Monday, October 31, 2011

9 Months!

Dear Pumpkin,

I thought it was appropriate to save the nickname above for your October monthly letter :)  But I've been calling you Pumpkin for a long time.  And I say it A LOT.  Probably annoyingly often.  Anywho....

Nine months old baby girl!  You are getting so big!  Before we know it you'll be a year old, and this precious first year with our first baby will be over.  But I'll stick by what I've been saying and tell you that this last month was our best one yet.  I love every month with you more than the last, so as sad as I am that you are growing so quickly, I know that I have so much to look forward to in each coming month. :)

You are slowly becoming mobile, and as fun as that is, I already miss the days of putting you down and knowing that you'll be there when I turn back around.  You go from sitting to laying down easily, and you are starting to be able to sit up from a laying down position, but that is just starting.  Your mode of transportation is still rolling and it's really funny to watch! 


As you can see, we've just discovered that you are ticklish too!
You get up on all fours like you might start crawling, but then you flatten back out and roll away.  Ha ha!



You are really good at standing while holding onto something (nice and flat on your feet) and you are starting to take some steps if we hold your hands, so maybe you'll go straight to walking and skip the whole crawling thing.  Apparently I did when I was a baby :)  

One of the things that I really love about you is how chill your general attitude is.  You love to examine things and you will furrow that little brow and spend a long time with your toys.  You are content to just sit and hang out, and I LOVE that.  And although you can be wiggly while we try to change your diaper, if we give you a toy you will hold still and play while we change you.  You are also pretty patient with your food, and you just sit quietly while we feed you with your spoon.  You don't really like to get your hands messy and if you accidently touch them to your mouth while you are eating you hold them out to your sides like "Yuck!"  It's funny.  You are very patient with getting into your car seat or stroller or high chair.  You just sit quietly while we fumble around trying to buckle you in.  Like I said, chill baby :)

You still don't like getting your jammies on at night, but Aunt Tina discovered that if we sing Row Row Row Your Boat, you stop crying immediately.  How funny is that?  You love that particular song.  Thanks Aunt Tina!

Your naps are continuing to be pretty great, 2 one to two hour naps a day.  And then to bed at about 7:30PM until about 7AM.  Wonderful, absolutely wonderful :)

When you wake up I pick you up and we go around your room and open your plantation shutters.  All of the sudden this month you love that!  You try to help me open and close them, and when we are done with one set you look over to the other side of the room at the other set of shutters with anticipation!  Pretty cool, I must say.

You got your first tooth this past month and I was surprised because you haven't been that cranky.  We didn't even know it was coming!  But that little nubbin on your bottom right side is definitely there.

You are a talker and "Da da da" remains your favorite thing to say.  But you've added "Yeah yeah yeah" to your reportoirre.  "Ma ma ma" still comes out once in awhile, but not often.  I'm working on it though!  You love to talk to your toys and that is when we hear you the most.  So sweet :)  You have also just discovered that you can click your tongue and you get a kick out of that.  Mommy can do that too!  But Daddy can't.  Hee hee!

The feature that you are definitely most complemented on is your beautiful, big, bright eyes.  Strangers comment on them all the time.  That is the thing about you that struck everyone right from the day you were born.  Including the doctor that delivered you.  He said he had never seen such an alert newborn in his life!  You are our bight eyed (sometimes wild eyed) baby.

With every month you are getting longer and leaner.  Daddy says you are svelte ;)  You are a skinny little munchkin, but pretty long. 

Weight: 17 lbs, 13 oz (40th percentile)
Length: 28 1/4 inches (75th percentile)
HC: 45cm (80th percentile)

This month at your doctors visit you got your first flu shot and you took it like a champ.  No crankiness in the days after either.  You are eating really well, but seem to be having a tough time going to the bathroom, so we are going to try some prune juice.  You also have had a diaper rash for a few weeks now that isn't going away.  We've gonna give the cloth diapers a break and put you in disposables with diaper cream for awhile, and hopefully that will help.

