growth.

last weekend when we were visiting the in-laws it was brought to my attention that amely is tiny. and by tiny i mean really skinny. i mean, we knew she was small and have been doing what we can to fatten her up on breastmilk - protein shakes, high protein foods, etc. but apparently she's decided to grow length wise and not width wise.

amely was born 8lbs even and 21 inches long, but when she was put in phototherapy for the jaundice she lost one whole pound. and four weeks later she had only regained half of that. so three weeks ago at her 6 week appointment, she weighed in at 7 and 3/4 pounds. something to worry about? no.

why not?

because the poor girl grew 5 centimeters. that's TWO INCHES. in 4 weeks. the doctor told us that most babies only grow one or two centimeters in the first two months. maybe three. but amely has grown 8 since she was born.

despite her obvious growth, everyone, and i mean everyone including strangers on the street, have their opinions on what we need to do. ignoring random ignorance has been a problem of mine and when samil was an infant i had to bite my tongue so many times it's a miracle i can still talk at all. so now, when people tell me how horrible breast milk is or how horrible we are i have to re-learn to keep my mouth shut. and my hands to myself.

i have a baby who sleeps 6-7 hours at a time, doesn't really cry a lot and is generally happy. no signs that she's starving to death. the only problem is she isn't fat like dominicans like to see their babies. she's beautiful and healthy and until the doctor tells me otherwise, we're going to continue doing what we're doing. so keep the opinions to a minimum and i won't have to hit anything.