Grow, grow, grow the kid...

Oh.My.Shattered.Nerves.My.Kid.Is.Growing.Up.Waaaaaaay.Too.Fast *proud crying face*!!!!!!!!!!

The little monkey that I feel was born just yesterday is now 5 months old. She grabs things, stands up, baths sitting upright, sometimes sits by herself with some support from the couch, holds her own teething toy and has worked out that her milk is in the bottle.

Soon she'll be holding her own cutlery and literally throwing her toys around and there will be teeth. It's too cute!

The last few days have seen some massive changes. She's not gaining enough weight despite getting the maximum feed so we started mixing formula into her milk. Well, we were supposed to gradually change the ratio of breast milk to formula over 2 weeks but she just took the formula as is after 3 days. Coupled with that, she's been showing all the signs of being ready to start solids so Trevor and I made her first taste of rice cereal her 5 month birthday celebration.

I was so nervous about giving her cereal. I was still Googling and reading my baby books about 20mins before her feed. Honestly, hosting a live TV show was less stressful than giving a small child mushy food. Anyhoo, she had her milk and thankfully didn't drink the full amount so I used the leftover bit to mix into the cereal.

Trevor stood ready with his phone (I must have everything in a digital format for posterity. Nerd!), we got her into her bouncing chair and I made sure the cereal was runny so she could just taste it. She was pretty confused at first but kept on accepting little spoonfuls although most of it ended up outside of her mouth. She tried getting her hand into the cup I had the cereal in and also tried to take the spoon from me because she doesn't know what on earth it is or what it does. All in all, it went quite well and she will officially be getting her little dose of porridge before bedtime.

"I'm happy about this food stuff"

"I wanna hold the spoon Mommy."

Now all this will contribute to her increased growth and prosperity. The downside is the effect all this has on me. Besides being super proud to see my girl grow, it also means I'm no longer breastfeeding. Let me tell you; having one's boobs decommissioned isn't pleasant. I'm pretty sure my bra size changes by about four cup sizes during the day and I wake up in the morning looking like I got silicone implants from the night before. Ja, it's quite something.

Also now that I'm no longer the milk machine, I can officially drink again. Woohooo!!! It's Woman's Day tomorrow, we're going away for a few days and there's a braai tomorrow night with friends. Guess who'll celebrating her kid's independence with a glass or two of vino :-)

Here's to you Wren-Lee!!!!!!!!!!

*Being 5 months old is tiring*