where you been?

Yikes. Didn't mean for all this time to go un-blogged. Not much has been going on. I was home for an unexpected six weeks and then got a tiny 1 day stage shoot that was the easiest job of my life which I finished today and back to being unemployed. During that time we mostly hung out at home but there were activities nearly every weekend including this weekend marking the beginning of summer time. We played softball as a family and I managed to avoid embarrassing the Fredrich name by getting three hits, scoring three runs, and getting an out!

This little tyke has gotten pretty predictable except for a few nights of waking up at midnight crying for no reason we can determine other than probably teething. Goes to bed from 8-9, wakes up at 7:30/8, naps between 9:30/11 and 2:30/4 for an hour-two each. She's getting two top teeth and they seem to be bothering her more than when she got the bottom ones. She's waving, clapping, crusing along the furniture at LIGHTNING speed, standing unassisted, and taking teeny baby steps when she feels like it and we prop her into standing. I can't believe we're at this phase already, the walking phase. I've taken it day by day and that's helped me not feel so overwhelmed but it's hard to imagine that soon she'll be wearing shoes not just to amuse her mother but because she'll need them.

I'm also sorry to say that we are no longer breastfeeding. I wanted to make it to a year but I made it about 8 months exclusively breastfeeding, 9 months partly supplementing, and 10 months totally on formula. I wasn't a very responsible pumper and no matter what supplements I took or how much water I drank my supply just kept dipping and dipping and I just couldn't keep up. If I would have tried a little harder while I was home with her for so many weeks maybe we could have turned it around. For awhile I was able to nurse her for her first nap and right before bed but then my supply dipped really low and she would get frustrated about how long it took to get going and how little she was getting and I took the easy way out and just gave her formula. I was sorta beating myself up about it but Matt kept telling me how proud he was of how long I was able to do it and I am grateful I was able to do it at all. She is really healthy though, hasn't been sick yet. But now there's all these reminders around the house that just make me sad I'm no longer giving her the really good stuff. Bye bye pump. Bye bye nursing pads. See you for the next baby, if there is one.

On the other hand, she is eating a lot of food. We've been letting her feed herself for months now and we sit at the table and whatever we're eating I just cut up into baby bite sizes for her. I still have not convinced her to eat an egg but like a good vegetarian she loves tofu, tempeh, and quinoa.

So that's us. Or well, that's Alice, which is our whole life lets be honest. We are two months away from her first birthday and we're still hoping to make it to Austin for the 4th of July. I'm not gonna have some crazy elaborate birthday party for her because let's be real, she's not gonna remember. Hard to believe that it's been almost a year already. Someone stop this crazy train.