Greta at 15 months

My little girl is growing up at super speed now that she turned one. I can't believe she's 15 months already. It dawned on me that she hasn't been into the doctors for a well baby exam in quite some time. I really think those visits are worthless but she was due for her second flu shot so I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone. The doctor was going through the list of questions "Can she stack two blocks?", "Can she say three words?", I was saying yes to all of them. Then she gets to "Is she walking well?". I answered "Nope, not yet". The doc was shocked. I had to explain that Greta's older brother wasn't walking until 15-16 months and that I wasn't worried at all. The doctor then did a bunch of typing on her little lap top and I then remembered why I dislike well baby visits so much. The unneeded worrying. I know my child is right on track for her development, I don't need them telling me any different. I'll get off my soapbox now.

As if Greta knew something was up, she took three steps yesterday on her own. I'm so proud of her! Go Greta!

 

 Greta 15 month percentiles:

Weight: 24 lbs 4 oz (66%)

Height: 30.25 in (39%)

Head Circumference:  48.5 cm (97%)

Greta's First Year

My little girl's first year, boy how it went by quickly. My favorite picture was the ten month photo. 

Birth

Month one

Month two

Month three

Month four

Month five

Month six

Month seven

Month eight

Month nine

Month ten

Month eleven

Month twelve

Month Twelve: Happy Birthday!

Dear Greta,
You turn one year old today. My how this year has flown by. My little girl is growing up too fast. You are just the light of my life and can't imagine our family without you and your mischievous little grin. One year ago today at precisely 10:49 am you came into this world and made our little family of three into a family of four. Things were crazy in the beginning (as they usually are) but we quickly settled into a routine. Months went by and you grew into a bubbly, happy baby. Things got easier and life returned to normal (or at least a new kind of normal). Now you can move and move you do! You get where ever you need to be and are thrilled with the mobile developments. You are my little miss independent! Oh and you love your older brother. You light up around him and follow his every move, scooting around as fast as you can to keep up with him. I know you can't wait until the day you can run with him. Your father and I absolutely adore you and can't wait to see you turn into an amazing woman. Happy Birthday little one!

Now for the pictures. I have fourteen pictures to share, and that's down from about fifty. So it's a tad picture heavy. It's not every day your little girl turns one. :)



Granny Randi and Papa Rich came all the way from New Mexico, and they shall never leave...I won't let them.


The youngins all posed for this picture right on the giant crack where we had foundation work done. Classy eh?


The rare photo of the elusive ones known as Josh and Jessica. Might be the only picture I have.


The birthday girl with her knitted blanket from Noni. Thanks Mom, you did a beautiful job!


All the youngins got in on the present opening action, even wee Emery.


She's my little doll face.


Family photo time (thanks for taking the pic Jessica)!


Happy smile time with old Mom.


Emery posing for the camera, with Blake's sexy legs in the background...oh la la


The hat lasted about two seconds


Cake


Cake face

Month Eleven

One more month and we'll be celebrating a birthday! Gosh the time flies. Every month that goes by gets easier and easier.

-Greta is mellowing out and not screaming at everyone she sees anymore. This is happy news for our poor Postmaster. Whenever we used to go to the post office she took one look at Ralph and her eyes would well up with tears and then scream her fool head off. I'm really happy that phase is on the way out. My hearing is returning in my right ear.

-Greta is still not mobile in the sense that she doesn't crawl or walk yet. She does get around though by scooting her butt around on the hard wood floors. She's starting to try and pull herself up on objects.

-The sleep routine has gotten super easy, she's a fantastic sleeper. She goes from 9pm until around 9am without waking. I feel like I put in my time with her in the beginning and I'm finally getting a pay off. Naps are wonderful too, she sleeps for about two hours in the afternoon.

-Teething has been really rough on this little lady. I can always tell when one is coming in without looking in her mouth because she just screams and gets a bad diaper rash. Wesley never had any issues with teething, in fact I couldn't even tell when a tooth came in. It's amazing how different children can be. She now has her two top front teeth and her two bottom teeth in.

-She moved out of her infant car seat and into a convertible one last week. I shopped around and found the Britax Marathon seats on closeout on Amazon, they were about $80 off their original price with free shipping. A heck of a deal. So now she's chillin out in her obnoxious cow print seat. I love it!


