Baby Check: 11 Months

Oh, hello extremely delayed Baby Check.  BUT, this is how I'm justifying my lateness: we're still technically closer to her 11 month than her 1 year, so this is totally still on time.  Duh.

Random thoughts/memories/developments from the her 11 month (mind you I am trying to ignore the last two weeks, which are technically in her 12th month and will be detailed later):

We started off Effy's 11th month with her first trip!  I originally intended to detail the trip in a separate post, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen, so I'll give you a brief summary.  Effy, my hubs, and my mom & dad went to NYC for a week at the beginning of August.  Originally we were just going to get up there for a 2-day conference, but it quickly turned into a week long vacation because that's just more fun.  On the plane: Effy did GREAT flying out.  Snoozed, played, was generally cute and really loved looking out the window.  Coming home...well...we sat on the tarmac for an hour and Effy napped, meaning she was awake and trapped in our arms for the entire flight home.  Plus, on the trip out, we were able to pass Effy back and fourth between us and my parents just to give her some variety.  However on the flight back, the power-hungry diligent flight attendant insisted that Effy only stay with Scott and I because our side of the plane had 3 oxygen mask thingies and the side mom & dad were on did not.  Lame.  Regardless, we made it home in one piece and will totally fly with baby again.  She's so good.  While we were in NYC, we basically  did lots of walks, yummy meals, time in Central Park, a couple of museums, and some shopping.  Effy's favorite thing in New York?  Pigeons.  Seriously.  They received lots of squeals and excited leg kicks.  Here is a quick photo dump from our trip...

One of Effy's favorites modes of transport - Dadda.

Effy's favorite part of our hotel room.

Our hotel was in the Garment District and the view from our room was Bryant Park.  I pretty much felt like Heidi Klum...and I am a lot like her.  For example, I am typing this blog post while wearing a pair of scottie dog PJ pants.  Total Heidi move if I ever saw one.

Scott & Effy in Bryant Park

We got to meet up with two of my awesome friends whilst we were there, Lindsey & Hännah.  I apparently didn't take any pictures with Lindsey because I'm a jerk.  Lindsey showed us the High Line and we ate at a place with super tasty milkshakes.  Oh, and I got a burger with a fried egg on it which is one of my most favorite things in all the land.  Here's a shot of me and Hännah following our tasty meal at Alice's Tea Cup.  I had pumpkin pancakes!  Amazing.

 

Back to random photo time...

Effy was more than happy to practice standing up as long as it involved stealing ice cream.

Learning about art at The Met.

Trying to slow her down so we could pack to come home.

Double ear-infection: While on our trip, Scott ended up with bronchitis, which made me feel so bad.  Being sick is the worst, but being sick while you're not at home is double the worst.  About a week after we got home, I ended up getting some respiratory infection and Effy ended up with a double ear infection.  She really didn't seem to mind it.  In fact, we went to the doctor and said, "We just wanted to get Effy checked because Scott and I have both been sick and on antibiotics and wondered how Effy was doing."  Yeah...she had a double ear infection but was not upset about it.  She's good to go now though!

Dogs and babies: Effy is currently obsessed with two things -- babies and dogs.  She doesn't play with other babies really, but really likes to look at them and squeal.  She LOVES dogs and is lucky enough that Scott's dad and step-mom (aka Poppy & J-Ma) live a couple blocks from us and have a very sweet dog that is slowly getting used to Effy screaming at her.  Effy's very favorite toy right now is her stuffed Boo.  He makes Effy a very happy and snuggly baby!

Swings: We go on lots of walks...like...at least two a day but usually three.  If Effy is remotely close to a park with swings, a device in her diaper tells her legs to kick like crazy and to squeal with delight...or at least that's how it seems.  For so long, she seemed so indifferent to things around her but we exposed her to them anyway.  A tree?  Umm...whatever mom.  A squirrel?  I don't even care, mom.  But now, she's showing opinions and reactions to almost everything, especially swings.  They're the best.  It's easy for me to say "no" and re-direct her away from things I know she doesn't need (like the high-calorie food I tend to eat).  But when she has the most innocent desire ever, to swing at the park, I almost always go for it.  She is just so precious.

Boogers: I've picked many a booger in my day and recently on a walk, Effy had a pretty good one that was a dangler.  I snatched it up and wiped it on the sidewalk (obviously).  Then I accidently ran over it with the stroller.  This clearly warranted a picture.  Then the booger warrented me sharing it with the internet.

