Fifteen months

Baby Girl,

Five months have gone by since I last wrote, and it feels like you've changed so much! I am sorry I haven't written more regularly.

You got a bunch of your teeth all at once, and now you are one canine and 4 molars short of a full set! Already!  I know it must be hard to have so many coming through in such a short time, but at least it's over more quickly.  You've been walking without holding anything for at least 4 months now, and you LOVE to explore. You love the zoo, the front yard, or anyplace outside.

Your words are coming more slowly than your walking and teeth-- "uh oh" is your favorite, and you say Mama, Dada (though not always directed at one of us), and apple-- you've said Ball a time or two.  You're babbling constantly though, and I feel like you're just going to start having a full conversation all of a sudden one day.  And I am really looking forward to talking with you. :)  But I do love your sweet little babble noises.

Your first birthday was celebrated twice-- once with each set of grandparents. You didn't really know what was going on, but you always love having extra folks around to love you. :)

You've been at day care for 3 months now, and we are all happy.  You love your teachers and your friends, and you don't cling to me or cry at drop off.  And when Daddy picks you up at the end of the day, you squawk and run to him and make him the happiest person in the world.  Anticipating that transition scared me to death and you breezed through it like a champ.

Cheese is your favorite thing in the world, next to boob.  You can open the fridge and point to the drawer where the cheese lives, and when we get it out of the fridge you giggle and clap and flap your little arms in excitement.  You also like salsa, and still love grapes and oranges.  You get pizza on Fridays at school and apparently clean your plate and a friend's too.

You dance when you hear your favorite songs (Itsy Bitsy Spider, the theme to Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood) and you love your kindermusik class at school.  You did inherit a bit of musicality from both your parents: your father, the frustrated pianist and your mother, the karaoke queen/band geek.  Maybe you will find something in music that will shape your future. Maybe you'll just bang together some sticks.  Maybe both. :)

Halloween was similar to your birthday-- you didn't know why things were different, and you sure weren't sure you liked that costume, but you got extra attention and love and that's always okay with you.  You were the cutest chicken that ever existed.

I love coming home after work-- you hear me come in and always shout out and come to find me, and it's the best part of my day. You've started patting me with your cute little hand when you rest your head on my shoulder, which is too adorable.  And your sweet little sleeping face before I go to sleep is the most peaceful thing I've ever seen.

I love you more than I knew was possible,
Momma.

Ten Months

Baby Girl:

I have been really terrible about writing these "monthly" updates.  Beyond terrible. I don't have much of an excuse so I won't even throw one out there.  So I decided to start writing about ten months when you're only nine and half months old so maybe by the time you hit ten months I'll have written an entire post. Maybe it'll be early!  Woot!

So, besides the fact that you are just the best thing in the world, and my sweet, sweet, baby girl, yesterday I looked at you and thought how much you don't seem so much like a baby anymore.  You're big. You're all over the place. You're getting to be a toddler.

You're not much for sitting still these days, and meals in restaurants are getting more difficult. Unless you have french fries or crackers or whateverthatisonyourplatemommythankyouverymuch.  You like food- and you want to try anything and everything.  Sometimes you just chew/gum stuff up and then spit it out, but you've been actually ingesting more and more.  Your fifth tooth peeked through your gum the other day and you can chomp with some significant force.

You're still sleeping in our bed with us. I love to snuggle you, but you're getting kinda rowdy and floppy... we will probably try to transition you to your crib soon, but we've been saying that for months.  I will miss sleeping with you but I think we will both sleep better. or at least that's what I'm telling myself.  It'd be easier if you weren't the sweetest cutest thing ever while you sleep, and especially when you wake up all smiley and sweet, like you're just so pleased to start another day.

You are crawling like a speedster, and you're walking if you can hold on to something (a hand, a table, the baby jail, your rolling walker toy), and starting to stand up all by yourself.  You can climb up a step (we don't have stairs, but I'm pretty sure you could get up them if we did), but you can't get down it without scaring me. 

We had our first real vacation last month- we went down to the beach in Florida with your Mimi and Pawpaw, and then to your Aunt's house for a few days. You took some excellent naps on the beach listening to the ocean, and you even liked the waves. You seemed to enjoy the pool a bit better though.  Next year you'll probably have more fun with the sand, this year you weren't quite sure about it.  My goodness, you love your Pawpaw, and he thinks you are just the cat's pajamas. You two have always been buddies, he comes once a week to hang out with you and Mimi, but on vacation you could not get enough of each other.

