Chloe is 11 Months old!

Chloe has hit the 11 month mark! It is incredible how much has changed in the last month. For starters she's a full blown walker and loves to get into things. She has discovered what climbing is and that's what she is all about! I will catch her trying to climb up on the couch and she will get pretty far, but not far enough. So I'm pretty impressed with her, when I look over the edge to see how she has done this, she's standing on Unos head and he just puts up with it. She likes to snatch things from us when we aren't looking, when we catch her we will ask her to bring it to us. She will begin to walk towards us or almost make it to us then she turns around and runs away giggling and screaming. She loves it when we chase her for whatever she has.

She responds to certain things we say, for example, she will come when I say "follow me" or "come on baby." "Bring it to me" is another she will respond to correctly, we are working on "stop" and "no hitting" she doesn't quite have those, but she will. She really enjoys being silly and making us laugh, she will take the pillows from the couch and run away with them and fall on them. Anytime she gets a blanket or article or clothing she will put it up over her head so its on the back of her neck and then take it off, usually it covers her face so when she takes it off she thinks it's so funny! She likes to run into the couch or our bed and we will find her hitting her head against hard surfaces, she is quite the character.

She likes to make faces and have us copy them, that's another fun game we play. She is eating more food everyday, I know she likes touching and feeling it in her hands, but i feel like most of it goes to the dogs. She also waves now, but not like normal babies, she raises her arm and holds it there in mid air and it is so cute. She says mama and dada and we are working on saying nana next. Her two bottom front teeth have finally come in and she loves to give kisses and bite down now. She is so fun and we are always on the move!

We love you sweet girl!

Little Miss is 10 months old.

A lot has happened this month, Chloe started walking! She's a walking maniac! She's getting really good at it too, until she gets excited then she falls down. Overall, she does awesome and everyday she gets better. She loves being flipped upside down and tickled. She is so sneaky and loves to try and escape the living room without me noticing, but I usually find her behind the couch or in the dining room. 

She also got her first tooth! This last week has been one of the worst we have had, she didn't sleep well and in turn I didn't sleep well. The tooth finally broke through and I am back to getting 3 hour stretches of sleep for now. Her other front tooth is sitting under her gums and hasn't made it's move just yet, but when it does I will be ready with the Tylenol! 

We have been taking Chloe outside more and letting her discover her surroundings. Today we went to the dog park and let her play in the half dead grass. She kept picking up whatever she could get her hands on and she would put it in her mouth. I chased her down and kept things from being swallowed and this quickly turned into a fun game for her. 

We have so much fun playing with her and she loves attacking us after she chases us down. She is so much fun! Our photo shoot today was a little different than usual. We did it before bed, so the lighting wasn't ideal and she was in her pj's, but we got some good pictures.

My Sweet Chloe Turned 9 Months Old

How did I end up with the most beautiful baby? I think this to myself every night as I rock her to sleep. She is getting so big, I was looking at her hands the other day and she must have gone through a growth spurt recently because her fingers were noticeably bigger then they were 2 weeks ago. 

We had Chloe's 9 month doctors appointment on the 26th (her 9 month mark) and she is doing fabulous! She weighs 18.1 pounds and is in the 35th percentile, she is pretty average for her height, she is at 27.5 inches and in the 50th percentile. Overall she is growing like she should be and is a happy healthy baby. 

We have increased the amount of baby food she eats per day because she loves to eat and she sleeps better with more baby food in her. She eats fruits on the morning and veggies at night. She is pretty good about eating whatever we give her unless its bananas then she will protest. So we just get the fruit mixes and she loves them. We also have started giving her the little puff snacks, let me tell you what, those are like crack to her! She sees the container and she flips out, it is quite possibly one of the funniest things I have ever seen. We have also been giving her tiny pieces of fruit and sometimes a little bit of peanut butter! She not quite sold on the peanut butter just yet.

