Babycakes: 18 months!

 

This is definitely long overdue (a whole month!)... but the holiday season gets away from you. Better late than never, right? :) At least her picture was taken at the right time. Lizzie is now 19 months old, but this will review her at 18 months.

Health:
We're still battling an ongoing cough and runny nose. It seems like it's completely perpetual... we just get over one, and we start a new strain. At least she seems to be feeling well :)

We've now broken SIX teeth in the last month. We now have four on top, four on bottom, along with a molar on top and one molar on bottom as well. Girlfriend has had a few fevers the last week or so, but they've all been short-lived and haven't returned after a dose of Motrin. I've been worried she's actually been legitimately sick with each fever, but not so (hooray!). Let's hope our lucky streak continues through the holidays (knock on wood...).

We had our 18-month check-up about two weeks ago and found out some official stats. Girlfriend is about 30.5" tall and 21 pounds. I truly think she's probably thinned out more since then, to be honest. She's not been as interested in eating and more all about about playing instead. More about this later, though, in its' designated section :)

Sleep:

Sleep still remains pretty easy for us with Lizzie. She usually does wake up once a night (but this pregnant momma is sleeping hard these days, so I haven't noticed... sorry, daddy!) for "Buddy" (her pacifier). She'll definitely let us know when she's tired out and ready for bed -- it's not uncommon for girlfriend to grab my hand, take me to her room, request jammies, blankie and Buddy, say, "love you," and stand by her rocking chair. It is so sweet and just melts our hearts! Still naps like a champ, usually at least two to three hours!

Diet:
As I mentioned previously, Lizzie is becoming less interested in eating lately. It's not a picky thing, but more of an "I'm too busy playing to eat" thing or I'm thinking it could be a teething thing. The two exceptions to this rule are, however, cheese and oranges. She seriously cannot get enough!

Social:

Lizzie gets buckets of socialization at daycare each week, obviously. She's definitely learning some (not-so) awesome new tricks there like hitting and pushing. I've never seen or heard of her her hitting another child, though she's swung at us just a handful of times, which we're obviously not big on. When we tell her "no, we don't hit Mommy/Daddy," she is instantly remorseful, usually with some pretty sad tears (not tantrum tears, but sad ones). I have seen her push her cousin Michael a few times, which I'm also not a big fan of. Please tell me all children are like this at this age? Though I am grateful we're not biting because I know some families deal with that!

It seems the pushing happens when it comes to toy sharing or if someone gets in her space too much, so at least it's not just aggressive for no apparent reason.

Girlfriend loves her cousins. Last weekend, we went to the Bison playoff game with my parents, sister and her boyfriend, and Lizzie went to play at her cousins' house and apparently she didn't ask about "mama" or "dah-ee" (daddy) once. She loves those kids!

Milestones:

New words this month: what isn't a new word this month? My goodness, I don't think I can even come up with them because there's so many. She says classmates' names from daycare readily, thank you, sit (while pulling on my hand/doing a little dance/motioning toward the ground... so cute!), chicken, tacos, green, blue, purple, orange (correctly identifies all four typically), "two" (says it appropriately in sequence after "one"), Christmas, puppy, tree, light, blankie, truck, snowmobile (says "mobile"), van, Santa, Jesus, "chickies" (little chick crackers), bunny (says "my-ee"), fishies, cracker, marshmallow (mallow), tractor... seriously, too many to list!

She's starting to string two or three words together at a time quite often... "Daddy shoes", "____, where are you?".

She's taken a real interest in her dollies and their shoes lately. We've got some hand-me-down Polly Pockets and Barbie dolls that we let her play with (under supervision, due to those tiny pieces) and she's obsessed with putting on their shoes!

She's also been loving tractors. We don't hardly anything in terms of screen time still, but Andy will put on a tractor video here or there from YouTube and she'll say "Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi tractor! Hi! Hi! Hi!"... so sweet! She loves to drive by the John Deere dealership and look at them with Daddy :) She's also been loving Andy's new (to us) truck, snowmobile and lawn mower. She'll make a special request to go to the (cold) garage to look at and sit on them.

Girlfriend is still a dancer and  a book reader, but my personal new favorite is her singing! She definitely was attempting to sing Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer and sings Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star quite obviously now ("Ih-oh, ih-oh, eeyo star, under what-ooh ah... up, up, up, high..." again, so sweet!). 

Lizzie is quite good at those Look and Find books :) It's pretty amazing to watch!
As mentioned, she knows a few of her colors and can identify both star and heart. She also knows that two comes after one, and they told me one day at daycare that she was counting more than that for them -- proud teacher mom!

We're still in 12 to 18 month clothing, and I thought she'd be out of those relatively soon. However, it doesn't seem like that's around the corner at all. Obviously I could be completely wrong, but from my current perspective, I think we'll still have at least a good month in our current clothes at this point.

Babycakes: 17 months!

Health:
It seems we've had a perpetual cold since starting daycare a couple of months ago. Girlfriend just can't seem to kick the runny nose and icky cough! It does seem to get better, though never completely goes away. Here's to hoping it doesn't turn into anything more than just an annoyance.

We did have our very first case of pink eye one Saturday morning, so to the Walk-In we went! Just a couple days of drops, and girlfriend was cured! I had a feeling it might visit our house, as it had been going through (surprise, surprise) daycare that week.

Lizzie did finally break two more teeth, so we're now up to a grand total of SIX at this point. She's now got four teeth on top and two on bottom. Both popped through on the same day, which is good, I suppose. Double the pain, double the gain, but just one time frame rather than two, so we'll take it :) We've also noticed her top right molar has just started to poke through, complete with bloody gums and all :( Poor baby. This has resulted in a pretty sensitive girl. We'd better get used to it, though -- from here on out, I'm guessing we'll be getting teeth like there's no tomorrow. Girlfriend's gotta catch up to those other kids her age!

Sleep:

Special thanks to the whole teeth thing, sleep was tough for a few weeks. Lots of night wakes and a sad baby -- but since those two popped through last week, Mom and Dad have been sleeping like [non-teething]  babies again, because Lizzie's no longer making her 2:00 a.m. wake-up calls (woohoo!). 

We get lucky on weekends, and she'll often sleep until 8:30 or so... sometimes, I get lucky enough to wake up  before she does :) I do love those few minutes of calm before our sweet friend wakes up to play.

She's napping really well for us at home on weekends (two hours or so), and similarly at daycare.

Diet:
Lizzie's interest in eating has taken a bit of a dip lately -- and it's not that she's being picky about her foods, it's just that she's not all that interested in sitting down to eat. Snacking is a whole other story... girlfriend wants to snack and is in the pantry pretty much non-stop (lots of snack battles lately... for example, she'll go to the pantry, take out the peanut butter, bring it over and say "buh-er" and open the silverware drawer. She's not satisfied eating it spread on crackers, though -- she wants to eat it from a spoon. Which I can't figure out, because we NEVER eat peanut butter straight from the jar with a spoon...). She's even been leaving fruit behind at supper, which is unheard of for this girl! But I've read this does start to happen with toddlers, so I'm not concerned. Plus, as I said, she's not leaving out any particular food group (like veggies :)), so that makes me feel better, too.

Girlfriend does love to eat using a fork, though. And she is so proud of herself when she does! She's gotten, really, quite good at it, too. She keeps her fork/spoon facing upward, and doesn't let things fall off of it. It's pretty neat to watch her learn all of that :)

Social:

Girlfriend gets plenty of socialization at daycare each day. They say she has lots of buddies and the kids all love her :) So fun to hear! I love coming to pick her up and watching her interact and play before she notices me... It's so fun to see how she is with others.

Last week when I picked her up, I told her to say "bye-bye" to her friend -- and she walked over and gave him a hug! So sweet :)

Milestones:

New words this month: peanut butter (buh-er), cold, hot, bus, mommy used to be "mah-ee" and it's now "mama", grandpa, Deanna (daycare teacher -- "anna"), water (ah-er), milk, bottle, buddy, crocodile (I swear she says it!), fruit, please, thank you, nigh-night, out, love you (our absolute favorite, obviously!)... like I said, more than I can list, really! Her vocabulary has really exploded recently. Now I'm just waiting for her to start stringing some words together and getting more comfortable with longer words.

We have these (nerdy) baby flashcards, and Lizzie has always really liked them -- but now, she loves to dump them out and put them back in the box, one-by-one, saying the names of the items. It's totally amazing -- just tonight I heard her rattle off, "tractor... baby... car... meow-meow (cat)... apple..." and just keep naming all of her cards. So awesome.

Lizzie's also taken a liking to building with blocks and mega-sized lego-type blocks. She builds towers as tall as she can, and even stands on her tippy-toes to put that last block on top :) She's also loving little Matchbox cars so much! When we're at my mom and dad's, she'll go directly to where they're kept, saying "cars... cars..." the whole way :) She's also been enjoying shape sorters lately, and she's really getting better at them. Puzzles continue to be a love of hers as well, and she has no problems completing the ones we have.

Lizzie seems to have made a big shift in how she thinks about her stuffed animals -- almost "personifying" them in a way. She'll find a stuffed friend in her toy box or on her shelf and carry it around like it's her best friend for a few hours. She'll give it hugs and won't give it up even when it makes life more difficult (i.e. climbing stairs :)). She'll also take them for rides down her slide with her... it's pretty adorable. We're also noticing that she's making some toys "walk" around... pretty darn cute!

Girlfriend is still loving dancing and books, and she's also starting to do actions when we sing. She'll make a "beep" motion with her hand, put turn her fists at her eyes, and put her finger to her mouth when we do verses of Wheels on the Bus now :)

I am completely in awe of everything this girl seems to absorb each day. She is doing something or saying something new constantly. This age is truly so amazing.

Lizzie's just starting to throw some temper tantrums, too. We find them completely hilarious, though do our best not to smile. When we tell her "no" or take something from her that she maybe shouldn't have, she'll give us a very serious look and hit the floor, wait a few seconds, walk over and  hit a wall (not breaking eye contact), wait a few seconds, walk over and hit a door frame (still not breaking eye contact). It is maybe one of the funniest things I've seen, ever. Usually we tell her "no, we don't hit," and she'll come around, so that's good. But before we really try to curb the habit, I would like to get it on video ;) I'm such a good mom.

I can tell Lizzie's also starting to recognize when people are looking at her/laughing at something she's doing. You can see it in her eyes that she knows she's done something cute or funny and she thinks she should continue -- which I'm usually okay with, because she's typically very well behaved.

Proud [teacher] Mom moment: they tell me at daycare that she's impeccably behaved. Always stays on her "loop" in line when they are walking around the facility, always following directions, sitting down in her seat... 'atta girl! She's got some teacher's pet in her like her momma did.

We're still wearing 12 to 18 month pants, but still only those that have the adjustable waist in them from BabyGap right now, along with some non-adjustables from Old Navy. Her leggings in the 12 to 18 month size are still a little big, but we wear them anyway :) She's still wearing some 6 to 12 month onesie and t-shirt tops, but all of her long sleeves are the 12 to 18 month size. The new dilemma is what size to buy her Christmas dress in... I'm leaning toward 12 to 18 month. I don't foresee a huge growth spurt anytime soon.

Lizzie's hair is really getting thick and long now. It's so pretty and so soft... we just love it (what parent doesn't love their baby's pretty little hair?!). I did put it in pigtails one night a few weeks ago, and she didn't mind :) We're now wearing more clips, versus headbands, as they keep the hair out of her eyes.