Baby proofing: Effy started crawling in June, I believe.  I'm too lazy to verify this by looking back at a blog entry.  Ever since then, we were aware that we needed to do some serious baby proofing, but some of it overwhelmed me.  We decided it was worth the extra money to have someone come in and help us and it was SO wonderful.  We found The Soft Landing and a sweet lady came and did a run through of our house, was very informative, and funny too.  Then a handyman came and installed two baby gates and countless cabinet locks (some super cool magnetic ones...I highly recommend them).

Pulling up: Effy's 11th month was the month of pulling herself up to standing.  She does it ALL the time, wherever she can.  She has yet to stand without holding onto something.  Scott and I think she's physically capable but she has a mental roadblock that she can't do it, so we're trying to show her that she can!  Oh, she also walks with her little walker toys or if we're holding her hands, but no official first steps yet. First she's gotta stand on her own.  She can do it!

Library story time: We checked out storytime at the library this month as well.  It's free, there are cute babies, and we sing songs, so I'm sure we'll go back.  I'm not sure if we'll go super consistently because we're now paying to participate in Kindermusik (which I did growing up, so it's nostalgic and all), but it's nice to know there's an option to get us out of the house other days (not that we have a problem with that).  PLUS, we ran into a teacher friend of mine who now stays home with her super cute son that is just a few weeks older than Effy.  It was SO great to see her and her sweet baby boy and seeing them will probably be one of our top motivating factors to get to story time.  By the way, a room of 0-18 month olds "listening" to stories for 20 minutes is laughable, yet adorable.

Growing up: Effy now officially has 4 teeth.  Her top two middle teeth came in during her 11th month and she was a champ about it.  It caused her to have 3 or 4 difficult nights, but other than that, she's been so great about it.  Also, she is now officially in a big girl car seat!

Sleep routine: Speaking of sleep, I should jot down what Effy's current sleep routine is like, because it's outstanding.  It's been so nice staying home with her for many reasons, but one reason I love it is because it allows her to run her day how she prefers, as opposed to around the schedule we need her to be on.  She goes to bed between 7:30 and 8, sleeps until around 5 or 6am, nurses, and then goes back to sleep until 8 or 9am. YES.

Meal times: It has become very evident that Effy really prefers to feed herself finger foods.  We've let her feed herself with a spoon a few times, but the finger foods thing is less messy and she eats more, so we'll stick with that for awhile.  Her favorite finger foods include cheese, banana, avocado, cheese, little pieces of meat, black beans, cheese, peaches/plums, and cheese.

Gnawing on a plum.

Yup.

Student Teaching Visit: A couple years ago, I student taught at the most awesome high school, one that many of my friends from college graduated from.  One of those friends suggested going back to visit, so Ms. Effy came along and met some great peeps that I had the pleasure of working with and now have the pleasure of stalking on Facebook.  Effy will soon be making more trips to the high school I just left so she can help me teach students musical choreography!  Super pumped.


Play dates: Effy has had many wonderful play dates in the last few weeks, but because most of my friends don't have kids, our play dates are Effy playing with MY friends, which none of us complain about.  My dear friend Aly, Effy, and I were all hanging out, running some errands, eating lunch, the usual.  We decided to eat at Winstead's because it is so freakin' delicious.  Effy sat in her high chair, ate some food, and was just generally cute while Aly and I chit chatted and doted on Effy.  When it was time to go, Aly picked Effy up out of the high chair and I froze.  There, sitting in the high chair, was crap.  Like...feces.  Effy had pooped and a large majority of it oozed out.  Now, Effy is clearly in white shorts because that is what smart parents do...put their babies in white pants when they're on diarrhea inducing antibiotics.  Aly is now holding a poopy baby close against her, unaware of the situation in the high chair.  All I can say is, "UHHHH...Aly...".  Now if this was going to happen with any of my friends, Aly is the lady to have with me.  She's a nurse in a pediatric gastroenterology clinic, so she actually gets paid to hang out with kids and their "business", if you will.  She was cool, calm, and collected.  I quickly wiped up the poop and SHOULD have put it in a little ziploc and tossed it in the trashcan outside of the restaurant.  However, in my moment of panic, I apparently thought it was a better idea to clean up the poop and then wrap the poopy wipes up in my empty cheeseburger wrapper and leave it on the table.  I am a HORRIBLE person.  I was not thinking clearly and obviously should have left my waitress a much better tip, besides 20% and some diarrhea.  You live and learn.

A separate antibiotic-induced diarrhea incident that week.  Ahh, parenthood.

Sweet baby girl, it's hard to believe your 1 year birthday is coming up!  You are such a happy baby, always smiling, giggling, and just generally being cute is what you spend your days doing.  We are so blessed that you are our daughter and we love you.