9 Months Old!!

Dear Dylann,

So Mommy has been a little slow lately on updating the blog.  I'm sorry!  I will try and find some more time to write about what is going on in your life, it's just hard now that you are moving and that your naps have gotten shorter!

This month has been EXCITING to say the least!  You have changed so much in the last few weeks, it is incredible.  I can't believe what a little person you have become.  You are still very laid back and easy going, but now you have learned how to 'ask' for things if you want something instead of just waiting for something to happen.  You have gotten so talkative and you love to babble to yourself, Murphy, or anyone that will listen. Sometimes when you are playing, Daddy and I will just sit there and listen to your little language until you look up and catch us spying on you.  Then all 3 of us will burst into laughter!  You and I have fun 'talking' to each other too.  You will say a vowel at a certain octave and pitch and I'll repeat it, then you will do the same vowel a little different and louder and I'll repeat it, so on and so on until we are pretty much yelling and giggling at each other.  Daddy thinks we're pretty hilarious when we do this, but I know you and I are just communicating in our own special way.

You have also learned how to communicate with your hands this month.  You are getting good at waving bye-bye, although not really on cue yet, and love to pat anything, like we pet Murphy.  I think you think it's a lot like a kiss or a hug, so I don't mind that I get 'patted', sometimes smacked, quite a lot. haha!  You are also giving hi-fives pretty well and you are great with finger foods.

It's just a love pat, promise. :) 

You are taking 4 bottles a day now and eating 3 meals.  You are pretty much over baby food, so now I have started giving you finger food meals that I help you with.  For breakfast you will usually have eggs, with some torn up toast, or yogurt with fruit.  For lunch you might have cheese cubes, green beans and banana, and then a typical dinner might be pieces of chicken, potatoes, and mandarin oranges.  You are still a good eater, but you have days where you are super hungry and then days where you hardly eat anything.  I guess it's just the ups and downs of being a growing girl!

Your first two top teeth came in this month right before your 9 month birthday.  They are coming in fast too!  It is amazing how much teeth can change the way you look.  They are adorable, but I can't help but miss your gummy smile.  I think you have a few more that are right on the edge of coming through as well.  You haven't been really bad in the teething department, although there are days that you are fussier and toss and turn at night.  You never wake up, but I can hear you on the monitor making little noises and turning over.  I'm sure it's because those teeth are making you uncomfortable.

My two front teef! 

On the fussy thought- you HATE your diaper changer now.  Sheesh- you would think we are putting you on a bed of nails, the way you whine when we have to change your diaper.  I have a little arsenal of toys next to the changer to distract you, but you are quite a handful when I'm trying to change a poopy diaper and you are crying and trying to turn over and sit up.  I think I'm going to have to start changing you on the floor to be safe, because you are all over the place!

And you're not just moving on your changer, but EVERYWHERE!  After I had officially decided that you would not crawl and just go strait to walking, you decided to prove me wrong. Right after Memorial Day, you crawled right across the living room floor to Daddy after he got home from work. Poof! You have this cute half crawl, half walk thing going on, where you slide your left leg under you and then you step on your right foot and move forward.    You have gotten so stealthy and I swear you just magically end up on the other side of the room.  I'll look down at my computer for a second and boom, you are at the front door pulling up, then I'll turn away for a sec and boom, you are at the couch grabbing my feet.  It's almost creepy. haha! I love that you are having fun and moving around now and getting to explore, but it has definitely kept me on my toes lately.  Your Daddy and I just spent the whole weekend baby proofing the house and moving furniture around so we could make you your own little 'play yard' in the living room.

On the move and pulling up! 

We had some fun adventures this month, we went to Hilton Head for a weekend and then your Godfather, Mr. Thomas, and his girlfriend Cassie, came down for Memorial Day.  You have had a lot of beach time and love to play in the water.  Speaking of, you also went to your first birthday party this month! One of your friends in Mommy and me class, Baylen, had a pool party for his 1st Birthday so you also got to swim in a big pool for the first time.  You loved your floaty and splashing in the water, but your favorite thing was playing in the water spout with Baylen.

Fun with Mr. Thomas and Cassie! 

