Happy Half Birthday!!

Well, you read it. Mila is officially 6 months old! I meant to give her whipped cream like we did for Ian's birthday... but I forgot. Oops! I'll do it tomorrow. She won't know the difference ;-)

Here's a recap of this little girl's life:

Still baking, and I thought I still had two weeks left! But, I woke up the next morning, and bam!


This lovely lady made her appearance.


A month later, back in the hospital, for RSV. It was a rough month, with a few more rough months to follow.


She was obviously worn out by it all.


Still pretty as ever.


Mila diagnosed with GERD (severe acid reflux), but we finally got it under control with 2 medicines and a special formula. She is now free to smile all the time! Not just between breaks of screaming fits from pain.


Sitting up and still all smiles. She's in love with her older brother.


At grandadoo's and granny janny's! My kiddos have a knack for sticking their tongues out!

It has been a very fun (and eventful) 6 months and I'm super excited to keep it going! She has such a personality already.

She loves to eat and is becoming rather good at it. If I had to guess, pears are her favorite. I can mix them with any other food and she'll eat it, like carrots. Sweet potatoes are also mighty scrumptious. 

Her brother can make her smile and laugh like nobody else. She's showing signs of crawling. Scooting, mostly backwards, but she has the occasional forward slip-up. Hilariously, when I ask Ian to show her how to crawl, he army crawls like he did when he was a baby... it's so flipping cute.

She also started swim lessons this month, and she's like a fish in the water. She can go underwater, loves splashing, kicking, going after the ducky, and so much more. Swim lessons are fun, for now.

She babbles and babbles like crazy, mostly late at night when it's bedtime and she's trying to stay awake. Amy and I compare it to when we were younger and staying up really, really late. We'd get so tired and delirious that anything and everything was funny and we'd just talk our heads off. That is Mila when it's time to go to bed.

Good night people. I'm going to go read and actually try and fall asleep at a decent hour for a change.

Reflux

I just sat down to write the blog because Stephen is holding Mila and prepared me dinner. I turn my head for one second, and what happens?!

He climbed in on his own. I didn't know if was going to break or what, he was being pretty rough with it. Haha!!

Now, onto reflux. Mila has GERD. We have an appointment with the GI Pediatric Specialist at the end of the month. Her medicine helps the symptoms subside, but they never fully disappear. And, if she gains a few ounces, she's screaming bloody murder because the medicine isn't working anymore. She's on Zegerid, the powder form of Prilosec. We mix it for her every couple of days so that the medicine is really potent.

Mila cries real tears.

We have also made the decision to switch Mila onto formula, full-time. She was getting half breastmilk and half formula. Now, she's full-time formula. I was continuing to pump, but oddly, she screams when she drinks my breastmilk. I know, I know, have you tried eliminating things from your diet? Duh, people. I really, really, really want to breastfeed my kids. This has been a really rough and difficult decision to make. Do you not recall when I was eating only meat and a few select veggies?

Rough, rough decision. But, the formula she's on is special for babies with reflux. She spits up a lot less and most importantly, doesn't seem nearly as uncomfortable. She still has bouts of screaming and discomfort, so we're still going to the specialist and I really hope they're able to do something to make her more comfortable.

She is still sleeping in the swing or car seat.

It's really bizarre because I can tell when her reflux is acting up. How? I can hear it. My mom can too. You can hear it in her belly and in her throat. My poor baby girl. I'm sure she's going to sit up and walk before she even rolls over because she can never get any floor time. Every time I try and put her on her belly, she has milk coming out of her nose. But, she does love to sit and stand up with someone help. Sometimes, it's the only thing that'll make her happy.

Hopefully, come May, I'll be able to tell everyone that she's doing 100 times better with her reflux. And, I'm really praying that she is able to outgrow it when she's 6-9 months... that would be glorious!

That's all for today folks.