10 months!! And on the move!

Hey meow meows!!

Happy 10 months! You're getting so big now! It's really unreal! Every day you are turning into more and more a child and less a baby! This makes me very excited and sad at the same time! No matter how big you are you'll always be my baby! Here what happened this month! 

Highlights- you have two more teeth that came in! It was your two front teeth! I'm so glad! You can bite and chew your food better. you look less like a vampire now. Jk. You have a total of six teeth! 

You're on the move! You can army crawl any direction. It seems that fowards and backwards are the toughest for you unless you're on the tile. You like being there since it's easier to slide. When you're on the carpet, You love to roll across the room to get around. Since it's easier,  you'll turn 360 to roll to what you want instead of going forwards. So we try to put toys in a forward direction to have you practice crawling and not roll! You'll always try to fight that though. Little stinker! Also You are sitting on your knees more easily and rocking forward putting your wight on your arms. Youll even be in the crawling position and move your legs out from under you at the last minute. You're so close to crawling on all fours I can feel it! 

You'll even Pull up from a seated position. You'll be on my lap and use the coffee to pull to a stand! Pretty cool! You find it pretty amusing too! Many times you'll laugh or have a big smile. You always want to do it again! 

Favorite moments-it's been really fun cherishing the little moments with you and with others. I'll never forget, I walked in on you and dad laughing hysterically. You're at the top of the bed. You were rolling off the bed and daddy would catch you. You two were doing trust falls! Your dad looks up at me and says," I was trying to teach her not to fall!" Lol. You were having too much fun instead!

Another favorite time I cherish is when we were on the bed together getting ready for bed. I was brushing my wet hair while you were trying to reach for it. I let you have it. I helped you brush your hair and mine. By the look on your face it was a whole new experience! You were holding the comb and started to brush mine! I was so impressed with how smart you are!

Ok so there are a lot of favorite moments with you! The last one I'll share today is one with Grammie. Your Grammie and I were talking while you were playing on the floor. We had paused in our conversation and Grammie asked you," what to hold this toy?" No joke, you turned around, looked at her and said," huh"? We couldn't stop laughing it was so funny!! 

Likes/dislikes- you love dogs! You get so excited to see them. You also get excited to see Grammie walk in the door! Many times you'll wave your hands around and smile. You love applesauce packets, rice cakes, Cheerios, tearing up magazines, camera flash, and all electrics. You love blowing and talking into empty cups. You love to hear your voice echoe in them. 

You dislike bibs and try to pull them off at mealtime. It makes for extra laundry for me. It's been sad to say goodbye to a lot of cute outfits you've had. You hate when I wipe food off your face after a meal. 

Valentines day- we had a very quiet holiday. We were both sick with a cough and sore throat! I had the cold first and then you got a little sick. I am so thankful you're cough went away within a week or so. I think you're nightly nursings really help you beat it. I'm so glad you didn't need antiboditics again.  

Nursing- you are losing interest in it. were hardly nursing at all. On busy days we nurse a lot less maybe only twice! On days that are slow and were at home it can range from 2-4 times. We always still to nurse in the morning after waking up (around 7 or 8 am) and before bed (8 pm). I really see that you're slowly weaning yourself since you're nursing so little. You're eating more and more every day. I'm starting to miss the cuddle time of nursing already! I almost don't mid waking up at night for a little more cuddle time. 

Naps/nights-the naps are all over the place still. You will always get tired right at lunch time 11 am or noon ish. You want to nurse and it puts you to sleep. It makes it a little tough to know what to do. I'm not sure to keep you up not nurse and force lunch. I hate to wait to nurse since you get cranky and won't eat your lunch. Or if I should offer earlier like around 10 am before you really want to. It may be good to let you sleep when you need? two naps? It's a good theory. So I'm going to test it out and I'll let you know! Some days when you'll sleep two, one or skip naps completely! I try not to street about it and remember that if you're really tired you'll sleep anytime anywhere! 

Nights have been all over the place to. You want to sleep through the night and you will if everything's perfect. Only if you're not teething, gassy, constipated or fighting a cold. That's rare I feel like. But even when you're, it seems you'll sleep around 5-6 hours straight! That even is a big huge blessing! I'm all so considering sleep training. I'm not sure when to start. I have a hunch that it'll be when it's time to wean the nightly nursing. It doesn't make sense to me to start sleep training and then do it again to wean the bedtime feeding. I'm even not sure how to do it. I'd like to have a set plan before starting anything. But that may not be realistic since I don't know what will work. 

