Leah 11 Months Old

We had quite the month in February with our trip to Hawaii! You've grown so much! Right now you weigh 19 and 1/2 pounds and are 30.5 inches long. You are still wearing 12 month clothes, size 3 diapers, and size 3-4 shoes.

These monthly pictures are really becoming more challenging. In reality, a lot of your pictures were like this...  You're not one for sitting or laying still these days unless you are sleeping. 

This month you spent getting your walking down solid. You now walk mostly everywhere and if you fall down, you get right back up again and walk to where you are going. You have difficulty getting around in sand, so you still crawl in sand. More recently, you have started to experiment a little with running. You are not as cautious and will sometimes just take off and starting walking pretty quickly until you fall forward.

The week before we left on out trip to Hawaii, we got a pretty big snowstorm. It dumped over 15 inches of snow in a day! Your daddy brought in some snow for you, but you weren't really too intrigued. It was too cold!

As far as talking, you are still just making sounds. You used mama very rarely and sometimes you babble saying dada. You are starting to experiment with different consonant sounds. While we were at your cousin's recital in Hawaii, you looked at Sammy and pretty clearly said, "Hi!" Your Aunt Bekah and I both heard it and looked at each other wondering if you really understood what you said. You haven't repeated it since though. Another thing that you have been doing is patting your mouth while you make sounds. You think this is pretty entertaining. If I start patting your mouth, you start smiling and then you go, "Ahhhh!" It's pretty cute! This is a little clip from our Moana Falls hike.

You also started making a gurgling sound this month. You have started to imitate me some and I was making a purring noise in the back of my throat for you. You were drinking from your sippy cup at the time and it made a gurgle noise. I could tell that you really liked the noise because you kept on doing it! The next time I was nursing you (and several times since then), you stopped, looking up at me, and started gurgling the milk. It's pretty silly and you think you're hilarious when you do it. You gurgle all the time now!

You are starting to understand even more, but you haven't been listening as well as I would like. I read an article online that perfectly described your stage, "Her desire to explore is stronger than her desire to listen to your warnings... What seems to be defiance is just her natural curiosity to see how the world works." You are DEFINITELY a curious kid. For the most part, I like to let you explore. I even let you eat the dry cat food since you weren't giving up on getting into it! Unfortunately you liked it, so my lesson didn't really help! Here is your mischievous face.

This year for my 30th birthday, your Aunt Bekah and Daddy bought me a plane ticket to Hawaii! Of course, you got to come with me! We left on Sunday, February 16th right on your mommy's birthday. Both flights were completely packed, so it was very difficult for you to lay flat to sleep. You did pretty well on both flights. On our first flight from Dulles to Los Angeles, we had a bunch of Asian tourists on our flight. They were absolutely enamored with you! After we got off the flight several of them asked to take pictures with you. This picture is from when you were sleeping and not bouncing!

When we arrived in Honolulu, your Aunt Bekah was right there ready to pick us up which was good since Mommy's cell phone broke on the flight (It may have had something to do with the fact that she dropped it in a tub full of water while cleaning about a month ago!) It was pretty late our time when we arrived (3am) so we went right to bed... Only to wake up a few hours later (4:30am Hawaii time) to run 8 miles in the Great Aloha Run! You were awesome in the jogging stroller! You watched everything for the first four miles of the race and then you slept for the next three. You woke up really hangry (hungry+angry) for the last mile and I was feeding you puffs as we crossed the finish line. After you had eaten more Puffs, an applesauce, and half a banana you were much happier! This was your first time seeing skyscrapers and you kept on looking up at the really tall buildings!

A week later, your mommy ran a Warrior Run 5K with Aunt Bekah and you were babysat for the first time by someone not in the family! You were sleeping when I got back and everything went well. Later that evening the whole family participated in a Glow Bash where we went on a scavenger hunt through Honolulu in the dark with lots of glow gear on. It was a ton of fun and you had a blast! You didn't fall asleep once or even fuss the whole time we were running around solving clues. We had a great time!

