Ch-ch-ch-changes

Somehow it didn't occur to me that C turned 13 months two days ago. For one year, we diligently took a photo on her month "birthday," and the first month without a sticker, I completely let it pass me by. Our baby is no longer a baby. She is officially a toddler.

I honestly didn't even realize it until a few mornings ago when it hit me like a ton of bricks. She no longer crawls.

For weeks, she has been sporting a walk/crawl combo, starting with a walk and then dropping to a crawl when she needed the speed. But, the other morning, as I put her down on all fours, she immediately stood up and walked away. She practically runs now, waddling with great speed and exuberance. The girl is driven. The dog can escape her no more.

She LOVES kicking and throwing her soccer ball

She no longer uses a paci. This is something I was planning to work on eliminating in a few months, but after the great bathtub incident of last week, she quit cold turkey. No turning back. I have to say, I have been missing the ease of nap time and bed time with our friend, the paci, as well as the welcomed distraction while waiting in the checkout line of Walmart; but, in the long run, I guess it's a good thing I won't have to come up with some creative way to "break" her paci in a few months. Look how sweet it was though...

She has mastered the sippy cup.

She eats nearly everything that we do (no more purees for this girl), feeds herself, and always remembers to share with others...

She wakes up talking and doesn't stop until she falls asleep...

She fights sleep with a vengeance and gets her way the majority of the time (unless a boat ride is involved).

She is sassy and funny and seriously girly. She loves shoes, and dancing, but also loves to play with her football and soccer ball. 

She's our Catherine. And perfectly so. And even though some days are longer than others and some require more caffeine, I honestly can't believe I get to spend every day with this little person. Thirteen months later, I still can't believe she's really ours.

Catching Up

There is a new sound in our house: the pitter-patter of tiny little feet as they WALK around. We officially have a walker on our hands and now spend the majority of our time catching up to her. Watching her toddle around is one of the cutest things I have ever seen (and she's still slow enough to catch).

(Try to ignore my coaching...)

My mind has been racing lately. It's full of nostalgia for the past year and excitement for the upcoming. This time last year, I was excited about my upcoming baby shower, having no clue what the next week would bring me. Merely three days after the shower, gifts still piled in the basement, nothing washed, nothing put away, the car seat still in the box, we welcomed our baby girl to this world. A little early, but right on time. And our world changed forever.

I look back on this past year and can count on one hand the number of times I have hired a baby sitter. I have yet to sleep a single night away from her. I spend my days and my nights with this tiny person and have gotten to watch her grow and develop every day. For nearly 365 days, I have watched her breathe in and out with the lungs she grew inside of me. I have watched her eyes, my eyes, follow me, look for me, love me. I have watched her mouth, Husband's mouth, grin and laugh and cry and sprout new teeth and new words. I watched her fingers learn to grasp, learn to pass things from one hand to the other, learn to feed herself one tiny piece of food at a time. I watched her go from lying down to sitting up, to rolling, to crawling, to standing, and now walking. 

I have heard her cry and laugh and call for me and Husband and Banks in her own sweet language. I have felt this child with every sense, with every fiber of my being. She is my heart. My whole heart.

As we embark on her second year of life, I am so very grateful for the first. I am humbled by the job of motherhood. Although I've been here all along, I find myself just now catching up, just now realizing the magnitude of this past year. And I am in awe of this child, all she has become and all she will be. 

10 Months Old

Last Christmas, I was pregnant and basking in the glow of expectant motherhood. I couldn't have even imagined what it would be like just one year later... with a 10 month old!

C is crawling with great speed, pulling up on everything, including the dog (much to his dismay), cruising along the couch, and falling about 100 times daily. We're very busy over at the Ryan house. 

We're busy trying to eat dog food and computer cords and wrapping paper. We're busy unwinding toilet paper and spools of ribbon. We're busy eating puffs and Cheerios and bananas and avocados. We're busy standing up in and escaping from the bath tub. We're busy rolling over and crawling away sans diaper. We're busy climbing over and on top of and under things. We're busy babbling and talking and squealing and yelling. We're busy cutting a fourth tooth and drooling... a lot. We're just busy for the sake of being busy.

And we're loving it.

Happy ten months and first Christmas to our sweet baby girl. Let the fun begin!

Happy Nine (and a half) Months!

I am super late with this post, but on the 23rd, our sweet girl turned nine months old! The holidays pushed her nine month check up to December 1st, so I was waiting to have stats. Anyway, here they are: 17 lbs, 9.5 oz (25th percentile); 28.5" long (80th percentile). We have a long and lean little girl!


She is so brave. She didn't cry at all when the nurse pricked her finger and took blood and only cried a little when she got two shots. She's such a big girl!