Developments-you have made so many physically and mentally. It's hard to recap all of them! You are 17 pounds! It makes me so happy at you're gaining weight! You are sitting better and putting your more weigh on your arms! You're sticking out your tongue more. You are more curious with objects and will reach for them more frequently. You love waking in your walker since it gives you a lot of mobility! You can turn it, go backwards and can even run! Many times you throw back your head and arms to chase daddy! It's too cute! You also in your big girl car seat (rear facing still).

Leap-In the world of 'sequences' your baby learns to recognize and manage the flow of events and relationships over time. Eating cereal with a spoon for example, means grab the spoon, put the spoon into the bowl, scoop some cereal onto the spoon, bring the spoon to your head and put it in your mouth (and not in your eye). Your baby starts to link actions together to reach a 'goal', such as feeding himself, but may miss a component or two in the beginning. At this stage, your baby likes to feel needed and will want to help. In general, your baby will show the same characteristics with this leap as he did while making former leaps. However, the way in which he does that will differ from before. For instance, he will show more attachment behavior, but not in the literal way he used at an earlier age. Now, he will keep an eye on you more, stay close to you, and will regularly come to you to sit on your lap; as if to "refuel mommy or daddy." On the other hand, it might be he starts screaming if you leave the room. However, some babies like the old-fashioned way and literally cling on to you. No matter which form your child chooses to manifest this behavior, give him what he asks for. This way you help him by making the leap easier for him and also for you!

Other signs and symptoms of this leap:

• Your baby is angry when you put him down;-yes!
• Plays with emotions, such as naughty or nice, to get your attention (does that "not knowingly!")
• Sits quietly, daydreaming;
• Often sucks the thumb;
• Cries more often, is cranky, grumpy or moody;
• 'Chats' less;
• Is whining more often.

Challenges- it's hard to keep up writing the blog! You're on the move and you want to play! I remember that I'm writing for you which keeps me motivated. I can see that I'm already forgetting many of the little moment and memories that I cherish so much. I want to share them with you someday! I hope my word bring you encouragement when you have your own kids. And I hope this blog also encourages other moms too! Moms need a lot of support! This makes me wish that our culture was more supportive of our moms and understanding of how hard they work. I hope that you will find support when you're a mom someday. I can't wait for grand kids already!crazy I know! I totally agree with this verse-"Grandchildren are the crown of old men, And the glory of sons is their fathers." Proverbs 17:6.

Other challenges keeping healthy from colds, gas, and constipation. I m pretty sure that you're getting all of it from me! So I've been trying to change. I'm trying to drink more water, take a 15 minute walk, and take milk of magnesia regularly. It seems to be helping but not solving it yet. I keep you on Gas x since its helped you prevent it. As u get older, I notice that I need twice the amount of water then I needed before which I think that really the root to the problem. I think I'm up to needing 6 32oz waters a day! I'm pretty convinced that motherhood is going from one illness to the next! It makes me glad summer is coming soon and hopefully cut down on that!

I guess I'm really challenged because i always have a huge challenge section to write about! Lol! I'd like to do a few things better on a day to day basis for a healthy life style. It's a really struggle to do them all in the same day. Ive tried not to be too hard on myself. Every effort is a step in the right direction. I really like to focus on reading a book a day to you, a walk a day, getting some fresh air with you, washing your hands as much as possible, brushing your teeth, nurse more often, make one dinner for everyone, as much tommy time (crawling) as possible, and having you have more social interaction through play dates or church activities. These things are really important to me and your dad. However, I have to remember to live one day at a time and here's only so much that can be done in one day. 

What I've learned as a mom-I thought I was a patient person until I had you! I thought I was averagely patient. But I've realized that I'm not that patient of a person without sleep or unending crying. I'm reminded that God goodness is higher than our own! "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." -- Isa. 55:8-9. My goodness or anyone's goodness pales in comparison to Gods goodness. 

As a parent, you need a lot of patience. Even now, I struggle with being patient with you. The long nights and stubbing my toe really get to me! What is it about being a mom that makes you stub your toe? Seriously! My poor toe:-) I'm convince I'll need even more so as you get older! I pray that The Lord will give me his as a I need more and more. He's shown me that Patience is a powerful parenting tool. He was telling me that gently in this verse," through patience, a ruler can be persauded and a gentle tongue can brake bone." proverbs 25:15. If even a ruler can be persauded through patience, then I'm hoping that it'll brake the backbone of  a strong willed toddler someday! 

Love you my baby,

Mom