30th
7-month Open Letter
Liebe Hannah,
Your seventh month with us was full of travel! Right after your “six-month birthday” you and Papa and I all flew to Germany with you for the first time. You were a wonderful traveler. On the flight over, a wonderful Lufthansa stewardess attached your bassinette to the bulkhead. I nursed you and put you in it shortly thereafter and you slept there until she had to remove it for landing! And while sleeping in it, you pooped more than you had ever pooped before, a diaper I unfortunately had to change while kneeling on the floor in front of my seat with you squirming about. There was a line for the bathrooms before landing.
We saw your uncles and aunt and cousins in the Black Forest. We then headed to Munich and points in-between to visit Mama and Papa’s friends who are all very busy reproducing. This will be so great when you can all play together on later visits.
The trip home from Germany was somewhat of a nightmare, but you were an angel. OK, not quite so angelic in the long flight from Frankfurt to Chicago, but you made up for it during the fiasco at the Chicago airport which involved delays, thunderstorms and our flight being cancelled. Thank goodness for one amazing United ground crew member, Ivan Rivera, who realized that returning from overseas with a 6-month old in your arms is no picnic. And because we were nice to him on a day when no one was nice to him, he got us on the last flight into Lincoln, preventing us from sleeping in the airport with you.
The following week Mama and Papa left you for the first time, and we traveled alone for 5 days. Mama pumped breastmilk at 4-hour intervals and got engorged and plugged up and was rather miserable. Most women’s production would go down, but your Mama, the Dairy Queen, kicked it up a notch, producing extra milk for the Baby That Wasn’t There. I was glad to be back with you and “even out.”
You stayed with Grandma Connie and were a great baby. Grandma Connie complained that you always needed to be within view of her, but she would likely complain about something else if you hadn’t needed that. She was also recently quoted as saying, “She sure looks just like her Daddy, but she is still cute.” Grandma sometimes needs to slow down and consider the full weight of her comments. Papa and I know you are beautiful, just like your Papa, with Mama’s brown eyes.
This month you learned to roll over in both directions. You are beginning to tuck your legs under you and may figure out this crawling thing soon, but you can no longer be left alone anywhere! You LOVE your Johnny-Jump-Up and launch yourself a foot off the ground as you squeal in it.
You put everything in your mouth and drool and drool and drool, but no teeth as of tonight. “Solid” food (Mama thinks it is funny that they call it “solid” since it is all so runny) has been going well. You like squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, apples and your favorite seems to be pears. Bananas were not such a hit, nor were the peas we tried on your tonight. When you don’t like something you grin and keep your tongue pressed to the roof of your mouth. A rather pleasant and entertaining refusal.
Each morning when you finally awake, you begin to babble in your crib, we assume commenting on the wonderful night’s sleep and pleasant dreams you just enjoyed. Each night when I lay you down, you usually go after your thumb for a final good relaxing slurp. I kiss you once more on your soft, chubby cheek and am overwhelmed by how much I love you.
Love,
Deine Mama