Look at those pearly whites (and constant drool)!

Wesley is thoroughly enjoying the fact that Sissy is starting to interact with him.

Month Ten

Boy was this a big month for Miss Greta!

-She's officially sleeping through the night. It took ten long months but she's finally sleeping from 9 pm until 7 am. I forgot how simply wonderful a full nights sleep is. The key to her sleeping is nothing more than a cheap little pink fleece blanket. I started giving it to her when she was sleeping in her swing during her first cold. She developed a bond with this blanket and needs it to sleep. If the blanket is not within her grasp when she wakes up during the night she'll cry until she has it again.

-She's moved into size 4 diapers. If you would have told me that one day I'd have two children in diapers one size apart (Wes is in size 5) I would have laughed in your face. On the positive side though, Wesley is taking to potty training so maybe I'll only need to be buying one kid diapers soon. Oh happy day!

-Greta is moving into the more adventurous side of eating. I'm buying less and less baby food jars and she's trying new foods like plain yogurt with chopped up fruit in it, shredded cheese and we're going to try hard boiled egg yolk this week. We've also found that if we'd like a nice quiet dinner to just pour a pile of baby oatmeal on her tray and she'll stick her gooey wet hands in it and lick it off her fingers. She'll do that for like 15 minutes completely content. Until last week when we discovered this treat, we hadn't had a quiet dinner in three years.

-Greta is not yet crawling but she gets around. I'll set her on the hardwood floor and she'll scoot her little hiney backward with her hands. She'll keep herself quite busy doing this, moving from toy to toy. Yesterday I was at the computer and she decided to scoot herself back to the couch and then fold herself under it. I found her sobbing with her head bent down between her feet. If I hadn't been trying to figure out how to get her out I would have taken a photo as it was rather hilarious.

That's about all that happened this month, I look forward to seeing what will develop next month.

Month Nine

Our little girl turned nine months old today. I love babies around this age. They are trying new things and starting to "talk" more. Their little personalities are really starting to emerge. Greta has started saying Mama constantly and I just love it. It makes me smile. I feel like I've made it through the crazy early months and am finally getting into the fun months. Phew, they were a rough eight months.

At nine months:

Greta is still waking up 1-2 times a night. Nursing gets her back to sleep quickly and I'd rather do that than hear her scream it out. That will probably change at some point.

She's starting to venture out of the baby food stage and is trying chunkier food and little chunks of fruits that she can pick up and smash into her mouth. Mealtime is starting to become a fun time for her (and us since she's not screaming).

She's also getting past her "only loves mama" phase. She'll let her Dad hold her while I leave the room without a total melt down. We are playing with the notion of leaving her and Wesley with my parents for a much needed night out. We so need a night out without the kids.

Month Eight

Greta is eight months old today. This has been a tough month. I don't know if she's teething or just super sensitive but it has been very trying lately. Sean says she's very "screamy" and I'd have to agree. Everything sets her off....if Wesley jumps off of something and makes a loud noise she screams, if I leave the room for half a second she screams, if the dog looks at her the wrong way she screams. The worst part is the new fear of anyone but Wesley and I. When Sean comes home from work he walks in the house, she looks at him and just screams her fool head off....tears streaming everywhere. It makes me sad that her own Dad sets her off. She does it to anyone and everyone that enters the house...everyone but Wesley and I....oh and Jessica. Maybe it's a female thing I don't quite know. It makes me realize how different two children can be. Wesley had his clingy phase but it was never to this degree. I, literally, walk around with Greta on my hip or in the front pack 90% of the day. If I set her down I have to be within a three foot radius or she goes into complete melt down. She's a very sensitive little girl. I sure hope she grows out of this phase soon as I feel like my back is going to suffer permanent damage from carrying her around.

Other than that, she's a doll! :)

Month Seven

Another month has come and gone. They are going so fast these days. Miss Greta is seven months old today and we just can't imagine her not in our lives. She's such a blessing.

-Greta's sleeping habits are still going good. She sleeps through the night about 50% of the time, otherwise she get gets up around midnight but goes right back to sleep with a little nursing. I love that she and Wesley both sleep in every day until 9:30 or 10, it makes my life a little easier being able to accomplish tasks in the morning.