The two of us also went to the Honolulu Zoo. You enjoyed the zoo for the most part because there was a lot to see, but your favorite part was the "Keiki Zoo" portion where you could get really close to the animals!

For almost the first full two weeks in Hawaii, you HATED the sand. Whenever I would even bring you near it, you would cross your ankles and lift your feet so you wouldn't even need to touch it. On one of our last days there while we were visiting Pokai Bay, something finally clicked and you just LOVED the sand! You ate a bit of it, but I don't think it tasted as good as you thought it would! You even let Nicholas bury you in the sand!

Since Pokai Bay is on the leeward side of the island, we were able to see some awesome sunsets!

We also went on a few hikes with Aunt Bekah and the boys while we were in Hawaii. On our first hike to Makapu'u, we were able to push you in the jogging stroller. We saw some whale pods out in the ocean, had a great view of a light house, and of a few islands. When we got to the lookout point, I took you out of the stroller and put you next to the gate that kept people from going on the cliff. You clung HARD onto me and would not cooperate one bit when I wanted to take a picture of you holding onto the gate with the lookout. I hope this is not the start of a fear of heights and just your cautious nature!

Another hike that we went on (Kaena Point) went right along the ocean the whole time. There were some crazy waves on these cliffs that almost hit us and made your Aunt Bekah very nervous. I think you were pretty freaked out as well because you kept on looking back at the ocean instead of at the camera. You fell asleep after the hike as usual! 

While we were in Hawaii you were absolutely enamored with your cousins Nicholas and Sammy. If we ever needed you to smile for a picture, we would just get Sammy to come over. He would make faces and act crazy and he could get a great smile out of you every time. You loved to watch Nicholas play Kendama, a Japanese ball/stick-like game. You also enjoyed listening to Nicholas play the ukulele and the piano. You really enjoyed just sitting at the piano with your cousins and touching the keys to hear the different sounds.

On our last day in Hawaii, we hiked Moana Falls with just the two of us. We has a blast! You were pretty unimpressed with the waterfall, but you enjoyed exploring some of the vegetation.

Coming back from Hawaii was really hard! Not just because we would miss the warmth and sunshine, but we will miss your Aunt Bekah, Uncle Jon, and your cousins Nicholas and Sammy. We'll definitely have to go back next year!  The flights back were much easier because you slept the WHOLE way home including the layover. You were only awake for brief moments to eat! It made flying much easier. When we arrived home, daddy was on a business trip, so Grandma H came to pick us up at the airport. Boy was it cold! You slept the whole way home in the car, ate dinner once we got home, and then you were ready for bed by 7:30pm EST. You even slept through that whole night!! I think you were pretty tired from our trip to Hawaii!

The weekend after we got home, we were hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa H's house when you had a pretty scary accident. You were sitting in a booster seat at the dining room table eating mandarin oranges (a favorite of yours) when you got excited and pushed really hard on the table. You pushed the chair completely back and hit your head pretty hard on the back of the seat. A huge goose egg started appearing at the base of your skull almost immediately and you were SCREAMING. I comforted you and you were able to calm down pretty quickly, but the goose egg was getting bigger and looking pretty bad, so I called the advice nurse hotline.

Even though, you were up running around and playing a few minutes after the fall, they still advised me to take you to the nearest medical facilities with an MRI, so that meant our first trip to the ER. On my way driving you, I looked in my rear view mirror and saw that you were starting to go to sleep. I was really worried that it had something to do with your head injury, so I got really scared. I rolled down the windows, turned up the radio, and even resorted to flicking you lightly on your cheek to keep you awake until we got there. When we entered the ER, I was looking pretty flustered and scared and the person at the desk waved me past the two other people in line. Once we got in to see the doctor, you were wide awake, full of energy, and ready to explore the whole hospital. I had to hold you down just so you could be examined, but the doctor confirmed what I had started to feel that you were going to be OKAY!

