11 Months - The Month of Screams

Hey baby girl.  I'm just going to be honest here for a bit.  This past month was probably the roughest one yet for all of us.  The month started out great with Pa and MiMi here for a visit at the beginning of October.  You were great with them and loved them so much...and then came the screaming.  Not just any ol' screaming, like...go-to-the-bomb-shelter-because-there's-an-atom-bomb-headed-your-way kind of screaming.  We took you to the doc and you had an ear infection.  Put you on antibiotics, gave you some TLC and you got a little better.  Then you got a cold - and when you get colds, it's like every morsel of snot, drool and tears come out of your nose, mouth and eyes.  And then, you just got plain cranky.  You had been sick for a couple weeks and you had new teeth coming in...like, five of them coming at once.  And then you got the flu!  Eeek!  And that's when the atom-bomb screams really started.  There was a week where you screamed straight through it.  Mommy was going nuts and I wasn't really sure what to do...nothing mattered.  You wanted to be in my arms ALL THE TIME, but you still just screamed.  I felt so horrible for you AND I was going crazy all at the same time.  You still slept pretty good, thank goodness.

And then, one glorious Sunday morning...you woke up (not screaming) and you ate breakfast (didn't scream)...we played (no screaming)...and your Daddy and I just held our breath.  We went to church...you did awesome...ate lunch there (no screaming)...still holding our breath.  You made it through that day like the good-natured girlie that we know and love!  And your Mommy thought she had won the lottery!  =)  The rest of that week you did pretty darn good...and it's been that way since.  You definitely have a tendency toward screaming now when you don't get what you want or your ears hurt you...but you are 180 degrees different than those couple of weeks.  And we just hope it stays that way!

You are becoming such a little person.  You love to mimic sounds and words we use.  You can tell us how the monkey, puppy, cow, piggy, lion, elephant and fish go.  Yes, fish...you pucker up your lips all cute for that one.  You are into EVERYTHING.  You love exploring all over the house.  You have no real interest in standing or walking at this point because you have no need.  You get up on your knees and can hold yourself up in that way without holding on to anything....but you haven't pulled yourself to your feet yet.  And that's okay...I'll enjoy not having a walker for a little while longer!  The cabinets have been all child-safety locked and security gates are up everywhere.  I can't imagine what more we'll have to do when you are walking!

You love your Sissies.  You love waking up in the morning and finding where they are in the house.  The smile you make when you see them is awesome.  You love picking them up from school and having them sit in the back seat with you.  You love the attention they give you.  It's sweet.  In the past month or so we have gone to a ton of cross country meets for Kyndall and marching band competitions and football games for Megan.  We have been super busy with you...but you generally like traveling and going to new places.  You especially love the football games and seeing the Mountain Ridge mascot, Monte.  You think he is THE BEST.  

Especially now that you aren't forever-screaming anymore...you are such a treat for us.  You either love to play by yourself and can play for 30-40 minutes all alone...you love to stack stuff up on shelves, open and close doors and play with your fake phone (you'll hold it up to your hear or mouth and say, "Hewoooo").  Or other moods you have to be with us and be in your Mommy's arms.  Speaking of that, you have become a Mama's girl in the last several weeks - only I can feed you and hold you when you cry (at least if we want you to stop crying!).  And let's talk about this Mama thing for a second.  You stopped saying "Mama" for a long while!  At the beginning of 10 months, you stopped saying my name....in fact, when I would say, "Say Mama", you would say "Dada".  Not cool, baby girl!  That lasted a good three weeks....and you are just now saying Mama again!

And you are so pretty, baby.  I think I am probably just really biased on this one...but you are.  Strangers in public comment on how pretty you are all the time...especially your pretty blue eyes.  And your hair is growing in a lot now...and it's all wavy and curly in the back.  I love that!  You did not get that from your Mama!

