Ten! Ten! Ten!

"You betcha! I'm 10 whole months!"

Dear funny girl,

Another month has passed us by. You are now ten months old. Time has officially begun moving at warp speed. You seem to be growing exponentially larger by the day...upward, you are growing upward this time. The edible thighs still get plenty of comments though and I hope they stick around so I have something to kiss on for awhile!

Your repretoire of skills include clapping, waving with both hands, shaking your head no on command, pointing to objects and calling dada by name. Ya know girl, I'm ready and waiting for you to holler my name all the time whenever you feel like it. You are a pro at "dada" so it's time to move on to new words. ;) But don't stop saying "dada" because it melts my heart over and over again everytime you say it. Just like yesterday, you looked up at your dad with the shiniest eyes and all of this excitement bubbling over and I asked "Hallie, who is that?" as I pointed to him....you answered back quickly with no hesitation, "dada." Gah, talk about a tear jerker. We were beginning to wonder if every person and object in your view was a "dada." Guess not....just your dada is a "dada." ;)  Words that you can say but say sparingly are "baba", "mama", and "num num num." Sunday breakfast was pretty tasty so you got to put your words to good use.....

 Insert video of you commenting on breakfast that refuses to upload.....:)

So if it isn't obvious enough you are still a dada's girl. But sometimes I wonder if he is trying to turn you into a dada's boy?! See picture below for explanation.......

"Seriously, they lost?! I thought my team was gonna go all the way"

Yes my sweet girly girl, you took a trip to Walmart dressed like this. I'm sorry, so very sorry. I didn't lay an outfit out for this particular day and you didn't know any better. Your dada dressed you like this and took you to buy a toy hammer. Hmmmm, I'm thinking he was enjoying the "what a cute little fella" comments way too much!

So these tricks that I've mentioned before...ya know, the head shaking and the waving goodbye and the clapping.....you love to show them off (when you aren't being too shy). Funny thing is that when you do decide to do them you really aren't sure which one we want you to do. So the other day when I asked you to shake your head "no" you just went ahead and clapped, shook your head and did a big double wave. My guess is that you feel way too much pressure to perform so you figure if you just do all of them at once we will leave you alone. Not a chance gal...it's just too darn cute!! The super funny part is, you only shake your head to a yes/no question or when we say "no, no, no." We will be having a random conversation and happen to ask a yes/no and you are always there beside us shaking your head no. No wonder your head it so big....it's holding all of those smarts up there. Have I told you lately that I love you? Some new tricks that have been popping up in the past few days: you hold out your binky like you want me to put it in my mouth so when I go to snatch it you pull it away and grin really big. You also love to pull Emmi's tail...she just loves this one. :)

On the mobility front you have been standing on your own when you are feeling extra spunky....but when you do this you insist on throwing both hands in the air...you look like you are on a rollercoaster....so keep it up because you crack me up.

Insert funny video that won't upload....

You stand for about three seconds tops and then realize what you are doing and plop back to the ground. I am not sure if you feel like a failure at this point because you always seem to look at me with that sad pouty lip. You will get it down very soon girl. I can't keep you still any longer. We have to change your diaper and clothes in segments. You usually end up running off naked before I can catch you for the second part of the task. Nothing cuter than tiny baby behind though. ;)

"MOM!!!"

I had the pleasure of spending nursery time with you this Sunday to relieve Miss Jennifer. We had a blast together! You were in toy heaven and loved the extra room to roam. Check you out......

Insert video of you zooming across the floor with your walker (that again won't upload)

You had your very first tasty chocolate treat the other day. A chocolate cupcake with the most delectable icing. And the best part is....you made them yourself. Ok, maybe Nanny gave you a little help.

But you helped lick the spoon.....

You made sure to eat your veggies before dessert....

"Let's move on to the next part..."

Finally it was time to enjoy your hard work....

"This is AWESOME!"

Sister girl, you deserve the award for quickest adjustment to being starved at night. Doesn't that sound like a great award to win?! Remember how we just started taking your bottle away in the middle of the night to avoid a lifetime of waking up at 3:00 am? Maybe I shouldn't have reminded you because you have done remarkably well with this change. The first three nights were another story. Here you are the night before "the change".....

My unsuspecting lil love bug

 I think your feelings about this change can be summed up in the form of a picture from the morning after........

"How could you!?"

