7 months old...

I had a great weekend! My friend Elena came down to visit me, which is always so much fun... we always have a blast together! We did lots of shopping, talking, she cut and colored my hair, we went out for sushi... good times with good friends! :) Even though we don't get to see eachother very often, when we are together it's just like it was when we were in high school, which is one of the marks (I think) of a true friendship. No matter at what point we are at in our lives, we can pick up right where we left off! Needless to say, I had a lot of fun (and thank you to Kyle for watching Payton for me!)

Payton is 7 months old... ALREADY?! What's crazy to me is pretty soon the holiday season will be here, and that always flies by... 2011 will be here before we know it! Payton has recently decided that she wants to touch absolutely everything, and not just touch it; grab it, bang it against something, chew on it, throw it... the possibilities are endless! Gone are the days when I could just hold her in my lap while I did something, now she wants to grab it out of my hand and isn't always happy when I take it back :) She's starting to get a stuffy nose, so we bought a humidifier for her room, which will hopefully help loosen some of that gunk up. They've had a couple fire drills at Wee Care recently, I guess they usually do them about once a month. They put the babies in evacuation cribs and roll them outside. Now that's a sight I would like to see! The first time she had one they said she just laid there and looked around, but the one they had yesterday interrupted her nap, so she was not a happy camper! Recently she's tried green beans and peaches, and really seems to like them (she certainly didn't get that from her momma). The baby she seems to interact with the most at Wee Care is a boy named Fletcher, who is actually only 3 days younger than Payton. All of the other babies were born in April or later, so Payton and Fletcher are little buddies. Cheryl was telling me that today they were napping at the same time, eating at the same time, even pooping at the same time! Pretty funny.

The shirt says it all :)

I love it when daddy tosses me in the air!

Mom got me a sippy cup to practice drinking a little water out of, but I only wanted to chew on the handle...

I figured it out with a different cup though!

Sitting and playing like a big girl :)

As many of you may have heard, Payton's formula got recalled. Apparently some of the powdered Similac formula tested positive for beetle parts and larvae, so they recalled all powdered formula in containers greater than 12 ounces. Needless to say, I was extremely grossed out... and extremely disappointed. I felt like "what do I do now?" She was doing so well on it, and although I still struggle with the idea of formula (the fact that I couldn't breastfeed still haunts me), I was finally in a good place about it because she seemed great, and that's all that really mattered. Now I feel like I'm back to square one, which is not a good place for me to be. I changed her formula a lot in the early days, which I really regret... but for some reason I tied any problem she had to the formula she was drinking, thinking if I were able to breastfeed, we wouldn't have any problems. As unrealistic as that probably is, it's the way I felt at the time. The mom guilt was overwhelming, and I was forever searching for the "cure" that would make her better. Now that I'm doing research again, it's bringing back a lot of those memories. I had always wanted to try an organic formula, because I'm a freak about reading the nutrition labels and it always bothered me that the first ingredients in her formula were corn syrup solids and table sugar... all I can say is, thank goodness only five more months of formula. It's really been a challenge for me! I've decided that even though it's more expensive I'm going to try an organic formula, and if she doesn't do well with it then it just wasn't meant to be and I need to stop reading things that scare me. Trust me, I have never been "granola", organic, or even very environmentally friendly, but when it comes to what Payton eats I want only the best and healthiest. Who would have thought they would have seen that type of behavior from me? :) Formula is her main source of nutrition, so it's important to me that she have whatever she needs to develop into a happy, healthy girl. As parents, you assume that anything that's marketed for babies and your doctor recommends must be great, but a lot of what I was reading was really concerning for me... Kyle thinks I read too much, I think it's good to be as informed as possible. We're trying to find that balance :) I saw this quote online the other day, and I loved it; I thought it described motherhood perfectly...

“Making the decision to have a child – it’s momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” — Elizabeth Stone

Payton only has one doctor appointment in October, with her dermatologist. It's been REALLY nice to not be going to the doctor all the time, but I'm also anxious to hear what he has to say. It's not until later this month, and then in mid-November she has a follow-up with her opthamologist. I'm really anxious to hear what he says too, I'm hoping Payton's eyesight has improved. It's hard for me to believe sometimes that it's so bad, because she recognizes us just fine and reaches for objects close to her and grabs them accurately. Who knows, but it will be interesting to hear what he has to say. Then after that she doesn't have an appointment until the beginning of December... for her 9 month check-up with the pediatrician!

Our little family may not get to spend too much time together this weekend. There's a big duck game on Saturday vs. Stanford (#4 vs. #9 in the rankings!) and Kyle is heading down to Albany to watch it with the family. I'm going to be hanging out with my friend Kali... to make a long story short, Saturday was supposed to be her wedding day, and so me and another girlfriend are going to try and keep her distracted. I don't want to go into detail, but it did not end well so we want her to have the best day possible!

Happy birthday Grandpa Book!!