Our Gem Baby at 10 months!

10 MONTHS, Oh My!!! Our cutie patootie is changing so much every day! The past month has been incredibly fun. It feels like every day she shows us a new skill she has picked up or starts using a new word. The little baby phase is gone and now she is an interactive kiddo. So very bittersweet for Daddy & Mommy!

The biggest change we notice in Janie this month has to be her talking. Besides "Ma-ma" and "Da-da" she seems to have bypassed the small words and jumped right into phrases like "Peek-a-boo", "tickle, tickle", "Uh-Oh" , "Oh wow", "So big" and "Round and round" (Her favorite song seems to be Wheels on the Bus). Of course, she does the little actions that go along with them and we just melt. Even the "Uh-Oh" after dropping things on the ground which can get old fast. That may be Jane Bug's favorite game because Clara is so good at getting her the dropped toy long after Mommy or Daddy have given up. What a great sister!

While coming so darn close, Janie is not quite crawling. She often gets up in the crawling position, even makes a wobbly stride or two forward before going down to her tummy. She has mastered getting around with her rolls and small scoots from her touche. Janie is a little resistant to turning her leg straight (like above) when she gets on all fours, and it seems that she uses this as her safety net and will just quickly rock back to sitting on her bottom when she feels unsure. Just recently she seems to start being discontent with this type of mobility and has made more attempts at crawling. I have a feeling that she'll be on the go in a few days time!
Ten months is such a fun age! We enjoyed it with Clara and are loving the experience all over again with our Janie Caroline. Recently, Clara spent some time with Grandma & Grandpa Stevens, allowing Mommy & Daddy to enjoy one-on-one time with Jane Bug - what a treat! This kid LOVES to play and seems so coach-able with new activities. We would model an activity (like putting blocks in and out of a sorting container) and within no time she would be doing it independently. Such a reminder of how incredible their little brains are!

Our time with just our Janie felt so calm, quiet and easy after trying to entertain and care for both kids. Janie is a pretty flexible kiddo when it comes to being on the go. She does well in a restaurant, likes going shopping or riding in a stroller, so we took advantage of this a few days and also spent a few days just laying on the floor playing with her all evening. {{Taking in all of the sweet baby-ness - AHHHH!}} So often with 2 kids, we have to tag-team the girls in order to get through our feeding/bath/bedtime routines and our little Bug has had much less undivided attention from both parents at once that Clara. Lil' Gem ate it up and it was great to be able to give her a good dose of it!

Janie is such a lovey child. If she had it her way, she would be held all day long. She likes to play from our lap or directly in front of us, and if we have to step away, it won't take her long to start making her calling sounds to call us back.

Janie has made some big strides with the bottle (taking at least one a day (of formula!!)) and with sleep. She has gotten so much easier to get to go to sleep. She rarely fights going down, especially for her naps. Having her binkie and her soft blanket have become key and we can put her down awake and she'll be asleep in minutes. For a few days, this new routine was not working, but it ended up that sweet Janie caught a cold that seemed to make it tough for her to sleep on her back. We figured out that sleeping in her swing or car seat worked best and once she got the rest, our little gal really was a trooper, sharing many runny-nose and weepy eyed smiles. Janie still like to nurse at night and we tried some sleep training (so hard to hear her cry) while Clara was at Grandma's. She sleeps through the night more frequently now, but we are still not at 100% success.

Our little gal seems to always wake up happy. After waking, she calls our a few times and waits. We can hear her pushing buttons on her Lights and Sounds toy or bouncing/rolling around. When we walk in she often shrieks in delight or seems to say "Hi!" Now at this point, if we have to walk away, or don't immediately pick her up, the happiness shifts to anger quite quickly. She responds similarly, if she thinks she is going to eat and then mom has to grab something and makes her wait just a few more seconds... Oh boy, we are in for it!!!

Janie loves to feed herself. She has just the one tooth, but it has come in quite a bit and looks absolutely adorable in her little grin. We have added lots of new foods this month in itty-bitty tiny pieces on her high chair tray and all of them, with the exception of those that get smashed in her hair, hang of her face or find their way down the side of her high chair, get eaten. Different colors or textures, this kid seems to like it all! Let' s hope it stays that way!

It doesn't seem like it could be possible, but Mommy started getting some of our girls baby clothes organized for a garage sale and Daddy took apart the bassinet for storage (it had become a storage place for baby stuff in our bedroom for the past few months). We are even getting ready to move her out into a bigger car seat. These tasks seem even harder the second time around. It is a good thing that these happy smiles and sweet giggles are the best medicine for those tough moments!