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| She's very photogenic in this shirt, if you recall. |
I was just joking with James like, "My blog sponsors are disappointed! I've left my advertisers hanging. The people NEED to know what life is like this month with a baby bear. What am I doing?"
Um, but in all seriousness, I am pleased to report that I'm finally designing my own site on Wix and buying a real domain. This is years overdue. So you won't have to come to this ugly blogspot every month (with a crazy long URL). So, all 7 of you, please weigh in: Aren't you excited?!
I feel like I should be doing more posts like my last one -- which, actually, way more than 7 people read ... I was floored! -- if I really want to drive traffic. But let's be real, this was never about traffic or page views. I'll take my digital managing editor hat off now. So let's talk LMA! Or, Little Miss Analisa, for those of you NOT on the group page. ;)
Baby bear is growing up! TEARS.
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| Big girl. |
I swear, I'm constantly trying to strike this balance between living in the moment and documenting the absolute shit out of our days. I just want to remember every cute outfit and every toothy grin! She is so sweet and just the absolute love of our lives. Understatement!
James and I crawled into bed last night, exhausted from chasing her around together for a full Sunday and agreed: she is TIRING. But it's just so worth it. Even the silly hissy fits (she lost her mind about a purple bucket up north and I couldn't help but laugh when she wasn't watching), I mean, the tantrums aren't that frequent. She is 96% of the time still her happy little self. A ball of smooches and cuddles and giggles. We are just enamored with her, to say the least. She has the keys to our hearts and she knows it. She even comes and gives hugs and kisses, sometimes without being asked. She repeats nearly EVERYTHING. And she is so so good at saying a few of her words! "Juice" is clear as day. Anz even has some combos lately: "I do too!" or "Mama no!" or "Dada YES!"
I love hearing her say "yesh" after months and months of just "no." No to everything! Even when she means yes.
Ana is just the smartest, most joyous little ladybug. I'm so proud of her.
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| Baby in a maxi! |
The doctor at her 18-month checkup was like, "How do you think she's doing?" And I just rambled. I was like, "She sings and we sing together and she's starting to put together word combinations and she uses a spoon and she knows who we all are and she loves people and her toys and she plays with me more than ever and we have this eye game and she picks up items of our clothing and properly identifies who they belong to and she now says one-two-three-sometimes FOUR and she's just the BEST!"
Dr. L was like, "All sounds good to me!" and then our appointment was over.
Honestly, we spend like, 10 minutes total with her at every appointment. Which is good on some level, right? I mean, Ana's healthy and we don't have many concerns. I think we're still looking for a new pediatrician regardless, mostly because Dr. L waffles back and forth on SO much shit. One month Ana has SEVERE torticollis until oh no wait, no she doesn't. Another month she's worried about putting this Vaseline-type stuff on a certain body part, and then the next visit, it's as if it never happened. But that's a post for another day: "12 reasons I knew it was time to switch peds."
We did learn Ana's now in the 50th percentile for both weight and height. A very average baby, indeed! ;) She is nearly 32 inches long, and 23 pounds. She's evening out finally and losing some of her baby fat, which is largely because she's so BUSY BUSY BUSY.
I can't even tell you how busy. It's honestly the cutest thing. I probably said this last time and maybe even the time before, but she just creates these little tasks and jobs for herself. It's next-level these days though. She'll stay busy ALL morning and not need me one bit as she moves all her crayons from the table to the couch cushions, or her toys from one bucket to the next. She loves these stacking coasters we have in our guest room, and will just march back and forth from her bedroom to this room, one coaster at a time, lining them up in different spots. It's so fascinating to watch her brain develop as she teaches herself things. You can just see her mind working as she picks up items, weighing them, comparing them, moving them ... I'm obviously biased but I think she's so so smart.
You do have to hunt for things though. Today blue blanks was hiding in her Minnie airplane and James' sandals were in the entertainment center.
Also she lovvvves babies. She'll see babies on TV and shriek in delight, "BEBE!"
And you should hear her talk! She will just ramble for like, a full minute, not bothering to come up for air at all. She gets her shoulders and hands into it, she's very expressive as she explains, and she is just like, insisting on something. I wish I knew what she wanted to tell us. Every now and then I'll catch a real word or two in there, but for the most part, it's all garble. But her inflection and tone are spot on! What a bear.
Per usual, I'm all over the place!
