It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like... A One Year Old!

I can't believe that in less than 3 months my daughter will be a year old. She had her 9 month appointment on Monday and she's grown so much. She's now 18lb 3oz, which is still only the 38th percentile, but she's 28 inches, which is the 71st percentile for length! I was waiting for that to happen as tall as I am.

She's really become a pro at getting to a sitting position on her own, and we often find her sitting up playing with toys when we get her after naps. She pulls up on everything she can get her hands on (except her crib for some reason). She's still really wobbly, but she does pull to stand. She can crawl some, but doesn't like to. She prefers to roll around. She's been so incredibly talkative recently. She has always been a talker, but now it's getting even more fun and word-like.

Her sleeping patterns have been crazy for about two weeks. She spent 5 days waking up a lot, then 5 days mostly sleeping through the night. And the last three nights she's woken up a bunch very early. She goes to bed at about 7:15, and last night woke up at 7:45, 8:30, and 9:30. The last time I just peaked at the monitor and saw she was OK. She cried for maybe a minute and then went back to sleep. I usually give her some time before going in to get her because she tends to fall back asleep on her own, and I distract her too much.

I've been worrying about getting the house done in time for her birthday party. We still don't have real countertops and it's starting to make me nervous. I have so many ideas for her Bubble Guppies theme and I want everything to work out the way I see it in my head. And that requires having the house done. At least we're painting next weekend.

I've gotten her so many toys for Christmas, and I'm excited about the world of possibilities that opens up for her birthday. It's the end of February so it'll be almost time to head into Spring, which means I can get her outdoor toys (like a slide, a water table, and a ride-on giraffe!). Plus she'll be a year old and I can start getting her into things like Little People which are SO cute!

I just can't believe how fast time is passing by. It feels like I like every new age she hits better than the last, but I still miss her being a tiny baby. I was looking at pictures yesterday of her as a newborn and I can't believe that was this year. She's growing up so quickly and I'm not ready for it. Of course this has brought talk of baby number 2, which we're planning on transferring next Fall. I really want E to have a sibling, and I want to be pregnant again, so we'll see how that goes. I still need to lose 50lb and get my kidneys under control. I keep thinking I have time, but then I look at how fast this year has gone and think "Wait a minute. Next October is only 11 months away!".

We're gearing up for the holidays and I'm going to post some fun pictures of the house after this weekend. For now, please enjoy my little girl in her reindeer sleeper! Apologies for the second one being blurry. She was moving a lot but it was SO cute I had to post it!

9 Months

Yesterday was a big day for us. Not only was it Thanksgiving, but it was my birthday, and E turned 9 months old.

She's such an amazing child. We spoke yesterday about things we're thankful for, and my husband pointed out that he's thankful for E, and for Me for carrying her, and explained that he really had no idea how much he could love another person. "I thought I loved you" he said to me, which illicited laughter from the family. We knew what he meant.

At 9 months she's still the happiest baby. She's begun sleeping through the night and happing well. She says "Mama, dada, no, and kitty (dit-dee)". She can crawl a bit, though she prefers to roll, she pulls up on shirts, hands, and legs (but only part way on furniture). She loves music and dancing, when I pretend to eat her fingers, and puffs. She loves puffs. She still doesn't have any teeth, and therefore isn't eating a ton of foods. She likes things that can get easily mashed, so we're building up to more things. It's nearly impossible to change her diaper these days. She's learned how to sit up without help, which just makes things even more difficult.

Every day I love her more, and I don't know how it's possible when I look back on how much I loved her the day before. Every fiber of my being aches when I'm away from her at work. I feel like my life's purpose is known - to be her mommy. I never imagined having E in my life could be this amazing. She's the best thing, by far, that has ever happened to me, and I will do anything and everything to make her life everything she wants it to be. I truly believe my daughter is perfection. She is a beacon of joy to everyone around her. She's so incredibly easy to fall in love with because she's so incredibly amazing. In just 9 months she's done so much for my family. I will never, in a million years, be able to express to her, or anyone else how I feel about her. The words that describe my love don't exist. That's the most I can say.

I can't believe that in 3 short months my tiny girl will be 1. All I can do is thank her for giving me purpose.

Here are some pictures from yesterday's trifecta of awesome.

Here she is with my dad. He still has a blood clot in his leg after 9 days in the hospital, so he couldn't move around much but he was so happy to hold her.

She loves my camera. And I love her eyes. They're so beautiful. They always look brown but they're decidedly not brown, as you can see here. They're grey and amazing.

Flirting with daddy.

Making uncle Matt and aunt Jo want kids.

Chillin'. What?

Here we go with the eyes again. They're like a gorgeous blue here.



Catching Up

As usual, it's been a while, and there's a lot going on in our house. Evangeline is developing so quickly these days I fear she'll be in college before the next time I blink my eyes. She's pulling up some and sort of crawling and with mobility comes hilarity when you're talking babies.

Last night, I helped her to stand. She still hasn't perfected pulling up (you can see below that she's pretty close), but she loves to stand. I have to hold down her play table because it's not particularly sturdy. After a few minutes I felt a tiny little hand on mine, pulling it up and off of the table, then dropping it. At first I thought she was just curious. I then realized she was making a very clear statement with the motion, which was so delicate, yet so incredibly filled with distaste. I imagine that in her little baby head, the thought was something like "Excuse me, mother, but this is my toy, and you do not have my permission to touch it!" (which I imagine in a brittish accent even though I'm not sure she's ever heard a brittish person talk).

It was hysterical, and she followed it up by letting go of the table and just standing. Not wobbling... just standing. Then she grabbed it again and continued on her way.

Sleep has been interesting. She was afflicted by the 9 month sleep regression last Friday, and has had myriad troubles since then. I attribute this to her new skills. We find her sitting up in the crib on her own, or crawling around instead of sleeping. Last night we made a lot of progress when she slept until 4:15am. Except that when I woke up, she was not on the video monitor, and I had to run into her room to make sure she was OK. She was just hiding (damn that mobility) but it woke her up. I think we might have made a full night if it weren't for her clumsy mother.

Her favorite thing to do aside from standing is grab my eyeballs and scratch the shit out of my face with razor thumbnails (no matter how often I trim them!). This part can end whenever it would like please.

She's still hellbent on saying "Dada" but the "Mama"s are coming a little more often. The other day Andy handed her the phone and she said "MAMA!!" but mostly she says it when she's feeling needy. She also shakes her head and says "no", and eats puffs like a champ. And she said "kitty" but people would debate me on that. I would if I wasn't there to see the cat jump up on the couch, Evie lunge for her and scream "DIDDY!!". She hasn't done it since, but she did it once prior when my parents' dog (who is the size of a cat) walked in the room.

Here's last night in pictures.

Happy Halloween!