1 Year Update!

It's hard to believe that our little girl is a year old!

Greta's first birthday!

What's Greta up to these days?

Daily Life
She's been eating more finger foods -- in part because we weren't able to get to the grocery store to buy more purees for a few days. She also enjoys using the spoon herself -- we'll hold out the bowl and help her dip the spoon and she smiles with such pride when she scoops up a little food and puts it in her mouth! At other times, she grabs the spoon only to wave it around in the air, though, so we have to be careful. And sometimes she shows no interest in feeding herself, preferring to let us feed her ourselves.

Tomorrow we have her 12-month pediatrician visit. I plan to ask about introducing cow's milk as a replacement for formula and breastmilk, since I have pretty much stopped pumping at work unless I have to stay late. I have been enjoying the freedom of not pumping and I'm appreciating that my part-time status has allowed me to get home and nurse fast enough that I can avoid the pump these days.

She's been sleeping well most nights, but there are always nights here and there that are rough. We've put a blanket in her crib a few times now when we've needed something to keep her warm and didn't have a clean sleepsack. It still makes me very nervous, but it's been going okay.

She's wearing 12 month clothes and will likely move up to 18 month clothes soon. It always surprises me how "on track" she is when it comes to outgrowing clothes, considering that she's on the small side as far as her growth curves. The first thing she outgrew in 12 month clothes was shirts that didn't have expandable collars -- her head just wouldn't fit in them. Now she's at the limits of her onesies as far as length. As usual, she still fits in her pants just fine, but I suspect that when we move her into 18 month onesies, even though she'll still fit in 12 month pants, we'd be able to transition her to 18 month pants without too many troubles.

Skills

It's hard to say what her new skills are. She's been pulling up and cruising and in the last couple weeks she's taken a few independent steps (towards a caregiver with outstretched arms), but I wouldn't say that she's walking yet. I think generally she's just more "kid-like" everyday. Like the way that she babbles to herself when she thinks nobody is looking, or the way that she smiles when she sees us kiss one another, or the way that she nods at us (not always as a communication technique, but sometimes?), or the way that she lights up when I come to unbuckle her from her car seat, or the way she giggles and coos when she feels the wind through her hair, or the way that she kicks her feet in excitement when she's in the stroller. These are moments that I cherish because they let me know that she is growing not only in her own skin, but as a member of our family.

Happy Birthday, Greta Girl. We love you very much.

Due Date Reflections

One year ago this past Friday, I was sadly celebrating Pi day, so disappointed that my baby would not be arriving. Ben assured me that my baby just wanted to celebrate the day in a spherical environment. This year, we had her birthday party -- a small, family affair. A combination of Greta's first Pi Day and birthday party.

Greta celebrates Pi Day. How many circles can you spy in this picture? 

One year ago this morning, convinced that my glimmers of regular contractions had fizzled out, I consoled myself that my baby wasn't coming on his/her due date by going to the Highpoint Center for Printmaking, where I made a piece of artwork for my Bambin@. This year, my parents spent the morning playing with Greta before they left town.

One year ago right now, almost to the minute as I am writing this, I lost my mucus plug in our upstairs bathroom. Within a short period of time, early labor started. Right now, Ben is in the upstairs bathroom giving a splashing Greta a bath.

One year ago tonight, at 2:47am, I woke up in active labor. Tonight I sincerely hope I am asleep at that time.

One year ago tomorrow, I was in labor all day long, expecting a St. Patrick's day baby. Tomorrow I expect to wear green to avoid getting pinched by my students and colleagues.

One year ago this Tuesday morning, I gave birth to a squirmy, slimy newborn who was placed on my chest and I thought I'd pass out from sheer exhaustion. Ben told me that she was a girl. This Tuesday, for work reasons, will be a tiring day for both Ben and myself, but it obviously won't even come close to a year ago. And as exciting as it was to meet our new baby on March 18, 2013, if the last few months are any precedent I predict that March 18, 2014 will be even happier. Much happier, in fact. There will be emotions -- there have been emotions all week -- but I predict that they will be ones of gratitude, joy, and love.

Life has been more joyful each day that we have had with our Margaret Linnea.

