Today you cruised...

It's been a skill in-the-making for a few weeks now. Slowly getting braver. Edging your feet. Learning how to shift your balance. But today you successfully managed to cruise the sofa...

 - 44 weeks, 1 day old

Your 1st Christmas

It was Christmas eve. You had a bath. I put you in your Christmas pyjamas. We (attempted) to read your Christmas story. And then it was time for bed so Santa could come & deliver your presents.

You had a lazy lie in on Christmas morning & Dexter had already opened all his presents before you came down to open yours...

  You & Dexter enjoyed playing together...

And then we got all dressed up in our party clothes to enjoy a lovely family Christmas dinner together <3

  

 You really enjoyed the crackers. And roasted parsnip seemed to be a big hit!!!

10 Months Old

How did we get here already? Today my beauty, you are 10 months old.

You continue to be your usual demanding & high maintenance self but you offer so many positive personality traits now too. You smile & laugh a lot. You chatter in a much more responsive way. You are becoming so cuddly & affectionate. You're a total mama's girl!! and I love it <3

In addition to "mama" and "dada", this week you have added a new favourite phrase to your vocabulary... "uh-oh". Usually after you have dropped (or thrown) something from your highchair.

And speaking of your highchair, you spend a lot more time in it now. We are soldiering on with our weaning journey but things have gotten a lot better since our last update. You give it your best shot with 3 meals a day now - mostly feeding yourself, but breakfast is usually toast with me spoon feeding you cereal as well. We're still not at a stage where we can replace milk completely at meal times yet so we do top up with a bit of formula, but this is a vast improvement on how things were. And we will get there... slowly but surely. Although getting you to stop blowing raspberries with a mouth full of food is still a sticking point.

Your favourite foods include:

• Breadsticks
• Houmous
• Cheese
• Pasta
• Jacket potato
• Cottage Pie

But you still don't care much for water and give me a look like I'm trying to poison you if any does manage to make it's way into your mouth :D

Your physical development seems to be progressing well too. Commando crawling, as always, is your preferred mode of getting about but you do spend a lot of time rocking back & forth on all fours now and you can actually manage a few shuffles forward too but often you then think 'sod that' and just belly-flop because it's quicker to stick with what you know.

Earlier this week you managed to pull yourself up to a standing position for the first time! (well done) which is handy because standing up is your favourite thing to do. You're always so much happier stood up - maybe the world looks better from higher up - but you are also getting better at navigating your feet and have actually risked a few attempts at cruising too. So far you can manage one step out and can bring your other foot across to meet in the middle, but then you struggle to shift the weight back to the other leg to make the next step.... I honestly don't think it will take much longer to click though.

You are really coming along at the moment. Parenting is a tough gig at the best of times and our journey has been particularly rough at times. And whilst I want to paint an honest picture about what things have really been like, I feel like sometimes your blogs posts come across a bit moan-y (I don't mean to). But as I look back at what has happened this month to write this post, I feel happy & content. I recall positive progress & happy times. This month has been a good month (see, they do happen!) but even through all the hard times, I wouldn't have swapped you for the world, baby girl xx

Today you pulled yourself up...

42 weeks, 5 days old

Photo Shoot

9 Months Old

Whoever spread the rumour that second babies learn things quicker didn't really know what they were talking about!! I get the whole notion that when kids have an older sibling to copy, they might be more inclined to push themselves so they can follow their big brother or sister around & do what they do.

By Dexter's 9 months blog update he had mastered quite a few physical skills. He could crawl. He could pull himself up onto his knees. He could get from a crawling position to a sitting position. I guess on that basis I was pretty much expecting you to be running marathons by now :P

Not. The. Case. Not for us anyway. You are still getting about in lazy commando shuffle mode. As such, you can't get into a sitting position from your tummy. And you probably could pull yourself up...but just refuse to try.

This is the bit where mums need to have a word with themselves & remember that all babies are so different. You can't compare them, not even siblings. And it's hard. It's really hard not to. You feel with your second baby like you know what is coming because you've been there, done that already. It does not work that way.

