10 Months!

Charlotte turned 10 months old on May 3rd.  I cannot believe I am about to have a one-year-old!  I got something in the mail last week that said, "you no longer have a baby, you have a toddler!"  It made me so nostalgic and kind of sad that she's not a little baby anymore (but NOT enough to bring a brother or sister into the world just yet!  Her few nights of horrendous sleep during her hand-foot-mouth illness reminded me what a terror I become in the middle of the night).  She may not be a tiny baby anymore but she is getting to be so much fun, and I know I will only enjoy her more and more as the months and years pass.  It's just a reminder to enjoy each and every little moment.
These ten month pictures were quite a challenge because she is constantly on the move and has no time to pose for pictures ...

*Weight ~ 18 lbs based on visits to after-hours clinic and orthopedics this month!

*Height - unsure

*Clothing size - mostly 9 months and 12 months, and I am thoroughly enjoying buying her adorable summer clothes!  I am having to restrain myself ... 

*Diaper size - size 3

*Eats - Charlotte is a great eater!  We have found very few foods she doesn't like.  She eats 2-3 solid meals a day and eats Earth's Best stage 3 foods.  We have also introduced more real finger foods this month, like chopped up bananas, avocados, etc.  She loves feeding herself!  She continues to love her puffs ... daycare and the childcare where Brandon works out have figured this out as well and use puffs to settle her down.  No matter how many puffs, mum-mums, etc we send to daycare, we always get a note that says "Charlotte needs more snacks".  Haha.  We have to set a limit on the snacks though!  So far no success with a sippy cup - that's something we will work on this month!  

*Sleep - Charlotte goes to bed between 6:30 and 7:00 most nights.  She has started waking up again in the middle of the night to eat, usually between midnight and 3AM, which is frustrating because I know she is not starving!  We do occasionally have nights of uninterrupted sleep.  She wakes up to have a bottle between 5:30 and 6:15, then will wake up for the day between 7:15 and 8:00.  Ever since we got rid of the swing, naps have become an even bigger struggle.  Many days she refuses to nap, or takes 15-20 minute cat-naps.  Lately, the only way to get her to sleep is to put her in the car and drive for 5 minutes (trying not to make a habit of this!).  Then I will find a parking lot, turn the car off, and read until she wakes up.  Obviously not ideal and an area for improvement!

*Likes - her new play tables, throwing a tennis ball, burying her face into Brutus - or any other furry animal for that matter, spitting (a new "skill"), pulling up on EVERYTHING, the toilet, baths, walks, other babies/toddlers, playing in her dirty diaper while we try to quickly change her, tipping over Brutus's water bowl, electrical outlets (which I am proud to say are all covered!), "fake" coughing, standing on her infant carseat, riding in her new "big-girl" carseat

*Dislikes - being dropped off at daycare, taking naps, not getting what she wants IMMEDIATELY (can we say impatient??) 

*Milestones - Charlotte is pulling up on everything and has started to cruise on furniture.  She continues to crawl everywhere (I am going to call it crawling even though it looks quite unusual) and has gotten very fast.  She babbles and says "dada".  She has a good pincer grasp and is able to feed herself finger foods (this isn't really a new milestone this month, but she continues to refine this skill).  I can officially say we have our hands full.  She has to be watched like a hawk as she puts everything in her mouth and is a little path of destruction.  I am still anxiously waiting to report that she has teeth ... but we still have a toothless baby!!  I am pretty sure she will have teeth by her 11 month post ... two on the bottom look like they are going to pop through her gum any day now.
So not exactly a milestone, but one major accomplishment over the past few months has been her ability to entertain herself with toys so I can take a shower!  From the beginning, one of my biggest struggles has been how to take a shower and get ready with a baby.  Things have been SO much better since she started playing with her toys on the floor of the bathroom while I get ready.  

*Health - I am happy to report that Charlotte is over her hand-foot-mouth disease and her ear infection. We went to the orthopedist last week to make sure her hips looked ok and got a great report.  Hips look absolutely fine, so her unique crawl is just that ... unique ... and not pathologic!  I have to be sure to get a video of it in the next week or two.

Waiting room of the orthopedist's office

*First Easter

In keeping with the other major holidays of her first year, both Brandon and I worked on Easter!  I was overnight call on Saturday, so got home around noon to sleep on Sunday morning.  Brandon worked until 5 PM, and got off early so we could go to the evening service at church.  Brandon's parents graciously skipped the Easter morning service at their church to watch Charlotte for us.  Charlotte, Brandon, and I celebrated Easter morning on Monday!  

  With her Easter basket in her Easter PJ's and the Easter hat she made at daycare!

Checking out her musical activity table and her inflatable pool for the back porch

Other random photos from the month:

Testing out cars at the toy store

Checking out the flamingos at the zoo

Testing out her new sunglasses

Living the life ... porch time with Grandpa, warm bottle, cool shades, and Phish on the iPhone

 Playing with an Apple charger under Grandma's watch

Fun times with Daddy, the extension cord, and a diaper blow-out

Coffee break at O'Henry's during a shopping outing

Dinner with Daddy while Mommy was in Seattle

Proud girl in her new carseat!

I sure hope she likes it, because tomorrow she is going to spend 5 hours in it on our way to Rosemary Beach!!

Trip to Seattle for AGS

Last week I left Charlotte for the first time to go with my mom to Seattle for the American Geriatric Society annual meeting.  This was able to be worked into my schedule and counted as part of my rotation instead of vacation, as I am conveniently on geriatrics this month.  After six straight ward months with call, nights, and weekends, I have been very much looking forward to this ambulatory rotation!!
Although it was very hard to leave Charlotte (we haven't been apart for more than 16 hours since she was born), I had a great time!  Getting three uninterrupted nights sleep in a row served me well.  The room service with breakfast in bed wasn't so bad either!

Pike Place Fish Market

Having drinks with a view

With the geriatric fellows at the Crab Pot ... poor quality photo but you get the idea 

While Mommy is away, Daddy and baby will play ... Xbox, that is

Brutus and Charlotte playing

I was sad to leave Seattle, but happy to get back home to Brandon, Charlotte, and Brutus.  When I got home, it was straight back to reality from the life of relative luxury I was living on my mini-vacation.  Charlotte was up all night screaming and febrile (thank goodness I have an amazing husband who stayed up all night with her as I was exhausted from traveling ... even though I should have been the well-rested one as he had been on single-parent duty for three days).  The following morning she woke up with a rash, continued to be fussy, and was not eating or drinking well, which prompted a call to the pediatrician and trip to the after hours Children's Hospital clinic.  There Charlotte was diagnosed with hand-foot-mouth disease and a right ear infection.  Thankfully she is feeling a little better and her rash is slowly improving, but she is still not acting like her usual happy self.

Hand-foot-and-mouth disease, although her rash was most impressive on her legs

Even though she was feeling bad, my mom and I spent the entire time in the waiting room at the after-hours clinic chasing Charlotte around.  She was crawling away from us as fast as she could and squealing with excitement!  While she is crawling fast, she is doing a strange crab crawl in which she drags her right leg.  She is also pulling up on everything, but predominantly with her left leg..  leading me to worry about her right leg / hip.  So we will be visiting the orthopedist in a couple of days to make sure she isn't experiencing a residual problem with her hip.

Sick baby :-(

10 month update coming soon.  We are also getting excited about taking a vacation to Rosemary Beach next week ... Charlotte's first trip to the beach!