Birthday Bonanza

She's 11 months old today. The countdown to 1 year begins now. Only four short weeks left to go.

The house is filled with birthday fever. It's Greta's 11 month birthday and Ben's actual-factual birthday. Even though I know that eventually we'll stop measuring Greta's age in months, it's still going to be fun that when his birthday rolls around each year, it will always mean that her birthday is coming up.

Today I'm feeling very melancholy about her impending birthday, though. I just want to hold on to her precious babyhood forever. This is such a fun age. I can't even describe what makes it so fun, which I suppose means that it's nothing but the sweetness of being a parent. Am I exhausted? Yes. Am I overwhelmed by how much I love our family? YES.

A few random updates:

1. Greta has:

• a weight of 17.5 lbs
• a head circumference of 17.5 inches
• a length of 27.25 inches

2. She's wearing #3 diapers during the day (to use them up) and #4 diapers at night.

3. She still prefers purees over other solids. Now that I am part-time, she gets about 4 oz of milk in a bottle while I'm out and then nurses frequently when I am home. She eats three solid meals a day and usually has some formula before bed and when she practices with a sippy cup. Favorite foods include yogurt, pancakes, Cheerios, and various baby foods.

4. Recently, when she pulls to standing and lifts her hands to show that she can stand without support (for a few seconds), she has been doing the most adorable thing where she holds her hands in front of her, turns them back and forth, does the "SQUEE!" face in amazement at the fact that she's standing without support.

5. She is getting better at knowing how to fall safely and how to lower herself down carefully. I always assumed she'd be a late walker, but now I'm thinking she might start earlier than I'd expected.

Update! Update!

Just now, I was sitting on the floor with Greta playing with some blocks. Our favorite game is when an adult builds a tower and Greta knocks it over. Sometimes she swats at it very deliberately and "scorches the earth" afterwards -- shoving the fallen blocks to the sides so that it is even more difficult for us to re-build. Other times, it has seemed as though she just simply was reaching for a block that happened to be in the middle of the tower and the falling tower was merely incidental.

This evening, though, after she knocked over a stack of my blocks, she picked one up and put it on top of the other. When she took her hand off the top one, she drew her hand back to her chest and made a "SQUEE!" face at me, so happy with her handiwork. She did this for the next several minutes -- placing one block on top of the other and carefully removing her hand, often leaving a fingertip on the top block until the very last moment. Sometimes the top block knocked over as she moved her hand, and some times she was able to keep them balanced. I praised her effort in both instances, but she was clearly more pleased with herself when she got them to balance. Intrinsic motivation for the win!

We love you, Greta Girl! Happy Birthday to Ben and the Gretstar!

10 and 3/4-ish Month Update

So there's a lot that's been going on. A lot.

Greta's First Christmas

I got pneumonia over the holidays and missed the first two days of school after break.
Then the "polar vortex" started in just as I was wrapping up my work at my old job. (Oh right -- I changed jobs). So my last few weeks were incredibly rushed, since I had even less time to wrap up than usual.
Then Ben got sick the week during my last week at my old job.
Then on Greta's 10 month birthday and my last day at my old job, Ben and I both started throwing up. I got better pretty fast, but Ben couldn't keep anything down for several days. This was, keep in mind, the weekend that I was transitioning from one teaching job to another. If I had been staying at my old job, it would have been the week before a 2 week vacation. Instead, it was an insane transitional time in which I was finishing up grades, cleaning out my old classroom, and setting up my new classroom and meeting my new students.
Then we had another round of polar vortex weather and school was cancelled for three more days.
Then last week, I finally had a full 5 day week with my new students.
Ben still has pneumonia.

So I haven't updated in a long time, but I don't want to wait until 11 months to write an update. Why? Because she is changing so fast I can't even believe it. It's like I have a new baby every week.

Where do I even start?

Greta has Teeth

Good luck trying to get a photo of her teeth. This was the best I could do. You can barely see a tooth on the bottom -- just don't confuse it with the thing that's at the top left . . . that's a cheerio. 