And whilst I'm sat here saying "you can't do this & you can't do that", just know that you do have your own set of skills that you have pipped him to the post with (ok, here I go again comparing you both but this is purely to show you that you learn different things in your own time):

• You can get from a sitting to a crawling position without face-planting
• You started being able to stand up holding on quicker
• You have clapped way earlier
• You started babbling/said your first word quicker & talk so much more

And whilst you still commando crawl as your main mode of transport, you are bloody quick at it! You chase me across the room as I'm walking away, you make a dart for the exit if a door is left open or speed across the room if something you shouldn't have gets left on the floor!!! It's hard to keep up with :D

On a different note, it's been a rough couple of weeks recently and you haven't been the happiest little lady. We've been through another one of those dreaded Wonder Weeks. We're hovering around a common growth spurt stage. And to top it all off you've been working on sprouting MORE TEETH!!!! No wonder you're a bit of a grump. But as every typical mother out there will quote at me "This too shall pass". So here is you being incredibly adorable to remind everyone that you still totally are!

We continue to soldier on with our weaning journey but the truth of the matter is you don't seem really into it properly yet. Sometimes you let me spoon-feed you, sometimes you just smack the spoon away or spit each mouthful back out in the form of a raspberry. Sometimes you really enjoy feeding yourself, sometimes you just chuck it on the floor & want to get out of your highchair. Food before one is just for fun. So we continue to just try and still rely mostly on your formula. 

Up until now, we were fine with that. But at 9 months old, you weigh almost 2lb less than you did at 8 months & it's a little worrying. Maybe your increased mobility plays a big part in this but hopefully you'll be due your next check with the Health Visitor soon and we can see what they think.

The truth is, you still weigh 18lb 1oz (it feels like so much more!!) which is a lot.

We still offer you the same amount of milk that you often don't even finish.

And you still sleep a solid 11-13 hours every night....

So you can't possibly be hungry??! Or under-nourished??!

And at 9 months old you mainly wear 9-12 month clothing but are already slowly graduating into 12-18 month bits & pieces. You are a big girl!!

Maybe you're just destined to be my skinny giant :P
Love you, baby girl xx

Today you clapped...

- 36 weeks, 4 days old

Today you crawled...

Ok, so it's more of a shuffle or commando crawl at the moment. But at least we're finally going forwards instead of backwards. And your speed & technique has already dramatically improved since this video....

But after that initial feeling of excitement & pride, it quickly becomes clear that your baby learning to move around the room freely is not quite all it has cracked up to be. Now you require constant supervision and nothing is safe!!!! :P

 - 35 weeks, 3 days old

8 Months Old

How did we get here so soon?? Today, you are 8 months old. And whilst the last few weeks haven't really been much about conquering the major milestones, there have been a lot of little things that you have been working on.

After struggling with you being so fussy & clingy last month, we finally reached the end of the storm. You chilled out and became more content. You started being more comfortable with being put down and left to play on your own. Although you still love playing with Dexter more. And Dexter's toys. Or anything that you're just not supposed to have in your hands!! But you now 'play' with mummy & daddy too. Your new favourite game is peekaboo and you play it all the time. After your feeds, during nappy changes, getting dressed.... anytime there is something to hand that you can pull over your face :D

Since your babbling began, you have quickly turned into such a chatterbox! Sometimes you just never seem to shut up haha. For a long time we had lots dadada's and bababa's but in the last couple of weeks you have been saying mama..... quite a lot..... and you only ever say it to me (usually when you're crying for my attention)..... so I am totally classing that as your first word!! :)

Despite our best efforts, we still haven't mastered crawling yet. You can go backwards, but no luck yet in going forwards. Instead, you just give up and roll to wherever you want to be. I mean, on that basis you're probably thinking 'why the hell do I even need to crawl anyway?'!! Fair play. And ok, so you might not be able to crawl yet (and bear in mind that not all babies bother with that stage!) your little legs do a good job of supporting your weight and you can now stand holding on.

