Starting to Walk!

Guess who is starting to walk! Our baby girl! Granted it is with a walker, but hey baby steps, right?

10 Months

This post is yet again way late.  But still, better late than never!  We are so close to being a year old it is kind of freaking me out.  This past month baby girl has been up to everything. This by far has been the most exciting month with her.  So much has changed between 9 months and 10 months.

• At the beginning of the month, she started crawling.
• Now she is high speed crawling.  She can be in another room in .2 seconds.
• At the beginning of the month, she started pulling up.
• Now she is pulling up and walking around things- not just furniture, walls included.
• She is into everything- literally.  
• She is starting to learn the word "No" since we use it a lot now.  Especially because she is drawn to the fireplace.  I'm pretty sure the Hubby and I both said "No" and turned her around, no exaggeration, at least 20 times last night alone.
• She is very enthusiastic about toys now.  She loves playing with her toys and if you put her down she will be-line it to her toy basket and pull every toy out.
• She is sleeping much better in the past week, I think this major learning and growth spurt is what was causing a few rough months of sleep.
• She cut her first tooth, top front tooth, and the one beside it is also starting to come in.
• M could eat at any point and time.  She loves food and her bottles.
• Since she is getting close to the 1 year mark we are starting to nurse less, and she is getting more bottles.  She still nurses at least 3 times a day before breakfast, lunch and dinner.
• She no longer likes to snuggle with me after her 5am feeding she prefers I put her back in her crib- I'm grateful she made this transition on her own, but also a little sad because I loved that time together
• She is still sticking to her 3 words of: "ella" (Bella), "lala" or "aura" (Laura) and "dada"
• She understands who Bella and Laura are and when she says their names it is in response to them or calling for them, for example if Bella barks she yells "ellaaaa"
• I'm not sure if she understands "dada", she does call the hubby that, but also other adults that she loves, including me
• She is still in size 3 diapers
• She loves her blanket and gets very excited when she sees it
• She still loves "hide the baby" and often initiates the game. 

We didn't take true 10 months photos, but I loved these from the Hubby's soccer game earlier this month.

M and Nama

Thought Dump

I now understand why there are not many working mom blogs.  As much as I love blogging, it is time consuming.  Thoughts have to be written, pictures edited and uploaded.  So for today, here is a large brain dump of what all is going on in our house lately.

• M is everywhere, literally.  She crawls so quickly that in the blink of an eye she is in another room.  
• She is into all of her toys.  
• M is very into Bella and poor Bella isn't very into M.
• Last week was the first time the word "No" really came into play in our house.  She kept crawling over to the brick fireplace and the fireplace tools and trying to climb and play.  This is a big no no.  It is dangerous and she has to understand that she can't do it.  Every time she would crawl over there I would say "No" three times and then pull her away and set her down facing the other direction.  On a normal day, she will just move on to another activity, but not the other night.  She would scream and cry so hard, big puppy dog tears rolled down her face.  Several times this happened.  Oh it just made me want to cry.  I do not like this saying "No" thing.
• I'm exhausted.  By the time M crashes for the night I want to crawl right into bed behind her even if it is only 8.
• My 2012 resolutions where all financial and legal tasks that have been put off for to long, for example wills, more savings, etc.  This has been exhausting to pull together, but by the time this month is over we will have made huge strides and that makes me happy.
• I am in full planning mode with M's 1st birthday and for one of my best friend's baby shower.
• I love party planning!!! I love all the details! 

I am very grateful for this past weekend.  We spent quality time as a family without any agenda and I loved it!

Dear Family- I promise to provide posts this week with lots of pictures and updates of M.  Guess who is trying to walk??

Wordless Wednesday

Moment of Sadness

I am planning M's 1 Year Birthday Party!  How did this happen?

I swear just the other day I was day dreaming of what our life would be like once she made her appearance and now I can't remember what it was like before she was here.  This sweet girl has changed my life forever and although I'm a little sad she will soon be a year old and not my little baby, I only want to keep watching her learn new things and grow.

I have crazy, fun visions for this birthday party.  I know she will not remember this party, but I will.  At let's not kid ourselves, it might be her birthday, but it also marks 1 year of the hubby and I being parents and we survived it! I can't believe it has been almost a year since we first brought her home.

 Only a couple of weeks old.

Project 365

A picture a day for a year. This project has become pretty popular and I thought I would give it a try this year.  It even has a nifty little iphone app to keep you on track.  Here is week 1.

