12 month stats

Gwennie Girl,

  On your actual birthday I focused on all the gushy stuff so today (before we are too far past your birthday) I want to take a few minutes to document all about what you have been up to this month. To start with, you are a tiny little peanut. You weigh 18lbs 11 oz and are 30.5 inches. You wear 9 or 12 month clothes and size 4 disposable diapers. You are on the medium setting of your medium cloth diaper covers.

Your 7th and 8th tooth came through (the 7th on the day of your birthday party and the 8th a few days later) and we were SO glad that after the horrible go of teething you had between 10-11 months that these ones came in without a peep. We’re hoping that now you will get a bit of a break from the whole teething game. Because it is no fun, not at all.

You still nap twice a day, usually around 8:30-9am and around 1-1:30pm, both lasting anywhere from 1-2 hours each. The nice thing about you is that when we are out and about you have figured out how to be more flexible. You roll with the punches and are able to go without the morning nap if we’re busy. You go to bed between 7-7:30 and sleep until 6:30-7am, sometimes waking up for a little snack around 5:30-6. You nurse 4 times a day and drink a bit of cow’s milk in between. You are getting weirder with your food – you don’t like to sit in your high chair, you’re much more of a grazer, just like your big sister. Mealtimes are becoming kind of tricky, so I like on the go times when I’m able to toss food in front of you and watch you gobble it up without missing a beat. In your highchair, however, you are typically only happy with crackers, veggie straws or bagels.

We’ve been spending our days doing fun summer stuff – pool, beach, park, zoo – you name it. And you love it. Well, you love the pool as long as you get to stay on the deck with food and you love the beach as long as you just get to muck in the sand. You aren’t so much a fan of the water yet, and in fact, it seems that the pool and beach have ruined bath time for you, as well. As much as you used to love baths, it is now like wrestling a rabid jungle creature trying to wash you.

I’m pretty sure the zoo is your favourite place as you are totally in love with animals. You sign birdie the whole time we are there. Animals capture your attention. You know how to make sounds for cow, puppy, monkey, and horse. Of course, they all sound fairly similar but I can tell the difference. Other than that, you don’t say a lot other than uh oh, hot, hat, and Mama (only when you want to – never on command). You sign a lot though, you point to everything and say “uhh, uhh” and sign milk, more, please, all done, thank you, eat, puppy, bird, cup. Despite your quiet nature (well, that is a misnomer, even though you don’t say many words, you certainly aren’t quiet – hello screamy baby) you know how to get your point across and are learning to communicate really well.

I love that suddenly, you have a strong understanding of almost anything I say. I can ask you where your cup is and you will go get it, I can say “Go get a ____” and you know what I’m saying, you even know what I mean I give you clothing and tell you to put it in the laundry (gotta start you young).

You love to sing and dance. I adore it. In the car, if Eva and I are singing, you are undoubtedly singing along. You love to play with the Little People princess castle and sing with them. It is jus the sweetest ever. You also love to play with the kitchen toys, babies, the tea set, the toy camera and blocks. You love reading books, and are starting to recognize and point to some items. You love going to see the chickens and horses and going for walks. You love playing in dirt and sand, playing catch and playing peek a boo. To you, the only place worth being is outside. You bring me your shoes and hat and said “haaaaa” all.the.time. You are whiny and like to be right by my side at all times – independent play has been all but non existent lately. You want to be doing exactly what your big sister is doing all.the.time. And I mean, exactly what she is doing. You are not content to play beside her with a similar toy – you always want the exact thing she has. My job of referee has definitely begun.

On your actual birthday, we enjoyed a nice little dinner with M and L and a chocolate chip cookie cake made especially for you by your big sister. We loved celebrating with you.

You are turning into such a goofy, wonderful little girl. Watching you grow up, learn and explore just makes my heart so full. I can’t wait to see what our next year together holds – although I sure hope it doesn’t zoom past as quickly as this year has. Even though you are all big, and grown up and toddler like, I know that when you snuggle up to nurse or cuddle with me, that you are still my sweet baby. I love you more than I could ever say with words.

Stay sweet, my girl.

Mama

twelve months of gwenna

Gwennie Girl,

I blinked.

I blinked one short blink and suddenly, here we are. A full year (to the exact minute if this post publishes when it’s supposed to) since that beautiful July morning when you stole my heart and made me the mother of two.

It’s gone so fast. Yet, somehow, at the same time I feel like I have soaked up and savoured your first year in a way that I didn’t know was possible. I cherished those lazy naps in my bed with you. I cherished the months that you spent hours snuggled between Daddy and I in our bed. I cherished watching you grow and learn and develop and explore. I noticed every milestone. I didn’t wish it away. I cherished it all. Maybe because I knew just how fast these days would be gone.

You are my sweet slow down baby. When life is moving too fast, you have taught me, at the most important times to stop. To stop and slow down and just be.

You are a beautiful soul. You light up every room with your smirks, smiles and giggles. You make friends wherever you go, waving and chatting with everyone you see.

People always talk about the second child living the shadow of the first, and going unnoticed. I think those people are crazy. You are in the spotlight more often than you’re not. Because, you see, not only do a have a proud Mommy and Daddy doting over you, playing with you, loving on you and getting excited with you about every discovery and development you make – but you also have a Big Sister who loves you up just as much, or more, than we do. She is your biggest fan. I have waited and waited for the novelty of having you around to wear off for her – but it hasn’t. Of course, there are starting to be moments of disagreement and annoyance between you two, but for the most part, she adores every single thing about you.

