7 months

Gloria is seven months old today. She's been eating up a storm this past month and has tried pretty much every food you can think of. She's getting much better at her pincher grip and can now feed herself pretty well.

 We had a fun but quiet month of July. Charlotte had a week of frozen dance camp while school was out. She came back after break as a fuzzy bunny meaning that she is officially a pre-kindergartener. This is a big and exciting step for her, and it also means that she leaves her lovey at home when she goes to school! She has also been continuing her amazing progress at swim class, jumping into the pool, swimming the entire length under water! It's been truly amazing to watch her just turn into a little fish. 

We had a visit from our cousins Ronnie and Elliot and we celebrated nanny's 70th birthday. We've also been getting to know our new nanny Melanie. Gloria loves her and smiles every time she comes in the room. Charlotte is a little more tentative and is still getting to know her but I think they will become fast friends. 

I have been back at work for three weeks and it has been going fairly well. The first week or so I was kind of disoriented and had trouble finding all those professional epidemiology words which I had not been using for the past six months, but now I'm back in the swing of things.

The biggest news is we bought a house. It's in Matthews Beach walking distance to the beach park and adjacent to the Burke Gilman trail. We're pretty excited about it, but not looking forward very much to moving our stuff at the end of September.

Back to work/ 6 months

I have come to the end of my (mostly unpaid) maternity leave, which means this baby is 6 months old! She is such a sweet girl and I have enjoyed this time with her so so immensely. Gloria has been very busy- she can now sit up, she is loving solid foods- we basically give her whatever we're eating so she has tried sweet potato, avocado, apricot, turkey burgers, roasted chicken, pulled pork, zucchini, and carrots. Her favorite food is Greek yogurt for sure. Her favorite thing to do is watch her sister do absolutely anything. Her favorite toy is her crinkle butterfly- she loves to crinkle. She is all smiles all day. She went from being a short napper up twice a night to a champion. She takes 2 2 hour naps during the day and sleeps 12 hours straight at night. It all started two weeks ago all of a sudden! Good timing!! She loves being thrown up in the air. She loves having her diaper changed. She loves reading books. She loves being tickled. She loves taking walks in her carrier touching all the flowers and leaves. But like a good Seattle girl she hates the sun and cries when it gets in her eyes. Charlotte picked out a lovey for Gloria- a panda bear- and we named it Po after kung fu panda. I've been sleeping with it in my shirt to get it to smell like me and now Gloria snuggles with it every night. 

What have I been doing? I've read a ton of books. I've taken a lot of walks around the neighborhood. I've had some play dates with other friends on maternity leave. I've done a bunch of exercise videos on YouTube. I've gotten to spend a lot of time with Charlotte, too. But mostly I've stayed around the house making sure that Gloria doesn't get overtired and that she naps in her crib at just the right time. I have also developed a huge appreciation for the work of a stay at home parent caring for two children. It is harder than any job I have ever done in my life! The baby stuff is much easier the second time, but meeting Charlotte's needs has been a huge challenge, making sure she knows how much we love and appreciate her, finding appropriate ways for her to help and be involved with Gloria's care, and giving her the attention she expects and deserves. Hats off to all the parents out there who do the big job!

I'm going back to work at the health department 4 days a week. A lot of breast pumping in my future, but luckily we have a nice pump room. I've been pretty teary eyed this week thinking about leaving Gloria all day long. I will miss her terribly. But there is also a part of me that is looking forward to using my brain and my skills again, to thinking outside the walls of our house and our family to contribute to the world again. And I am very lucky to have a job that is flexible and low stress and that I can leave at the office. I think, like most things about my second child, it will be a little easier the second time around. But it will not be easy.

25 weeks / beach house

Gloria recently started sleeping through the night- 12 hours 7-7! And just in time for our annual family beach trip. This year we stayed on Fox Island right near Gig Harbor at a great little house with a nice sandy beach- a rarity in the PNW. Charlotte and the twins played in the sand for hours at a time while the grownups enjoyed the spectacular view from the deck. Lots of cousin cuteness and some relaxation, too. 

