January 27, 2008
Tabitha - 6 months and 7 months
Dear Tab
I'm very sorry for combining your 6 and 7 month letters into one. Your 6 month one was due just after we arrived in the UK and I delayed it a few days while we had jet lag and then of course you got very sick indeed and this is the first opportunity I've had to sit down and talk about how you've been doing *aside from scaring us more than we've ever been scared EVER*.
So let me see if I can remember as far back as the time you were 5 months old going on 6 months old!
Mostly we were concentrating on your tummy issues, you still had alot of wind, discomfort, pain and found it very very difficult to relax and sleep. I ended up changing my diet midway through the month which helped you alot, and I think we figured out that you have a sensitivity to Soy in my diet and also Dairy. Having zero / small amounts of these foods helped you dramatically almost overnight. You became alot more comfortable.
With comfort came more smiles and giggles and enjoyment of your environment and family. Here is a photo of you on Christmas Day surrounded by some of your presents!
Over the month you also began to explore objects in your immediate vicinity - your crinkly toys and things. They got immediately rammed into your mouth, of course, the mouth which saw a constant stream of dribble thanks to you teething!
The big news was starting you on solids. I managed to 'hold off' until you were a week shy of 6 months and started you with some oatmeal cereal mixed with breastmilk. You loved it - shoved it into your mouth like no tomorrow. We gave you some every day until going to the UK, and also tried you with some carrots. You hated the carrots I made. Finally Daddy suggested that they were too thick and textured and he gave you a jar of babyfood carrots which was very liquidy and you loved it. Hmph!
Here is my big girl in her high chair on Christmas Day.
Moving forward to 7 months...... once more and no doubt for the millionth time I must comment on how rapidly you have changed!
You spent the month in the UK. You were only supposed to spend two weeks in the UK but obviously with your VERY SCARY RSV, the trip got extended until you were better enough to come home. I've written about the illness, but what I need to tell you here is that your daddy and I were absolutely terrified by what you went through. We even thought we might lose you and we cried and held your hands over your bedside and told you how much we loved you and to stay with us at all costs. You are a fighter though, little girl, thank goodness. Please never ever get sick like that again, you are too too precious to us.
Illness aside, your trip started with a good flight -you slept - and then spent several days visiting your grandad.
You liked your grandad very much! While there you developed a new skill, sticking out your tongue at anyone that you like. Dylan has a special version of it too - you stick it out to the right and a bit further! Your grandad was thrilled that he was honoured with getting 'the tongue' too.
You also saw your Auntie Sally & Uncle Steve again, although part of the time with them you spent throwing up violently after we accidentally gave you some baby food with dairy in.
From Grandads, we then went to see your Grandma for the first time! Here you are modelling the lovely coat and hat which she knitted for you.
The first couple of days at Grandma's you werent in the best spirits, starting to get this bug, but you also saw many other members of your family for the first time.....
Auntie Kay
Your great-grandma (Mama)
and other great grandma (nanny)
And we saw a whole bunch of others too..... you were not in the best spirits for all these visits but you were reasonably OK until the weekend when we went to visit your other family members in Hereford. Here you got to meet your Nanny & Grandad, Auntie Jan & Uncle Jim, Auntie Betty & Uncle 'Bill' and your cousins Alex Josh & Becca.
Here you are with Nanny & Grandad
with Auntie Betty
and having a big cuddle from your cousin Alex
While you were in hospital you got your first tooth! This was followed by your 2nd tooth a week later.
Your little smile is forever changed, but still adorably cute if no longer entirely gummy!
Food wise once you got out of hospital you regained your appetite dramatically and started wolfing down the 'solids' (slop). With these jars, (which I'm not too familiar with having previously used only home made babyfoods but circumstances must!) you were having maybe half a jar per day at the beginning of our stay in the UK. After you were well, you suddenly increased to eating a whole jar at once. The routine now is to give you a jar of fruit at breakfast, half a jar of veg at lunch, and half a jar of veg at dinner time. With this you're still drinking vast amounts of milk and currently waking 3 times per night (yawn) for feeds. I am going to start making food for you once we're over the jet lag though because I don't like this jarred stuff, hopefully you will not turn up your nose. You have a preference for the sweet stuff (you are your mothers daughter) though and also you seem to get uncomfortable after eating some stuff.
I found the UK jars extremely complicated actually - there were no plain ones, everything was combined in quite complicated flavours and I was supposed to be feeding you at 4 months, shepherds pie? Bizarre. There's a huge difference in the method over here in the US, a far slower approach with single ingredient foods starting at 6 months. Anything with peas, cauliflower, etc seemed to give you a really hurty tummy. We had to stick to just a very few things to keep you from being in pain. I'm not sure how to play this from now on. Slowly I think. I also still think you're sensitive to dairy and soy in my diet, but less so as time passes.
Now that you're well you're a very smiley girl again. You're increasingly agile. You can roll over but prefer not to - you happily roll to the side and play but hate going on your stomach still. You can't sit yet, it won't be long. You're not a super athlete much like your brothers weren't at the same age- but this suits me fine as I don't want to be chasing you all over the house just yet :-). You are lunging for everything in sight though, and your fine motor skills are fairly amazing for one so young. You have a very good grasp of small objects and love to examine everything and inevitably put it to your mouth.
Since getting back and having jet lag and possibly getting a cold (!!!) or more teeth your'e a bit cranky and won't be put down AT ALL, which is exhausting to say the least. We still really have no routine to speak of. You wake multiple times per night to eat. But, after what you've been through, if you want to eat all night and be held all day long then you can be held all day long!
Love you little girl.
Mummy xxxx