Wednesday, October 8, 2014

10 Months!


A couple days ago our sweet girl turned 10 months!!  (Well... actually more like almost 2 weeks ago now.)  I can't believe we are less than two months away from her being a year old.  This whole baby period has flown by, and I'm not ready for it to end.  Since there's a good chance, she'll be our last, I really have a hard time accepting that I won't have a baby again.  I really want to soak it all up because she is just so darn sweet and precious.  Don't cry, don't cry....

I read Carson's 10-month post and there were definitely a lot of similarities.  She's been mobile for quite a bit longer and is all over the place! I turn around and she's clear across the room or down the hall.  She's sneaky!!  She's been cruising around all the furniture and standing on her own since 9 months with a lot of confidence.  She's taken a step here or there and has good balance, so I wouldn't be surprised if she takes off some time this month.


She went from 2 teeth to 7 teeth this past month!  She wants to feed herself but likes to shove too much in her mouth (like Carson did), so I've been a little slow to the whole transitioning to real food thing.  She's still been pretty much exclusively on baby food, but I'm trying to start giving her more real stuff.  It's just hard though because a lot of our meals aren't very baby friendly.  I told her school that they could start letting her try whatever they were serving, and so far, it's gone fine.  She's eating pretty good there.  She likes feeding herself, but I don't think she's totally sure about the new textures yet.  She can scarf down some Mum Mums, puffs, or yogurt bites though!  So far, beans (various kinds), sweet potatoes, crackers, rice, and shredded cheese have been some of the 'real' foods at home that she's eaten without any hesitation. She's good at a sippy cup, but pretty much just drinks water and occasionally a little diluted juice.  I've tried cold breast milk, and she didn't really go for it.


She still loves to nurse in the evenings or if she's really tired and there aren't any distractions around.  I know in Carson's 10 month post, I finally brought myself to accept that he was no longer nursing at all.  I was still pumping, but he really stopped nursing around 6 months, only nursing on rare occasion after that point.   I'm thankful that she still enjoys it.  I know I will have a hard time giving that up (but heck no, I won't be one of those moms nursing a 4 year old).  If she wants to go a little longer than a year though, I'm perfectly okay with that.

She's still a great sleeper.  I've noticed that at school, she's starting to transition to one nap that's at most 1.5 hours, so by the time she gets home, she's super tired.  She's usually asleep between 7-7:30 and will sleep to 7-7:30am.  On the weekends at home though, she naps a ton!!  It's not uncommon for her to take a couple 2+ hour naps.  She even slept 4 hours at one of her naps.  She wakes up happy and with her hair a hot mess!

Carson is her favorite!!  She just loves watching him and playing with him.  He definitely makes her laugh!





Still a thumb-sucker :-)




She loves sunnies!







Carson is blurry here, but her expression pretty much sums up how she feels about him.


He loves to give her kisses... such a sweet big brother!


And... we're over it!
(Actually... this is about where we are everyday by 6:00pm.  As I said above, she doesn't nap much at school and is EXHAUSTED by the time she gets home.  I think I mentioned above she's asleep by 7-7:30, but the last couple weeks, it's been even before 7pm.  Tonight was 6:30pm.  The bad part is she's been walking up now around 6:30.  :-(  She makes up for the lack of sleep on the weekends though and is a napping machine!)


And one more thing... just for grins I've started showing her the sign for "more" and "all done"... she's got "more" down already!  :-)





Sunday, September 21, 2014

More Sewing Projects

I finally dusted off the old sewing machine a few months ago.  I forgot how much I LOVE to create things!!  It is definitely my stress relief!!!  I love having something tangible when I'm done... especially when it's something that Elizabeth or someone else can wear!

Sailor-inspired dress made from one of Nana's embroidered pillowcases.

Paris-print sundress the daughter of my friend/business partner, Abby, who lived in France and her daughter was born there.


Halter dress made from an old pair of Andrew's boxers.


Ruffle butt romper using the Paris fabric



"1st day dress" for cousin Charlotte




Nederland Bulldogs outfit for Elizabeth


Matching sister "Baylor" dresses & headband/bow for my friend/business partner, Brittany.  They are die hard Baylor fans!  


The big girl dress is reversible!




More outfits to come!  I have LOTS of fabric and just need to find a little more time!  :-)

Chompers

So... I totally forgot to mention that Little Miss now has 7 teeth!! SEVEN!!!  Right around 9 months, her second top tooth sprouted through, then pretty much the other top two came in at the same time.  A third bottom one popped through this week.  She's been a little more irritable than normal, but considering she got 4 in a month, I'd say she did pretty good!!  She looks so big without that gummy grin.  :-(

Saturday, August 30, 2014

9 Months!!

Miss Elizabeth has now been "out" as long as she was "in"... give or take.

