11 Months Young
** Originally written on May 9th**
Today is a big day. Today we are less than one month away from having a one year old. In thirty days my baby, my almost toddler, will graduate to being a kid.
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Part of me is so sad over this transition. Babyhood lasts such a short span of time. In the beginning it feels like it will never end. As if the sleepless nights will go on for an eternity. You’re always waiting for a milestone, wondering “when are they going to start doing___________” and it makes time go slowly. But before you know it, you’re speeding through, hardly recognizing that you had a newborn for more than a few minutes.
As much as I miss my tiny newborn, wrinkled, pink and new – I can’t take my eyes off this little lady that she grew into. She is so grown up, so smart, so curious, adventurous, brave. It’s hard to believe that one year has almost passed since she ceremoniously popped out from between my legs. And I keep remembering that I only get 17 more of these before I’ll be sending her off to start her life.
Time is too short.
Enough of the sappy stuff! In other news, I love this girl more than humanly possible! My daughter is the very most coolest person I know.
This month, Ariadne is:
- Getting bigger. She’s definitely filling out a bit and getting more dense.
- With the exception of her feet. Still tiny. Still not fitting into her size 3 shoes.
- Growing lots of hair! And still very much a ginger.
- Sporting five teeth and potentially cutting a sixth.
- Cruising and crawling all over the house. No walking yet, but she can stand on her own solidly (while dancing!)
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- Starting to be very talkative. Although it’s not 100% consistent, she says – book, bird, cat, water – and calls me “Mum” and The Hubs “Da”
- Signing up a storm! I think she’s getting to the age where the signs catch on quickly. All of a sudden she started preferring “please” over “more” and signs that when we ask “Do you want more?” She signs “more”, “all done”, “please” and “sleep”.
- Still nursing twice a day and getting two bottles of breast milk while I’m at work (she had a third nursing session in there until about last week)
She loves:
- Waving, pointing, blowing kisses and giving high fives.
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- Talking on Skype/FaceTime
- Eating. She is such a wonderful eater! Recent loves are: yogurt, chicken sausage, Brussels sprouts, mushrooms, olives and kiwi.
- Drinking water out of a straw sippy cup.
- Helping pull the cord to turn on/off the fan in her room.
- Rubbing her hair when asked “Where is your hair?”
- People. She will charm the socks off anyone and everyone.
- Brushing her teeth.
- Colouring when we’re at restaurants that give out crayons.
- Watching her signing DVDs. We’re on volume three of the Signing Time series.
- The King of the Hill theme song
She does not love:
- Bananas. What is wrong with my child?!?! Or kale.
- Sippy cups that require head tilting action.
- Being told no. But then again, who does?
- When the cats don’t let her kiss them.
She’s a doll. Truly. These have been the best11 months of my life. And in just a few short weeks, we’ll be celebrating one year…
If there is one thing you need to accept when making the transition from childless adult life to parent life – it is the following fact of parent life.
There will be toys.
A lot of them.
I swore when we were pregnant that Ariadne would not have a ton of toys all over the house. I didn’t want to feel like every room of our home was devoted to housing toys. I was very extremist at the time. Toys were the devil.
The root of this feeling is that I grew up with basements. Our family basement was primarily where all of our toys were kept. We had some in our rooms but the majority were downstairs. Which left the rest of our house to still look tidy and inviting anyone.
In Arizona, basements are hard to come by. So when we started receiving lots and lots of hand-me-down toys, I panicked. Where was I going to put all of these?!?!
So I came up with a plan.
I wanted to have nice places to store them, to put them out of sight when we had guests, but easily accessible for Ariadne to get.
Enter the worlds of storage ottomans, baskets and bins.
We have these white fabric bins in both her bedroom and the office, where all of her toys go from that day of playing. They make it nice and easy to just throw them right in there and place in the corner at the end of the day.
And downstairs we have Ariadne’s new “toy cabinet” which I plan to deck out with neat things for just her. For now she just has two baskets that all of her downstairs toys go in.
