12 Months

Happy birthday to my sweetest girl!  I really don't understand when you turned into a toddler.  But there you are, toddling behind me, following me from room to room with a grin going from ear to ear.  You get so proud of yourself!  Could you be more perfect?

This month you got opinionated.  It used to be, Adara, this is cute, let's get dressed.  Now it's more like, this is cute, WHAT? why are you crying?  You don't like it?  Okay....let's try this?  You don't like to wear your shoes in the car.  Actually, really, you don't like to wear your shoes period and at daycare they have to put the "Shoes of Shame" on you (shoes that you can't take off).  You like to walk from the front door to the car but you like to be carried into daycare.  And you really don't like playing make believe with your stuffed animals because you live in fear that they will nurse from me and steal your milk. Your favorite book is "Pat the Bunny."  Your favorite food is pizza.  You love your family.  You give hugs when I ask for them and Oh My Goodness they are the best hugs in all of the world.  Your open mouth kisses leave a little something to be desired.  You really let me know when you are not pleased with something.  Sometimes you are defiant.  I ask you to do something and you get a little sparkle in your eye and do the exact opposite.  Other times you do exactly as I say.  Either way, I don't think I could love you more.

I made you a special board book for your birthday describing your first year of life.  You are not so into reading it.  You do like to take all the books off your shelf and hand them to me one at a time.  You are talking a lot.  You say the following: More, Dada, Mama, Dogga, All done, What's that?, yeah, baby and probably some other words that I am missing....

You moved into the Daisy room at your daycare and you love hanging with the big kids.  Your friends names are Franny, Reese, Abella, and Athena.  You learn science, music, yoga, world studies and art.  You have also learned where your belly button is, and your nose, but your ears and eyes confuse you.   BUT your ultimate favorite thing at school is going down the slide over and over and over.  You have even figured out how to be extra fast by lifting up your feet.  You push other kids out of line to get to the front.  You try to go down head first when the teachers are not looking but then they have to have a little talk with you about safety.  Your dad is secretly very proud.

You are still the easiest.  You go to sleep when we want.  You are good sleeper.  You are an amazing eater.  Did I mention you weigh 27 pounds?!?!  You gained 5 pounds in the last 3 months but only grew 1 inch in height.  You are wearing size 2T.  You are so beautiful.  When I miss you I stare at the same few pictures of you over and over.

Thank you for being mine.  I love being yours.  Here's to another amazing year.

xoxo

11 Months

We still don't exactly have a walker.  She does take steps.  Sometimes 10 or more at a time.  But then she loses her balance and decides she has better things to do.  Like look at tiny pieces of string on the floor and carefully pick them up and hand them to Mama.  Or bang toys together and laugh.  Or clap hands together and rock back on floor.  Oh the busy fun we have!

In more exciting news Adara is communicating so much!  I love knowing exactly what she wants, when she wants, and how she wants it!  Baby sign language is the best!  She can do whole sentences where she says "more" and then points to something and then signs "please."  Such a respectful little child I am raising!  She also knows water, food, all done, and sleep.  I think she knows what milk is but I haven't seen her do it.  I need to start learning more signs because I know she wants to tell me more things!  She also can say "mama" "dada" "more" and "hi" and "dog."  The mystery word is dog because I don't know where she learned that because we always call Rio "Rio."  But she calls him dog.  So we go with it.  

Adara went camping this month!  She loved to point at the trees.  And the stars, naturally the stars, because she is named after a star!  She is hilarious because she is such a girly girl and hates dirt.  If she has any dirt on her hand she makes a sad face and shakes the dirt off wildly.  Drama Queen.  I was worried about her at nights because her little sleeping bag we got wasn't the warmest and it got down to around 40 degrees at night.  But she was such a trooper.  She went hiking, and swimming, and ate in the dark, rode in a boat, and slept in a tent.  Love that Adara Rose!

Can't believe we will have a 1-year-old soon!

10 Months

Adara started walking this month--3 little steps!  She was holding onto the couch and turned around and step, step, step, kirplunk and onto her little behind.  I'm pretty sure she could have taken more steps if I hadn't been yelling, "SHE'S WALKING."  It was like she was an old pro.  Very nonchalant.  Didn't even think anything of it.  And then she was like, "check that off the list" because she suddenly was over it.  I'm pretty sure she weighed the pros and cons of crawling and walking and decided that walking is overrated because she hasn't been as interested in it since.  I have coaxed her to take a few more steps here and there but she really is preferring the crawl method of getting around the town.  Although, she does like standing on her own unassisted.