You love interacting with people.  Peek-a-boo, wheels on the bus, itsy-bitsy spider, sweet baby (you love doing this with Daddy), blowing kisses (which is so stinkin' cute!), and we play like we are going to get you and you crawl away fast and just laugh your head off...you love all of those kind of things.  You have started watching shows on TV.  You LOVE VeggieTales and Backyardigans.  And Mommy relied on these HEAVILY when you were sick and cranky...and is very thankful for them and distracting you that week just a little bit.  You  should see your face light up when the songs start playing on these shows.  You are so crazy excited, your hands are flying everywhere.

With all the sicknesses of this past month, I haven't had you in your independent play time as much in your play pen...so we are currently re-learning that time in there.  This past week you have been in it every day and you are much better now...but you are still in the re-learning process there!

It was Halloween this past week too!  And you were a little chick-a-dee.  You were adorable...we went tick-or-treating with you around the neighborhood.  And then Daddy and Mommy had to eat your candy, darn it.  =)  Here are some pictures....

Here's a few more from when Pa and MiMi were here...

Next up?  Your 1st Birthday!!!!  I think it's going to be a very VeggieTale type of birthday for you!  Love you sweet baby girl!!!!

Nine AND Ten Months!

Gotta start with a HUGE apology!  I am so very late with these months of you.  But...better late than never, right?!  Right.  I'm going to tackle months 9 and 10 on this post...so, HERE. WE. GO.

Month 9

• Your Aunt Nora and cousins visited for a week.  And they loved you!  And you loved them!  We were so happy to have them here to spend time with all of us!
• Your second bottom tooth is starting to come through
• When I say, "Who's a girl girl?", you raise your hand while I say, "Me!!!".  
• If I sing, "la la la"...you sing it back to me!
• You can now sit in a shopping cart by yourself!  Yay! Which means, no more baby carrier either, you are in a big girl car seat now!
• Kyndall put you to bed while Mommy and Daddy went to a cross country meeting for her.  You did good...only ate half your bottle...but went right to sleep!
• You are scooting on your belly at 8 months, 3 weeks...you still love to roll too and have added in the army crawl.
• You love to clap, clap, clap!  To music especially!
• You know how the monkey goes!
• You moved up to the crawler room at church - even though we aren't "officially" crawling yet.  =)
• You LOVE peas!
• Aunt Edna came to visit for a few days

10 Months

• Your second bottom tooth is barely coming through
• You went to your first high school football game to see your Sister march in the band.  You loved being loud there with your Daddy!
• Right at 10 months, we took out the 3rd cat nap for you in the schedule.  The last month or so, sometimes you took it, sometimes you didn't...but now, it's officially out.
• You can drink out of a straw and love it!
• You put anything and everything in your mouth!  You pulled a small barrette out of your hair today and ate it and tried to swallow it.  Your Daddy pounded on your back and thankfully, it came back up!  No more barrettes in your hair!
• Can sit up by yourself - lowered your bed!
• Went to the doc for your well check.  You are 20 pounds 8 ounces and 29 inches long!
• Knows how to kiss!
• Clicks your tongue
• Gets up on all fours and rocks
• Says Mama and Dada a lot
• Dances to music while sitting up
• Had your first overnight with Uncle Ray and Aunt Brenda - did great!
• You try to say so many words now! 
• You can crawl!  Right at 9 months 3 weeks - better late than never!  Now you are getting so ornery with crawling!  Getting into everything!
• You love bananas - used to hate them when they were pureed!
• You eat around 20-22 oz of formula per day.  Not finishing your bottles like you used to!
• Pa and Mimi came to visit again - and you love them!  They were worried you wouldn't remember them, but you warmed up quickly!  Especially with Pa - he can really make you smile.  You love to wave at him real cute and say "Hiiiiiiiii".  It is the cutest thing ever.  You know how to turn on the charm!
• Love peek-a-boo!

