8 Months Old & First Food

Today Imogen is 8 months old and we thought we'd celebrate by giving her her first food! I know some people think it is crazy that a baby can last 'so long' on just breastmilk alone, but really, before 1 year of age, any food at all is just for taste and carries no nutritional value. Our doctor said we could start feeding her babyfood when both we and her were 'ready'...and although I can say that we weren't necessarily ready, Imogen was giving us all the signs that she was. We started her out with some tasty bananas! My guess is that maybe she actually ingested a teaspoon worth? A picture tells a thousand words below:

I tried giving her some so innocently at first. She didn't open her mouth, but rather sat there staring at me as if to say, "what am I supposed to do?!?!"
I dabbed a little under her upper lip and tongue. You can see how much she liked it above. Her faces were priceless!
Chris decided to give it a try next, and got just about as far as I did.

So, we let Imogen explore on her own. She played in it and was happy!

Although she didn't put her fingers in her mouth at all, she did lift the jar and put it in her mouth one time and looked shocked to find a new taste! It was quite the event -- which was succeeded by a bath, of course.

Other fun things about Imogen at 8 months old:

* She weighs right over 18 pounds
* She is wearing 9-12 month clothing
* She goes from sitting to the crawling position and back (but no crawling yet)
* She gets around inch-worm-style. She can go anywhere this way!
* Her pincher grasp is in full force. She is able to focus on something very tiny and grab it!
* She tries to pull up on anything and everything
* She calls me "na na" and Chris "da da"
* She loves to give hugs to people she knows and recognizes
* She continues to love the bathtub and doesn't cry when water goes in her face

Imogen is generally a happy little girl and we have been very blessed to have her with us. She makes us smile when we're sad or upset or angry, and she adds to our joy at all the happy times. We cannot imagine our lives without her!

Lots o' Pictures

Back in November, we had Imogen's 6-month and Christmas photos taken. Sandy, from Red Lotus Photography, has decidedly become our family's 'family photographer' and she was back again. Here are a few photos from the session that I loved that you probably haven't seen before:

Here are a couple from early January taken by us around the house:

Enjoying a good play on the floor!

Flipping through a magazine to pass the time while Daddy finishes up his homework.

Also, want to send out Happy Birthday Wishes to my brother, Anthony!! Happy 24th Birthday!!! And also, a big Happy Birthday to my friend, Esra!!! :-)

Pulling Up

On Thursday this week, I was in Imogen's bedroom putting her clean clothes away and she was playing on the floor. She likes to scoot herself over to her dresser drawers and pull them open. Well, one of the times when she pulled a drawer open, she grabbed the top of it (from a sitting position) and pulled herself into a squat. Then pushed up! I couldn't believe it -- right in front of my eyes! She's been trying to pull herself up on things for awhile now, but that was the first that either of us saw. What a big girl she is! Here is a picture of her standing after pulling herself up on the couch in our living room. I always keep a hand on her because she doesn't have full balance yet, but our little lady is getting so big so fast!

Under the Weather & Longies

Thursday marked the first day that I noticed Imogen getting a little under the weather. Thursday night was especially fun -- definitely our roughest night since the day we brought her home! We only got 2 hours of sleep. So, we decided to take her to the doctor on Friday to make sure she was A-okay. The doc checked her out and said, "no fever, no strep throat, no ear infection, no flu." It is just a little URI. She said to continue flushing her nose with saline and using the bulb syringe to keep it clear. Today she is feeling better (I think) -- her nose seems a little less stuffy and she slept well last night. We kept a low profile this weekend to reduce her being outside in the cold and exposed to germs. It was very nice to relax at home and give her some extra TLC.

All the time at home gave me more time to knit. I finished my first pair of 'longies' !! I am so happy with them. Longies are knitted pants that are made with wool yarn, which is a natural diaper cover over cloth diapers. They can be quite expensive if you buy them knitted up from someone else, which is one of the reasons I wanted to learn how to knit them myself. As you read before, my older sister, Lisa, taught me how to knit over Thanksgiving. Since then, I've knit Imogen two hats and then these pants! I just decided to dive into a pattern and figure it out as I went along -- and I think that was the best way for me :-) Here they are:

Longies Specs
Yarn Dyed By: Three Irish Girls
Yarn Type: Carys BFL
Colorway: Gwendolyn

Front:

Back:
My favorite way to look at them in pictures:

The only bad thing about them is that they are too small for Imogen. I followed the pattern for a medium size and later learned that the pattern runs small :( But that's okay! This was my tester pair anyways -- and we'll just save them for the next little Boyle! I have some pretty Valentine's Day yarn, so I'll be sure to post pictures of those pants when I'm completed.

Hope everyone had a safe and happy weekend!! Go Steelers!! Heading to the AFC Championship game...woot!!!!!!!!!

Milkshare

Since I went back to work when Imogen was 3 months old, I have continued to breastfeed, so every day at work I have to pump. I've been storing the milk for Imogen to eat while I'm at work, but have been fortunate enough to pump more milk every day than she eats. Slowly over the past 5 1/2 months, I've been filling our freezer to the point of max capacity. It got to where we couldn't even store much food in it! So, I decided to do something. I searched online and found a community called "Milkshare" where people go who want to donate breastmilk or receive breastmilk for their babies. I found 2 very lovely families and this past Friday, donated 200 ounces of my breastmilk to each of them. It's something that was very hard to do, but I know that other babies can benefit from it just as Imogen has.

One family was local here in Pittsburgh and their baby girl was a micro-preemie born at 24 weeks 1 day. She was only 1 pound 2 ounces at birth and survived! She was born at the same hospital as Imogen. The little girl is now 10 months old and such a tiny peanut at only 12 pounds. Imogen was huge compared to her. The mother breastfed for as long as she could, but after 6 months her milk went away and they've been using donor breastmilk ever since. They understand the wonderful properties of breastmilk and know how it is very different from formula, especially in the case of their special little girl.

The other family was from northern Virginia. They adopted a baby girl who was born in Missouri. She is just a month old. The mother also understands how important breastmilk is for her little girl, so has decided to seek it out rather than use all formula, although they have had to supplement.

Why would someone want another mother's breastmilk, you ask? The WHO (World Health Organization) recommends feeding an infant (in the following order):

1) The mother's breastmilk from her breast
2) The mother's breastmilk from a bottle
3) Another mother's breastmilk from a bottle
4) Commercial Formula

It made me feel very happy that I could help 2 other little babies as much as I am loving feeding Imogen. I will continue to donate in the future if I can, and encourage others to as well if it works for their family!

Visit www.milkshare.com for more information.