At 11 months this cutie pie is continuing to hone her skills, increase her communication, and slowly but surely reveal the toddler attitude. She loves to laugh and explore and absolutely adores her daddy!
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| Hannah @ 11 Months! |
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| Keeping me company on the rare occasion I made it to a store! |
This Month (I would call it highlights, but lowlights might be the snarkier and more appropriate description)
It has been a month with its own round of unique challenges. As we progressed from having a ten month old to having an eleven month old our basement flooded twice in one weekend (I don't have the energy to lament about this any further...just know that for this to happen to the already disillusioned and energy-less who have down-sized twice in a year and have a great deal of their things stored in the basement...this is just all around not cool). Additionally I had a minor tummy bug that meant I just felt nauseous and barely ate for four days only to turn around and have a turbulent stomach bug hit our whole household two weeks later. In an eight day stretch of time there was one day in the middle in which I either wasn't vomitted upon or wasn't vomitting myself. My least favorite of these instances would be the moment when I pulled into Panera to get lunch with Hannah and enjoy the first real meal I would have had in four days only to hear her puke all over herself in the car...when it was 12* outside. ...It's been a long month. By this point we felt like we had just been kicked repeatedly while we were already down. In the end we are hanging in and have lots to be thankful for, but we are looking towards more peaceful (and maybe fun?) days - spring has become quite a metaphor for us.
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| Symbolically looking towards spring? Or a super cute outfit for Valentine's Day.... the latter. It's one of the best Valentines picture I have - Daniel and I were sick and it this was seriously one of the best photos I managed. |
Ah, Spring.
People say surviving the first year is the toughest...we will have hit that mark as spring arrives. We have had to cancel or skip many a social event lately...but in the spring...maybe? We love the cold weather, but who doesn't relish the idea of temperate 40-60 degree days instead of a blustery 8* day. I am really excited to take Hannah to the National Zoo on the weekend, now that she is a bit older and would notice a lot more. After all...it's just a few metro hops away for us. But again, not something you do when the high for the day is 20*. So spring is a metaphor for nights of improved sleep, days in which we can all enjoy being outside, weekends in which we get to see other friends and enjoy playdates...ah, in the spring.
Perhaps we're delusional. ...But I really want to believe we're not.
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| Speaking of delusional...we are headed to Argentina and Brazil soon! These were the ready-to-go visa applications for Brazil! It was quite an undertaking pulling this all together - I had to drive downtown and apply at the consulate in person, too! |
In the midst of Material and Physical Chaos...there is a sweet sweet girl who has many many favorite things...
Her Favorite Things
Hannah is more interactive than ever and just adorable. We may not have much verbal communication going on but there are a series of gestures and grunts and excited squeals that we can translate pretty well and we are all enjoying the increased ability to communicate with each other.
Daniel started this thing the past month or two in which he picks Hannah up and she points. And they go wherever her finger leads and he lets her touch each thing and whispers to her about what it is. At first it was the different pictures we had around the house, but now it is light switches that she flips on and off, the microwave door that she opens and shuts, or even the Keurig that she turns on and off/presses the button to make us coffee. If I could cement an image of her in my head lately, it would probably be of her deftly and determinedly pointing at something and expectantly hoping we will scoop her up and take her to explore it. It's the sweetest thing and so fun to see her brain work as she excitedly smiles or studiously focuses on the objects in front of her.
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| It's like they are dancing :) This child loves to point at things though. Super cute. |
She still loves books. I almost feel like love is an understatement. I have a basket of books in the living room, playroom (downstairs), and nursery upstairs. Those are the three main areas where we play. Hannah will crawl over, grab a book, bring it to you (she does this thing where she crawls with it in her hand/pushes it to you), lifts it to you, and then asks to be picked up as well. It's ADOREable. OMG. It also wears her out (not really, but I have to hope it all adds up). So we read 1-2 books at a time. I put her down, she crawls, grabs the next, etc. If I'm on the floor she crawls into my lap each time. So so sweet!
