10 Months

Another month of life down for this sweet little girl. After months and months of Lena observing and smiling and watching, she is FINALLY starting to talk, cruise, and let her sweet soft voice be heard. Don't get me wrong, we still think she has her father's quiet, observant personality and has a hard time overpowering her older sisters theatrics. But she's getting bolder and slowly finding her place in our little family.

Lena is really into pulling herself up to stand. She does this a lot on her little full length mirror that sits horizontally against the fireplace. It has hefty toys on either end so it doesn't budge when she grabs ahold of it. She will cruise from one end to the other and then try to grab ahold of something else or fall to a sit and crawl onto something else. She will also grab ahold of any person within her reach! Elise isn't a fan of this. Lena will crawl over to her and pull on her clothes to try to stand and then Elise gets mad and walks away which causes Lena to plop back down and promptly throw a fit! Never a dull moment with these kids. Lena is also newly obsessed with pointing. She points at daddy (and calls out for him), she also points at our shadows on the wall and laughs at them, she points at food or something she wants and whines for it.

Lena is still doing well with sleeping. She sleeps from roughly 6p-6a each night. She has had a few rough nights (thanks to teething) but I usually go in, either give her Motrin or let her nurse and she goes right back to sleep. Another good thing about Lena is she's learned early on to fall asleep without nursing. This will be huge when it comes time to wean. It was a hard lesson for Elise to learn and it was hard on me to teach it to her without my husband around. Usually, I take Lena and nurse and rock her until she decides she's done. Then I pick her up and she lays her head down on my shoulder for awhile and lets me snuggle her for awhile (my favorite part!) Then she actually reaches for her bed, I lay her down and she just lays there. Sometimes she will pitch a short fit after I leave or she will talk and coo herself to sleep. Either way, it's nice! Hopefully, this time will be a bit easier on us all! Speaking of my husband, he is really loving this stage of babyhood. He missed 8-14 mos with Elise so this is all very new to him. I can tell a lot of it is still bittersweet for him. But he is loving being here to watch Lena learn to take steps and realize that he is HER daddy and she now prefers him to me at times throughout the day. He has always been super supportive of my breastfeeding our kids but I know he's felt a tad left out in those beginning months when all babies want is to nurse and be comforted via the breast. Now he's soaking it up every time he comes home and I'm holding Lena and she suddenly sees him, smiles BIG and reaches for him saying DADADADADA. She's not even CLOSE to saying mama (I think she refers to me with the sign for milk....because lets face it, that's a BIG part of why she likes me so much haha), but it doesn't bother me one bit. I get tears in my eyes watching her reach and call for him. Watching our girls love on him is just the best thing ever.

Man, can this girl EAT! She nurses frequently still. Judging by the size and feel of my breasts throughout the day though, I estimate she is really only drinking for nutrients maybe 3 times a day? The rest is boredom or comfort nursing. But she can seriously just eat all day long. It's exhausting! She eats a full breakfast with Sister in the morning, eggs, waffles, cheerios, etc. For lunch and usually dinner she can eat 1-2 baby food packs AFTER she's had some sort of snack to hold her over while I make lunch for her and Elise (and eventually myself). She eats the whole time we are at Elise's gymnastics class and she usually eats all of whatever I send to keep her busy in the childcare room when I go to Crossfit. Our girls may be petite and on the smaller side of the growth chart, but they have never lacked in the eating department (much like their mama!)

It's a bittersweet thing.....we are not really looking forward to our youngest baby growing up and not being a baby anymore, but we are looking forward to seeing her learn, grow strong, and get to know her better. This sweet girl has brightened our lives in so many ways. It's only been 10 months and we can't imagine life without her.