10 Months Old

Yesterday, Tessa made double digits, she turned 10 months old! I can't believe it. She is such a big girl. We had a pretty low key, we spent the morning at home, took a quick trip to Kohl's and spent the rest of the day relaxing at home. I have said this many times over the past week, but I feel like she has gone from a baby to a toddler in such a short amount of time. She has finally really figured out how to crawl, and while she often still prefers to creep around because she gets around faster, but she can definitely do it. She also just figured out how to use her sippy cup. We have been working on that since January when she all of a sudden decided she no longer wanted her bottle, and it just hasn't been working, but this week, she picked up her sippy and just started drinking. I've had to refill it many times because she drains the whole thing. Let's not forget to mention that she has learned to pull up to stand. She does it in her crib, on the ottoman, on the couch, on the entertainment center, on my legs, there is no place that she is not trying to stand. She has also started cruising around, going from the ottoman to the couch. And last, but not least, she is definitely phasing out the baby food. Whenever she sees us eating, she wants what we have, and often closes her lips when I try to give her baby food with a spoon. All of this has happened in the past week. Like I said, she has gone from a baby to a toddler. Only 2 months left and we'll be celebrating the day she was born. I can't believe it. I love that baby girl so much!

Standing Tall

This morning, I heard Tessa in the monitor around 5:30, as usual. I waited a few minutes before going in to get her, like I always do. I could hear her talking to herself in her bed, which I think is fun and really cute. By the time I got into her room, I opened the door and saw her standing up in her bed hanging on the edge of her crib! I could totally read the expression on her face, it was say, "Hey Mom! Look at me! I'm way up here!" She was so happy with herself. While it was sweet that she was able to do that, I saw that she was also chewing on the edge of her crib; she had little teeny paint chips all over her face. That incident prompted me to get to Babies R Us today and buy a crib rail teether. Hopefully, that won't happen again. Later on in the morning, she pulled herself up the ottoman for the first time, and again, I could totally read her mind by the expression on her face, it said, "So that's where you keep the remote!" As she grabbed it and fell back down to the floor. She now has a whole new view of the world. I love to see how she grows and changes every day.

Big People Food

I have noticed over the last week or so that Tessa seems to be getting more and more finicky about eating her baby food. Over the past couple of months, when I would make some food that is nice and soft, I like giving Tessa little tastes of what I made, but lately, she seems to want more of that and less of her food. She loves her Yo-Baby Yogurt! Loves it! She would eat it every meal if I would let her. My big girl just loves to eat food like Mommy and Daddy. She likes to eat pancakes, mashed potatoes and other soft things. This week, I gave her little bits of chicken nuggets for the first time, she loved it! She even had some cake the other night (which she has had before) and her first taste of marshmellow fondant. And last night, she ate about half of a an apple cinnamon fruit and grain bar and she got to try veggie crunchies too! She tries so hard to feed herself. Sometimes when I try to do it, she'll close her mouth and turn her head, then try and put the food in herself. If she has something big enough or long enough, she will do very well to eat the part that is sticking out of her fist, but then she gets down to the bottom of it, and hasn't figured out to open her fist to put the rest of it in. She will sit there and suck on her to try and get it out. It is the funniest thing to watch. I'm sure before long, she'll have it figured out. She is growing up before my eyes.

Welcome Spring!

What a beautiful spring day we had today! It got up into the 60's and we were so anxious to get outside and spend some time out in the refreshing spring air. Tessa and I went down to my mom and dad's for the afternoon to hang out with them, Alissa, Jack and Cole for a while. When we got there, Jack and Cole were napping, then just as they woke up, Tessa went down for a nap. But finally, she woke up and was able to go outside and join the boys. She really enjoyed herself, (until I set her down in the grass, then she cried, I'm a little afraid she might be more of an "indoors" kind of girl). It was so cute to watch her, every time a the wind would blow through the yard, she would take a quick breath in and flutter her eyes, like she does when we blow on her face. She was loving the fresh air. Alissa and I have also been working on some cute hats that we have started selling on Etsy, she makes the hats, I make the flowers. So I decked her out in a hat and took some sweet pictures of her playing outside with Jack.

"I love being outside in the spring!"

"Hey, I want your camera, Mommy"

Mommy's pretty little girl

I love Tessa's new spring coat! I wish I had one like it!

Tessa is so happy to be outside and having fun!

Jack is teaching Tessa how to drive the John Deere!

