Taking a Walk

Aunt Jackie is here! And just in time too...

I arrived to get Avery from daycare to find her trying to motor.  Her one teacher turned her around to walk to me and she most definitely took more than the 2-3 shuffles that she had up to this point here at home.  After we got back to the house, post picking up her Aunt, and she continued to demonstrate her skills.

Little Gym Graduate

Today was Avery's last class in her first session at Little Gym.  We have a week off, but we did sign up for the fall, so we'll see how she progresses over the next few months.

Today we took our family photos and the remainder of the first birthday shots.  The smash cake photos turned out decent all things considered.  Avery was still a little unhappy today, but she was rested and had her moments of happiness to capture.  One thing for sure it was pretty hot out there, so I'm glad our time only lasted an hour.

I found a baby food that had eggplant and sorghum, so we've now added those things to our list of edibles.

Let them eat cake

This past Saturday we met with a new photographer to get some shots of Avery in preparation for her birthday with a smash cake.  She was not happy at the onset of the session, it is so unlike her, I don't know what she was worried about.  I'm hoping we still got some cute photos, even if a tear is streaming.  Once we convinced her to try the icing the tears stopped and she started to enjoy.  I brought home a purply-blue baby who colored her bathwater, but fortunately it all washed off reasonably easy.

This coming weekend we return for some family pictures with the same photographer.

I also gave Avery one of her birthday presents - a set of multi-texture balls

When I said first few steps I meant walking

This kid!  On Monday after little gym her Daddy brought her home while I got my hair done.  He allowed her to discover the stairs and told me she was interested.  Curiosity got the best of me yesterday, so I allowed her to walk to the stairs and give it a go.  I was RIGHT behind her hands hovering and brushing her to grab if necessary.  But didn't the little bugger go the whole way up the flight of stairs.  My mind is blown.  Needless to say I moved the stair barrier over to the bottom of the stairs so it is ready to deploy as required in the evenings.

When I picked Avery up from school yesterday I was talking to one of the little boys, Leo, who was also leaving with his Mom.  His Mom said "this is Avery?" when I said yes she told me that Leo talks about her at home.  Oh boy!

We've been pretty busy this past week... a chiro appointment, little gym, and swimming today.  I was really hoping we'd see those first few steps this weekend, but it didn't happen.  It seems like Avery clings to the very edge of things for a while and instantly masters them, versus a few tries/fumbles.  She's getting to be quite the expert at going while holding on to my hands, and sometimes only one hand.

Now that we have the diaper rash back in check (for the time being), we've added orange to our repertoire.

Major Tumble

Friday night we had our first major tumble.  It was about 45 minutes before bedtime, she was cruising about and stepped to move between her octopus ball toy and the coffee table.  Well, the coffee table was a bit further away than she had estimated.  I watched it from part way across the living room as she went forward, smashing her nose and lower face into the side of the coffee table.

Her nose was bleeding and talk about inconsolable crying.  I am not going to lie, I was terrified.  I held her and we dabbed the bit of blood.  Debating if we needed to go to the ER, her Dad searching the internet, and I clung to her, trying to get her calmed.  About 15 minutes later as she calmed down she started to seem drowsy, but it was close to her bedtime - tell me that doesn't compound your worries, even if you know she didn't hit the upper part of her face/head.

We got her totally calmed and down to bed with just a bit of tylenol for pain, but then woke her lightly 2 hours later to make sure she still seemed herself.  I didn't get a lot of sleep last night - no surprise, right?  She woke and cried out a few times requiring consolation and holding which is SUPER abnormal for her. I suspect she rolled and bumped a tender part.

Once I felt better that there wasn't a big concern of major issues and my mind calmed a little all I could think was "her beautiful face... please Lord, protect that beautiful face".  I fully expected to find two black eyes this morning.  Thank God she looks wonderful today, maybe a slight bit of swelling across her nose and that's it.  When she woke from her nap today she had a little more snotty blood coming out.  That and a small mark on her lip that looks more like she scratched herself and that's it.  We are so lucky.

This just was a bad week for sure with her going down ill and her fall. In between I went down a bit ill, probably with whatever she had, but fortunately it wasn't coming out as vomit.  Friday evening was quite a challenge to keep up with her as she was feeling well again, but I certainly was not - and very weak.  Thank goodness I went to bed immediately after she did on Friday night and I got 10 1/2 hours of sleep to help keep me covered for my lack of sleep the night before and then after she fell.

