Ten Months, Not-So-Itsy-Bitsy

Our baby girl is 10 months old today. As much as we celebrate every milestone she has been hitting lately, we know how very fast she will start to look and behave like a toddler. How sad :( Babyhood goes by so fast! Only eight weeks left of nursing, and walking is just around the corner...and maybe potty training? Not likely, but maybe.

On a whim the other day, I saw the cues on her face that she was going to poop, so I took her into the bathroom and sat her down. Within a few minutes she did her business. (*And here is where some of you will want to stop reading because (1) you're grossed out by poop of any kind, including baby or (2) you're going to judge me as a bad mom or just plain gross for posting this. BUT I like to keep the memories of my kids all in one place.) So here is Macy's first time on the potty in all of her cuteness! November 28th, just a week shy of 10 months.




And here is Macy's 1st MAN TURD! Good, Lord, what have we been feeding this girl???

A video clip of the deed in action to prove Jamie didn't do this:

And, yes, I'm sitting on the floor in a dress. Where was I going wearing a dress??? I can't even remember :/ Hope it was fun. Since then, as of writing this, Macy has pooped three times and peed twice in the potty. Again, not training, just watching her cues.

About 30 minutes after the potty escapade, Macy took her first step....singular, step. Then she took another step a few minutes later. Then another. As of today, she has yet to take more than one, but maybe by Christmas. You can never really predict these kinds of things. Who would have guessed it would take her 10 months to get her first tooth.

Speaking of which, Macy now has TWO half teeth sticking up from her bottom gums. Did I mention we get to wean her in eight weeks? :) Like razors, I tell ya! They're coming in rather slow, but you never know, she could get the top two before Christmas. Again, who can predict this stuff?

A few days after her first potty experience and first steps and first teeth coming in, Macy had her nine month check-up with Dr. Fam. As we suspected, her weight has most certainly slowed lately. We used to have to pull her rolls apart, when we cleaned her. Now, she only has 1/2 of a roll on one leg :( At any rate, here are her latest stats:

Weight: 17.1 lbs. (20th percentile)
Length: 27 1/2" (45th percentile)
Head circumference: 17 1/4 (50th percentile)

The funny thing is, she LOVES to eat, but only table food. She has never liked baby food or cereal, so it has proven a challenge to feed her, since she has also been so late getting teeth. Right now, her favorites are smoothies (made with organic berries, mango, yogurt, tofu and spinach (for iron, since she won't eat cereal), Annie's brand organic mac n' cheese, organic oats, organic American cheese, frozen organic broccoli (LOVES this!), and this morning I made her an egg yolk and spinach omelette. She also eats any other fruit or veggie that she can pick up with her fingers. She almost always turns her head or cries, when we try to feed her from a spoon. I'm telling you, it's a challenge sometimes to think of things to give her. We pretty much repeat the cycle every few days, and will until she gets enough teeth to eat more toddler-friendly food.

Macy doesn't like to watch videos much at all. The only time she even turns toward the TV is when she hears music, but even then she mainly just bounces up and down and keeps playing. Her notorious move is sitting on her knees and bobbing her head or bouncing her little butt. Jadon NEVER danced, unfortunately...he still doesn't. It is way too cute to have such a tiny baby dancing around the house all of the time :)

As for toys, Macy mainly just likes airplanes and cars. She does like the pop-up ball thing that was Jadon's (one of his favorites too), and pretty much anything Jadon likes. She is not into baby dolls just yet, and really I can't imagine that will happen anytime soon, but I could be wrong.

She is FUNNY with a capital F! She loves to imitate noises and laughs at all things silly. She likes watching Elijah through the sliding glass door, seeing her Gramma and Grandpa, and smiles from ear to ear, when she sees Jadon first thing in the morning. She gets excited about everything, kicking her feet and smiling with her tongue out 85% of the day. She loves life! Jamie and I always quote the movie "Elf" and say she "loves smiling...it's her favorite thing!" Oh, yes, and she LOVES, LOVES, LOVES to do the motions, while I sing "Itsy, Bitsy Spider." I really need to get video of this. She will do it on cue anytime we want right now :)

For those of you who think I may sit around and FB or blog all day, FYI: This entry has taken me FOUR HOURS to write, so I'm fairly drained. We've had 1/2 of a naptime, playtime, dinner, cleaned up the living room, and bathtime...and I'm still not done!?!

