11 Months

Dear Gracie,

Little girl, you are a not so little 11 months old.  Your smile and giggle light up the room.  I think you are becoming aware of how charming you are, and are using that to your advantage…already. 

 

You learned how to clap your hands this month, and the first few days were hilarious because more often than not, your little chubby hands would miss each other and hit your face or some other body part.  You thought this was absolutely hilarious, and we agreed.  One morning while clapping along to your favorite show “Yo Gabba Gabba”, Daisy decided to come lay down near you.  Your clapping got super aggressive, and poor Daisy ended up with an open palm slap to the cheek.  Of course, you thought this was the funniest thing ever.  Basically, you think EVERYTHING that you do is the funniest thing ever.  You are quite the comedian, and while Daddy and I think you are humorous, you are definitely your biggest fan.  Throwing your sippy cup off your high chair at dinner elicits a belly laugh from you every time – as does sitting through our meal time prayers, but that’s a totally different story.  I love that you think this world you live makes you so happy.  I never tire of hearing your giggles – except when it’s 5 AM and you are awake and laughing at who knows what in your room.  You must already have imaginary friends.

You’ve loved being read to since you were a tiny tiny little thing.  We read before naps, at bedtime, during bath time, and pretty much any other time.  Every morning after breakfast, I always grab a few of your favorite books and sit down on the living floor with you.  It’s easy to tell which books you like because the ones that don’t hold your attention get slammed shut and shoved to the floor.  One morning as I was collecting a few of your favorites and getting comfortable on the carpet, you crawled over to your book basket, selected one more book, and crawled over to me.  Then, you handed me the book, and without any help from me, crawled up into my lap.  I know in the grand scheme of your life that the first time you crawled up into my lap to be read to doesn’t seem like much, but tears quickly sprang into my eyes, and I had to blink furiously to keep them from spilling over onto my cheeks.  I remember how it felt to be curled up with my mom reading a book, and now here you were, patting my arm with your little hand ready to hear about that silly catepillar’s adventures again.  We must’ve read 15 books that morning with my head stacked on top of yours, sneaking kisses and tickles, and it will be a memory that I never forget.

There is something that was very difficult for me this month.  I found a teaching job and went to work, leaving you at home with Daddy for part of the day.  We still spend mornings together eating breakfast, catching up on the local news, and saying good morning to every single one of your stuffed animals.  Then, when you start to get sleepy, I put you down for your morning nap, and I slip off to work.  When you wake up, Daddy takes care of you until your afternoon nap.  When you wake from that, I’m usually home to pick you up out of your crib and we tackle the rest of the day together.  I hope that you are proud of me for moving forward with my career/life goals.  I  do everything for you.  Each time I put together a lesson plan, read an article on a new teaching technique, or sit in on a school meeting, I think about how this can help you.  Will this help you learn?  Will this help the educational system that you will be entering in a few years?  I don’t think that you even notice that I’m gone for those few hours every day.  Daddy is a pretty fun guy to hang out with, and we’re so lucky to have him.  Everyday I come home to stories of how well you ate and slept that day.  It’s like you know you need to help us out, and that we’re all in this together, and for that, I think you my darling girl.  I know that we can accomplish anything together as a family.

You are becoming more and more independent each day.  You stand alone for several moments without any support and have taken a few tiny and very tentative steps.  Daddy and I always try to stay in the shadows and encourage you quietly so as not to startle you, but we really want to grab you and spin you around in our arms.  When you fall down, you just pull yourself back up and try again – jabbering and laughing the entire time.  There is rarely a time that there is not a smile on your face, and you beam confidence.  You’re like “hey, guys, I got this.”  And you do.  You’ve got it, kid.  You’ll be walking soon, and then probably running circles around us all. 

Your love for life and all other living creatures is infectious.  We could all learn something from you and your little dimple.

xoxo,

Momma

p.s. Here are some behind the scenes shots from your photo shoot.  Daddy is the official "Grace Wrangler" for all monthly shoots.  He makes sure that all of your demands are met and that you are on your marks for all of the poses.  His job is hard, and we don't pay him much, but he loves it!

 



Dog Hair

Dear Gracie,

I constantly worry about you having dog hair on your clothes or face.  All of your toys are made out of materials that have crazy dog hair attracting properties.  I vaccuum and dust like crazy, but guess what?

 

 

I really don't think you mind.

