Saturday, September 20, 2014

11 months already

I can't believe how quickly this girl is growing!  She's huge! At her last doctor appointment she measured in the 90% for height, 50% for weight and greater than 98% head circumference! (She's tall.  She's got good brains!)


She's getting around. When she learned to crawl the first thing that she would always do would be to crawl to the coffee table or ottoman to pull herself up.  She's been cruising and crawling equally.  She's been learning them simultaneously.  She has a few bruises on her face from taking some risks but she's getting pretty confident and is falling less and less. She can also stand unassisted for a few seconds. She  is pretty proud of herself and it's very cute.

Her words!  UH-OH is definitely her first word.  She loves to play the uh-oh game.  That is she drops something and then says "uh-oh".  You pick it up and then she drops it again.  Repeat. Sometimes she'll drop something and nobody is there to get it for her and she will just say "uh-oh" over and over.  It's pretty cute. I love her voice.  A few weeks ago we taught her DADA and she seemed to understand that Kermit was DADA.  But then she was calling me "dada" too.  So then we taught her MAMA and she seemed to get it but then she was calling everybody MAMA.  I think now she understands.

On our fireplace mantel we have individual pictures of each of the girls.  She likes to point to them and I tell her the names of her sisters.  Out of the blue she has started calling them ADA!  So exciting.  Now  just yesterday she started saying ABEE for Avrie! So cute!  Also she says DA for dog and BA for ball.  I'd say she's wanting to talk!  And she is!

Her sleep, oh her sleep. She naps well but her nights are another story. Last week I declared that she needed to learn to sleep through the night.  She has been getting up 2-4 times per night just to check in.  She just wants to be held and have a quick snack then goes back to sleep.  I've never minded getting up with her. In fact I love the time alone to snuggle her when she's not busy trying to pull away.  BUT sometimes I have a hard time falling back asleep and it kills me the next day.   These sleep interruptions leave me dragging the next day.  I really need her to sleep.  I know she's not hungry.  So last week Kermit went in every time she cried in the night.  He eventually could calm her down.  The second night she only cried once and he was able to calm her quickly.  The third night she slept through!!! YAY! It felt great! I was actually rested enough to go to the gym for the first time in MONTHS. Problem is Althea went to the gym too and I think she picked up a bug while she was there.  SO that night she was not feeling herself and was up multiple times.  Also Kermit had to get up early so he couldn't go in to get her.  Then he was traveling.  Now she is teething and in pain all day and night.  So much for sleeping through the night.  Oh well. We'll try again soon.

Her hair.  Love the hair! It's getting long enough that it lays down on the sides and front.  That top tuft though….she needs some product!  It's super cute but it kinda looks like I didn't brush it.  I've been trying to keep bow clips in her hair.  When she discovers them she pulls them out. Oh well.

Althea is about the sweetest baby there ever was.  I'm not kidding when I say that strangers always comment to me on how cute she is and have to stop and talk to her.  Seriously!  It happened all the time in MA and now here in Chicago it's happening.  People love her! What's not to love?!  I love taking her places with me. She is so much fun to hang out with.

Her teeth.  She's got 8. Working on a molar now. She has been for awhile.  Her gums are totally swollen and tender. I can feel the tooth coming in.  None of the other girls had teething molars like this. It looks so painful. I talked to the dentist and she said to expect bleeding. Poor baby.

As I type I'm watching her push her little wagon around.  Adeline is close behind making sure she doesn't get it going to fast.  The girls are all in love with her and love to take care of her.  Only now and then do they find that they need me to come get her so they can work on their big girl stuff.  They seem to take turns.  They are all awesome big sisters.  Althea is one lucky baby!  And we are one lucky bunch to have HER!