Brittlynn Summary of Month 11

Brittlynn was 10 months old from Oct 6th through Nov 6th. Here’s everything that was going on with her during that month!

Pony: People comment a lot about how Britt’s hair is in her eyes and ask when I’m going to cut it. I’m not a fan of babies with bangs…so I’m not cutting it. I’m waiting for it to grow out long enough where it can tuck behind her ears out of the way πŸ˜‰ I use bows a lot but she is at an age where the pulls them out. I finally broke down and pulled out some hair ties I bought awhile back for her. They are little but obviously not little enough!

Several people suggested for me to go to the dollar store to pick up a bag of little tiny rubber bands so I did that and found a pack of 500 of them. They work PERFECTLY!!! I typically only put them in her hair when she’s eating or when we’re playing. I don’t ever leave them in when she goes down for a nap or even when she rides in the car. I love how her hair stands STRAIGHT up πŸ™‚

Classic πŸ˜‰

This is what happens when I use hair bows…

Eating: Baby-Led Weaning is still going flawlessly perfect! She has started being much less messy which is wonderful. I do use some baby food. Like she’s eating probably 5 jars of it ever. But it makes it easier when we go out to eat. I usually bring her finger foods that are less messy, let her eat some of whatever we eat, and bring along a jar of baby food or a little thing of yogurt. She’s not a huge fan of me feeding her but she does okay with it when it’s needed! This month I started giving her food at her 3:00 feeding. Usually I would just nurse her but I decided to start offering her some snack at that time. I’m hoping it will make the weaning process easier. That will be the first feeding I drop and I don’t like the idea of her going from a nursing session to nothing so a snack is a good idea πŸ˜‰ I actually leave her dressed for it and give her “less messy” type foods!

She may even sneak in a friend or two for snack time while Kye is still napping πŸ˜‰

Brittlynn is also doing wonderful with the sippy cup. I still am using the 6 oz sized Take and Toss ones and she’s a little pro with it! Zach is even impressed with her ability to drink one-handed πŸ˜‰

Wild Child: This girl can MOVE IT! She’s a little speedster and is all over the place. It’s hilarious! I LOVE our house but it is a pretty open floor plan and a little tricky to contain her. I’ve started using our big moveable baby gate on one side of the kitchen and a dining room chair on the other side to keep her in with me. At breakfast time Zach or I hold her while the other fixes breakfast (typically I’m nursing her while Zach does it) and at lunch she is in independent playtime while I fix it so dinner is really the only time I have to contain her! And most days Zach plays with her while I’m cooking πŸ˜‰

She is also loving crawling under the table! A few bumps on the head have stopped this one on her own though πŸ˜‰

Now that we have started lighting the fireplace Britt loves to crawl over to it and we have to keep an eye on her. She has yet to touch the screen or anything but who wants to take that kind of chance? Plus the stone makes me a little nervous…I can just SEE a busted lip waiting to happen!!!

Vampire Baby: This is gross. So fair warning. I RARELY hesitate to post stuff on my blog but this picture did make me second guess myself. One day I was nursing her and when she finished THIS is what I saw:

I was freaking out. BLOOD?!?! What the heck? My first thought was that she was bleeding. Then it was that something was wrong with my milk. Then I realized I was the one who was bleeding. I had a little cut or something on me and I guess her eating caused it to bleed. I was SO annoying. It couldn’t really heal b/c she’d eat off of it and reopen the cut (I guess maybe she cut me when she bit or something?) so every time she nursed she ended up with blood on her. I mean I assume it’s not bad for her? And I know it wasn’t nearly as much as it appeared to be. What other choice did I have but to just keep nursing her? If I pumped it’d be in the milk that way too. I just loaded myself up with some lansinoh cream between feedings and it healed up!

Big Girl: I think it’s SO CUTE how much Brittlynn adores her brother and how much she likes to do whatever he’s doing. I am ready for her birthday and Christmas though for her to have some girly toys. I don’t mind her playing with Kye’s stuff but I’m ZERO perfect tomboy and I don’t really know how I’d handle my daughter being one?!?! 

