 months with at least a little everyday, so I'm happy overall.
My classes are going pretty well. The Wednesday class is easy, since I've taught it before. The Tues/Thurs one is more challenging. I got really far behind when she was sick, and I'm playing catch-up now to get my lectures done. That class also has a test every week, which makes for a ton of grading! I'm pretty happy overall, though, and I leave class with a big smile on my face so I know I made the right decision to get back and teach.
As far as our wine goes, we bottled the tempranillo over Labor Day weekend while Gabby slept. It's hard to tell at this early stage how the wine tastes, but neither one of us spit it out, so I take that as a good sign! The zinfandel from last year actually turned out really well. It started out a bit acidic and chemically, but it has matured in the bottle to a nice big, fruity zin. I'm very pleased, and hope the temp turns out as well!
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