She definitely has favorites and favorite moments. For a few days she was calling "awhhh!" when we would say "Macaw" as if we were trying to make a bird call and "ehhhehhhh" for elephant. I make a pretty fantastic elephant sound by pursing my lips and blowing with them pinched together and she tries to thuppppp but doesn't understand why the sound is different. She also tries to mimic "ba ba" when we talk about sheep and is constantly watching the way my mouth moves when I make animal sounds.
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| Loving the mylar heart balloon her daddy bought me for Valentine's Day. (We both know it was really for Hannah, haha) |
She has the cutest "please" gesture that she makes when she wants something...usually to be picked up. She pulls her hands to her chest and opens them up towards you (kind of like the gesture one makes when taking the bread at communion/mass). And the adorable thing? When you figure out what she wants and actually meet here needs correctly she gets SO excited and either flaps her arms excitedly and breaks into a huge grin, sometimes she even giddily laughs.
She has a toy from her grandmother (Pam) that is two different slides you can place cars on. Hannah loves it. At first when she tried to put a car on it she would miss by like...a whole foot. So it has been fun to watch her coordination steadily improve and how pleased she is when she successfully puts a car on the track and it makes it to the bottom.
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| monkey see monkey do! |
The night we had a babysitter (a girl who works with Hannah in the infant room at daycare) I couldn't help but turn it into a tiny bit of a parent teacher conference at the end of the night - I mean, seriously, I don't get to pick Hannah up - when else am I going to get the inside scoop? So I peppered her with questions...but the neatest thing was that she said Hannah really has laser beam focus. She may switch her focus from one thing to the next to the next, but she is always super focused on something. ...I thought that was an interesting way of describing it and have since noticed exactly what she means - she really does fixate on one thing after another. I love watching her brain work!
Sleep?
Still pretty darn horrendous. That month of decent sleep from 8-9 months of age was a very evil tease. She spent this month teething and waking the second her tylenol or ib profen worse off. I don't usually give her medicine - but when she reaches that level of teething I do. It's hard to remember when we've had even one good night of sleep and there is no pattern to the overnight madness. The morning is 100% russian roulette...there's at least four different variations of how the morning could go. We are working on getting into a more consistent pattern, and she does finally seem to be moving past the separation anxiety thing, so hopefully once the teeth have all broken through things can calm down for a bit and we can establish a new normal. A pattern of some kind would be great.
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| Whaaa? You want uninterrupted sleep? (This is also what I call her Shrek face haha) |
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| An adorable nap time (right at the end of this month she started letting me put her in her crib to nap sometimes!) |
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| :) so so sweetly cute |
Nom Nom Nom!
She is eating more and more table food! We started sending little bento kind of lunches that have a variety of fruits, veggies, and some kind of "lunch" to them too. ...Like a two tablespoons of spaghetti (with elbow noodles instead of spaghetti noodles) or two tablespoons of taco soup (lean ground beef with a bunch of legumes), etc. As her teeth come in she is starting to use them more and more.
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| I'm not sure that she realized what this meant :) |
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| pointing |
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| a Hannah lunch - I call this her little "bento box" and send something like this each day...and she eats nearly all of it! steamed carrots and steamed sweet potato slices, diced grapes, spaghetti meat sauce with pasta elbows, and peas and carrots |
Glimpses of the Toddler 'Tude
We are beginning to see glimpses of toddler attitude shining through. I know she's not just a saucy brat...I know a lot of it is lack of impulse control, exploring and innocently playing, adventuring into cause and effect and wanting to try the same (sometimes dangerous or annoying) thing over and over. I get it...but it doesn't mean that we aren't starting to have moments of woah, really?!