My blue-eyed girl – the moments we have shared this past year are so cherished in my heart. There is something about the first year that’s just so special. You have come so far, changed so much. From a tiny little babe nestled on my chest to a walking, running, playing, spirited little girl who is joy to me. You are very evidently becoming your own person. You are dramatic and funny and silly. You love to be outside – bringing your shoes to me within two minutes of waking up and banging on the glass of the windows, screaming at me if we don’t head outside right!this!moment. You love your puppy. You love your Daddy. And the two of them together is the best thing. You love your big sister. You love to play with her and copy her and most of all, annoy her. You love all of these things – but at the end of the day, you are Mama’s sweet baby. You begin and end your days cuddled in my arms and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

You have captured us – so fully and so quickly. It’s only been one short year – but it’s as though you’ve been a part of our family forever. We can’t remember what life was like without you, and we’d never want to remember. You have made our hearts a million times bigger and filled us with a million times more love than we could ever imagine.

Thank you, sweet girl, for being ours and for making this year the best one yet.

All my love,

Mama

eleven months of gwennie

Baby Girl,

You are now eleven months old. Let me tell you, this one surely makes my heart hurt. Just weeks from now, we will be celebrating your birthday as a one year old. I’m trying not to get ahead of myself but it sure feels like it’s creeping up too fast. Every single day you do more and more things to remind me that you are, in fact, growing up before my eyes. This month has been so full of big, big changes. Your personality is shining, you’re starting to express your own ideas, preferences and interests and your temper flares up more often than I can say. You are a spitfire. You rock my world. You hold my heart in those tiny little pudgy hands.

Here’s how you’ve looked this month:

This month has been a big one for you. Most importantly, you’re now a full on official walker. After taking your very first timid steps when you were nine and a half months old, you cooled it for a while but by the days following your ten month birthday you were gaining more and more confidence. Each day you got steadier, faster and more brave until finally, about three weeks ago, you started taking off on your own more often than not and switched from crawling to walking as your preferred mode of transportation. Of course, you also don’t mind being chauffeured around in one of the many toys cars we have on the driveway.

In other big news, this month was the month of teeth. Girlie, you have had a tough go with some of these teeth. From fevers, to sleeplessness, to all around grumpiness. Food strikes. Whining. Clinginess and cuddles. But, finally, all that work has proven to be worth something. On May 15th your second top tooth finally busted through, after sitting at the surface for nearly 6 weeks. I have never seen a tooth take so long to come through. And then, just a few weeks later your third and fourth top teeth came in on May 27 and May 29th. So now you’re sporting six pearly whites and I have to say, those top teeth sure change your looks! Again, another reminder that you are turning into a t…t…t… I can’t say it.

As for sleep, you have become a champion napper (knock on wood!). You nap twice a day. In the morning you go down between 8:30-9 and sleep anywhere from 1-2 hours. In the afternoon, between 1-1:30 for 1.5-3 hours. I’ll take it! The nights have gone up and down due to teeth, but you are typically sleeping from 7pm-6:30/7am with one wake up anywhere between 4-6. It’s not too bad at all! We are still making an excellent team on the nursing front. You nurse 4-5 times a day, depending on how early that first morning feed is. I love those special moments with you. We pushed through the time where everything and anything was more interesting to you than nursing and now you’re back to loving it. You are serious about your milk and so I can nurse you whenever and wherever without having to worry about you being too pokey.

You’re still loving your food, though you went through a bit of a strike while teething. You love avocado, pasta, broccoli,  black beans and cottage cheese the most. Oh, and bread. Anything that remotely resembles bread is good for you. You’re still very iffy on fruit so I have to get creative sometimes, but we’re learning. Fruit smoothies every day!

You’re becoming excellent with using signs and figuring out a way to communicate with us. You sign “more” most often and have transferred it to other areas aside from food. You also sign please, thank you and all done but these take a little more prompting from Mama. Whenever you see Nika, you sign puppy and squeal with delight. She is your favourite. As soon as Daddy walks in the door, you start signing puppy because you know he will take you to see her outside. For a while, Puppy was also the sign you used whenever you wanted or were excited about anything but now you use “more” in place of that. You also sign “cup” and “milk” and have started using them unprompted to request a drink. We’ve started to work on help, but of course, it’s much trickier. As far as verbal words, you say “uh oh” , “Dada”, “Mama” (only at select times, on your own terms) and “EB”. As far as I can tell, “EB” is your way of calling to daddy when he’s outside. You stand at the window and yell, “EB! EB! EB!” I wonder where you’ve heard that before?

Some other fun tricks you’ve learned… You sing and dance all day long. Your singing sounds like “Ahhh, ahhh, ahhh” and your dancing mostly involves bouncing around, clapping your hands and kicking your legs. You kick your feet in the tub and when sitting down. You jump. You wash your hands when they’re dirty (wipe them back and forth together). You love to play “go nigh nigh”. You point to your head when asked where you’re head is or when we are getting ready to go outside.  I think because you know you need a hat. Similarly, you squeal with delight when you see me pick up my sunglasses. I think because you know it means we’re heading out. You like to carry things around, specifically buckets, and fill them up. You love to comb your hair with Sissy’s comb.

Speaking of Sissy, you love her more than ever. And you have suddenly become her little copy cat. You look and act so proud any time you do something that she does. Like put on her hat, carry her backpack or purse, or fill a bucket with toys. The other day she put shoes on to go outside and when I looked over you had taken a shoe out of the basket and were banging it on your foot. I’ve also caught you with a pair of her undies on your head. 

Watching the two of you together is the best gift I’ve been given as a mother. The best. The love you both have for each other is so … complete. Wherever she is, you want to be. Your temper shows itself loud and clear if you look out the window and realize she’s outside and you’re not. Especially if she’s with Daddy. He’s your second favourite.

My sweet, sweet Gwendolyn. My prayer is that you continue to grow up, learn, develop and explore that you know you can do anything. You are brave, you are a climber, you are an adventurous little love. I think you’ll be our dare devil and I hope I can reign in my mama heart enough to let you learn the hard way when it’s needed. You have a sensitive heart. Your feelings get hurt easily. Yet, I also see you learning how to work this to your advantage sometimes when you look to see if anyone is watching before putting on a show about something.

