Vivi: Thirty-One Weeks

Vivi is getting to be so vocal.  As I type this, I can hear her moaning to Eric upstairs as he tries to get her to nap.  She sounds like a little old lady listing her problems.  She likes it when we mimic her.  Her eyes light up, and she smiles proudly.  It's like she thinks she's finally getting through to us.

She's sleeping better at night for the most part.  She's not a great napper though.  I can only get her down for one nap a day in the afternoon and that nap only lasts an hour if we're lucky.

She doesn't like to be on her back or tummy much anymore.  She much prefers sitting up.  When she is lying down, she can roll around pretty well, and she's starting to scoot a bit though she's not happy about it.  Sometimes she squawks loudly in the middle of the night, and I find that she's flipped onto her tummy accidentally and is totally freaked out by it.

She's still a Mumma's girl, but she's must happier with Dada than she was a few weeks ago.  Now that he's home for the summer, she's spending a lot more time with him.  She grins widely when he enters the room, and she's much more likely to fall asleep on him than she is on me.

Vivi likes to chew on blocks and the corners of books.  She wants to get her hands on whatever she sees Madeline playing with.  She is interested in different textures, moving parts, and crinkly noises.  When we sit down to dinner, we can give her a paper towel tube to play with to keep her happy.  Sometimes we give her a spoon instead.

She wants to eat so badly.  Sometimes she looks at the three of us eating, and I swear her eyes are asking, "Mumma?  Where's mine?"  Due to her tummy troubles, I'm reluctant to give her too many solids.  She eats lunch at the same time as Madeline every day, but otherwise it's just breast milk or small sips of water.  Her diet still consists of mostly pears and prunes, but I gave her some sweet potatoes this week, which she loved.  I'd like to get back to adding more variety to her diet and even trying some oats, but I'm a little nervous about it.

We had some tummy troubles early this week that scared me a little due to her discomfort level and...er...size of the problem.  Back to the doctors we went.  The doctor was just as baffled as we are, but agreed that these are not normal tummy problems.  We were able to schedule another appointment at Children's for next week instead of waiting for our previously scheduled follow-up at the end of August.  The doctor we met with thinks she needs some blood tests done to check for various intolerances and conditions, so we'll see what the GI doctor thinks.  I'm hoping we get to the bottom of this soon.  In the meantime, she's on daily laxatives.  Poor baby.

On the positive side, her reflux seems to have worked itself out.  I stopped giving her the medication for that, and she's doing just fine without it.  And she's certainly gaining weight.  She was a whole pound heavier than she was a month ago at her last doctor's appointment.

Mostly, Vivi is a little sweetheart.  I often find myself starting at her and giggling for no other reason than her cuteness.  She's getting so chubby and squishy, and I just want to eat her up I love her so.