For almost two full months you’ve been sleeping through the night. We put you down between 7 and 8 pm, and you sleep until 6 or 7 am. Except for the last few days. You’re now waking up in the middle of the night, around 4 am, for a feeding. You nurse and then quickly go back to sleep. We’re again experimenting with different things to see if anything helps you sleep through the night again. Your nana and papa suggested that you’re probably cold, since the weather has shifted and it is much colder at night, yet you’re sleeping in the same thin pajamas you’ve worn all summer. So we started doubling up your pajamas. But that didn’t prove to be the problem; even with two pajamas on, you’re still waking in the middle of the night.

I wonder if you’re just hungry since you have become so mobile and active during the days. I’m trying to really feed you well and get you filled up before bedtime, but so far nothing is satiating you enough to get you through the night. Previously, we had been giving you one serving of solid food and then nursing you before bed. Now we’re giving you a serving of food, some rice cereal, and nursing you. But alas, you’re still waking. For now I’m taking in comfort in the fact that you’re happy and healthy and growing like crazy, that you go to sleep immediately after I nurse you in the middle of the night, and that in wee hours of the morning you are sleepy and snuggly, which is not a very common occurrence during the days.

We’ve still been dutifully introducing new foods every four days or so. We’ve yet to find one you don’t like. The latest was apples, which we were fairly certain you’d love due to their sweetness and your fondness of pears. And true to our prediction, you gobbled them right up. The doctor suggested that we could even hand you a large slice of apple and let you suck and chew on it. Now that we know you’re not allergic to apples, we’ll definitely do this, especially when we’re out at a restaurant and need something to keep you occupied. I can’t wait to see what you think of your first apple slice.

Every time we give you a bite of food, whether it’s something I’d generally consider yummy (pears, apples, avocados) or something that I’d prefer to not stick in my mouth (peas, rice cereal), you make a soft little ‘ummmmmm’ sound while you’re eating it. You do this with every single bite, without fail. And it gets me every time. It is the cutest thing in the world. Ummmmmm.

We’ve been feeding for many weeks now using the hard plastic, molded chair that we were given. It has a tray on it and provides some support to you, which was perfect as you were still perfecting the art of sitting. It’s worked great for feeding you, though it’s not the most stable and it’s not meant to be used on raised surfaces, like countertops. So we’ve needed to get you a highchair, and we’ve been spending some time researching them and trying to determine which would be best.

Finally last week we decided on one, ordered it and your dad put it together last night when it arrived. We used it tonight for the first time to feed you and you seemed pretty happy with your new seat. It has a little rest for your feet and a nice big tray for you to pound on. You liked looking around and got a swift hand on the watering can sitting on a ledge behind you, but thankfully it was empty. We’ve now repositioned the highchair so that you can’t reach anything else.

Our house is still in a bit of a state of disarray from all the clothes sorting. When I came out this morning your dad was helping organize the hat and sock and accessory drawer, and so were you. You were sitting in it, with a too-small hat sitting on your head and a big smile on your face. You were busily looking through everything in the drawer. It was a priceless moment.

We’re so fortunate in that we’ve been given literally hundreds of articles of clothes (and shoes and socks and hats, too) for you from friends who have little girls older than you. Before you were born I sorted through everything that I had at the time, categorizing them into newborn girl clothes and newborn gender-neutral clothes, and then binning the rest by size (0-3 months, 3-6 months, etc). We had clothes through roughly 12 months. But over the last few months our clothes stash has grown to include clothes through size 3 years. As you’ve quickly grown through sizes, I’ve had a hard time keeping up and staying organized. I’ve been relegating outgrown clothes to bags in the garage, and hand-me-downs that we keep receiving also get dropped in the garage. All this has resulted in a huge mess of boxes, bags, and Rubbermaid bins filled with clothes in no particular order at all. Your dad was getting frustrated by the seemingly endless supply of clothes that I was randomly depositing in the garage, and I was overwhelmed with constantly trying to find bigger clothes for you while pulling too-small clothes out of circulation in your current wardrobe.

Then, I had the perfect solution – your nana. She loves all of the little girl clothes, and even has a large supply of baby clothes that she’s collected over the years. Some of them are dear favorites of mine from when I was a little girl; others are clothes that were just too cute to resist that she’s bought for her doll collection. So I asked her if she’d mind helping me by sorting through all of the clothes, organizing them by size, and adding some sanity to the chaos. She was so excited that she agreed immediately, and undertook this mission today. Every once in awhile she’d come into my office and show me something she’d found that was just too adorable to pack away without first celebrating it. And then a couple of times she came in with you dressed in one of the new finds. She was having the time of her life, and you didn’t seem to mind playing dress up with her.

About mid-morning I came out from my office to grab some water and I think every surface in the living room was covered in a pile of clothes. It was a huge mess. But by the end of the day she had put all the outgrown clothes, organized by size, into appropriately-marked bags. She’d grouped the clothes that were still too big for you, with the largest on the bottom and the ones that you’ll be wearing soon on top, and put them into a big Rubbermaid bin. She had a bag of items that were well-worn and loved and a bit past their prime to be donated to Goodwill. She also had a big pile of clothes to launder, clothes that are either perfect for you now or will be soon.