Another new food to report as well - rhubarb!

Our first bout of vomit

Yes, that title is abrupt, but it paints the picture of what we experienced on Wednesday afternoon/night.  Avery came home slightly early from daycare after vomiting twice.  Normally when this has happened I believed it to be a case of overfeeding or just spit up.  Not this time.  The vomiting continued at home and she wasn't able to keep anything down for the rest of the night.

I think the two worst parts were seeing how upset it made her when she got sick and putting her to bed, worried that I wouldn't hear her get ill in the middle of the night (somehow) and that she could choke.

Fortunately, she went down easily and stayed down, despite not having had much to eat since before 2:30 that day (since the 2:30 bottle came back out).  She woke up the next morning with a reduced appetite, but able to eat and keep food in there.  I'm so glad that it didn't even last 24 hours, that was stressful.  I'm even more grateful that it took 11 months for us to ever experience this.  Let's hope that this remains a very infrequent visitor.

I will say this, the saddest little face in the world is the one that crawls over, lying down in front of you on the floor with its head on your leg.  Poor kiddo.

As to new foods, we are about out.  But I did give her some alphabet pasta cooked in chicken broth so she could eat on her own. Of course, this happened the day before she got ill, and she had leftover ones at school that day, so my mind even combed over that with worry.

It's kind of a big dill

Our weekend together started early so I could enjoy my birthday with Avery.  Friday we met up with her Nonna at the Phipps Conservatory.  It was quite the nice day out and Avery enjoyed seeing the butterflies, flowers, plants, and kinetic items.

Today, started with Little Gym, which Avery seems to enjoy for the most part, at least when she's had a bit of a nap before.  Then we drove back into the city for Picklesburgh!  It was a bit warmer out today and super crowded. Avery hung in there pretty well though.

Since my last report Avery has tried another grains blend, black currant, and tomatoes.  I had put off the tomatoes, thinking that some of these acidy foods were partly to blame for the diaper rash issues we were having, but I'm firmly thinking it is a teeth situation.  We've been managing to keep the rash at bay, but it does require some care.  I could swear I spotted teeth slightly pressed through on Friday while we were out, but today I see nothing obvious.

Back to Sunshine and Rainbows

Fortunately, we're back to a healthy looking bottom again, so I'm able continue shopping for those rainbows to decorate for Avery's birthday party.  Today we made it up to Build a Bear (perhaps you saw the mayhem that ensued this past week when they had a pay your age promotion) to use the coupon we got.  So for $10 Avery has her first unicorn - it will serve to help decorate for her birthday as well.  Unfortunately, despite the website saying they had both unicorns in stock they neglected to clarify that the ones they had were already stuffed.  So she didn't get to pick out a little heart for him or assist in the stuffing, hence there are no photos of the event.  This makes me a little sad, but it's okay, I know we'll have other trips there in our future, right?

Hurting from top to bottom

Poor kiddo.  This past Friday Avery work up a bit snotty and stuffy.  It wasn't enough to make me think she was actually sick, so we went about our weekend plans to go to a family reunion, where she got to see quite a few Aunts and cousins that she's only met one other time so far.

Come Monday, by the time she left daycare her rear was quite red and unhappy.  Ahhh diaper rash.  The drool has picked up a bit, so maybe it is teething, who knows.

I bought a kiddie pool to entertain her last night while we sat out back bare bummed trying to get some air to help us out.  I also picked up corn starch.

Our favorite daycare worker noted the pattern that she had a little flare up after having the grapes/plum mixture before too, so we'll put that on the backburner for a while.  Similarly in my research I also saw cause to put off pineapple, tomato, citrus, and strawberries in addition to grapes and plums.  This means that two items that were coming up soon for new tastes will be delayed.

New foods since my last report:  navy beans, beef (which she hated in the soupy like stuff but was okay with from my burger!), asparagus, and figs.

I also want to note that I started in earnest to gather supplies for Avery's first birthday.  It's only a little over a month away after all.  I am hoping the little skirt and headband I ordered arrive quickly, so if they're too big I can find something else.  Our theme is unicorns and rainbows, so I'm having fun finding the goodies to decorate and to put a little spin on our food presentation.

