8 Months

It's amazing how time flies when you are a parent. I know every month I say this, but man I can't believe Gemma is already 8 months old. She is so incredibly smart and strong and it's already getting harder to keep up with her every day! Not to mention (and as you can see from the previous posts) her personality and temperament are really "shining" through...

At 8 months, she can:

• Weight: 18 lb 7 oz!!!!! 
• Length: 27 inches
• Wave bye-bye.
• Pull to standing from a sitting position.
• Extremely mobile (and fast!) even though she hasn't yet mastered the proper way of crawling.
• Knows "umma" (mom), "appa" (dad), and "harmony" (grandma) and will look at the said person. Oh and she knows "Reggie" too.
• Nurses four times a day and eats three meals. 
• Can drink from a cup all on her own.
• Loves any kind of fruit and favorite veggies include: yam, green beans, cauliflower, squash.
• Loves to feed herself, whether it's finger foods or just grabbing the spoon out of my hand.
• Loves books and being read to. 
• Very talkative - bababababa and sometimes it sounds like she is saying "appa" (dad), which gets Jesse terribly excited.
• Likes to open and close cupboard doors (we're gonna do more childproofing tomorrow).
• Hates hats and sunglasses - any advice on this?
• Favorite toy at the moment - a can of gingerale.

She is very attached to me and will whine if she sees me leave the room, even if someone else is with her. I'm going back to work in 2 months and I wonder how we'll do...

...Sigh...

The last few times I've gone to a social "thing" with Gemma, she has been very difficult. She usually enjoys things like Baby & Me and playdates, but lately I spend 80% of the time or more just trying to shush her because she is whining and screaming. She will sit and play for a minute or two, sometimes only a few seconds, and will start to cry for no reason. Things would be easier if I could quiet her down by just holding her, but that doesn't always work either. It's getting to be embarrassing and even though most of the moms I see have known Gemma for a long time, it doesn't make it any less mortifying. 

All the other babies are so mellow; they are happy to just sit, lie, roll, whatever. They don't need constant attention and are fascinated with just the toys or each other. If they're tired, they'll just fall asleep in their moms' arms, but most of them can stay awake and be just fine the entire time. So if these babies can, why can't Gemma? 

I have to admit, today when I got home, I was really frustrated with her. Even angry. I let her scream it out while I went to wash my hands and then nursed her and then let her play in her exersaucer while I sat in another room. Ten minutes later I came out, cooled down, and asked her for a kiss and she gave me one on the lips. I can't stay mad at that, can I? 

When we're at home, MOST of the time she is fine. I think she is getting some of Jesse's personality in that she likes to stay home, but getting my personality in the way she shows her unhappiness. What a combo. 

Of course the other moms are super nice and tell me they don't even notice her screaming, but I feel bad every time they have to speak over her screams or stop talking because of her screaming. Nonetheless, I'm very lucky these women are so forgiving...

Heritage Festival

Every August long weekend, Edmonton hosts its heritage festival at Hawrelak Park. For those of you who don't know, it's basically 50 different nationalities who each put up a tent and serve the food of their culture and show off arts, crafts, and performance art. It's a great chance to get to know other cultures better and get a taste of different foods. 

Jesse and I LOVE the heritage festival and we try to go every year. Unfortunately it didn't work out the last 2 years, but we were determined to go this year and so we did. I was nervous about how Gemma would do, but she ended up sleeping in the stroller for about an hour while we walked around, which was a huge surprise. It was extremely hot and I got sunburnt despite the SPF 55 sunscreen I was wearing.

For food, we had Indian (which I am not normally fond of, but it was delicious!), Korean hotteok (mmm...), Chilean cheese empanada, Croatian donut (which is just basically a giant slab of fried dough covered in icing sugar and DELICIOUS), a mango slushy drink, and a "refreshing" pineapple drink. 

As for Gemma, even while she was awake she didn't seem too interested in her surroundings. We stood and watched the Aboriginal dance, which was incredible to watch, but Gemma couldn't care less. 

We also stayed in a hotel, which was Gemma's first time, and while it went better than expected, it was still rough and I don't think we'll do that again for awhile. 

Now we can rest up today and catch up on some ZZZs.

Fears

I think that must be the one negative thing about being a parent - fears of something bad happening to your child. I don't know why, but this past week has been rough on me emotionally and I've been plagued by nightmares, sometimes two or three in one night. One recurring dream since having Gemma has been where I am trying to get to her, but not being able to. Jesse told me about three nights ago he had dreamt that Gemma died after swallowing a bunch of liquid that came out of a teething toy. I also worry about something happening to me while I am home alone with Gemma and she would be alone for hours before someone came home.

