Repurposing

Oh hi.

So, Hattie isn't 9 months anymore. I have been slacking with this blog. These things happen. But I think it's time to pick it back up. A friend mentioned yesterday that I should be jotting down things that Hattie is doing these days so that I remember them when she's a teenager and I'm 127. She didn't say that last part, but it's a true story. It may not be exciting to read, but hopefully some things that girl does will make you smile or laugh.

Occasionally when I put her in her crib after I rock her in the glider at night, if she's not ready to sleep, she pops back up and stands there and says, "Hi."   ... "Hi."   ...."Hiiii!!!"  Then she'll lay down for a couple of minutes. Just when I think she's asleep, she pops back up and says, "Hi!"  That little voice slays me.

She also loves to sweep. Whenever we get the broom and dustpan out to clean up after dinner, she HAS to help. Train 'em early! (Oh and the shirt was off because dinnertime is much less stain-filled without a shirt on. ;p )

Some random pics:

 "Melmo!"

"Ooooooh!"

9 months

Fashion: She's in 12 month clothes now for sure. No more squeezing her in to 9 month things. It feels like I buy her new clothes that should fit and then three seconds later, there is no way I'm getting her in to them. 

Health: Hattie had a sinus infection this month. Runny runny nose and junky cough. She's responding well to the antibiotic and sucks it down like a baby bird. thank God. Her ears have remained clear though. WOOHOO!

Zzzz: She usually wakes up for one bottle every 2-3 nights. I love the snuggles so I'm ok with it for now. 

She used to nap 2 times at Tender Care, but lately it has been one 2 hour nap in the late morning. Makes the evening tricky because she's usually really tired when we get home and I have to keep her up until after I feed her something and give her a bath.

Nicknames: Hattie Boo - this one seems to be sticking around much longer than I thought

Fitness: Taking steps. Not really walking but getting there. It's all she wants to do. She looks like a drunk person most of the time when she's trying. She's determined and I have no doubt she'll be full on walking within 2 weeks. 

Eats: Still the same amount of formula per day, although she doesn't seem to want as much. She leaves 1-2 bottles half full. She's eating 2 level 2 baby foods at Tender Care each day and sometimes one at night. She  has no problem with her pincer grasp, but still no luck in having her hold a sippy cup or her bottles. She LOVES pouches of food. It's all she wants. 

The spoken word: Calls me "Ma" or "Mama", Mike is still "Dadada", and now she says "Baby"! I also swear I heard her repeat Violet to me after I said it.

Things Hattie loves: Doing downward facing dog, balloons, Noodle & Doodle show on PBS, flowers, hardwood floors, 

Things Hattie doesn't love: Being on her back during diaper changes (two person job) or for clothing changes, having jackets put on her, having her face wiped (two person job) - basically having anything done to her that stops her from standing or moving (haha). - Still all true. Add in the car seat. HATES it. Challenge of the century to get her in it. Usually takes 4-5 tries. Also add in being away from her Mom for more than 3 seconds if I'm in the same place she is. Cries and pulls on my leg until I pick her up. 

Pictures from the past month:

Curious but being cautious when she saw Aunt Kimmy's dogs

Let me in, Mama!!!!! 

Pretty little sleeper 

Curious cat with her Daddy

First time having yogurt

8 Months

Fashion: She continues to be too long for pants that are for her age group. Carters pants are always too short on her, so we're going to have to go up to 12 month pants soon and just cuff, cuff, cuff. And as usual, she would still prefer to be naked all the time anyway. 

Health: Hattie got her tubes in this month. The procedure was quick and she seems a lot happier since then. She's louder and reacts to sounds much quicker. She hasn't had colds as much either. That's all I'll say about that in the interest of the dangerous thing called a jinx.

She's around 20 lbs and not sure how tall. Not much taller than she was last month though.

Zzzz: She usually wakes up for one bottle each night. She downs the whole 7 oz. There were a couple of nights where she woke up 5 times. I think teething may be to blame. Hoping that... wait... respecting the jinx again.

She naps 2-3 times at TenderCare. Usually one nap that is approximately 1.5 hours long and two shorter ones.

Nicknames: Hattie girl, Hattie boo (still), Boo boo girl (still)

Fitness: Crawls so fast that she's a blur going by. Wants to stand up all the time... She's *this* close to standing up unassisted. She started dancing (aka bobbing up and down and side to side) this week when she hears music. She waves a bit. 