You can stand for quite longs periods actually. And you love it. As soon as we get you up, you laugh. Maybe because you are proud of yourself, or maybe it's just nice to see the world from a different angle/height. So maybe you'll skip crawling and eventually just cruise? Maybe you don't see the point in learning something you don't need and prefer to focus on something you want instead? I dunno. We'll see....

We continue with our weaning journey on a combination of spoon feeding & self feeding. You'll only take porridge or yoghurt from a spoon. Anything else, you're just not interested. So in addition to the 40oz of formula you guzzle each day, you also have a spoon fed breakfast + one self-fed 'meal' per day.

And you are getting so much better at feeding yourself. You get more of it in your mouth and more importantly, you are able to swallow more of it too. Your pincer grasp is coming along nicely and you can pick up & manipulate smaller pieces of food much easier. And because we have two top teeth to match those bottom ones, you are able to bite off small pieces now as well.

Although, as you have discovered you now have teeth at the top and bottom, you have taken to grinding and clicking them which makes us cringe!!!!!!

(bad pic, but the best I could get of your top teeth)

Whilst it's awesome that you have such a good appetite, at 8 months old you are actually filling out most of your 9-12 month clothing now. You weigh a nice round, even 20lb and I'm already stashing away 12-18 month clothes *sob* How can that be????? I want you to go back to being small again.

I miss my tiny little baby but I honestly don't miss how hard (not to mention tiring) the early stages were. You are growing up fast but the rewards of that are your brilliant personality. How clever & grown up you are becoming every day. Learning about what you like & dislike. Seeing how you change....

I wouldn't swap it for the world xx

7 Months Old

The past few weeks have been tough, I don't mind admitting it. I refer back to those so called Wonder Weeks where babies go through "fussy periods" but then supposedly reward you by learning all these new & wonderful skills. Cue the three c's:

• Clinginess
• Crankiness and
• Crying

Yep, yep and yes!!!!! Apparently, this leap in your mental development is based around distance. More to the point, you begin to learn than mummy can walk away. And you have no concept of where I am or when I'm coming back.... this is when the meltdown happens. So to save my poor arms through this (hopefully short-lived) stage, we've taken a leaf out of the baby wearing handbook and invested in a new carrier. So far, you don't seem to mind it.... you sleep pretty well in it anyway.

And whilst on the surface, it seems like this period has been a load of extra work for nothing (it's very draining, let me tell you!) actually when I sit back and really look, there are definitely new things emerging.

A couple of weeks ago you began babbling and we now get lots of chatter from you.

You can sit unsupported quite confidently for long periods of time. This means you prefer being upright in the buggy and you love your new big girl bath seat.

You pay so much more attention to things now too. You pass your toys from hand to hand & inspect them. Before, things used to fit into two categories: Can I eat this? Yes or no. But now you notice things like:

If I squeeze this, it squeaks..

..if I shake this, it rattles...

..if I drop this, it falls!

Which means your new favourite activity is the dropping game.
Mostly in your highchair with food (or a plate).

But you don't throw good food away too often. You continue to enjoy our weaning journey, still preferring to do it yourself rather than have it from a spoon, but recently you have been accepting a bit of both which helps me make sure you are getting enough during the day.

You've also become an even better sleeper. Your naps are more predictable, are generally at around the same time each day and last considerably longer than they used to. And your wake up time is often between 7-7.30am now. (It's just a shame that Dexter get's up earlier so we don't benefit from a lie in :P)

And after staying so small for so long in the early days, you are really making up for it now. You currently weigh 19lb 2oz & are fast outgrowing your 6-9 month clothes so much so, that I am so close to breaking out your 9-12 month wardrobe :D

You are a little bigger and a little heavier.

Your hair is getting longer and fluffier.

You are headstrong. You know what you want & how to get it (or am I confusing that with manipulative haha)

Your personality continues to shine through every day. And no matter how much hard work the day has been, all it takes is one of your cheeky smiles to remind me that it's all worth it.