I forgot to write for the past week again, so this will be another two-for-one special. It's been a crazy time.
2 weeks ago, Emily had a HUGE week. For about a month, Emily had been rolling over maybe once or twice a week. But 2 weeks ago, Emily suddenly realized she was super good at rolling over and became a rolling over machine! It was super adorable to see her roll over with such ease. I'd put her down on the floor and when I turned around, she would be on her belly! I was so proud to see how much she had developed in the blink of an eye. But then, my pride over this rolling over feat soon turned into frustration because Emily started rolling over in her crib. Now, this is fine and dandy, except for the fact that she couldn't figure out how to roll back. She would start crying and wailing for someone to come and help flip her back. It was almost like sleep training again! Do we let her cry until she figures out how to get down? Or do we go in there and help her down bc it's more important to get sleep? This was a hard couple of days, and then just like that, she stopped. I think she realized that she hates being on her belly, and this is not what she wants to do all the time. So she stopped rolling over as much, and especially during her naps/bedtimes. So that was nice. Peace came back to the house.
On top of this - Emily began solids! We hit the 6 month mark, got the okay from our pediatrician, so we decided to move forward. I had prolongued this as long as I could because I really did not want to have to start preparing more food for her. But the time had come. I had racked my brain for weeks about what I wanted her first food to be. I had finally settled on korean sweet potato, bought it from Hmart, and had peeled it and ready to go. Then I realized that I had no idea if it was organic or not! That led to me sending Sy out asap to go buy organic veggies and realized that this was an expensive side trip.
We gave Emily her first sweet potato spoonful. I was proud that she was able to figure out how to open her mouth wide open to take in the spoon, but she did not like the sweet potato. She made a cute, little, unhappy face and scrunched up her eyes and basically did not eat it. The food just kept dribbling out of her mouth. We did sweet potato for 3 days, and then moved onto baby oatmeal, and then quinoa oatmeal. She seemed to like the oatmeal and quinoa a lot! Or maybe it was that she got used to eating and was enjoying it more. We've now also tried banana and sweet peas. It's so cute to see how with each new food we introduce, she always scrunches her nose, but then she gets used to it after a day or so. Preparing food for Emily is a small pain in the butt. But watching her and feeding her has been so fun. It's the highlight of my days.
Moving on to the sad portion of this entry - last week was my first week back at work. It took weeks for me and Sy to figure out a good solution for childcare, but we finally found a plan that worked. Sy's mom would watch Emily 4x a week; Sy would use his vacation days to watch Emily 1x a week. It was super busy leading up to my return to work as I had to go and buy duplicates of all our stuff so that Emily could have a 2nd home at his mom's house. I was a mess the entire week prior. I cried every day whenever Emily did something cute bc I knew I wasn't going to see her all day long anymore. I prayed super hard to win the lotto, but again, I did not win. When Monday arrived, I cried in the morning as I rushed to feed her before I left. I cried in the car as I said goodbye to her, and cried on my train ride into work. I was okay once I got to work since I was busy talking to people and catching up. Tues-Thurs was fine as well - no tears in the morning and day. But it was only on Friday morning that the tears returned. While I fed Emily her morning bottle, I remembered the opening song to Mike and Molly that I would sing to Emily every day as it played in the background during our afternoon feedings. Emily smiled so big when she heard me singing this familiar song, and I started to cry thinking about how I didn't sing her this song all week! Maybe she missed this song and was happy to hear it. And then I got sad that an entire week went by and I hadn't done all my usual things with her - singing songs, diaper change kisses, my special Emily song and dance, etc. Leaving Emily is so hard and sad, but a necessary evil so that I can provide her financially with all the things she needs and deserves.
From an Emily perspective - she did great for her first week without me. I had been nervous that maybe she would notice my absence and would cry for me or miss me. But she didn't. She was just fine hanging out with her grandma and grandpa and aunt and cousins. If anything, it was adorable to see her hanging out with her cousin Carol - who we hope will become her best friend for life. Emily had no problems sleeping, eating, and playing like usual. And again - if anything, she's begun sleeping more than usual - which definitely helps Sy's mom out during the day as she watches both Emily and Carol. I'm proud of Emily for being able to adjust to the new changes so seamlessly. It's also a good sign that she is now able to sleep better in foreign places. Hopefully, she will be fine as Sy and I hope to get out more often now.
I can't believe 6 months went by in the blink of an eye. I can still vividly remember the cold winter days of me and Emily at home. And then when spring came, it still felt like so far away. But here we are - 6 months done and back to work. I'm incredibly thankful that I had 6 months with Emily. It was the best time of bonding and watching her grow up. Once she finished her crazy, hard part - I really enjoyed the fun, cute times we had. I wish we could've had more time together, but I'll always be thankful for our time together. We spent the first half of her first year together. I know the 2nd half of her first year will go by fast again and I won't see it as much, but hopefully, she'll save all her milestones for when we're home to see it with our own eyes. It's the end of an era - but here's to a great 2nd act!
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