My Little Lainie Month 9

Wow am I behind.  While Lainie is well over 9 months old, I'm going to keep this post to what occurred between months 8-9. 

She is still an angel baby, easy, fun and sweet and LOVES her big sister.  One of the best things I've ever seen in life.

Eating: I really cannot believe how much Lainie can eat.  When she is in a growth spurt she will eat 12 ounces (3/4lb!!!) of baby food after nursing.  Sometimes I'm shocked she can still move around easily after eating so much.  She nurses about every 3 hours and eats baby food about 3 times a day.  She really only loves the banana blend squeezie pouches, and will eat anything if we cover it with that.

She gags everytime I try and give her something with texture (beyond the stage 3 food).  She has no interest in oatmeal, rice, etc. I did add yogurt which she seems to really like now. However, she will eat cheerios and puffs which I'm thankful for.  She doesn't seem to have any trouble with dairy, hallelujah!

Size: She is actually smaller than I thought she was, based on the doctors scale. She is 19 pounds 7 ounces.  She is wearing almost all 12-18 month clothes, but I squeeze her in a few 9 month outfits that I really like :-)  Side note: its going to break my heart when she can fit into this yellow outfit. 

It is the perfect baby outfit to me (which is why you see it in so many pictures!). Its a onesie so her belly is covered, it has ruffles which all little girls need, and it is so cute I can't stand it.  Thanks Gigi!

We moved to size 4 diapers and that still is shocking to me.  She may be in the same size diaper as Ruthie before she gets potty trained.

Nighttime Sleep:

Wow.  Wow. Wow.  I knew when we went to PapaGigi's house for a week and she slept for 12 glorious hours, I was the problem.  She could sleep in our room with the curtain divider with Joel in there, but when I got in the room, either she smelled me, I'm loud or a combination of the two that didn't work for either of us!  The good news of that is that it gives me hope for putting the girls in the same room together, and I knew she could (and needed) to sleep longer.  For the first part of the month, she woke up every 2-3 hours, then at the very end of the month when Grandma came and babysat, we put up the wall and it has been heaven ever since.  Had I known, $200 and one day (plus about another half day of finish work) would give me back my sanity I can assure you this would've happened long long ago.  If we knew how wonderful that would be, it would've happened before she was born.  Hindsight, always so clear. 

I know this is a blurry picture but I had to document for Joel that she actually could sleep while we were at PapaGigi's.

Daytime Sleep:

This should've been a clue to me (even more than all the obvious) that I was the problem. Lainie is a super napper.  She always sleeps great at home in her crib.  She was taking 3 naps (usually) if we were home between 1-2, sometimes 2-3 hours in length.  I snapped this photo in the car a few weeks ago. I can't remember where it was, but they must've been TIRED.  Neither of my kids really sleep in the car so this was a rare occurence!

Mobility:
She is a super crawler.  Lainie has the perfect crawl and she's fast.  She stands on her own for 2-10 seconds at a time and was doing that more at the beginning of the month. 

She's cruising on furniture and I keep expecting her to walk soon.  She's doing a lot better walking holding your hands, but she honestly seems totally content to crawl and climb.

Eyes:
Bright blue/green and beautiful.

Paci:
Nighttime and in the car.  She thinks its absolutely hilarious if I take her paci and put it in my mouth. 

Hair:
She still doesn't have much hair, but it does feel softer to me than it used to.  The top seems to be getting a little longer.  There aren't any piggies going in this hair anytime soon.

Signs/Sounds and Words:
She's picked up a few different sounds this month.  She started with B's, G's, M's and screams (not crying, just screams).  Its pretty funny.  She is a very quiet baby for the most part, but it is shocking how much noise she can make when she wants to!

She started waving when you say bye bye or night night. Genius.

Teeth:
Still just the bottom two.  She's started biting and chewing on everything so I'm expecting more quickly!

Doesn't love: having toys taken away from her, the carseat, me trying to get her to eat more when she is done.  Thats about all I can think of.

Loves:
Lots of things!
She loves being tickled, blowing rasberries, any and every toy her sister has, any and every sippy cup her sister has.

Jumping in the crib with Ruthie, and just being around her in general

Gigi and Papa

Playing with toys

Wearing the perfect outfit while playing with toys :-)

Swinging with Grandma, Daddy and Ruthie

Again, her sister.  She gets beyond excited whenever we go get Ruthie up in the morning or up from her nap.  She starts squealing and kicking her feet, so cute!

Hanging with Grandma (and Grandpa, but he didn't arrive in town until after her 9 month bday, so he'll be on the 10 month post!!).

And her latest fav, her new silly face with some serious soup coolers!

She loves her cousins and thinks they're hilarious!



Love my girl!

Cinco de Ruthie-Month 9

Wow, how has 3/4 of her first year gone by? I really can't stand it. I feel like I was just pregnant, then in the hospital, then home with a brand new itty, bitty baby and now we have a 9 month old crawling, standing, cruising girl! Again, this is where the sap in me comes out. I guess if you can't be sappy about your children, really what can you be sappy about?

