I feel like I'm always saying how each month just flies by...but two months just flew by, like nothing, as have her whole 9 months of life in general. Granted, the first three were a general blur of sleepless nights, sleepless days, never ending nursing sessions, and hours spent in bed bonding and cuddling. But she never stops changing, she is ever evolving, and her little world keeps expanding right before her beautiful blue eyes.
We went to the doctor last week for her well child visit. She weighs 15.2 lbs. and is 27 in. long. So long and skinny! But she does love to eat. I still have yet to find a food this child won't eat. Her favorites still include bananas, sweet peas, black beans, and cheerios. But honestly, I think that's only because she can eat those by herself. Sometimes she scarfs and sometimes she takes her time. She is now completely bottle fed and has been for a little over a month now. She didn't even seem to notice the transition which was helpful for me because I noticed. It has taken several weeks, but we have finally found an organic formula that I can afford and settles well in her tummy. She loves her bottle though. If it is anywhere near feeding time and she sees a "Ba" I better be ready to give her one or she will lose it.
Speaking of which, she is a very dramatic baby. Sometimes it is down right funny, other times, not so much. She is overall an extremely happy baby but when something is not right to her in her little life (such as being in the car too long, being in bed and not wanting to sleep, not being allowed to crawl on the floor of a store, not wanting to lay still long enough for a diaper change, or there are no more cheerios on her tray) she has no problem letting you know exactly how it makes her feel. I'm telling you, she has it rough...
Otherwise, she is like I said, I very happy and joyous baby. She loves to "talk" and has started to say Momma. I love it. love it. love it. Sometimes she says "mamamama" just to say it just like she does with "babababababa" but there are definite times where she says Momma and is distinctly referring to me. She understands a wide range of words and phrases though. She has also started to use signs to some degree. She more or less waves "bye-bye" and will mimic the "all done" sign after dinner, though they look very similar right now. The only difference is that bye-bye is done with one hand and all done is with two hands. I want to start working with her to learn more signs for the both of us. I will start introducing her to "more", "water, and "I love you" in the coming month. I imagine "I love you" will take a lot of time due to the nature of the sign, but it's a great one to have! Not only will sign language help her with this early communication, but she has a cousin who is only one year older than her who wears hearing aids and is going to be learning sign language himself, so I am hoping that some simple signs can help in their playing together in the future.
Sleep is a constant up and down for us. Had I written a post last month, I would have gone on about how she was starting to sleep all the way through the night. She would wake up at 5am, have a bottle, go back to sleep, then be up at 7am to start the day. Sometimes she would sleep all the way until 7am. But then she cut her top two teeth (giving her four teeth in total!) and got a winter cold only a couple of days after that. For about two weeks we endured 2-3 night wakings but finally last night she slept until 6am had a bottle and then didn't get up until 8am! So I am hoping that we are back to sleeping through the night at least until more teeth come through.
Most of her development this moth has been mental. She is at a whole new cognitive level than ever before. I love watching her face as she learns and discovers something new. The other day she was in the bath tub and got on her stomach and started letting the water touch her lips. She was very thoughtful and deliberate about the whole experience, very careful not to let the water inside her mouth. She was discovering for the first time how it felt. I then showed her how to blow bubbles and even though she is unable to do it herself yet, she was amazed by it and I could see her moving her lips, trying to form them like mine. Love her.
One major even that I have not mentioned that happened this month was her very First Christmas! And oh how exciting and fun it was! For the first time we put the Christmas tree up in the dining room instead of the living room, fearing that it would be a constant battle and hazard. It is a huge tree that, at its very least, has an ornament on nearly every branch. She loved the tree though. She loved to touch it, she loved the lights, but mostly she loved the presents underneath and the bows that adorned them. She managed to rip a hole in one of her Daddy's gifts, rip the corner off of her Mimi's gift, and ripped off several bows from her gifts. I am glad we had the foresight to put the tree out of sight.
Her gift ripping and bow snatching was a useful skill come Christmas morning. We were all up with her at 6:30am. Santa had left her a 3-in-1 tricycle with a dolly riding on it. She was so happy when she saw the doll with everyone (including me, Austin, my parents, Brian, Cassie, and Brian's friend Trapper) standing around watching her every move. After we all moved into the family room to open gifts, she sat on the floor with Austin and I. The presents kept piling around us and she was very eager to help open...for the first 2 maybe 3 presents. Then she was done and Austin and I were left to open her presents while she played with the toys that were previously opened. She had so much fun though....mostly with boxes! No joke.
But without further ado...pictures! For the past two months, I have not done any actual photo shoot with Molly. At the end of November I did her Christmas card picture which took the place of her monthly shoot as far as planning and execution went. For december, I just decided not to do one because I have so many daily pictures and moments that turn into mini shoots. So, here they are...
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