10 Months Old

I know it sounds cliche but I can't believe you are 10 months olds already. Time is going by so quickly. I was saying to you tonight that it's so hard to believe you have been my daugther, I have been your mom and you have been living in our lives for 10 months now. It's like a dream. In a million years I would never of imagined how precious life was going to be when you got here. I just thought it would be cute to have a baby. I am fascinated by you every day.

When I watch you play I can see how you are learning. When you hold your blocks or your ball and then look at them...it's so cool. You love standing up. You have taken a few steps on your own here and there. You can sign the word 'more'. You are learning to clap. You have an adorable laugh. You love to wave hi and by...particularly at the Y. Oh yeah the Y...we LOVE going to the Y. We go almost everyday. I feel like those women there are your aunts. We have been going there since you are about 8 weeks old so they have watched you grow too. You love to play with the other children. Specially older boys. I think they remind you of Ethan.

You love reading your books. One of our new favorite activities is going to Borders bookstore and I let you crawl around in the kids section and take books off the shelves and read them...so cute.

You love animals...go figure :). I am sure I said this before but 'cat' was your first word. After dinner is when you watch your one video for the day. Lately we have been alternating between Neighborhood Animals and First Signs (both Baby Einstein).

Daddy has been traveling alot lately and I know he misses us. It makes it harder for me to take care of you but that's the way it has to be right now.

Here is the one challenge we are dealing with. Thus far I have always been there to help you go to sleep. Either rocking you or nursing you. I have no regrets for doing it that way up until now but we have to start learning how to let you fall asleep on your own. It started last week when I had you stay the extra 2 hours at Kids Day Out at the JCC. That's where I take you once a week so I can have a few hours for myself. Normally you go from 9 - 12. If I want to keep you the extra 2 hours I can do that but that time is nap time. You don't usually nap then so I wasn't sure how it was going to go. Well you did some crying and eventually you fell asleep. I talked to the lady there and Daddy and we all know that it is OK for you to cry a little when you are trying to go to sleep. Eventually you will know how to put yourself to sleep and then you won't cry. So we are working on that.

You also just starting waking up a second time in the night. So pretty much you are up every 4 hours or so. Doesn't make for a restful night sleep for me :). I'm sure this will all work itself out soon but for now we have to deal with the crying. I have only done it twice so far (where I let you cry in the crib and come in every 10 minutes and try to soothe you). I hope it doesn't take too much longer because it is very upsetting to see and hear your cry like that. OK, enough of the sleep thing.

So you are 10 months old tomorrow. Happy Happy Birthday...I love you soooooo much.

Walking

Well I am going to make it official and say you took your first steps yesteray. We went to a baby shoe store because I really want something for your feet. It was a very kid friendly place however you weren't too happy to be there. I got down on the floor with you and we played. You like to stand alot so I put you a few steps away from me. The sales lady tried to talk to you and you wanted to be near me so you scrambled to get to me and in the process took 3 steps. You also did the same thing today.
Now Daddy said her saw you take a step this past weekend so we can count that too! Either way I'm pretty sure you will be walking by your 10 month birthday. :)

Georgia Aquarium

This past weekend we went to Atlanta for a wedding. It was our second plane trip. On our outbound flight we got bumped to first class...that was pretty cool! As usual you did very well with all the travel. What I wanted to tell you about was our trip to the Aquarium.

I believe the Georgia Aquarium is the biggest in the country. It is only a few years old. We had a great time! I felt like it was our first 'family trip' going to do a touristy thing. You were mesmerized. All the tanks were floor to ceiling and some even in the ceiling so there was so much to look at. We mostly had you in the Baby Bjorn. You would just stare at the fish and reach out your hands. I enjoyed watching you as much as I did watching the fish. We saw huge beluga whales to small tropical colorful fish. They did such a nice job with the design, color, music and lighting. We stopped about 1/2 way for lunch and I thought you were going to fall asleep but as soon as we got back to the exhibits you were wide awake! It was so much fun. I think if we lived there you and I would go every week.

You are such a pleasure to travel with. You have fun on the plane. You love to play in the hotel rooms and explore. You are just very adaptable to whatever we do. Like we always say, we have the best baby! I love you so much!!!!!!