My story for this month...Hannah loves to feed the dogs. It tends to happen as she is nearing the end of a meal - she starts holding food out for them and they of course are very eager recipients. We have to watch for the difference between a lack of coordination knocking food off her tray vs she is playing around and wants to play with the dogs but continue eating (usually if you say no Hannah, food is for you and gently touch the back of her hand she begins feeding herself again instead of them...aka meal time is not over) vs she is flat out done and about to shower the dogs with everything she has. One evening she started to shower the dogs with food and we told her no and were just about to ask her if she was "all done" (which she gestures back, and then we take the tray and pick her up) when she looked at us defiantly, spit the food she had into her mouth into her hand and forcefully threw it on the floor. Wow. She was definitely done and Daniel and I definitely had a moment somewhere in there where we locked eyes with raised eyebrows.
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| Yes. The Toddler 'Tude is coming. |
Growth and Appearance
We have five teeth now! She has three up top and her two bottom cuties, although when she smiles you can still only see the bottom two. She still has killer dimples, beautiful hazel eyes, and is steadily growing hair...we are past peach fuzz - but it still isn't enough for a barrette. Steadily growing, but we are still in our 12 month clothes! The 9 month stuff has been shelved, but we haven't moved up to 18 yet! She seems so much longer and leaner to me than being a little baby chunk.
The Puppies -
Hannah LOVES playing ball with me and the puppies. I roll the ball to Hannah, she offers it to a pup, they gleefully take it and she laughs and the puppies play with it for a moment before I ask them to drop it for me. Rinse and repeat - but add lots of giggles. Hannah also loves playing tug of war with Holly. She laughs and laughs and laughs.
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| Holly sneaks in snuggles from Chances when she can get them |
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| She loves playing with her puppies! |
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| Snuggle time! |
Hannah bringing us a book from across the house :)
Daniel
Has had a better month than last and has been able to put in some of the miles he needs to prep for his marathon on 03/14. The biggest roadblock for him (aside from catching a death-cold from Hannah just after Christmas) has been the weather. ...You can only do so much about major ice or snow. It's made it very challenging. Single digit days is tough, but workable. Ice can wipe out access to the trail, sidewalks, etc. It's been frustrating for him, but he has had a few really good runs - and managed to boast an awesome 20 miler recently.
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| I love these two! |
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| Daniel assembling our kitchen island...there were FIFTEEN pages of intense instructions |
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| Hannah approved of his craftsmanship |
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| yay!!!! |
Beth
Has been hanging in! Work is still going well and I still really like my new job. I had a moment where I had to do a super important presentation with less than twenty-four hours notice and killed it, so that was a great day. I am finally back down to my pre-pregnancy weight! So not in 9 months like some say, but in less than a year! I'll take it! I wouldn't say all my pre-preg clothes fit the same...but I definitely feel the most like myself that I have since I had her. I'll take it! Looking back it seems like I lost a bunch in the first 6 weeks, plateaued until 3 months, then steadily lost 1-2 pounds a week until I got within 2-5 pounds of my pre-pregnancy weight and then I hovered there for a long time. Only recently did I finally dip below that. ...The Devil Wears Prada quote of "I'm only a stomach flu away from my goal weight" keeps ringing in my head. haha. I wouldn't usually report - but after whining about it from time to time, I felt I owed an update.
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| Geared up for a walk with the puppies and Hannah |
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| Yay, kitchen island! |
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| Me after killing a huge presentation at work, I really love my job! |
The Parents?
Finally got to go on a date night for the first time in six months! We finally made the babysitter leap, hired one of the ladies who works on her side of the infant room and had her come over to watch Hannah while we went to an engagement party. It was really really nice to finally get out and do something social.
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| First date night in six months! |
So at 11 months we are hanging in there, enjoying the giggles and sweet playtime with Hannah, marveling at how intrigued and excited she is to interact with the world, hoping for more merciful weeks (sans basement floods and epic stomach bugs and maybe even better sleep?) and looking forward to spring!
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| Happy campers! :) |
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| Hannah @ 11 Months! :) |
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