We'll find out officially next week at her 18-month check-up, but by our measurements at home, Lizzie is 21 pounds and 30 inches tall (both between the 5th and 10th percentiles). At her age, I was 20 1/2 pounds and 31 inches tall... so she's looking like she'll be a petite one like her momma.

Babycakes: 16 months!

 

Health: 
Last month, I mentioned that Lizzie had an appointment to check out her eyes and be sure they weren't turning in slightly. We had her appointment in mid-September, and got the news that, yes, she does, indeed, have a slight case of what they call "esotropia". Esotropia is when one eye turns in. She has a type of cosmetic esotropia (sometimes she can appear to have an eye turned in slightly, but it's not actually) due to the fold of her eyelid (like mine) and that she has a wider nose bridge. Aside from that, her left eye does turn in just so slightly. It's hardly noticeable -- so much so that the ophthalmologist was amazed that I even caught it. No one else caught it, including her doctor, Andy or our parents. I just felt like I would notice it in some photos and sometimes when she'd look at me -- but I couldn't be sure, because I wasn't sure if she was truly looking straight ahead, or if she was looking slightly off to the side and I was just seeing things. So anyway, apparently Lizzie's esotropia is caused by being near-sighted. Her vision needs just a little bit of correction, hardly any. I guess the idea is that if you give a kid who is near-sighted glasses, their eye muscles will relax and no longer do that slight turn-in. So that's what we had to do... get girlfriend glasses!

When I found out she had to get glasses, I cried. Oh, I cried. I did a good job of holding back the tears in the appointment, but afterward was another story. So many mom worries... what if they fall off on the playground? What if she cries and they get hard to see out of and no one is there to wipe them off for her? What if they fog up and she can't see? And what if no one can see her pretty blue eyes anymore because they only notice her glasses? Andy reminded me kindly that I was being ridiculous and her glasses were not sunglasses, so that was silly. But still. And I think the tears came because, you know, your perfect child apparently has an imperfection all of a sudden! Not possible. Not possible!

But, it is.

And she's completely perfect, even with her glasses on :) She's adjusted so well to them. She doesn't mind them at all. We got some fake ones to begin with because we were first deciding on which color to choose (only one frame fit her face, so we had little for options... just three color choices: brown, grey and purple) and so I decided to make her wear those fakes 24/7 while at home just to see how difficult life with a 16-month old in glasses would be. But, to my delight, it wasn't a challenge at all. Sure, she hated them for the first five minutes we had them on, but after that, they became her go-to accessory. And I think once we got the real ones and they helped her see, she liked that aspect. We did have one break down where she ripped them off her face and threw them across the room (well, as much across the room as a little lady can) and shouted gibberish. I imagine she was scolding the world for her needing to wear these darn glasses for the next few years. But hey, I had my tantrum about it, so she's entitled to one (or five), too.

It sounds like she could grow out of this within two years, but maybe more like sometime between kindergarten and third grade age. 

In other health news, we're still stuck with four teeth -- the same four she got all in her 13th month of life. We have a hunch there are more coming (hallelujah!), slowly but surely... sleep has been interrupted, and the chewing and drooling is at its peak. Hopefully they break through soon :)

Sleep:
Due to the tooth situation, can be hit-and-miss at night. Sometimes up not at all in the night, but sometimes up two or three times. She's been going to bed at 7:30 on school nights because we have to get her up by 6:30 in the mornings (though she typically wakes on her own by 6:15 or so because of the noise we make after getting up).

Naps at daycare are, apparently, going well. They told me the other day that she's falling asleep completely on her own and sleeping nice and long. All right, girlfriend! I've been trying to imagine her on her little cot at daycare... too funny.

At home, her naps are great as well. Usually we get two to three hours in the afternoon out of her.

Diet:
Loves food still! But again, I think those teeth are wreaking havoc on her appetite some days and she's just not that interested. She's becoming more and more of a "spicy" and "hot" food fan... loves buffalo chicken :)

I've been letting her have a marshmallow here and there ("meh-yo" she says for them :)), which she loves. Favorite sweet treat, next to the elusive ice cream!

Her favorite foods right now would be roasted red pepper hummus (hands down, number one favorite!), Inner Peas from Trader Joe's, ice cream, buffalo chicken, sweet potatoes, raspberries and pineapple.

Social:
Lizzie is completely enamored by big kids, especially her cousins, Brayden, Mykenna and Noah. A few weeks ago they visited and Lizzie insisted that Brayden hold her during mass. When I tried to explain (seriously, why do I even try to reason with a one-year-old?) to her that Brayden might have a hard time holding her, she threw a bit of a fit at mass -- so he held her top while I supported her butt so he could hold her :) So goofy. But she loves them! It's adorable.

Apparently she's making friends like it's her job (and isn't it?) at the Y. I guess the teacher told Andy last week that all the kids love Lizzie. She's been holding hands with boys and apparently receiving hugs from one little boy in particular... oh boy. I guess she's also been tickling kids? Oh my. She's quite the little lady. :) She's a charmer.

Milestones:

New words this month: bike, dolly, bye-bye, buh-bye, daddy, mommy (believe it or not, she hasn't really said them much up to this point... or, at least, not this well), dolly, door, mine (not my favorite new word... definitely something she picked up at daycare! She definitely knows what it means and will even say "no, mine!" to us... oh boy), says "No" for my nephew "Noah" and can point him out in a picture. 

Girlfriend also knows where belly button, eyes, hands, fingers, toes, feet, nose, mouth, teeth, tongue, hair and ears are -- I just forgot to mention it on last month's post! So she's known those since 15 months. 

