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Confession: I am pretty darn proud of myself for having gone camping with Alice at eight weeks old. Seven weeks prior, when we brought her home, I struggled to wrap my head around how to take care of her, despite being surrounded by the conveniences of a modern home — electricity, microwave, baby monitor, etc. Less than two months later? We’re hanging out in an old motorhome with no heat (by night) and no cooling (by day), and bugs and mouse poop and a sack of cloth diapers making the outhouse smell even better. Good work, team!

It’s also safe to say that any of the baby blues I was dealing with have gone on their merry way — thankfully. That was ROUGH. I’d lie in my bed, staring at nothing and crying intermittently, while other people took care of the spawn I wasn’t sure I really wanted, wondering if those same people and spawn really wanted me. Good news — we all really want and like (dare I say LOVE? 😉 each other. I am amazed by Alice and spend too much time staring at her. She is growing so quickly, I can probably see the changes if I stare long enough. At her last doctor’s appointment, she’d hit 11 lbs 2 oz (and was 6 lbs 11 oz at birth). Holy crap. Some of her clothes, that she swam in, no longer fit her. I know that those of you who are parents are laughing at me and those who aren’t probably don’t care :-), but it’s incredible. Really. She’s slowly becoming more interactive, too. When we smile and giggle at her, she’ll often smile and giggle back. She has taken to batting at things in front of her, instead of just flailing her arms aimlessly… okay, in addition to flailing her arms aimlessly. Her noises are more varied. It’s neat-o.

Oh – and for those of you anxiously awaiting the results of the formula switches, we’ve got her back to the original mix. Gas isn’t as bad, probably just because she’s older, and we give her Ovol drops when she’s struggling. The lactose-free formula made her poop uber-hard and dense. (You’re welcome).

A picture to leave you with, below. The cats are warming up to Ali a little bit; this is her nestled in my bed, with Jackson and Bonobo coming to say hi and risk getting their fur yanked.

much love –
Kim

AliCats

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