4 Month Checkup

Elsie turned 4 months on Labor Day, so we had to schedule her 4-month appointment for a little later. Namely, today. I took the entire day off of work to take her to the doctor this morning. Then I took her to J and spent the rest of the day catching up on various and sundry things. I did think about my students while I was away. This is a first for me.

Anyway, Elsie is in the 90th percentile range in her height and weight. She was 25.25 inches long and 15 lbs. 6 oz. She is just a few ounces shy of doubling her birth weight. In almost 5 months. I KNOW! And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a result of strictly breastfeeding.

I meant to ask the pediatrician about starting her on solid foods, but I promptly forgot. When I told her that Elsie is still only nursing, she didn't say anything or ask any probing questions or give any advice. I'm sure when we go back for her 6-month checkup we'll have more to discuss. In the meantime, I've read that we should wait until baby is ready, when she shows interest in the food that her parents are eating. That's not now. And, in the event that I do have questions, I'll just call our pediatrician at home. Or ask you guys. :)

And I promise I'm not bragging, really, but either Elsie is slowing down in her milk consumption during the day, or I'm producing too much. This becomes a problem on the weekends when I'm feeding her and she doesn't eat all that much, so I feel a fullness all weekend. It's weird. But, my frozen supply of milk has mushroomed in the last couple of weeks.

Now for some honest thoughts:

1. I have weird dreams about any number of things. However, I have never had a dream about Elsie. I had dreams about a baby before she was born, but not since. I think this is very strange.

2. I knew that I was going to breastfeed Elsie--free food--but I still thought it was weird. Well, guess what? It is. If I think about it too much I get a little weirded out (pumping does not help this in any way). So, I don't think about it too much. And then I can thoroughly enjoy the time I spend with Elsie, just the two of us.

On to something not related to babies:

Eli was offered a job working for the USDA here in Auburn. It would be a raise, but not by much. So, even after two interviews with them, and after much prayer and consideration, he turned them down. He will continue in his current position until next year sometime. This wouldn't really have been a possibility except that the state judicial system is under a hiring freeze. The judge really wants Eli to stay because he wouldn't be able to hire to replace him (that, and Eli's irreplacable). That worked out well because Eli really wants to stay. There's still more to learn in this job with the benefit of not becoming a government drone. National Guard, however, is still on the table for discussion.

Well, I think that's the news for today in our neck of the woods.

Cheers.