What else did I mention that's new -- self-feeding with utensils? That's kind of new-ish. She's always fed herself finger foods (which is all food with baby-led weaning), but one day she just seemed like she wanted to do it herself, so I handed over the spoon. Now she does yogurt and applesauce. She's not very good, but she's getting there. It's mostly frustrating because she won't take correction, even gently. I'll flip my spoon or hers or try to show her the correct scooping motion, and she loses her mind. Even when I try to make it casual and fun. Teeth-brushing kind of goes similarly. Such is life with an 18-month baby, I suppose! Oh and the fork is happening a little bit, but still largely a work in progress.
I bought a TON of new toys for her off Facebook Marketplace. I swear I spent like, $40, and I came home with this ginorm Amazon box of stuff. It's all gently used, but obviously Ana doesn't care. I was feeling guilty about the fact that we hadn't upgraded her toys since she was ... 6 months? With just a few exceptions. Haha, not that she minds that, either. She'd rather play with the teaspoons and envelopes and our wine bottles. But I feel good about finally getting her some updated stuff! She's loving this Minnie airplane I mentioned and her new castle.
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| Ana and Aunt T |
It's also nice as the warm weather continues to get even warmer. We snagged her a sprinkler (well, we snagged ourselves a sprinkler) and a baby pool last week at Target and she had the best time splashing around. We did the same thing at my parents' the previous Tuesday and I'd never seen her happier. We wished it could have been warmer at Silver Beach Lodge this past week with my extended family -- we just got back! -- but we got at least one beach day in. It's so nice just to have everyone around and visit with the fam who we rarely see. Ana seemed so big this year, compared to last! When we were there last July, Ana was just sitting up in the water, not able to do much else.
We also just upgraded our car seat, just in time for our Rochester trip (coming up Wednesday!) Did everyone know except me that you're supposed to switch to a convertible seat around the time the baby turns 1? My cousin Amanda told me it was a recent recommendation, but like, I just knew our bucket seat lasted until 35 pounds and I was gonna keep the Anz in that thing until that very point. UNTIL I started reading about it, felt super out of the loop, and ordered one online ASAP. James is going to install it maybe after work. I'm excited to see if this helps Ana sleep better during that long car ride! Fingers crossed.
I'll go hide in a cave now, I can just feel your judgment for keeping my baby in her bucket seat until 18 months! ;)
Final new items? We now respect nap time like no one's business. We used to just breeze right past it, running errands and banking on her sleeping in the car or whatever. Now it's like, if we've missed a solid crib nap, we've effectively messed up the rest of the day. So it kind of sucks, but from the hours of like, 11a and 3p, we are home. Non-negotiable. Sometimes she naps for an hour (sadface), sometimes she naps for four hours (holy YES), but either way, she's getting her home-nap in, damnit!
And I'll leave you with some mom tips. Not because I think I know everything -- (far from it, actually. I've been winging this thing since December 2015). But just like, here are three quickie things from me to you, if this can save you in any way.
1.) If your baby chews up all her food, or hoards it in her mouth and you THINK she's eating, only to have her spit it all out a minute or two later, don't give up hope. "She's just not into blueberries/or fill-in-the-blank-with-any-food anymore, I guess," I've said to James seemingly a million times lately, feeling hopeless and confused. But listen: she IS into blueberries still. Babies don't know what tf they want. Try the berries again tomorrow and you'll probably be fine. Don't make small things big things.
2.) Other moms with backed-up babies: (read -- constipated babies). Your baby might not have a milk allergy. Milk is just binding af, and if you cut it out, or at least, cut back on it, you'll likely see some success. But again, that isn't because your baby is necessarily lactose intolerant. Milk is just shitty. People ask me all the time when they learn Anz largely drinks coconut milk, "When did you learn she was lactose intolerant?" Which I guess isn't the strangest question. But like, she's probably not. I frequent the post-MiraLAX baby groups and so many moms are baffled by this.
3.) Getting rid of cable really is the best. But a week before AT&T comes to downgrade your package to basic-ass TV, DVR the shit out of Bubble Guppies and all her favs. This has honestly saved us so hard! Money and happiness. Also, Daniel Tiger and Sesame Street are so much cuter than the garbage on Nick Jr. Did you guys know DT is like a cartoon version of Mr. Rogers? Or were James and I the final two parents on Earth to learn that news? I'm all on board with that cute af Daniel Tiger! I've been singing his songs around the house like crazy lately, and loving every second.
Oh, and over-the-top smile is back. She is such a faker.
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| Not even cute. |
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| But you're just here for the pics, I feel you. |
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