If you were able to hitchhike the morning after I am certain you would have ran away from home and never turned back. Yeah, we were that mean. Lol! After the initial shock of greeting a baby with a tear-stained face with a blank expression that first morning after, your dad and I couldn't help but laugh about the way you were ignoring us. The blank face turned into a cold, hard glare. You weren't messing around...you wanted your 8oz bottle and you wanted it now. It looked like you were thinking "I'll give them a taste of their own medicine. Two can play this game....they wanna ignore me at night? Well I'll ignore them all morning." Honey, I will be honest, I got in my car that day and cried. Thankfully you don't hold a grudge because by afternoon we were the coolest people on the planet. I am thrilled to say that you are now putting yourself to bed without a bottle and sleeping the entire night without a peep. Big girl status!!!!! And to think, I could have made this big girl change four months ago when all of this sleeping trouble started....oy!! I am so proud of you...keep up the good sleep!

One place you won't sleep is the carseat. Oh my, Aunt Katie found this out the hard way when we took a trip to Enid for her baby appointment. You usually scream for a good 45 minutes until you finally fall asleep for about five minutes only to wake up and scream some more. Just the other day you started this horrible scream and arching your back when we lift you up to put you in the carseat. You are almost too strong for me when you do this and I've had to catch you a time or two because you have completely squirmed out of it while I was unstrapping you. My question is...is it really that bad girl? Do I need to get you an airplane neck pillow or put a buffet next to your chair to make it more enjoyable. No, I know what I really need to do...you need a DVD player to watch. It will be happening soon sweetheart...especially if your car tantrums continue. The only things that I have found that help are an empty water bottle to chew on and holding up Baby Einstein on my phone for you to watch (which by the way is not the easiest thing to do). Needless to say, we keep trips to a minimum these days. I guess I can't just tell everyone about the bad car trips without showing them how sweet you can be in the car.....

Hallie's your name and stunting is your new game. You are a danger seeker....did you forget you are supposed to be mommy's dainty, careful little girl? Safety first and stranger danger. You have the stranger danger thing down....definitely recognize when someone you don't know is holding you. You usually just give me these wierd eyes like "mom, help me." Our friend Miss Jennifer in the nursery sent me a photo of you climbing up a slide. Excuse me??? My baby is only ten months old. She doesn't climb up slides. Oh but you do my darling....and Miss Jennifer says you are keepng up with the two year olds. I got to see this first hand when I helped out in the nursery....you are by far the most rowdy child in that room. Oh my, we better get ready for the day you start walking! I have always wondered if you were super active and I guess I know the answer now. You big pink chair sparks your wild side too. We keep it up high unless we are on the floor playing with you because you are so crazy on it. You insist on standing in it. You haven't figured out the greatness of just sitting and relaxing in it so you love to face plant in it, then stand up and bang on the back of it and then fall out of the front of it. Fun stuff! There is no slowing you down...you are either in overdrive or sleeping. There is no in between but we love ya that way!!!

We can't forget to talk about food! Your love for food has fizzled a bit as you are so mobile that you are more interested in climbing on things and being just plain crazy. You have been eating your homemade food for about a month now and your little system has finally adjusted to it. We will soon start meats when I get around to finding a good way to prepare them for you. Yuck.

Here are some random snapshots of you lately.....

Hallie Grace, wanna know why I love you as much as I do? Ok get ready, there are quite a few...but I'll try to be brief (brevity was never my strong suit so be patient). It goes a lil somethin' like this: I love the way you rub your eyes with the backs of your hands when you are sleepy. I love the way you fake me out like you want me to hold you but then you turn away at the last second and cling to your dad. I love the way you always pick the red and orange foods to smear everywhere and be dainty with the light-colored easy to remove from white clothes foods. I love the way you tip your bottle back so hard that it sometimes knocks you back. I love the way you would rather play with your bath toys all the time instead of your room full of toys. I love the way you insist of eating the wipes everytime I lay you on the changing table. I love the way you give yourself kisses in the mirror. I love the way you want to grab my mouth while I talk to you. I love the way you can play on your own as long as there is someone sitting on the floor with you. I love the way you eat your toes and then make a face like they are yucky. I love the way you smile when I open your door in the morning. I love the way you stand and bang on the bathtub in excitement while I run your water. I love the way you feel in my arms when you are sleepy and ready for bed. I love the way you give us a greater purpose in life. I love you.

Love,
Mama