ada charlotte {10 months}

Sweet Ada Girl,

10 months?! Already? Where did my little BABY go? You're practically a toddler now! It's nuts. I know you'll get sick of me saying this throughout your life, but the time just gets away and you just grow up and it's crazy. I love seeing more of your personality come out and I really love that giant smile of yours that comes so freely and easily :) Thanks for being so cute and bringing so much joy into my life. I'm so eternally grateful to have you as my daughter 😙

Stats

You weigh 17.8 pounds (35% -- about the same as last month) and are 28.75 inches long (75% -- jumped from 54% last month, so who knows if I measured you right both times).
Still wearing 3-6 month and 6 month clothing.
You are still wearing size 3 diapers, but I started buying the "little movers" version instead of the "little snugglers" since you are now so mobile!

Notable events

You met the rest of your extended family this month because we had a Petersen family reunion! It was a bit chaotic with 27 people all over the place, but it was fun, too :)

You celebrated your first Fourth of July! You were kinda grumpy that day, so we got pics of you in your super cute outfit a few days later. Also, fireworks didn't faze you (though they weren't very loud, in my opinion).

Tricks/Milestones

For most of the month, you just did A LOT of hands and knees, and even some downward dog action. And then just a few days ago (7/20/17), you finally started crawling!! And oh my heck, it is freaking adorable :) You've only done about four steps at a time for the last few days, with today being the first day you've used it as more of a mode of transportation. I'm sure you'll be all over the place within a few more days!

Out of nowhere, you started holding your bottle this month! But then you decided you still like it better if we hold it, so you mostly still don't hold it haha.

Grandma helped you learn to clap this month by practicing a lot of patty cake :) You love it so much that you do it in bed while you're waiting for me to come get you haha :)

You learned to get up into sitting position from a floor position. For the first week or so that you did it, Daddy and I couldn't get over how impressive it was 😂 It was just crazy because one minute you'd be on the ground and the next you were sitting up!
You feed yourself like a CHAMP now. Your pincer grasp is great! You also do this cute thing where you grab the piece of food and then wiggle your fingers in a fist shape until the food makes its way out of your fist and up to the top of your still-closed hand. Daddy's favorite is when you can't get something with your hand because it is kind of stuck to the counter, so you just put your mouth straight down on the counter to get it 😂 Sometimes when I used to hold up food for you, you'd bring your mouth to the food to get it straight from my hands. Now you prefer to grab the food from me with your own hands so you can feed yourself. You will do this even if I hold the food pretty close to your mouth! It's only if I'm literally touching your mouth that you take it straight to your mouth. Despite the fact that you're great at feeding yourself, you still make a huge mess every time you eat. Such is life :)

you never look like this when i'm feeding you, so idk what you're doing!

I got you a sippy cup for water this week, but you're still trying to figure out how to get anything from it :) You much prefer drinking from a regular glass (with help) and soaking yourself 😂

My favorite things

You became a little growler this month! Your growl is truly impressive and I love having growl wars with you :)
When I hold you under your arms and spin quickly in a circle, you get THE BIGGEST and most joyous smile! You seriously look so happy and it just fills my heart!
For a while this month, you started doing this scrunchy-nose smile. It was so cute! But I think you've stopped that now.
All the girls and children in the extended family got here a little before the actual reunion began, so on one of those days, we all went to the circus together. You seemed to enjoy all the action! But the cutest part was that you kept holding Parker's hand! Aunt Amy and I were sitting next to each other each holding our babies, and you just kept reaching out for little Parker's hand! It was simply precious :)

Random tidbits

You exhibited a little bit of stranger danger this month. I'm not sure if it has to do with whether or not you can see me or Dad, because in stores, you are always super happy to meet strangers, but I'm always right there with you. But I'm not sure whether or not you could see me or Dad for both of these instances. The first was with Uncle Michael. Idk what it is, but you are having a hard time warming up to him! You finally let him hold you for a few minutes, but then it was like once you realized who was holding you, you looked so scared and sad and started bawling! You also met Aunt Lacey's boyfriend, and the second you saw him, you started bawling! You were in your dinner seat at the time, so I tried to just comfort you there, but you weren't having it. I had to get you out and snuggle you in order for you to calm down 😂 Though you did warm up to him throughout the evening and I'm told you even had a growling war with him 😆
I finally found a way to successfully shower with you! But which won't last much longer, unfortunately. I tried just putting you in the tub, plugging the stop, and letting the shower water fill the tub, but I discovered that even when the water was really hot for me, it was cold by the time it got to you, so you were freezing! My solution is to fill a bucket with warm water and just put you in that at the end of the tub :) It worked really well the first time I tried it, but you're already getting too strong and trying to get out of the bucket.