Doing some work on Brother’s computer

Flying his airplane πŸ™‚ Here’s a video!

She truly does look up to him and watches EVERY move he makes. I love that when he’s working outside with Daddy that she will crawl over to the window to watch πŸ™‚ So sweet!

Kye has a BIG responsibility on his shoulders b/c his little sister copies EVERYTHING he does! Look at her watching him and following his lead!

Kitchen Helper: I think all of these months of Brittlynn being attached to my hip are starting to pay off. I have an extra helper in the kitchen now πŸ™‚ She LOVES the dishwasher and enjoys closing the detergent lid. She also has started to get out some of the plates from the basket when they are clean. I try to let her “help” because I know it’s important to teach her a strong worth ethic just like we have with Kye! Kye’s first “job” was to give the dogs their treats when we lock them up in their crates…I’m not quite sure what Britt’s first one will be yet but I do want to start having her close the lid of the dishwasher detergent thing before I run it. I need to start trying to do it prior to her going to bed at night so she can help πŸ˜‰

Pushing: I’m thankful Britt is getting some fun stuff to walk behind and push for her birthday and Christmas πŸ˜‰ She needs it!!! She has started to walk and push her high chair around the kitchen haha. She could rearrange all our furniture if needed πŸ˜‰ Kye had a truck thing he used to walk behind and he still plays with it so I’d rather hold out for her to get her own!

Upside Down Baby: I remember fondly when Kye went through this stage where whenever we held him he’d lean over us backwards. We thought it was so cute and such a “Kye thing.” It’s so neat to have a second child and realize how many “Kye things” are actually just BABY things in general! She thinks it’s such a hilarious game and we have to hold her extra tight to make sure she doesn’t go flying!

Spiderman kisses!

Picture Issues: Duh. I love to take pictures. I’ve ALWAYS loved it! I also don’t mind having pictures taken of me. I enjoy being both in front of and behind of the camera πŸ™‚ Brittlynn…hates it. Seriously. It drove me CRAZY this entire month that whenever I put her down to take a picture of her she’d cry. I started stressing about her 1 year photo shoot. How would we get any good shots of her?!?! I tried to force her to practice some…it didn’t go so well:

Kye trying to help πŸ™‚

Fussy Month: It wasn’t just for pictures…it was ALL THE TIME. I felt like this whole month all I did was either hold her, swing her, or hear her cry bloody murder during her awake times. She was miserable. I do think it’s interesting that this was also a really hard month for ME personally. I have heard so much that babies can read emotions and will be stressed if we are stressed, etc. I wonder if she could tell I was struggling so she struggled too??? She already has EIGHT teeth so it wasn’t a teething issue. I seriously have NO CLUE what the culprit was. It was just a TOUGH month!!!

She was ONLY happy when she was:

a) Coming to be in my arms

or b) swinging!

Puzzles: At the beginning of the month I was still doing the puzzles with her while Kye ate snack. It gave her something to do while he was eating and it worked out well! By the end of the month, however, I started having her eat snack too so I didn’t really do as much of the puzzles anymore. I do need to get her a puzzle holder for Christmas or something so I can move the “baby” puzzles to her room for her to play with instead of all of them being crammed into Kye’s puzzle holder!

Walmart: I know many babies probably take their first outing to Walmart when they are newborns. I LOATHE Walmart. Like I avoid it at all costs. I do the monthly grocery shopping for our house at Publix then Zach does a mid-month run through to Walmart to pick up any essentials. Well this month we had to go together in order to pick out some stuff for our Halloween costumes…so the kids tagged along. Since Britt was fussy pretty much 24/7…I expected it to be a tough outing. I was PLEASANTLY surprised! She did awesome! Not a single tear! And I enjoyed all the constant attention she got too! The downside of rarely taking my kids to run errands is that I don’t get to hear compliments on their cuteness as often πŸ˜‰ I loved showing them off haha! Britt may just be my new favorite shopping partner!