Cheerios have become a lifesaver these days.  You LOVE them, and it's a great way to keep you quiet and content when we are out.  You are getting really good at feeding them to yourself and you can pick them up now with your thumb and pointer finger instead of raking them around with your whole hand. 

Another food that we discovered you LOVE.... cheese!  Like mother, like daughter.  Cheese is quite possibly my favorite food, and we found out that your love it too.  You reach for it and grunt and groan when it is around until we feed you some.  A slice of cheese has become a lifesaver with you in the grocery store.  You will sit in the cart as happy as a clam as long as there is cheese!

We'd like for you to drink more water, but you are not really a fan of the sippy cup.  You drink a little bit from it, but you much prefer to use a big girl cup.


Ha ha!



In general, you remain a very happy, content baby and Mommy and Daddy thank our lucky stars for you every day!



Here are your 9 month pictures:






Your current favorite things are:

Toy: Tray from your Step and Play Piano
Food: Cheese
Activity: Jumping in your doorway bouncer and clapping your hands
Time of Day: Morning
Person: Tie between Mommy and Daddy.  You truly light up like a firefly when either of us walk
              into a room!
Song: Row Row Row Your Boat

Here is your 9 Month video:


My little cheerleader!


Addy Marie Pumpkin, Mommy and Daddy love your gummy grin, kissable cheeks, and sweet baby laugh.  You are our world, and we love you more every single day.  We couldn't be happier than we are right now at this special, precious, fleeting time in our lives.


Love, always and forever,

Mommy



Friday, October 28, 2011

Addy's First Tooth!

Yup, it came!  Mark the date: October 24th!  Monday night on our way home from dinner with my grandparents, I was in the backseat with Addy and she started gnawing on my finger as usual.  But this time there was something pointy jabbing into my finger!  I told Mike I thought she might have a tooth, so when we got home he pried open her little mouth and sure enough, there it was.  A little nubbin of a tooth, barely visible.  But it was there!

The very next day when I walked into Addy's nursery after her nap I found her sitting up in her crib.  Another first!  

Big week for our little girl! 

Back to her post for the Steeler game!


We're ready!  (Yup, those are her cloth diapers drying on the line in the background.)


"I love my football coaster!"


"Here we go....Steelers....Here we go!"

The day we discovered Addy's first tooth!  We hadn't found it yet at this point.  Ha ha, notice Daisy's head peeking over Mike's shoulder?


Tried to get a tooth shot, but it was so little and hard to see in real life, much less on film.


"Mom, that's what I think of you prying my mouth open to get a tooth picture."


Flying baby!  This is Addy's big move when she doesn't feel like laying down anymore.  She cries in this Superman pose until you pick her up.

This week we finally had a play date with Carley!  It's been so long!

Hi girls!


Carley plowing over Addy.  Look at Addy laughing!  She thought it was hilarious!


"Carley, look at how big I am!  Soooo big!"


Just hangin' at the Step and Play Piano


Busy girls :) 


So busy, in fact, that I had time for this during nap time.  They both slept at the same time for an hour and a half!  I figured I'd make a little bit of baby food, but the girls kept sleeping and sleeping, so I kept cooking and cooking.  This was the final product!


Play date, round two! 
 "Here I come Addy."
"Cool.  Come over and play with me Carley."


"Wait.  Ouch!  My hair!"


"Ummm, seriously?  What is going on right now?"


"I'm just gonna stand here and play my piano."


"Carley!  Are you really pulling down my pants?!!!"


Best friends! 

I had so much fun during the AC (Addy and Carley) play date!  It's hilarious to watch the girls interact with each other.   More and more fun every time!  And, lucky for me, they were both really pleasant that day :)

After the play date was over, it was time for Addy's weekly pics.  Can. Not. Wait. for these to be over.  It's soooooo hard to get them, but I feel like I've made it this far into her first year, I'm not gonna quit now.   So here we go!

By far the best one!


Close second. 

Then we have the out takes....


This what happens when I try to lay her down for the pics.  She immediately (I mean IMMEDIATELY) rolls onto her stomach.  Thank goodness no one is ever around to witness the ridiculousness that goes into keeping her still for a few decent pics!