Since we've been home, the weather has warmed up a little and we were actually able to go outside! You were able to push your own stroller and a play stroller of a neighbors. You absolutely fascinated by wheels and couldn't stop staring at a little girl that was rollerblading outside today.

I can't believe that you will be a year old in just a month! You are growing up so quickly my little Leah! I love you so much!

Leah 10 Months Old

Leah, you are ten months old! Right now, you are about 30 inches tall and weigh 19 pounds. You are wearing 12 month clothes, size 3 diapers, and size 3-4 shoes.

Your big milestone this month is that you OFFICIALLY became a WALKER! The last couple of days, you have decided that walking is your preferred way to get places. You still have difficulty changing surfaces from carpet to hard wood and vice versa. If you fall while trying to get somewhere specific (like getting the cats), you will crawl the rest of the way there. It's really weird to see you just walk around the corner and look at me while I'm doing something in another room. You just seem so grown up! (There is about 2 weeks difference between these two movies.)

You are starting to play more independently and it's fun to just watch you figure out your toys. You've been trying lately to put the shapes in the correct holes in the shape shorter, but you don't quite have the fine motor skills to put the shapes in correctly. You also like to copy mommy and use the mallet to hit the notes on your xylophone. Your favorite thing to do with any toy is to make noise! You have an old water bottle that we filled up with dried noodles and you love to shake that around. Mommy bought a new trash can (with a locking lid) and we've kept the huge box it came in around through three different garbage days because you love playing with it so much! 

You also love playing with my phone. This month, you figured out how to push the button on the bottom to make it beep. You also discovered that the screen moves with your fingers and you are able to scroll up and down.

You have started making some funny faces this month. Your daddy and mine's favorite is this one where you scrunch up your face and breathe rapidly and heavily through your nose. It cracks us up every time!

As far as foods, you have started to become a little bit pickier. You still love to eat, but if you don't like the initial taste of a food, you have started to spit it out or even turn your head to refuse it. One night, we actually caught you smelling your food before actually taking a bite of it! Your latest thing is that you want to eat independently, but unfortunately you still only have two teeth and I am having difficulty coming up with enough finger food that you are able to chew. Here is a movie of you attempting to eat oatmeal with your hands after refusing to eat off a spoon that I offered.

We've been trying waffles and pancakes for breakfast because they are more finger food friendly and you like those. For lunch, you love blueberry yogurt and I usually supplement with bites of my food, Cheerios, or mandarine oranges. For dinner on most nights, I usually just try to feed you right off my plate with whatever we are eating. I also cut up green beans or just feed you puréed squash with applesauce and various spices. Cheerios though are our basic go to snack and you especially like to find them hiding in your toys.

As far as talking, you mostly babble things like dada and gaga and a little bit of mama now. You like to just randomly yell and go, "ahhhhhhh." ... but not in a high pitched way. (Thank goodness!) You are starting to understand me when I talk to you. You take any chance that you have to get into the kitty food and kitty water fountain. I've been firmly telling you, "No" and removing you from the area. Sometimes you stop and move your hands away, but then go right back to doing whatever it was. If I move you across the room, 99.99% of the time you just go right back unless I put whatever it is up and out of your reach. Sometimes, you get really sad and start crying whenever I tell you no. This discipline stuff is tricky! Here you are figuring out our miserable attempt to childproof with a hairband.

We have really been able to get into a schedule recently. It probably has to do with all of the cold weather and snow/ice that has been canceling our library days and play dates, so we've been stuck at home a lot. We also stayed in for a week to make sure that we wouldn't spread daddy's flu bug that we thankfully were protected from with the flu vaccine we both received at your six month appointment.

