Eleven Month Old Lorelai

Lorelai is eleven months old already!!!

She has five teeth (three on top and two on the bottom).

In the past month, she took her first steps. She pops up and often will take a few steps to get to something and plop back down. She mostly still crawls though to get from here to there. I witnessed her take about 5 steps in a row at her best. She is very agile, sturdy, coordinated. She gets around easily and does not have a lot of accidents. She loves to climb. Especially up onto Abby's bed. She loves the stairs. She likes to climb onto the rocking horse, the rocking chair, ride on toys, etc. She follows us all everywhere.

She continues to exhibit stranger anxiety, especially around adult males she does not see too often.

Lorelai has put blocks together.

She is very opinionated. If she wants to be held, upset about a toy being taken away, forced to sit still for diaper changes, etc., she will voice her discontent. She is communicating when she wants something (ie. the cheese you are eating).

Most exciting is her new interest in books (reading, not eating them!)....finally we can sit through a book together without her grabbing to put it in her mouth. She communicates her favorites and bounces excitedly when she is read a book she is interested in. She will hand it to you and plop in your lap. She especially likes Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle and Good Night Moon.

Lorelai is falling asleep easily on her own. She takes two naps a day- 1-2 hours each, in her crib, with a blanket and her music. She does not need the sleep sack anymore but sometimes we use it. It does not look like she will be a thumb sucker. She sleeps about 10.5-11 hours a night, with a bedtime of about 7:30-8:00 PM (it is hard to get her to bed before Ben and Abby- she KNOWS when they are still up!!!). She will usually wake up once during this period (around 5 AM).

Lorelai is still nursing. This will be hard for me to give up.

On her 11 month birthday, she developed a little cold- possibly her first? She may have had a runny nose once before in her second month? It does not seem to bother her and no one else in our family has it, so we are not sure where she picked it up.

Speaking of picking things up- she still likes to pick up a lot of little things and put them in her mouth. We are constantly fishing in her mouth to find what she got faster than we could stop her. This is one small aspect I won't miss!

She is eating mostly finger foods. Here are her top picks:
1. Cheese
2. Carrots
3. Black Beans
4. Bananas
5. Avocado
6. Raspberries
7. Grapes

In the past month, she added bell peppers, cucumber, grapes, potatoes, eggplant, and cooked tomatoes. She has an obvious dislike to hard cooked egg yolks, but will eat pretty much anything else.

This past month, she went to Madison for a day, to Green Meadows Petting Farm for the first time, and back to Foxbrook Park beach, among other adventures. She travels well.

I'll have to take her measurements tomorrow- she's a little peanut! (UPDATE: 17-17.5 lbs)

Ten Month Old Lorelai

At ten months, Lorelai weighed about 17.5 pounds and measured 27.5 inches tall. She had three teeth (two lower and one upper tooth). The first two teeth came in rather uneventfully, the third tooth was more disruptive. She still wore mostly 6-9 month clothing, when she wore clothes at all. No new words this past month. She continues to be very happy.... laughing and clapping a lot. She also started to point. Lorelai stands up without support in the middle of the floor easily and often. She seems very coordinated. She easily gets around and climbs up on things. Recently she has taken to climbing on the trampoline and jumping on it like the older kids! She also can be found climbing onto the kid's picnic table, up on the couch when Ben or Abby has pulled a cushion off onto the floor, and, of course, on the stairs. We finally have the gate up on the bottom of the stairs.

Her favorite toys are ride on toys or walker/push toys. She also enjoys the wooden blocks...she uses them as teethers.

Lorelai clearly notices "strangers"... she is visibly upset in the presence of unfamiliar people, especially males. Lorelai is super excited when Daddy gets home and becomes upset if he does not come to greet her immediately!

Lorelai LOVES following Ben and Abby and attempts to get involved with whatever toys they are playing with. Lorelai's dislikes are sitting still and having her diaper changed (again, she wants to keep on moving!). Lorelai is a busy gal these days!

Lorelai is eating three meals a day consistently. New food introduced over the past month include black beans, cheese, cantaloupe, tahini, kiwi, garbanzo beans, blueberries, raspberries, cinnamon, lentils, flax seed, and spinach. She enjoys feeding herself. The cheese, black beans, kiwi, raspberries, banana, avocado, and chicken pieces make great finger foods for her at this age. She still takes in about 12 oz of pumped milk in my absence and nurses about 4 or 5 times in a 24 hour period when I am home. I will sure miss nursing her once she has weaned.

Lorelai continues to one super healthy little girl. We are thankful.

