We are now 3/4 of the way through our first year as parents. And omgoodness is she getting more and more precious by the day. I didn’t know that was possible.
She’s becoming more and more animated and vocal every day, but 9 times out of 10, when mama pulls out the camera, I get the stone face. She will have none of it. But when I do capture smile. Be still, my heart. It’s almost magical. From her cute little smile all the way up to her bright, shiny eyes!
She’s still a little chunk, but as she’s getting taller, she’s leaning out some. Not the thighs though, the chunk isn’t budging from there.
She loves to eat. Puffs are life. I think she would eat in some form or fashion constantly, if we let her. We are experimenting more and more with “big girl” food, but mama still gets nervous about choking. It’s happened a few times, but fortunately never a serious scare. A quick flip and firm pat on the back and we’re good. But I don’t like it. Not one bit. We’ll get there though. She has four teeth now, possibly working on more, so chewing will become easier and we’ll be able to let her feed herself more than just puffs and yogurt melts. I tried mandarin orange slices, but she just picked it up, looked at it, smashed it, and threw it down. But puffs? She will pick those up and shovel them in her mouth all. day. long. It’s quite amusing really. And the instant one is in her mouth, she’s reaching for another. “Ma!” or “Ma.Ma.” is usually the babble that accompanies her “request”. We aren’t sure if she’s saying ‘more’ (which she can very cutely sign as well – but usually only does after we’ve given her what she wants more of) or ‘Mama’, but I choose to believe it’s Mama. Because she associates Mama and food as one. Ha!
She’s started pulling up…if we hold out our hands she will grab hold of them and pull herself to a standing position. And then smile really big and dance around. It’s adorable. And terrifying. I’m not sure if she’ll walk before she crawls, but we aren’t crawling yet. And I’m not ready for either one. Lord help us all, when that day comes.
I’ll tell you what I am ready for, though. For nasty colds, snotty noses, and ear infections to go away. My little lovey has had more than her share. Her pediatrician told us early on that for the first year of her life (especially since she’s in daycare) we can expect her to have a cold probably once a month, lasting about 2 weeks. And I’d say that’s pretty close to accurate. But she smiles most of the time, despite it all. Other than when she sees I’m trying to take a picture. Ha.
And did I mention pig-tails and Pebbles-style ponytails are now a thing for us? Although I’m not sure they can be called ponytails since it’s on top of her head. What would those be called? We just call them ponies. Piggies and ponies. It is so stinkin’ cute! And thankfully, she doesn’t mess with the ponies or the bows.
I had to be away from her overnight for the first time, a couple of weeks ago. Every year I go out of town for a work conference for 3-4 days, but this year I started having major anxiety about it months in advance. Would I have enough milk in the freezer to get her by? Would she and J be ok for four days? They’d never been alone together for more than an hour. He’d never put her to bed. She’d never been away from me other than at daycare and one time that I had to go to work for an hour and they stayed home. What would they do without me for four days?!?!
And it had nothing to do with J or his ability to care for her, because I don’t doubt him in that for a moment. But it would be a first for all of us. And one we weren’t ready for. Thankfully, J didn’t want us all to be separated for that long (he said he didn’t want her to be away from her mama that long – awww), so they stayed home the first night, and then he came the second night and commuted back and forth the last day. Thankfully my conference was only about an hour away. I had originally offered to just commute every day, but the hours are long, I’d have no idea when I’d be done each day and would likely not even make it home before her bedtime. This way, we were able to spend the evenings together, I could nurse her to sleep and in the morning and it’d be business as usual during the day. Other than J making the hour+ commute to make it happen. I’m not sure if she knew the difference either way, maybe she didn’t even notice mama was gone that first night, but I’d like to think she did! I worked so late that night that by the time I got back to my hotel, I barely had the energy to shower and get myself to bed, let alone lay there and dwell on missing my loves.
And we got a little family time that we wouldn’t normally get, out of it.
So, happy 9 months baby love. We are so proud of you, and love you to the moon and back. Always!
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