Today we took a walk up to the park where you swung for awhile, you had your first trip down a slide, and then we all went for a swim. The pool felt a lot colder to me than last time, and in fact I was shivering in the water and abandoned the pool for the hot tub. But you stayed in the pool for about 20 minutes, happy and content the entire time.

This evening your nana and papa watched you while your dad and I ran out for a quick drink. We went to the Breckenridge Brewery, where I remember sharing (9 years ago) a nice, special, quiet meal amidst the chaos of our upcoming wedding, just two days away. And where your dad and I took our first solo outing after having you, when you were just two weeks old and I needed to get out of the house. It’s amazing now, looking back at how overwhelmed I was during that day months ago when you were so little, thinking about how much fun we’ve had, and how much we love you so.

Your nana and I got a massage today, than we met you, your dad and your papa in Frisco for lunch. We walked around town a bit then found a place to eat. We put you in a highchair and tied a few toys on and you were pretty content for most of the meal. I have to admit that we felt pretty proud of ourselves for coming up with the solution of tying your toys on to the chair so that when you drop them off, they don’t get dirty or roll away on the floor.

When we got home we watched the CU game. We’re really trying to keep you from watching TV, and so your papa found a good little space for you in the corner, between the couch and the chair. You’re contained back there, can’t see the TV, but still have a little room to move around. There is the handle for the reclining chair right there, and you enjoyed playing with it. You kept grabbing it and trying to get it in your mouth, and before we knew it, we looked and you had taken it off from the chair! We’re not sure what happened, but it caused us to proclaim that you’re going to be an engineer just like me. Also of note on this day: CU finally won a game.

And the last noteworthy item from today is that you had your first piggy back ride! You seemed pretty happy there, on top of the world on your dad’s shoulders. I can only imagine how many times in the future you’re going to ask for a ride up there.

We drove to Breckenridge tonight, and unfortunately got a later start then we had planned. We hit traffic on the way, and it was a pretty slow drive. It was the first time that we drove all the way there in one straight shot, without stopping somewhere to get out and give you a break. You did really good, though you certainly were ready for bed when we got here.

You are an early riser. You often wake between 6 and 7, though you’ve had a few mornings where you’re awake as early as 5 and you’re ready to start your day. At that early hour your dad is in denial that you’re really up and wanting to play, and he brings you to our bed and tries to get you to snuggle. I can do nothing but smile and giggle as he lies there, eyes closed and arm wrapped around you, trying to will you to sleep. You roll back and forth, between him and me, grabbing at our noses, lips, hair, sometimes hitting us to get our attention, pulling the sheets here and there. There is absolutely no way anyone could sleep with your activities going on. But still he tries, lying there motionless, eyes closed, letting you pinch and pull and play. I try to contain your movement and my giggles for as long as possible, but eventually tell your dad that he needs to give up on trying to sleep and we just need to get up.

With neither of us being early birds, this is change in pace for us. But it’s actually sort of nice, getting up and starting our day so early. We are able to get so much accomplished in the hours before we used to even get out of bed. And we’re able to take you for nice strolls around the neighborhood, often walking down to the coffee shop and back. The dogs must be happy with this new schedule, because they’re getting longer walks, more frequently, then they ever have before.

You got your very own swing today. Your dad hung it tonight, and you had a great time breaking it in. we ordered it about a week ago, and it’s been slowly arriving in bits and pieces. Two s-hooks arrived one day, then the chains a couple days later. The actual seat part of the swing arrived today. I told your dad that I’m thankful you’re not older, because you would’ve been extremely frustrated knowing that someday soon you’d have a swing, but that for the last few days you just had parts.

Today the old adage ‘you’ve got to crawl before you can walk’ was enumerated for us at the PT/OT appointment. You’ve been trying to stand for weeks. Even at our last appointment, over a month ago, you were arching your back, leaning into us, and trying to stand rather than stay in the sit position we were trying to place you in. At that time the doctors encouraged us to try and continue having you sit, rather than give into you standing and supporting your stand. We’ve dutifully been working on sitting, and you are great at it now, able to sit without any support and virtually no bobbles. Over the past few weeks you’ve been army crawling, but you haven’t taken off and perfected it like I thought you would. Your focus still seems to be on wanting to stand. You try to pull yourself up on the Exercauser, on the piano, and even in the bathtub.

Today the doctor said that some kids basically skip crawling and go straight to walking, and that you are showing tendencies towards that. But she indicated that crawling is very important developmentally. We were given instructions on things to work on with you to encourage you to crawl, and she also said we should not use the Exercauser as much. So, for now we’ll work on playing with you on the ground, putting you in crawl position, and encouraging you to move to your toys across the room.

When I get off the bus in the afternoon and am walking across the street my pace quickens and I anxiously crane my neck around the corner to see if I can spot you. Most days you and your nana sit on the front step and wait for me to get home. It’s usually hot out and you’re sitting patiently in the shade anticipating my arrival. Today you had a hat and jacket on, but you were still happily waiting for me. When I come into sight your nana announces my arrival, and I say hello, and you look for and give me a big smile when you’ve found me approaching. It is the highlight of my day and the best welcome home anyone could ask for.

This evening your nana stayed and watched the Broncos’ game with us. We dressed you in the Broncos’ dress that Katie gave you yesterday, and you fit right in with the rest of us in our gear. Unfortunately, you had to go to bed by the time the game started. And also unfortunately, the Broncos lost.