Where's My Baby!

This last week has been an amazing realization for me that I no longer have an infant, I have a toddler. Alli's look is changing, especially with 4 teeth in her mouth. And she feels different - there isn't as much baby fat on her since she's so mobile so hugging her feels like hugging a child, not a baby.

Alli still walks with someone holding her hands - won't try doing it herself yet. But she definitely has ideas of where she wants to go. She's getting good at "steering" the adult, which also cracks me up.

And it appears we have quite the tom-boy on our hands. She loves climbing (up and down steps is great fun) and walking in/on rocks. If she's given a choice between walking the nice sidewalk or the granite beside it she chooses the granite and then heads for the nearest boulder to climb. This morning I went to get her out of bed and I found her standing in the crib with one leg through the bars - foot on the top of the crib bumper pad. She was trying to climb up (and I suppose out) of the crib. Luckily the crib bumper pad is very soft so it just folded when she applied pressure.

On the formula front, well, she drinks it now (diluted 1 part formula, 2 parts breast milk), but I've had problems finding a formula that agreed with her. First we tried soy-based, thinking that with my dairy problems, that might be a good idea. What I noticed was that she broke out that day in a diaper rash. (Apparently, from I've read on the formula websites, this is one sign that the formula is not agreeing with the baby.) So we waited a day for that to clear up and tried another. The next was called "sensitive". It's milk-based (which I was a little concerned about) but lactose-free. OMG - the poor thing broke out in the worst diaper rash I've seen. She was red and puffy and lots of dots. So, back to straight breast milk waiting for that to clear. It's been a week now and not all the dots have gone away, although they are fading ever so slowly. We put diaper cream on her every diaper change (babysitters too). It's just taking a while. Unfortunately, my milk supply doesn't really have a "while". I'm diluting the breast milk with water (1 part water, 2 parts breast milk) so she has enough liquids, but it's not going to be long before I won't even be able to give her that much. So after a week of this diaper rash and only being on breast milk (and water), I tried another formula. This one is milk-based but made for 9month - 24 month babies. And I'm trying a different method of introduction - 2 oz of formula total for the first week. So far, the diaper rash isn't any worse, and she seems to be tolerating the formula okay. I'll keep working on this transition, but at least we may have found something that will work.

Tonight Kim and I installed a new convertible car seat into my car. It's still rear facing, but we're ready now to switch her around when the time comes. Come on 20 lbs! I'm excited to put her in it tomorrow, although she probably won't feel like it's any big deal. But to me it's yet one more thing to remind me that I don't have a little baby anymore - she's growing up!