Let me start out saying that AGAIN this has been my favorite month. I realize this is getting repetitive and again it is true. Life with Ruthie gets better by the day. She is so much fun and sweet. I just love her.

This month she loves:
-her crib at night
-Chloe
-Standing
-crawling and panting
-saying Da da da da, dah dah dah, la la la (zero Mama, of course), duck duck
-Water! Especially out of her sippy cup or any cup i'm drinking out of
-real food
-walks
-singing/dancing
-whenever I do handstands (yes I still do handstands, but now pretty much only for Ruthie's entertainment, they hurt my wrists too much....pathetic!) Once it warms up I'll have to break out some old gymnastics and hope I don't break anything in the process, I think she'd enjoy it.
-walking holding our fingers
-spinning around, being thrown in the air, being dropped
-her kitchen
-measuring cups
-any stuffed animal
-animal sounds
-WAVING!
-high chair

-Where's Ruthie game
-itsy, bitsy spider


Size:

We had our 9 month check up this morning (reason for the delay in posting this), so these measurements are accurate.
Height: 27 1/4" (43%)
Weight: 17lbs 1oz (23%)

When I see my friends babies who are 2-3 months old and bigger than Ruthie, it shocks me every time! Joel and I are both thankful she is tiny, especially when we're getting the car seat in and out!!

She is pretty much in 9 month clothes. She can still fit in 6 month onesies, tops and dresses, but the pants have all become capris! She's definitely skinny enough for them, but just too long. The 9 month clothes are still big, but long enough. She's our pipsqueak, I love it!

Night time Sleep:
And the heavens opened and Ruthie sleeps! When we got back from Christmas she started sleeping at night from around 7pm-7am, sometimes 30 minutes on either side. Its amazing. Incredible. The best. I love it. Please don't ever stop. Now that I'm working til 11pm at night, not having to get up until 7am is awesome. Thank you sweet baby.

Naps:
I have no idea. I thought we were dropping a nap and going to one, longer afternoon nap, but she won't quite give up the morning nap and sleeps for about 30 minutes or so in the morning, and will take a great afternoon nap.......if I'm holding her (which I'm not going to lie, I love, but I can't get anything done...which is okay). She's totally rebelling against napping in her crib during the day. She's sleeping great at night, so I'm just counting my blessings there.

Eating:

She's eating great. We're on a 4 hour(pretty much) nursing schedule at 7am, 11am, 3pm and 6pm. The difference between 3 and 4 hours has been amazing to me. I can get so much more done! She loves real foods. This month she has eaten: pears, apples, bananas (she still isn't a banana girl), green peas, carrots, sweet potatoes (Her fav), avocados, noodles, cheese (I think she could eat cheese until she exploded, definitely my child),

cheerios, puffs, grapes, we tried a piece of chicken...she wasn't thrilled, pancakes, applesauce, yogurt. Her menu has opened up a lot this month. Shes still eating 3 meals plus snacks. I'm still making her food except when we travel and it really has been great. Its easy, much cheaper, and is fresh.

Mobility:
A fast crawler! She can move quick and stand up on about anything. She loves to climb over legs, boxes, under things. The saucey now has become a tunnel, She's on the move. She's cruising from pieces of furniture, but I think right now she prefers crawling. She starts huffing and panting when she wants to get to something quickly. Its cute.

Nicknames:
I think Ruthie Lou is the winner for now. Sometimes its little lou still, but Ruthie Lou is the primary one. A friend heard me call her that and thought it was her name, so I thought I would clarify! Her middle name is Grace (chosen by her Daddy). Lou is something that just came out and stuck, and we all know I love a nickname.

Teeth:
Five total!! For my own records here is the order they've come in: bottom left (from Ruthie's perspective), bottom right, bottom second left (???), top right, top left. She's handled them like a champ and again we really didn't know they were coming and then bam, a mouth full of teeth! The bottom three are really through, the top ones are slower coming in.

New Phrases said at our house:
-No Ma'am! Ruthie is learning the meaning of No, and will often stop what she's doing, turn around and look at you, then decide either to be naughty or nice! Some days I feel like all I say to her is No. I think she is going to be quiet and confident in her opinion ;-).

Other:
-She can now point out your nose, mouth and ears. This isn't 100% of the time, but if she decides she wants to play with you, she's pretty much spot on when you ask her. Otherwise, she completely ignores you.
-She is starting to "play" more at playgroup and is loving the other kids toys. How cute is this kid! Van is our little love muffin and wants to hug everyone!

-She's also enjoying hanging out with other cute friends too. Look how tiny she is! Callie is 7 months older than Ruthie

-She is a studier and really takes things in. I'm pretty sure this is a definite sign she's a genius right ;-)


This month has again flown by, I want it to slow down. We're so thankful for a sweet, happy, healthy girl.

Things I will Miss about being Pregnant

Since we're coming down to the wire, I thought I'd make a list of things I'll miss about being pregnant and things I'm thankful for regarding this pregnancy. I thought this would help me with the last few days thinking positively about all the good things with this pregnancy. After I have the baby, I'm going to publish the things I don't miss about being pregnant :-).

