14 Months

We made it another month! I say "made it" because we had our first airplane trip with a baby and Chloe's second Halloween. Both events went really well, and I'll post more about the trip later. We also went to an event thrown by Atlanta Parent Magazine called the Family Block Party where Chloe got to play in the toddler area and visit a petting zoo!

"Don't let go daddy!"

I'm glad I got over watching for baby milestones early. It's so easy to get sucked into "She/He should be walking/smiling/clapping/talking/whatever right now...there's a chart that says so!" The problem with that though is everyone grows differently. It's nice to have the general knowledge of when things are "supposed" to happen to identify issues, but I'm SO glad I don't check it all of time to figure Chloe out. I did get caught up in the height/weight charts for a while because Chloe was always thinner than she "should have been", but once I learned that my baby was going to eat as much as she wanted and that was normal (even when it wasn't that much) and that her weight being lower than the "norm" was normal for her, I got over it. She is supposedly taller than "normal" too but that sounds about right. I was a little gangly skinny-mini when I was younger too.

Halloween was fun! We didn't do much of anything, but I did find a little wand and tiara to pair with a purple dress Chloe got for her birthday and voila, instant princess. The plan was to have her "help" me give candy out, but this munchkin is too nosy for things of that nature. The night quickly became a game of me taking as many pictures as I could and her getting herself into whatever she could and then getting to the door as fast as she could so she could stand in it with me when trick-or-treaters arrived. She didn't actually hand out any candy and I ended up having to move the candy dish from her reach to avoid giving people slightly baby-chewed candy. While it would have worked for most of the items, I'm pretty sure people would have objected to eating soggy boxes of Nerds. The night pressed on, it got dark (way early!) and she went to bed before the people stopped coming to our door. I'll call it a success as we got rid of most of the candy I bought and all the banana Laffy Taffy (ick!) we already had.

She's climbin'  in ya candy dish,
snatchin' up ya Snickers, so hide
ya candy, hide ya sweets!

Fabulously happy princess

The best full outfit shot I got...

Chloe: *drops wand, walks away*

No doctor's appointments for check-ups this month, but there was a follow up for her ear infections. Everything was normal and all better! I'm very happy we didn't need to start thinking about tubes for her ears. I've read that they aren't that big of a deal to have put in and they immediately fix the issues that lead to chronic ear infections, but I generally prefer not to have strangers all up in my body. She did get her first flu shot though, and will need to go back for the booster. I'm also learning how to deal with another person's skin issues. Chloe's skin is sensitive to being dry, and it dries out quickly. It'd be one thing if I knew she could handle coconut oil (my go-to for everything skin related...it clears everything up when I use it, and helps scars and things heal super fast), but the first time I used it on her skin she broke out from it. Maybe I will try it again soon, but at the moment I use a shea butter and extra virgin olive oil mix (which could use more olive oil in it...oops) for her hair and Cetaphil cream and Dove soap for her skin. It works well enough for right now.

Baby "artwork"!

Chloe is a genius! I'm sure every parent believes this at some point or another during the existence of their children, but I'm for real. For real, for real. Ok, so her genius status hasn't been tested officially or anything, but I still enjoy watching all the lights turn on in her brain. Her dexterity is awesome and she's understanding the associations between things. She has several toys that have a button with a music note on them and I'm pretty sure she knows what to expect when she pushes those buttons. She has also realized that they all cycle through the songs they have on them, and she will keep pushing those buttons until she gets a song she wants. For her birthday, she got some blocks that are shapes and a container to put them in. The lid on the container is meant to teach her about the different shapes and that they fit in certain holes, but she just takes the lid off and does what she wants. She also got a singing piggy bank for her birthday, and gets a delighted giggle going whenever she manages to get the coins into it all by herself. It's very entertaining to watch, and really funny when she gets frustrated and just hands things to me instead, but then still tries to do the task herself. She has also officially hit the high-pitched screaming phase of growing up. It's not bad so far, and usually only happens at home and for short periods of time, but man, those 4 second increments of life lost are crazy!

On an airplane for the first time!

I'm excited that Chloe's hair is starting to get long enough to style! Ok, so it was long enough before for basic things with the little barrettes and clips I have, but I mean the "Million Bows and Puffs" style or the "Hey, Look At How I Have 5 Ponytails In Random Places" style that little Black girls tend to have. Now I have to figure out what kind of bows work the best. I bought a pack of skinny, non-damaging elastic bows but they are still too big for the types of little ponytails I want to do. One day I'll head to the beauty supply store and pick up an assortment to try. Really, I like her little afro the most anyway. I don't even mind when little sections of it curl up into "naps" (I don't call them that, but that's what they get called). If I could finger or comb coil it I would, but she still has a wide area in the back that is growing in super slowly and I don't think the style would look that great with a chunk missing. I'm really interested in the growth of that area too...not just because it'd be nice if her hair would grow evenly, but because hair growth "problems" like that are usually attributed to the baby laying on it's back to nap and sleep. Chloe usually sleeps on her face though (or...however she ends up). In the end, it's going to grow in however and whenever it wants to, so I'll have to wait and see.

Chloe like trucks! Time to get her some....