This is such a fun and sweet stage... AND much more challenging than the last several months have been.  The girl is into EVERYTHING!!!  She's for-real crawling all over the place, pulling up on EVERYTHING, and grabbing ANYTHING in sight... most of which goes straight to her mouth.  As I noted earlier, she is determined.  She does not give up easily.  She's also started "cruising" around the coffee table and between furniture.  She can easily go around our circular coffee table.  It's funny to put something on one side and make her go get it... it's a fun little game she likes to play.  Almost every day that I pick her up from school, her teachers say she's just going to take off any day.  I don't think it's that imminent, but I definitely don't think she'll be a year old like Carson was


1st Aggie Game of the Year vs. South Carolina (Aggie WON 52-28 - p.s. Kenny Hill killed it!!!... Johnny who???)





Up until the last week, she's been almost ALWAYS happy, which has been her demeanor all along.  The has been a little moody lately because she is teething like crazy.  A week or two ago she sprout her first top tooth and the other has just popped through as well.  It looks like the other two top ones will be next, so I'm sure the other bottom two aren't far behind.  Carson went from 2 to 8 teeth at about this same time too.  This is definitely the grumpiest she's ever been.  You can tell when she's in pain... poor baby girl.  :-(

He was a little grumpy at Emily's 40th birthday... her 1st top tooth broke through the next day.  Explained a lot...


9-Month Stats:
Height: 28 1/2" (82%)
Weight: 18lbs 8oz (56%
Head Circumference: 43 3/4" (48%)
How the Appointment Went:  She screamed the whole time the doctor or nurse was messing with her.  She doesn't mind playing or being held by others at all, but she didn't like being messed with.

 

She LOVES Carson... and that just makes me smile.  They are so cute playing together, especially in the bath tub.  He can always get her to laugh, and she just loves watching him.  Now that she's grabbing at everything and into everything, the "she's stealing my toys" phase has started, but MOST of the time, Carson is pretty good about it.  Bath time is still their favorite!



She's finally eating three "meals" a day... granted, those meals consist of one, and once in a while two, containers of baby food.  This has meant her milk intake has gone down quite a bit.  She'll either take a bottle or nurse first thing in the morning when she wakes up (7-7:30ish) and then wants breakfast (usually a baby yogurt or fruit) shortly after she gets to school (usually around 8:30).  She'll usually take a small bottle (2-4 oz) before she goes down for a name around 10:00.  For lunch it's another container of baby food, followed by another small bottle.  She used to always eat 4-6 oz, but now it's usually 2-4 oz.  She'll take an afternoon nap and then usually want another small bottle before I pick her up.  She's usually ready for dinner around 6, which consists of veggie, fruit/veggie mix, or her favorite protein combo, Apples & Chicken.  It doesn't smell like baby food meat... thank goodness!  That stuff is nasty!  After dinner it's bath time with Carson and then she's usually down between 7-8 after nursing or a bottle.  Lately it's been closer to 7.  She doesn't last too long once she comes home from school.  Lately it's not abnormal for her to wake up once either before I've gone to sleep or in the middle of the night.  That lasted about a week and seems to be over... I hope.  We've tried some table food and haven't had much luck yet.  We just entered the puff and yogurt bites stage, so I'm still not too confident in her real food chewing abilities quite yet.  She's gagged a few times on those, so I'm still a little nervous.

Her hair is still CRAZY!!  I am in LOVE with her messy mop!!  

"Crazy hair, Don't Care"  (Thanks, Wannie!)



She's still a sweet, little thumb-sucker.  I know my wallet will hate it later, but kind of love it right now.



She's a social butterfly at birthday parties... and Carson has had a LOT of them over the last few months!



Little Miss LOVES to be outside.  We are ALL ready for a little cooler weather!


A few other little things I want to remember:
  • She's got this funny thing going on with her tongue.  Kind of hard to describe, but she loves to stick it out and lick her top lip.  She often smiles with it in the same position.
  • If she doesn't want the food you are serving or is full... she loves to spit it back at you.  I'm working on that.  :-)
  • Her laugh is hilarious... sort of like a snort or hiccup.
  • "Ma Ma" and "Da Da" are still her only real words.  We tend to hear Da Da more often and Ma Ma when she's upset.
  • She's started clapping, especially when you say "Yay!"
  • She loves swinging and having Carson push her.
  • She can hold her bottle by herself.
  • She loves her Mum Mums.
  • She's recently discovered how to rip her bows out and destroy them.

We love this little girl so much and are loving watching her grow... just wish it would slow down a bit!

And one final thought for you....

GIG 'EM!