What I'm thankful for with this pregnancy:
-I haven't had swelling or high blood pressure consistently
-I didn't have gestational diabetes
-So far our baby looks perfectly healthy and a little angel ;-)
-The last 23 weeks have been great (first 16 weeks will go on the other list I put up after she's here!)
-Our baby loves ice cream and cantaloupe
-I have had very few days of being uncomfortable
-Although I can't walk for as long as I'd like, I am able to get out and move around multiple times a day
-I mowed our grass last week
-Joel
-being surrounded by so many people who love us and are excited for us and can't wait to meet our baby.
-Finding a Doctor's office I like and feel comfortable at
-Federal Employee Insurance coverage of OB visits and delivery
-Having a few days of maternity leave to myself before she arrives
-She is full term
-too many other things to list!


What I will miss about being pregnant:

-Feeling this sweet baby roll around and kick all the time
-Having Ruthie almost instantaneously react when Joel is close by and talking
-Knowing she is safe
-Talking about being pregnant with other people
-Dreaming and talking about what she's going to look like, be like, when she's going to be here, etc.
-Maternity jeans, can I keep wearing these???
-I really hate to put this one down, but its the truth; I will miss having everything done for me because I'm pregnant! I think this is the only time in my adult life this will happen, so I've enjoyed it!
-Being able to take a nap whenever and as much as possible and it being okay because I'm pregnant
-Eating whatever I want and it being okay because I'm pregnant
-Getting a pass on about anything because I'm pregnant
-People asking me when we're due (although I really hope that question stops after she's here :-)
-Not feeling the pressure to exercise
-Watching my stomach move around like crazy


I think I could keep going, but thats a good start. I had my last Doctor's appointment yesterday, gained .2 pounds, blood pressure was up a bit and I'm still making progress. We're praying she comes on or before her due date (May 8), but either way, she'll be here within a week! Our lives are about to change, and we can't wait!

New Pictures

First things first,
**Can anyone tell me how to make the header photo not so huge and take up most of the page? is it the layout I've chosen? I need to play with it some more.

Our sweet friend Emily offered to take some maternity photos for us and this past weekend (38 weeks) we took her up on it. My favorite is the picture in the header. Its so us, relaxed on the beach with Chloe, just hanging out enjoying life. I'm really impressed at the ones she got on the beach because it was so cloudy and windy, we were getting blown around everywhere! Here is another one of my favorites. I love how the water is coming up in the corner and of course her name. I think this one is a framer:
And another one that I think shows pretty well how big I am, definitely bigger than a basketball!
She is getting me a disc with the rest of the photos, I can't wait! Thank you again Emily, you are the BEST!

Baby Update, I didn't gain any weight this past week and my blood pressure was way down thankfully. I think last week it was up because I was shocked how much I gained in one week (and they took it right after they weighed me, why do they do that??)!

The contractions have all but stopped the past few days (The painful ones at least) and I guess if she's staying put for the long haul I'd rather them stop and just be comfortable and enjoy the last week or so of this pregnancy.

I'm starting to see every spec of dust in our house and NEED to clean it (even though I haven't...yet). I'm a morning person and by the time I'm off work for the day and Joel and I have gone for a walk and had dinner, I'm about spent. Since this is my last 2 days at work before maternity leave (which is insane, I really can't imagine not working), I'm hoping this weekend and next week while I'm off I'll be able to get to cleaning and get this house ready and de-pollened! I have loved this weather and keeping the doors and windows open but the dust and pollen is crazy! Is this the next phase of nesting?

My prediction is Ruthie will arrive May 4, at 11:45am. Any guesses? Due date is May 8 :-).

How to make the end of Pregnancy last even longer

Here are a few tips I have if you want to make the last few weeks of being pregnant last even longer :-)
1. Wake up at 5:11am every morning and have your first thought of the day be, "I wonder if today is the day?".
2. Hope you can make it to the bathroom in the morning and wonder, "what if my water breaks today?"
3. Go back to bed and try and sleep but you really can't because you're too busy wondering if today is the day.
4. Finally get up at 7am, go for a walk and wonder how fast Joel can get home from work when you do go into labor.
5. Go to work, have a few contractions and wonder, is this the start of it, only to realize they've been coming every five minutes and then they completely stop.
6. Continue to wonder all day long if today is the day, how its going to happen, etc.

Repeat these thoughts continuously throughout the day until its time for bed where it changes to, what if I go into labor/water breaks tonight while we're asleep.

Repeat at 5:11am the next morning.

The #1 tip I have make it seem even longer is have the Doctor tell you at your last appointment she doesn't think you'll make it another week, and here we sit :-)

I have to remind myself we're still not at our due date, and our baby is perfectly happy and comfy. Its been a great thing to make it this far considering I'm the only one of my sisters to make it this long, they all had early baby's and because of that we just assumed I would also. Guess not!!