10 Months Old

{Please note that this post is over 3 weeks old - I forgot to post at the time!}

My darling 10 month old:

Wow this month has been another full one! Full of new tricks & teeth & toys! I can hardly sit down to write about the new thing you've just done before you show us another trick. You have taught me an important lesson this month...to never give up. I don't know why it is, that as we grow up, we stop trying to reach our goals and give up so easily. I watch you as you try so desperately to pull yourself up to stand, or crawl on your knees or feed yourself...and you never give up! Your daddy & I often talk about how it seems sometimes that you have life more figured out than the rest of us & it shows through your confident smiles & your soulful eyes. Here's what you've accomplished this month sweet baby girl....

Play:

We just love the little personality that you're developing - you are so fun & interactive! You love to impress people with your tongue smacking & lip flicking....they are like buttah in your hands.

You have been so determined to crawl on all fours and have managed to get up a few times:

We find you in the silliest spots:

You love story telling time:

and playing with uncle Jeffrey:

and Maya:

but your all-time fave is swimming with Daddy:

Eats:

You rarely turn your nose at a new food and are still nursing 4x/day. Breakfast is usually avocado, oats & apples; lunch is brown rice, beans, fruit & toast; supper is quinoa, chickpeas, veggies & cheese. We are a bunch of crazy people going to extreme lengths to distract you while we sneak bites of food in your mouth.

You gobble up bread like our little birdie...

You now have 8 teeth now and seem to be cutting your molars already. And tomorrow we go to the DMV to get your license.

We really don't remember life before you! Although, I think your dad can vaguely remember sleeping on a mattress on the floor with a bag of Doritos in hand during his university days but I'm sure he'll expand on that story with you some day.

We love you to pieces!

On Cloud 9

My sweet, little lauren hutton:

Nine months old...wow!

I feel like you have always been in my life, and maybe in some strange way, you always were. I always dreamt of the day I would hold my baby in my arms and you are everything I dreamt times a thousand.

I can't believe how much growth you go through every 30 days. Every month keeps getting better & better and you continue to show me the miracle of life. You are so curious about your world & I'm so excited for all the things you have yet to explore & learn. The other day I was nursing you and you kept breaking away to listen to the birds chirping outside, and it made me smile to think that you don't even know what a bird is yet. And yet in so many ways you seem wise beyond your years....like you know it all and we're the ones trying to keep up! Here are the special ways you've grown this month:

01 you love to wave your hands & will sometimes wave back...depending on how cute the boy is.

02 you love eating all foods except bananas. they seem to make you throw up a little.

03 you are an army crawling master and rock back & forth on all 4s but can't quite do a full crawl yet.

04 you always find the 1 crumb in the carpet that didn't get vacuumed up.

05 you throw your toys and then go get them. It's like you already know you're an only child.

06 you say dadda & nana. let's throw an "m" in there sometime soon. Mmmmmkay?

07 you have the best smile in the whole wide world.

08 you sleep right through the night (7p-7a), have a nap at 10am and 4pm. My smile is also lookin pretty good.

09 you love to play & I think it's sweet that you act playful around other little people.

10 your strawberry blonde hair is really coming in & Daddy LOVES to comb your hair about 200 times/day.

11 you like other kinds of hair too...but let's not give your Daddy any ideas.

12 you love the water...in the pool, in the tub & in the big water jug that bubbles in the kitchen.

13 you have 6 teeth & look like you're starting kindergarten tomorrow

14 you are working on picking up pieces of food & getting them into your mouth. When you miss your mouth you get very frustrated & slap your hands on your tray table. I'm trying not to read into this tantrum like behaviour.

15 You love discovering your world & shuffle your little self all over the house

16 Several times a day, I look down at you to find you just staring my way and it completely melts my heart. You give me the sweetest look and in that moment I am reminded that I am living the life I had always imagined. You are incredible & loved beyond words.

A letter to my 8 month old

Darling Chloe,

I guess it's time for me to stop talking about how much I wish I could slow things down...even just a little bit. Clearly, it is making no difference. Actually, this month your growth has skyrocketed and I am left feeling as though the only thing I can do is smile. You are healthy & vibrant & fun and we just love chasing you around!

Some of the calendar worthy items this month:

Feb 1: top teeth broke through (you now have 5 teeth with a 6th coming!)

Feb 9th: started sleeping through the night *finally*

Feb 12th: got up on all fours

Feb 14th: started inching across the room (video below)

Sleep:

Although it comes & goes, you are more regularly sleeping right through the night...and I'm talking 730pm - 7am. I could not ask for more! I go through many shenanigans to slip out of your nursery when I put you down because you flip right over and stare at the door as I walk out and then you wale. You've caught me several times as I peeked in on you and you were staring right at me through the bars of your crib! You spend the majority of the night cuddled up with your bum in the air.

Eat:

I am still nursing you 4 times a day (5-6oz each time). Your buffet of solids has expanded & you have now tried: broccoli, peas, sweet tatoes, cauliflower, avocado, apples, bananas, chicken, rice & oats. I want to try you on some veggie protein sources in the next few weeks, such as quinoa & black beans, because your daddy & I love them & think you will too!

Along with food, you continue to put everything in your mouth:

Play:

You have certainly figured out your way around this town. You know what you like and what you don't like and there is usually a tantrum like scream that follows the "don't likes." Sometimes, you bark like a puppydog. Sometimes you do this laugh that sounds like "Hey, Hey, Hey"

Sometimes you still say Dada and not Mama. That's okay...he is the guy that takes you swimming and I'm the girl that delivers the milk. You love being in the pool and are doing so well that I will have to dedicate a whole post just to that!

In the afternoons we sometimes go to Grammas for a visit. While there, your uncle Jeffrey tries to show you how to play video games & upload YouTube videos :

But then you kindly remind him that you're still working on trying to figure out where all these rolls came from:

From 5-7pm is your fussiest time of day but the one thing that entertains you for 30 minutes is your collection of Einstein DVDs.

Well, and you'd probably say that you also find it pretty entertaining when I try to take monthly photos of you. But nonetheless.....

P.S - Don't forget to enter my giveaway...it ends tomorrow!