      When I look at you, especially in the quiet hours of dawn while we nuzzle in your chair to nurse, I feel a love so strong that it hurts. Often, my breath is taken away when I think of how blessed I am to get to hold you, love you, have you. You are truly a gift to my heart.

I don’t care what anyone says. You might be eleven months old. You might be walking like a pro, chattering up a storm and learning new things each and every day. But all of that aside, there’s one thing I know. You, my Gwenna, you are my baby girl.

Love,

Mama

ten months of gwenner

Sweet Gwens,

Here we are at 10 months old. I’m not even going to say it. The last month has been a riot with you. This is one of my favourite ages. I love watching you explore, learn, develop your personality and be funny. I love seeing you do things that you find amusing and break out into uncontrollable giggles. I love watching you play on Big Sisters bed, flopping down on her pillow like you’re going to sleep and kicking your little feet. I love watching you dance with your Daddy. Wiggling your legs, clapping your hands, waving your arms in the air as he tosses you all around. I love seeing you stick your little tongue out the side of your mouth and look at me out of the corner of your eyes when you’re getting into mischief. I love watching you wave at all the vehicles that drive past on the road. I love watching you light up at the sight of your big sister, your daddy, your puppy, or your chickens. I love all of these itty, bitty, teensy weensy nuances that all together make you who you are.

Here’s how you’ve looked this month (ahem: cutest cute cute)

We’ve finally welcomed some warmer weather and have been spending as much time as possible outside. You love being outside at the park or just in our own yard. You have no problems with the grass and are happy to sit, crawl and play in it. You only eat it sometimes.

The two biggest pieces of news this month are that you took your first steps and you cut your third tooth. Let’s talk about the steps first. You have been cruises for ages and you are getting more and more steady all the time. I can usually set you down on your feet and you can stand unassisted for a good long time. In fact, more often than you losing your balance, you just get tired of standing in one spot and sit down to crawl away. On April 18th, when Auntie Caley and C were here, you took your very first unassisted steps. You took 3-4 steps a few different times that day but didn’t keep it up much after that. You’ve taken 1-2 here and there and once (only once) you took eight steps to me but you’re still pretty content to crawl. You also love to walk holding our hands and have gotten so steady that you can do pretty well with only holding one hand now. The only way I can get you to attempt steps by yourself is if you are holding two objects in your hand. I guess you feel like you’re holding onto something so think that you are steady. I can just imagine in no time at all you’ll be ripping around here like it’s your job.

As far as your teeth, come on with the teeth! It’s getting a bit ridiculous. I have felt like you were on the verge of cutting new teeth since the very first two came in – way back in February. I have been able to clearly see your top 4 teeth for a while and your gums have been so swollen and the whites of the teeth so close to breaking through that when you smile the right way, it looks like you have top teeth. Your right hand top tooth finally broke through on Monday (April 29) and I hope its pair is close behind. I am not a fan of this long drawn out teething process. I fear the long road ahead of us.

I’d like to think that these teeth are the culprit of our sleep issues lately. On one hand, you have been napping wonderfully and have gotten into a much more predictable, normal routine with your naps. You’re doing great and falling asleep quickly and on your own (as long as you have a paci in your mouth, one in each hand and your lovies close by) and have weaned away from nursing to go down for your afternoon nap – meaning that your nursing schedule is now more reminiscent of a 10 month old and less of a 1 month old. You now nurse about 5-6 times a day instead of 7-8. You typically wake up for the day around 6:30 (although we’ve just come out of a long stretch of 5:45-6am wake ups – no thank you) and have your first nap between 8:30-9, depending on wake up and whether or not it’s a preschool day. You nap anywhere from 1-2 hours. You then go down again between 1-1:30 and usually nap for another 1.5, sometimes 2 hours if I’m lucky. You are in bed by 7 pm most nights. And that’s where it goes down hill. I guess realistically, you still haven’t been doing that bad, as most nights it simply takes a few moments of rocking or soothing or a quick nurse to get you back down. But, gosh, baby, let’s just sleep through the night like we used to, okay?

   

You like to chatter, although now you’ve gone from being way louder and more verbal than your big sister was as an infant, to being quieter. You say “dada”, “mama” and something like “eaaaa-da” (which I am beginning more and more to think is your word for Eva). You also spend a lot of time saying “ah ah ah” very loudly, which is you saying Hi. Dada is the only word you typically will say on command. And you have definitely made the connection between that word and your Daddy. As soon as you see him it’s “Ah ah ah DA DA!” The Mama usually comes out when you are whining for milk and if I tell you to say Mama you smirk and say “Dada”. Never fails. You sign eat, more and milk. Sometimes you do all done but you prefer to just scream at us to get that point across. Now, we’re working on please and thank you.

At the beginning of the month, we had our second round of a stomach bug. You had it first and I unknowingly was blaming teething for the nasty diapers, food strike, long naps, poor nighttime sleep and extra nursing. Now I know that you had a bug since the rest of us got it the next week. Girl, you were put through the ringer this month!

Just before that happened, you went on a bit of  strike with eating fruit and would scream if it even touched your tray. The only way I could get fruit into you was through pouches or by mixing soft fruits with your meals. For example, you were okay with pears mixed in beef stew and blueberries in shepherds pie. Delightful, isn’t it? Then when you were sick you went on a total solids strike and hardly touched anything. Again, I thought it was because of your teeth bothering you but now I realize your tum was just upset. Good news is that now you are back to eating like a grown man and devour anything and everything that is placed in front of you. And a LOT of it. You eat far more than your big sister, I can hardly keep up. It still surprises me every day when we sit down for meals and I look over and your tray is totally empty before I’ve barely had time to dish up everyone else’s dinner!

The next month is going to be jam packed full of fun summer adventures with you and I can’t wait!

