Happy 5 months, baby!!

October 8th was our little baby's 5 month birthday!! Granted Valentina is more of a 2.5 month old... But we are happy and healthy, and thats all that matters! Yesterday's doctor appointment went smoothly, though Petunia was fussy because she was hungry... We nursed a little, but when she is that hungry, it's hard for her to focus on the boob, the bottle ends up just being easier for both of us... We're working on it still.... (SIGH)

So I can't find where her current weight is written down, but we are over 10.5 lbs!!! That's about 4.7 kilos!!!! Valentina is outgrowing EVERYTHiNG! Even her socks that were too big just two months ago, they finally fit! Just today, i started poking extra holes in her bottle nipples, to make it easier for her to drink!! (I've tried a few "Stage 2" nipples for her favorite bottles, and she ends up drooling out half the milk and choking on the rest.... I take this to mean we are NOT ready for Stage 2.. Ha!!)
Her hair is getting a little bit darker and her eyes are a steady dark grey/ blue... Can't tell what that means quite yet, but sometimes I see Victor in her face, sometimes I recognize my own facial expressions... That I think is the strangest part... This little troublemaker is the first blood relative I've ever known... It gives me chills... She is just so loved!! I've also started swaddling Valentina, when she gets super fussy and hysterical, something she wasn't interested in these first two months home, but lately she gets so ravenously hungry (growth spurts!) but she can't settle down, I wrap up my little burrito and she chows down and is immediately knocked out. I have to wake her to burp, but that's better than having little milk burps dribbling down a sleeping baby's face.. Gross...

And Grandma Patti will be THRILLED to know... We gave the doctor's consent.... We can fly!!! Which means trip to the US!!!!! We were supposed to be coming home to NY THIS week for my cousin Allie and Alex's wedding, but not knowing when we could fly three + months ago when we should have bought the tickets... It was just too much... I'm thinking we will make our American debut come January, once the airlines' holiday prices go down... I need to desperately have my eyes checked, new glasses, contacts, teeth cleaned (I have a teeth thing... Not a dentist fear, I just don't trust anybody but my awesome dentist...), I am signed up for a full blood work up, tests head to toe.... As a result of my pre- eclampsia and HELLP syndrome, I wanna have every last part of me reviewed. I am in the process of doing the same here, but I feel that there is no harm in doing it twice, both here in Portugal and at home where my Daddy can look over all my files, have colleagues he has known and worked with for 25 years review everything, etc. The hardest part about being adopted for me (and pretty much my only hang up about it) is that I have no known medical history. And I almost died during childbirth. Worst fear: lived through it. Let's get a paper trail for my DNA now.... I know pre-eclampsia can hit any woman, no matter the family history.... I just feel... It's something I should do, since the technology is available to me. Maybe we will discover I have some latent protein deficiency or something random and I'll get some meds that make me drop 20 lbs... hA!!!

Ok!! Enough babbling.... 9 AM time to rock & roll!!