11 month update

Betsy Grace just fell asleep, rolled over from our bed into her crib (which she has been doing consistently lately) and was in a deep enough sleep that I could sneak out and grab the computer, so for the first time in months I'll be able to post my blog update on time this month!

I feel like this month has gone by very slowly for some reason.  At the end of last month Michael and I decided to start eating a little bit healthier in hopes that I (because he certainly doesn't need to lose weight) could drop a few pounds before our family photos at the end of October.  We've just been watching our carb intake and trying to eat real foods rather than junk.  I'm happy to say I far surpassed my original goal of 5 pounds and have lost 12 pounds since we started.  I'm still not to where I'd like to be but I'm back to what I weighed on the day we got married so I'm happy with that.  And for just over a month, 12 pounds is a lot of weight to lose!   Our air conditioner broke at the beginning of the month.  That made for some really uncomfortable nights with three people in the bed, but like I already mentioned, Betsy Grace has been getting alot better about wanting her own space when she sleeps, but man it was so hot! Unfortunately, the a/c repair company had to order a part to fix our air so we were without a/c for 4 days!

Betsy Grace is started to really get around the house quickly.  She can stand up by herself on the bed, but she hasn't yet tried to do this on the ground.  She walks around holding on to the furniture and can crawl up and down the step from the front room into the living room.  She's starting to get into everything! She's also starting to really enjoy food.  She loves chicken, cauliflower, cheese, yogurt, bananas, pears, grapes, green peppers, carrots, zucchini, and pretty much anything we are eating she will eat as well.  She doesn't love green beans or broccoli so much. Since breastmilk is still her primary means of nutrition with just some solids every now and then, it makes for some pretty nasty poop.  The gross poop is the only thing about cloth diapering that I don't love.  I certainly don't love having to spray off her diapers when she has a poopy diaper. Oh well, it's still way cheaper than using disposables and they have no nasty chemicals in them like disposables.  She really loves books that have flaps or things to feel and she loves toys that make noises.  She loves the theme song to the tv show The Big Bang Theory and gets excited everytime we watch it.  She also likes the song What Does the Fox Say?  She talks (or babbles I guess) nonstop and I really wish I could speak baby so I'd understand what she's saying.  She gets really passionate sometimes about what she's saying, throwing her hands up in the air or turning her palms up as if asking a question.

Eating some chicken... her favorite!

Michael and I went to the Wine Room a few weekends ago where I enjoyed my first glass of wine in more than almost 2 years.  We had Betsy Grace with us in the stroller and some old man had the nerve to pull Michael aside and tell him that we need to try again for a boy.  What is the matter with some people?! Along the same lines, I took Betsy Grace to the mall and two older women told me what a cute little boy I had.  She was wearing a pink dress!  People are so ridiculous.  If you can't tell whether a baby is a girl or a boy either dont say anything or just say "oh your baby is cute".  I'm not sure what it is about having a baby (and being pregnant for that matter) that makes random strangers feel like it's their right to say whatever they want to you. 

I've started planning her first birthday party, which I can't believe she's going to be a year old next month! How did that happen?!  We are just having a little party at the house with family and friends.  I ordered her this super cute little outfit (which of course Michael thinks is ridiculous!) from my friend's Etsy shop. You can see it here I'm a little nervous about her having so much sugar at one time from the cake, so instead I'm making her cupcake a pumpkin muffin so it's atleast a little bit healthier than cake.  Everyone else can enjoy some real cupcakes though :)

We had our first set of family photos taken yesterday by Tara Merkler Photography. I always get so nervous about doing photos because I have an idea of what I want in my head and I'm so afraid they won't turn out good.  Betsy Grace only napped for 30 minutes, rather than the 2 hours she was supposed to, so she was pretty fussy when it came time to do our pictures. Tara was thankfully very patient as we tried every trick in the book to try to make Betsy Grace smile. I even stopped halfway through our session to nurse her because she was just so upset! I hope that we at least get one decent family photo for our Christmas card.  Tara said our gallery would be ready within the next two weeks, but if you know me well enough  then you know that I'm super impatient about things like that.  Two weeks seems like a year away! :)

Today we met up with Amanda, Keegan, and Delaney for a play date at the park. Betsy Grace loved swinging on the swings with Keegan.

Having a serious conversation with Delaney

10 month update

Ok... only three days late this month... not too bad! 

This past month has been pretty uneventful in terms of travel and events, which is sometimes a good thing. Michael and I did enjoy two baby free date nights at Roy's and The Capital Grille (thanks to Magical Dining month).  Our first date night was at the beginning of the month and Betsy Grace did great and took her bottle with only a little coaxing from Grandma.  The second date night, however, she wanted nothing to do with the bottle which made for a cranky baby towards the end of the evening. I nursed her a little while when we got home and she calmed down.  Once she was calm, then she took the bottle from me with out a problem.  We will just have to keep trying :)

She's getting a little more adventurous with the foods she'll eat.  She had chicken for the first time this month and really enjoyed it.  She tried some steak too, but wasn't as big of a fan of that. She also had grilled green peppers, pears, watermelons, bananas, prunes, apples, carrots, pizza crust (a favorite), and banana ice cream (not real ice cream... just a frozen banana thrown into the food processor... delicious!).  Her little teeth still haven't popped through, which isn't a bad thing since I don't have to deal with being bitten while breastfeeding.

Eating chicken and green peppers in her pjs

What are we going to eat today?

Her sleeping patterns have been all over the place this month! One night she'll wake up five times, other times she'll only get up two or three times.  These past few days, though, have been rough.  She's been going to bed at our normal time, but at around 3am she's wide awake.  Not like just stirring to get comfortable... like wide awake, eyes wide, staring at the ceiling. And she stays that way for an hour to an hour and a half! Thankfully, she doesn't cry... she just wants to crawl around. Usually when she wakes at night I just nurse her and she falls back to sleep within two to three minutes but when she's wide awake like that nothing seems to work.  However, I do feel like we are making some progress in terms of her sleeping in her crib.  Lately, once she falls asleep she will roll over into her crib (on her own) and sleep with the top half of her body in her crib and her bottom half in our bed.  I wish I could get a picture of it because it's pretty funny looking but it's too dark and I'm not about to wake up a sleeping baby with a camera flash! The only problem with her sleeping like that is that I have to sleep in an awkward position to accommodate the bottom half of her body next to me.  I also don't sleep as well when she's in the crib because I'm worried about her, where as when she's right next to me I know that she's ok.

She's crawling really fast now and moving all over the place.  Her favorite things to go after are the dog toys and the dog bowls (of course, I don't let her actually get to them).  She pulls herself up on everything and is almost able to stand up on her own.  She loves to turn the pages of books and she likes to turn the light switches on and off.  She likes to take objects out of bags and boxes and throw things. She gets really excited when I get her sippy cup out of the cabinet and last night she drank from a straw for the first time.  One funny thing that she's been doing lately is whenever Michael or I chew gum, she likes to mimic the way we chew.  She thinks its really funny :) That's about it for this month.

Climbing on everything!

Swinging at the park