Love you my sweet girl,

Mama

nine months of gwenna

My Sweet Little Gwenna (that’s your newest nickname) Love,

Last week, we turned the corner on your 9 month birthday. I have got to say. This one hit me hard. This is your last single digit month. Three quarters of your first year is behind us. It’s a slippery, downward slope to one from here on out. It tears me up because you’re growing too fast, yet I’m always looking forward to the next thing and anxiously waiting for what’s ahead.

Although we haven’t had your 9 month check yet, our home scale tells me you’re about 17 lbs 12 oz. (Edited to add: At 9 months and 2 weeks you weighed 17lb 4oz, 27.5 inches long and a head circumference of 17.71inches). You wear 9 and 12 month clothes. Size 4 diapers. Medium cloth diaper covers. You’re a dainty little peanut. Here’s how you’ve looked this month…

I think ‘beautiful’ pretty well sums you up.

This age, oh this age! It’s the most fun yet. You’ve been such a little ham this month. Although, the month didn’t start so great as we spent the first few days tackling the stomach flu. Both you and I had it. And then Daddy got it a day later. It was so sad and pathetic to see you that way. Broke my mama heart. Thankfully, you recovered and were back to your normal self without missing a beat.

Here are some of the highlights of what you’ve been up to this month. You’ve taken off with baby sign. You sign more (mostly only for carbs), eat (usually accompanied by a lot of lip smacking), all done, milk, cup, and puppy. Now we’ll start working on please and thank you. You also love to wave, point your finger and clap your hands, although your coordination is not quite there and you often just squeeze your hands together. The other day you were having a wild dance party with your dad and sissy and you were just kicking your legs and going nuts waving your arms and squeezing the palms of your hands together. Speaking of dancing, that’s your favourite thing to do these days. As soon as you hear anything that even remotely resembles music you start dancing. You also love to shake. Any time there is something in your hand and I tell you to shake shake you go crazy shaking it around.

Watching you say “hi” is the cutest thing ever. Any time you have a toy phone, or really anything rectangular in your hand, you hold it up to the side of your head and say “Haaaa Haaa”. After you started doing that, any time I tried to get you to “say hi” and wave when your hands are empty, you would do the same thing, with an empty hand …. hold it against your ear and say “Haaa haaa”. Recently, you’ve started to replace this with a typical wave, though. Not nearly as cute, although still adorable.

So I guess that means that “Hi” is one of your first words. Along with Dada and Mama. More and more, I am starting to think that you’re associating those sounds with us. Although, I think Mama is more an indication that you want milk right now than an actual name for me. I guess that makes sense. Me = milk.

Speaking of milk, you typically nurse 7-8 times a day and eat 3 solids meals, as well as snacks. The snacks probably aren’t necessary but I have learned better than to try to eat or feed your sister with you around without giving you something. You will have no part in that. You are still doing very well with baby led weaning although you went through a phase of refusing fruit. The only way I could trick it into you was with a pouch or by chopping small chunks into your main course food. Some of the best were pear chunks in beef stew and plum chunks in sausage pasta. Whatever works. You seem to be back to loving fruit, though, which is wonderful. Your digestive system is still up and down but since you started taking a daily probiotic things have leveled out quite a bit and you seem to be feeling better.

You nap twice a day (usually around 8:30/9 am for 1-2 hours and 1/1:30pm for 1-2 hours) with the ever so occasional third nap if you’re in the ergo or we’re in the car. And only on days when your naps aren’t great. Which is often, unfortunately. You go down around 6:45-7pm and start your day anywhere between 6:15-7. You wake up once or twice throughout the night for a snack. The sleep and nap thing isn’t overly consistent these days but we’ll get there someday, I know that much.

You are still only sporting two bottom teeth. We’ve thought we’ve seen evidence of your two bottom eye teeth (weird, I know) for quite some time, but nothing yet. As far as I can tell, your top teeth aren’t close yet. It’s a different game this time, as your sister already had a mouthful of chompers by your age.

You’ve been a bit of a chicken lately. You get scared easily and often. If Daddy blows his nose too loudly, or a toy drops to the floor to quickly, or the dog (heaven forbid) touches you with her paw, you get the whole pouty mouth lip quiver. It’s kind of cute but also sad. I know it’s just a stage that happens at this age and you’ll toughen up quick enough.

You’re a crawling machine, although your interest in crawling is getting less and less all the while. You stand on everything and anything and have perfect cruising. You’ll walk the entire way from the kitchen to the living room holding onto chairs, windowsills, walls, tables, and anything you can get your hands on. You’re starting to love walking holding our fingers as well. You stand unassisted for a few seconds at a time, usually when you don’t realize you’ve let go of whatever you were holding. See, baby? It’s all happening too soon!

Some other high lights this month are that you celebrated your first Easter, went to the sugar bush, met grass for the first time (well, since you were wee tiny), had a visit from Nana and fell down the three stairs at the back door (I guess this isn’t really a highlight, but it happened and you’re okay). Every day you have a blast playing with your big sister. You get so excited to play chase with her and want to follow her around all the time. I know I’m in for it because you’ve started to become very interested in grabbing whatever toy she has and you fuss and whine if she doesn’t give it to you. I foresee a lot of life lessons coming our way soon enough.

You are a joy if there ever was one. Such a sweet little light in my life. You have made my heart twice as big as I ever thought possible. I love you like crazy, you little stinkin’ ripper!

Love, Mama

eight months of gwennie girl

My Little Gwenna,

Here we are just past your big 8 month birthday and as always, time is zooming by faster than I am comfortable with. This has been a big, fun month for you.

You are a spitfire and your personality is beginning to shine through so clearly.

Case in point.

Our home scale says you weigh just over 17 pounds. You’re wearing 6-12 and 9 month clothes. Size 4 diapers, medium cloth diaper covers. Here’s a few glimpses of how you’ve looked this month.