Wow, baby girl...just looking through the two lists above, you are really growing!  You just got your second ear infection a few days ago, so we are fighting that with antibiotics right now.  It was almost comforting to your Mommy that something was wrong because you were screaming and screeching so much the days before, I wasn't sure I could take much more! Even your MiMi commented how you sounded like an atom bomb!  =)  You are on the mend now!

And you read it right, you finally learned to crawl!  Whew!  I think you knew how to roll so very well and could get anywhere you needed to go, so you didn't NEED to crawl real soon.  But, now that you know how to crawl...you are a crazy crawler!  Fast and into EVERYTHING.  =)  We are definitely starting to discipline!  Usually you just look at us and smile when we do.  Not cool, baby girl, not cool.  I have a feeling these next few months are going to be a bit more trying for your Daddy and me than it has been in the past.  =)

Here's some favorite pictures from the past two months....

Your Aunt Nora and Cousins JD and Cameron

Pretty girl - Aunt Nora got you  this dress

You and your Sister jamming

Sweet face!

Your Aunt Edna visited in early September!

Awesome picture!

Your pretty sisters

You and your Pa

MiMi and you just a smilin' away

This is such a normal face for you - so glad I captured it!

And a little preview of your first Halloween.....

We love you sweet face!  You are a little more to keep track of lately...but wouldn't trade it for the world!  You're the best!  We love you!

9 months! Eek!

Oh baby girl, I'm so very late with this post.  I have lots and lots to write, but it's going on 10pm and your big sis has to go to cross country at 5am tomorrow morning.  So...here are your awesome photos that we took a few days ago for your 9-month photo shoot.  The other stuff will be coming...pinky swear!  Love you!

Your Baby Book

Hey baby cakes!  Mommy just made your baby book (well, at least for the first six months of your life).  I feel like I worked on it nonstop for 2 days (probably because I did!)...and my eyes were all crossed when I was done!  I can't wait until it is mailed to us!  In the meantime, here it is online for you to see!  (And yes, I know...there is a typo on the first page.  Goes to show you that you shouldn't add stuff in at the last minute....oh well!)

http://www.mypublisher.com/share/sharepopup/e/ArhxoTVcWCNG83SYLTe-YUPCrkJB1k66g3uUXURaXNllKM8jCsy6bl712XSdaucO0N4kEnx-Jzo8JkTBOtrapgaHnnZHutcNBIwzArTgAQhhe0ougF0w_6wy2GNDGOBZL0WzfgHgw1zTdKHB7sfd23z934FExACR4ST6ADm9TrwEaVTE0NHvePeANnaGUfNB/s/fb/t/Click%20to%20see%20this%20MyPublisher.com%20creation

EIGHT Months!

EIGHT-MONTHS-OLD - that's you!  Your Daddy and I have already talked about how crazy it is that you will be a year in just a few months.  Before we know it - POOF!  You'll be there!  I am loving every minute of you along the way.  Every minute.

You are a mimic these days.  Whatever we do, you usually try and copy us.  That leads us to your first word (basically).  "HI!"... yep, that's it.  You lift your arm up, wave and say "HI!".  It's so stinkin' cute.  We always do this to you when you come in a room, so it only makes sense, I guess!  You can also give a high five too.  Pretty cool.  You also like to fake cough now.  Pretty cute.  You even cough on cue sometimes in a song we sing you (Bushel and a Peck).  So cute.  On this note, you are a bit of a show off.  You already like to perform...I'm interested to see how you are when you are older.  You love to be loud and make people pay attention to you!

You had a BIG first this past month.  First time being sick.  And pretty good and sick too.  Your Mommy was sick on our trip in Illinois...and I must've gotten you sick too.  A couple days after we came home, we thought you were acting a little different and you had a 103.2 degree temperature!  Yikes!  It was after our doc's office was closed (of course), so luckily there is an urgent pediatric care around us...got you right in and diagnosed you with your first ear infection.  Put you on antibiotics (which you HATED taking!) and some tylenol/ibuprofen...and you were all better in a week.  You got a nasty cold with this thing too and one day you had SO MUCH snot and stuff just dripping from you eyes.  We felt so bad for you.  But never once did you complain that much.  You still slept great for you naps and at night.  You were such a trooper!