Eats: Still the same amount of formula per day, although she doesn't seem to want as much. She leaves 1-2 bottles half full. She's eating 2 level 2 baby foods at TenderCare each day and I'm slowly adding one in to the routine at night. She is still working on her pincer grasp and holding a sippy cup. Not much progress on either front, but she's trying hard with the pincer part. 1 out of 15 puffs make it in to her mouth. We are exposing her to finger foods and she has enjoyed tiny pieces potato, chicken, peas, and warm soft bread.  She got a taste of cake and chocolate ice cream this month at her friend Adrian's 2nd birthday party. BIG fan.

The spoken word: Definitely calls Mike "Dadadadada" and I'm for sure "Nanananana".  She says "Lalalala" and we swear we hear her say "bada" to us when we say bottle to her. 

Things Hattie loves: Smooshing her face in to blankets and pillows and snuggling them, big in to her teething links this month (she loves trying to pick several up at one time), slamming toys down on the dining room floor, sitting outside with Mom in the evenings and watching the neighborhood, taking walks in the stroller with Mom and Dad, taking baths with Mom, the 'If You're Happy and You Know It' song, sticking her tongue out, making very wet raspberries.

Things Hattie doesn't love: Being on her back during diaper changes (two person job) or for clothing changes, having jackets put on her, having her face wiped (two person job) - basically having anything done to her that stops her from standing or moving (haha). 

Pictures from the past month:

7 months

Fashion: Still remains tricky in regards to sizing. She is definitely wearing 9 month pants, but 9 month onesies are a bit too big for her. She would still prefer to be naked all the time anyway. ;p

Health: At this point, Hattie has had probably 6-7 ear infections. She's set to get tubes on April 6th. I'm sad that she has to go through that and the procedure will be tough for us, but I'm happy about it because it'll stop the infections (hopefully) and the $35 copays for the pediatrician every single danggum week. And the shots. Those antibiotic shots are the worst. I can't handle holding my baby when she gets shots much more. We need a break.

She's 18.6 lbs and 27.5 inches tall. Perfectly healthy in all other aspects aside from her little ears.

Zzzz: Her norm is to either sleep through the night or get up once for a bottle. Except for the week when she had a bad ear infection and wouldn't sleep much at ALL. She would wake up scream crying every time I put her in the crib. After the antibiotics, she started sleeping well again. :)

Naps are going well at TenderCare. They told me that they put her in the crib now when she's drowsy and she falls asleep! She usually needs to be rocked to sleep or she cries before going to sleep. Yay Hattie! I need to work on this at home. I love holding her as she falls asleep though. Warm baby snuggles are the best ever!! But for her own sake and so I can get more things done on the weekends, I need to put her in the crib MUCH sooner than I am now.

Nicknames: Hattie Boo, Booski, Goofball, Hattie Love  (I can't seem to stop with the Boo thing)

Fitness: The girl will not stop moving. She crawls like a champ now, sits up no problem, and wants to stand up all the time. Against everything. Walls, tables, couches, me...  She still can't stand for very long unassisted, but it won't be long. No walking yet, thank God. We need a little bit of time to finish up babyproofing the house before that happens. She is so strong and so determined in terms of motor skills. :)    She claps now. A lot. She loves clapping.

Eats: We're still working on ramping this up. She eats a jar of baby food at TenderCare each day and I'm trying to get her to eat some more food when we get home in the evening. Sometimes she's just not hungry, but I'm trying. She isn't interested in puffs, so I'm going to try some other finger foods to get her going in that direction. As far as bottles, she's still taking the same amount per day - approximately 30-36 oz.

The spoken word: Babbles galore, but nothing really definitive in terms of specific words. She does say "Dadadada" and "Ma" a lot, but they're just babbles at this point. She also screams when she's amused and then giggles. It's hilarious.

Things Hattie loves: The twilight turtle in her room, Violet dog, Mommy (separation anxiety is in full swing), Mummum crackers, slamming her hands down on things, still loves that On the Move DVD, chewing on pacifiers, Daddy's alarm clock

Things Hattie doesn't love: Shots, being on her back during diaper changes (two person job), having her face wiped (two person job)

Pictures from the past month:

The hummingbird wouldn't sit still...

6 months!

Fashion: Tricky times clothing size-wise. She fits in 6 month onesies but not the pants. We've moved on mostly to 9 month sized pants. Socks are hard to find that fit for her longer feet and chubby ankles. If it were up to Hattie, she'd be sans clothes 24x7. I swear her mood lifts the second I take her clothes off before her bath.