Pawpaw built you a swing for the front yard, and it is one of your favorite things.  You still enjoy a walk in the stroller, but it's not a guaranteed nap anymore.  You love watching children, and you giggle and giggle to see them. At the zoo you watched the kids more than the animals. I'm actually not sure you noticed the animals at all...

One animal you have noticed is Dobby.  You love Dobby. You want to squeeze him.  You want to lie on top of him.  You want to grab fistfuls of his fur and shriek with glee.  And bless him, he lets you. For the most part.  I don't know if he's too dumb to run, just really doesn't mind, or wants to be petted by me so badly he'll tolerate the consequence.  Merlin, notsomuch.

You like to stick your hands in my (or daddy's, or whoever's) mouth and grab our lips and try to rip them off our faces.  You love to watch videos of yourself on someone's phone.  You hate for the rings to be stacked up on the ring pyramid. You like to bang on various surfaces and listen to the noises. You make some great noises yourself, and though you've said what sounds like Mama you've never said it in reference to me, I don't think.  The closest thing to a word is "Ma... ma... ma... ma..." when you're hungry, asking for milk.  I love your little noises.   They're not always little, actually. 

Current nicknames: Chicken Little, Chicken Nugget, Chicken, Nugget, Turkey, Turkey Dog, Monkey, Pumpkin, Pumpkin Head, Lovebug, and, as always, Baby Girl.

I love, love, love you more than the world. 

Momma.

Max

We almost made it to our ten year anniversary- just a few days shy. I love you, Best Dog. You were the best good friend I could have ever asked for. I hope you didn't feel neglected the past few months since the baby's arrival. I think that with mom here everyday you got even more love-- more walks definitely. I also hope I did everything right at the end. I can only hope I did right by you as you always took such good care of me. Sleep well and I'll see you again one day.

Seven

Baby Girl,

You're seven months old now. I have not been a very faithful blogger.  The time is going by so fast and I don't know how to even begin to describe how much you bring to our lives every day.

You haven't started crawling yet, but you are quite adept and getting from one side of the room to the other via a series of moves: roll/sit up/lie down/roll, etc.  I have a feeling that you are going to be one fast mover when you actually get your feet underneath you.  We are in for quite the chase.

You are still a happy little thing-- you truly cry pretty rarely, and when you do these big tears well up and that bottom lip sticks out pretty far.  I don't know how you learned to do that, but it works. 

You want the remote. You want the phone. You want the comb I'm using. You want it all and you want to put it in your mouth, thank you very much.

You love to play piano with your Daddy, and you like swinging, and you like things that make music.  You want to see EVERYTHING.  I have to carry you on my side or facing forward because you don't want to miss anything. 

When you get excited you breathe in and out of your nose really quickly and it's so loud, and you kick your little legs back and forth like windshield wipers.  And when you're lying on your back, you kick your legs, together, up and down with so much force it lifts your whole body to your shoulders up in the air-- I keep waiting for you to leap in the air and land on your feet ("like Johnny in Karate Kid" says Daddy). 

You still like to go for walks in the stroller, but it's not as reliable at helping you sleep as it used to be. The car, though, is always a good nap inducer-- and I have spent a couple afternoons driving around for an hour or two while you sleep in the backseat, because you have decided that you don't love naps so much.  Nighttimes aren't too difficult, but we're getting ready to start a little bit of sleep training, so you don't have to be nursed to sleep.  Daddy needs to be able to put you to sleep at night, too... We knew this, but it was really brought home to us when Mimi and I went to the theatre one night and left you with Daddy.  You went to sleep pretty easily, but woke up an hour and a half later and you were REALLY!! MAD!!  You went right back to sleep about 5 minutes before I got home, of course.  But we don't want you to be sad, and I want to be able to go to the theatre again with Mimi in a couple months, so we have to get this worked out.

You started having some food about a month ago-- just a few things, sometimes from our plates and sometimes I get you something special. You love oranges, and crackers are popular.  But if it's something you can get hold of, you'll try it.  Max enjoys getting what drops to the floor.  You are still getting a vast majority of your actual intake from breastfeeding, and we're both still enjoying that. 

Speaking of Max, we found out a couple weeks ago that he has cancer.  I really hoped he would live long enough that you would grow up with some memories of him, because he is the best dog that I've ever known.  Unfortunately, it doesn't look like that will happen. But I will take lots of pictures and tell you all about him. You will have known him, even if you don't remember. 

You are the best thing ever. And I love you.

Momma.