 

 

xoxo

Momma

10 Months

Dear Gracie,

You are ten months old, lovebug.  Where has the time gone? 

 

 

It took me almost 15 minutes to take ONE picture of you lying (sort of) on your back this month.  That's a pretty typical expression you've got on your face.  "Mom.  Just stop." 

 

Daddy and I decided that you said your first official word this month.  You've been babbling "momma" and "dada" for a while now, but you defintely don't know what you're saying.  They're just fun sounds that we smile and clap for when you say them.  When you say this first word, you absolutely know what you're saying, and you use it in the correct situations and context.  I am just really nervous that this word might be providing us with a little bit of foreshadowing of what we can expect from you.  Your first word, my darling, is "uh-oh".  Your favorite use of the word is when your are sitting in your high chair while Daddy and I eat dinner.  You raise your sippy cup way over your head, make total eye contact with one of us, drop the sippy cup to the floor, and whisper "uh-oh".....all without breaking eye contact.  You. Little. Stinker.  Uh-oh, indeed.

 

During this month, you graduated from army crawling down on both or sometimes just one of your elbows, to crawling up on both hands, to crawling to the middle of the floor and attempting to stand up by yourself.  Sometimes you make it and stay errect for a while, balancing with a Little People in your hand or a mum-mum wrapper, and sometimes you end up in a small heap of little arms and legs on the floor.  The latter has led to an awesome collection of bruises in varying shades of color all over your body.  To say you inherited my clumsiness is an enormous understatement.  There's usually some delayed crying after you fall, and Gracie, you look absolutely pitiful when you cry.  You push out that bottom lip and hold your breathe for what seems like forever with your face growing extremely red until the wails finally start coming.  I have to admit that the whole thing makes me giggle sometimes.  The best part is that you make sure someone is watching before you launch into 100% beast mode.  It makes me ponder - If Gracie falls in a room without anyone to see her, does she make a sound?

 

While we're on the subject of crying, I must tell the story of your eye appointment earlier this month.  Due to your (now ex) pediatrician thinking she may have possibly saw something not completely totally cool in one or possibly both of your eyes (can you tell how happy I was about this yet?), we made an appointment for you to see a pediatric optamalogist for a full eye exam.  This was an awful experience from start to finish that I'm glad you will have no recollection of, but you won an award that day!  You were the MVP of not opening your eyes for eye drops!  We were forced to hold down your little arms so that the nurse could pry open your eyes and get the drops in there.  She said, "I have NEVER had this much trouble with a baby before.  She has strong eyelids!."  I think it's more that you have a strong will to not doing anything you don't want to, and that you were hungry, but we'll go with strong eyelids.  The award for the strongest baby eyelids goes to, Grace Fleming!!  The crowd goes wild!  My poor baby.  I wanted to swat that nurse's arm away and rock you in my arms, but you made it through.

 

Oh my, how could I forget?  This month was your first Christmas.  We love Christmas, and we put you through a lot of travel and four seperate family functions, but you made the rounds like a champ.  You ripped wrapping paper, played in boxes for hours, smiled for pictures, and made 150 laps around Grandma and Grandpa H's island in their kitchen with your hippo walking toy.  You got a wagon, your first set of pearls, a bike, and more toys than you know what to do with.  You ate ham, beef, kielbasa, noodles, and a bite of cookie that I totally regretted later that night.  My favorite moment was when you put Little People Jesus from your Nativity Scene on the toilet in your Little People Dollhouse and flushed.  Everybody has to go, right? 

 

You spent New Years Eve with Grandma and Grandpa F because we were at the hospital visiting YOUR NEW BABY COUSIN!  Yes, Gracie, you are officially the older and wiser cousin on The Fleming side.  You love baby Carolyn, even though you cried the first time you met her and kind of punched her in the face (on accident...I think).  You love to touch her little hands and pet her head.  After spending most of your days with Daisy, you pet everything.  I can't wait to watch you two grow up together and get into all kinds of trouble (that doesn't involve the police).  I think if you had one piece of advice for baby Carolyn right now, it would be, "let Mommy and Daddy sleep so that they are nice - no sleep = mean Mommy and Daddy."

 

Eleven months will be here before you know it.  You've officially been outside in the big bright world longer than you were taking up residencny in my stomach.  I'd like to say you've already moved mountains in that time.  I love you, little lady!