Health: She weighs 17 lbs, 3 oz.  She has been pretty healthy! Not much congestion at all. The junky cough remains, but it's not too bad. She got all good marks at her 6 month well visit. :)   She's 51st percentile for height, 70th for weight, 81st for head circumference. Lots of smart brains in there! Our focus health-wise right now is teething. She has two that have popped through the gums on the bottom and I think more are on their way. It seems to bother her a lot so I've been giving her Hyland's teething tablets and Motrin to help. She hasn't been drinking her whole bottle many times and I think it's due to teething pain. Poor little thing.

Zzzzz: She's off and on here. She's going through so many developmental spurts that she's often up at night crawling around in her crib or talking or crying from teething pain. It has led to sleepy days a few times, but she still comes through and sleeps through the night here and there so we can catch up on our zzzs.

Nicknames this month - Hattie Bear, Boo, Boo Boo Bear  (Not sure what's up with all of the Bear nicknames)

Fitness: She's able to army crawl and now sit up on her own from her stomach or after doing the army crawl somewhere. She's obsessed with moving. She also wants us to hold her and bounce her up and down a lot. And she wants to stand up a LOT. She's also now verrrry close to pulling herself up to standing while in the crib. Oh boy. We'll be lowering the crib mattress and putting up some gates this weekend.

Eats: She's still at around 30 oz per day and still leaves 3 oz in random bottles for no reason. She eats jarred baby food at TenderCare now. She LOVES it. Her faves are peas and green beans for sure. She doesn't seem to care for fruit. I tried twice to give her mashed up banana on the high chair tray and she wanted nothing to do with it.

The Spoken Word: She 'talks' a lot still. No real words - although Mike, Hattie's teacher, and I SWEAR she has said "Hi." several times. I wish she'd get going on short words like ba and da and ma again.

Things Hattie Loves:  Still the stacking cups, the 'On the Move' Baby Einstein DVD, sleeping on her stomach (although I don't like that one), sleeping in general, her TenderCare teachers.

Things Hattie Doesn't Love: Having her face wiped, shots (who doesn't), teething.

Pics from the past month:

 

 

5 Months

Fashion: Hattie is firmly in 6 month clothing territory. She has some long little legs. Random opinion: I don't get why anything buy onesies and bodysuits are sold for babies. I have so many shirts for Hattie but she just lifts the bottom of them up and sticks them into her mouth so we don't use them.

Health: She weighs 17 lbs, 1 oz.  Healthy there. But has another double ear infection. :(   One more and it's tubes time. Sigh.  She has one tooth that has popped out so far. She doesn't love the teething phase of life. She chews on things and then cries because it hurts.... Oops! I almost posted this without mentioning the worst part of this month. The ER visit. Long story short... Hattie had croup. Scary stuff. Her breathing was labored and her cough sounded like a seal. It took 15 years off of me, I swear. I don't ever want to think of it again honestly.

Zzzzz: Randomly sleeps through the night, but more often gets up at 2 and wants to eat. Since she only eats part of her last bottle most nights and goes to bed at 7ish, I don't want to deny her food so I feed her. Then she gets up right when I'm done with my shower in the morning. Like clockwork. I haven't been able to put my makeup on at home for a couple of weeks now. I'm scaring the natives when I go outside. ;p

Nicknames this month - Baby Bear, Buzzy Bee

Fitness: She's strong, this one. She loves to stand assisted and is able to sit up on her own for minutes at a time now. She still topples backwards soon after, but she's getting good at it. She is sooo eager to crawl, but can't figure out the logistics yet. She sort of crawls backwards and sideways though. And she loves to plank.

Eats: She's still at around 30 oz per day and still leaves 3 oz in random bottles for no reason. We have started her on solids. She loves carrots and loves eating from a spoon. It's like she's been doing it all her life. No big thing. :)

The Spoken Word: She talks a lot still. I hear random 'words' like ma and ba but nothing more. Everything else is supercute babble. She was blowing raspberries and screeching happy screeches a lot but stopped when she got sick. I wish those would come back into the mix.

Things Hattie Loves:  Chewing her thumb, her Violet dog, her IKEA stacking cups from Karin, snuggling her head into Daddy's chest, smiling (smiling's her favorite!).

Things Hattie Hates: Being hungry and not having a bottle in her mouth that very second, when anyone wipes her nose (after having a cold since October, I don't blame her).

Pics from the past month:

(This one makes me laugh. It really doesn't look like her that much, but is so cute.)

Yummy!