Lizzie loves to dance and read books. She's starting to move her little feet when she dances and also includes her arms in the action as well :) It's a full-body dance sometimes! Adorable. She's also now tracking words with her finger when we read (not accurately, obviously), so I'm thinking she must be "getting" the idea that letters mean reading (I typically track words as we read in order to give her that impression). 

We're wearing 12 to 18 month pants, but only those that have the adjustable waist in them from BabyGap right now (and not all of their pants have that... bummer) -- and those that she's wearing, we have the waist cinched way, way, way in. Like, five holes on each side in. Leggings in that size are generally still too big, depending on where they are from -- but, unfortunately, she needs the length. She's not a terribly tall little lady, but tall enough to be too long for six to 12 month things. For shirts, we still do onesies and t-shirts in 6 to 12 months size for t-shirt days and those fit just fine. When it's long sleeved weather, we do 12 to 18 month things because that's the size I bought her for fall. Some things are a little big, but that's okay.

Based on super-accurate home measurements (;)), I think girlfriend is about 21 pounds and 30 inches, putting her around the 10th percentile or so for both.

Babycakes: 15 months!

Health: 
Lizzie girl has continued to be completely happy and healthy this month, but that doesn't mean it's  been uneventful! We had her 15 month appointment a couple of weeks ago the day after her 15-month birthday, so we did get some official stats as far as weight and height are concerned. Girlfriend is 20 pounds, two ounces -- which puts her around the fifth percentile for weight (where she's generally been since birth). She's around 30 inches tall, which is around the 30th percentile -- a little down from past months, but not surprising really, considering my stature.

I've been wondering if one of Lizzie's eyes turns in slightly every once and awhile, so I mentioned it to her pediatrician at the appointment. She could see what I was referring to somewhat, but she wasn't sure if we're seeing something or just making it up -- or if we're seeing something that's really not there. She explained that sometimes, the shape of our eyes can make it seem like we have an eye turning in, even if it's not -- and she happens to have that particular shape on the inside corner of her eyes (it matches my eyes, actually). Anyway, she wasn't sure, so she referred us to an eye specialist in town. We went to see them, and they basically had the same reaction as her pediatrician -- not sure, but something to look into. They wouldn't do any type of testing there, as they're not pediatric eye specialists -- so they've now referred us on to see a Pediatric Ophthalmologist in St. Cloud. I had hoped to get in prior to school starting (because A: I'm impatient and need answers now, and B: then I wouldn't have to miss school), but, alas, no openings. So we're headed there in mid-September and will find out if it's really something, or if it's just nothing.

There was also a question about whether or not Lizzie had hip dysplasia at her 15-month check up as well. Lizzie was checked for hip dysplasia as an infant, because a doctor noticed a slight click in her hip when she was just brand new in the hospital. We did an ultrasound when she was just a few weeks old, and everything looked perfect, so we laid it to rest. But at her latest appointment, the pediatrician saw an indicator of it (an uneven gluteal fold... Google it if you're curious!), so she was sent for x-rays to see if it was, again, something or just nothing. After a day of fretting and consulting Dr. Google (did you know that hip dysplasia treatment at this age is surgery with a lower-body cast for six months, followed by a hip harness for at least three months?! I was worried sick over it), it turns out that all is well and my baby just has a little extra chub to love on one of her glutes/thighs :)

And finally, Girlfriend was vaccinated for rabies this month after sleeping in a room with a bat without our knowledge while visiting a family cabin a few weeks ago. Again, I was worried sick over the whole thing. My main issue was with the vaccines -- a series of five shots in a two-week window. I'm not typically a momma who's concerned with vaccines, but in this case, I worried about that much vaccine in that short time-frame... but from everything I read and what all of the doctors told us, it's perfectly safe. Plus, what are parents to do? We are sure she didn't get bit, but what if she did? And what if she got rabies? Then what? I'd never forgive myself for not giving her the vaccines. Anyway, we finished up our final shot yesterday, and Lizzie was rewarded well from the nurse, who felt so bad she loaded Lizzie up with stickers and a coupon for a free ice cream cone :)

Sleep:
Continues to be great! Nice, long naps and good night sleeps. Still wakes up occasionally in the night hours, but just needs "Buddy" (her pacifier).

Lizzie started daycare again this last week. She's at a different center now, and is in the toddler room there. Due to the bump up in the world, she's now no longer being rocked to sleep for naps and is sleeping on a cot versus a crib. I'm guessing Mommy had a harder time adjusting to this idea than Lizzie did, because apparently she's done just fine with all of the above! But it doesn't change anything at home... I'm still rocking her at bedtime and naps on days off ;)

Diet:
Still doing well on the food front! She continues to be compelled to eat only the exact same thing as Mom and Dad are eating -- which continues to surprise me when we eat things like buffalo chicken calzones -- I'd think it'd be too hot for her, but apparently not! She gobbles it up without batting an eye.

Every so often, she seems to go on a veggies strike (broccoli is the latest that is a no-go). I try not to get too concerned about it, as she always comes around within a few days. And just to be sure she's getting her veggies in, I'll give her hummus or a green monster smoothie (spinach + banana + other fruits) to sneak them into her diet.

As mentioned previously, we started daycare again at a new center. I'm kind of crazy in terms of food for her, and I don't feel like their food is the healthiest, so we are currently bringing her both breakfast and lunch each day. We are letting her eat snack there for now -- though I'm not terribly crazy about that either :)

Social:
With daycare starting up again this week, we've had our fair share of social time with other kids! Although she's the peanut in her bunch -- she's already small for her age, but the toddler room at daycare doesn't usually start until 16 months -- so she's quite a bit younger than the others in her room. It sounds like quite a few kids are getting ready to move up to the preschool room (which means they're around 32 months... whoa!), which is a pretty big age gap. We've had some concerns about this, just because her gross motor skills just simply aren't where the other kids' are at this point. I think she's feeling a little "lost" right now -- on three out of the four days we've been at daycare so far, I've come to pick her up at the end of the day and she's either standing in the middle of the playground or by the door of her classroom, crying :( It breaks my heart! It's not been the easiest transition, and definitely has me wondering, "Is this really worth it?" My working isn't something that is a "need" -- but I do enjoy my job, and I'd like to be teaching when my kids start elementary school so I can be there when they are. But this type of stuff really makes me second guess my decision to continue to work... it's such an internal battle. Anyway, we'll see how the next week or two goes before making any decisions to find another option for us.