Her first tooth popped out on New Year's morning! I was feverish with pneumonia (didn't know it at the time -- I went to the doctor later that day) and Ben was exhausted and lying on the couch at Casey and Brandon's house. All of a sudden, I looked in her mouth and saw a white thing. When I felt it, it felt razor sharp! It was so surprising and sudden. She hadn't even been behaving strangely the day before or anything. I always thought that the worst part of teething would come right as a tooth was breaking through, but Greta has been "teething" for months and the times when she is actually cutting a tooth haven't seemed much more intense than the other times she has seemed to have teething pain along the way.

Yes, I say times (plural) because she has three teeth now! The first one to come through was her bottom left front tooth. Then her bottom right front tooth. Now her top left front tooth cut through yesterday and the right top front tooth isn't far behind it. It's exciting to see! I love her toothy-toothless grin!

Greta is Crawling

She started crawling the week before she turned 10 months old. She has been "army crawling" for awhile, but then she started crawling on her hands and knees -- with her tummy above the floor. It's fun to watch -- such a "classic baby" move. She is definitely louder and more vocal when she crawls that way, although if she's on carpet and has a pacifier in her mouth, she's almost as stealthy as when she army crawls.

Greta is Pulling Up

She started pulling up shortly after she started crawling -- I'd say maybe within the first few days after turning 10 months. At first, it started with her pulling/pushing up on me while I was video-taping her. All of a sudden, I noticed that she was standing. I had a hand under her armpit for balance, but she'd basically gotten herself into a standing position on her own. A few days later, she'd pulled up on the sides of her playpen.

Since then, she pulls herself to standing anytime she can. Furniture, people, playpen . . . basically everything in her world is just a prop for pulling up. She sometimes makes poor choices -- for example, we have to be careful when she tries to pull up on furniture that swivels or the handle to the drawer of the oven. We recently bought her convertible car seats that she will be transitioning into soon and she had to be monitored closely when they were unboxed on the floor of the living room -- uninstalled car seats make for dangerously unstable pull-up devices.

Greta is Cruising

She doesn't cruise a ton. She mostly cruises along the sides of her playpen. Few furniture pieces are the right height (remember, she's under the 10th percentile for height) and the right distance from each other, so there isn't a great way to get around the house by cruising. Nevertheless, it is not uncommon to put her in her playpen and see her pull up and begin a circuit around her playpen, chatting away at the outside world as she does so.

Greta is Standing

Just for a couple seconds at a time, but she's definitely doing the "Look Mama! no hands!" thing. She will push up off of me until she is kind of in a "downward dog" yoga position. Then she will straighten herself upright and look super proud and adorable before she loses her balance and falls back down again. It's awesome!

Greta is Interactive

Okay, so she's always been interactive. But it's just . . . different now. It's like being around a totally new person in the last few weeks. For example, she has totally become a bath fanatic in the last couple months. She loves bathtime,  splashes gleefully and is sad when she has to get out of the tub.

If you put out cheerios on her high chair tray, she has started experimenting with what will happen when she hits the tray, pushes the cheerios around, kicks against the end of the tray, surreptitiously extends her arm with a cheerio in her grip and then lets the cheerio fall to the floor. She enjoys pushing down on the edge of a cheerio with her finger and watching it catapult across the dining room in the opposite direction. Her favorite has to be when you point to a cheerio and then open your mouth wide. She laughs, picks up the cheerio you selected and offers it to you for you to nibble from her fingers. The best, though, is when she does the "fake out." She offers it, but then witholds it at the last moment, just as you're about to gobble it up from her fingers. The maniacal laughing as she does it is hilarious, but also a little concerning.

She is also very destructive. If you create a tower of blocks, for example, she will come over from across the playpen and, with great determination, knock down your blocks. Not only that, but she will enthusiastically hit at the blocks, spreading them as far apart from one another as possible, so that it is clear that there is no longer any organization or structure to the blocks as a group. She seems to take this work very seriously -- so seriously, in fact, that I've started to wonder whether she has a "No Building!" rule that she feels she is constantly (*dramatic sigh*) having to enforce with us.

She's also started to mimic us. For example, Ben has been having to use an inhaler for his pneumonia. When he does, she looks at him with great interest and waits as he holds his breath after inhaling. Then she scrunches up her face and makes an exaggerated "sniff."

