Linnea is 11 Months Old!

Linnea,
Oh sweet girl.  You are simply the best.  You are happy, oh so stinkin' happy and you are MOBILE!  This month you figured out how to pull up on EVERYTHING and you just won't stop.  It is cute to see your little legs hold you up.

To be honest I am struggling a little bit with how big/old you are.  I wanted a baby for so long and then it took SO long to get pregnant and now you are here and I feel like the baby stage with you is already over.  Ugh.  But then I remember that you are here . . . here, here because we finally got pregnant, thanks to God's plan being bigger than my plan (hello moving to Stockholm and doing IVF twice for free).  You've been here for 11 months plus the 9 months in utero which means for the last 20 months you were here instead of being longed for and cried over.  So yes, it kind of sucks that you are no longer tiny and my chest is running out of room for you to sleep on but that is because you are growing and healthy and here!  Every time I think about our journey to you it just chokes me up to think that you are actually here.  I get to see your smile and kiss your cheeks and watch you grow and for that I am so very thankful.  So yes time is speeding by but at least you are here with us.

Here is what you've been up to this month!

Stats
I'm going to guess you weigh about 17 lbs and you are 29-30 inches long.  I do know you barely fit into the box this month :).

Eating
You finally have teeth! Which means you can eat more big girl foods!  You are still nursing 4 times a day (7:30, 11:30, 3:30 & 7:15) but you don't nurse for that long.  You nurse for about 8-10 minutes in the morning but the rest of the sessions are between 3-5 minutes total.

For breakfast you have oatmeal with whole milk greek yogurt and fruit mixed together.  Lunch and dinner is usually whatever we are having or canned veggies, black beans, pinto beans, bread, cheese, chicken, any kind of meat, watermelon (which you love), bananas, pears, avocado, etc.  You are slowly getting used to eating foods that can be easily squished before they make it to your mouth.
When you are done eating something you like to throw it over the side of your high chair and say "uh oh" which is cute and messy.

Towards the end of your meals you usually go through the pocket on your bib and feed yourself food that you dropped.  It is hilarious but oh so helpful!

Now that you have teeth you've also bite while nursing.  Yowza!  One night it happened several times in a row.  You typically do it if you want the milk to come down faster or at the end when you are done.  You tried biting a few times without teeth and that hurt but nothing like it hurts now.  I usually hold your hands down to your sides and say no biting and kind of put you in a time out for 30 seconds or so.  It has been better but man, I am not a fan.

Sleeping
Thankfully you returned to normal sleep habits this month.  You nap for an hour in the morning from 9:30-10:30 and then in the afternoon from 1:30-3:30 and then at night from 7:30/7:45 to 7:15 the next morning. Sometimes you wake up before 7:15 but you will usually play in your crib until your dad comes in to get you dressed.

Your morning workout apparently includes waving and squats.

We've been talking about when to take your paci away.  You only use it when you sleep.  If you see it (or can reach through the slats in your bed and grab it) you will put it in your mouth but if we take it away you don't put up much of a fuss.  We switched you to your monkey paci to possibly transition you to sleeping with a stuffed animal instead of just a paci but I think we will wait a little while until we take it away.  I don't want you to switch to your thumb and you aren't very dependent on it so I'm hoping we will be okay.

We love going in before we go to bed to pick you up and rock you while you are sleeping.  I would say it happens at least once a week.  Most of the time you sleep right through it.  Occasionally you'll wake up when we pick you up or lay you back down but you just fall right back to sleep.

Clothes
You are wearing 9-12 month clothes.  Almost all of your long pants are 12 months but shorts are 6-9 months.  You need the length of 12 months but the waist needs to be smaller for your shorts.  Your grandma took in a few pairs of shorts (just like she did for your mama when she was little).

You have some super cute dresses, rompers and other summer outfits!  I've been getting most of your clothes at Children's Orchard and Once Upon a Child which are used kids clothing stores.  The clothes look great (no stains, etc) and they aren't very expensive which is great since you aren't in them that long and you tend to get them dirty now that you can feed yourself.

You started wearing footed pajamas at night which are super cute.  When you slept in a sleep sack we felt like your feet were warmer not being in footed pjs but just in a sleep sack.  Now that you can stand and it seemed safer to have your legs free from the sleep sack.

Playtime
You still love reading books to yourself.

There are a couple of toys that you put balls in and they spin around and come down and you love playing with those.

Your dad is building a pantry for our kitchen and you think he built a jungle gym just for you.

You love walking behind your walker and picking up blocks and tossing them over the handle.  You also like to climb on the blocks and sit on them.

You love to play the piano.  For a while you only played the high notes but now you will also play the low notes.

Playing the piano with Grandma

You have started playing chase with me.  Either I will chase you or you will chase me.  You get so excited!  You also love playing hide and seek/peek-a-boo.

Apparently you are a hugger.  You loved giving hugs to us (which we LOVE) but also to your friends and cousins.  I'm not sure the feeling is always mutual.

Hugging your cousin Paislee . . .

and Connor.

I'm pretty sure this next picture makes your dad so proud . . .

playing with a light saber.

We found a slide you can go down all by yourself.  You had a great time!

Going down the slide all by yourself.

Our Days
I feel like we are getting into a nice groove for our days/weeks at home.  We've had at least one play date each week which definitely helps keep me sane.

Your new favorite face is your scrunchy face.  Since you wouldn't smile I decided to join you.  

We've been regularly going to a free workout class that also has free childcare.  The class is twice a week during the school year and three times a week during the summer.  The last three weeks or so you haven't cried when I've dropped you off which has been SO good for my heart.

Our days are definitely best when we have some kind of outing or activity scheduled.  Running errands isn't much fun because you aren't as happy sitting in your car seat/stroller/shopping cart as you used to be.  Now that you can crawl quickly and pull up on things you like to explore instead of just watch although you do like all the people oohing and aahing over you at the store.  You are also really good a waving hi and bye now without much delay.

We were able to get together with our new friends that we met at Rhyme Time at the library.  All of you are within a month of each other and it is so fun to see you girls play together.

At the beginning of the month I did an online course called Make Over Your Evenings by the Money Saving Mom Crystal Paine and it was really great.  It was a 14 day course with an eBook and 3-5 minute daily videos and a project.  I bought the course on sale for $7.  Best $7 I've spent in a long time!  Each day was only about 15 minutes of work but it really helped make our day to day lives less stressful and more intentional.  The first few days especially helped me to just figured out what I felt frustrated/overwhelmed/stressed about and helped me figure out how to take back some control.  Every night before bed I make a checklist with 3-5 things on it to help me know what to focus on the next day.  I try to always include something relaxing like reading or talking to a friend.  Before the course I felt like your nap times were supposed to be either productive or relaxing and I often walked into your room after your nap time and I didn't feel like I did either.  But after taking the course I feel more productive and like I had time to relax/refuel.

I also started doing regular cleaning each week.  On Mondays we usually take it easier since our weekends have been so busy.  On Tuesdays I do Toilet Tuesday when I clean the bathrooms (not just the toilets), desk and mint (a financial and budgeting website) day on Wednesday, Lesson/Meal plan day on Thursday and Floor Fridays.  I felt like I was always cleaning dirty bathrooms and floors until I started this schedule and now instead of feeling like they are always dirty I can stay on top of it instead of feeling like I'm always behind.  I don't actually plan lessons on Thursday :) but that was always our team meeting day when I was teaching so now I fill out our calendar for the next week, plan meals and do online grocery shopping on Thursday so it is taken care of before the weekend.  This has CHANGED my attitude and productivity in HUGE ways!

Activities and Outings
At the beginning of the month we met Erin McGonigle in Downtown KC for First Fridays.  We walked all around, ate food from a food truck and then the plan was for you to fall asleep in your stroller.  Well you had other plans.  You ended up staying awake until 10:30 that night.  You were happy as could be as long as we weren't trying to get you to sleep in your stroller.  You loved looking at the lights on the side of the hotel and watching the fireworks.

Bedtime?  Why would I sleep when I can look at the fountains and climb Erin's stairs?

We went to Worlds of Fun with my side of the family and you feel asleep in your stroller which hardly ever happens!

Roommates Reunion! Man, I am so lucky to have my college roommates as some of my best friends!  Emily and Jami and their families were able to stay at our house one weekend.  We had a blast with 6 adults and 5 kids.  Kelli and Ryan weren't able to come and they were definitely missed!  We went to Deanna Rose Farmstead and to Fritz's for dinner.  You LOVED watching the train go around the ceiling.

Linnea already looks up to Olivia.

This might be my very favorite video.  You were watching the train and then caught your daddy and got distracted!  Ha!  I get it, I really do!

 These pictures crack me up and remind me of the ones we took as sophomores in college.  Please ignore my Mary Tyler Moore hair :).

We went to Me and Mini Me swim with Jan, Avery and Leighton.  I think you liked it but it was pretty cold and your teeth (which you didn't have at the time) were chattering which was pretty cute.

Leighton saying Linnea's name, Nea.

We went to Leighton's 2nd birthday party which was fun.

We met Okalani!  She is super cute and I have a feeling you are going to have all kinds of fun with Okalani and Zion in the future.

We went to Chelsea and Kyle's wedding in Topeka with your grandparents.  You napped at Connie's house (which was awesome! Thank you Connie!) during the wedding but you went to the reception.  You danced with your dad and I think the father of the bride speech and the father/daughter dance caught your dad off guard.  He was not ready to think about all those big milestones so quickly!

All the grandparents spent the night one night.  You are a well loved little girl!

On your 11 month birthday we watched your cousin Jace play in a baseball tournament.  It was a lot of fun.  It reminded me of all the days/weekends I spent on the ball fields watching my dad and brother play ball.

Firsts and New Skills
My first Mother's day and you wouldn't smile for a picture.  The girl who is always smiling.  Little stinker!  You made me a mama and I wouldn't have it any other way!

For American Mother's Day your dad made Swedish pancakes and for Swedish Mother's Day we went out for brunch because we thought it wouldn't be so crowded and it was great!  Yes, we celebrated both Mother's days and as far as I'm concerned we will continue doing that!

You got two teeth!  I would say for the most part teething wasn't a big deal except for about 2 weeks before your teeth came in you woke up 3 nights in a row.  Other than that you were good to go :).

You are pulling up on EVERYTHING!  You can pull up on chairs, coffee tables, the window sill, toys, boxes full of your books, your walking toy and you can also pull up on the front door, our legs and other things that don't have an edge.  You can walk along the couch or from a toy to the piano.  You've started squatting down to pick up a toy and then stand back up again so you only have one hand holding on to something.  I feel like it is only a matter of time before you start walking.

Pulling up and telling me stories.

At Chelsea's wedding you stood for a few seconds without holding on to anything.

You've climbed some stairs but for the most part you don't really know/remember that we have stairs.  I've been trying to keep you off our stairs and so far it is working but I think it is only a matter of time.

We caught your first few steps on video!  Your dad was showing you how to pull up behind your walking toy and the next thing we knew you started pushing it and walking!  Now you walk all over the living room with it.

I can't believe we caught your first steps ever on camera, hence the yelling!

You might have a little bit of your dad's adventurous side.

You started growling this month which is weird and kinda creepy.  It is deep and definitely catches us off guard.

You can say "uh oh."  Sometimes you will say it in the correct context (when you/we drop something) but other times you will say it when you purposefully throw your food on the floor or randomly when you are playing and nothing actually happened (although that is rare).

Remember
I want to remember you crawling over to me and then up my legs and then trying to crawl/climb onto my lap.

I love that you can show me that you want me to hold you.  Your little hugs around my neck are the best!

Sometimes your dad and I will play a game where one of us will hold you and ask if you want mama or dada.  You often go back and forth between us but every once in a while you will just want mama or just want dada.

I want to remember the feeling of you on my chest at night when we sneak in to grab a few snuggles.

We love you so much sweet girl.  I can't believe you will be one the next time I write your monthly post.

Love,
Your Mama