She is so funny all the time! She has the greatest laugh and smile. She loves laughing and making us laugh, she is constantly on the move and for the last month she has been standing up! She hasn't taken much interest in walking just yet, but in due time i'm sure she will be taking off running. 

She loves playing with her toys and with us and she really loves bath time. We have this adorable little duck tub and she loves feeling the different textures and trying to put some part of it in her mouth. She will give me raspberries every once in a while and it makes me laugh every time! She recently has started licking the dogs, when I say lick I mean she will stick out her tongue and puts it on their faces. It's so sweet to see them interact with her, especially now that she can follow them around. She also gives the best slobbery kisses and I love every minute of it!

We just love her so much! I can't wait to see what the next month will bring!

As you can see, she had her own idea of how her photo shoot was going to go. She has discovered that she can make the chair rock, half the time I was making sure she didn't fall out. We also had a tiny melt down!

8 Months already?

It seems like the last month has flown by! I attribute that to us going on vacation and having the time of our lives. 

Time waits for no one, even though I wish we could have taken that 2 weeks and had our daily schedules put on stand still until we got back, that's just not how it works. Anyway, We are back home and trying to get settled back into our routine which, if you have a baby or little one you might understand, is proving to be very difficult! Chloe is on track with her morning nap most days, but when it comes to her afternoon nap right now she only wants to nap for about 30 minutes. That's just not going to fly so we are working on it. I know eventually we should get back to the normal 4 hour nap, but for now we just go with the flow. 

While being home Chloe started scooting around and less than a week later she was on her hands and knees trying to crawl. She doesn't crawl very often, she shifts her position. Imagine sitting on your butt and putting your hands on the ground in front of you and moving into a sort of downward dog position all while changing direction by about 45 to 90 degrees, that's what she does to move around.

UPDATE: I wrote this over the last couple days and now she is crawling everywhere and as of this morning she stood up all on her own! It took me a minute to process what happened, but I am so proud of her!

She has a lot of motivation too, she loves the dogs so she tries to reach them while laying down and sometimes its super easy because they will lay next to her. She then buries her face into them and squeals with excitement. Its the cutest thing in the whole world. They even bring her "gifts" (their toys) and most of the time I catch it before it goes in her mouth, but occasionally one will slip by and before I know it she is gnawing on the toy so I quickly take it from her and give it back to the dogs. 

I figure it could always be worse, at least their mouths are cleaner than ours. 

She has expanded her vocabulary, she now not only says dada but also baba and bubu. She has also discovered screaming, so that's super fun especially when she's mad. Most of the time she just hangs out and plays by herself. She has also started to give hugs and kisses. I don't get them very often, but her daddy sure does. I think its because she sees him less and misses him. 

I am currently working on sleep training her, the last few days have been eye opening and have helped me understand more of how I should approach the whole thing. I am not big on the idea of letting her "cry it out" I personally think this approach is kind of harsh. I know a lot of people that do this and I'm glad it works for them, but I just don't agree with this approach. The approach I started with was to set her down in her crib and when she starts fussing I would pick her up until shes calm and set her back down. This just doesn't work out for us, she freaks out more when I set her down. I still nurse her at night and usually that's the reason she wakes up, she wants to nurse and put herself to sleep that way. So now that I have discovered this My new goal is to ween her from nursing at night and hopefully over the next couple weeks when she is finally weened she will sleep through the night. That's my plan as of this moment, it is subject to change. 

Beside all of that, Chloe is growing and eating more veggies and fruits! She eats mostly veggies, she had pears for the first time the other day and she appeared to like them, she also appeared to like sweet potatoes until last night so we will see how it all pans out in the future. 

A lot of people think she is older than she really is because her legs are so long! She's barely fitting in 9 month pants and fits better in 12 month, but her torso still fits in 3-6 month onesies. She also had a couple photo shoots this last month, we had family pictures done with my mom and sister while we were in CA done by the talented Emily Whetsler. When we got back Bianca, the photographer who did her 3 month pictures, wanted to do another photo shoot so Chloe went and was her little model for about an hour. If anyone is looking for an awesome baby/ family photographer in Rapid City, Bianca is so fabulous and her pricing is the best in my opinion! Look her up, Blink photography.  