I've always felt like you really love both Daddy and myself equally -- and I love this! I hope you always love both of us and have a great relationship with both of us. But this is the first month that I felt like you may have a sliiiiight preference for me. And honestly, it's not like an all-the-time preference, it's mostly when you need comforting, like in the instance mentioned above. But who knows. Maybe Daddy could have just as easily calmed you.
For a little while this month, you picked up snorting 😂
During the family reunion, you were sick and pretty needy. I think this was partly due to your lack of sleep during the reunion (it was impossible to get you two good naps every day -- we were lucky to get one good nap and one catnap; I think more often we got two catnaps), partly due to the fact that you were sick (just in time for the reunion 😒 ), and partly due to sensory overload! Your cousins were obsessed with you! You actually didn't seem to mind though -- you got pretty excited by all of them haha
One thing we did during the reunion was take family pics. With 27 people. Starting at your bedtime. That was an event! You LOST IT after about 5 minutes, and were bawling hysterically the whole time. It was so sad :( And also sad is that despite the fact that you have the stinkin' cutest smile ever and you do really well to smile on command for pictures, you will not be smiling in that family picture. What can I say? I've taught you to highly value your sleep 😂
Okay last thing about the reunion -- For the most part, we stayed at my parents' house. This meant that we didn't have our video monitor. And girl, I missed spying on you in your sleep! You're just the sweetest little sleeping angel, and I missed seeing that :)

You still always suck your thumb to fall asleep, but you've recently added playing with your hair. You don't always do it, but sometimes :)

You're still a puzzle to me, because sometimes you are incredibly needy and must be held to be happy, and other times you are content to play by yourself for a huge portion of your wake period! (Which now ranges from 3 to 3.5 hours.) One day, Daddy and I both needed a nap, so we each laid on a couch (in the family room) and took a nap while you played in the family room. 45 minutes later, you were still contentedly playing 😳 It was surprising, but awesome. (and I was in a shallow enough sleep that I heard you anytime you seemed to need something).
In the past week or two, you have significantly reduced the amount of milk you drink. We're talking, you drink an ounce or two and then stop. It's so weird! I try to get you to drink more, but you're not interested at all. Even at your first feeding of the day (which happens before you eat anything solid), for which you used to drink 6-8 ounces consistently, you're only drinking 4-6 ounces now. I don't feel like you're eating much more food than you were when you were drinking more, and you're definitely not drinking much water (probably less than 2 oz/day), so I have no idea what's up, and I'm a little concerned about your hydration level . . .
We've been to a lot of pools and to Seven Peaks this month, and it's safe to say you love the water. It's so much fun to watch your face light up :) However, we went to Seven Peaks on an overcast day one day, and the water was cold and you were just shivering away and it was so sad! But then you cuddled up to me like you never do, and I held you close and loved it all the way to our towels :)
I took you to the splash pad the other day and you did the funniest thing. We sat down near one of the sprayer things that was spraying out at probably a 30 degree angle, and at first you were just reaching out to touch the water. But then you got on your hands and knees, and you put your hand down on the splasher so that some water sprayed straight up, and then you closed your eyes tight and opened your mouth wide to get what you could into your mouth 😂 You did this over and over and it was just so funny!
We always sing you two verses of "I am a Child of God" when we put you down for naps or bedtime. For a while there, that's when you'd be so cuddly and sweet. Now, if you are super tired, you start reaching for your crib halfway through the first verse! You know you want sleep, and you know you only really sleep in your crib 😌

Love always,

Mama