 

xoxo

Momma

 

p.s.  After months of loving hats, bows, headbands, and anything else we stuck on your head, you've jumped ship.  Nothing is allowed to touch your head for longer than 60 seconds anymore....even if it is adorable.  Believe me, Momma would never make you wear something ugly!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



My dreams for you

Dear Gracie,

This freezing cold Monday morning, we are snuggled up in the living room watching the build up to President Obama's inauguration.  You are just a tiny bit more interested in hitting the bathtub button in your Little People Dollhouse (over and over and over) than actually watching the coverage, but I'm sure the importance of this event taking place, and on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, does not escape you. 

President Obama will address our country shortly with sweeping ideas of what is to come - his hopes and dreams, and what he wants to tackle in the next four years.  Four years ago on his first inauguration, Daddy and I were still a few months away from being married.  We lived in Texas, and you were only a tiny idea floating around in the back of our minds.  Our world was a very different place than the one we live in now.  I will listen to the President's speech today with a different agenda than I had four years ago because this country that he speaks about now includes you. 

The world you will grow up in is vastly different than the one I grew up in.  You probably will not understand the importance of President Obama being elected as the first African American President of the United States.  He will just be another President to you.  You will never know a time without security threat levels and armed guards in schools.  You will grow up with information (and misinformation) from the media available at all times, and will have to learn to navigate that.  Oh yes, Gracie girl, your world will be different.

Here is what I wish for the President to say to us today, what he wants the country to look like for you.  Here is what I wish for you to know and grow up in, a country that I would be proud for you to call your own.

Let us move away from "red" and "blue" states and back towards the United States of America.
Let Congress soften their hearts and work towards true bipartisanship.  We elect you to do great things for us that we are unable to do alone.
Let everyone be free to love whomever they want and to shout it from the rooftops without fear!
Let us remember that we are all created equal, and that we all flourish together.   
Find the good, and praise it!
Pursue happiness - take risks - move onward and upward never satisfied with the status quo.

All of this and more is what I dream of for you, my dear girl.  I know that just writing down these words will not force these ideas into being.  It is up to me, and my generation to work together to create this country and world for you.  I promise you that I will do my absolute best.

xoxo
Momma

Sneezes and Cuddles

Dear Gracie,

This past week, you have been experiencing the second cold of your existence.  You woke up one morning barely able to breathe with a face frosted with glistening snot you had wiped all over your face and into your hair.  That first day was awful.  You were whiny, grumpy, and cried for hours while I scrambled to find something that would make you smile.  You totally skipped your second nap and did not want a Boogie Wipe within five feet of your face.  By 5 o'clock, I was exhausted and not looking forward to what was sure to be a sleepless night.

Then, something strange happened.  You stopped rolling around on the carpet crafting a dog hair beard on your face and looked up at me.  It was like something in your little brain clicked, and you crawled over to me and lifted up your arms, demanding to be picked up.  So, of course, I picked you up, and you laid your little head down on my shoulder and for those five wonderful seconds that you left it there, the world was ok again.

And then it was over, and you threw yourself down on the carpet and stuffed a sheep from your Little People Nativity set into your mouth.  Thank you for those five seconds when you let me play the role of nurturing mother.  I was re energized for the next three days.  Ha!  Yeah right.  We spent three hours together that night in your room where I attempted to rock you to sleep, and you waved to the stuffed animals on your bookcase and tried to jump out of my arms.

I still love ya, kid.

xoxo
Momma

Banana Back

Dear Gracie,

You have mastered the art of sharing your meals with your partner in crime, Daisy.  When you've finished eating whatever is on your tray, you peek down to see where she is and with one sweep of your arm, the scraps are on the floor and quickly eaten.  The only problem is that sometimes Daisy is not in the best position to receive your leftovers.  Like this morning, she was standing up and your mushed banana landed square on her back instead of in her drooling mouth.  Of course, she couldn't reach the mush, and you and I laughed at her while she ran in circles trying to get it off.  Silly puppy.  But, seriously, she requested that we work on your aim.

xoxo
Momma

p.s.  Next year at Daisy's vet appointment when they tell us for the third year in a row that she is overweight, I'm just going to silently point at you.

Nine Months

Dear Gracie,

It's hard to believe that nine months ago you were still just a crazy alien baby in my tummy.  You make me laugh and smile more than anything on this earth.  Some days when we just sit and play together, my cheeks hurt from all the smiling!

