This photo was taken within one hour of her birth, after she had been all cleaned up. Look how tiny she is! Her face looks much better than it did the next morning when the poor girl had a ton of bruising from her slightly traumatic entrance into this world. 7 pounds, 15 ounces 20.5 inches.
The first weekend home flew by in a blur. We were on a two hour schedule. She'd wake, we would change her, then I'd try to feed her which caused tears on both parts as we learned how to nurse together. Then she'd pass out exhausted and her dad I would assemble or rearrange something else. I don't think I really relaxed at all that weekend, which now I kind of regret. I should have laid around with my feet up but I got plenty of that throughout the summer as she napped the day away.
When she was a month old we took her up north for a day trip to camp with family. Oh my. She slept most of this trip away but sure enjoyed the ergo and the sound of the waves on the beach. She slept on me for most of our time up there. She liked to be held a lot in the beginning. She would fight sleep with all her might and need to be held tight and swayed and shushed loudly. Man she is strong, and has been always! My little fighter.
I really cannot believe that we are already entering into a new summer. It seems like last summer wasn't far away at all and I was busy nursing, rocking and keeping the house cleaner than ever before. Oh and tearing through Laura Lippman novels as I nursed. Ahhh, the quiet joys of a newborn. I also remember how I would pray every night that she wouldn't wake up around 5 am because if it started getting lighter/birds started chirping before I got her back down we tended to be up for a few hours and I came to HAAATE 5 am. But, I really cannot complain because we were in a new routine of wake up around 3 or 4 or 5 and sleep/stay in bed until about 9. I could live like that on a daily basis! ;)
August came and we had introduced the bumbo that I hadn't planned on using, but she was in LOOOVE with it. She would sit on the kitchen counter (ahh the horror) while I would prepare dinner and she would just talk away to me. She started daycare towards the end of August and that was torture for her and she decided to refuse all bottles. Joy.
By mid-September we had switched to the daycare I wanted her in to begin with, and she adapted and started taking a bottle again! Yay. I am so thankful that I can drop my baby girl off and have no worries about her safety. She is in VERY good hands. I don't even think about her while I'm at work (ahh the horror again!) because I am that secure with her provider. We watched quite a bit of football in September and she learned which colors were good (scarlet, gray, green and white) and which were yucky (blue and maize).
In October, we took her to the pumpkin patch for the first time, we went to the library's move and groove and story time for the first times, and she got to be a skeleton for Halloween. She tried chunks of bananas and sweet potatoes at the end of this month and wasn't so sure what to do with them. We smashed them up and put them on spoons and she liked how they tasted. So every couple of days or so we'd give her a chunk to play with and then mash some up and that's how she was introduced to non boob food.
November was a super busy month and seemed to fly by. We celebrated Thanksgiving with both sides of the family and she opened up her first Christmas presents. She loved the wrapping paper. She mastered sitting on her own sometime between October and November, but I don't remember when cuz I suck at writing things down. She got her first tooth on November 28th and the second one popped thru on November 30th.
December came, and she rolled over and over and over again and right before Christmas decided that she was going to start scooting around. Shortly after Christmas she started crawling more and more and more and now she is a crawling machine. We also got a stomach virus at a family Christmas and that was the ONLY illness she had her whole first year. I never called the pediatrician for anything besides the time we had to reschedule an appointment. I call that a success!
January came and it was pretty boring except that someone learned how to pull themselves up and she would stand forever on the upside down laundry basket and bang bang bang. When she first started she wouldn't move at all and she'd cry to get down. She gradually got more comfortable and started walking around stuff and dropping down. We used it as a gate so she couldn't escape our living room. Not so much anymore. She escapes everywhere.
For her 9 month birthday we took her sledding! She was pretty indifferent until the last ride with her dad when she let out a little wheeeeeee. I think this began her love affair with the out door world, for which I am grateful. Last summer, she criiiiied every time we went outside.
Shortly after she turned 10 months, we headed down to Anna Maria Island for a week of fun and sun and she LOOOOOVED it. We had a blast. She went on walks daily, to the pool and to lay (eat sand) on the beach. Soo much fun. It made me really excited for the summer. She also started doing a head bang dance and shaking her head no when we were on vacation.
For her 11 month birthday, she tried markers for the first time and made her dad a birthday sign. She took a step, but much prefers crawling. She won't put weight on her legs if she knows you want her to walk. Crazy girl. Loves swinging and taking walks. Watching out the window for her daddy. Eating. Reading books. And playing the thank you game, which consists of handing you something you saying thank you and her grinning and taking it back. ;)
She is so stinkin' happy. She wakes anywhere between 6:50 and 8:30 am. Nurses on waking, eats a large breakfast. Usually an egg, piece of toast, and a banana. She loves having me read her books 234354 times in a row. She appears to really like the puzzle we got her for her birthday as well. She nurses before a morning nap which is usually about an hour. During the week when she wakes up from that nap I take her to daycare where she spends about 4.5 -5 hours and then we come home to play outside, eat a dinner (whatever we are eating with tons more veggies and fruits) nurse and then go to bed. Depending on the day/week she has a bath 2 to 4 nights before bed.
She loves applesauce, mandarin oranges, strawberries, bananas, blueberries, bread, tortilla shells, black beans and basically anything you give her. She loves to eat. We're still nursing but she is drinking cows milk with her meals and a sippy cup of water is available for her all the time in our living room. If she could be outside all the time, she would be. She waves her hands when she is saying hi, bye, wants to go outside or not be dong what you are doing. She understands do you want to nurse, do you want eat dinner, do you want to eat lunch or breakfast, do you want to go to bed or do you want to go outside. or hell maybe she just understands do you want and knows that it will be fun! hahaha
She's awesome and I love her. She laughs all the time and acts like she is cracking jokes, she lights up when she sees me and I could go on and on.. And I obviously just did and if you read this, I apologize, I may be a bit smitten by a certain blue eyed cutie.
Happy Birthday, my love. Love , your very lucky Mommy
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