8/9/10 months!!

Isabella Grace...HOW are you 10 months old already?!?!  Stop growing, please...stopitnow. 

And, an even better question...how is it that I'm already having to plan my baby's first birthday party already???  :::breathe, breathe:::

Bella has grown up so much in the past three months...it really is amazing.  She's like her own little person now, and has such a personality already.  I absolutely love it.  She's at SUCH a fun age now.  :)

Isabella - here are all the exciting things that have been going on these past 3 months:

~  You have TWO teeth right now!   I felt them coming up around October 25th (and I only remember that exactly because it was the day before your cousin Bennett was born!)  It's the two bottom teeth, and they both popped up at the same exact time.  Other than that, you're still gummy...which I love.  You still look like my lil baby.  :)

~  You LOVE to clap AND wave!  All of a sudden one day, you came home from school (aka: daycare) and starting clapping like you'd been doing it for months.  Ha!  It is TOO cute.  And now, whenever anyone says 'yaaaay', you clap afterwards.   And when we say 'bye bye', you wave.  Too cute!!

 Waving at Daddy

~  You're still exclusively breastfed (go us!), and you eat about 4-5 times a day, depending on how late you sleep in the morning.  I've been getting worried lately, though, since I'm pumping just enough milk (and sometimes a little less) to give you three bottles for the next day.  I've been having to take some milk from my freezer stash, and I'm just hoping we can make it until your first birthday!  *fingers crossed*

~  You're still on stage 2 'solids', and we give you Earth's Best organic jars.  We tried stage 3 jars a few weeks ago, and they were just too chunky/thick for you.  You gagged on every bite...haha!  You LOVE pretty much everything else we give you, though.  The only thing you still hate, and have since the first time you tried it, is avocados...which actually makes me really sad, since it's such a good fatty food for you to have, and would help you get some chunk on your bones!  You're my long and lean gal.  ;)

We've also been trying to give you some finger foods (Cheerios, puffs, etc), too, but for some reason, you don't want to put anything in your mouth yourself!  How many babies do you know that won't put anything in their mouth?  My strange child.  :P  You'll pick up the Cheerio, examine it, play with it, and then throw it back down on the tray or on the floor.  And then, you proceed to whine/cry until we put it in your mouth for you.  You little stinker. 

~  You still loving blowing raspberries at everyone/everything.  It's the cutest thing ever.  And now, whenever we do it to you first, you'll do it right back at us.  I love it! 

Her typical 'blowing raspberries' face

~  You love standing up while we hold your hands, and your new favorite thing is walking all over the place with daddy or I just holding on to your fingers.  You're getting so much stronger every day! 

My big girl! 

 ~  You're finally sleeping through the night again.  *knock on wood*  You went through a phase over the past couple of weeks where you would wake up at 1am-ish, almost exactly, and cry until we came in there.  I finally decided to stop taking you out of your crib, walking around with you, taking you into bed, and all those other things I was trying to get you back to sleep  (I tried letting her cry-it-out for a night or so, and it was awful.  She didn't sleep, I didn't sleep, and I felt horrible.  So, I don't do that anymore.)  Instead, all I do is go into your room, pat/rub your back until you calm down and start getting sleepy again, and then leave the room.  It took about a week or so, but, now if you do wake up in the middle of the night, you'll only cry for a few seconds, and then you go right back to sleep on your own.  Such a good baby!  :)

~  And, speaking of sleeping...you are 100% DONE with the swaddle!!  And, you've been done since a little after 8 months old.  While the swaddle was great when you were little, and it definitely helped you sleep better/longer...it started getting to the point where I was going in your room and re-swaddling you 53 times a night.  So, I knew you were over it.  And now, it's so cute to see you sleeping like a baby!  Crazy positions, your little bum sticking up in the air...I love it.  ;)

~  But, the main reason you starting sleeping without the swaddle...you got your first 'real' sickness a few months back.  :(  At first, you had double pink eye, which wasn't too bad, and you didn't seem too uncomfortable.  And then, a week or so later, you ended up with a double ear infection.  It was SO sad.  You were so tired, that your head barely even hit the crib before you were asleep.  But, thankfully, the antibiotics worked quickly, and you were as good as new after just a few days.  

My poor baby, getting over pink eye

~  You LOVE your animals...Bailey, Roxy, and Fozzie Bear.  Every time you see them, you get so excited and make all kinds of cute noises to get their attention.  And, they love you, too! 

Monthly pics!   

These are REALLY starting to get tough!  Ha!

My future little cheerleader  :)

Hanging out in her little rocker

 Typical  ;)

I honestly cannot believe how quickly these past ten months have flown by.  We love you SO much, baby girl, words can't even express it.  XOXO  :)