Week 28 baby

Lovely visit from a friend (pandemic style)

Week 28 baby:

I’m so glad that my mom loves babies and taking care of them. It just comes so naturally to her. She is so energetic and lively with them all the time. It’s true love.
For the past week, I’ve been walking outside almost daily ranging anywhere from 18 mins to an hour. I love it. So glad I’m active routinely again. My Fitbit stats finally are alive again and resemble how active I was during my pregnancy.
Pavlov’s breasts: the routine these days is to slather on coconut oil on the side of my nipple which I’m starting off the pumping with first. Sometimes I’ll wring a small towel to do a hot compress. Whenever I do this, before I even get back to my pumping station, milk starts flowing so fast as soon as I’m waiting for the water to get hot, I’m like a leaky faucet on both sides. 😂
Apr 2: She woke up, played quietly by herself as usual, and then she flipped!!! She turned from her back to her stomach in the crib. I had actually been looking at the nanit camera too but I totally missed the flip. Ahhh.
We gave her mashed cucumber and egg mashed with carrots today. She only has patience for 3 to 5 full spoonfuls before she starting blowing those raspberries.
We put her in the other exersaucer we got from marketplace (so cheap, only $15!). She likes this one more. She can stand better in it.
I really love reading to her. I forgot how nice it is to read books aloud since we never do it as adults. The intonation and rhythm of reading is nice to the ears.
She is the funniest when she’s complaining towards the end of a tummy time session and looking at me to begin the countdown. And then when I do, she immediately stops whining and starts smiling to get to zero. It’s reliable she does this every time.
Her poop is so smelly these days ever since formula intake and solids intake. No more sweet-selling yellow mushy seedy breastfed baby poop.
I’m happy with her taking formula once a day to diversify her nutrition. About one bottle of formula per day combined with my breastmilk for the rest of the day is a great combination. I want her to get used to the taste of formula so that one day if I run out of breastmilk, she will still be okay with the transition.
Why do babies get so active and energetic right before bedtime when they’re supposed to quietly doze off and sleep? Why do they fight bedtime so much?
This past week, we’ve experienced her waking up by herself on her tummy consistently. She will roll over by kicking her legs on the crib railing and then land on her tummy. Then she will cry because she isn’t used to it.
Speaking of rolling, she is so good at tummy time. She broke records by doing tummy time for 34 minutes consecutively and 28 minutes consecutively. Yay! She is so calm during it and will look around or stare at us.
She can grab and pitch at pages when we read to her. This is why board books are the best with young babies. I tried reading a proper picture book to her, and she grabbed the pages. I don’t want to ruin my books so I switched promptly back to a board book. (Daddy found my childhood picture books and brought them up from the basement for her to read.)
We didn’t experiment as much with foods this week. She did try papaya (she liked it), cauliflower (meh), boiled egg with carrots (meh — she also wasn’t in the mood anyway), boiled apple (she liked it), and oatmeal (she really liked it. She ate that the most so far). It sounds like a long list but we could actually have her try more each day. We aren’t very diligent about feeding her something new each day and also not consistent with feeding her two to three times a day. She is still happy with the breastmilk (as she should be at 6.5 months).
Another ten more days to go until she is SEVEN months old. Wow!
She liked the oatmeal the most and actually “asked” for it by opening her mouth after one bite. I think this oatmeal consistency was the most fluid for her and thus easier to swallow.
Once she is tired of the food, she will blow a very long raspberry and arch her back and not stay still. This is a clue to take her out of the high chair.
She grabs or swipes things at the dinner table now. We have to make sure we don’t have our bowls and utensils near her.
She likes to stare and look at things all the time.
She is super distracted when drinking milk. She will turn her head around all the time and we have to take her lead by moving the bottle around.
Now that I’m very content with giving her formula, I feel less stressed about pumping. I am able to fulfil her daily milk supply so far. It’s usually the evening feed that she might need a supplement of formula but otherwise I’ve been able to supply her enough.
She likes to kick her legs up and down when being held. She is so squirmy. We have to be super careful in case we drop her if she moves suddenly with force.
We had a first time video chat with my fellow friend and her baby who is only a month younger than bb. It was nice to have them chat with each other as well as have a quick mommy chat too. I’m looking forward to playdates in the future and a mommy get-together where we can exchange conversation on what we do with our babies.
The past week, I had a transcript due and now I am on another one. I am so grateful for being able to work from home as well as take on any workload as I please. Taking care of the baby every day is so draining. Being able to escape to my office to work on transcripts is such a pleasure and fulfils me.