This month has been huge for milestones with her and I cant wait until next month to see all of her progress!

Here are some pictures from our family photo shoot

I will do a whole separate post once I get all the pictures from both photo shoots :)

Chloe turned 7 months!!

Yes I am a little behind and I don't have pictures to accompany this post, but I'm still going to fill you all in!

Chloe turned 7 months on the 26th of December and she got to be in California for it! We went home for Christmas and got to see so many people, it was awesome! She met almost all of her Grandparents and Aunts/ Uncles and we had a fabulous time while there! 

Chloe is growing so fast, we literally skipped the 9 month clothing phase with pants, she went from 6 months to 12 months overnight! 

She can sit on her own when sat down and she can say dada. She pretty much calls everything dada, but that's not the important part! 

She is definitely a mamas girl and I love it! She is so funny and loves trying to make me laugh! 

She loves spending mornings with her daddy and laughing at him. 

The dogs are her best friends until they accidentally knock her over then they're her enemies, but she really does love them. 

She has tasted many foods and I think her favorites have been whipped cream and pineapples, too bad she has to wait until she's older to fully enjoy these delicious foods. 

She loves spoons, but prefers knifes. (Don't worry we only let her play with the spoons) 

We haven't gotten a good solid laugh out of her but her short bursts are good enough for us. 

She is so beautiful and we love her so much!

Chloe is 6 months old!

Half a year has gone by since my sweet girl was born, HALF A YEAR! Before I know it she'll be moving out! She is growing and learning everyday. She is doing so great and is getting so big! Here are some of her updates!

She now rolls back to front and front to back.
She always wants to be on the move and is constantly squirming.
She loves to jump and if she's not squirming she is trying to jump, we are working on getting her a jumper.
She loves to stick out her tongue and make noise with it.
She is still very clingy, but I don't mind.
She loves seeing her daddy right after he gets home from work in the mornings.
We have started to feed her baby food, she is not exactly a fan... at all.
She loves grabbing her feet and trying to eat them.
She is very attentive and is starting to differentiate between different items.
She loves bright things, she gravitates towards bright yellows and reds. Usually she tries to reach for a cup i'm drinking out of if its one of those colors, so we found a little blue cup for her and she LOVES it!
She also loves phones and the bright pictures, she likes chewing on them especially Brian's phone because it's bigger, but she gets drool under the case so she has to settle for mine.
She is starting to sit with a little help.
She puts everything in her mouth, especially cords and cables so we have to keep a very close eye on her when she's rolling around.
We are making our second attempt at swaddle weaning her and its not going perfectly, but it's better than the first time.
She loves the dogs, she is always reaching for them and trying to grab them. When she does get a hold of them they are so patient and don't try to bite her or anything!
She can take her pacifier out turn it around flip it upside down and get it back in her mouth the right way.
She is down to 2 naps a day, even though I try to get her to take a 3rd one because she's much happier when she does. I guess she really just wants to be awake!
She is finally reaching for things!
On Thanksgiving she sat all by herself!

I believe those are all of the updates! I hope everyone had a great Holiday!

10 things to not say to a new/ experienced mother

I have been talking to a couple mommy friends about things that drive them crazy, mostly things that have been said to them about their baby, etc. I am going to address some of these statements and hopefully it will help others understand that sometimes it's just not okay to say certain things to a new/experienced mother.

1. Are you going back to work/ Why wouldn't you go back to work? First off I just had a baby, let me breathe. Second, let me enjoy my child and not have to worry about that for a while. Some women (myself included) love their jobs and want to go back, others have no choice and have to work to earn a second income. You know what? That's awesome! You go girl! Some women feel differently and stay at home, they can't see ever going back to work and you know what? That's awesome! You go girl! Sometimes this question can be okay, I know a lot of people asked me what I planned on doing and most of the time I was totally okay with people asking me, but when I started getting judged for what my response was that's when I would get really upset.