Lizzie continues to be very afraid of cars and new people. I think she fears cars because she now realizes there are people in the cars that can come out, and I think that scares her a little. And she's not afraid of new people at mass or when we're out shopping, but at daycare, she has a really hard time if someone new comes in to take over on a staff member's break -- but I assume that comes from being in a new place with new people and not being completely comfortable yet.

Milestones:
No new teeth this month to speak of, but I think there might be one on the way...

Lizzie goes down slides all by herself! (Depending on size, of course ;))

New words this month: bike, meow, down, knows what a lion and a bear say ("Raar!") and when I say "What's a crocodile do?", she opens her arms up vertically and slaps them together :) She also learned the sign for "help". I'm estimating that she can probably say 20 different words/animal sounds at this point.

We're just starting to try some of our 12 month clothes at this point. We're still doing the 6 to 12 month in Gap and 9 month clothes in Carter's right now -- but our pants are slowly getting a little too short. So we're trying out the 12 to 18 month sizes, but the waist is too big! Luckily, if I buy in the toddler sizes at Gap (versus the baby sizes), they have elastic bands that you can tighten in the waist, so that helps some -- but most of the time, Girlfriend's jeans are sagging pretty low in our new, size-up pants :)

Babycakes: 14 months!

Health: 
It's been one healthy 14th month for our Lizzie Kate! Nothing to report, except for getting three more teeth since last month, which puts us to a grand total of four! So regardless of not being sick, it's still a pretty monumental month :) We now have two on top and two on bottom. I was poking around in her mouth yesterday and couldn't notice any signs of anymore coming anytime soon.

Sleep:
Last month, sleep was a d i s a s t e r. Girlfriend was taking 15 minute naps sometimes just once a day, and I was at a loss for what to do. We attempted having her "cry it out" (against all my Mommy instincts!) and that didn't work -- but then the expert, Grandma, just happened to show up in the middle of one of our nap battles one afternoon. She recommended going in every time she cried (yes, every time. As in, every 30 seconds, if need be). And you know what? In 20 minutes, Lizzie was out for the count... for an hour and a half! So I kept the routine up, going in when she'd cry, laying her back down, rolling her onto her tummy, putting a blankie on her and laying my hand firmly on her back and saying, "time for sleepy. Nigh-night, love you." The first day (sans Grandma), it took about an hour and a half for success (for a mere 30 minute nap). The next days, however, were less and less, until there became no battle at all. She does occassionaly wake up after 30 minutes of napping, but I just roll her on her tummy, give her the pacifier and say, "time for sleepy. Nigh-night, love you," and walk out... and she does fine, and sleeps for at least another hour and a half. So we've now gone from one 15-minute nap, to one, two-to-three hour nap. Amazing!

In terms of morning naps, we generally skip it -- I really think she'd take one, but I teach two classes at the Y on weekday mornings, so that prevents us from developing a nap routine -- so if she snags 15 minutes in the car on the ride home, great!  And if she doesn't, we don't worry about it.

For nighttime, she typically falls asleep easily and sleeps through the night lately as well. We did have a rough stretch last week where she wouldn't want to go down at night for us, so we had to go to the naptime routine we did to get her out of her 15-minute "funk" to get her to go to sleep at night, too. Again, it took an hour or so for her to finally lay down and sleep, but it's better in the long run than taking her on a car ride at 10:00 to get her to fall asleep after two hours of attempts at home. Girlfriend usually sleeps until eight in the morning :) Happy Mommy!

Diet:
We're still eating great. Girlfriend continues to surprise us with her being completely unphased by spicy/hot foods. She's now got to no problems eating buffalo chicken -- what?! It's still a little hot for MY taste buds even! Lizzie eats a little less than I think she has in the past, somedays hardly touching her breakfast or lunch -- but I've heard that's not uncommon for toddlers (seriously? Since when did I get a toddler?!).

She still eats her veggies really well (beans, peas, broccoli, sweet potato and carrots are our staples. Cauliflower is also pretty common as well), and she won't say "no" to any fruits. Favorites are from the berry family :) She loves to go out to our strawberries, blueberries and raspberries at our house and pick them right off the plant. She's finally begun to accept that the strawberry plants don't have anymore berries on them, though it was a sad realization. Peaches are a new favorite as well, since they're in season and we bought a crate of them (so keep eatin', girl!). She still loves avocado, and I made some organic, homemade hummus last week that she'll eat by the handful if I let her :) Can't complain there! But I've taught her how to dip things in it, and she's good at that.

It does seem that her ban on red sauce and pasta is lifting... she's been apprehensive about it for the last few months, but she's finally trying it and giving it a chance again -- and once she does, she remembers how yummy it is! She just takes awhile warming up to it :)

She's been slowly exposed to the realm of "added sugars". She doesn't get them on a normal day, but on the weekends, certain individuals have a tendency to sneak her bites of ice cream :)

Social:
No more tears at the Y for my baby this last month! Girlfriend has really warmed up to the workers there, and she smiles when she sees them now and doesn't hesitate going to them. She's getting down to play now, too, which she didn't do before -- just snuggled in to them instead and sat there for an hour. So glad she's feeling better about it!

