{"id":1117,"date":"2009-05-04T01:09:04","date_gmt":"2009-05-04T08:09:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/?p=1117"},"modified":"2014-08-15T20:25:19","modified_gmt":"2014-08-16T03:25:19","slug":"letting-her-grow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/2009\/05\/04\/letting-her-grow\/","title":{"rendered":"Letting Her Grow"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I know, I know. People tell me they grow up so fast, but this is too much &#8211; Gem is already getting too big for some of her clothes.\u00a0 Some she didn&#8217;t even get to wear.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, we had a well baby checkup. At 6 weeks old, she weighs 12 pounds, 4 ounces &#8211; up from 7 pounds, 9 ounces at birth.\u00a0 She has grown 3 inches in length and her head circumference has increased by 2 inches since birth.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/2009\/05\/letting-her-grow\/letting-her-grow-2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-6749\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"6749\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/2009\/05\/04\/letting-her-grow\/letting-her-grow-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/letting-her-grow.png?fit=640%2C480\" data-orig-size=\"640,480\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"letting-her-grow\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/letting-her-grow.png?fit=640%2C480\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6749\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/letting-her-grow.png?resize=640%2C480\" alt=\"letting her grow - CoffeeJitters.Net\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/letting-her-grow.png?w=640 640w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/letting-her-grow.png?resize=300%2C225 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I worry about how quickly time is passing. I&#8217;m afraid I&#8217;m going to miss something. I&#8217;ve gone whole days without taking a picture of her &#8211; and she changes so much each day.\u00a0 I&#8217;m a bit sleep deprived and my brain is often in a groggy haze &#8211; I worry I&#8217;ll miss a smile, or a giggle, or a coo. She is so close to rolling over, she can scootch herself several inches away from where I put her down, she has discovered the baby in the mirror, and when she smiles &#8211; my heart stops.<\/p>\n<p>I once heard someone say that parenthood means deciding to let your heart run around outside of your body. I&#8217;m starting to get this picture of parenthood as one big, long, excruciating yet joyous exercise in letting go.\u00a0 This started for me even before her birth.\u00a0 When complications started piling up and I spent the 33rd week of my pregnancy in the hospital, I got a crash course in accepting the fact that I can&#8217;t control everything.\u00a0 On an intellectual level, I understand that I can&#8217;t control everything about my daughter&#8217;s upbringing &#8211; on an emotional level, I still want to try.<\/p>\n<p>Over the past several years I&#8217;ve had several lessons in letting go &#8211; losing a job and my father&#8217;s death were big lessons. Later I mustered the courage to let go of the income that came from a dead end job so I could go back to college.\u00a0\u00a0 Lessons learned, perhaps, to prepare me for the years ahead of holding her close, while at the same time, letting her grow.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I know, I know. People tell me they grow up so fast, but this is too much &#8211; Gem is already getting too big for some of her clothes.\u00a0 Some she didn&#8217;t even get to wear. On Thursday, we had a well baby checkup. At 6 weeks old, she weighs 12 pounds, 4 ounces &#8211; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[761,694,138],"tags":[272,310,311,671],"class_list":["post-1117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family-living-well","category-living-well","category-parenting-living-well","tag-gem","tag-growing-up","tag-letting-go","tag-life-lessons-2","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/letting-her-grow.png?fit=640%2C480","blog_post_layout_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/letting-her-grow.png?resize=150%2C150",150,150,true],"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/letting-her-grow.png?fit=640%2C480",640,480,false]},"categories_names":{"761":{"name":"Family","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/category\/living-well\/family-living-well\/"},"694":{"name":"Living Well","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/category\/living-well\/"},"138":{"name":"Parenting &amp; Family","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/category\/parenting-living-well\/"}},"tags_names":{"272":{"name":"gem","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/tag\/gem\/"},"310":{"name":"growing up","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/tag\/growing-up\/"},"311":{"name":"letting go","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/tag\/letting-go\/"},"671":{"name":"life lessons","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/tag\/life-lessons-2\/"}},"comments_number":0,"wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/letting-her-grow.png?resize=150%2C150",150,150,true],"cvmm-medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/letting-her-grow.png?resize=300%2C300",300,300,true],"cvmm-medium-plus":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/letting-her-grow.png?resize=305%2C207",305,207,true],"cvmm-portrait":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/letting-her-grow.png?resize=400%2C480",400,480,true],"cvmm-medium-square":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/letting-her-grow.png?resize=600%2C480",600,480,true],"cvmm-large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/letting-her-grow.png?resize=640%2C480",640,480,true],"cvmm-small":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/letting-her-grow.png?resize=130%2C95",130,95,true],"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/letting-her-grow.png?fit=640%2C480",640,480,false]},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1fDeG-i1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8341,"url":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/2015\/04\/25\/the-birds-and-the-bees-of-butterflies\/","url_meta":{"origin":1117,"position":0},"title":"The birds and the bees of butterflies","author":"Judy Schwartz Haley","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"growing butterflies from caterpillars, and releasing them to the wild.