I am loving the ninth month! C is full of personality and it is visible more and more every day. She's so curious and she raises her eyebrows when she listens to you intently. She squeals and babbles constantly and has even started talking to herself while playing with her lovey in her crib in the morning before she cries for me to come get her. She's a champion eater and is loving the introduction of finger foods. She will eat bananas, avocados, puffs, and Mum Mum cookies all day long (and most of them make it to her mouth). Banks has also learned that he can usually score snacks whenever she's eating...

She's eating three meals a day and taking 7-8 oz. bottles of formula in between. She's wearing 9 month clothes in everything besides footed pajamas. Our long little girl needs the 12 month in those!


She crawls with great speed, but would much prefer to stand these days. She's pulling up and cruising along the couch, and every now and then, she will let go and stand all by herself for a brief moment. It's so much fun (and exhausting) being with her all day as she learns these new mobile skills. 

We started Kindermusik last month and she has discovered percussion. She loves shaking and beating on anything and everything (including the dog and us) and she loves music. She is mesmerized by her reflection.

She loves being outside for walks or going to the park to swing. Really, she just loves people watching and fights sleep so she won't miss a beat. She has changed from three naps a day to two most days and is sleeping from 7:30 - 6:30 or 7:00 each night (waking up at 10:30 for medicine and usually briefly around 4:00, but she has started to put herself back to sleep which is a welcomed change!

The ninth month is usually the month moms celebrate their little ones being out of the womb longer than they were in it; but for us, that was last month! It's hard to believe that my teeny little preemie is a healthy and thriving nine month old. Amazing.

Happy nine (and a half) months to my crawling, pulling up, cruising, babbling, giggling, smart, funny, sweet, and snuggly little girl. You are my world.

Parenting Fail

I am far from a perfect person, but I consider myself a pretty good mom. That being said, I make mistakes. I have accidentally pinched C's cute little thigh when putting her in the high chair. Sometimes her bath water is a little too hot or, in my attempt to remedy that, a little too cold. Sometimes I realize at 5:00 that I have forgotten to give C her 3:30 dose of medicine. But, the majority of the time, most days, all goes well. Everyone is happy and fed and bathed and dry and playing safely behind a baby corral, tucked away from the death trap that is the rest of our house.

Today was not one of those days.

Let me preface this by saying that she is totally fine. As I (slowly) type this, we are sitting on the rug, playing with toys, seeing which ones make the best noises when shaken. But this morning, I failed.

We're still not sleeping through the night completely. While, it's getting better, C more often than not, ends up snuggled next to me in our bed after her 6:30 bottle in an attempt for us both to get a little more sleep. She was nestled next to me, engulfed in my arms, sound asleep with her fuzzy little blanket clenched in her fist. So I closed my eyes to join her. I was awakened by a loud THUD followed by crying.

She had woken up, crawled out of my arms and across the entire width of our king sized bed, and fallen off the other side onto the hard wood floor.

I rushed to her, picked her up, and panicked. I tried to soothe her while crying myself. After only a minute, she was smiling, with a little red bump on her left temple. I knew what signs to look for from other moms telling me similar stories, but I called the doctor to make sure. Sure enough, if she wasn't overly lethargic, vomiting, or crying inconsolably, she was fine. I was relieved, but still so upset with myself. For weeks now, I had been worried about this happening. C is not only very mobile now, but also very curious. Needless to say, our days of morning snuggling in bed are over (at least while Mommy is sleeping).

I share this story because that's the point of this blog. If I only shared my triumphs, I'd be censoring myself and my readers from the truth that parenting is hard and not all days are perfect. I am so lucky that she is okay and that a tiny bump on her head is her only battle wound from this morning, but I'm not naive enough to think that this is the only time in her life that I will screw up. Luckily, my good parenting moments far outweigh the bad; but, for the record, the bad are absolutely heart breaking.

Growing, Going, Gone

As C grows, each "first" is somehow more exciting than the last. From her first smile to her first giggle and from rolling over to sitting up, each is a cause for celebration, for photos and videos emailed to family and posted to facebook. It's amazing to think about all of the simple tasks we complete each day and imagine our parents willfully watching us, coaching us, and celebrating with us as we accomplished these milestones years ago.

Well, we have had a mobile child for a while now, watching her scoot and roll herself to her desired destination. But, now, we embark on new territory. Ladies and gentlemen, we officially have a crawler. 


Last Tuesday, after a night of scooting around in a pink poodle costume, C looked at a toy with sheer determination, pushed up onto all fours, and made her way across the floor. I cheered, I clapped, and then I took her toy away and put it on the opposite end of the rug so I could video her latest trick. 

Her newest skill paired with a slight case of separation anxiety toward mommy, and my heart melts. For the record, there is nothing cuter than a crawling baby... except when she's crawling toward you. I hope this stage lasts longer than I think it will. (She's already trying to pull up...)