5 and a half months/ Father's Day

Gloria discovered her feet this week- she grabs them every chance she gets. We pulled out the jumperoo which she is loving, and we have started trying a few solid foods- we started with sweet potato and avocado. Not much was swallowed but she seemed to enjoy the experience. Her new favorite sound to make is mamammum which kind of sounds like she is calling for me :)

Charlotte has been thriving in her swim class. At the first lesson she dunked her head under the water- a big first!

For Father's Day Charlotte made Matt a cute mug and some art at school, plus we made a trip to the candy store to pick out a bunch of his favorite treats. Charlotte had a very hard time waiting for Sunday to come so she could give him his gifts, and of course have a taste. We started the morning with a lie in for Dada followed by French toast. We thought we'd combine Matt's family birthday party with our Fathers Day BBQ, so I made a crazy Martha Stewart butterscotch pecan cake that took 3 days to complete! But worth it. Liz and all the kids made a poster for Popi with all his famous sayings on it. The cousins had a ton of fun playing at the water table  and digging up Titi's yard in the sunny weather. Gloria tried and loved baked beans!

22 weeks

Gloria has had a developmental leap of some sort this week- she is rolling around, escaping out of her swaddle, thumping vigorously with her feet, sticking out her tongue and vocalizing in new ways - lots of squawking and squealing. She definitely has somewhere she wants to be. And napping is not on her agenda :) Her hair is so long it is now officially in her eyes, so we have some barrettes in for now.

Today is Matt's birthday so we all went out for sushi- Charlotte was chop sticking and eating like a champ. Her favorite nigiri is ikura- salmon roe!

5 months

Everyone is holding steady here in the Wasse household. I have one more month of maternity leave, and we found a  fantastic nanny to care for the girls when I go back to work. She is a doctoral candidate working on her dissertation in music, so hoping some of her musical skill will rub off on the kids as they are not getting any from their parents 😀 

Gloria's flat spot still has not quite resolved and I am kind of obsessing over it. Hard to accept that my perfect girl has any imperfections! She is still waking once in the night and taking 3 short naps. She soaks through 3 bibs per day drooling and sucking her hands/toys/ anything that gets near her mouth. Gloria is an adrenaline junkie- she loves getting tossed up in the air and giggles with delight. Her laugh is amazing, a full body chuckle. We have got to capture it on video!

Charlotte got a bike and is working on pedaling skills. Her tricycle was a push cycle so somehow she never learned to pedal! But she's making quick progress. And we'll soon be starting up with swim lessons as well. Charlotte had a bad experience last year so we're changing things up a bit. Fingers crossed!

Mother's Day/ 18 weeks

Gloria had her 4 month check up last week. Her head and height are average but her weight is in the 10th percentile- tall and skinny! She also has a bit of a flat head so we just have to try to minimize time on her back, hopefully she'll round out and we can avoid the helmet. Her sleep and naps continue to be all over the place but usually waking once in the night to nurse. 

Gloria has been vocalizing up a storm and loves to have long conversations where we copy her noises back to her. She goes entire days without a cry or a fuss, as long as we get her to bed in her magic window (no more than 2 hours from when she last woke). She loves sitting at the dinner table with all of us and taking it all in. She especially loves watching Charlotte and makes huge belly laughs at just about anything she says or does.

The day after Gs appointment was Charlotte's class field trip to Carkeek park. Gloria was a little feverish from her vaccinations so she was not her usual smiley self, but she was a trooper and  we all had a great time.

Charlotte made me a ton of beautiful gifts for Mother's Day and we started the morning with sleeping in (for me) and waffles. Yum. Then we celebrated with the whole family and had amazing deli from Golberg's plus carrot cake for Titi's birthday.