Greta is Eating More "People Food" -- Slowly but Surely

Despite being nearly a year old, Greta still balks at most "big kid" foods. She just never really latched onto the idea of finger foods. She loves Cheerios and puff snacks, but rejected cut up avocado or banana. We've been most successful with small pieces of bread products -- for example, if we go to a restaurant, we'll give her small pieces of bread or scrape the salt off the crackers and let her try those. Recently, we tried giving her strips of toast with a thin smear of almond butter and that was fairly successful, although messy.

As far as spoon foods, she still loves all her typical baby food purees. Everyone told us that the pureed stage wouldn't last long, but our kiddo seems to be an exception. We have also started introducing some homemade purees and other soft foods. For example, we've given her cassoulet (including some shredded chicken, but excluding the sausage and bacon . . . seemed to love it the first day, but very fussy the second day), a few different soups (in the last week, golden potage and red lentil mulligatawny . . . pretty successful), and lasagna (not a hit). We're still working on trying to get her gradually more interested in a greater variety of foods. But she's growing and gaining, so we're also not really worried about it.

Greta eating cassoulet -- her first "big people" meal.

Greta has New Carseats

As mentioned earlier, we bought convertible carseats for Greta. She hasn't totally outgrown her infant seat, but she's getting close, so we decided to bite the bullet and buy her seats while there was a good deal.

Britax Roundabout -- Cybex Aton 2 -- Chicco Nextfit

On the left is the Britax Roundabout G4 which she will ride in when she's in her grandparents' car or when we are traveling.

On the right is the Chicco Nextfit, which she will ride in when she's in our car.

In the middle is her infant seat (Cybex Aton 2) for comparison. Doesn't the infant seat look tiny? Neither of the convertibles look huge until you look at them next to her infant seat.

Greta has More Hair

Enough said. Look at this adorable bed head during breakfast!

9 Month Update

A visit from Grandpa Dan at Thanksgiving. 

Greta's Thanksgiving Meal: Sweet Potato with Chicken, Apples, Apricots, and Cinnamon

I completely blew past Greta's 8 month update. A few days late turned into a few weeks late and all of a sudden she was 9 months old. So I am starting to write this ON her 9 month birthday even though I know I won't post by the end of the day. (Merry Christmas, I'm posting it a week later...)

In keeping with her development over the recent weeks, Greta totally surprised us by sleeping her birthday away. I came home around 4:45 and she had just gone down for a nap. At 8:45, we woke her up to feed her and give her her meds, softly sing her happy birthday, and then put her back down to bed. We have no idea what her night is going to look like, and that's actually pretty typical lately. I have been forgoing pumping in favor of nursing and so our routine is more unpredictable than it used to be. (By the way, that night was a disaster.)

As predicted in my last post, she stopped calling me Mama within a couple weeks, in favor of longer strings of Baba, dada, thatha, and mama (but not like the word -- just babbles). She babbles and just recently has started some waving-type gestures. She can stay in a seated position for extended lengths of time, although she very occasionally still face-plants into the carpet or falls backwards. We tend to avoid this by putting pillow behind her or sitting behind her on the floor and spotting her. 

That Boppy pillow is an awesome invention. 

Greta also is on the verge of crawling. She can "army crawl" pretty well, but she isn't crazy fast. I still feel comfortable with her being out of sight for a moment or two, even when she's not in her playpen. The playpen, by the way, is an amazing invention for folks like us who don't have gates. 

Her inability to crawl causes Greta great frustration. She has been more impatient and difficult to please. She wants to crawl SO badly. Unless she is in a very mellow mood, it is difficult to keep her happy. If you put her down to explore on her own, she's frustrated that she can't crawl. She will do push-ups and wail in frustration as she bends and straightens her legs and arms. Every now and then, she will manage to get up onto all fours -- with her knees bent below her. But once in that position, she struggles with what to do next and eventually cries in despair.

It's actually pretty painful to watch. I wish I could teach her how to crawl, but my attempts at doing so usually end with her face-planting and me feeling terrible for having helped her into a position she couldn't maintain. So no more of that -- baby will have to learn on her own. 

