Fiona | 10 months

These photos sum it up: Fiona is a busy little girl these days. I couldn't get her to sit still long enough for my camera to focus. Oh well. I'm sure it will get better...cough, cough. 

Also, I just wanted to say thank you, all of you who reached out to me after my scary vulnerable honest blog post. I didn't know I would get such an encouraging response! You are all wonderful, wonderful women & make me want to keep on going. Also, I am doing much better:). So, thank you for your love & prayers & confessions of similar feelings. It helps so much to know I'm not alone. And YOU aren't alone either. Isn't it great?

Anyway, Fiona. We still love her dearly! She's been a little trooper lately, coping with a cough & some pink eye we picked up in Illinois. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but she did sleep for 13 hours the other night (I didn't know that could happen!) & she's been going to bed a little earlier than normal (read, earlier than 10:30). Normally, she sleeps pretty good, but she'll wake up once a night at least 3 nights a week. It feels very doable these days though. She may still get up at 5 am to eat, but she'll go back to sleep for a few more hours. She may be climbing on the coffee table, & opening my cupboards, & emptying the garbage, but at least she's entertaining herself & I can get some jobs done without a 15 pound ankle weight to lug around. She's actually almost 16 pounds (what I weighed at a year!! Featherweights, we are were.), which means she's gained a pound in the last month. She's been in the 9th percentile or less since she's been born. But I think she's gaining!

 It makes sense: she's been eating so much food. I'd been buying her squeezable applesauce pouches for the sake of convenience, & she would eat one in two feedings. Now she needs two at one feeding to satisfy her gluttony. Chicken, hamburger, beans, brussel sprouts, this girl will eat anything. It's reeeeally nice. I haven't bought baby food for a month! We're going to try goat's milk soon to see if she can digest that. Then I can quit buying the specialty formula.

She still loves going outside, which is a challenge this wet, sopping time of year. Crawling around in the muck & damp doesn't make her mother too happy. But sometimes we just have to get out. I keep thinking she's going to start walking. She was very, very close, & then suddenly decided she'd rather focus on climbing. Holding onto chairs, the coffee table, anything, she can get around pretty quickly. It's been so fun to watch her get stronger!

Maybe we're ignorant first-time parents, but I'm pretty sure she can say, "Dada", "mama", "bye-bye," & "bow-wow". She's a little inconsistent, but we're going to go with it.

Ten months. I can't believe we're so close to a year!