Ahhh! It's so hard to believer you're almost a toddler and not a baby anymore. I see that slowly changing everyday. It's very exciting, challenging, exhausting, and fun! That sounds like motherhood in a nutshell isn't it? This has been an exciting, busy month of new physical developments. You are growing up right before my eyes!
Favorite moments-I have so many. You're such a sweet baby. I cherish our little moments together and our family memories. Here are just a few little moments I can remember.
I remember we were playing with the dogs with Grammie. They were growling at something outside. You turned and looked at them. You grawled back at them! It was hilarious! Your Grammie and I were dieing laughing.
One night, we were playing as a family on the floor. I decided to grab your white bear from the nursey to mix things up a bit. You loved it and immediately grabbed it. You were so excited you were holding it and waving it around calling it, "bawb!" It sounded like you were calling it Bob! Me and your dad looked at each other and laughed. So it stuck. The bears name is officially bob the bear!
At a ladies tea, I was holding you
Other little favorite moments, I love how you will pull up to a stand and then reach for my hand. As you take my hand, You smile, throw back your head, arms open, laugh, and run excited to me. I love it! We do this a few times a day. I love the smiles and laughs you have for doing this.
Happy saint Patricks day! We had a very quiet holiday. Grammie came over and visited. You love to see her. Every time she comes you smile and wave your hands around! Grammie had been a big help to me as I try to catch up on sleep and chores! I don't know what I'd do without her!
Nursing-you are more interested in nursing lately. You will nurse about 2-4 times a day. I think you're only really eating twice a day- 8 am and 8 pm. The other times it may be for comfort, drinking water, or just to reconnect with me. I love any extra mommy time. You do to. I never realized how much a child need mommy time and their mommy. I can tell our bond is so strong and deep from nursing. I hope it'll always be that way. As you get more independent and your own personality, I hope that bond won't change.
Naps/night time-they are rough still. Nights especially. It's hard not to lose hope. I knew you're a great sleeper when nothing is going on. I know the gas and constipation are keeping you up. I feel so bad. At night it hurts so much that you are sleeping on your tommy now with your butt up in the air. I've tries to change our diet around and exclude different foods. I can't nail down any particular food. I've taken out all species and vegetables. Those seem to cause the most gas.
I've realized you like to take a nap at 10 or 11 am. I don't know why I was fighting you at go down at 1 pm. I thought most kids take naps at the same time. But after asking parents, it sounds like they all take one at different times which makes sense to me. So now I plan things in the afternoon and not the morning naptime. After your morning nap, You are up all afternoon usually going nonstop. When you sleep in the afternoon, you don't go down to bed very well, late, or sometimes not at all!
Likes/dislikes-you love playing wih the door stops and emptying the diaper bag. You love pulling out the tissues from the tissue box. So I made you your own box with scarves you can pull out! You love dogs! You squeal every time you see one!
Developments-you are making lots of developments! You can stand up without using anything. You are becoming mobile too! You inch along the couch and you move from one surface to another. You circle the coffee table a few times a day. :-)) nana and papa got you a little walker. You use that to walk and push it across the room. You are even making little steps towards me and daddy! Its so cute to watch!
I've moved you out of the crib! You like to roll a lot when you sleep. So I was thinking the crib is so small for rolling. You can't even strech out in it. So I put a bed on the floor.
I also moved you out of the baby car seat into a rear forward facing car seat! Other developments have been-Crawl backwards to sit, Talking, Eating a grape, chewing on a bottle (like what's the heck is his mom? Face lol), Sharing and taking back.
Leaps-During these weeks, Alex will make the eight leap in her mental development, known as the 'world of programs'. For the first time, Alex is able to perceive a whole sequence of actions as one thing. Now she recognizes that putting a dirty plate in the water, moving the brush or sponge over it, and placing it in the rack for the water to drip down, is 'washing dishes'. She loves to help you with such tasks. And of course she likes to produce a lot of foam.
Challenges-we are still battling constipation pretty badly and with it comes painful gas. It's funny how it changed your perspective when you have a challenge you face. I never thought I'd pray the prayers I've prayed as a parent. "Lord, please let this be a poopy diaper!" I pray frequently for a poopy diaper. And when you go, I get so excited and praise The Lord! I'm so thankful for a poppie diaper! Funny, how my prayers have changed! I definitely appreciate the little every day things a lot more now!
Now that you're mobile, it's getting harder and harder to keep up with you! You're pulling up to stand on everything and trying to walk anytime anywhere even on slippery surfaces. You need to be watched all the time and I can't leave you for a moment! Well at least, I won't miss out on anything you do!
What I've learned as a mom- I've learned from you this month! I'm sure I will learn a lot from you as you grow up! Lately, I've noticed you fall all the time as you are trying to master walking and pulling up to a stand. (Totally normal). But you always get back up. This is so inspiring to me. You get back up like you don't have anything to fear and fully willing to try it all again. You don't get burned out, don't throw a fit, or frustrated as much as I would. (Yes sometime you cry only if you're hurt but not for long). As an adult, I think that we tend to give up, get burned out, make absolutes, get angry, or hold grudges. I love your perseverence and innocence. I hope that you are always willing try and eagerly pick yourself up after making mistakes. I hope you won't focus on the past ( mistakes) and strive forward. Like Paul does in phillipians 3:13, "dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead!"
No matter what, I will always love you regardless of what mistakes you make or how times you fall down. I reminds me to keep this perservence and an open heart. It reminds me to Love people even when they fall or make mistakes, that means even myself! We are all just big kids at heart. 1 Peter 4:8 says, "Above all else, deeply love each other, for love covers a multitue of sins." I'm so happy this is true! I love you so much!! I know I'll make mistakes in parenting you. I know that Gods love covers me completely even those sins. I hope you can always forgive me of all mistakes I'll make. because, you know I love you. And most importantly, because you know God does too.
Love you baby girl,
Mom
Ps- I'm so sad not to get a 11 month old pic! Bah:-/ I totally forgot! Just trying to keep up and enjoy you more!:-))! Xoxoxoxoxox!!!