She's afraid of strangers when they come close, but she'll very readily say "hi!" to them as we go by in the store... it's pretty adorable. She's in love with her Grandpa Wayne above almost anyone else, which is hilarious. It might have something to do with him supplying her with ice cream, taking her outside to play and taking her to the garden to pick raspberries.

Milestones:
Three new teeth! (Bottom left first, then top right, and then bottom right)

Girlfriend decided she wanted to officially try out this whole, walking thing on July 2nd! Since then, she's been unstoppable! :)

Lizzie can climb up on things now... yikes, look out!

She's now saying quite a few words. She says... ma, da, duck, quack-quack, puppy (doesn't sound like puppy, though -- her own, made-up word!), woof-woof, car, vroom-vroom, moo, ball, bye, hi... and some more, too. In sign language, Lizzie knows "more", "please", "thank you" and "milk"... proud Momma!

Lizzie is also getting the hang of using a fork these days. If the food is harder, she needs help "stabbing" it, but she can get softer things a little easier.

Babycakes: 13 Months!

Health: 
We've finally got a tooth! It only took girlfriend 13 months, but we've finally got a top tooth to speak of :) I can see the other top tooth working its way out, and the bottom two seem to be trying their best as well. Teething wasn't nearly as bad as expected (of course, that's my side of the story, not Lizzie's). We had some really icky diapers and a bit of a fever, but other than that, girlfriend wasn't too fussy. Then again, I do recall taking her in to Urgent Care one night in the midst of teething due to a fever over 102 and nasty diapers... we'll chalk that up to first-time parenting :) We weren't sure if it was just teeth or something more! And in our defense, the doctor for UC was pretty concerned about her as well (thinking a kidney infection? Oh no!) Oh well, live and learn. Aside from that, we've been totally healthy :)

Sleep:
We had been doing really well in the sleep arena -- still waking up once a night, but taking nice, long naps (usually an hour in the morning and two hours in the afternoon). However, since I've been off for the summer (whee!), I think babycakes assumes she should be up and partying with me all the time. I'm lucky to get a half-hour nap out of her -- sometimes twice a day, but sometimes just once! Don't get me wrong, this momma loves her baby, but I do need a little time to eat lunch without a toddler (since when did I become the momma of a toddler!?) climbing in my lap, trying to get a few bites of my well-deserved lunch. Anyway, I'm not sure what to do about it. I've been anti-CIO, but in the past, I've noticed if I give her a couple minutes when she wakes up prematurely from a nap, she'll go back to sleep -- so I've been letting her cry a little to see if that will work these days.

Nope.


Girlfriend can (and does) completely outlast me in that arena. She'll cry and scream (er, repeat "mama" over and over again... be still, my breaking heart!) and throw her pacifier (and books and stuffed animals and cars that I've strategically placed to make her crib less sad when she wakes up from naps) overboard for an hour and still be going strong. It's at that point that I give up and give in, and find myself opening the door of my poor, sweet baby, whose arms are outstretched and is babbling, "mamamamamama" over and over again. She'll then snuggle in and hold tight to me like a baby koala for at least 20 minutes from the traumatic situation she's just been rescued from.

Sigh. What's a momma to do? Am I bailing her out too soon? Should I let her go longer than an hour? I figure she's not going to give up, so that's why I do. Am I being naive? Any help is appreciated :)

As far as nighttime goes, she's doing just fine there. We had a few rough nights where she wouldn't go to sleep for us at night and I was rocking her for a couple hours before putting her down, but we seem to have remedied that issue by putting her down anyway, sitting by her crib and rubbing her back. It takes ten minutes or so, but she does calm down enough to sleep. Overnight, she's doing well -- usually just needs a pacifier and a back rub/butt pat for a few minutes before we go back to bed.

Diet:
Lizzie is still an incredible eater. I was concerned around one year that she was losing interest in her veggies, but she's proving loud and clear that's not the case! There are some nights when she'll decline some of them, but for most meals, she has no problems eating whatever it is I put in front of her.

I've noticed a decline in how much she's been eating at mealtimes, which isn't too much of a surprise to me, as I'd read this typically happens about now. She is extremely interested in snacks, of course :) She knows right where we keep her snacks and is also increasingly interested in the refrigerator. Naturally, whenever I pull out her milk or water sippy from the refrigerator, it is exactly what she doesn't want -- she'd rather peruse the options a bit and make a choice for herself ;)

We're doing whole grain waffles with peanut butter and some fruit and milk for breakfast these days -- she loves it! Depending on when she wakes and eats breakfast, we may or may not have a morning snack. For lunch, I'll give her something I've saved from supper the night before, or we'll do whole wheat English muffin "pizza". Earlier in the summer, I picked up some organic hot dogs for her for times when we grill brats for ourselves. I wanted to avoid the extra chemicals and nitrates for her, so these were a good choice for that. Sometimes I'll grill her a hot dog and give her half of it (cut up nice and small, of course!) for lunch, too.

Favorites this month include... sweet potatoes, avocado, green beans, raspberries, blackberries, apples (I let her gnaw on the core after I finish it... feels good on her teething gums and she loves the flavor! She gets mad when I decide it's time to take it away :)), bananas (given very sparingly...) and Plum Organics Mighty 4 Cereal Bars -- girlfriend seriously can't get enough of them.

She's been having tastes of ice cream here and there, and, well, you can just about guess what her favorite favorite food of all time is :)

Social:
Now that school's out for summer (whee! Did I mention that yet?), Lizzie hasn't been getting as much "kid" interaction as she normally does. Regardless, she's been having a great time seeing her cousins lately (she adores them!) and I've taken her to the Y's "drop-in" care while I teach my yoga/pilates classes. The drop-in daycare is an awesome service for people who go to the Y here, but girlfriend is still warming up to it. Poor baby cried for half of the class I taught on Friday :(

Milestones:
First tooth broke through this month! We're also taking steps on our own (we've seen her take five by herself!), but girlfriend is definitely a cautious little babe. She wants to make sure she can do it just right before she commits to something -- she was the same way about crawling! I'm guessing it won't be long before we have a walker on our hands.

