Progress

Sophie's oral therapist, Johanna, came out today. I was so excited to tell her that Sophie has been eating table foods for 2 weeks and we haven't had to give her purées in all that time! She still has issues moving her tongue from side to side so mostly she just mushes food with her tongue and swallows. She chews a little bit, if food happens to go over to the side on its own, if its a big enough bite, but not all the time.

Side note:  As we were talking about her lateral tongue movement it finally clicked why Sophie was never a good at breast feeding! Johanna mentioned that she was surprised I breast fed for as long as I did because she could only imagine the kind of trouble Sophie had with it. I pumped for 4 months and breast fed for 2 months. Doesn't seem that long to me but considering she always took *at least* an hour and a half to eat and it was so messy, I constantly had to have towels covering me so she wouldn't get my clothes milky, I see her point. It was so frustrating anyway, then I would go to church and I would meet mothers with their little babies in the mothers lounge and their tiny babies were done in 10 maybe 20 minutes. All of them! I kept wondering if I was doing something wrong. She seemed to latch ok, at least it didn't hurt, but milk was constantly getting everywhere but in her mouth. Anyway, it all makes sense now.. Maybe this next one won't have that problem. Maybe I can finally see what other mothers are raving about, since I hated it so much. I liked the snugly bonding time but that was it. I couldn't go anywhere, do anything and its hard to look forward to a long milk bath when you have to start all over again an hour and a half later. And not to sound completely shallow but one of the biggest things that got me hesitating when I finally decided it was time for formula (besides feeling like other mothers would view me as a complete failure, this mother making her previously sick preemie baby go on formula) was that I'd miss my humongous boobs. Honestly with my experience with breast feeding, can you blame me? The only thing I really liked about it were my big boobs, so yes I was sad to see them go, and relieved at how easy formula was. Anyway enough of my big dark secrets.

I'm so proud of Sophie and how well she's been eating. She eats muffins, bananas, sandwiches, chicken nuggets, French fries, strawberries and since yesterday, Mac n' Cheese. She likes to shove HUGE bites in her mouth and as Johanna says "test her limits". A lot of times she'll throw up in her mouth a little and swallow the big bite down. Disgusting and I'm sorry for the details but I'm very open so....get used to it. It seems to make the big bite easier to go down. That's usually when she doesn't chew her food so we're working on that. 

We bought a couple of bikes recently and thanks to Coden's dad we have a bike trailer for Sophie, so we've been going on a lot of bike rides lately. I mainly view it as a fantastic way to work out my legs and slim them down without putting too much pressure on my shins and knees, especially as I get bigger. I gained too much weight the first trimester, thanks to feeling incredibly nauseous and practically living on the couch, and my craving for salt and other crappy foods. They were the only things that made my stomach feel slightly better so I gave in. Since my last appointment though I'm on this "magic pill" that knocks me out all night and makes me feel better the next day. I still get nauseous mid-afternoons and nights but its way more manageable than it was. I still mainly crave bad foods but I'm trying to sneak in a salad here and there. A good compromise and a favorite of mine right now, Cafe Rio salads. Just  the right combination of the "bad" that I crave and lettuce that I need. I've also been craving sugar so I'm trying to fill that craving with fruit instead of lindor truffles. I've been wanting pretty much whatever is not in the house. Good thing Coden makes a lot of money with Primerica because that's been paying for us to eat out. Whats funny is that I was thinking about how before I got pregnant I promised myself I wouldn't give in so much to cravings....HA!! I was so naive. I was on Weight Watchers and seeing success and I thought that cravings were exaggerated. I was lucky with Sophie. I only craved fruits and vegetables and sometimes chocolate. None of this crispy chicken and French fries. I had no idea that food like that would actually make my rolling stomach feel better! I also had no idea how hungry I would be, all.the.time. Anywho back to the point, I'm trying to work on portion sizes now that I'm feeling better, and biking almost every day. 

These pics were taken as I was riding down a little road close to where I live. So beautiful. Gorgeous green fields in every direction, a tiny little stream right next to the road and butterflies flying around our heads. No joke. Perfectly serene and exactly what my emotional bi-polar pregnant self needs everyday.