Up, Up and Away!

There are so many posts sitting in my drafts folder. Oops! Let's get some of these published. We'll start with Baby C's first birthday party, because parties are lots of fun! 

We decided on a hot air balloon theme for Baby C's first birthday. Mostly because I wanted an excuse to make a little "hot air balloon" and put a baby in a basket. Adorable!

A first birthday at our house wouldn't be complete without a monthly picture birthday banner (or three). 

Add some mason jar hot air balloons.

And one chocolate chocolate cake for the birthday girl and cupcakes for her guests and we were set for a pretty low key party with family and friends.

I also set up a little hot air balloon project for the little guests, and a few bigger guests too.

Baby C's masterpiece that she made in advance.

We had a beautiful (if kind of hot) day for the party. Yay for a summer birthday! The kids all had fun running around the back yard and the grown ups hung out on the deck. 

Now for the best part, the cake! I didn't let Miss A or Little J have much for sweets before they turned one and on their first birthday they didn't have too much interest in their cake. Catherine, on the other hand, has gotten more than a few sweet bites during her first year and I think it shows by her interest in her cake. She was pretty serious when it came to cake time (probably because I had to wake her up from a little nap to eat... the other kids were getting a little restless), but she sure did love the cake!

I love this dive right in to the cake!

It was a fun day celebrating our sweet girl with family and friends! Happy birthday sweet 1 year old. I suppose I should stop calling you baby soon.

Baby C: 12 Months

How is my baby one?! More thoughts on that to come, but for now, Baby C's last monthly update. Woo hoo for making it through a full year (and actually the only one of the the girls that got her picture taken on the correct day each month!). 

Personality: Similar to last month's update, Baby C is overall quite happy but also demanding. She likes to be carried around. I think she doesn't want to miss out on the action. I still think she would be an even happier girl if she would start moving, but there's still no crawling happening.

Likes: Me. Daddy. Her sisters. Watching her sisters dance. Being carries around. Throwing herself backward. Eating. Playing peek-a-boo. Kicking her legs around. Trying to pull everything out of our office supply drawer. Bath time. Ice cream. Putting her fingers in my mouth when I'm feeding her. Swinging.

Dislikes: Tummy time. Bearing weight on her legs. Letting her feet touch the ground. While we were at the cabin she used her cousin's walker, and she would sit in the walker with her legs up most of the time. She tried moving around in the walker a little bit, but only mastered reverse. She also seems to get overwhelmed if other little kids get too close to her (especially Miss A, who can be a little intense).

Eating: Baby girl loves to eat. She is getting a little more selective about what she wants to eat, but eats well overall. In the past week or so she has lost interest in both bottles and sippy cups, but does love my water bottle with a straw so we'll be getting some baby straw cups soon. I'm down to nursing her just twice most days and hope to be totally done in the next couple of weeks.

Sleeping: Awesome. Baby C is sleeping solid 8-10 hour stretches at night, waking up around 6:30am most days. Most days I can nurse her at 6:30am and get her back to sleep for a couple more hours. It's wonderful, and really frees up our mornings because she doesn't need a morning nap those days. In general her nap time continues to be very flexible.

Stats: I'll update after her well child visit! I'm hoping to hear she's gaining well!

Baby C: 11 Months

This month's post is coming a little late, but I couldn't miss sharing a quick update of Baby C one month before she turns 1! Seriously, how did that happen?!

Personality: This has been a hard month with our baby girl. She is super clingy right now. As in, wants to be carried and entertained by me allll the time. If I am playing with her and giving her my undivided attention, she is one happy girl. If I put her down to play, she is not happy. Carrying her in the Ergo does not count. She has started clapping this month, and she will often start clapping if Miss A or Little J come in the room. Super cute! She also clapped at all the fireworks on the 4th of July. Also super cute!

Likes: Being carried around. Playing with the remote control, keys and my phone. Laughing at the baby in the mirror. Bath time. Being tickled. Watching her big sisters. Tipping herself upside down. Riding in the wagon.

