13 Months

What a big month this has been for you! You are walking. It's official. You still fall down a lot, and you mostly look like a drunken midget with your teetering, but there's no denying that walking is your favorite mode of transportation (aside from being carried in our arms.....). :-) I think that means you'll be heading to the Tod 1 room soon! I have never been one of those moms who doesn't want their kids moving to the next room - I say "Bring it on!" It means you'll continue to expand your horizons and learn how to play and learn with the older kids. I think some moms get nervous because it is such a big change from being pampered and coddled in the nursery to having rules, organized play and eating at the table. But both you and Hads always seem to embrace new opportunities. It is exciting!

One thing we need to work on in the coming weeks is your acceptance of milk from a sippy. You have no issues drinking water in a cup - but you still demand your milk in a bottle. We're working on it - eventually you won't have a choice!

The other transition you seem to have difficulty with is babysitters/separation anxiety. Even though your only babysitters (aside from Ba who isn't babysitting much right now due to her school schedule) are teachers from school (Linnea and Katie) - and people you trust - you are not fond of being left alone at home with them. Especially when it comes to bedtime. Apparently you have given both girls a run for their money at bedtime - something you never do for us. You are such a happy girl 99% of the time - something even strangers comment on about you - but MAN! when you get upset, there's no stopping you until you just wear yourself out. I think the only way to get over this is to continue to expose you to other people putting you down. Oh darn. I guess that means daddy and I need to go out more often.... :-)

I am anxious to see what the next few weeks bring for you. As the weather SLOWLY turns to Spring (I actually think with this ridiculously cold and wet weather we're having that we may just skip Spring and go straight to 98') I look fondly toward the days where we all just play outside and you and your sister chase each other around the yard. What fun you two are starting to have together! There isn't a luckier mom in all the world.

iloveyoumadly.
mama

Nine Months

WHOAAAA! How are you 9 months old already? As you can see, it's been a while since I've updated this little journal of yours. The last two months have been a bit intense. One day after you turned 8 months old, I had major surgery. I spent pretty much the entire second-half of December on the couch unable to do anything but get up occasionally to go to the bathroom! I am recovering now - back at work and doing really well. But the worst - absolute WORST part about this situation - is that I am unable to pick you up or carry you. I can hold you in my lap if someone else puts you there, but that's about it. It was so emotionally difficult the first few days - I really had no idea how hard it was going to be not to be able to carry you and hug you and overall be your main source of comfort.

But on a really positive side, you and your daddy are now inseparable. Oh my, how you love him so. During my initial recovery, you - of course - came down with a WICKED ear infection. Your 4th ear infection. In 8 months. You were up all night for about a week, and poor daddy had to help all by himself. I couldn't do anything. So you were both up all night for days, rocking in the chair, singing songs and cuddling. Aside from being devastated that you were in so much pain and that I couldn't do anything to help you, it was so heart-warming to see you two bond. I have my 6 week check-up in a week and a half, and I am hoping he'll say I'm all healed and in the clear. But my guess is it's going to be until the middle of February...... in the meantime, your relationship with daddy is growing stronger everyday.

So on the topic of health, yours is still all over the place! Like I mentioned above, you've now had 4 ear infections in your short little life. They've already started mentioning tubes. We'll see. COME ON APRIL!!!!! And right now you're suffering from your first round of constipation, which brought with it a ripe case of diaper rash from your hard little poops. If it's not one end, it's the other I guess.

You are now fully sitting on your own, and even learning how to stand when hanging onto things like your toy piano! It's so exciting to watch. You can go from sitting to your army crawl really quickly, and pretty soon I bet you'll be able to get your belly off the floor and really crawl! Though I don't think it matters much - your army crawl is so fast! It's really funny to watch. Your sister was the same way - so it's either that we have tile floor which makes the army crawl really easy, or it is some genetic thing that made neither of you decide to get up off the floor.

Because of my surgery, you were really fortunate over the past month to see all of your grandmothers! Nana came first, then Grandma and Grammy, Gramps and Uncle C just left today. You loved all of them so much! Gramps thinks you might be one of the funniest babies he's ever met. He's convinced you look at us all like we're fools - especially when you throw that knowing smile. You don't give up the smiles easily. Most of the time, you smirk at all of us trying to get you to smile - as if you're sitting there going, "Seriously, people. You're not funny. Bring your A game."

Man I can't wait to see what you're going to be like in a few years.

iloveyoumadly.
mama

Four Months

You are four months old today!! Seriously. Where is my life going.....?

Where do I begin with this update? Well, for one thing YOU'RE ALREADY ROLLING OVER!! I don't know if I am ready for this yet. Now I have to pull out the bumpers in your crib and watch you like a HAWK to make sure you're breathing through the night since you will ultimately only want to sleep on your stomach from here on out. This is very distressing. But hey kiddo!! Way to be advanced in your gross motor skills.

Did I tell you I dropped you on your head? Yep. I am the clear winner for the 2009 Mother of the Year Award. I will start this by saying you're clearly OK. No long-term damage done. And other than your refusal to let me hold you for a good 15 minutes after the incident, there wasn't any short-term damage, either. So here's how it all went down: we were in Minnesota for our annual summer trip. I was showing you off to Grandma and Andpa - letting them see how strong you were by letting you sit up on the table barely supported (seriously - looking back on this I have no idea what I was thinking), and you fell over on your head. Not to the floor - you hit the table - but there was a large thud followed by blood curdling screams. I started crying, Hadley started crying because she was terrified of what she just witnessed, and Daddy immediately grabbed you out of my arms as if I was some sort of terrorist. It was horrible. And to make matters worse, Grandma called me "SuperMom" in jest for the next two days. But like I said: you're OK. :-)

You were baptized while we were home. It was a beautiful ceremony in Grandma and Andpa's backyard with family. Uncle Brad came too, since he is your Godfather. It was so much fun. You slept through the entire ceremony - even when JR poured the water over your head (he actually got it to stand down for all of about 2 minutes!). At one point your darling big sister reached over from my arms and grabbed your hand - she held it through the rest of the ceremony. Everyone smiled at the wonderful relationship the two of you already have.

You were also a very lucky girl - you got to visit not only with all of your grandparents, but your great-grandparents, too. You saw Grampy and Nonny this trip. They both loved you and were so thrilled to spend time with you.

I absolutely love being your mommy. You are the smiliest, happiest baby I have ever known. Thank you for showing me that having a second child just allows my heart to grow exponentially for my babies. I am so blessed to have the perfect family.

iloveyoumadly.
mama