We actually had to push your 9 month appointment back to next week because we went to Atlanta so Mommy could work, but I'll post what your height/weight and all that are after the appointment.  I know the numbers are going to shock me since I haven't really weighed or measured you since 6 months.  I'm just glad you don't have to get shots this time!

I can't believe that you are 9 months old already!  It seems like yesterday I was saying that when you turned 3 months.  You are such a sweet and good baby Dylann, I would never trade these 9 months in for anything and I know it's just going to get better and better!  I love you so much!!

-Mommy

The end of an era...

I have to admit, I've really enjoyed my time with an immobile baby. For awhile I wondered if I was doing something wrong, since Dylann is still not crawling, but now I've realized she is just a super laid back lady and she'll either crawl when she's ready, or more so, she'll just go strait to walking.  So instead of worrying about it I decided to enjoy the fact that I could put her on her play mat and clean the kitchen without worrying about what she was getting into.  Well, so much for that.

The other day I had her in her 'play pen' in the bathroom while I took a shower.  And by playpen, I mean a blanket and some toys set up in the garden tub next to the shower. ;-)  She will play in there forever while I take a shower after boot camp...yep, love her!  Well, as I washed my hair I turned around to check on her and there she was, standing up in the tub playing with the bottle of bubble bath that was on the edge of it. WHOA, what the...?!

Hahaha, you are in for it now Mommy! 

She loves to be on her feet and can stand for 10-15 minutes at a time if we put her next to the coffee table or using our hands as props.  She also is walking forward really well now if we help her.  So I knew this 'pulling up' phase was right around the corner.  Today she pulled herself up onto the coffee table and started scream-giggling she was so happy with herself. :)  I'm very excited to see her progress and see how much fun she is having with it, but I can't help but miss those long showers in the morning... especially when I come home stinky and sweaty from boot camp and I have to wait almost 3 hours until she takes a nap to take a shower! Yuck!

Check out my skillz!

It's been a great ride while it lasted baby girl, now comes the fun stuff... and more gray hair. :-P

One more cute one for good measure! :)

The Combover

The other day I was brushing Dylann's hair after her bath and I realized it was down to her nose in the front... but ONLY the front.  I think it is so funny she has this one patch that is growing at super human speed and the rest of her hair is just inching, or rather centimetering on slowly.  I'm not going to lie, this little "combover" patch, as we like to call it, is perfect for a small clip or bow (much to the dismay of Grandpa Starck ;-)), is a ton of fun in the bathtub, and is part of what makes Dylann so unique.

Still, I'm wondering if it's time to trim it since I'm constantly brushing it out of her eyes?  At the same time, HOW do I trim it?? I'm not going to give the girl 3 bangs after all!  Plus, we all know that when that first haircut happens, it's official- I have to admit that little D is growing up and not quite the baby she once was....




Yep, I think for the meantime we will continue the combover and if it gets longer in the next couple of months we'll revisit this idea when I'm a little more open to letting her silly hair go. :)

Papa's 60th Birthday!

For Papa's 60th birthday on May 5, 2011, the whole Johndrow side of the family went to New Orleans, LA for Jazz Fest... and it was a BLAST!! The crew included Mom and Dad, Me, Kyle, Dylann, Lindsey, Marc, Emma, Carter, and Ashley.  Tom was working in Seattle for the weekend so unfortunately he wasn't able to come.

We stayed in Slidell, where our family used to live when I was 9 and 10; we even took a drive through the old neighborhood and saw the old house.  On Friday, we went into town and went to the Jazz Fest to listen to some great music and of course eat lots of good creole food. :) We set up shop in front of a stage and had a fantastic time dancing with the kids and drinking margaritas.  Dylann did wonderful and Daddy even got her to take a nap in her stroller, which she's usually not a big fan of.

 

On Saturday, we went to Cafe Du Monde in the French Quarter and had beignets and coffee.  This was very nostalgic because we used to stand in the window as kids and watch them cook the beignets and now here we are, with our own kids!

After that, we took the trolley through downtown and went to the Audubon Zoo.  It was exciting seeing all the animals and remembering the sites and exhibits from when I was little.  It's funny though, I remember the zoo being a LOT bigger when I was 9 years old!