Looking like she might crawl, but no dice.


"I'll just roll over here."


Mission accomplished.  Her goal in life on these picture days is to capture the weekly sign and eat it.


 
A little blurry, but the best one I have of Addy in her first Halloween shirt.



Ummm, pooping perhaps?  I think so.




Whew, all done with pictures for now.  Many more another day :)


So there's Addy's 39th week!  Lots of action this week: 
Her great grandparents came for a visit. 
She got her first tooth. 
She sat up from a laying down position.
She had a play date with Carley. 

And to top it all off, Addy turned 9 months old on the day she turned 39 weeks.  I had to work though, so the weekly pics were actually taken a day early and the monthly pics a day late.  Shhhhh don't tell ;)  I'm gonna work on Addy's 9 month letter this weekend.

We took her for the 9 month doctors appointment today and Mike and I were both able to go, which was nice.  We have the weekend off!  Woo hoo!  3 whole days...in a row...off together....with no traveling.  Unheard of for us!  But we are so excited to hang out together and spend the weekend with just our little family :)

We're gonna head out to the Greenway in a little while so that Daisy and I can run, while Mike and Addy walk.  T-minus one week until my Savannah half-marathon!  Hope everyone has a great weekend!


Monday, October 24, 2011

Ooooh Baby Baby!

Last week, after my Mom left, Mike's fam came down for a visit, including Addy's one and only cousin Luca!  It was baby mania and we all loved it!  This was the first time Luca's been to Addy's house, and she wanted to show him the ropes.


"This is the rubber ducky that we play with in my tub."


"Here ya go.  Sit right here.  Good job, look at the camera."


"Let's hold hands.  They love stuff like this."


"Living in this house is like one big photo shoot."


"But if you make faces like this, sometimes it'll end quicker.  If you smile they'll never put the camera away."


So, as I'm going through my pics from the weekend with Mike's family, I realized that I have no pictures of anyone besides the babies!  As usual, when there are babies around, everyone else takes a backseat.  Ha ha!

We had a great time though :)  Hung out at the house, went out to eat, hit up the farmers market.  And the guys played golf too, of course.

As I was Skyping with my sis one day last week, she jokingly suggested that I put Addy's "point" (as we call it) in a ponytail.  Call it a point, call it a rat tail, call it what you want.... I did just that.

Addy's first ponytail!  Cracks me up every time I think about it :)

Close up.

Side view.   Having a discussion with Scout.

She couldn't figure out how to get that Velcro clip out of her hair.  Headbands, no prob.  She can rip them off with the best of 'em.  But she couldn't get to the back of her head for this one.  But, no worries.  All she had to do was turn her head quickly or lay on the floor, and out it slid.  Addy still doesn't have a whole lot in the hair department. It was hanging on by a thread.  ;) 

Tina said I should leave it in when Mike got home and not say anything to see if he noticed.  He did.  Immediately.  His response?  "What the heck is in her hair????"  And as he said it, she rubbed her head on his shirt and out it slid.  Ha ha!  Still a little early for ponytails, but we'll get there Addy.  Before you know it, we'll get there.

Random side note.  Addy still enjoys her activity mat, but these days she prefers to sit up and try to eat it.....

And Daisy is always underfoot for some added entertainment if needed.

Then came Thursday, and you know what that means ....

"Must we Mom?  I need to make a phone call."

"Here I come!"

"OK, fine.  Here is your smile."

I love that cute little pajama set that Mike's mom bought Addy.  And I just realized that for the past three weeks in a row, weekly pics have been in her pajamas.  We're a little slow in the getting dressed department.  Typically we keep our jammies on until after Addy's first nap.  Yup, that includes me.  I usually get ready for the day during her nap and then get her dressed after the nap.  But the weekly pics happen first thing, because that is when she usually is the most pleasant.  So weekly pajama pics it is :)

I hear my little nugget stirring now, so it's time to start our day.  Today my grandparents are coming to visit on their way back from my uncle's house in Charlotte.  Yay!  We can't wait!!!