She is still eating a ton.  But sometimes she goes to bed straight away from daycare and skips dinner.  She is one tired little squirrel because she won't nap at daycare.  She doesn't want to miss a thing!  But then I miss her because I never get to see her.  She is continuing swim lessons.  And continues to be a social butterfly.  This month just flew by!  We went on our first family vacay to Seattle to see the Red Sox play.  She was the best little travel buddy!  She went to sleep in the hotel room and let mom and dad stay up and drink wine and watch movies.  She also ventured into the international district and wasn't scared to eat at all of the hole in the wall asian restaurants that we love so so so much.   She is just the BESTest (and easiest baby) that we could have dreamed up!

Happy double digits my Adardar love!

A Little Surgery

Adara had minor surgery at the very beginning of the month.  As she started getting more teeth (she has 8 now!) breastfeeding was (again) turning into the most horrible thing ever and I could see something wasn't quite right.  There was a gap forming between her top two teeth and the skin attaching her lip to her gums was growing in between the gap.  I was already going to ask her doctor about tongue tie at her 9 month appointment because I noticed that when she relaxed her tongue the tip of it had a heart shape (see pic).

When I googled about the gap in her teeth it tuned out that was a classic sign of lip tie as well.

When I wrote asking about it on the mommy facebook group I belong to everyone recommended I get it fixed immediately due to the many complications that are associated with it: feeding problems, speech impediments, and dental issues.  Luckily, we have a specialist right near Portland who is one of the few doctors in the country that does the surgery with a laser to reduce scarring (he also does it without putting the baby under anesthesia)!  I called ASAP and got the earliest appointment.

When he saw Adara's mouth he said her lip tie was up there with the thickest he has seen.  He also asked about my breastfeeding story and all of a sudden everything made sense.  All I could do was cry.  Nine months of painful and bloody feedings when there was a simple fix that could have taken place on day #1 if someone would have looked in my baby's mouth.  So, now I want to spread the news to EVERYONE who has a baby, might have a baby, might know somebody who has a baby.  If breastfeeding is hurting and you see a lactation specialist who does not look in your baby's mouth fire her immediately and call me.  Seriously.  Other symptoms to watch for include the following: failure to thrive (slow weight gain), long feedings, lots of spit up, low milk supply, painful breastfeeding including bloody nipples, heart-shaped tip of tongue, unable to lift tongue up very high, inability to stick tongue outside of mouth very far, etc. (Adara had all of these, poor baby girl).  Also, don't turn to your pediatrician....they will be useless unless (most likely).

If you think something is wrong then it probably is because mother's intuition is usually spot on.  In fact, even though I was madder than a hornet about the situation I also felt a sense of relief and validation.  For 9 long months I thought there was something wrong with me: my body wasn't working right, I wasn't drinking enough water, I was too stressed, I wasn't eating the right foods, etc. etc. etc.  Ultimately, it made me feel like a failure as a mom.  I can't tell you how many nights I cried myself to sleep worrying about how I was going to feed my baby.  Breastfeeding was a definite priority of mine and I wasn't going to let anyone take it away from me.  I would pump all hours of the night to make enough milk, curl my toes through the pain, and walk around like a sleep-deprived zombie.  When I told the specialist my story he had heard it all before and he really understood because his wife went through the same exact thing with their daughter.  I was recommended to the best lactation specialist in Portland following the surgery and my breastfeeding relationship has forever changed.  Now, I'm pretty sure I could breastfeed Adara until she is at least 45-years-old.  Before, you might remember I was taking it day by day..... what a drastic change.

The surgery itself lasted about 5 minutes.  We handed Adara to the doctor, he took her away, we could hear her screaming bloody murder, I cried, he came back and told me to breastfeed.  Her mouth was all bloody but she latched on and everything was changed.  It seriously happened that fast.  The worst part of the whole ordeal was the three weeks of stretches that followed.  4-6 times a day we had to stretch the healing wounds and reopen them so the skin would not grow back.  It was torture for all of us.  I was scared Adara would never forgive us but as the days went on and things started to feel better it became kind of a game.  And she even smiled through the stretches a few times.  Now Adara is talking more than ever, the gap in her teeth closed a little, she's nursing better, and drinking out of a sippy cup better, and making all sorts of new sounds with her tongue.  It's amazing!

Nine Months

Our little one is huge!  She went to the doctor for her 9 month exam and is in the 90th percentile for height and weight and 80th percentile for head size.  She measured in at 29 inches long and 22 pounds. She is pulling up on everything and anything (loves Rio's long ears....).  She would like to walk...I know it's coming any day.  She loves to crawl around the house but never strays too far from this mama.  Her dad and her play hide and seek around the house which is hilarious because she gets so excited that she can hardly contain herself.  She loves to smile and laugh and claps her hands together.  If you say "yay!" she will clap for herself.