It works out really nicely. We can put everything away when necessary, but can also let Ariadne roam around in her toy bins, pulling things out, throwing things all over the place – without fretting that there is no where to put them afterwards.
Still, someday’s I feel like there are toys everywhere.
But then I watch her play with them. Exploring. Learning. Calling out “booooh” (book) or “bwooo bwa” (blue block) and I get so mushy that I might as well be an overripe banana that you stepped on.
Sure, toys are all over the house. But I’m more than okay with it. As long as I get to keep this munchkin.
On Breastfeeding an Almost Toddler
** Note: Below you will find honesty. The kind of honesty that comes to a Mama when she’s had a rough week and has thought about “just quitting” countless times in that week.
Let me start this by saying that this post most certainly does not represent ALL breastfeeding experiences. Not necessarily even most. Maybe some…but given that I have not known many women (read: I can’t even count up to five) who have successfully breastfed this long (10 months and 3 weeks tomorrow – BOOYAH), I don’t have many stories to compare at this stage.
Breastfeeding my kid right now sucks.
There. I said it.
You know, when you consider breastfeeding you often think of snuggling with a beautiful baby. Gazing warmly into the eyes of your child. Stroking her cheek, brushing back her hair. Watching as she falls asleep with the rhythmic swallows.
What you don’t think of is how it’s going to be when they’re mobile.
Right now I feel like our nursing sessions are more like crocodile wrangling sessions. Ariadne can’t.stay.still. She’s done. At least that’s all I can imagine it is at this point. She’s busy. She’s tired of sitting still. As much as she LOVES THE BOOB, she apparently can’t decide if she’d rather be feeding or crawling after the cats. Which more often then not lately is leading to her taking my nipple with her.
And as you know, nipples don’t detach.
I try to coo at her, talk to her, remind her that it’s “cuddle time”…but she stares at me with these wide eyes, and instead starts trying to launch herself away from me (while maintaining death clutch on my boob) by pushing off violently with her legs.
If she’s not kicking or flailing her arms, she’s pinching my chest, arms and face. Pulling my hair. Sticking her fingers in my mouth, nose and eye sockets (last week she tore through my nostril so badly that I had to scream for The Hubs to bring me a towel because blood was pouring out of my nose…all while nursing my sweet smiley lovely girl)
So I spend pretty much every feed wincing in horrific pain. YES people HORRIFIC PAIN. (Ok…maybe not HORRIFIC…but uber painful)
Remember when I wrote about those teeth coming in? And the biting?
Oh lord, the biting…
Well eventually that diminished, and I thanked every god I could think of that would listen.
And then those top teeth came busting through and the cycle refreshed.
And then another tooth popped through.
Since then, it’s been hell.
It’s not even biting anymore. It’s just a full on mouth of teeth. And when the baby is squirming and pulling at you, there is nothing but pain.
I never really planning out my goal in terms of how long I was willing to breastfeed. I hoped to make it to a year, but knew it was a long shot, so I didn’t worry about it too much. But now it’s right there. Right within my reach.
So we’re going to keep going. For at least another six weeks (fingers crossed my supply doesn’t go wacko)
Because even when it’s painful. Even when I’m exhausted and just done with it…it’s still one of the greatest accomplishments of my life. There’s been a lot of frustration. A lot of pain. But there has also been so much joy. More joy, pride and strength than I knew was possible. I’m so thankful. There is truly nothing better than the smiles of my happy child when she has finished a nursing session.
Even though I will be so ready to be done with this stage, I know I will be sad when it’s over.
And I honestly can’t wait to do it all over again. One day.
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Yes yes yes, I know…I owe pictures and things. I’ll get to it. We’re busy. And exhausted. This week will be better.
Spring Flower
On Saturday Ariadne and I met some friends for some public diaper changing. I wanted to attend The Great Cloth Diaper Change last year, but obviously it didn’t really fit since I still had a baby in ute. I’m so glad we went this year! We got some great swag and hopefully helped to break the Guinness World Record! I am ridiculously passionate about cloth diapering – and it was great to be with people who felt the same.