She's getting very good at eating puff snacks or cereal. It's so fun to watch her eat them -- it's a vaguely familiar action that is similar to when she puts other items in her mouth. But when she eats the cereal she does it casually and purposefully avoids eye contact while she puts the snack in her mouth --- almost an affected nonchalance. Interestingly, she's not great at chewing yet, so we haven't given her any finger foods that can't be dissolved in her mouth. She's eaten a wide variety of purées, though -- everything from fruits and veggies to legumes, meats and nuts. 

First time eating multi-grain cereal. 

She wasn't a fan of egg. She was really disappointed in us as parents when we gave it to her, although she still dutifully ate most of it with a look of pained resignation. 

So all of the above was from last week when I started writing this on her birthday. Today when I'm actually posting this is one week later . . . In the first week since she turned 9 months old, she also started clapping. This is one of her favorite activities now. She will clap with joy and with frustration. One of the most hilarious things to watch is when she is fussing and crying and clapping at the same time. It's amazing how fast they change, these babies. I had never seen her clap at all before maybe Sunday of this week, and now she does it constantly. 

She also started playing peek-a-boo again. On Saturday, I was in Barnes and Noble and she was in her infant carrier that was attached to her stroller so she was facing me. There's a little flap that can be flipped up in front of the baby's face and she started pulling it up and then waiting for me to say "Where's Greta?" and then revealing herself. 

Car seat with cover flap. 

What was fascinating was how much she laughed when she'd do it this time. Back a few months ago when she started playing peek-a-boo, she would occasionally smile or laugh, but more often than not she'd just put the blanket over her face again. It was as if she was saying, "Oh, you found me and that seems to delight you. Well, it's not difficult for me to do this, so I will cover and uncover my face as long as it pleases you, you fool." But this time it was much more interactive and fun and she took much more joy in it. 

What was crazy was when I went out to the car. We have a little mirror posted on the headrest of the seat on which her car seat is attached. I looked back in the rearview mirror to see her ducking her head down to make eye contact with me through our mirrors. Then she lifted the flap of her car seat cover and played peek-a-boo with me in the mirrors of the car. I played with her a little before pulling out of the parking lot, but she still tried to engage me in the game while we were driving. It was SO tempting to play with her. It's so rewarding to hear that tiny little laugh. But I was driving a car and it was hugely distracting. I had always heard that you have to be careful of those mirrors because they can cause a distraction and I had always assumed that they were talking about the distraction of a parent worrying about their kid and watching them obsessively. For me, though, that was never an issue. But this peek-a-boo in the mirror thing is totally dangerous and addictive. Must keep eyes on the road! 

Overall, our Baby G is doing well. This is a great age. It's amazing to me to think that she's spent as much time outside the womb as she spent in it. 9 months is a big milestone!

Who ME?

Yesterday, Greta looked right at me and said, "Mama."

Okay, so maybe she's not really calling me that, but when she says it, it sounds JUST like she's referring to me.

I always thought that babies who said, "Mama" while babbling were doing it more repeatedly. It's always described as "Oh, they were just babbling -- you know . . . Ma-Ma-Ma-Ma-Ma . . ."

But this feels different than what they describe. I know that it's still just babbling but it really sounds like she's saying Mama. Yes, it's repeated, but it's like this, "Ma-Ma . . . Ma-Ma . . ." And she does the slightly-longer-first-syllable-slightly-shorter-second-syllable thing too. (Not sure if I can explain that properly, but if you imagine someone flatly saying the syllable "Ma" twice in a row, it sounds different than when someone actually says "Mama," right?)

AAAHHH! So insanely cute!

The best part is when she looks right at me while she does it. Yesterday she was playing on her belly and then she'd push up on her arms really tall and look right at me and say "Ma-Ma . . . Ma-Ma . . ." and smile.

Today she would pull off from nursing and I'd sit her upright and, again, she'd look straight at me and say, "Ma-Ma . . . Ma-Ma" and grin all slyly.