You started the month off right by learning to pull yourself to a standing position holding on to furniture. And you haven’t sat down since. That’s almost not an exaggeration. Sitting on the floor to play with toys no longer interests you. You would much rather stand holding a chair, the couch, the coffee table – whatever you are close to – and watch what’s going on around you. This newly developed skill caused us all some grief over the past few weeks as you were far  more interested in standing up in your crib than sleeping for a good chunk of time. Also, baby learning to stand + hardwood flooring = disaster waiting to happen. I’m sorry for the head bonks you’ve experienced, little lady. But for real, just stay on your booty! Right at the same time that you started to figure out the standing thing, you also realized you didn’t have to lay down in the tub anymore. As soon as you sat yourself up, it was like you discovered a whole new world. Now bath time is filled with “Stay on your bottom. Sit down. Sit down. On your bottom” and other constant repetitions from Daddy and I.

You are a mischief maker. I cannot turn my back for five seconds without you getting into something. Your favorites are the stuff on the sofa table shelves, the DVDs and the dishwasher. You are also starting to figure out how to totally mutilate the toy shelves, which makes cleaning up so much fun for me! Along with standing, you’ve started to figure out a bit of the cruising business. Slow down, sweet baby girl, slow down. Although you are sometimes interested in walking around on your feet while holding our fingers, you mostly prefer to crawl. If there’s somewhere you need to be, you know how to get there. And fast. You don’t want to waste time trying to walk holding our hands when you know you could zoom there way faster by yourself.

You now have two teeth. Your first one popped through on February 13th and the second one came quickly after on the 16th. Based on your sleeping, napping and incessant whining lately, I’d guess there are more on the way.

Your Big Sisser is your very favourite friend. You love, love, love her. She makes you laugh all the time and you work real hard at keeping up with her. Of course, you clearly know that whatever she is playing with is where it’s at and always want in on the action. I love seeing you together. I love knowing that you’ll be best friends and worst enemies as you grow up. I am so blessed by your love for each other.

You are a chatter box. Mostly you shriek and scream (not a crying scream, just a “I AM HERE AND EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW IT” scream) but you also jabber away saying “Da da da da” and “Ah ba” and “Ya ya ya” all the time. You also love to smack your lips, blow raspberries and give kisses. I’m the only one you are usually totally forthcoming with the kisses with, and I don’t mind that at all. I know I’m your favourite. We have started focusing on some sign words with you since you’ve started to wave sometimes and food is becoming an integral part of our daily routine. You have definitely waved, signed cup, milk and eat. We are gradually working on more, all done, please, thank you and a few others. It’s so fun watching you learn to communicate. Let’s just try to stick with the signs instead of the super loud shrieks, how about it?

Sleep has been an issue this month. You are very inconsistent. So, knock it off, will ya? Typically you nap twice a day but the third one still sometimes sneaks in if your afternoon nap ends too early. You are in bed by 6:45-7 most nights. We have tried to push this a bit later, but you can’t seem to make it any later than that, no matter how hard we try. Some nights you’ll sleep peacefully until 4-5 am and then nurse and sleep a few more hours but some nights you’re up six hundred times. This too shall pass, I suppose. (It can pass as soon as you’d like, mkay?) It’s been a point of frustration lately but I am just trying to ride it out and remember that it won’t be forever. I keep telling myself this stage will pass quickly, and while I would love to sleep more, I don’t want this stage to pass too quickly because I just love how fun and inquisitive you are right now.

You’re still an eating machine and have been going to town on almost everything you have tried. I was going to make a list of the things you enjoy, but honestly, that list is just too long. You still nurse anywhere from 5-8 times in a 24 hour period, totally depending on how our night goes. You eat three meals and typically a few snacks during the day. The snacks are usually a by product of what Evalyn and I are doing because I have long since learned that we cannot have food in your presence without sharing. You make that more than clear.

You are a delight. A joy. A little spitfire. For your first few months we always talked about how it seemed as though you were going to turn out much more mellow and chill than your big sister. We take that right back. You have a temper and personality a mile long, there’s no question about that. This should make for some wildly interesting years ahead of us.

  It’s so hard to believe how quickly we’re slipping down the slope toward your first birthday. You’re growing up far too fast my dear, so just stop it right now.  

Love, Mumma

well, hello, march

To be honest, I expected the month of March to start in a crazy way. This past weekend, the husband was heading to ChiTown for a big ol’ boys weekend, so I knew it would be four days of straight up cray cray while I ruled the roost at home. What I didn’t expect was for it to be quite as cray cray as it’s been.

Friday started out pretty awesome. My girlfriend and her little guy had been here for a sleepover and we had a blast. Then they left. It was naptime and things went down hill. I’ll spare the gory details but, Eva’s nap didn’t go well and it had to do with potty issues. The end. We ended up managing a decent nap and I thought all was well.

However, after that, things got weirder and weirder as she started refusing to pee and screaming and clawing at me when I tried to make her go. It got worse and worse. She spent the afternoon crying and telling me her bum hurt. By 5pm, I figured she had a UTI and it was time to head in to the ER. Thankfully, the Aunties were coming for dinner so M came with me and L stayed with Gwennie. We managed a record ER trip, there and back in an hour, including the 15 minute drive each way. And, by the grace of God, we were able to get a sample at the hospital. And only 3/4 of it ended on my lap and Eva’s pants. Anyhow, it amazingly came out negative for infection but we expected her to get worse overnight. She did not! She woke up the next morning fever free and feeling fine, able to pee again. I assume everything was related to the initial nap incident.

The rest of the weekend went by okay, except that Gwen didn’t nap longer than 45 minutes and was up 5-8 times each night, until Sunday afternoon when I started to feel iffy. I was willing it away, telling myself it was just in my head. But by the time Evan got home around 9pm, there was no denying it. I had the flu. I was able to sleep but woke up at 3am when it hit me with a vengeance. And it all went downhill from there. Again, I’ll spare the nasty details but it was bad. And when my poor Gwennie woke up at 6:45 it didn’t take long to figure out she had the bug too. Thankfully, Evan was able to stay home with us. Not sure what I would have done without him as I didn’t even have enough strength to hold the baby.

Our saving grace is that this bug has been quick. It’s vicious, but doesn’t last long and Gwen and I are on the road to recuperation. Unfortunately, the Daddy-io came down with it last night and is struggling today. Evalyn is the only one left standing so I’m walking on eggshells waiting for that ticking time bomb to go off. I am praying fervently that God will spare her from this.

Add in to this some other, ahem, issues of the female variety, the fact that I washed all my clothes in hot water and shrunk my jeans and that I got a nosebleed that was reminiscent of the red sea, and I am starting to say, “Okay, March, what gives?” The start of the month has been a little different than planned. I haven’t yet had a chance to review how February went and set any goals for this month, think about Gwen’s 8 month update or dig myself out from the mounds and mounds of pukey laundry. All in time, all in time.

I know the saying “In like a lion, out like a lamb” is supposed to refer to the weather, but I’m hoping it also holds true for the way this month goes for our family.

Here’s to a calmer remainder of the month!

Seven months of Gwen

My Little Gwenner,

You are now seven months old. This month has been a big, big, big month for you. So many changes have been happening and it seems you do something new each day. I know that time flies. It always does. But, I am fairly certain that once a baby starts moving, time starts moving faster and faster, too. I am afraid to blink.

This month, one of our most exciting ventures has been into the world of solid foods. For how petite you are, and how quick you are at nursing you have totally and completely shocked me with how interested and eager you are to eat solid food. I totally expected you to be a bird. But, nope. Not even. So far, you are living up to your namesake with the amount you like to eat. We are taking a baby led weaning approach when introducing you into the world of solids, and girlfriend, you are 100% on board with this plan.

It is messy business. Messy, yummy, fun business.

So far you have eaten so many things. Carrots, cucumber, sweet potatoes, squash, parsnips, beets, avocado, broccoli, green beans, pears, peaches, mangoes, plums, apples, grapefruit, blueberries, strawberries, bananas, raspberries, scrambled eggs, toast, chicken, steak, pasta, cheese, yogurt and much much more. Aside from greek yogurt, which was not your favourite, you have eat to turn down anything. I’ll be interested to see if you chunk up in the next few months since you seem to be quite the empty pit!

The other big news this month is that you are on the move. You don’t stop for anyone or anything. You have been somewhat crawling and lunging since Christmas (when you were under 6 months!!) but you have really gotten the hang of it in the last few weeks. Along with that, the last two weeks has marked a huge change in your agility and balance. Suddenly, you never topple over when sitting, you can easily and gracefully move from sitting, to tummy, to crawling and back again. It amazes me how quickly your movements have become so fluid.  You have even started to pull up to standing on furniture. Oh no, you don’t, little missy! You are supposed to be my itty bitty baby, so you can cut this funny business out right now. The pulling up on furniture has just started in the last few days and has resulted in a few head bonks and kabooms. I have learned that I cannot let you out of my sight for a second. Something tells me we’ll be spending a lot of time together in the ergo until you learn how to keep your balance a little better.

You are so cheerful and talkative. Although you still grace us with the high pitched squeal every now and again, you’ve mostly replaced it with a low growl, or with saying “Ah-ba! Ah-ba!” over and over again. You blow raspberries almost constantly and have recently started giving hugs and kisses. Your hugs are so sweet when you just cuddle yourself right into the crook of my neck. As far as kisses, you prefer those of the open mouth variety.

For the most part, you are sleeping fairly decently at night, although we’ve been up and down with sickness over the past number of weeks so that always throws a curve ball. Thankfully, though, (knock on wood), you seem to have given up your affinity for super early mornings and sleep until at least 6:30 most days. I cannot even believe that I’ve reached a point where I can say “at least” in reference to 6:30 a.m. But that’s how it goes. You go down around 7pm and usually sleep until 7am. Most often you wake up once anywhere between 2:30-4:30 for a quick nibble and then you go back down easily. Many mornings, you start to stir between 5:30-6 but as soon as I scoop you into my bed, you easily settle back down. You seem to love being warm and snug in my bed, because that’s the place where you usually sleep in the longest. You still nap three times a day, although your third nap is questionable. Sometimes it doesn’t happen, sometimes it’s an hour and sometimes it’s 10 minutes. Regardless though, your first two naps are starting to become much more consistent and predictable. You’ve even been doing an awesome job at putting yourself to sleep. Keep it up girlfriend!

You and your sister are up to no good. You spend your days giggling, playing and reading together. I love to see your relationships developing but when I see you straining to follow her and keep up with her, I am terrified because I know it won’t be long at all until you are spending your days conspiring against me and creating even more chaos than there already is. Those will be the days! Your relationship with your sister is not one sided, by any means. Just as much as you love her, she loves you back. When you were born, I wondered when the novelty of having a baby sister would wear off for her. It still hasn’t. Every morning she asks where you are and as soon as she sees you, she lights up and starts talking to you. She is so precious with you. Calling you “sweetie heart” and “baby girl” and “Gwenna Guhhh”. Your relationship has blossomed even more over this past month, as you’ve started moving and being able to play a little more actively with her. It’s going to be trouble from here on out!

Everyday I am overcome with gratitude and joy knowing that you are mine and I am yours. You have made my heart double in size and I praise God for you every day.

I love you sixty clock! (as your sister would say).

Mama

six months of gwen

My Gwennie,

Look at you! Six months old. It is impossible for me to believe that it has been half a year since that early Monday morning when you took my breath away in a million different ways. You add so much to this family. So much joy, so much crazy, so much laughter. You fill our hearts completely. 

You are growing like a bad weed. I don’t have your stats just yet so your appointment isn’t until next week (updated: you weigh 15lbs 9 oz and are 26 3/4 inches long. That's half an inch longer than your sister was at 6months, but 2/3 of a pound lighter. My teeny bug!). But you’re wearing mostly all 6-9 and 9 month clothes, medium diaper covers and size 3 disposables. The weight of my arms tells me you’re getting heavier and heavier all the time. Here’s how you’ve looked this month:

This month has been jam.packed.full of busy. It’s been fun but it also makes the time fly by too quickly. Here are the highlights of this month: you’ve had (and are currently still in the midst of) your first two sickness, you are sitting up almost completely unassisted. Of course, you will sit up no problem for 20 minutes straight but if I sit you down and turn my back for 1.3 seconds you topple over. You’re figuring out how to ease yourself down to your belly, though. You are also working hard on getting yourself from a tummy/hands and knees position to a sitting position. You can do it no problem with your hiney is nakey, but once we throw those bothersome diapers and clothes into the mix everything gets a little more tricky. About halfway through the month, you started getting yourself onto your hands and knees and rocking back and forth. You’re not quite to the point where I’d say you are crawling yet, but you definitely figure out how to move. You do a lot of lunging, army crawling and face planting when you set your mind to it. Usually, if your soosie is out of your reach, that’s when you get moving.

You nurse 7-8 times through the day, and often at night, especially now that you are sick. You haven’t started any solids, except a small taste of steamed carrots, but we’ll be slowly working on that in the coming month. You usually nap 3 times a day. On a typical day, you’re up around 7 or just before, down between 8:30-9 for an hour to two hours and then down again between 12-1 for another 1.5-2 hours. Usually, 4pm hits and you need a catnap to make it until bedtime. You go down for the night around 6:45-7. Before leaving for Christmas and getting a cold, you were sleeping really well through the night, so hopefully we’ll get back to that soon. You haven’t slept longer than a 2-3 hour stretch in over two weeks now and we’re all getting pretty tired. No teeth yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they show up soon. You’re gnawing on everything and drooling like crazy.

Your sixth month started with your dedication, and was packed full of Christmas activities and preparations. We had the joy of having Nana and Papa here for a few days leading up to Christmas and for Christmas morning. Then we headed out and  spent the next 11 days away. First at Nana and Grandpa’s and then at Nana and Papa’s. It was, by far, your longest amount of time away from home. While we were gone we celebrated Christmas with both sides of the family, spent loads of time with your cousins and rang in the New Year with the Cann’s and Lansdell’s.

      Despite your sickies, you are still a happy girl. You laugh easily and aren’t ever quiet for too long. You have to be noisy to be heard around here, I’m afraid. I can already see you becoming more and more eager to keep up with your Big Sister’s antics. You work hard to move yourself close to where she is and you’ve already figured out that whatever she is playing with is miles more interesting than the boring old baby toys that I set you up with. It’s so sweet to me to see you start to play together and I know that will become more and more prevalent as the months go by. As will the fighting over toys. Soon your Big Sissy is going to realize that she can’t always have her way. I have a feeling you won’t have any trouble learning to stand up for yourself. You’re quite the little spitfire, yourself.

You are growing too fast. I’ve said it so many times and I won’t stop. I blink and you’re another month older. Thinking of this makes me realize the importance of living in the moment with you. As I’ve heard it said many times, the days may be long but the moments are fleeting. Here’s to another month of moments.

Love you forever, sweet girl.

five months of gwen

My Sweetie,

Five big months old. It frightens me to think that the next time I sit down to do this, we’ll be halfway through your first year. Impossible. You’re going like a weed girl. Especially this month as you went through a major growth spurt. Even after a few days of not seeing you, people said they could tell you were so much longer and chubbier. You are wearing mostly 6 month clothes but growing out of a lot of them. You’re in medium diaper covers and size 3 disposables.

Here’s how you’ve looked this month:

Currently, you’re battling your first bout of sickness as you’ve caught your Big Sissy’s cold. You are sad and pathetic and it just breaks my heart. Your nose and eyes are watery and your voice sounds like a sixty year old smoker. We’re snuggling lots. Spending most the day in the ergo and hoping to get rid of this thing fast. I don’t like seeing you sick, my sweetie.

You’ve been very busy this month. And in fact, you’ve gone pretty easy on me. In your 4 month post, I wrote about how it had been a tricky month with sporadic napping and such. You’ve generally come out of that and gotten back to fairly decent napping. However, throughout your growth spurt we went through a good week or two of not so hot nighttime sleep. You seem to be getting back into the swing of nighttime sleeping, though. I am learning to accept that you are just going to be an early riser and trying to savour the sleep I get, even if it has to end at 6 am most days. For the most part, it is becoming easier and easier to get you to sleep as you will generally put yourself to sleep when I lay you down. Occasionally, I still have to help you get your paci back in your mouth but many times, if it’s in your reach, you’re able to do it yourself. The big problem is that you’ve been doing a lot of practicing of your new skills … specifically, rolling. That has caused some disturbances during naps and nighttime as you roll over in your sleep and wake yourself up, or else roll over six billion times before going to sleep in the first place.

You have been rolling belly to back non stop for the last month or so. And just last week, while having some nakey hiney time, you figured out the whole back to tummy thing. And the rest is history. The next morning, you acted like you were an old pro and it only took you about five minutes to figure out that if you rolled from belly to back multiple times in a row you would actually move. Life’s about to get ca-razy!

You’ve also been practicing sitting up quite a bit. You can do it well in a cloth diaper because the extra junk in your trunk gives you a little more stability. You’re still pretty wobbly though. It won’t be long, I’m sure.

Of course, you are still laughing like crazy. Keeping you entertained is not hard at all. This month, you’ve added a shriek to your list of skills as well. The belly laugh is still there but is more commonly replaced by a high pitched squeal. It hurts my ears and I’m sure it’s got to hurt your throat but it’s funny nonetheless. It is especially hilarious when you do it to get your Daddy’s attention. The other day you were in your jolly jumper in your bedroom door frame while Eva played and Daddy and I moved things around in the living room to get ready for the Christmas tree to come in. I have never seen you shriek so much and so loud trying to get us to pay attention to you. I guess you’ve already learned that you’ve gotta be loud to keep up around here.

