Emery - 10 months

I had a really rough start becoming the mother of two children, but I think I am starting to get the hang of it.  It has taken 10 whole months, but I have decided I might just be able to survive this thing. I would never wish my precious baby's days away, but I have to be honest and say that I am SO glad we are to this point of babyhood.  I actually looked back at some of the posts I wrote about Annie as a baby, and it's nice to know I had a similar sigh of relief with her too.

Emery is FINALLY...mostly.. sleeping through the night.  She has been a tricky sleeper, but I am also more of a sucker than I was with Annie.  We trained Annie early on and (gasp) let her cry it out more than what I do Emery.  In the beginning it was to keep the peace around the house, but I am also finding that I just don't have it in me to let her cry.  Don't get me wrong: I do let her cry within reason, especially if I KNOW she is throwing a fit.  That's one thing about an older baby - fits are a little more obvious and clear.  It's easier to tell what is a fit vs. gas pain, etc.  Em goes to bed around 7pm and she may cry 1-3 times between then and 11:30, when I give her a late night nursing.  After that she zonks out until about 6am.  With the exception of the last 3 nights.  She has been waking up consistently at 3:30 (sigh.).  I nurse her at 6a and she will typically sleep another 45 or so minutes. She takes a morning and afternoon nap, and since the time has changed she has even needed an evening nap, but I think that's just temporary.

She is eating cereal (it made her throw up until she was about 8.5months old) in the mornings and a little in the evenings, and baby food for lunch and dinner!  She ate her first and only french fry yesterday and "mmmm'd" through the whole thing.  She isnt a fan of textures, so we havent done much beyond that.  I do give her the risk rusk cookie/crackers and some teething cookies.  She ate a party cracker today and gagged through some of it.  I bought the stage 3 little bits food today and she gagged through half of it until she started signing "all done, all done!"  (She can sign all done!!)  She has finally *hallelujah* figured out how to use a sippy cup!! She can actually TILT it up and get a drink all on her own.  Something Annie refused until she was nearly 2. 

Emery is mimicking sounds that her sister makes (dinosaur (rawr), monkey (ooh ooh), etc) and can say a few words: mama, dada, nana, cheese (as in smiling for the camera), thank you, peek a boo, uh-oh  and night night.  She can clap and likes to cheer for herself when she does something cute.  If we sing "if you're happy and you know it" she claps on cue.  She can wave up and down and side to side and say bye bye.  Her favorite word? "HEY!"  She loves saying it.  When I walk into her room to get her out of bed she is usually standing up holding on to her crib and as soon as she sees me she immediately starts, "Hey!!! hey. HEEEY. HEY! hey."  Cutest thing ever.   (her doctor said her speech is on a 15-18mo level!)

She LOVES Annie so much I can hardly stand it.  Annie likes to fake sneeze.  Emery laughs like there is nothing in the world funnier...  I can do the exact same sneeze and i get a blank stare.  Annie will do it and Emery will nearly fall over laughing.  Emery likes to fake sneeze too and will say "ah choo" when she wants to play the game.  Everything Annie does is funny to her.  Annie is starting to warm up to her and always cares about her well-being, but she isnt quite sure what to think about a crawling Emery.  That's right, we have a crawler!!!  Annie will run saying, "no no! Emery's going to get me!!!!"  She can't stand for her sister to be near her and heavens forbid she touches her.  We've had to scold Annie quite a bit for trying to hit or push Emery down.  However there are moments, like today, where they do play together.  Emery loves being in Annie's room.  Today they were crawling and Emery was following Annie everywhere she went.  It was sweet.

Em is also pulling up on everything and transferring from one thing to another with little steps.  She is getting really frustrated that she can't walk, so I predict that will come fairly soon.

She likes rubbing soft things on her face when she is tired.  She has a baby doll with a soft skirt (skirt is the same material as her blanket) and as soon as you lay her down, she will grab that baby and rub it all over her face.  When I'm nursing her to bed she likes to grab a handful of my hair and rub it against her cheek.  She will even giggle a little because she loves it so much.  She has a unicorn pacifier holder that she sleeps with and he has a fuzzy tail. The tail of that little unicorn smells gosh awful because she will rub it on her face and slobber all over it.  You can tell when she's really getting tired because she will grab whatever is near and start rubbing it on her cheek.  A maraca, a block, a spoon, doesnt matter.

She loves when her daddy wakes up and will dart to him as soon as he comes up the stairs.

She likes facetiming her Nanny and gets frustrated when I turn the phone to talk.  She's already intrigued with my phone.

She is ticklish and her giggles are contageous

Other than the things she sleeps with she really doesnt have any favorite toys yet: just anything she can get her hands on will do.
she likes giving high fives

Emery is wearing size 18mo clothing and a size 3 shoe (her feet are too fluffy for size 2s).  She weighs 21.2lbs (70th percentile) and is 27.25" tall (16th).... shes' like a little teapot; short and stout.

I LOVE that chunky little dumpling so much and just get so excited about her.  I love rocking her to bed in the evenings.  I could hold her, squeeze her chunky thighs and breathe her in for hours.  I love kissing her cheeks and she loves kissing mine :)  She is a snuggler and I love it so much.  It's funny, I cant even remember when Annie was this age, which is a little sad for me because I know this is fleeting.  There are days I wish she were older so we could do more, but then I also want to freeze her right where she is because i LOVE this phase in babyhood so. so. much.  I'm trying to be more intentional with my day in spending time just loving on and playing with my girls.  I've taken a step back in my Thirty-One business and I'm ok with that.  My house tends to be a trainwreck most of the time, but you know what, they are my babies...and babies wont' keep.