Liliana’s feeding problem is a problem for the whole family, because we end up living like recluses. We’re only able to take Liliana out for an hour or two at a time for unplanned shopping trips or outings; if it’s any longer than 3 hours, then we would need to spend an hour beforehand to get all of her feeding supplies ready.

Since it’s such a hassle to do all of that, we barely go out. If we do go out, we have to be cautious with Liliana gagging and throwing up. It’s a lot better than when she was a baby, but it’s still stressful, especially when people see us venting her and holding her hands away from her mouth.

I’m fine with staying inside, but Sean’s the kind of person that needs to get out. We were able to go out a few times this week: last Saturday, we went to the mall where Liliana played on an indoor playground, and yesterday we went out. Liliana was able to go down the slide a couple of times by herself, but she fell once because she was trying to step backwards when she was on the playground’s stairs. She cried some, then went back and played some more.

I’d like Liliana to play on a playground more, but it’s not something I can do by myself during the week. I can just imagine Liliana falling somewhere, and I would either have to leave Damien in a stroller or carry Damien to get her (and then I’d probably be holding 40+ pounds of crying children!). I’m sure other mothers have no qualms about taking small children to playgrounds all the time, but I barely have enough energy to get through a day at home with these two.

Since Sean likes to get out and engage in physical activity, it would be nice if we could plan to go to a park every weekend or every other weekend, at least until it gets too cold. I think if we made it into a habit, it would be easier for us to get out, otherwise we’d never do anything! For example, on Labor Day weekend, we were talking about going out for a walk—but we never did! We talked about going out for a walk all weekend, but we ended up staying inside.

This weekend was kind of bad. I had a couple of outbursts toward Sean; I usually get mad at him because he’s not helping me with the kids, or he’s taking care of the kids and he gets mad at them. Basically, he can’t win! Sorry, honey!

It didn’t help that Saturday night I had a headache, and all day today my neck has been stiff.

Anyway, Liliana’s added more words to her vocabulary, and she’s now enunciating the letters of the alphabet pretty clearly (except for W), thanks to her grandmother. She’s also selectively taking an interest in food. Tonight, she grabbed the cheeseburger that I was eating (it had maybe 2 bites left), and bit it. She took and ate some of the top bun; she also tried some of the meat, but expelled it. She did eat some cereal puffs afterward, as well as a few cheese puffs. That’s pretty good, especially since she’s been having volume issues all day.

(This is weird. Damien’s sleeping on the Boppy on my lap, and I can see the pulse on his neck. Sean’s putting him in the crib now…)

Damien has been doing really well. He eats everything, he’s cruising really fast, and he’s even able to stand up on his own for a few seconds. He is being a Momma’s boy though, because he always wants to be held and he’ll cry even if he has a clean diaper, is full, etc.

Okay, I should do some work because I have a lot of things happening this week: Damien has a pediatrician appointment, something else is happening that I won’t talk about until after it’s done, and maybe something else is happening? I have to look at my schedule. Bye!

Edited to Add: One thing I did like about this weekend was watching Howl’s Castle with the family. Liliana really seems to like Hayao Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli movies, and it’s very endearing to see Liliana smile during a movie.