Dear Kate,
I’m not sure to call it a quiver or the super shakes or what when you get really excited your arms and hands will shake like a hummingbird’s wings. This usually happens when you are about to eat, have a bottle, see Lexi or take a bath. At first, I was really worried that you had really low blood sugar or something like that, but I’m pretty sure it just happens when you get really excited.
For the amount of food that you shovel into your mouth, there is no way that you could have low blood sugar. During any given meal, you’ll easily down an entire avocado, fruit/veggie pouch, handful of crackers, cheese, couple of pickles and a bowl full of noodles. The only thing we’ve given you that you don’t seem to be a fan of are cheerios. Grapefruit, oranges, chicken, blackberries, raspberries, apples, broccoli, turkey, crackers, cheese, noodles, bread, peanut butter, toast, pancakes, sausage, eggs, hard-boiled eggs, yogurt, cookies you name it, you love it.
As a result of transitioning to table food so well, I think you’re starting to wean yourself from bottles. We give you a mid-morning and and afternoon bottle, both 6 oz and between the two, there is usually 2-3 oz that you don’t finish. My pumping sessions had gotten to be pretty pathetic, barely producing 3 oz total. So this past week, I cut those out and am just nursing in the mornings and before bed. Hopefully, I’ll be able to continue to do that until your one. The frozen breastmilk stash was starting to get pretty low, so I bought formula for the first time ever and we’ll start incorporating that into the mix for the next two months to hopefully lengthen the amount of breastmilk you get. Because of the hoover status mentioned above, you had a huge growth spurt this last month and a half or so and are officially out of 6-9 month clothes. I think you were in them for a total of a month and a half–which is crazy considering you were in 3-6 month clothes for 4 or 5 months! Size 3 diapers are getting pretty snug too.
You’ve also made some progress on the mobility front. You roll from back to belly more frequently and even slept on your stomach for the first time ever this month. We are putting you on your tummy all of the time and you have started to scoot backwards and spin around to get stuff you want, you haven’t figured out how to move forward. We’ve even tried to put you on all fours and move your arms and legs in a forward motion, but you just push yourself up to a sitting position and are as content as can be sitting and playing. You have no real interest in crawling at all. You do seem to enjoy standing up much more. You haven’t built up your guns enough to pull yourself up on anything but love to stand and wobble around.
No complaints on the sleeping front. You sleep from around 8ish to 5am-ish, nurse and go right back to sleep. Then you’ll nap around 9:30 and again around 1:30 for about 2 hours each time. You absolutely refuse to cuddle in anyway shape or form and it just kills me a little that my sweet babe doesn’t want to cuddle with me. On the flip side, you are the easiest baby in the world to put to bed. I lay you down awake, put a stuffed animal and your paci in your mouth and you roll over and go to sleep usually before I’ve even walked out the door. So I guess I’ll have to give up cuddling for good healthy sleeping habits, but promise me you’ll cuddle with me when you get older?
Other monthly shenanigans: You celebrated your first Easter. The Bunny brought you some applesauce pouches and a new swimsuit! You also came down with your first sickness and fever on Easter. At first, I thought you were cutting teeth, but your fever spiked above 100 degrees and it lasted for several days. You were very restless and un-consolable. One night, I was up with you for several hours as you just wouldn’t stop screaming. The only thing that helped was to get into a new environment, so we went downstairs and turned the fireplace on and you watched the flame flicker around. After day 4, I took you into the Dr. just to make sure you didn’t have an ear infection. Then, the following day, your fever broke and a rash appeared all over your body–tiny little dots. They weren’t raised or anything, but it was just a side affect of your body fighting the virus off.
You love to play parrot–in that you copy noises and gestures. You’ll make this noise ‘Ehha’ and we repeat the sound to you, and this goes back and forth sometimes 10 times. You also love to bring both arms above your head and then smack them down onto a hard surface. You will play this game with anyone who will give you the time of day.
At the end of the month, your top two teeth cut through the skin. You were a little whiney and up in the night, but for the most part, they came in pretty smoothly.
Sometimes when you laugh, it sounds like a machine gun. You love to take baths and splash around by banging your hands against the water or kicking your legs while you’re on your back getting you hair washed. You and Lexi are kind of obsessed with each other. She loves to climb in your crib with you, play with you, talk to you and be by you all the time. And I have a feeling the you feel the same. When she is around, your eyes just follow where she is going and she can get you rolling in giggles like nobody else. With that said, she also kind of gets up in your bizness more than you would like and you have to shoo her out of your personal space from time to time. I hope this relationship stays just as strong as you two grow older.
And that my sweet little Kate is your 10th month in a nutshell. I can’t believe you are going to be one in two months. In my mind, you are still like 6 or 7 months old. You continue to be the happiest most content baby ever. Every time someone comes over or sees you, they are just blown away how happy you are all of the time. You don’t have fear of strangers, you love your siblings, you love to play by yourself, you are a rockstar eater and sleeper. You truly are too good to be true and your Daddy and I are so in love with you and the little family we have. God is Good and we are Blessed.
I love you sweet bubsy,
Love,
Mama
Peanut Smiles 