This really sucks because I haven't had a good night's sleep in a week because of these nightmares. I'm also incredibly irritable during the day (maybe due to the lack of sleep?) and find myself snapping on everyone around me, including the poor dog. 

I really need to get out of this emotional funk I'm in... but how?

Welcome, Ruby!

My cousin Lawrence and his wife Jill welcomed their baby girl on Sunday - Ruby MinHee Kim. Apparently labor was quick (4 hours... grrrr!!!!!) and mom and baby are well. Congrats you guys and Gemma has another cousin to play with!!!

Copycat

At Baby & Me today, Gemma was watching an older baby crawl around and tried to do it herself! She can get on all fours and move her knees, but hasn't figured out how to move her arms as she is moving her knees, so she just topples on her face. Trust me, though, I'm not in any hurry for her to start crawling!

Standing Up!

Yesterday I noticed Gemma kept trying to pull up on things. She even tried to pull up on one of her toys and ended up flat on her back with the toy on top of her (don't worry, she's fine). So I took her to her crib and tried to see if she could really pull herself up and, to my surprise, she could! I was so ecstatic, I brought out the camcorder and made her do it again. When Jesse got home later in the day, Gemma gave him a demonstration of how good she is at pulling herself up! Then, she even coasted a bit along the crib rail and went around one corner. She fell a couple of times, but pulled herself back up and kept going!

Seriously, I can't believe how much she has grown in these months and I am having a hard time keeping up with all the new milestones she is reaching! I am so proud!

Separation Anxiety/Teething

A little off topic, but this is my 200th post!

Moving on...

The last few days have been really hard. Gem's teething and going through major separation anxiety for some reason and will cry if I am not holding her. Needless to say, my arms and legs are extremely sore from the extra 17 pounds I'm carrying around in my arms. At one point, just sitting with her wasn't enough - she HAD to be held, but it has improved to the point now where I can sit next to her and play with her and she will be satisfied with that. However, as soon as I get up or turn around, she will start to scream... and with Gemma, there is no whining in between the happy and scream - it goes from 0-100 in 0.0000001 seconds. 

Wednesday was the worst. Yesterday was a bit better. Today is so far much better. I'm sure it will continue to get better...

No Peas Please

I have to say, Gemma is a tremendous eater. She isn't too picky and even if she doesn't like the taste, she'll still swallow and continue to open up for more. Obviously she much prefers the sweeter fruits to the vegetables, but still she will accept a very varied diet. Green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, beef, chicken, yogurt, egg yolk, avocado, etc. She will eat them all, some more happily than others. 

Until yesterday. 

Costco has started carrying organic frozen veggies and so I picked up a bag of peas. Gemma has been eating finger foods (Cheerios, banana slices, crackers, etc) for a little while now, so i gave her some peas on her plate that she could pick up and eat herself. 

She picked one up carefully between her fingers and placed it in her mouth, gummed down several times, then...

all hell broke loose. 

She started screaming as if to say "what are you trying to do to me, woman?". 

and of course the mean mom that I am, I put another pea in her mouth, which she protested and screamed about even more. I then took a few and mushed it with a fork, then gave it to her in a spoon. She opened her mouth willingly, but then as soon as it was in her mouth, she began screaming again. So Gemma is screaming and crying in her high chair with peas all still just resting on her tongue and Jesse and I are laughing our heads off because we have never seen her react this way to anything we have given her thus far. As soon as I put a Cheerio in her mouth, she is happily gumming it down. The moment I put a pea in, she is back to screaming.

Jesse was telling Gemma how proud he is of her for hating peas (it's probably Jesse's least favorite vegetable) and cheering everytime she screamed. Nice, huh? Dads.... sigh...

BBQ

Yesterday, we were invited to a BBQ thrown by one of the moms of Baby & Me. It was a daddy date, a chance for the guys to meet one another, as well as for moms to chat and just hang out. It wasn't even that hard to convince my anti-social husband to come. 

and I had a great time. I truly like all the women I have met and while I didn't chat away with the husbands, it was apparent that all the men were very nice as well. We left a bit earlier than everyone else though because Gemma was getting just WAY too fussy and it was getting close to her bedtime. I wish we could've stayed longer. 

To be honest, I had a really hard week and the BBQ really helped to lift me out of this funk I was in.

So thanks again Annette for the BBQ and for inviting us!