Superbaby!

My daughter, at the tender age of 14 1/2 weeks, just grasped the pacifier I was holding in front of her, and put it into her mouth correctly.

I have never been prouder in my whole entire life.

It's been a pretty intense week. Over the weekend, my mom and MIL visited, and pretty much totally reinforced why we live 2,000 miles away from them. They accused me of drinking too much while breastfeeding and damaging my baby. Never mind that I follow careful guidelines and timing on my drinking, staying within the bounds of what the vast majority of info out there says is okay (1-2 drinks a day have no adverse affects on babies, assuming you're timing it correctly, according to multiple sources). Never mind that she's hit every single social, motor and physical milestone so far either early or on time. Never mind that they really haven't been around babies for about 30 years and have no idea what the fuck they're talking about. They didn't even give me the benefit of the doubt. They were convinced she was acting "abnormally" and that I was "playing Russian roulette with her brain". Boy, do I hope they visit again soon!

We researched their accusations and it turns out that all the behaviors they were so concerned about are completely normal for a 3 month old. So they were, basically, totally and entirely wrong. Also, my mom is pretty anti-drinking (she doesn't like the taste of alcohol) so any alcohol consumption is too much, in her book.

I really wish they had either done better research or at least given me the benefit of the doubt, ie, "She might be sleeping too much," instead of, "She's sleeping too much." Turns out the average 3 month old baby sleeps 15 hours a day - 10 hours a night, 5 hours during the day. By an amazing coincidence, that's exactly how much my baby sleeps, sometimes even less than that.

Anyway. Family trauma aside, the day that they left, Ellie and I both came down with a wicked sore throat and low fevers. I'm pretty sure the visiting mothers stressed me out so badly that I got sick, which in turn got my poor baby sick. We spent the next couple days feeling like absolute hell. Now we're much better, although we still have runny noses and coughs. I'm just glad neither of us has a fever any more; even a low-grade fever is no fun at all.

Still, although it's been kind of a crappy week, it's over now, and we're moving on to bigger and better things! It's a beautiful day outside, so we're going to plant things in the garden which will hopefully turn into yummy vegetables over the next couple months, some of which I can then convert into homegrown, homemade, organic baby food. How's THAT for Super-Mom? Damn straight.

UPDATE: We talked to Ellie's pediatrician about drinking while breastfeeding. She said my behavior was "completely appropriate" and "no concern at all." She also noted that Ellie's cognitive and physical skills are either right on target or a couple months ahead of where she's supposed to be. Nice to have the reinforcement.