So your current schedule is that you wake up sometime between 7 and 7:30am. We have breakfast and play until 9:30am when you start to get sleepy. You usually sleep until around 11am. We play for a little while and then have lunch at noon. After playing some more, you start getting grumpy and tired for your second nap around 1:30pm and you sleep until around 2:30pm. We have dinner at 5pm and I watch you for sleepy cues/level of grumpiness to determine when we will start your evening routine. The earliest we will start is 6:30pm and the latest is 7:15pm. It takes between 30-45 minutes for bath time, lotion time (you get REALLY dry skin even with a humidifier running all night in your room), and a possible story if you aren't too sleepy by that time.

You are still nursing about seven times a day. I do an early morning feeding at 4:30am when daddy leaves for work, another one when you wake up for the day, before and after both of your naps, and before bedtime. Unfortunately, you've bitten mommy a couple times, so we're trying to figure that one out. One time, I reacted and said, "Ouch! You hurt mommy! NO bite!" You looked at me with the saddest eyes, pouty lips, and just started bawling (with TEARS!) and cuddling up to me. I think I may be starting to see a little bit of a sensitive side to you.

You are great in the car and rarely fuss when we are moving. Sometimes you put up a little bit of a fight when I'm buckling you in, but for the most part you are fine as soon as the car is moving. You also do a great time when grocery shopping. You love to look all around the store at the people and at all of the vibrant colors on the packaging. Some Saturdays when we do our grocery shopping, we have stopped by the pet store to get stuff for daddy's fish tank. You love playing with the shelter cats and watching the birds in their cages. You love animals!

Church with you is like running a marathon. You're pretty good entertainment for the pews around us. You like to crawl after the deacons (This is all of the boy chasing I can handle right now!) while they are passing the sacrament and you watch everyone with avid fascination as they put the bread into their mouths because you know they are eating something. I had someone tell me the other week that you were "Adorable!" but that she was exhausted just watching me chase after you during all of the meetings. 

Mommy and Daddy went on our first date since you were born and Grandma H. babysat. We found out that you don't take a bottle anymore that day and so we started doing some intense sippy cup training in the hopes that you can continue to stay hydrated if Mommy and Daddy try to go on another date before you are weaned. You are really great at getting the water out of the sippy cup, but I estimate that about 75% runs out of the sides of your mouth soaking your clothes.

It is exciting watching you grow and learn. It is incredible the love that I feel for you. I love you so much and feel so blessed to be your mommy!

Leah 9 Months Old

My dearest Leah, you are growing so quickly! Each day it seems like you are understanding more and more about the world around you. You are changing, growing, and learning so rapidly. We had your 9 month well-visit yesterday. You are 29 1/4 inches tall (97%) and weigh 18 pounds 11 ounces (57%). You are wearing 9-12 month clothes, size 3 diapers, and your size 3 shoes are starting to get a little snug.

I tried to get a picture of you with Lambie this month and I finally got a boooring one of you kind of laying down with Lambie in the crib as usual. This one was my favorite of the mix though. I can imagine my little Leah saying, "Stop taking pictures Mom or Lambie gets it!" Haha!

On Christmas Eve, we participated in our yearly tradition of eating meat, cheese, and crackers by candlelight. You ate applesauce and tried some cheese. That night for bedtime, you wore some cute reindeer pajamas and we all listened to a prerecorded book of Grandma S and Lexi reading "'Twas the Night Before Christmas!" You actually sat and listened through the whole book! 

We spent Christmas this year at your Grandma and Grandpa H's house in West Virginia. You got a bunch of bath toys and a shaky/bouncing lamb stuffed animal from Grandma and Grandpa H and a musical xylophone and some puzzles from Grandma and Grandpa S. You didn't really have much interest in unwrapping your presents, so mommy ended up needing to help. You liked playing with the wrapping paper once it was off though. While we were opening presents, you turned around and looked at my camera with the sweetest little smile. It totally made up for the fact that I didn't get too much of you opening presents!

You were totally adorable in your Christmas dress the Sunday before Christmas!

Your big milestone this month is that you are standing independently! You could stand for shorter periods of time before, but now I catch you standing in the middle of the room for no apparent reason. When you are in the bathtub, you go from your knees, to squatting, to full on standing without even holding onto anything. That takes some serious muscles! You also like to stand in less convenient/more heart-attack-inducing places like your highchair at the table (you squeeze out of your buckle) and the stairs when you're about halfway up.

