10 Months

I cannot believe it has been so long since I have posted here!  More than that, I cannot believe that our baby is 10 months old already!!

June was a busy month and we did quite a bit of weekend traveling.  We went to Washington D.C. to visit my cousin and his wife.  Their daughter was due about 3 weeks before Jenna, and was born just 17 short hours after Jenna was born.  It was our first visit since the girls were born, and it was pretty awesome.  It was so fun to see the girls interact with each other.  Jenna, being every bit her father’s daughter, immediately tried to tackle her cousin.  Our big outing was a trip to the zoo.  The girls looked at a few things, but for the most part, it was pretty much still beyond them.  It was pretty hot, so we didn’t stay more than a couple hours.  We’re hoping to try again next fall for their second birthdays, at which point they should be completely wrapped up in everything going on there, and it should be much cooler than it was in June. 

 

tackling Lila

getting the hang of sharing

The following weekend we went to Queens (and spend more time on waiting to cross the G.W. Bridge than I have ever spent waiting to cross the bridge) for a first birthday party.  Jenna got to meet a few new friends and was re-introduced to a couple friends that she had already met.

meeting the birthday girl

trying to figure out her balloon flower

Outside of these two trips, life is life.  Things are busy, and Jenna makes herself even busier.  We started solid food about 4 months ago and she loves to eat!  She has been pulling to stand at the couch for about a month and at all of her floor toys for a couple weeks longer than that, and she finally started crawling about 3 weeks ago.  Now she crawls everywhere and chases the dogs and cats, and she is starting to stand in front of her tall floor toys without support for 5-10 seconds while she manipulates a toy in her hand.  With her new mobility, we had to set up super fun baby jail in the living room.  We leave it open when we can directly supervise her and she moves in and out of it at will.  She cruises along the edge and stands at the gate when she’s had enough time in lock-down.  I’m sure it will only be another week or two before she manages to open the gate (that it took me about 20 minutes to figure out and manage to open).

We still only have 2 teeth, and there doesn’t seem to be any sign of more coming any time soon.  We finally put her baby tub away and are doing baths in the regular tub, which she loves.  We go swimming a couple times a week, and she loves it!  She’s even put her face in the water (by herself) a few times and didn’t seem to mind it (nor did she seem to inhale any water!)  We’ve added a few more foods, and have started to add a few ounces of regular whole milk (mixed with breast milk) each day.  I had a pump issue, as well as a clogged duct, that led to a decrease in my supply a few weeks ago.  I am keeping up a little better now, but I’m still not producing enough on a daily basis to keep up with her.  Our freezer stash is dwindling fast, and she won’t take formula at all, so going with a little bit of whole milk mixed into the breast milk was pretty much our last option without finding a milk donor.  Luckily, we haven’t had any issues doing this. She's making the cutest noises these days; she has a specific noise that indicates that she sees an animal, and she has started cooing when she sees the birth announcements hanging on the fridge. 

All in all, things are great, and it’s so hard to believe that she will be a year old in just two months.  Some days it feels like she has been here forever, and some days it feels like she was just born yesterday.  Hoping that all is well with all of you.  As always, here are a few more pictures of my happy girl and a few video clips for Aunt Nikki..

after Easter dinner at Gram's house

March for Babies - her onesie says 'My big sister lives in Heaven.'

Loving bath time

Sleeping with her arm wrapped around her seahorse

10 months!

Showing off her rainbow tutu

Tormenting Morgan and practicing her giggles

Update on the Bean

Every once in a while, it smacks me in the face.  Jenna is real.  She is here and she is real.  Most of the time it feels like she has been with us forever, but some days it feels like she just got here.  Sometimes it's just so surreal...I went through 39 weeks of pregnancy and brought a baby home this time.  A real, living, breathing, smiling baby.   And she is mine. 

Overall, everything is going so well!!  The only problem we have had was bedtime.  For several weeks, Jenna was in the habit/routine of staying up until between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m.  She was sleeping 6-10 hours at a time, but staying up until the wee hours of the morning, then getting up at 6 a.m. was getting old.  But the problem seems to have been solved.  I am a mean mom...about two weeks ago I enforced two days of limited daytime sleeping, especially deep (coma-like) sleeping, so she would be tired at bedtime.  We have started a bedtime routine at a set time every night for the last 10 nights; every night but one she has been asleep within 1 hour of start time, sometimes as quick as 15 minutes.  We have had 3 or 4 nights of sleeping straight through for a minimum of 6 hours, and the rest of the nights (except one) she has been up only once to eat during a period of 8-10 hours...and then right back to sleep!  As a result, mama and daddy are much happier campers!!  Jenna seems to be a much happier camper, too.  Instead of waking up screaming in the morning, she babbles to herself for about 20 minutes and saves the screaming for when she feels like we are ignoring her.  But seriously, there is nothing better than being greeted, even in the wee hours of the morning, but a smiling baby. 

Jenna had her 4 month check-up on Monday January 17th.  She weighed 15 lbs, 3 oz, which puts her in the 80th percentile for weight.  She was 24" long, which puts her in the 39th percentile for length/height. I think they shorted her a little bit on height, though, because she was pretty wiggly on the scale.  She got a few vaccinations, and we were on our way.  No visible sign of teeth yet, but she is definitely chewing on stuff.  Her favorites are toy links and Take-A-Long Taggies toy.  And I love listening as she develops her voice.  It's amazing.  :-)

During the week between Christmas and New Year she started reaching and grasping with purpose and intent, especially at things placed in front of her on the swing tray.  New Year's Eve day was a busy, busy day for her.  She rolled over from her belly to her back without any help...and the worst part is that no one saw her do it.  Later that day she moved a soft toy from the tray of her swing to her mouth.  We had to put the crib bumper on this week, because we kept finding her with her feet and legs sticking through the slats on the side of the crib.  A couple weeks ago I put her to bed, in her crib, on her back...and this is what I found when I went in to get her up the next morning... 

 This is how we find her almost every morning now, regardless of how we position her when we put her to bed.   She’s rolling both directions independently, but we rarely actually see it.  She is working on building her sitting muscles, and can use her hands to support herself for a few seconds before toppling over.  :-)

A few days before Christmas, Jenna, Aunt Nikki and I ventured to the mall to do a little last minute shopping and to meet Santa.  Jenna did so well with Santa!  She didn't smile for the camera, but she didn't cry, either.

 

Of course, she received lots of wonderful gifts from family and friends.  One of the best gifts this year was her I Spy quilt that my sister made before she went to Namibia, expecting that there would be another baby before she came home from her assignment.  I can't wait until Jenna gets a little bigger so we can spread the quilt out on the bed and play baby I Spy (minus the cats, of course - they're like vultures!)!!

Last, but not least, we took a few Christmas pics of Miss Jenna....