Play: Brittlynn is REALLY into toys now…but she’s especially into playing with things that aren’t toys. I have to keep my eye on this one! She will go after anything that is left laying around…

Sunscreen bottles are a favorite!

But my PHONE is the #1 item she will try to steal if I’m not watching!!!

She and Kye are ALL about this bus she got for Easter! She’s finally old enough to enjoy it πŸ™‚

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Doggie is still probably her favorite toy and I actually gave him a good washing! He looks like new πŸ˜‰

I’m thankful our living room is rather contained and we can just let her crawl like crazy in there!

She is still a HUGE fan of the music table (seriously THE BEST TOY EVER!)

She also loves to stand at the stairs but has stopped her little climbing phases (thankfully)

And bath time is still super fun with her!!!

Savoring these days: This month more than ever I just appreciate my babies. I love them so, so much and am so blessed to have the opportunity to be their mama. Brittlynn may have had a fussy month but I just loved her right through it! I love how much she loves ME as her attachment is so different from how Kye always was (he was always Daddy’s Boy!).

I am truly soaking up every second of my sweet girl that I can. With her birthday right around the corner I’m almost to a whole year of nursing her. She isn’t really a cuddly nurser. She’s pretty much “let’s get this over with” but I’ve started singing to her while I nurse her and playing with her hair and rubbing her face. It’s helped her calm down some and has allowed me a little but of cuddly time from my wild baby πŸ˜‰

Starting to Wean: When Kelly came to visit she offered me a great tip for weaning Britt. She suggested to start offering whole milk at each of her solid feedings. Nurse her still, but offer the milk instead of the water I was usually offering. That way she’d adjust to drinking the milk and when I dropped the nursing she wouldn’t really notice. Um. AWESOME advice!!! With Kye it was so tough to get him to drink the whole milk…with Britt…it’s been a BREEZE!!! She had her first sip of it on November 4th (2 days shy of 11 months old) and CHUGGED it! I left it cold and everything!!! Here’s a video! Hoping this will mean the transition will be an easy one for us πŸ˜‰

Schedule:

7:15: Up for the day, diaper change, nurses

Breakfast with solids (and whole milk at the end of the month)

Independent Playtime for 20 min

8:50: Story Time

9:00: Down for Nap

11:00-11:15ish: Up from nap, diaper change, nurse

Independent Playtime while Mommy makes lunch

11:40-12:00ish: Lunch time with Kye and Mommy. (whole milk to drink at end of month)

12:40: Story time, prayers, etc for naps

12:55: Down for Nap

3:30: Up from nap, Nurse, snack

6:00: Dinner with family

6:40: Bath

6:50: Nurse, story time, prayers

7:00ish: Down for the night

Other Stuff Britt was up to This Month:

  • On 10/6 she had her first busted lip. She was playing with a remote control toy and hit herself in the mouth with it! It even bled a little!
  • Also on 10/6 (busy day for us haha) we put her down for nap in just a t-shirt. I don’t typically do that but we were going somewhere after naps and figured it’d be easier. When we went to get her up she was COVERED in diaper filler!!! It was everywhere. She had picked apart her diaper and had even eaten some of it. Thankfully Pampers uses non-toxic filler so we didn’t worry about it (I mean how many times have one of the dogs gotten ahold of a diaper? They haven’t kicked the bucket yet!) but it was still a beast to clean up!
  • She’s started doing this horrible, horrible screeching sound. She does it whenever something is going on that she doesn’t like…we put her down, take a toy away to clean it up, etc. It’s horrible and a phase that I hope passes quickly!
  • I started having some nipple pain again and she started biting me again and had a dried crusty nose when she’d wake up…she was getting in two more teeth on the bottom! The bottom 2nd to right middle tooth broke through on 10/17 Making a total of EIGHT
  • She plays in her bed a lot and kicks the crib over and over again!
  • I finally went ahead and moved her up to size 12 months in clothes. I had to break down and buy her some stuff for fall/winter and I didn’t want to buy things that she’d be growing out of. I want it all to last until Spring! She could totally still stay in 9 months stuff for longer though…all the 12 month sizes are pretty big! The 9 month stuff is too short but the 12 month sleeves are too long and the necks are too wide
  • Kye and Britt love to entertain each other during meals. If Kye finishes eating before she does (which is the norm) he’ll often play silly games with her. Here’s a video of him sneaking his hand up behind her and her grabbing it.
  • Britt knows how to give kisses but she won’t always do it
  • I took Kye’s photo book from when he was a baby and replaced the pictures with more current ones of our family and she LOVES it. She constantly kisses the pages πŸ™‚
  • She’s still crawling everywhere but has started to pick up one foot and “walk” with that foot while crawling
  • I gave her eggs for the first time on 10/13. Shocker..she loved them πŸ˜‰
  • Kye was always easy to adjust to new things but would lose interest quickly…Brittlynn is the opposite. She takes a little longer to adjust (I call it “slow to warm”) but then she’s good to go!
  • On 10/18 she started to shake her head “no” but laughing super hard about it the whole time…it’s more of a game with her and not so much her actually trying to communicate “no”
  • We moved her to the “big girl” car seat this month and she LOVES it! She fusses when I first put her in but then the rest of the time she laughs and laughs at Kye. It’s great b/c she can see him SO much better now and they can entertain each other πŸ˜‰ She does tend to throw her toys onto the ground and it’s a pain b/c I have to climb over her seat to reach them the next time I put her in! Even if we’re riding just the two of us, though, she loves the seat and will laugh and laugh and laugh all by herself!
  • She loves to make an “Indian” sound and put her hand back and forth in front of her mouth! Here’s a video where you can see it for a second…and another second in this video
  • Independent playtime is GREAT. She does 20 min solid 2 times a day with NO issues! She enjoys it!
  • Britt doesn’t really drop as much food off of her tray anymore but she does play this game where she will hold it out over the tray just to get our attention and hear us tell her to “keep it on the tray”
  • She has also started saying “mmmm” “mmmm” and I respond to it like she’s saying “more” although she’s not signing more yet
  • I LOVE that my children are so happy in their beds! Here’s a video of Brittlynn wide awake in her crib but just talking and laughing πŸ™‚ She is also so content that it’s never a rush to get her out of the crib. She’ll laugh and talk to me when I go in to get her…it’s precious! Here’s a video! Thank you Babywise πŸ˜‰
  • Britt Britt LOVES to dance and can break it down like no other!
  • She started talking a lot more this month. She’s not saying actual words still but she is doing a lot more “baby talk” and I can tell she’s working at forming the words!
  • Britt is at that age where she loves to hide things. She puts toys under her dressers and then lays on the floor to get them back. Easy entertainment πŸ˜‰
  • She LOVES to share and will gladly hand things to us…especially with her food
  • She also follows commands. If I tell her to hand me something she’ll hand it to me, if I say “I wanna bite!” she’ll “share” her food, etc
  • Our sweet girl is a little SPONGE and copies EVERYTHING we do. If I cough, she will cough. If I’m singing she will be singing too. It’s adorable but it also is a BIG responsibility for us to lead by example and to walk the walk we want her to!
  • Before naps and night we read two stories…one for each child and that is appropriate for their ages. Britt LOVES to touch and feel her stories and turn the pages! Here’s a video

You can look back at Britt’s 10th Month Here and Kye’s 11th Month Here! Reading Kye’s post I see so many similarities in them at this age but the BIG thing I noticed is that Kye got a lot more spankings than she does. I spanked him for getting books off the wrong shelf? For taking clothes out of the drawer? Hello…I gotta get more hardcore with Britt on the discipline front. She mostly only gets spankings for throwing things off the tray. Def gonna buckle down on things more with her this month!!!

2 Comments

  1. crissy
    December 5, 2012 / 3:16 pm

    oh man, I remember one time Olive's mouth being FULL of blood one time in the Wal-mart parking lot (haha, so random, but Seth ran in to pick up a few things while I fed her in the car), it was so scary, but the blood was all from ME!!! that's how dry/cracked my nipples were πŸ™

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