"Hey, Jack! How do you make this thing go?"

"Oh! Like this!" (as Jack hit the gas pedal for her and she took off!)

Unbelievable, Way too Fast

Yesterday, I was working on some laundry and was putting away some of Tessa's stuff. As I looked at her closet and in some of her drawers I realized (like I do every few months) that she has a lot of stuff in there that she doesn't wear anymore because it's too small for her. So I went and got a storage box so that I could put away some of her "too small" clothes. This process always makes me sad, I love to look at all the outfits and I have such distinct memories of her in each of the things that she has worn. But this time was very different for me, even more sad that usual. Let's back up to this time last year. A year ago at this time I was around 7 months pregnant and was starting to have some baby showers. Of course, when you have baby showers, you receive a lot of baby clothes, most of which are newborn or 3 month things. But you do usually receive a few things of bigger size that people give you to use in the future. As I was cleaning out her drawer of onesies, I was stacking some purple Carter's onesie's that my sister in law Tanya gave me for the shower, they were size 12 month. I remember thinking when I opened that gift, "I love these, but she is never going to be big enough to fit into them." They looked so huge. And I was serious, in my mind I couldn't fathom her ever being big enough to wear 12 mo. size clothes, it just wasn't going to happen. Then yesterday, as I was packing them away into a box, it hit me, not only did I not imagine she would ever fit into these sweet onesies, but it is unbelievable to me that she has now grown out of them. I cannot believe how fast she is growing up, way too fast. You know, when I was pregnant, everyone tells you how fast time flies and you always just give a polite smile and a nod, while the whole time you're thinking, whatever. But it's not until your baby is here and is growing up before your eyes that you realize how fast they really do grow up. We're a little more than 2 months away from celebrating her first birthday which makes me sad and excited at the same time. I'm so excited for the next stage of her life and I love watching her learn new things, but I am so sad to say good-bye to the baby stage. But alas, as I can do nothing to stop her from growing, I am determined to focus on the excited part and spend all my moments loving her and being thrilled to watch her grow into the next phase of her life!

Yet Another Tooth

Last night, Tessa woke up around 11:00 and was screaming. I got her to fall back to sleep nursing, then she was screaming again, hysterically, when I tried to lay her back in her bed. David got home from work shortly and neither of us could get her to settle down. We took her into our bed for a few minutes, then David took her downstairs while he was getting his nighttime snack. After that, we were finally able to get her to go back to bed. I gave her some motrin because I wondered if maybe she had another tooth coming through that was bothering her. Then, today, Tessa broke her 4th tooth through. She now has both top middle teeth and both top bottom teeth. The ones on the bottom are not as easily visible as the ones on top, but I figure if we give them a couple of days, they should be coming through. She looks like such a big girl with her mouth full of teeth, she doesn't look so much like a little baby anymore.

Two Little Piggies!

I love to make Tessa look as cute as possible. From day one, my sweet girl has always had her hair decked out with headbands and hairbows. I just love doing her hair. I have been trying for a while to give her two little piggies, but everytime I try, it just doesn't look right. Her hair just hasn't been long enough. They look more like two little horns than pigtails, but yesterday, I thought I would give it another shot and they turned out so cute!!! I just love doing her hair and getting her dressed up. Having a girl is so much fun!!

Tooth #3

Last night, when Tessa and I were walking around Target, I had my finger in her mouth, (to try and see her tongue, which has had an odd color lately) and as usualy, she bit down on my finger, because really, who likes having someone's finger in your mouth? Anyway, usually I just feel pain on the top of finger from her two top teeth, but last night I felt something hard on the bottom. I looked in her mouth and there it was, tooth #3, her bottom right center tooth. Last night, I don't think it had quite broken through the gums yet, but was definitely pushing up. This morning, when I checked in her mouth, I found that it did break through. Tooth #3 comes less than a week after tooth #2. She'll have a full mouth before long!

Ears, 9 Months, Pulling Up, 2nd Tooth, Crawling, Ears Again

Well, it was a week ago today that a cup of coffee was spilled on my computer by my sweet, dear husband. We sent it off to Geek Squad and it was returned to us yesterday, almost as good as new. But wow, a lot happened over the course of the last 7 days. I would have made several blog entries, but instead I'll make one, big, long one that covers the last week.