Hitting the Pool

I'm so glad I had won some free passes to the Goldfish Swim School's open family swims.  It is incredibly hot here, so to try and cool off a bit we took Avery to the pool for an hour yesterday.  She kept a stern face for a brief period, but lightened up and had some fun.  It was nice to get to play with her and hold her close while we spun and bounced and splashed.  She did some kicking and we practiced a few dips into the water.

We also had an epic fail on the second baby gate I bought for the top of the stairs.  The first one we decided not to use after finding so much saying to use hardware gates for the top of the stairs.  It makes sense, but eesh, I don't want those holes.  I've conceded though - for her.  So the second was a hardware gate that was a bit taller.  It came highly recommended by friends and I thought it would be nice to have an easier reach to open/close the gate as we come and go.  Yeah, it's too tall.  So now I have to ship it back - fortunately, they do free returns, hopefully there isn't a restocking fee that I missed reading about.  I've now ordered another gate - hopefully it will arrive soon as I've been stressing for a couple of weeks now about not having a gate up at the top of the stairs.

First Trip to the Gym

Earlier this week I signed up for a trial class at the Little Gym.  So off we headed today for Avery's first workout.  There was bubbles, balls, parachutes, rings, mats, rolling, and songs.  It took her a little while to try to explore on her own, but eventually she headed through one of the foam tunnels.

I did sign us up to finish out this 'semester'.  We'll see how it goes.  The way pricing works you get the lot in the class you sign up for (Saturday morning) and a free other class if they have availability (you have to text that day).  Well, the only other class that works for working parents is Monday at 5:15.  I was assured that there is typically room in that class, so we'll see how this goes.

More Moving and Waving

We've been working on waving, enough that this morning when I asked her to she waved goodbye to Safyre and hello to her friends at daycare.  Of course a few seconds later she waved goodbye to me - I felt like I was having music played to get me off of the stage.

Last night she also was happy to walk holding my hands and did a great job.  We made it from the kitchen down the hall and on another trip from the kitchen to the computer room.  I don't think it will be long before she's headed off on her own.

Our final movement to report on is dancing.  I've been able to get her to bounce a little when I sing to her or when I play music that moves her.  Last night, in an effort to encourage her I made a fool of my self for her - dancing while she stood in the exersaucer playing her drums.

I'm also happy to report that cranberries were also a big success.  That's my girl!

Who gave my child sugar and caffeine?

I don't know what on earth was going on, but Avery was NOT going to sleep last night.  We headed up a little late to get her bathed etc due to circumstances, but not so much so that she should have struggled.  However, she just sat there - eyes wide - for over a half an hour (I'm usually putting her in her crib in 3-5 minutes of sitting down to rock with her).  I tried putting her down and was called back shortly thereafter.  This went on for a while.  I even brought her to my bed and when she rolled to her belly (as she often does when she falls asleep) I tried taking her back again.  At this point she stood right up but was quiet.

I watched and waited... and then her dad went in.  He said she was standing there, leaning on the crib wrap, almost falling asleep.  It was probably still another half an hour or more until she fell asleep for him.  I've never seen her like this.  Her legs tend to kick a little when she's tired and fighting it a bit, but she was just wiggling and moving.  I worried maybe her stomach was upset or whatever, but she made no indications of not feeling great.

She napped for two and a half hours across noon, but didn't take a second nap - so by the time it was all said and done the girl was running on her 9th hour awake, so she had to have been over tired at that point.  It's interesting that they say that around the 10 month mark you might see some changes in sleeping and eating behaviors - I just never expected to be 10 month ON the mark.

Surprisingly she woke up right on time this morning and seemed happy enough.  I guess we'll see how she was at daycare.  I suspect she'll be grumpy simply because of the food I sent in - which when I gave it to her yesterday she was shaking her head no and waving goodbye at me.  Admittedly it did smell like chicken soup and looked like congealed chicken soup.  This mix has some cauliflower in it, which is what we're currently working on.  She also has now had papaya (with cardamom) and grapes along with this cauliflower.

Longer naps and other changes

This past weekend Avery took significantly longer mid-day naps.  I wish I had known she was going to stay down for 2 hours, I would have also napped!  They say around this age things evolve to consolidate naps.  Of course, with the activity at daycare I suspect she'll remain a short napper there, and ready to take another good one after getting home.