But I shouldn't get my hopes up that she attaches any meaning whatsoever. Because in all likelihood, as cute as this is, it isn't even going to last much longer. It's just going to be like the "Hi" thing from when she was around 3.5 months. She did it constantly for like a week or two and it sounded like the PERFECT little sweet "Hi!" and it made me insanely happy. And then she just sort of stopped. I was kind of sad when my baby just suddenly stopped greeting me.  And then the peek-a-boo thing. She did it incessantly for a little while, and then just kind of stopped taking an interest. And then now there's this "Mama" thing. Which she'll probably carry on for a week or so and I will become so attached to the idea of my baby calling my name. And then she'll stop and I'll think she doesn't love me anymore.

So yeah. Trying to walk the line between taking joy in this sweet new thing of hers and trying not to take it personally.

7 Months!

Time is flying by. Greta is already 1 week past her 7 month birthday.

The major updates are that she is a baby on the move. Case in point: I plunked her down on a soft blanket to have her usual floor time maybe 5 minutes ago and she's already scooting around on the hard floor a few feet from where she was placed.

You may remember that on her 6 month birthday, she rolled over from back to front twice in one day.  It was new and different. Now, if I put her down on the floor, I can pretty much be guaranteed that she will have rolled over at least 5 or 6 times within 10 minutes or so. And when she's not rolling, she's reaching and scooting and pivoting and occasionally even doing tiny push-ups onto her toes and arms. No official crawling yet, but she's working on trying to get up on her hands and knees.

She's a persistent baby. If a toy rolls away from her, she works hard to get herself over to it. She grunts and sighs and reaches and tries to use other objects that are within her reach to "lasso" the desired object into her reach. I get tired just watching her.

And watch her we must. Yesterday I laid out a blanket and set her down on it to chill with some toys while I went into the kitchen to start some food for lunch. She still moves fairly slowly and so it has generally worked to leave the room for a minute or two and then come back and check on her. Well, when I came back into the room to check on her, she looked like this:

 

Yes, that's my baby, tangled up in the blanket that I'd carefully laid out and set her upon, playing with a plastic bag. Not my proudest "responsible parenting" moment.

I think because she isn't fast, it's easy to assume that she won't get into stuff. But she's a stealthy baby. She will very quietly get herself into trouble.

At the end of this month, Greta also took her first airplane ride.

Greta on the plane. 

We went to Chicago to visit family and family friends. Greta met her cousin Cora for the first time.

Cora with Michelle -- 7 weeks of adorable.

She also wore matching aunt/niece outfits (sometimes inadvertently) on several occasions.

The trip was a success. We visited with several family friends. We road-tripped to Peoria to see my grandfather and uncle. We visited another uncle, aunt and cousin. It was very busy, I was completely drained without my partner in parenting, and Greta got way off her sleep schedule. But it was incredibly rewarding to see her meeting so many wonderful family and near-family members. 

Although flying with an infant was easier than I'd expected, being out of town and off-schedule with an infant was much harder than I'd expected. I am happy that we won't be doing it again for awhile, as much as I want to see all these wonderful people again soon. 

Other than the mobility, Greta hasn't changed all that much from last month. I think she's focusing all her growing energy into her new activity level. She isn't really any more vocal than she was before, and she's maintained the same levels of focus -- it's just that now she's focusing not on just touching things, but actively reaching them, grabbing them, using them to hit other objects, etc. She continues to be very social and with her stronger core, she will more actively lean towards people in order to listen in on their conversations, smile or laugh. She's become squirmier -- something that I noticed in particular when comparing her to her newborn cousin. Suddenly my baby was the maniac in the room!

She's working on sitting up. If placed in the corner of a couch or armchair, she will put her hands on the arm and back of the seat and sit upright. If she is supported by Ben's legs on her sides, she can sit up on her own fairly well. It's usually falling to the side -- rather than back or forward -- that prevents her from being able to sit completely unsupported. 

Physically, she feels much more robust. This was a change that I noticed shortly after we started solids with her and has continued since then.  All month long, I've been feeling like my baby has suddenly gotten huge. I was surprised when I took her for a weight check and she'd gained less than a pound since last month (although the previous months he'd only gained 3 ounces, so I guess I shouldn't be too dismayed). I feel like it's all muscle, though! Strong, active baby!