Speaking of getting Daddy’s attention, you are quite a daddy’s girl. You bust into the hugest smile and silly sounds and grins as soon as he walks in the door and you absolutely love playing with him.

You are starting to show many signs that teeth may soon be on the way. You are very drooly (although, hello, you always have been) and constantly chewing on Sophie. It’s so hard to say, though, as I know these “signs” can be present for weeks or months before we see any action. There is no visible evidence in your mouth that there are any teeth on the way, though, so we will see.

We are still exclusively breastfeeding and loving it all the time. Right now, you typically nurse 7-8 times a day. You are still a quick eater. If you nurse for 5 minutes per side, that’s a long feed! I am in no rush to start solids. I learned with your sister that life becomes that much more difficult once your entire nutrition is no longer attached to my body so I’m enjoying the ease and convenience while it’s here. You seem to be entirely satisfied as it is and have shown no interest or understanding of food – so we’ll hold off another month or so before entering that stage together.

The last month included you meeting Santa and seeing your first snowfall.

This next month will also be so full of fun and new things for you to experience … mainly, your first Christmas. I am so excited to have you in my arms this holiday season. Last year, you were just a tiny little pouch in my tummy. How exciting that at Christmas last year, we had just recently found out about you, cousin Kathryn and cousin Jolie and now? You are all here, healthy and happy. It will be a fun holiday season, that’s for certain.

As always, I feel blessed every single morning when I scoop you out of your crib … even if it is at 5 am (but, could we please knock that off?) You are God’s gift to me and the joy you bring to this family cannot be captured by words.

Stay sweet, my love.

four months of gwen

My Sweet Gwenner,

A few weeks ago you hit the big four month’er. This letter is late. So late. But I promise, the lateness was intentional. I wanted to wait until we had your appointment to include your stats and then the last few days have been so busy that I wanted to wait until I had time to sit down and really focus on you and all the crazy stuff you’ve been up to. Here’s how you’ve looked this month:

You are nothing if not beautiful and sweet. Girl, you are a joy to my life.This month has been busy, challenging and full of all kinds of new adventures with you. You had your 4 month check and shots last week and once again, just like at 2 months of age, you are right on track with the size your sister was. You weigh 14lbs 1/2 oz and are 25.5 inches long. You are wearing mostly 6month clothes, size 3 disposies, and medium diaper covers. Growing like a weed, as they say.

This month has been our most difficult one yet, as you’ve decided to mix things up quite a bit. I thought I had you figured out. But, you know, just as soon as I think I have anything figured out about motherhood, you babies go and change it up on me. The past month has been spent struggling to figure out your new patterns and routines and schedules. We’ve had many days of poor napping, many nights of poor sleeping and quite a bit of frustration on both of our parts. Somehow,we seem to have transitioned out of a solid 3 nap a day routine to a 4-5 nap a day routine. Many days, you aren’t interested in sleeping more than 30 minutes at a time and you want to have a million cat naps throughout the day. You’ve wiggled your bedtime back from 7:45ish to between 7-7:15 so now you are the first baby to go to sleep in our house most nights. Unfortunately, your nights are no longer predictable. Some nights you sleep 11 hours straight, some nights you sleep 11 minutes straight. Throw in the recent time change, and everything’s messy. It’s all a guessing game now.  We’re figuring it out though. We’re taking it day by day. Somehow, in two short years, I seem to have forgotten that one day babies stop being little tiny newborns and start being active, alert babies and that it can happen overnight. Yeah, I remember it now.

Despite these challenges, we’ve also had a blast this month watching your personality blossom. It is just so cool to see you becoming your own tiny person. You are social. You are talkative. You are funny. You are sensitive. You are the big, blue eyed life of the party. It doesn’t take much to keep you entertained. All we have to do is look at you and we are met with the biggest, sweetest gummy little grin. You are so full of belly laughs, I can hardly stand it! Just the other night you were laying on your back on blanket in the living room without any toys around you at all. I was sitting on the couch holding Baby Jolie, not even in your line of vision, and baby talking to her. Every time I said “Hiii baby” or “Hello” or “Gooba gooba gee ga go go”, you kicked your legs and laughed hysterically. It was hilarious that you thought I was playing with you. And just goes to show how giddy and happy you are. Even when you’re crying, if we talk to you for a just a few seconds, we can easily make you a bust a smile through the tears.

You love your sister and your Daddy most of all. They make you laugh and smile non stop and when they aren’t paying attention to you, you make sure to bust out the fake cough to get them to look your way.

And even though you love playing with them, at the end of the day, snuggling in Mama’s arms or being held tight in a carrier is where you like to be. You are Mommy’s girl and that is a-okay with me.

You’ve had lots of time to spend with your cousins and besties lately. My prayer is that someday you’ll realize what a gift God has given to you in the form of cousins and friends who are the same age as you. We are blessed, baby girl, we truly are.

 

You love tummy time, standing up on your legs and jumping in the jolly jumper. After taking a 2 month hiatus, you’re back on a roll. Literally. You roll from tummy to back like a champ and are thissss close to getting yourself all the way over from your back to your belly. If only that arm would get out of your way. You’ve started to scooch a little bit. Rotating yourself around in circles while you’re on your belly, getting yourself stuck under a chair at Auntie Crystal’s house and worming around in your crib like a miniature Houdini. You’ve started to practice sitting up a little bit. You can hold your balance for a little while at a time with your hands resting between your legs like a little froggy, but you usually end up folding right in half before too long. I’m in no rush for you to begin mastering these skills. You can take your time learning to become mobile, mkay, Little Love?

I want you to slow down. I feel like I’ve blinked and a third of your first year has already passed. Yet at the same time, I know the fun is just beginning and I can’t wait to watch you grow and learn and to create an even stronger and deeper bond as we make so many memories together. There is a piece of my heart that belongs to no one but you.

I love you always,

Mama.