We've also noted an uptick in the need to use aquaphor or rash cream.  I don't know if it's the warmer weather or an increase in the number of daily poos (and thus more wipes) getting her.  This morning she struggled a little on her poo, even started to cry a bit at the end, and what she produced definitely reflected that it would have been more difficult than her normal movements.  On one hand I think we might have cause to pull out the prune food tonight, on the other hand I'll also note that she's been pooping about 5-6 times a day, so I'd hate to encourage more.

Bathroom Safety

I picked up our first toilet seat lock from resale - it was a style I had looked at on Amazon, but couldn't decide.  I figured for $2.50 (instead of $7) it was worth giving one a try.  We decided to put it in downstairs in the half bath, but obviously have plans to procure for the other bathrooms too - once we know if this is a design we want to stick with.

Now that it is in place I hope one of my next posts isn't about me wetting myself because I failed to get into the lock fast enough after returning home.  It's hard to use public facilities w/ the little one in tow - and sometimes you get home REALLY needing to go!

No more cuddles

Now that Avery is standing and crawling the last thing she wants to do is sit on my lap, that includes in the morning after her bottle.  That also means I am not getting the cuddle time I want and I miss it already.  Fortunately, she does still chill with me a bit when she's going down for a nap or the night.  I know the time will come when she's very cuddly, but I'm not rushing it.

Since my last comment on food we've added cheddar cheese, blackberry, kale, black bean, and a big one - peanut buttter!  I was nervous and eager to get PB out of the way.  I definitely didn't want the kid who was allergic.

Avery at the Aviary

I took the day off today, as did Avery and we had some girl time with Nonna.  Our destination was the National Aviary in Pittsburgh.  It was nice and I think Avery enjoyed seeing some of the critters there.  I love the penguin area and of course the flamingos (I don't know why I love them so) and the bats.

Not who I used to be

Avery has been a different little girl for a few days.  She's still probably more pleasant than most babies, but we've seen/heard our share of tears lately (for no apparent reason).  Today she'd cry every time she was back w/ her Dad and I tried to get things done, but would settle for me (as I carried her about).

Friday daycare called and sent her home before noon as she threw up.  I worry it was another overfeed situation. I sent her the same amount of milk as I had other days, but I also sent yogurt (to replace her oatmeal) so that morning bottle didn't have 1 1/2-2 ounces poured off.  If the kept pushing it on her, she'd over drink and pop.  She did appear to have a _slightly_ elevated temp that afternoon, but it dropped down quickly.  She didn't get sick again all weekend though - so...?  But like I said, she's been a bit moodier, so maybe it's teeth.  That could cause lots of extra mucus too, which could cause the throwing up as well.

Her cribwraps arrived and I'm very pleased.  They are a higher quality/finished product than I expected.  They're very soft, the perfect color, and waterproofed on the back side.

Tonight I got her down a little early, despite a nice long nap earlier in the day and a shorter second one that was a bit late and not waking until 8am.  It does seem like she might be willing/able to shift to an earlier bed time without waking too early.  I was up pretty much all night last night due to a friend visiting, so I really should be in bed myself.

Last related item of the weekend:  on Saturday I got a bill from the hospital (actually care providers there) stating I still owe several hundred dollars from Avery's birth.  She's almost 10 months old.  Are you kidding?  Of course, I see nothing correlating those numbers w/ my healthcare (as having been paid - for that matter never billed, but they claim to have gotten money from my plan).  Regardless, I was maxed out last year, so good luck with that.  But it's annoying that I have some calls to waste my time on tomorrow.

Crabby Climber

Last night I peeled Avery's onesie off, put her arms into her sleeper, and then set her in her crib for a minute so I could get spray on the would-be onesie stains.  (Side note - her proficiency at making a mess while eating has also on point lately.)  I was gone, what, 40 seconds?  I returned to Avery standing, clutching to the railings, and bouncing up and down.  She then reached up and grabbed the mobile and started tugging.  I did take the mobile down and put it in the closet immediately.  She then tried to chomp on the railings while I videotaped the moment - so after she was tucked in for the night I ordered cribwraps to protect both the crib and her teeth.

Last night she was in a bit of a mood.  It may be teething given how much she wanted to chomp on the crib and the plastic bumpers on the corners of the coffee table.  We haven't found a normal teether yet that she has any interest in - they all get tossed to the side.  She was just fussy and discontent for our evening time together.

This morning she was once again standing at attention by the time I got back upstairs with her bottle in hand.  So this is definitely a thing we do now!