Dislikes: Being put down. Tummy time (she still frequently screams if put on her tummy, so still no crawling).

Eating: This little girl loves to eat! Strangely, she's been loving any meat we give her, especially taco and fajita meat. I thought it might be a little spicy for her, but she much prefers fajita chicken to grilled chicken. She'll still eat pureed food, but she seems to prefer to eat what we're eating. Often it seems she is eating more than her big sisters. Also, a baby eating watermelon is about the cutest thing I've ever seen. Pictures to come... someday ;).

Sleeping: Baby girl is sleeping so well right now. Nice 10+ hour stretches at night, which means I am a well rested Mama. So thankful for that! Her naps are a little crazy during the day which is totally my fault. We don't have much routine to our days right now, but she seems to be hanging in there, taking naps when she can.

Baby C: 10 Months

Baby girl continues to grow and grow. I'm not sure that her size has actually changed much, but she can do and seems to understand more by the day. And she finally has teeth! He bottom two (sharp!) teeth poked through right as she reached 10 months. 

Personality: Baby C is still just about the sweetest little girl. This month she's been really interested in watching her big sisters, and laughing at the silly things they do. They provide endless entertainment. Both Miss A and Little J have also been more interested in Baby C this month, I think because they get more of a reaction from her.

Likes: Her sisters. Laughing at her sisters. She bounces and smiles when she really likes what they're doing. The neighbor girls love when she does that. People saying, "da da" and trying to say it back. Clapping along with us. Trying to wave. Sitting in the grocery cart like a big girl. Being tickled. Emptying buckets of toys.

Dislikes: Tummy time. She may never crawl. Being left alone in a room.

Eating: Baby C is doing really well trying new foods. She'll try most foods we give her, though some get spit right back out, and then sometimes thrown on the floor.

Sleeping: Sleeping is great! Baby C is sleeping from about 8pm to 5 or 6am almost every day and it's wonderful. Some mornings she goes back to sleep after I feed her, sometimes she stays up. She takes a shorter morning nap and normally a nice, long afternoon nap, but it's hard to stick to a schedule because we have a lot of other plans. I sometimes find her on her tummy in her crib which is funny because normally if I put her on her tummy she screams.

Baby C: 9 Months

Personality: Baby girl continues to have the best gummy smiles, and generally be a sweet baby. The crying is still increased, at least until someone picks her up. She's happy to be carried around by E or I, but is growing more weary of strangers. She does well when I drop her off at Kid Stuff at the Y, but once she sees me coming back to pick her up she gets very upset about being with the teachers. 

Likes: Pink elephant blankie from Nana. Playing with toys (well, taking them out of the basket). Eating big girls foods (especially blueberries). Bath time. Watching her big sisters run around. Tipping herself upside down when being held.

Dislikes: Sitting by herself for more than five minutes. Being alone in a room. Strangers. If she wants to be picked up she cries and puts her hands up by her ears. For the first couple of days she was doing this I worried that her ears were bothering her, but no, that's just her go to move when she really want to be picked up.

Eating: Baby C loves eating finger foods. Crackers, puffs, blueberries, strawberries, bananas and pretty much anything else we give her to try. Well, at least she'll try it once. 

Sleeping: Baby girl is sleeping very nice stretches at night. She likes an early bedtime, sometime around 7:30 or 8pm, then sleeps until between 5-6am. Some mornings she goes back to sleep for another hour or two, otherwise she stays up for a couple of hours, then takes a short nap. She naps again for a longer time in the afternoon, and sometimes takes another shorter nap before dinner. 

Stats: 19 lbs, .5 oz and 27 inches. Ahh... this was the hard part of the month. I took Baby C in for her 9 month check up and she really didn't grow much between 6 and 9 months. She gained just over a pound and grew just a quarter of an inch (dropping her down to the 23rd percentile in height, way off her growth curve and strange for our babies so far). Her pediatrician was a little worried about her height gain, so she did tested her thyroid. The tests came back normal, but I still can't help but worry about her a little. She's down to the  Hopefully she'll go through a growth spurt soon and I'll be able to relax.

