Jane 10 Months

During Jane's 10th month, she really worked out those legs, standing, squatting, cruising along with support.  One of her favorite toys this month was a push-toy, a stroller, which once it was given to her, did nothing but that for 3 straight days!  She has also a new little handmade doll that she has enjoyed.  She's never had a lot of interest in dolls and stuffed animals until this month.  There's a teddy bear that has sat on her shelf since the day she was born but now she loves on it and gives it hugs.  Anytime she sees something she wants, she'll reach for it and smile and make her happy noise, hard to describe, but kind of like a happy sigh or laugh. Still only two teeth, but she's taking more solids, as in actual foods.  She's also started making her dislikes known, by whining and complaining when she doesn't get her way.  Since she is a perfect angel for everyone else, I can only assume that she has learned to manipulate me.  Well she's as cute as ever, but I am resolved not to have a spoiled child.  And here it starts.

Jane 9 Months

 

9 months gone already!!!  These two pics were taken within moments of each other.  She was NOT happy to be put on her back, but when I waived a toy over her it became a fun game.  Jane's really getting into games lately; peek-a-boo, pat-a-cake, tickle fingers, toss on the bed, chase (whether mommy chasing her or Jane chasing the cats), etc.  She's starting to stand on her own for brief seconds, but mostly still crawling.  At least her speed is improving, and she can crawl over and up things now.  I think she's gotten over her growling phase by now (thanks Uncle Erik, it was fun!) and is back to high pitches squeals and babbles.  Thank goodness, I like those better.  Had her first major rash, I think due to strawberries or blueberries, but not sure, we'll have to try both again, separately, and pay better attention.  We've been going to the pool with Jane lately and she loves it!  Like a big bath tub but better!  And of course recently she watched fireworks on the fourth and just loved those too.  Dad says her little personality is starting to show, and although she's had one all along, I know what he means.  She has always been pretty easy going but now makes her opinions known and has clear preferences.  And yeah, she's starting to manipulate her parents but we just love her to bits.  Here are a few pics of other things Jane's been up to this month:

Slightly tormenting Dante for a little tough love in return.  Ah I love that face!  No worries, he didn't claw her, just batted her around a bit.

Left alone with a fruit pouch long enough to make the mess you see here.  I might add that mom knew better.  This is dad's first and only time making that mistake! Right?

And this has been a favorite thing to do this month: put an entire rubber ducky in her mouth and make it squeak by chowing down on it.

So there's the highlights for last month.  Stay tuned, next one should be another exciting one!

Jane 8 Months

Jane's eigth month has been exciting to say the least.  She's kept me on my toes, as she is mobile and extremely curious.  She's tasted cat food at least three times.  At least she's stayed out of the diaper pail and litter box thus far.  Smart girl.  She's now got two bottom teeth poking through her gums, continues to nurse pretty well, and goes down for naps when I want her to for the most part.  She's standing often and even cruises a little bit, but she hasn't quite gotten the hang of that yet, as she falls down often while transferring.  Her 'speech' is developing, this month her sounds are mainly made with unique 'tongue' sounds, I don't know how to explain it, I've been trying to capture that on video and have a few good takes.  Darn it, she always does the cutest things before I pull out the camera, then refuses to repeat for the camera.  So hopefully the videos will remind Jeff and I of the really cute stages she goes through when she is older.  I knew that I was going to love this stage (abt 3-9 months is what I think my favorite age is for kids) and I do.  I wish I could freeze her in time and make it last longer while it is so enjoyable and I'm getting the hang of it.  Now she's just gonna grow and move into the next stage and I'll have to learn something new.  It's fun to watch her explore.  Even now, as she tries to monopolize the keyboard.  Thank goodness I picked up that play table last week, there she goes.   Distracted!  Oh and she loves food and snacks of all kinds.  Pretty much.  I broke my own rule this morning and fed her chocolate cake and a little bit of cheese.  She loved both.  Another development, only in the past couple of weeks, is dancing.  When music comes on that she likes, she will sway her whole body if standing, and if sitting will bob her head side to side.  It's so darn cute to watch a baby dancing for the first time.  I'm sure it will become a regular occurrence, as we listen to a lot of music around here.

Jane 7 Months

Almost through Month 7, boy time flies and Jane is learning and growing up fast.  She learned how to crawl on tax day, April 17th.  So that's the biggest news.  But she's also plugging away at solid foods and enjoying pretty much everything we give her.  She's figuring out some of her more complicated toys, like how to push the music button on one, how to rock her pony, how to reach into something to find a toy inside.  She's even figured out how to turn book pages.  One of her other accomplishments this month is pulling herself upright on the side of her crib.  We lowered the mattress.  She fights swaddling now and can get out of it in a pinch.  But I still try.  Oh, and she found the cat fountain a few days ago.  I let her play in the water until she started crying because she was soaked and cold.  Bad mom/good mom?  I had to let her, she was having so much fun.

Happy Easter... and bathing suit!