You are also starting to "cruise" (that's what I think they call it). You can now walk around your play cube to reach all the different sides and you hold onto the couch to get to different places. I have a feeling you will be walking without assistance in a couple weeks.

You can crawl super fast! Lately, your favorite thing has been to go up the stairs. Your daddy and I play a game with you called, "I'm gonna get you!" and we chase you around and up the stairs. You usually are giggling the whole time and constantly looking back to see where we are. You scream when we catch you and grab your sides. 

One part of your personality that I've really started to see the last few weeks is your determination/unwillingness to be distracted. You have certain things that you like to get into in the house - the dishwasher, the kitty bowl and water fountain, the kitchen cabinets, under the fish tank, etc. I always try to redirect you by bringing you in another room and putting you in front of one of your favorite toys. This NEVER works! You are back at your original location within seconds crawling at lightning speed. You are already trying to crawl out of your crib! (It's as far down as it goes.)

You like to yell A LOT. Your favorite places to yell are in spaces where you can hear yourself better like the refridgerator, the washer and dryer, and the dishwasher. I was cleaning out the fridge and stepped away for a moment to rinse the sponge when I caught you doing this!

Here's some LIVE video of the picture above!

In the last week or so, you have finally starting babbling more with consonant sounds. I thought you were just going to be a yeller for the rest of your life. Lately, I can hear you babbling "dada dada" or "gaga gaga." You don't really babble "mama" but you know how to say it and I think you actually understand what it is. We were at your well-visit and they had to draw blood in order to test for anemia.   You sat so well on my lap and patiently waited even when they tied the band around your arm and started looking for a vein. I preemptively gave you you pacifier, but as soon as they put in the needle you spit out your binky and started crying and saying, "mama mama." You looked up at me with tears in your eyes. It was absolutely heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time ...but now I know that you know who I am.

I have been seeing in your eyes lately, this curiousity and thought process. We visited the school yesterday after your well-visit and had lunch with some of the teachers your mommy used to work with. There is a soda vending machine in the teacher's lounge. The first time someone came in and got a soda you watched them carefully from across the room. The second time someone got a soda, you crawled over to the machine watched them push the button and then you reached in for the can. You are very observant and nothing gets by you! 

You are starting to play with your toys in the manner in which they were intended for. You had a bead roller coaster on your activity cube that you used to love to spin the beads on. Now, you like to move them along the track. You have a dinosaur ball popper that you have always loved to play with, but you didn't really understand how it worked and I would have to pick up the balls and return them to the pit so you could continue playing with it. Now, you pick up the balls yourself and return them.

When you aren't figuring out stuff, you are in "destruction mode." You love to dump things out. One of your favorite games (not mommy's) is for mommy to put everything away and then you crawl around dumping it all out. 

This last month you FINALLY had a tooth break through. I was on the phone with my mom and I was reaching in your mouth to pull out a kitty kibble that you had managed to stuff in there when I felt something sharp on your bottom gums! I thought that you would have drooled more before a tooth came through, but it just kind of came out of nowhere. I catch you more often now chewing/not really sucking on your thumb. I think you must like how it feels. You are always grabbing inside my mouth to feel my teeth!

Before you even had your tooth, you were trying and mashing all kinds of foods with your gums. We have been giving you tastes of our dinner every night. Last night, you tried some Chipotle Tabasco sauce and actually enjoyed it. You have also tried and enjoyed ground sausage with gravy and biscuits, meatloaf, potato soup, brocolli florets, Indian curry, baked macaroni and cheese, and lentil soup. Some things that you haven't enjoyed are mashed potatoes and black olives. You are pretty easy when it comes to getting you to eat. I'm really surprised you aren't in a higher percentile for weight!

Every month is an adventure with you my little lady! I love you, Leah!