-Over this past month she's stopped taking her nap in my arms and started napping in her swing every day. It's kind of sad to say goodbye to that tradition since it was a nice mandatory afternoon break for me as well. It is nice to have some free time for at least an hour every day. Life is slowly returning to normal as the months go by.

-Greta is interacting with Wesley now more than ever. She loves to watch that little boy and will always crane her neck trying to find him. He loves to make her laugh, and he is one of the few reliable ways to get her to laugh these days.

-Her love of solid food is starting to show more and more. Where as last month she would humor me and eat her cereal, now she actually seems to enjoy it. She gets a fruit like applesauce or pears in the morning with oatmeal mixed in and at dinner time she has sweet potato, pumpkin, squash or carrots with rice cereal mixed in. It's nice to have her sit with us for meal time and be together as a family.

Month Six

Our little girl turned six months old yesterday. Where does the time go? Six more months and we'll be celebrating a birthday, hard to believe! She sure has blossomed this past month.

-I love her little shy smile.

-She's started grabbing your face when being held. Always has her little hands feeling your nose or cheeks. She likes to rub her hand on Sean's cheek when he needs a shave (which is always!).

-She's started reaching out to me when I go to take her from someone. It sure makes me feel good when she wants just Momma.

-Still only seems to want Momma. The Mommy Complex is strong in this one.

-Enjoys eating solids. She's been eating sweet potatoes for about a week now and started carrots this evening. A little bit more is making it down her throat every day.

-This is big: She's started sleeping through the night! Oh glory hallelujah! Mind you it's only been a week now but I'll take it! Sean suggested that maybe she just needed a night light in her room, so I put one in and magically she started sleeping through the night that very night. Coincidence? I think not. Poor thing was just scared of the dark.

-I actually miss her at night now that she sleeps much better. It's strange not seeing her every couple of hours.

-She is really starting to enjoy her big brother. She always seems to have an eye on him, and will strain to find him. He always brings out a big smile in her. It's been the first month that they've started interacting...which is awesome to watch.

-We are so grateful for her. She lightens my day and makes me smile when I'm blue.

Month Five

Miss Greta turns five months old today!

I'm happy to report that Greta is officially weaned out of the swaddling blanket. After the doctors appointment I felt it was time to release her from her "baby straight jacket". I was so afraid that she'd somehow not sleep well without it but she did fine the first night. Never used it again after that. I think her being dependent on it was all in my head.

This month she also decided that sleeping rocks! Something clicked and she'll now go long stretches of the night without waking. Usually she gets up once or twice in a 12 hour span. I'm totally fine with once or twice. It's usually 2 am and 7 am and then she sleeps until 11 am. It's so nice to get some sleep again. I feel like a whole new person.

She's sitting up now, with support of course. She'll even put her little hands out between he chubby thighs and form a little "tripod". She's just growing so fast, it's crazy!

She officially rolled over this past week on Tuesday from belly to back. She's rolled several more times since then. It seems like she's really trying for back to belly as well but it's much harder for her.

I'm excited to start her on solids in the next couple of weeks. Rice cereal to start and I hope by the time she's six months old we'll be starting veggies. I'm really looking forward to starting the baby food again. It will be nice for her to sit with us at dinner time and eat as well.

Month Four

I can't believe I have a four month old already! I had forgotten how quickly this first year goes by. Little Greta is changing so much. At four months old she:

-is constantly grabbing at toys and pulling them into her mouth, everything goes in the mouth.
-drools all over everything. Along with the drool is spit bubbles. All the time.
-is a very lean little baby.
-still won't sleep through the night. Not even close. Sleeps 2-3 hours at a time.
-smiles at her big brother whenever she gets the chance.
-still hasn't laughed yet.
-is swaddled every night still.
-loves bath time.
-is a really happy, smiley, content baby.
-has had two bottles in her lifetime. Thinking I should start giving her more bottles just so she knows what they are. Hasn't tried formula yet.
-starting to outgrow 3-6 month clothing.
-is almost rolling. She gets her little body contorted all different ways.

Jessica thought that last picture looked like Greta was running so she did this picture for me. Here is Greta taking a run in the woods. LOL