This month. I mean besides the first month, I think that her tenth month had the most changes, growth, progress, events, hiccups, everything. Get ready, this update is a long one.
| STATS |
There isn’t an official ten month checkup, but based on our own measurements she currently weighs in 16lb, she is 27.25" long, and I have no idea how to measure her head.
| EATING |
I have definitely felt the pressure to ramp up her solids eating adventure, so this month I made sure she at least had 2-3 “meals” a day to sort of start a routine and get her solo fruits and veggies checked off the list so that we could dive into the deep end of self feeding. We have added green beans, apples, pears, peaches, bananas, and oatmeal to her menu. She still loves any and all foods we put in front of her. I started giving her oatmeal in the mornings and diluting it a bit with apples or pears to also give it some flavor. She LOVES oatmeal. Her digestive system? Not so much. She literally went 7 days without having a dirty diaper, which I know is normal for breastfed babies during this transition, but I could tell she was very uncomfortable. We gave her probiotics and lots of fibrous veggies but nothing would work. I called our pediatrician and they suggested prune juice so I headed to Central Market to find the purest most natural option. $8 later, and we were in business. I was worried she wouldn’t like it (I tried a sip first and honestly it’s not that bad), but she drank it and that night we had a dirty diaper! Phew! I have since spaced out her oatmeal servings because honestly that experience was a little traumatizing for all of us ha. It is so hard to see your baby in pain when you want to help her, but can’t explain it to her. Each time I have been giving her a puree lately I have made it thicker to help her transition to having to “chew” a bit.
| SLEEPING |
Oh boy. During this month Olivia had her first cold, which lasted about a week (but felt like a year). Runny nose, horrible cough, warm flushed cheeks, the works. This congestion mixed with entering her seventh learning leap and 9 month sleep regression we hit a wall. Normally she rolls with her sleep regressions because she is so good at self soothing and putting herself back to sleep. But with her congestion keeping her awake she had a much harder time ignoring her active brain learning all of the new things and would wake up every couple of hours just like when she was a newborn. While this felt like eternity, it honestly ended as soon as her cold subsided. But whoa, that was rough. We ended up having a new sleep routine of: steam shower, nose spray, eucalyptus + lavender chest / foot rub, humidifier on, booger sucker, bed. It definitely seemed to help break up her cough (which sounded so so horrible).
So my PSA for the day (year) is WASH YOUR HANDS. Even if you’re not sick or not around babies, you have no idea what you’re coming in contact with and having a sick baby is just the saddest thing ever. It’s not about being a germaphobe, it’s about being a decent person. Okay I’m done.
| DOING |
We officially have a crawler! She is slow and meticulous, but it felt like overnight she could go from sitting to crawling back to sitting without toppling over. She’s extra adventurous too. She will find any random speck on the floor and crawl toward it and try to put it in her mouth. So clearly she’s keeping us on our toes. Whenever she is too quiet, she’s into something. She attended her first kids birthday party for her friend Sophia who turned 5. We quickly learned that she loves balloons, watching other children play, and decorations. Her cold kept us pretty under wraps for a lot of the time especially because it was also in the low 30s that week.
| MILESTONES |
We celebrated her first halloween as a turtle and she was pretty much the cutest turtle ever. She cut her second tooth 5 days after her first tooth, and now has both bottom teeth. She learned how to wave and will wave at anyone she sees. Its actually really cute how there can be a couple fighting behind us in line and she starts waving, and they stop and wave back and start laughing. She’s basically fixing relationships left and right with her sweet spirit. She had her first cold, I’m not sure that’s a milestone, but we got through it! During this time when she wasn’t sleeping one time we let her cuddle on the couch and watch Moana, which made her feel better. We’re typically against screen time, but we felt so bad for her. She celebrated her first Thanksgiving and had butternut squash, green beans with pears, and broccoli (all pureed ha!) She picked out her first Christmas tree and slept while I decorated it (it was a big day). She had her first overnight weekend slumber party at her grandparents while we were at our friends’ wedding in Austin. And the most emotional part of all.. we finally lowered her crib mattress after we found her just sitting up in her crib after a nap haha. We also had our first poison scare. I had brought in our rubber plant because it was below freezing out and I thought it was out of her reach. While she was in her activity center she somehow stretch armstrong-ed herself and grabbed a leaf and broke a piece off and put it in her mouth. I didn’t worry at first until I saw this milky sap coming out of the ripped leaf and saw some on her face. I quickly wiped out her mouth with a wet rag and looked up the plant online. It turns out it is poisonous to dogs and children. I wasn’t sure in what capacity so I called poison control and they had me feed her milk, keep her upright for 4 hours (it was almost 6pm) and watch her for any swelling, a rash, trouble breathing, vomiting, or lethargy. So we decided to so some Christmas shopping and stroller-ed her around until 10pm. She ended up being completely fine so either she didn’t get any of the sap in her mouth or it was a minimal amount. Either way she gave us both heart attacks and her poor daddy even raced home from work. I think she just wanted an excuse to stay up late and go shopping. Ugh. Also, that was my first poison control experience and they are extremely nice and helpful and calm, and I think that is actually really great and kind of rare these days. She is still wearing size 3 diapers 6-9m clothing. Our little shorty.
| FAVORITE MOMENTS |
Watching her wave to strangers is my all time favorite thing right now. I also love this time of year and getting to show her the magic of Christmas, and the beautiful lights. I love how much she loves to eat and am excited to transition to more “solid” solids. It was fun seeing her get so excited at a birthday party, which makes me even more excited for her own first birthday that is just around the corner. I know.