I just remembered that I forgot to mention the fact that we opted NOT to get Macy's Hep B vaccine. Ummm...WHY didn't I do more research BEFORE??? I have no idea why I trust that my kids need vaccines that Jamie and I never had...things that my kids really won't be exposed to. Okay, I'm not going to get on this soapbox now (I'm trying to wrap this up now, remember?). Plain and simple: (1) Jamie and I have never been IV drug-users, nor had multiple sex partners, so we would not have passed Hep B onto Macy; (2) Macy is not going to even potentially be an IV drug user or be sexually active (ummm...EVER!), for many years; (3) 60% of Hep B vaccine recipients are no longer immune after 12 years. So why would I, why DID I expose my kids to a potentially dangerous (hello, Mercury!) injection to prevent them from getting an illness that is similar to AIDS? Well, when I explained my reasons for opting out this time, Dr. Fam said, and I quote, "Those are all very good points. I can't argue with that." Enough said. Let's just hope I can get over the Mommy guilt I have for exposing Jadon to so many unnecessary vaccines and Macy to the few she has already had :( Hindsight...man!

8.25 months

At 6 months, it was all about the army crawl. Just days before she turned 7 months, she started crawling on her knees like a maniac! Around the same time, she started pulling up onto anything and everything. In the last few weeks, she has been getting into EVERYTHING, including bookshelves, kitchen cabinets, and her favorite---the shoes in the foyer, this decorative twig thing that sits in the corner by our bedroom door (she tries to eat it on an hourly basis) and she tries to knock over this very large bamboo vase we have behind the couch (not to worry, it was broken long ago by Jadon, when he was just over a year old!). Ahhh, babies :)

As of today, we are still putting her in her swing in the kitchen floor. It is just really convenient to have them both strapped into something at the same time, so Jadon gets the high chair still, however, during other snacktimes, etc. Macy uses the high chair...as you'll see in the pics below.
She's been doing a GREAT job at eating solid foods (despite having no teeth yet) and perfecting her pincer grasp. Her favorites are pieces of banana, puffy Os and Kashi crackers. We plan to try pieces of carrots, broccoli, and green beans this week. She's pretty aggressive, if you're holding her and she wants a taste. Today, she had Daddy convinced she wanted pizza. I think you need to get some teeth before that happens, little one ;)

Although you would think she might prefer cold, pureed fruit, she really doesn't. She's not much of a fan of any baby food. We have started adding hard-boild egg yolk to her cereal, and she does like it a little more. Tomorrow we plan to start adding ground flax seeds too. It used to be Jadon's favorite meal. It's so nutritious, so hopefully she'll grow to like it more.
Another of Jadon's favorites was my homemade organic sweet potatoes and avocado (I know, sounds icky, BUT again, sooooo nutritious). Macy is not so fond of it either, but I refuse to give up. She can't live on breastmilk, Kashi crackers and puffy Os! Can you believe she only eats 1/2 of a container of Yo! Baby yogurt??? Jadon used to lap up that stuff. Hmmph! She's just too cute for words though :)
We've had this push toy out for a few weeks now, but honestly you have to give Jadon time to experiment with anything that is new to him (since he has no memory of using it), before he'll give Macy a chance to play. It is always a battle that takes time, so we are forced to give him time to adjust (for the sake of many tears/tantrums/arguments...yes, they argue at this age already!). Sooo FINALLY he has come around to the idea of Macy being able to push the "stroller" by herself (only a few minutes at a time), and today she started moving right along, one step at a time. Seems like yesterday we were hearing that tune, "Walk along, walk along, take a step and sing a song..." with Jadon behind the handle.

What a joy to watch Macy blossoming into a toddler! Oh the sadness that our tiny baby is growing up :( Good Lord, the chasing around and saving of her life we are in for on a now daily basis!

In the next few weeks, I'd expect to be writing updates on Macy standing on her own...maybe?? Or you may get an update that she's signed her first word :) likely "milk" or "eat." Fun to think of that happening! I still long for another day of waking up to my sweet little Jadon looking at me and signing "milk." I miss those days, but these are at least twice as much fun :)

Two, Four, Six, Eight

Every month I take pictures of Jadon in the same outfit, a little onsie (size 0-3 months) and a pair of Ugg-style boots I bought at Old Navy nearly four years ago. I couldn't imagine, when he was born, that a day would ever come that he would actually fit into those HUGE, fuzzy shoes, but it has :/... well almost. Seems he's beginning to look a bit like the Incredible Hulk, nearly popping out of that onsie ;) Here are the pics in order from two, four, six and now eight months old:

And here is a pic of our big boy today; he's now able to stand in those boots: Like I keep saying, he's growing close to walking. Here he is yesterday practicing with his walker toy that Kuya Allen and Aunt Lily bought him for Christmas:

Clearly he's not quite coordinated enough just yet, but you have to appreciate his efforts ;) Hopefully he's better with a lawn mower, once he's old enough, otherwise, we may be in trouble: