9 & 10 Months Old

Yikes... this has been sitting in my Drafts for WAY WAY WAY too long.

I can't believe that this sweet girl is 10 months old. The summer flew by and I held onto every last moment with her before school started. It was so nice to have a break from work and see her grow into her personality. She is such a ham and has both her mommy and daddy wrapped around her finger. Many times a day Tom and I stop and say, "I just love her so much." I don't think anything prepared us for the immense love of parenthood. 

Brynn has perfected the crawl! If she sees something she wants, she is there in a second. If you turn your head she is pulling up on something. And usually something other than her toys. Her favorite "no Brynns" are the fireplace, the end table {on wheels}, the entertainment center with daddy's sound bar and the white chest in the living room. Playtime consists of chasing after her and redirecting or walking her back to the play area. 

In the last post we predicted she would be walking before her 1st birthday. I stand by that statement because she took her first steps last weekend. One step and now she is up to 3 small steps. She takes a bit to find her balance but then she falls our way with a few steps of her feet. It is the cutest thing. She is so proud of herself and so our we. She's going to be full on walking in no time. And it will be another game changer.

Brynn is still infatuated with anything that makes noise, sings or lights up. She has recently become fond of stuffed animals & dolls. Brynn's Memaw gave her the sweetest crocheted doll and she loves it. We give it to her in the carseat and she talks to her the entire car ride.  It is a constant tug o war with the "babies" and Kali. We have had to wash a few because Kali was raised on stuffed animal babies all to herself and now thinks they are all for her. WRONGO! 

Speaking of Kali, our first baby... She has definitely taken the back seat. I feel so bad but I will say, she is so good with Brynn. At first she wanted nothing to do with her and would walk away whenever she came close. But now she lets Brynn climb on her and they play tug o war with the babies. Kali is so soft, I think she thinks it's fun! 

Brynn has definitely found her voice. The past few months I felt like she was in an observing stage, taking everything in but turning a little quiet. Not anymore. She is chatting up a storm. Lots of babble and it is the SWEETEST sound. Her first word was Dada. But she has also said Mama. It was the most amazing feeling. She had pulled up on my legs and we were working on walking and she said it. I cried. I hugged her. It was amazing. I love being a mama.

Brynn still has her two snaggle teeth. Good grief those little things are sharp! No more chewing on our fingers. We had been giving her celery and apple chunks to chew on when she was teething, or to distract her when we were fixing dinner, but not anymore. I gave her an apple chunk in the bumpo while making dinner and she used those two little teeth and bit through the entire chunk. It scared me.  I also was reassured about feeding all the table foods, knowing what she could do with only 2 teeth.

At her 9 month appointment the Dr. gave us the go ahead to start any table foods that could be mashed. I didn't think of myself as a planner but when she gave the ole "I'm not going to tell you how much or when to feed your baby" I panicked. I wanted to know how much of each food and what time to feed her. We quickly figured out a good routine. We wake up and she has breakfast; usually oatmeal and a 1/4 cup of fruit. Then we play and she has her first bottle before her morning nap, anywhere from 9- 10am and sleeps for 1-2 hours. She eats lunch around 12-1pm; a protein (babyfood meat) 1/4-1/2c veggie and 1/4c fruit. We play and then she takes her afternoon nap. The another bottle when she wakes up. This is her long stretch of playtime before dinner around 6 or 6:30;  a protein (babyfood meat) 1/4-1/2c veggie and 1/4c fruit. I recently started mixing cooked chicken pieces in with the jarred food. She's done so well for only having two teeth. We are going to have no problems weaning her off the bottles at a year. She loves her food! She is constantly reaching for anything we are eating. Luckily no food allergies. She's even had a few bites of peanut butter. {i know.. new research is showing the earlier you give them p. butter, the less likely they are to acquire the allergy. But you can find research for any side you believe.}

Brynn is still sleeping through the night. We put her down anywhere from 6:30 -8pm. She gets tired early and we feel there is no reason to fight it. She's a trooper if we are out though.. but sometimes the car rides home are full of meltdowns! She sleeps through the night until 6:40am when I take her to my moms. Brynn loves her sleep. I love the early bedtimes. It allows Tom and I some along time before he leaves for work and then I get Mama time when Daddy leaves.

When nesting/decorating Brynn's nursery I put my baby blanket in a basket. Mostly for decoration and filler. But when it got cold there were a few night we would lay it over her she snuggled to it as much as she could all swaddled up. Of course when summer came, the blanket went back in the closet. Somehow it was thrown into the hamper and went through the laundry. Brynn was "helping" me fold laundry and when she saw the blanket she pulled it down and started snuggling to it. She remembered the blanket!!! Luckilly I had my camera/phone right there to capture this special moment with her mommy's blanket. I cried! {thebottompicture} Guess it's not mine anymore. Now she can't sleep without it.