Half a year

A little over six months ago, Delaney Marie entered our world, and the universe is now a better place because of it.

We had our six month appointment last week. As many of you know, Delaney is not a chubby bubby, but she's so active and alert that we haven't been sweating the weight topic. Apparently our doctor has a different take on that issue than we do. Delaney weighed in at 12 lbs 3 oz. and 27 inches long, which apparently isn't "fat enough." In fact, the phrase that was used was "Delaney is failing to thrive." I was speechless, while Delaney continued to laugh, crawl around all over me, and attempt to eat my face off. The doctor than proceeded to list what needed to happen next: meet with a nutritionist, do blood work, pump and add oil to my milk, etc. etc. All pretty extreme stuff. I wish that I would have said a million different things to my doctor, asked a million different questions, but I was just trying to hold it together and couldn't get past the thought of my giggling baby hooked up to tubes and IVs, wasting away in some hospital.

Now that I've had time to process everything, I have a better grasp of reality and know that Delaney is a healthy, happy baby. My doctor is not a bad person, just a gruff lady who isn't a mommy and doesn't understand how off-handed comments can traumatize a hyper-sensitive-paranoid-perfectionist-first-time-mommy (that's me, in case you're wondering). EVERYONE that knows Delaney knows how healthy she is, and assures me that she'll be just fine. Not everyone gets to be a fat American from the get-go. If Delaney's curse in life is to be tall, thin, and gorgeous, she'll learn how to deal with the cards that have been dealt to her. Rough life.

We are trying to fatten her up, and I'm trying to just breath and do the best I can. We are adding oil to her cereal and doubling her solid intake, but if anyone has any other tips on putting some meat on my kid's bones, I'd be much obliged. We go back in three weeks to weigh in and meet with the nutritionist then. I'll keep you all posted.

Delaney Marie is not just a dot on a growth chart. She is INCREDIBLY active and talkative, and you pretty much want to gobble her up every time you see her. I laugh thinking about what she'll be like down the road--thinking that she'll be that chatty charlie girl that just can't sit still. She'll have to sit up next to the teacher, but everyone will love her because of her dazzling charm and friendliness towards others. Well, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. We don't have to tackle the elementary school years yet...we'll just focus on letting her be the baby that God created her to be.

I wanted to post some beautiful six month photos of the babe, but she just doesn't sit still anymore, so what you see is what you get. Thanks for listening!

She's finally getting hair (sort of), so Steve thought a mohawk was appropriate. Delaney agreed whole-heatedly.

Even though we don't wear much pink, we're still girly. This picture is for you, Auntie Andrea!

Drooling like crazy, with no teeth to show for it...

Not sure what to think of the camera's flash

So proud that she's able to sit up by herself!

Labor Day with the Millers

Yes, I am writing a post about our Labor Day festivities a few weeks late, but that's how things go now that I'm working part-time.

We got together with our dear friends the Millers and had a lovely picnic of pollo bowls and burritos at a spectacular park in Orange County. It was a lot of fun for us grown-ups to hang out and watch the babies interact. Delaney always enjoys spending time with Ben, who just might be a potential gentleman caller later on down the road. Thanks for the great day, Buck, Shannon, and Ben!

Silly Ben!

Say what?

Ben is a good friend because he lets Delaney eat his shoe.

Awesome baby prom pose.

Well, at least the grown-ups were looking at the camera...

For the fam

Recently my family has been hounding me to update the blog. I have been very busy with school starting up, which deserves a post in itself. So here's just two recent pictures to tide over the family:

Miss Delaney, kickin' it in her big kid high chair.

Labor Day family photo, courtesy of the Millers.

Success

It's funny how one word can have so many different definitions.

In my previous life (the one that didn't include Delaney), success was measured in varied ways. There were the big successes like finishing up my masters, buying our home, building a fence. There were also the little successes, like beating my previous 5k time, my students mastering a concept, or kicking Steve's butt on the Buzz Lightyear ride at Disneyland (which I do frequently).

But today, the definition of success took on a whole new meaning. Today I conquered Winco with Delaney by my side. Actually, she was strapped to my body thanks to the Sleepywrap, but you get what I mean.

By conquered I mean a full-on grocery trip with coupons, a ginormous list, and bagging my own groceries with my daughter kicking and grabbing whatever she could get her slobbery little paws on. Maybe this doesn't sound like a big deal, and maybe you're one of those uber confident mammas who always has it together and doesn't get flustered when your kiddo starts crying in public. But I'm not Super Mom yet, I'm actually an anxious perfectionist and it kills me that I'm not cool as a cucumber. It's what I'm working on. So tackling Winco was a big deal. And we did it all without a meltdown from either one of us.