You are such a little lover!  This month you started kissing things.  Yes, things, not just people.  You love kissing Daddy and I, and even Daisy, but you also love kissing the mirror (vain, much?), your dolls, and pretty much anything that you hold in your hands.  Of course, that has nothing to do with us constantly saying, "awww, give it a kiss!"  Isn't that why people have kids?  So they can tell them to do funny things? 

The first few weeks of this month, I was busy finishing up my student teaching, and you were busy causing havoc at our apartment while Daddy was trying to work.  So, to help us out, we brought in the Grandmas.  Each Grandma stayed with you during the day for a week so that we could wrap this crazy chapter of our life up and remain sane.  During one of these weeks, while I was at school, you decided to pull yourself up for the first time on our footstool.  Again, I missed a milestone, but again, I was so happy and excited that you had Daddy and Grandma there to cheer you on, I didn't mind much.  Besides, I was the one who walked into your room a few days later to find a smiling baby standing up inside her crib begging for me to pick her up.  That might've been one of my favorite moments with you ever.  You were soooo proud of yourself standing there all wobbly and slobbery.  You were all like, look out world - here I come....once Mommy gets me out of here.  Now, you pull yourself up on everything, but it's more like look out Daisy - here I come.  Poor Daisy.

Not only did you start pulling yourself up, but you started walking behind push toys without any help from us old people.  While visiting the farm for Thanksgiving, you even created your own push toy by standing behind an overturned laundry basket and pushing it across the floor.  Who needs fancy toys when you're got an old household item and a big imagination.  It's so fun watching your brain work.  Sometimes it looks like maybe you are sitting there solving quadratic equations or finding the square root of pi before you make a move.  While visiting your little buddy Austin, somehow between the two of you, you unscrewed two door stoppers and were having a little sword fight with them.  While crawling at the speed of light across the wood floors of our apartment, you will stop suddenly and become lost in the pattern or irregularities of our old wood floors.  I'm just waiting for the day for you to sit up and tell me it's time that I do a little better job dusting.

Thanksgiving was probably the favorite day of your life so far.  You got dressed in a lovely fall ensemble, played with other kids, and ate a lot of yummy food.  Those are probably your three favorite things to do.  You are just in absolute awe when you see other kids.  Maybe it's because you're not around them often, or maybe you're just going to be a social butterfly like me.  Whatever the reason, you just totally light up when you see other human beings close to your size.  You even love the creepy toddler sized doll, Crystal, that lives on the farm.  You guys have some sort of connection because whenever she's in the room you just can't keep your eyes off her.  After playing for an hour in a toy tugboat, you sat down to eat a Thanksgiving feast of sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, turkey, and rolls.  You were in heaven.  Somehow a piece of watermelon made it onto your plate which led to a complete meltdown midbite (so dramatic), but other than that, it was a good day.  It was so strange for me to sit at the adult table with you and Daddy after sitting at the "kids" table for so many years.  I guess you finally made me grow up...a little.

Not every meal this month was so pleasant though.  You're started to recognize food by color or smell or some other keen baby sense and have learned to intercept any spoon carrying unpleasing bites on it.  Your put your hands out and grunt like "no way - no how, mister!"  You mean serious business.  Your eyebrows get all frowny and you scrunch your nose up.  I know I sometimes throw you curve balls by serving up strange things like kiwi and whole grain pasta, but why after three months of loving green beans are you suddenly denying them entrance to your mouth?  I wish you could just tell me that you're in the mood for Mexican and that's why you tossed the green beans to Daisy.  I would be on board with that because 99.9% of the time I'm also in the mood for Mexican.  Also, you were with me at the animal clinic when the vet told Daisy she had to lose some lbs.  Quit feeding her so much or you will have to get up and take her on those extra long morning exercise walks in the nice cold January mornings.  I don't think you were really paying attention to anything other than how much the other dogs perked up when you squeaked Sophie the Giraffe in the waiting room.  Remind me to never bring that toy within twenty feet of an animal clinic again.

Sometimes I watch you sleeping and search your face for the tiny infant we brought home from the hospital so many weeks ago.  You may not need me every 20 minutes like back then to feed you or change you or swaddle you tightly, but I realize now that I need you every minute of every day.  I love you, sweetie.

xoxo,
Momma

p.s.  Obviously, I am not a world class photographer, but these outtakes from your photo session make my heart happy.  So much sunshine - so many smiles.  You are my sunshine, Gracie!