She's saying "uh-oh", "mama", "dada" and "ball" and will woof for a puppy sound and make a sound for a car/truck/tractor as well. She's babbling non-stop! It is so much fun to her her voice. She's also learned to communicate that she's "all done" using a sign that's similar to the one used in sign language, and she will also shake her head "no" for things. Pretty cute :)

Fifty Two Weeks!

(Note: this post was written almost two weeks ago, on May 20th... excuse the lateness on posting it to the blog!)

Weight: I'm still guessing 20 pounds, but we'll get the for-sure stats at her 12-month check-up today.

Sleep: Sleep continues to be pretty good. Some nights she's straight through, other nights she's up once.

Medical Issues: Feeling good :) Still wondering about teeth -- not for any reason in particular, other than being a little more fussy/"clingy" than usual and feeling a few bumps on the lower gum line. At this point, we are still toothless!

Clothes: Wearing six to 12 month clothes and three-to-six month jammies, but those are slowly starting to get too short for her. 

Socialite!: Just been hanging out with friends at daycare lately! Which will be soon to change, as the school year is almost finished -- then it'll be Mom + Lizzie days every day :)

Diet: Since our Kraft Singles experience last week, I've asked that Lizzie just stick to milk, Cheerios and lunches I send from home while at daycare. At home, however, we're completely off the bottle (aside from just before bedtime) and are having snacks with milk in a sippy in-between meals. Our snacks typically consist of fruit (share with Momma :)) or some whole wheat, no sugar banana bread I made. For breakfast, girlfriend is having whole wheat waffles with a little peanut butter, fruit and whole milk. It's safe to say, she's loving the world of FOOD :) 

Baby Gear Love: Our baby swing -- not the indoor kind any longer, but the big girl kind that hangs from our swing set! Girlfriend got one for her birthday from her Grandma and Grandpa, and we've been loving it with this gorgeous weather that has (finally!) come our way. 

Crying: Lizzie is such a happy babe. She only cries when she's hungry or tired.

Mommy News: Each day pushes us a little closer to the days when my girl and I get to spend full days at home together all summer! :) We are both pretty excited to sleep in (hopefully) and go on walks and just hang out all summer long!

Milestones:  Standing on our own more and more each day. Girlfriend's babbling is really increasing that is sounding like a made-up language these days :) It's adorable.

Lizzie can also tell you the sound a car, lion and puppy make on command… most of the time. Depends on whether or not she feels like performing ;)

Fifty One Weeks!

(Picture to come later... we had professional pictures taken on her 51st week day, so I'll be posting one once we get the rights to one :))


Weight: We did the old trick where we step on the scale with her, step off, then back on without her, and it seems our girl is a whopping 20 pounds! What!? That would mean she's gained three pounds in the last month and a half. We'll see if it's true when we get the official states at her 12-month appointment, scheduled for next Thursday.  

Sleep: Sleep continues to be pretty good. Some nights she's straight through, other nights she's up once.

Medical Issues: Feeling good :) Wondering if we're getting some teeth because of a drooly mouth (from a typically non-drooly baby) and some interesting diapers.

Clothes: Wearing six to 12 month clothes and three-to-six month jammies, but those are slowly starting to get too short for her. 

Socialite!: We had a big birthday bash on Mother's Day for Lizzie, so she got to hang out with 24 pretty awesome people! She's in love with her cousins, especially Mykenna. She definitely gave Mykenna a hug on her birthday party day, unprompted :) It was adorable.

Diet: I bought girlfriend some whole milk, so she's now having that with meals. We're still using formula until it's used up for breakfast and snacks (for the most part). Honestly, I'm a crazy nutrition foodie mom and I kind of worry about her eating what they offer at daycare. I'm not into crackers (crazy mom, yes. But where's the nutritional value?), and the other day they gave her a slice of Kraft Singles and I just about went through the roof with worry (preservatives? Artificial flavoring? Coloring? Aaaaah!!!). Whatever. It's something I need to get over maybe.

Food rant over. Well, blog-wise… but not in my head.

Any suggestions/words of wisdom on this subject?

Anyway, like I said, girlfriend got her first-ever taste of birthday cake over the weekend and she was in LOVE. It was hilarious :) She continues to love everything we put on her tray. This week, we had some whole-wheat pasta with a white sauce and diced tomatoes in it, and she ate both the tomatoes and the pasta (which seems to be her only food aversion)… woohoo! And even I ate the tomatoes, so it was a big night all-around in our house ;) Lizzie continues to be a far better eater than I!

Baby Gear Love: Books. Over and over, the same ones, six times over. I love it! I've got a few of her favorites memorized and have even recited a few to my third graders :) It's so fun how much she loves to read. At night before bedtime, we read and read and read, and when it's time to put the books away, girlfriend gets the saddest, puppy dog look and cries a few tears. So sweet.

Crying: Lizzie is such a happy babe. She only cries when she's hungry or tired.

Mommy News: Finally, a week when I don't have to mention any sad news! Everything is looking great, my uterus is back to a healthy state, and all is well. Praise God!

Loved Lizzie's birthday party over the weekend, though I'm glad it will only happen once a year :) I loved the prep in the weeks leading up to her party, but the night before was pretty intense as we finally put everything up and together. But it was wonderful! We are so lucky to have such wonderful family so close :)

I only have a few weeks left of school at this point, and can't wait to spend my days with my girl!

I truly can't believe she's a year old already! Though it seems it's gone so fast and she just got here, it's also strange because I feel like she's been here forever. She is my little miracle, and sometimes I still can't believe she's ours. Every single struggle, every heartbreak, every up-and-down, every tear, was completely worth this beautiful sweet baby who calls me "mama".