You are growing so much too!  Not only in weight (you were over 19 lbs. at the doc's office), but in mobility too.  You officially can sit up.  That happened right before you turned 8 months.  And, you are loving all the diced up fruit that Mommy gives you nowadays.  Mangos and Pears.  Yum!  You won't eat either of these if I puree them up...but you could eat them all day long if they are diced up and YOU get to pick them up and put them in your mouth.

And one more thing that is growing - your first tooth!  Right now, you are right in the middle of getting it.  We can see it, literally, in your bottom gums.  And I can feel it in there - super sharp actually!  But as of tonight, it has just barely broken through.  You, again, are a trooper.  You are a little crankier at times...but truly, it's crazy that you are teething because you are still so cute and happy.

Let's stop right here for a minute and talk about something:  screaming.  Or should I say, SCREAMING.

So, let's talk about this, baby girl.  Why?  Why do you need to scream to talk to us?  The short little bursts of ear-piercing noise that could shatter glass.  No matter where we are or what we are doing, it can happen.  Sitting in your high chair, or in your jumperoo....or when we are in the middle of a store....or anywhere.  You just love to scream.  You aren't hurt or mad (usually).  You just like to scream.  I'm not so sure what to do about this, to be honest...for now, I'm hoping it goes away with teething...but I am just ignoring it at this point.  Although, I will admit, it has really gotten under my skin a few times!  You have a shrill scream baby!

Oh, and speaking of high chair -  you used to sit in your Bumbo on top of the counter to eat, wait for us to make your bottle, whatever.  Well, well, well...the other day, you had a REALLY slippery fabric on and as Mommy was making your bottle, I hear something.  I look at you and you are on your belly on the counter...with a HUGE smile on your face!  You scared me to death....and you thought it was the best thing that ever happened!  No more Bumbo...you are now only in a high chair for kitchen/food stuff.  Your Bumbo is safely on the floor in the family room now!

Your sisters love to show you off.  We were registering them at school the other day and Kyndall wants to pick you up out of the stroller to hold you.  Don't tell her I know this, but I'm pretty sure it's because she wants to show you off around her school.  =)  They love having you as their sister.  We can't imagine life without you!

Here's some pictures of you (and a video too!) of you sitting up (and that lovely scream of yours)!  Hopefully I will be posting again soon with your "official" 8-month-old pictures.  I have a fun idea that we are working on for a back drop.  Can't wait to show you the final product soon!  In the meantime, here's some good ones too!

Way to go baby girl!  You are finally sitting up!

Yeah, I think you have him wrapped around your finger!

I don't believe you.

Big girl!

Your Daddy captured this picture!  It's the best!

Love you baby girl!  Can't wait to show you your 8-month pictures....and can't wait to see what all I can write about next month!  Maybe you'll be crawling?  You really have no interest right now...so we'll see!  Oh, and your Aunt Nora and Cousins will be coming this weekend - can't wait for you to meet them!  We'll have some pictures of all of you too, I'm sure!

Peek-A-Boo - Where'd Your Mommy Go?

You do love peek-a-boo nowadays - it really gets you chuckling!  And there is NOTHING better than that!  But, I've been hiding from writing on here too...playing a little blog peek-a-boo too.  I should've at least written you a couple weeks ago...when you turned seven months...and now we are a good 2-3 weeks past that!  And here's my excuse.  We've been sooo busy!