January 1: M, Laura, and I playing around with the iPad's Photobooth app.

January 2: M decided to pull all of the movies off of her Mimi's movie shelf.

January 3: M and I snuggling on my lunch break.  I cherish my lunch break.

January 4:  M is trying out her Halloween outfit for next year- hehe, family joke

January 5: M's boyfriends got back in town and we headed over to play

January 6: M lovingly held onto her Razorback as we all called the Hogs during the cotton bowl.

January 7: She is obsessed with hats and sunglasses.

I'm trying to take as many of these photos I can also on the Nikon, but even if it is just iPhone pics some days it is better than no photo to me.

NYE

NYE 2011 was a lot of fun.  We decided to have people over to our house for a celebration, as we gave up on the bar scene for New Years a long time ago.  Once it was determined how many friends were joining us we decided it might be best for our little M to have her very first slumber party.  Her Mimi, my mom, jumped at this opportunity.  I will not lie, I was a little sad and stressed over her not being at our house, but you know it really worked out for the best.  M had a blast and mom and dad got a little non-kid time.  But of course as soon as I woke up the next day we were in the car to pick her up!

Before I took M over to my parents house we had a little New Years celebration.  She is too stinkin' cute in this hat!

When I dropped her off, I called the hubby to let him know I will be needing an adult beverage to cope. :)  It was so great to hang out with friends and ring in the New Year. 

2011 was so good to us, it brought us our biggest blessing yet.  What will 2012 bring?  I'm thinking it might be pretty good too...

Madison's 1st Christmas

 All of these firsts have been so sweet.  She was at a really fun age this Christmas and although she didn't understand what was going on I still loved starting new traditions and introducing her to old traditions.  I strongly believe that Christmas morning should always be in our home, where M can jump from bed  and run to her stocking and gifts.  This year was a little different for the hubby and I because we could not go to midnight service since M would never have made it that late.  So Christmas eve we went to the Children's Mass and it was an experience.  Mass was beyond crowded and of course we had to sit in the cry room.  From where we were sitting we could only see a wall and were not able to watch the service only listen and being in the cry room made it very distracting.  After Mass we headed to my parents and had Christmas Eve dinner.

Christmas day, M woke us up bright and early and we headed to see what Santa had left under the tree.

Daddy learned that his Christmas mornings from here on out will be filled with assembling toys.

After opening gifts as a family we packed up and headed over to my parents house to celebrate Christmas with my family.  Madison did not really understand the whole opening gifts thing, however she did learn that if she patted the present she wanted somebody would open it for her.  She did this a lot and now does it to everything, including me.

Mimi and Madison opening her present from them.

I loved this gift and so did M, she plays with it non-stop.  It is the Little People Nativity scene and it is adorable.  I also learned that day that apparently I say "Nativity" very southern and the hubby got a good laugh.- Upon further investigation either pronunciations are correct. Ha!

After opening gifts, we prepared for more family to join us for lunch.  This year we all decided to stay in our PJs all day and to take it easy and just enjoy the time together.  It was so wonderful seeing everyone and by the end of the day we all passed out from the excitement.

Everyone enjoyed playing games.

The hubby bought me a new lens, among other things, and I have been enjoying taking sweet photos of this sweet girl.  Thanks love!

9 Beautiful Months

This post should have been posted almost a month ago!  She has grown so much since I first wrote this post, but I will keep the details as is so I remember what she was really doing when she turned 9 months old.

Madison is now 9 months old.  I can't believe she has officially been with us longer than she was in the belly.  Time is flying and we continue to try and take it all in.

• M's stats: Her height and head measurements are right were they should be, her weight is low, but she has been a little sick lately.  We have decided to give her 2 bottles of formula a day while I am at the office instead of pumped milk.  Unfortunately she hates it.  I have yet to find a brand or person that she will take it from.  We will keep trying.
• Poor baby has her first cold and her first ear infection all at the same time
• In the past week she has had so many firsts- she waves, she can sit up from a laying down position and she plays all over the floor, she even started crawling backwards!!
• She is sleeping through the night much better now, she still wakes up around 5 am, nurses for a bit and then stays in our bed until it is time to wake up and get ready for work- I cherish those 2 hours of snuggles.
• She is eating mostly finger foods and loves to feed herself

 These have been the best 9 months of our life and every minute we all get together is full of love and fun.