This is my favorite Easter photo of Jane that we took today.... I love looking at her smiles.  Today was uneventful really.  We relaxed at home, went to church, then to dinner at family's house.  Home to edit photos and share on our blog!

I also grabbed this shot today because this morning I finished a little sewing project.  I decided to buy (3) swimsuits from the dollar store for the purpose of using the extras for fabric to embellish the first suit, and to make a matching cap.  I didn't know if I'd be able to pull it off, so for $3.00 I felt it was worth the risk.  I'd seen a similar suit from a name brand kids clothing line and didn't feel that a kids suit should cost $60.  But I did think it was an awfully cute suit.  So I pulled it off, I think it came out great.  I'm going to add this to my new 'crafty' blog when I finally sit down to it.  Ah the world of 'someday'... gets bigger with a baby at home.

Jane 6 Months

We've tried a few new foods this month; squash, sweet potato, bananas, pears, avocados.  She seemed to love sweet potatoes and avocados best!  But also loves her blueberry puff snacks.  Doesn't like water.  Still mostly experimenting though, her main food is still from mom!  Jane is sitting up all alone now, and can pull herself up the side of her crib, so we lowered the mattress.  In the morning she will stay happy in the crib until mom wakes up or she gets hungry.  Often I find she's maneuvered a leg through the side of the crib.  One morning she managed an arm out of her jammies.  She is also propping herself up on hands and knees but can only propel herself backwards.  Mom and Dad are holding their breath for the day she moves those knees forward and begins to crawl.  Oh, and she's starting to take note of when mom leaves the room by yelling or fussing when I leave her sight.  When she sees me again her whole face lights up with a smile.  We both know she prefers me over dad but that will change one day I'm sure. 

Pink hat splurge and Photo Op

So maybe it's not a splurge at $1, but we found this pink straw hat at Target and couldn't resist making a photo opportunity out of it.  And look how darling!  Having a little girl is so much like playing dress up with a little doll.  A wriggly, drooling, smelly one, but so much cuter regardless.  This 'doll' coos and smiles and gets into things.  Heck she even annoys me sometimes.  But I have lots of fun moments with her and end up taking all these silly dress up photos (and naked too), because one day she's gonna be all grown up and I'm going to want to reminisce and look back at what a small precious doll she was.

Family Shoot March 19th

Fun with Baby

All of the above photos were taken in February.  First one is Jane during some tummy time, you can see what a happy girl she is... with a smile like that how could she not be our daily sunshine around here? Even Dante enjoys being around her (that's his furry behind in the pic), but Sasha keeps her distance due to the inevitable fur-tugging if she gets too close.  Second pic is me with Jane, on a Sunday before church.  Third pic is with daddy, I just love me a naked baby with those chubby little cheeks and a gazillion belly rolls.  So had to document that.  Right before getting into the bath.  I'm sure dad was only thinking one thing; 'Don't pee on me. Don't pee on me.'  And the last photo is Jane in her crib with one of her recent most fave things to do...reach for the glowing orange monkey face.  Fascinating. :)

Jane 5 Months

Month 5 was a fast one.  Seems like with month 6 around the corner I was anticipating some milestones (such as solids) so I mentally skipped this month.  We took her to DisneyWorld just a few days before this photo was taken.  I was worried that she would be tough to travel with and have several meltdowns in the park and have difficulty sticking to her now established routine.  But I worried for nothing.  She was an angel.  We traveled half of the distance (5 hours) from 7pm to midnight, then resumed travel the next morning.  She only got a little fussy at the end.  While at the park, she was content in her stroller or in her carrier, we switched off to save our backs and to take turns on rides.  She fell asleep when she was tired without too much fuss, I only had one instance that she had to cry to sleep.  But we took it easy, only visiting the parks 2 days out of 6... got there Sat pm, church and rest on Sunday, Islands of Adventure Monday, Downtown Disney Tuesday, Boardwalk Wednesday, Magic Kingdom Thursday (all day!), rest and pack Friday, Sat come home.  She is sitting up pretty well by the end of month 5, but still topples over, and can roll over forward or backward with a lot of effort.  She will rotate in circles if left on her back or tummy by using her arms to pull herself around.  Learning peekaboo and loving bathtime.

Jane 4 Months

Jane's Fourth Month she's really starting to explore and move.  Just look at those acrobatics during her photo!  She's thriving on a schedule and always a very happy girl after a nap.  I had to adjust her diapers up a size :(  She loves tummy time and has learned how to grab and hold on to things.  She can hold her bottle up at Grandma's. She knows how to take out her paci but doesn't quite know how to fit it back in yet.  She pretty much puts everything in her mouth, and lately her big obsession is texture.  She just has to touch and feel everything with her hands, then her mouth of course.  She belly laughs all the time.  She is now doing storytime before bed, her favorite book is 10 Rubber Ducks by Eric Carlye.  Oh, yeah, that's because it's the only one I read to her, but really, she seems captivated with it.  We are loving her more and more each day.