2. When do you guys plan on having another one? Oh you know, we plan on popping another one out tomorrow! Just don't. This question is so obnoxious, most people enjoy reveling in their beautiful child and want to enjoy him/her for a while. 

3. Why did you have a 3rd one when you already have a boy and a girl?/ Oh you have to keep trying for (gender not represented) No, just no. Most people just want a healthy baby regardless what gender they are. You're going to love that baby no matter what. Some people just love and want lots of kids. Yes some people are happy once they have a boy and a girl and that's all they want. Good for them! Leave them alone they're happy. Lets just leave everyone alone with this question, we all hate it.

4. You didn't find out the gender? I couldn't do that. Good for you! Sometimes people like surprises, don't question why they didn't want to find out the gender. I think this would be one of the best surprises in the whole world!

5. He/She looks nothing like you! Why would anyone decide this is a good thing to say to any mom? Sometimes this hurts peoples feelings, and you have to remember you are dealing with a very hormonal mother. Just stick with "you're baby is beautiful" and you'll be golden.

6. He/She looks like (insert word here) I have heard so many different variations of this statement, and It makes me want to rip out my hair. Seriously? Why would you look at a new born baby and say he/she looks like anything but a beautiful brand new baby. NO the baby does not look like an alien, some sort of vegetable, troll, etc and if you think this, let me stick YOU in the birthing canal for an extended period of time and see how you look when you come out. I know when I had my baby I couldn't imagine seeing anything more beautiful and perfect. I know people think its funny and they say it as a joke, but this hurts peoples feelings. This mom just made the most beautiful creature to ever grace this earth and you're going to tell her that he/she looks like something other than beautiful? Just don't, sometimes keeping your comments to yourself is the best option, especially if you think something like this.

7. Are you breastfeeding?/ Why aren't you breastfeeding? Most of the time it's a friendly question from an expecting mother who wants the pros and cons of both, which is perfectly okay and most of the time you can have a good discussion about this. Its when people you don't even know ask you. Its weird, just stop. I don't want some stranger asking about my boobs unless I'm bra shopping. Sometimes this question really hurts some women. Some women can't breastfeed and when you question them it can really hurt some feelings. If they're formula feeding their baby don't criticize them. They are doing the best they can for their baby so shut it. 

8. Put some clothes on that baby! It's probably freezing! Oh hey thanks for reminding me to dress my child! I knew I forgot something! This one is my personal favorite! I get this far too often and I hate it more and more every time. It makes me feel like a crappy mom and contrary to popular belief I actually like feeling good about myself. I know I dress my child in the right amount of clothing that I feel she needs. Don't go telling me how cold her feet are when it's 75 flipping degrees inside. Or when its cold out, don't tell me to put more layers on her. I know I dressed her in plenty of warm layers. She's warm and happy leave us alone. 

9. Can you even remember life before having him/her? Yes,yes I can. I had full nights of sleep and did what ever I wanted. It was glorious! Now, would I ever trade my life now to go back to my old life? Never in a million years!

10. You're still wearing maternity clothes? Yes, yes I am. Most women I know (myself included) can't fit into their pre pregnancy clothes for a little while. After pushing a baby out your hips don't just snap back to where they used to be. What's the point on going out and buying a whole new wardrobe when those clothes wont fit you in a couple months. Do I enjoy not being able to ever wear jeans and look semi decent? No not at all, some days I sit and complain because I have one pair of pants that fits me and they're white. I don't want to wear those everyday especially since my baby spits up all the time! Don't judge what someones wearing, ever. Lets be real though, maternity pants are super comfortable!

Those are just a few things that I've heard from other moms/ personal experience! What are some that you've heard?