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Daily Life&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Daily Life","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/category\/living-well\/daily-life-living-well\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/butterlies.png?fit=1200%2C675&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/butterlies.png?fit=1200%2C675&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/butterlies.png?fit=1200%2C675&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/butterlies.png?fit=1200%2C675&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/butterlies.png?fit=1200%2C675&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7982,"url":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/2014\/12\/31\/gems-gems-2014-wrapup\/","url_meta":{"origin":1117,"position":1},"title":"Gem&#8217;s Gems 2014 Wrapup","author":"Judy Schwartz Haley","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"My kid says some funny stuff, and every year I post a round-up of some of her best lines. enjoy. \u00a0Ambition G: I can be anything I want when I grow up? Me: Sure, what do you want to be? G: A unicorn Me: wanna watch a movie? G: No.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Parenting &amp; Family&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Parenting &amp; Family","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/category\/parenting-living-well\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/gems-gems.png?fit=640%2C640&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/gems-gems.png?fit=640%2C640&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/gems-gems.png?fit=640%2C640&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12248,"url":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/2023\/10\/29\/october-is-selective-mutism-awareness-month\/","url_meta":{"origin":1117,"position":2},"title":"October is Selective Mutism Awareness Month","author":"Judy Schwartz Haley","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Selective mutism is a rare disorder, a communication disability, affecting less than 1% of kids.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;courage&quot;","block_context":{"text":"courage","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/category\/courage\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"october is selective mutism awareness month","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/selective-mutism-1.png?fit=1200%2C675&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/selective-mutism-1.png?fit=1200%2C675&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/selective-mutism-1.png?fit=1200%2C675&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/selective-mutism-1.png?fit=1200%2C675&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/selective-mutism-1.png?fit=1200%2C675&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12673,"url":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/2025\/12\/16\/sorry-for-all-the-weird-blog-posts\/","url_meta":{"origin":1117,"position":3},"title":"Sorry for all the weird blog posts","author":"Judy Schwartz Haley","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi friends, You may have recently had your inbox fill with jibberish posts from my blog. I'm so sorry about that. There's no need to worry. My blog wasn't taken over by hackers or anything awful like that. As it turns out, I was being clumsy. I installed a new\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blogging&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/category\/creating-a-living\/blogging-creating-a-living\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/oops.png?fit=1200%2C675&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/oops.png?fit=1200%2C675&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/oops.png?fit=1200%2C675&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/oops.png?fit=1200%2C675&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/oops.png?fit=1200%2C675&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12145,"url":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/2023\/02\/18\/6-benefits-of-freewriting\/","url_meta":{"origin":1117,"position":4},"title":"6 Benefits of Freewriting","author":"Judy Schwartz Haley","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Freewriting is a simple writing practice that helps prime the writer for creativity and inspiration among other benefits","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Inspiration&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Inspiration","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/category\/life-skills\/inspiration-living-well\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/6-benefits-of-freewriting.png?fit=1200%2C675&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/6-benefits-of-freewriting.png?fit=1200%2C675&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/6-benefits-of-freewriting.png?fit=1200%2C675&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/6-benefits-of-freewriting.png?fit=1200%2C675&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/6-benefits-of-freewriting.png?fit=1200%2C675&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9299,"url":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/2021\/01\/31\/while-we-wait-for-after-the-pandemic\/","url_meta":{"origin":1117,"position":5},"title":"While We Wait for After the Pandemic","author":"Judy Schwartz Haley","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Enjoying living while much of our lives are on hold This has been a waiting season for all of us. The pandemic has sidelined our dreams and so much of our daily lives. Even spending time with friends and family is so fraught with consequence and concern. Without even a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Living Well&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Living Well","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/category\/living-well\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/waiting-for-after-the-pandemic.png?fit=1200%2C675&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/waiting-for-after-the-pandemic.png?fit=1200%2C675&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/waiting-for-after-the-pandemic.png?fit=1200%2C675&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/waiting-for-after-the-pandemic.png?fit=1200%2C675&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/waiting-for-after-the-pandemic.png?fit=1200%2C675&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1117"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6750,"href":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1117\/revisions\/6750"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}