Augusta - 11 Months Old

I am both very excited and saddened that we are four weeks away from you turning ONE!  I am thrilled to celebrate you, and I am ecstatic to continue watching you grow.  I am enjoying every step further away from babyhood and I am happy to shed all of our baby supplies.  I am happy that you are growing closer to slightly more independence, and rest assured you will need us for many, many years to come as Farrah, Kaden, and Kylie still need us constantly.  At the same time, it's heart-wrenching that my newborn baby is nowhere close to the baby that you were not that long ago.  You are growing and changing, and you don't wait and you don't look back.  You just keep trying and learning and earning for more.  I don't want to forget you now.  I don't want to forget my beyond busy days, hours, moments of being a mama to a baby, because much too soon, it will all be memories.  I am nursing you, changing your diapers, tearing all your food into tiny pieces, watching your every single move to make sure you're safe everywhere you explore on the floor and not bumping your head, eating dirt, etc. etc. etc.

Farrah is one of your biggest fans.  She sits next to you in the car and shares her things with you, tickles you, and most assuredly also picks on you.  She wants to hold you and I let her from time to time and she is really great help!  Kaden loves to pick you up and play with you, and Kylie takes you and cares for you just like a little mama.  She feeds you and dresses you, plays with you, talks to you, calls you "chicken" and adores you.  Daddy holds you and you still look so tiny in his arms and it's one of my very favorite things.

You took your first step this month!  You took two, and then one that Kylie and I got on video.  Then you didn't take any for a little while.  You then took three between the couch and the footstool!  Then a week or so later at daycare, Miss Allison said you stood up and took like 6 solid steps right toward her!  That was on a Friday and I couldn't wait to see what the weekend held for you.

We had your 10 month appointment a little into your 10th month on March 29.  At 10 months, 15 days, you weighed 17 lbs 6.2 oz and measured 27.5".  You had to get your finger pricked for a blood lab which showed your iron was a little low. 



Now when you wake up on your own, you stand up and start exploring by pulling the curtain threw your crib bars and then peeking through the blinds.  It's one of my favorite things to just quietly watch from the doorway.

You always want to hold a piece of cloth up to your face when you're sucking your thumb.  The other morning you even grabbed a Barbie just to hold the skirt-part of her dress.

You smile soooooo big, with a cheesy toothy grin.  You sometimes shake your head side to side for short periods.  It seems to me to be involuntarily, but perhaps you are just learning some new head controls.

You now hand me little tiny specs that you find and pick up and that makes me so happy.  You point at everything!  You are taking your climbing to the next level and you climb into your walker or up onto your step stool.  It's beginning to get a little dangerous.

You sleep through the night.  You're very calm and patient, but can be a little cranky in the evenings after long days at daycare, but I don't blame you.  You mock Farrah in the car with raspberry noises or laughing out loud.  It's really cute.  I got out Farrah's 12 month clothes from her first summer and seeing those outfits took me right back.  It gave me all the feels.  I love seeing them again and having you wear them, but my heart broke a little seeing how much Farrah has grown!

You are waving now and it's adorable.  It's really abrupt from side to side.  And you "baaaa baaaa" most likely because we are around lambs a lot since we have two bottle-fed lambs at home and two at the farm we have to feed multiple times daily.  You also have done the "all done" sign a couple times too!

You eat....every thing that it put on your tray in front of you.  You're like a bottomless pit.  You keep eating and eating and eating, until we just have to cut you off.  I asked if you do the same at daycare and they said you do.  That you'll eat everything they give you, and then you fall asleep immediately after eating, in your high chair, and then they move you to a crib!


I tried on your birthday outfit last night.  You looked so pretty, and yet still so young.  I held you a little extra tonight.  I'm fearful I won't remember the way you feel in my arms.  I want (and need) that feeling ingrained in my heart.  You are my baby girl.  You will always hold a special place in my heart as my youngest.  My little mini-me.  I am ever so proud of you.

Augusta - 10 Months Old

Ten months have come and gone so quickly!  You have learned to point and it is sooooo cute!  You started off this month with the horrible allergic reaction to penicillin but the rest of the month you were healthy and back to your happy self!  On Day 8 of the whole ordeal, you were finally yourself again.  I can say that I had honestly forgotten just how happy you truly are on a constant basis, and that sure put us at ease to see your smile and content self again. 

You are a climber!  You love standing on the edge of your walker (just like Farrah used to do)!  You also love to push the green wooden step stool all around the kitchen.  It sure makes doing dishes and making supper easier because this entertains you for quite some time.  You'll even start scooting our dining room chairs around the kitchen too.

Something so sweet you do is when we hold you and pat your back, you will return the favor and pat our back too.  Another one of my favorite things you do is hug me really tightly around the neck when I pick you up from your crib.  Oh my goodness, it's such a wonderful feeling I never want to forget!

You eat anything that is put in front of you.  You don't eat any more baby food, but I still give you very small bites because I know eventually you will learn how to eat regularly, but until then, I'll just play it safe.  You scared daycare really badly by shoveling a bunch of bites of eggs in your mouth at once and you started gagging and choking.  It's incredibly scary, and so I continue to just give you a couple small pieces of food at a time. 

You sleep really well.  I nurse you at night and then lay you down, and sometimes you listen to story time with me and Farrah and you're starting to pay attention to the books. 

You really like socks.  To take them off and hold them while you suck on your thumb, that is.  You are getting close to not eating every tiny piece of anything that you find on the floor and things!  You also dance to any little music or sound. 

This month I stopped carrying  you to and front daycare in your car seat.  You're finally big enough that it's easiest to carry you.  It's also not as cold outside now with blustery winds that I need to protect you from and that is so lovely!  Getting outside this summer is going to be fantastic!

I tell you I love you all the time.  You are so loved by us all.  All your siblings love to talk to you, hold you, play with you.  You are always right there among all the action around here, watching and wishing you were big enough to partake in it all.  It won't be long, little darling.  Take your precious time, because you are our baby!