Cast free and in Ponstei braces

Pun'kin is now four months and 9 days old! Pun'kin and I traveled to California for three weeks last month. In those three weeks she progressed from 2 ounces every three hours to 4 ounces every three hours to now 6 ounces every 4 hours! On October 5th Pun'kin got her casts off FOR GOOD! She now has Ponseti braces which she will wear for 18-20 hours a day everyday until she is 6 months old. Then after she is 6 months old she will only have to wear them at night time and naps!She also developed a cold in the triple digit weather! Also Pun'kin can now start having rice cereal! It's so crazy to see the transformation of her. She is smiling more often and trying to talk. She want to talk so bad but just doesn't know how. She does however know how to mimic facial expressions. She is growing so quickly. I do have to say NEVER TAKE A FOUR MONTH OLD ON A ROAD TRIP! Honestly, I wanted to shoot myself. Pun'kin had never cried the way she did before. It killed me and sent my anxiety way up the roof. I had never been so irritated with her before. I felt so bad for not having the patience to just let her scream, but when you're stuck in a car and can't leave, it gets kinda difficult to deal with her screaming! I think I said to myself " now I know why they say put the baby down in a safe place and walk away" I can now understand how easy it is to just want to shake your baby. When I was trying to rock her when we pulled over I found myself rocking too hard and just took a deep breath and calmly slowed down and then she calmed down. Man at one point of the trip I was tempted to throw myself out of the car let my mom and twin take Pun'kin home and hitch hike the rest of the way. I don't think I have ever felt like more of a crappy mom to Pun'kin before. It was a challenge for sure. Next week she has her four month wellness check up. I'm pretty excited but not excited. I don't do needles so that's a daddy duty. He gets to be in the room with her. I'm too much of a sissy la la. Tomorrow we are going to start Pun'kin on the rice cereal. YAY! I think the most exciting thing is NOW I CAN GIVE HER A FULL BODY BATH. No more sponge baths! When they took her casts off man did her feet STINK! It was pretty bad. The doctors had warned us that her calves would forever be under sized and I really didn't think you would be able to notice but you can. They are so tiny. Pun'kin is doing okay with this new adjustment. When we take her braces off for an hour at a time she is kicking her legs away and as happy as can be, but as soon as the braces are back on she throws a DIVA TUDE! It's funny. She has such a "loud" personality. I love it. I am looking forward to the up coming months and watching her crawl and doing the whole "trying baby food" I am excited but then again not so much. I am not looking forward to her flinging food at me or sneezing while eating. NOPE... totally not looking forward to that. Pun'kin is also going to start sleeping in her crib like a big girl! So many wonderful things are happening. As of right now I need to try to sleep,because Pun'kin is asleep. So as always, stay classy my friends and good night.