Thursday afternoon Tessa went back to Dr. Natalie to get her ears checked again. She had been on the antibiotic for a week, and seemed to be doing better, so I was very much expecting to get good news. Unfortunately, she told us that her ears were still a mess, red and full of puss. Grrrrr. Poor Tess. Dr. Natalie suggested that we get her to a chiropractor because it didn't appear to be bacterial but it was her eustachian tubes that were malfunctioning. She did put her on another, stronger antibiotic, but she really didn't think it would help because she thought it was the tubes, not bacteria. So we made three visits to the chiropractor, being told each time her neck was swollen and out of place. We also went through the torturous experience of giving the medicine each night and morning. She hated it and would spit and gag and cough it out of her mouth every time, so I'm not even sure how much of it she took. I hated having to make her so upset, but I just kept telling myself that it was for her own good, and she needed it to get better.

On Saturday, February 27th, Tessa turned 9 months old! That seems like such a big number. I never imagined she would ever get this big. She is 3/4 of a year old and to think that we'll be celebrating her birthday in 3 short months is unbelievable. This month, we had a great time celebrating Daddy's birthday, and having Tessa's first Valentine's Day! I will also always look back at this month and remember this drawn out sickness that she had. I am just so thankful that she is finally better. Tessa experienced so many new foods and new expressions this month. Not to mention that her smile changed drastically when she got her first tooth! I treasure every day and every moment that I get to spend with my sweet girl. I wish she would slow down and stay a baby forever. I love this stage of her life. I love how she laughs at silly things David and I do and how she is starting to be silly herself. She has a real little personality now and it's just incredible. What a sweet baby girl, I can't wait to see what happens in the next month of your life! I love you!

Sunday, February 28th, we went to church, then we went down to Grandpa Wayne and Grandma Vicki's house to spend the day. It had been a long time since we had been down there since Tessa, Jack and Cole had all been sick. While we were there, I was really practicing with her to pull herself. She could do it when she was holding my hands, but I had a hard time telling how much I was really helping her to pull and how much she was doing on her own. I was trying to find something that was the perfect height for her to practice on, and we found a drawer that slid out from under one of Grandma's living room chairs. After several tries that ended with a squishy baby bottom bouncing on the carpet, she finally did it, she pulled herself up to stand! I was so proud of her! I always say that she has a lot of weight to pull around so it's hard for her to do some things, and I could really see yesterday that she has to use a lot of strength to get herself up, but my big girl did it. Yeah for you Tessa! I put some pictures on here of her pulling up, but these were taken at our house a few days later.

We have had so much fun watching Tessa's first tooth pop through and drop farther and farther down. I like to call it her "snaggle tooth" since it was just one tooth that had come through and it was on top. We thought her other tooth on top looked like it would be ready too, but we thought that for so long about the first tooth that we weren't sure when it was going to come in. Tuesday, March 2, it made it's first appearance. Tessa's second tooth popped through. It is her left, top center tooth. Hopefully, it will soon cut all the way through and start dropping down to match the other one. We're hoping that since both of them are through that she'll get a little relief for a while before we fight the next teeth coming through, which probably won't be long.

Then, she crawled. Yesterday, on March 3rd, I was down at my mom and dad's house for the afternoon to spend some time while the brakes were getting fixed on my car. Alissa and I just relaxed with the kids and spent some time together. Tessa was in the living room playing with Jack and Cole. She always gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth, then she'll catapult herself forward and flop on her tummy. We were watching her play and all of a sudden, she just scooted her knee forward, then slid her hand forward and she did her first crawl! She fell, then creeped the rest of the way. A few minutes later, she got up and did it a couple of times, then fell and creeped again. She has started doing it now and I'm sure she'll only get better and better at it and do it more and more. I'm so proud of her for all of the progress she's making and all the milestones she's reaching. What a big girl!

Last, but not least. We went back to see Dr. Natalie for another check up on her ears and to do her 9 month wellness visit. Hallelujah!!!! Her ears looked great! Dr. Natalie and I were both thrilled! I'm so glad that hear ears are cleared up and since that tooth is now through, she'll hopefully be able to start feeling better and getting more rest and relaxation. Everything else looked great for her wellness check. She was 23 lb. 8 oz. and 29.5 in. long. My girl is growing more and more every day! I love you Tessa Charlotte!!

Thank you!

Thank you Alissa for redesigning my blog once again. I think, if I tried, I could figure out how to change the background on my own, but there is no way I could do awesome headings like she does, so I don't even bother trying. More blog posts to come later as I am finally back online after having our computer off to be fixed!