Aria embraced the moment and laid still (for once!) while I made the official switcharoo.
And then, in typical Arizona Spring fashion, we spent the rest of the day playing inside where it wasn’t 106degrees…
and this one just kills me…
Such a nice relaxing, Spring (way too early for 106degrees if you ask me) day!
Home!
A few things:
While in Vancouver, we gave Ariadne poutine (that’s French Canadian for “zomg get in mybelleh”) and since she’s totally my kid…she obviously loved it.
One of the first things The Hubs said to me after we landed back in Phoenix on Friday was “It’s such a relief to not be going anywhere anytime soon.” And boy is he right. I love travelling. But let’s be honest. Travelling with kids is different and much more complicated than it is without kids. Not that we plan on halting any travel plans because of BGWF or any future WFs. We’ve always been big supporters of taking your kids with you on trips, and plan to show our kids the world! But it’s hard. It’s exhausting. And by day 5 in Vancouver, I was SO ready to be home. To have some time to myself. To not EAT OUT.
The first thing I did when we walked into our house was throw on my running clothes and hit the pavement. The Hubs was shocked. I was determined. In triple digit heat, after travelling since 5am, I got back in my routine, and it felt awesome!
Now that we’re home, it’s time to start planning a very special party. It would be an understatement to say that I am SO EXCITED to plan my little one’s first birthday bash. Dinos and Tutus. Enough said.
Kryptonite
I’m usually one tightly wrapped frugal mama.
But there is one thing that puts a kink in my love for budgets.
Ariadne’s wardrobe.
This little girl…let me rephrase…this little BABY…has a wardrobe unlike any I’ve ever seen.
It started innocently enough. In fact, in the beginning, I bought ONE outfit for Aria. The day we found out that Baby Fay was BGWF, I picked up a little newborn romper. We were so fortunate to have wonderful friends and family that gifted her wonderful clothes. As well as lots and lots of hand-me-downs! (Seriously, from just one friend we inherited about three huge storage boxes FULL of newborn – T4 sized clothes)
I don’t think I actually picked out any other clothes until she was a few months old.
In one day we discovered Baby Gap and Janie and Jack. Double ouch. And that was it. My kryptonite was born. And it hurt SO good.
I literally can’t go anywhere that sells baby clothes without melting into a pile of mush. The other day I went to Target to pick up allergy meds and fabric softener. I just had to wheel myself by the baby stuff and ran right into a brand new rack of Osh Kosh stuff. If it wasn’t for the fact that they were out of the 12 months size in most of the things, I would have brought it all home. Still, I picked up at least five things…
Honestly, it’s a little embarassing how much clothing she has… So far, three storage boxes full of the stuff she’s grown out of.
A closet and dresser full. (and this was after we had packed for Vancouver…)
Plus an undercrib storage bin and two more storage boxes of the next size up.
Maybe it’s a little excessive, but we’re cool with it. And it may be a bit ridiculous, but not enough that I’m going to stop buying her clothes (especially since I just figured out the whole Gymboree system and now feel the urge to try and see if I can out-save myself by way of Gymbucks and sales). Because it’s pretty much all I spend my fun money on and I LOVE her clothes. And let’s face it, this kid isn’t shrinking.
I like to think that I’m investing in the potential that we’ll have another girl in the future.
If we have a boy though, I may need to rent an offsite storage unit to keep all the clothes we’ll accumulate.
These are my peeps
Vancouver rocks.
For the obvious reasons:
- It’s Canada – duh.
- It has the wonder Tim Horton’s on every street
- The people are Canadian style friendly, and I love that
- It’s super walkable and eco friendly
- Food. Holy best shawarma.
and for the not so obvious reasons:
- It’s like the ginger capital of Canada! Seriously, Aria and I blend in here versus standing out back home.
- There are a million and a half uppaBABY strollers here. I’m not kidding. Yesterday while on a three km walk, we saw at least 15. Which obviously means we should live here too since I’m like the biggest fan of our uppaBABY Vista.