2015 Week 14

Baby C loves bath time. Even if she's grumpy she cheers right up in the tub. I've tried adding her to the bath with Miss A and Little J, but she prefers her solo baths for now. She likes playing with the cups and toys and kicking her feet. She smiles and laughs the whole time, making bath time one of my favorite times too! After her time in the tub is done she likes to get wrapped up in her towel and check out the baby in the mirror. So funny. 

Baby C: 8 Months

This month has flown by. Wow! How is Baby C 8 months old now? 

Personality: Baby C continues to be quite sweet, but there has been a lot more crying over the past month. I think she has realized that crying gets her more attention. She has been a little more clingy and wants me to carry her around more, so the Ergo is getting a lot more use. If I'm holding her, she's a pretty happy girl, giving out big gummy smiles all the time (still no teeth).

Likes: Her big sisters. Attention from neighborhood kids. Being outside (hooray for warm weather, or at least occasional warm weather). Being held up in the air/flying. Kisses on her cheeks and neck. Being tickled (especially her tummy and armpits). Bath time and bath toys. The baby in the mirror. Being held. Her car seat and elephant blankie that Nana made. Eating.

Dislikes: Being put down for more than a few minutes. Socks. Not being able to move. Being on her tummy.

Eating: We haven't found anything that Baby C won't eat yet. She likes pureed bananas, squash, peas, green beans, pears, apples, chicken, blueberries, sweet potatoes... a whole mix of things. She has a hard time with puffs, but she loves crackers, especially graham crackers which she turns in to a gooey mess. We went in to urgent care with pink eye yesterday and she was over 19 pounds. Way to grow, Baby C!

Sleeping: Overall, sleep has been good. I very much appreciate that. She gets tired pretty early now and goes to be for the night around 7:30pm. E still gives her a bottle before bed, but she only drinks an ounce or two now before going to bed so one of us has been feeding her another few ounces when we go to bed around 10pm. Most night she then sleeps until between 5-6:30am. Sometimes she wakes up in the middle of the night but she falls back asleep if we replace her pacifier. During the day she takes a morning nap between 9-10am and another, longer afternoon nap. I've been trying do her afternoon nap in the crib which will work for an hour or so. If I move her to the swing after that hour she will usually fall back asleep for another hour or more.

Baby C: 7 Months

It was a busy month for Baby C. First flight, 5 days with just Mommy and Daddy, sitting up and first foods. My sweet girl is becoming such a big baby!

Personality: A happy girl with big gummy smiles! I can't count the number of times I was stopped in Austin because people wanted to see my adorable girl. She has the sweetest chubby cheeks!

Likes: Sitting up! I'm so happy. I love the sitting but not yet mobile stage. Playing with toys (or dumping them out/throwing them off her high chair). Her hands and feet. Bath time. Blowing raspberries. Fake coughing. Food! Being tickled. Kisses. Watching her big sisters.

Dislikes: Being left in a room alone (unless she's tired). Playing with the same toys for more than 5 minutes. Her winter hat. Tipping over. Not getting food fast enough.

Eating: As I shared in my Week 8 post, Baby C had her first foods this month and she loves them. So far she's had pureed butternut squash, carrots, banana, apple and pear. My Ninja Ultima has made making baby food so, so easy. I've been using the single serving cups to quickly puree bananas, plus the large pitcher to make bigger batches like the butternut squash. I'm sure I'll be mixing up many more things because baby girl loves her food. I think the purees might also be helping extend her sleep, which makes for a very happy Mama.

Sleeping: We've had a really nice week of sleep this week (hello 9pm to 5am!) but the month has been hit or miss in the sleep department. She'll have a day of sleeping like a rock star, then up a bunch the next night. We spent 4 nights in Austin, 3 nights at my dad's house and had some visitors this month, so we were a little out of our routine. We're traveling one night this week but after that I think we have at least a month at home which I hope will help get her sleeping through the night consistently.

All 3 of my girls! Miss A wanted in on Baby C's 7 month pictures, so naturally Little J did to. Love them!