At the very end of the month she got a bad sickness.  I could hear her attempting to breath from the other room and she spiked a temperature of 103.  We had to take her to the doctor several times and they put her on steroids and gave us a nebulizer (in the shape of a penguin with a carrying case that looks like an igloo.....bizarre).  That was not fun times.  She would have to sit still for 15 minutes every few hours to do the nebulizer and getting an active little lady to comply required cartoons (which she greatly enjoys but we never let her watch).

She still LOVES her food.  LOVES.  She baby signs the word "more" and has said it several times.  We are going with this as her first "word" because while she says DADADADA ALL of the time she has no idea what it means.  But when she wants more food she definitely knows how to get it--baby signs more and says MORE!  And more food we give her.  Do you know this girl ate 3 pieces of pizza in one sitting?  I only had 2.  Yes, my 9-month-old out-pizza-ed me.  OH, and if you know of any cheerio eating contests please let me know.  Because I already know she would be a winner.  This girl can eat her weight in cheerios.  That being said she has gotten a little more picky.....not too fond of peas and green beans anymore.  And if you give her several foods at a feeding she will let you know which one she prefers and refuse the other items.  And she eats whatever we eat now.  Which is awesome.  Even though I did love making her baby food....

Nursing continues to be a struggle but we are still going.  Still hoping I can make it until 12 months.  That is the only reason why I don't mind that the days are flying by.  Baby girl, hurry up and stop nursing, but slow down growing?!

Happy 9 months Chunky Monkey!

Eight Months

Right when I thought Miss Adara Rose would never learn to create forward momentum she just. took. off.  And she really hasn't looked back.  This past month went by so quickly with so many changes it's unreal.  From crawling forward to pulling up and cruising on furniture, and waving hello and goodbye....usually 5 minutes after the person has left.  Hhhmmm. Yes. We need to work on that timing.   She certainly didn't inherit her bravery from me though. And she has been scaring this mama left and right.  She will be standing up and holding onto something and then just let go, like, "I got this!"  And she totally doesn't because the next thing we know she will have bumped her head and be on the ground.  Lots of scrapes and bruises.....no matter how much we baby-proof too because there is always a toy to fall on if nothing else!  She even tried to climb the bookshelf at daycare!  Ahhhh child.

She also is talking more than ever.  She is signing for "more." She says Hhhiiiiiiiiiiiii! dadadadadada, and her favorite Babababababa.  And the one that cracks me up the most: Ay Bebe.  EXACTLY Like the song: Ay Bay Bay Song!  But the one that melted my heart completely occurred towards the end of the month when she got oh so sick.  She was super cuddly and sad.  With tears in her eyes and her head on my pillow she looked right into my eyes and said a big "Mama!" And then smiled!  And then has never repeated it again.  Go figure.

Ryan and Rio went away rafting for memorial weekend.  So it was just us girls.  Adara is so easy going and likable.  Skip your afternoon nap?  No big deal.  Don't have time to feed you lunch?  How about a few cheerios instead?  Need to adjust your bedtime by a few hours?  Works just fine!  I know this is probably just a stage.  But we are loving the heck out of it.

The few hard things we are dealing with include her mama obsession and her strong-willed personality.  She doesn't want to be put down when I'm around at all.  She will literally crawl around the house behind me crying until she is picked up.  Because if she can be in her Mama's arms why would she want to be on the floor?  I get it.  But I'm a little over it because, child, there is housework to get done!  She has also become a tad bit aggressive.  For example, at daycare she will steal other kids pacifiers out of their mouths and take their bottles away from them mid-slurp!  And she will put up quite the fight until she gets her way.  She has been known to knock kids down twice her age, jump on top of them, pin them down and bite or claw their face......we are trying to work on "gentle touch."  But when this girl wants somethings she is 110% determined.

We love this little person!

Happy 8 months!

Seven Months

Well...she still couldn't go forward this past month.  But backwards and sideways she went!  And she is getting more and more steady sitting up and moving around.  Now.if.only.she.could.figure.out.this.forward.momentum.thing.a.mig.giggity.

For the first time ever her daycare said that she has been "fussy."  (Prior to this month she has been the easiest baby in the history of daycare babies).  And they believe it's out of frustration  with her lack of forward mobility.  Poor girl.  She even loves to walk with us holding her hands.  So maybe she will just skip this whole crawling nonsense.

Her daycare had to lower her crib because they found that she pulled up.  Thus, we lowered her crib at home.   She continues to sleep well.  We love that about her.

She is also eating all types of food these days.  Still haven't found anything that she doesn't like.  She went on a chicken strike for one night and I was convinced she would never eat it again.  But then she had a chicken pig out at lunch the next day.  The amount of food she eats truly amazes me!

Happy 7 months to my Chunky Monk!