Thanksgiving is approaching! While I definitely enjoy the holiday (free food AND an extra day off of work? FTW!) and am looking forward to this year's installment of family fun I am a little disappointed that we wont be able to travel like we wanted to. I have family in the Midwest I would love to visit and have meet Chloe, but the timing wont work for us this year :-(. My mother also passed away two years ago on Black Friday, so there's that to deal with as well. Approaching the date has been a little rough this year, but hopefully I'll pull through again. I'm so blessed and happy that I have lots of family and friends nearby that are helpful and loving and supportive to me during times like these. A plus for this year though, Chloe will get to enjoy the food this time! I'm sure she is going to have a blast...and then the next month will bring Christmas!!

10-13 Months

Posting late, as usual, but Chloe is 10 11 12 13 months old! Yes, this time it was so late, Chloe had her birthday! I was going to write 2 posts before this one and then a 13 months post, but forget it. It's hard to find time for much outside of working and taking care of a family, so you get what you get :-P! I did realize that it will be harder and harder for me to remember all of the the things I've been writing here as time goes on though, so I need to get back to it, especially when it's only once a month. We'll see what happens though.

They say that this time moves really fast, and THEY ARE RIGHT. It seemed like she was getting bigger and learning something new every single day. The growing process has gradually slowed down some...we are still using size 3 diapers when I thought we would have gotten way past them by now. I figured things would slow down eventually, but I wasn't sure when. She is just now getting big enough for a "big girl car seat" which is pretty cool. I already have one picked out (the Evenflo Maestro) so all we have to do is order it/go buy it! Well, two of them...this switching the seat between the cars hasn't been too bad, but it will be nice to finally be able to leave it in there all the time. Plus, we think she would really enjoy facing forward now.

4th of July!

Done by this point. I think
she was mad at the fireworks
for keeping her awake.
Still a fun day though!

Getting through the first year was amazing. We made it! Our baby is happy, healthy...and still alive...time to celebrate! They say the first birthday party isn't really about the baby...it's a reason to celebrate and all, but it's more for the parents than anyone else. Which was true. Face it, little kids (babies) can't hang! We had all kinds of burgers, hot dogs, beer and wine (there were NO other babies/kids there, lol) and sat around catching up. Chloe wasn't feeling well at her party and gave up right around cake time. We had to redo the "baby smash cake" photo op on her actual birthday. I'm not sure if she didn't like it or if she didn't know what to make of it, but there was minimal smash and lots of staring. She managed to eat a little of it though.

Somebody started walking right around her birthday! She managed to take the first few steps while we were on our way out of town for the National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, NC. I think she decided to take some time and get her balance and everything together, and then really started cruising a couple of weeks after. She could basically walk on her birthday, but kept cruising in between people and objects until one day she just let go and that was it! She still occasionally crawls shorter distances, but it's all about the walking now!

Watching her work out the cause and effect of something is more of an event than I'd ever thought it would be. A couple of months or so ago, she started trying to figure out what the buttons on a Playstation 3 controller do, instead of just trying to push them all and put the controller in her mouth. I'm pretty sure she hasn't put together what each button does yet, but just the exploration alone will help with that. You can definitely tell when she's deeply observing something to figure it out, and watching all the little light bulbs turn on is amazing. I'm pretty sure a lot of people say this, but I really could just stare at her all day and be happy with my life (as long as everything else is being taken care of while I'm staring).

Beating the system...

Daycare has brought lots of great things and a few not-so-fun things into our lives. Chloe still seems to be the favorite in her class...which is interesting. On one hand, it's kind of nice to be the parent of the favorite kid, but I think she does get spoiled a little and fussed over more than others. It was a joke that she would be/is a diva, but it might be something that is happening. Help! Either way, she seems happy with her teachers and still nonchalant to the other babies. They tell me she plays with who she wants to, so I guess she's made a couple of friends. Now, when school started back, we got ALL THE GERMS. I didn't think that would even really affect us this early, but sure enough new babies started when school did and they turned our immune systems upside down! It seems like either all three of us are sick at the same time or just one or two, but almost never none. Our place is often one of quarantine...complete with soup, cold medicine suited to varying symptoms and lots and lots of Puffs (Plus Lotion...I don't play with my nose). We are exploring some things to fix that and keep ourselves healthy...hopefully they work. I'M TIRED OF BEING SICK.

Aww...lil sick baby :-(

She had her 12 month checkup a few days after her birthday. She was 30 inches tall, 19 pounds and her head was 17.5 inches around. She got some more shots, was cleared for the switch from formula to milk and everything was normal. I'm glad, because we'd experienced her first ear infection right before her birthday. She ended up getting sick again with another one a little while later. The second one drew some concern because it happened so soon after the first one, and she ended up having a fever for longer, but it eventually got better. We haven't seen another yet, so we're really happy about that. The doctor told us she was getting them from being so congested all the time (from the aforementioned germ infestation), so I traded one of her birthday gifts (she already had it) for a vaporizer (and a baby cell phone ^_^). It has really seemed to help...whenever I use it she sleeps much more soundly. Our water sucks though, apparently. I have to keep adding salt to the water when I use the vaporizer to get the dern thing to work. Oh well, whatever it takes.

Overalls!

Being this particular little baby's mama is kinda awesome. She started to repeat things (actions and "words") and hands us almost everything she picks up. Her personality is coming through more and more and it's so interesting to observe. She is such a little crowd pleaser! I figured she wouldn't have all of my awkwardness since The Husband is a performer (although I am too, but you wouldn't be able to tell), but she really puts on for people when she's in the mood. It's the cutest thing too, smiling and throwing back her head in glee and waving and blowing kisses and dancing. She keeps us laughing with (and at) her.

Sock flail!