Sleepwise, she has slept through the night for a period consistently, but then her teeth pain seemed to disrupt the streak. She retires around 8 PM with Ben and Abby (she does not want to miss anything if she knows they are awake!) and wakes around 7 AM. She takes a nap about 9 AM and then again at 1 or 2 PM- each time for about 1-2 hours.

This past month we went to Green Bay and Madison. Lorelai was a good traveler- slept easily through the majority of our travel time.

We thank the good Lord for our beautiful blessings: Lorelai, Abigail and Benjamin!

Nine Month Old Lorelai

Lorelai is pictured here in the same outfit Abby's 9 month photo was taken in. Lorelai weighs almost 17 pounds & has two teeth now (bottom center). She mostly wears 6-9 month clothes. She laughs a lot, claps a lot, waves and says three words: "Mama", "Dada" & "Hi!" She is a proficient crawler, pulls to a stand, cruises along furniture, and can climb up stairs. She can stand alone for a few seconds at a time. She still has to put everything in her mouth. This past month she has exhibited stranger anxiety.

She is eating three meals of solids per day for the most part. She added broccoli, chicken, watermelon, beets, cauliflower, applesauce, beef, and onions to her diet in the ninth month. The meats are carefully chosen to be from grass-fed, antiobiotic-free, hormone-free, pasture raised, cage free chickens and cows (all I need are images from Food Inc. to remind me it is worth the added cost!). Since we are delaying grains until after Lorelai turns one, we introduced meats now to ensure she is getting enough iron. Lorelai got to sample the delicious goodness of organic strawberries as well this month when we ventured to Jen Ehr Farms on Father's Day to pick strawberries. Lorelai is still nursing and taking pumped milk in my absence. Her intake of Mommy's Milk has decreased as solids have increased. She takes about 12 oz of pumped milk in my absence on workdays. She nurses about five times a day when I am home.

We have not discovered any allergies as of yet, thankfully. She may be sensitive to egg yolks, or maybe was not ready for them yet, as she seemed to spit up a little more when she got them...so I am treading lightly with egg yolks.

Lorelai has been a healthy little peanut. She barely has had a cold in her nine months of life. We are really really fortunate.

Lorelai seems to have turned a corner with her night-time sleeping. She has slept through the night (8 PM to 6:30 AM for her best) without her usual 1 AM or 3 AM waking more consistently recently. She naps twice a day, usually for 1-2 hours at a time. Often her morning nap is taken on the go. I can usually lay her down drowsy, but still awake, and she will not fuss. She usually sleeps in a sleeveless sleepsack and drifts off with a lullaby music CD in her room. She hasn't used a pacifier in months and does not suck her thumb. Her bedtime and naptimes have not been all that consistent since our schedules are often dictated by whatever activities Ben and Abby are occupied with and Lorelai has been pretty flexible and adaptable with this. We are very lucky!

Ben and Abby sure enjoy her. Although not encouraged, Ben will be caught picking Lorelai up and carrying her to another location. He's not just trying to keep her out of his toys- he does not want her to get anything she could choke on! Lorelai will laugh on cue when Ben and Abby dance for her, make silly faces, or just smile at her. She loves them to pieces. And we all sure love her!

Eight Month Old Lorelai

Lorelai hit the eight month mark this past week. She weighed in at the pediatrician's office the week before (since we were there for Ben & Abby's annual check ups) at 15 lbs, 13.5 oz. She is long, though we did not take measurements. Still a little peanut!

Development-wise, she is a more proficient crawler. She pulls up to a stand. She has even stood alone for a few seconds before falling. She claps a lot. She continues to try and explore everything with her mouth.

Her appetite has grown. She added carrots, peaches, mango, zucchini, plain whole milk yogurt, pears, parsnips, apricots, asparagus to her diet in her eighth month. Yogurt and carrots seem to stand out as favorites (besides Mommy's Milk). She seems to prefer to feed herself with her fingers than be spoon fed. She nurses about 5-6 times in a 24 hr period. She continues to take about 14-15 oz of pumped milk during the workday in my absence. Still no visible tooth!

Her sleep patterns are pretty consistent. She typically takes two naps a day and sleeps about 11-12 hours at night, with bedtime anywhere between 6:30 PM and 8:00 PM (inconsistent due to our other activities with the kids, Wednesday night softball, etc.). She adjusts/adapts fine. She is a content little baby. Very easy going. Very happy!

She loves to follow her siblings around and adores their attention- offering many squeels of delight and giggles in response to their attention. She is willing to play in her pack n play outside while I supervise Ben and Abby playing with our neighbors. Lorelai is such fun!