First, baby cakes...here's some things that are new for you in your 7th month:

• You can undo your own diaper!
• You have started feeling the hair on your head.
• While sitting on the Bumbo on the counter while we feed you, you found the sink faucet and can turn it on and off!
• You are a regular octo-baby!  Sometimes I feel like you have eight arms and legs reach out for any and everything in your grasping radius!  We have to clear the area before we sit you in your Bumbo on the counter!
• Knows how to fake cough.
• Did not like green beans at all - you basically made yourself gag and threw them up.  I put them in your avocados instead.  Sneaky Mommy!
• You are so easily distracted.  You have started not finishing bottles...I have to feed you as much as you will take and then let you play for a while and then feed you the rest.  And if someone is in the room or the TV is on, forget it, you are paying attention to them and not eating!
• You have started to breath in and out of just your nose real fast and scrunch it up with you are frustrated.  It's really pretty cute (at this point!).
• You can sit up pretty well on your own...but you are nowhere near crawling!
• Took your first plane ride to Illinois at the end of your 7th month.  You did pretty good babycakes!  Thank goodness for the little puff things.  If we fed you those, you were "entertained" for a long time!
• And right about at 7 months you have done much better with strangers holding you.  About a month ago, not so good at it.  At this point, you aren't as overwhelmed in a room with a bunch of strangers talking and in your face.

So, the big plane ride was to go see our family in Illinois for two weeks.  Let me first say, that even though Mama was a little worried how you'd sleep in a big, unfamiliar house, you rocked it baby girl!  We had a time change to deal with as well, and you really stuck to your schedule of sleeping and did just great.  You even went over to Aunt Nikki's for a whole day and took your naps in a pack and play while the rest of us when to the Abraham Lincoln museum in Springfield, IL.  

We did so much in Illinois and had such a great time with all the family and friends we saw.  So many people had never even met you, so you got to meet all kinds of new faces!  Lots of people came over to swim at Pa and MiMi's place, so you got to do some more swimming too.  You really like the water and are pretty comfortable in it.  You have started to realize that you can kick and hit the water with your hands and splash.

A lot of the days in Illinois were HOT and HUMID.  We had a 4th of July cousins reunion for MiMi's side of the family - it was so super hot.  You and I stayed inside this little cabin with some air conditioning and your Sisters got to go and swim in the lake to cool off.  Luckily, all the kids and some of the adults did too.  There were so many in our family there.  The girls really had a great time playing in the "rough" outdoors.  Your Daddy even got to shoot some clay pigeons and fish.  He was in heaven!

All in all, the trip was awesome.  You were a trooper (as usual) and made everyone smile and want to hold you.  I have been really trying to work with you sitting up fully on your own...but that definitely couldn't be practiced in Illinois...too many people to hold you!  =)

Mommy was a happy camper in Illinois - got to see so many family and friends, eat at all my old favorite restaurants, and do stuff with you and the girls around my old stomping grounds!  Your Sisters loved all the green that there is in Illinois too - cornfields, trees, grass - crazy how different things can be in another state!  The houses are just different too - and the girls always love looking at the houses when we are there.

Here's some pictures of our trip:

Kiara had a loose tooth!

You and Grandpa Bud!

You and Grandma Carmie!

You loved the little inner tube.  You just chilled and floated.  =) 

You liked Uncle Ryan a lot this trip - you would be content sitting on his lap!

Kiara could not get enough of you!

You started loving a sippy cup

Your day with the Wollands...we were off to see Lincoln!

Abe Lincoln's house

Lincoln impersonator - but he looked like the real thing!

Wax figures - except for Pa and Kyndall =)

Having fun with Pa

Sisters and Kiara - went to the Ronald Reagan Museum at Eureka College (where he went to college)

Being GOOFY!

Cousins!

Eating lunch on the last day - love this picture!

Kiara and your Daddy were tickling each other!

Sisters!

Being cute with Pa

And that's about it baby girl.  You are still such an easy going baby.  Your Sisters are still IN LOVE with you and yell "BABY!!!!!" whenever you come into a room.  No one can quite seem to get enough of you!  You love your jumperoo and bounce so high in that thing I wonder if you are going to fly out sometimes!  I just love you.  Period.  You are such a cutie...I can't kiss you enough!