- They put ketchup out by the eggs in the breakfast buffet line – and ketchup on eggs is my FAVOURITE.
Climbs Stairs, she does
Last week Aria did something that blew us away.
She climbed the stairs.
Unprompted and unassisted.
The Hubs says that she just crawled directly over to them and started going up. No pausing to think “Hmm, how do I manage these things…” or checking to make sure she was supposed to be doing that. It was as if she had always known how to get up them, and was just waiting fort he perfect time to show off.
So he stood behind her and let her go up.
When I got home, she did the same thing.
And she keeps doing it.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen her happier.
Except maybe when she was kissing a Han Solo figurine.
10 Months!
It’s been another month of major changes in our little girl. Just the last week has practically transformed out baby into an almost toddler. Craziness!
Just like everyone told me, each stage, each month is better than the last. I start thinking “Oh I love this phase, it’s my favourite!” and the next week Aria is doing new things and I love that stage even more.
This month, Aria is -
- About 20lbs (estimating based on her heaviness since her 9 month well check) and 29.5inches long.
- For sure, 100%, undeniably, most definitely, a ginger. For serious. I’ve known all along 
but this was the first month where The Hubs actually admitted it. Before that he’s been on the “maybe it just looks reddish in the sun?” fence. If the colour wasn’t proof enough (gahhhh I love having a ginger baby!) her sure fire spark of a personality could convince anyone. She is a spitfire that one.
- Sporting FOUR teeth. That’s right. Full frontal chompers.
- Wearing mostly 6-12 month clothes. She can wear some 12 months things (for the length, she’s super leggy), but some are still very baggy, which is very concerning to me since I just spent half a fortune on her summer wardrobe (and bought all 12-18 month items!!!) Grow BGWF grow!
She -
- Pulls up on everything with ease.
- Can get to a sitting position from flat on her back (holy abs of steel)
- Climbs the stairs unassisted (but attended, obviously) and quickly. No, we did not teach her this. Yes, I’m now in a baby proofing panic. See next post for evidence.
- Stands unassisted for a few seconds if she has good footing
- Feeds herself (pretty much completely on table foods now) but likes to eat off our forks.
- Can drink through a straw or sippy cup, by herself.
- Still has super tiny feet, but is almost fitting into her TOMS we bought her for Christmas.
- Loves to wave and clap with vigor.
- Has finally said her OFFICIAL first word. Book! We thought it was just a fluke, but Monday while watching her Baby Signing Time DVD, The Hubs watched her point at the screen and say “Booh” when they were doing the sign for book. She says it constantly now when looking at books.
- Is very generous with her kisses…
- Hasn’t learned any new signs lately, but I’ll admit, we’ve been slacking a bit due to being constantly in a rush lately.
- Looooves food. She’ll eat anything and everything. This past month we started giving her more flavourful things, and it’s been going really well. She adored the curry chicken Mum and I gave her last week, and was all over the marinated mushroom quesadillas I made this week.
Her favourite things are
-The Boob. Not to be out-shadowed by her love of pinching my nipples (it’s totally as awesome as it sounds)
-Books. But she prefers reading them to us.
-Cars. The moment this girl laid eyes on a toy car (around Christmas) she knew exactly what to do with it. Now she has quite the collection, and could be content for hours just racing them around the room.
-Being sung to (and singing along!) I invented the “Okie Dokie Artichokie” song this month. When I told The Hubs that she liked that song, he replied “I don’t know the words”. My response? “I just told you the three words of the song” Let’s just say I’m not the most creative when it comes to song verses.
-Bathtime
-Playing “Big Girl!” We say “Who’s the big girl?” and she raises her arms up in the air and giggles.
She is an uber genius and amazes us everyday with the new things she is learning.
Not only has this been a month full of learning and growth, but of new experiences! Last week she visited family on the East Coast, and tomorrow we leave for our first real vacation – and her first international flight!
Afternoon Stroll in the Woods
My Aunt Cara’s house backs right up to the woods. So we took advantage of it and had a photo shoot!