I think Dylann was still a little young to 'get' it, but she still enjoyed herself.  Most of the time when I set her up on the edge to look over the moat at the tigers, monkeys, etc- she would just get entranced in the wood beam she was sitting on, or the bushes right in front of her.  Haha!  She did love the petting zoo though, and got to pet a goat for the first time.  And she LOVED the giraffes!  I think this was because they were really close to the fence and they are so big, their hard to miss.

After the zoo we went back to the French Quarter and took a stroll down Bourbon Street and then the French Market.  Dylann has officially 'Bar hopped on Bourbon'!  I hope she liked it, because she's not allowed back for at least 20 years!  It was great to experience as an adult now and we had a great time having cocktails and seeing all the activity go by.

We ended the evening with a nice dinner in honor of Dad/Papa.  We had a huge platter of "mud bugs" and Ash and I even sucked the heads.  Hey, when in NOLA.  It was a perfect way to celebrate Big Ed's 60th and a great family vacation with Dylann! :)

Beach Baby!

Dylann had her first official "girls beach day" on Saturday!  She looked adorable in her retro swimsuit and swim cap I got from Janie & Jack and she LOVED the beach. :)

First we went a tooled around the Sun and Sand Festival in Folly with some friends and then we parked at the Washout to hit the beach.  We set her up under an umbrella and she had a great time playing in the sand with some shovels and toys.  I kept watching her waiting for her to stick something in her mouth but she did pretty good.

Finally, I took her to the water and we sat in the shallow water to watch the waves come in.  Every time a wave would come in and slash her legs she would start giggling.  It was still a little chilly so we didn't go swimming, but she had a blast splashing in the water.

After a very eventful day I put her in her car seat to head home and she was OUT before I started the car. :)  I think she is going to be a big fan of the beach!!

Dylann's First Easter

I'm a little behind, but here are a couple of pictures from Easter.  I drove myself, Dylann and Murphy up to Nana and Papa's on Friday while Kyle went to CT for our friends, Colleen and Dave's wedding.  It poured the whole drive up with lightening and thunder which made it really fun with the scared dog!  We made it safe and sound though, and Dylann and Emma got to spend some cousin time together on Friday.  It's funny to watch Emma say "baby, baby" and point at Dylann since D is almost as big as her now. :)

Dylann & Emma

Kyle flew back to Atlanta on Saturday so Dylann and I went down to pick him up and had dinner with our friends in the city.  She got to see her Godparents as well as The Derens and Chase.

We went to 10 o'clock mass on Easter Sunday and made sure to get there early enough to get a whole row of seats for our group.  It was like playing hot potato passing the 2 babies between the 5 adults.  They did amazing though, no tears, no meltdowns, and they stayed pretty quiet.  Success! Dylann wore her little blue seersucker dress that my college friends gave me at my baby shower.  She looked precious!

Dressed in my Easter best! 

After mass we went home and had brunch and Great Grandma Barb came over for a visit.  We filled eggs with the intention of doing an Easter Egg Hunt, but the girls both went down for naps and we lost interest.  Maybe next year when it will mean a little more to them! Nana made a great dinner that we enjoyed out on the patio and then we had to pack it up and leave pretty early to get Kyle back for work on Monday.  It was a fantastic first Easter for Dylann. :)

Papa Ed and his Easter Bunnies! 

Piglet

Nom Nom Nom! 

My little "Puddin", as Nana and Papa like to call her, has officially turned into a "Piglet".  At dinner last night she ate a full jar of baby food, a WHOLE banana and about a 1/4 a cup of peas and carrots.  I think she ate more then me!  I don't know if this is a growth spurt or she is just officially a garbage disposal, but the kid can eat!

She also seems to be loosing interest in the baby food.  She really enjoys the different textures and tastes of 'finger foods' and I'm having a lot of fun seeing her reaction to new things I give her.  She still only has 2 teeth, but whenever I give her something I'm nervous about, she devours it and has never had a problem.

Speaking of, there are still no foods that she refuses but she always makes a face when the food is warm, I think I was always so nervous to give her hot food when she was younger that now she is only used to barely luke warm or cold, haha!

One Mommy lesson I have learned in the past few weeks...  Do not put out finger foods (a la Cheerios) while you are also trying to feed your baby baby food (a la MESS).  Let's just say spoon with mush and fingers going into the mouth at the same time ends in laundry, a bath, and multiple paper towels.  ;-)

Nanners!! 

"Get in my Belly!!!"