Seven Month Old Lorelai

Another month has flown by. Our little sweetie pie is now crawling!!! It is amazing to witness the progression. She was sitting well and then began to lunge forward to reach a desired object. And then she was up on all fours. Next, she mastered her coordination to move forward on all fours. She finds her way back to the seated position periodically.

Lorelai has gone from smiling 24/7 to having this determined look in her face 24/7. She is so busy. She won't sit still!!! Lorelai is definitely keeping us on our toes!

According to our home scale, Lorelai weighs about 15.5 pounds. She weighed the same one month ago, according to my last post; however, at her recent pediatrician appointment (at 6.5 months), she weighed 14 pounds, 8.5 ounces...so we might be off a bit.
Lorelai has tasted hard cooked egg yolk, sweet potatoes, bananas, avocado, green peas, butter, green beans and squash in her seventh month. Egg yolks do not agree with her. She does not eat very much so far, about 1-2 Tablespoons per day between 1-2 meals. She nurses 5-6 times per day. She takes about 15 oz of pumped milk between two bottles on the days I work.

Lorelai usually takes 2 naps per day, from 1-3 hours at a time. She has fallen into a much better rhythm in her sleep patterns. She goes to bed around 7 PM and rises at 6 PM, with 1-2 wakings per night most nights.

I can feel the bottom of some teeth- up top and center; however, still no visible tooth!

Ben and Abby can make her laugh and squeel with joy so easily. Lorelai loves to be tickled and snuggled and sung to. She appears to mimic us when we clap. On a few occasions, I thought she repeated "mama" and maybe even "dada" tonight. She is really fun and sweet!

Introducing Solids

We celebrated Lorelai's 6 month birthday and then introduced her to her first solid food the next day: mashed hard cooked egg yolk.

If you ask her pediatrician, egg yolks are not a good choice to introduce at her age, due to the fact that eggs are a common allergen. While I appreciated his perspective and acknowledge that fact, neither Kurt nor I (nor Ben or Abby) have any known allergies and since egg yolks have a lot to offer nutritionally, we went for it.

I cannot say how much of the yolk actually went into her mouth, as the novelty of the spoon was more interesting to her. She mostly played around with the bowl and spoon. As expected, it was pretty messy. Day 2 on egg yolks has come and gone and so far no reactions.

Next week, we will probably try sweet potatoes and then bananas.

Six Month Old Lorelai

The first half of Lorelai's first year has flown by! I can still recall my impatience waiting for this little miracle to happen (in mid to late 2008) and the thrill of discovering we were pregnant with her in January of 2009....Then the fear of losing her. And finally the joy of meeting her face to face for the first time in October of 2009.

Here we are, six months later, and she has almost doubled in size. On our home scale, she weighed 15.5 pounds on her six month birthday. Her 6 month well-check appointment is not for another week and a half because I was not on the ball with scheduling it. I did not try to measure her length, so we will get her stats at the 6.5 month mark.

Sleepwise, this past month was not the best... Lorelai falls asleep nursing and does not want to part with her latch on Mommy. She does not take a pacifier but essentially Mom is her favorite pacifier. So we are working on finding a different comfort measure for her. She sleeps well on her own for several hours after retiring in her crib around 7 PM. She will nurse around 2 PM and sometimes does not make it back to her crib. Her Mom and Dad could do better with this; we have been pretty lax. Lorelai naps 2-3 times per day, with one of those naps being a good one, for about 2-3 hours. The transition from the swaddle to sleep sack has been a struggle.

Lorelai is a happy baby. She rarely cries. When she does, it is because she is in her crib and does not want to be. Lorelai laughs a lot, especially when watching her big brother and sister. She is completely engaged when she has their attention.

For her first six months, she has been exclusively breastfed. She loves to nurse. We began to introduce her first solid food this week.

Developmentally, she is on track. She sits well independently and she enjoys her view from the sitting position the best. She rolls both ways, but being on her tummy is still not a position she enjoys being in very long. She does a strong push up. Lorelai manages to move around to reach a desired object, but does not actually crawl yet. She babbles and screeches. Everything she reaches for and grabs goes in her mouth.

Still no visible tooth. She has been teething since the beginning of January, yet no tooth to be seen. Her outfits are continually soaked with drool, as her Mama is too lazy to keep her in a bib. She's had a rash from the drool for the past month.

Healthwise, we continue to be blessed. She had the one day fever over a month ago, mentioned earlier, and nothing since.

In this picture, Lorelai is six months to the day.