Milestones:  Lizzie had her first birthday party on Sunday and turned ONE on Monday, May 12th! Can't believe we are Mommy and Daddy to a one-year-old!

Lizzie shared her second Mother's Day with Mommy ;) Though not as exciting, still just as memorable since we had her birthday party on that day :)

We're babbling more and more all the time, with new sounds and new intonations. Love it!

She's starting to say "uh-oh" and "uh" for "up". I swear she's saying "mamama" for milk these days as well. Whenever she sees or hears a puppy (or the word "puppy"), she does a little "wuh wuh wuh".

Starting to be more confident in our standing skills these days, too! She's been testing the waters on standing alone from time to time :)

Fifty Weeks!

Weight: I'm guessing around 18 pounds. 

Sleep: Sleep is really good lately, usually giving us full, through-the-night, sleeps.

Medical Issues: Feeling good :)

Clothes: Wearing six to 12 month clothes (still a little big!) and three-to-six month jammies. 

Socialite!: Just hanging out with our daycare friends lately :)

Diet: Girlfriend is crazy for milk… as in, regular milk. No, it's not replacing formula -- though it will (in whole-milk form)  as of Monday the 12th (her first birthday!). She drinks it out of her mason jar mug with a straw that she got for Easter in her basket. It is toooooo cute!

We also LOVE raspberries! Can't get enough. I've noticed lately that she seems to like her fruits the most, veggies in second place, and typically the "main course" in third place. She typically cleans her tray, so it doesn't really matter -- but she does seem to eat things in that order. She now requests all of her food on her tray at one time -- I used to hold the fruit back until everything else was finished because she wouldn't eat anything else otherwise. Now, however, she'll definitely eat her fruit first (and then point at the fruit on our plates later in order to "request" more, after hers is all gone… :)), but she'll finish eating everything else afterward. Here's to hoping this "clean plate club" and the love of veggies and all thing flavorful continues into toddlerhood! (Seriously? Did I just say "toddlerhood"? I can't believe my girl is so big!)

Baby Gear Love: We just got a bike trailer for Lizzie to sit in, and unfortunately, the weather hasn't been too great for it at this point; however, the two times she has gotten a little ride in it, she's loved it. She waves and is all smiles while she rides in it :)

Crying: Lizzie is such a happy babe. She only cries when she's hungry or tired.

Mommy News: Unfortunately, my miscarriage nightmare didn't end last week with my D & C. Instead, it seems not everything was "gotten" with that surgery -- so I had to go back and have a hysteroscopy and D & C performed again this week. What. A. Nightmare. But, praise God, all went well and everything is fine now. I'm so ready to put the past few weeks behind me.

From this point on, just looking forward! Just a few weeks left of school and girlfriend's birthday bash this weekend :) Can't believe she'll be one year old in less than a week! (Yes, this is her 50-week post… yes, I am a week behind :))

Milestones: Lizzie can walk behind a walker, one-handed these days :) She's got that "look" in her eye, that she wants to let go of things and just try taking some steps, but it's almost like she thinks better of it before she actually does it. 

I swear she's saying, "woof, woof" at times when she sees dogs. She's saying "raaar" more and more, too :)

Last night, she did say "uh-oh!" It was adorable (I think every parent thinks most anything their child does is adorable at this age)!

Her sense of humor is really coming out -- girlfriend will offer us different objects, and just before we take them from her, she'll pull them away and laugh hysterically :) I just love it!

She's doing this funny thing now, too, where she'll throw her head back and laugh uncontrollably at the tiniest thing. Just about everything is funny to this girl!

Forty Nine Weeks!

Weight: I'm guessing around 18 pounds.

Sleep: Sleep is really good lately, usually giving us full, through-the-night, sleeps.

Medical Issues: Feeling good :)

Clothes: Starting to put away most of Lizzie's three to six month clothing and taking out all of the nine month/six to 12 month clothing.  She's still wearing her three to six month jammies, though :)

Socialite!: Lizzie got to spend some time with more cousins over the weekend! Rachel and Michael, who happens to be just a few weeks younger than Lizzie, came to visit. Lizzie and Michael don't do a lot of interacting together, but they do a lot of "parallel play" (tapping into my CDFS degree for that term ;)).

Diet: I continue to be amazed at our fabulous eater! We had fajitas earlier in the week, and girlfriend gobbled up everything -- including the red and yellow peppers and the onions! It was awesome.

In terms of milk, Lizzie has been a tank lately -- eating eight ounce bottles at night before bed and also first thing in the morning. Typically, she's a four-ounce per feeding baby. Growth spurt maybe?

She's also been increasingly interested in drinking the same milk I am lately. She seems to like it, which is good since we'll be transitioning to cow's milk in just a couple of weeks. We've been working on drinking out of a straw for a few weeks now, and girlfriend has finally seemed to grasp that concept :) 

Baby Gear Love: Still loving "pets" that she can hold in her hand -- that little "baby" rubber duck, her little stuffed octopus and little stuffed giraffe. 

Still loving books. She cries when we put them back on the shelf at bedtime!

Crying: Lizzie is such a happy babe. She only cries when she's hungry or tired.

Mommy News: Not much on the Mommy front after the "excitement" (not fun excitement, but excitement nonetheless). I did end up needing a D & C this week after my pregnancy,  but I feel fine and everything went "well" (as well as things can go when you have to go through the whole, miscarrying, thing). So at this point, just planning that first birthday party and appreciating every second with my little  miracle.

Milestones: Learned to drink out of a straw!

Given up on army crawling almost completely :)

Starting to stand on our own!

Cruising around EVERYTHING like it's her job! She's ready to get anywhere, whether it's by crawling or walking along the couch, ottoman, cabinets… :)