On the move

Olivia Layne - 39 Weeks/9 Months

Livi Lou Laynie Bug,

I can hardly believe you are 9 months old. This feels like the biggest milestone yet. Smiling, teething, laughing, etc, were such wonderful developments, but 9 months? I might as well get you ready for your first day of kindergarten pictures. You’re 38 weeks old, so you’ve been out in the big wide world with us for the same amount of time you were in mama’s belly. That’s crazy! You are doing great everyday with Nayelle. You get to go on walks, go to playgrounds and the library and other fun things. I still long to be the one to play in the park with you, feed the ducks with you, sing songs at the library with you. But we have our evenings, nights and weekends and many days and years of fun to come. You are eating well, playing well and sleeping well with her. You take 2 naps with her, usually from 2.5 to 3.5 hours and then we try to get a 3rd nap in at home in the evenings when we take our walk. You usually sleep for about 30 more minutes around 5:30, which helps you not get too tired before bedtime. You still wake up often in the night, but I feel much more used to it and ok with it than I used to. There was a time when I was thinking I couldn’t go on with all the waking! But my body must have adjusted (not that I don’t have some exhausted days) and my heart knows there will be a time when we don’t get those snuggles soon enough. You still don’t crawl forward, but you are quite a mover. You can turn in circles and go from knees to tummy to knees to bottom. You even push your legs up so that you are on hands and feet instead of hands and knees. We can help you pull yourself up, but you don’t do it a lot. You LOVE to go upside-down and to jump jump jump in daddy’s lap. I think you waved goodnight to Daddy last night! I don’t know that you get it, but you at least mimicked us :) You do a new thing for naps and bedtime. You don't like to be held or rocked anymore, which is so strange! I think it's because that is your cue that it's time for sleep and you don't want to sleep. Instead after you nurse or have your milk, you lay down and play with your giraffe or blanket or someone's face until you drift off. It is so precious! I tried to give you a piece of kidney bean during dinner and you mashed it a little but, but couldn't swallow it, so it made you gag and maybe even choke a little. It was really scary and I felt so bad. How do babies learn how to mash/chew food? Maybe you'll eat purees forever ;) It's getting harder to capture you and Pink Teddy. You are on the move! And clearly it's just too hard for me to not post EVERY SINGLE PICTURE of you.

38 weeks inside the belly :)

38 weeks outside the belly :)

Fall in love

Olivia Layne - 38 weeks

This has been another great week, Livi. You are really thriving with Nayelle, which makes Mama and Daddy so happy. She is amazing with you. Your evenings at home are great, too, but too short. I love getting to pick you up from her house. We get home, you play with Daddy for a tiny bit, then we go for our nightly stroll. You've started enjoying your stroller more than the snuggli, which is fun, but of course I miss the closeness. You usually fall asleep about midway through our walk. Sometimes it's just you and me, sometimes with Uncle Scottie and sometimes with Daddy. Then there is more playtime, dinner, playtime, bathtime and bedtime. Bathtime is hit and miss, and no matter if you like it or dislike it, it's short. We're also going through some changes with nursing. You have stopped nursing in the mornings before work, which I miss so much. These past few days you also haven't nursed right after work. I think you just must not be hungry, so I'm trying to learn your new eating and drinking patterns. You are a great eater now, but really only like the fruits. We tried winter squash and you were not a fan. I mixed it with pears, though, and Nayelle mixed it with applesauce, and you liked it better. You don't like sitting in the Bumbo for long, so Daddy hold you while you finish your dinner. Your favorite book to read is Moo, Baa, La La La. You love "petting" Clarence. We're trying to teach you to be gentle, but that's a hard one to learn! Some days you talk a lot and some days not much at all. You are still scooting backwards when on your hands and knees, but you don't really like it, you prefer to push yourself back onto your bottom. You're learning to give whatever you have to Mommy or Daddy and we say thank you and then give it back. It's so cute :) You seem to be learning where your tummy is and after bathtime you sit and look at it and grab it a lot. I hope you are just interested in your belly and that it doesn't hurt. You continue to amaze me with the things you learn and the way you watch the world around you. You are such a treasure! xoxo