Eleven Months

Well, hello there, long lost friends.  I realize that Avery is, at this point, almost closer to a year than Eleven Months, but well... as you can see, there are lots of reasons for that.  (One of these definitely NOT that the fact that the next post will begin counting in YEARS rather than months.  Definitely not.)

So, Averycakes, you are eleven months-ish old.  You are VERY busy and important.  Every time I asked if you were available for a photo shoot, you told me you just needed to "check one last email".

Well, I finally put my foot down, and told you that your fans would not wait any longer, so you very finally conceded to having your picture made, but alas, technical troubles necessitated a re-shoot.  At this point you had pretty much had it with your dear mother, so you made sure to use your "fake smile" and told me to make it snappy.

You see, at 11 months, you are starting to exert your independence.  You definitely make it known when you do / don't want something, and it is growing more difficult to distract you from your chosen goal.

The things you like / dislike are still pretty much the same as last month.

• You like:
• Veggie puffs, cheese, ham, apples, and pretty much anything your grandmothers feed you
• Bath time!
• Reading your books
• The bay window
• Playing chase
• Taking things out of drawers / bins
• You DISlike
• Having your diaper changed
• The end of bath time
• Not being allowed to chew on electrical cords
• When we leave your sight, sometimes

Overall, though, you are still a really really easy-going baby.  You are finding more and more things hilarious (mostly everything your dad does), and growing more mobile by the second.  People seem to genuinely like being around you, and you are usually pretty happy no matter where you are.  You're also sleeping great, too.



I should also mention that you are hilarious.  You now keep up a running stream of babble complete with pointing and sometimes very stern tones.  You can say "Bye-ah" when prompted!  It's all very serious and important.  But sometimes you're so happy you just holler.  It's usually in a completely inappropriate place, (which, incidentally is why you have never been to the library) but you are just so HAPPY you have to let it all out.

You are also increasingly mobile, pulling up with ease and starting to cruise.  Which, as your father declared when I came home the other day means, "Nothing is safe.  Nothing!"  You can go anywhere (that doesn't require actual walking) and rip up any paper and chew on anything you find with your 4.5 teeth!  Your favorite place to go is up into the bay window.  Or, as I like to call it... baby in a box performance art.

I'm sure the neighbors talk.  (About what an adorable baby we have on display.)

I was looking back through old pictures of you, as I do every night after you're asleep often, and it really hit me that what is so different lately is that I feel like I really know you now.  Like any good friendship it took us awhile to feel each other out, learn what makes the other tick.  I love that, for the most part, I know what you like to eat, what your favorite toys and places are, what will make you scream, but also how to cheer you up pretty much immediately.  We push each other to stretch our limits.  I miss you when you're not around.  We've laughed together, we've cried together, and thanks to that unfortunate July 4th stomach bug, we've puked on each other... pretty much, we've cemented our friendship for life.

Yesterday you were sitting on my lap facing me during one of our deep discussions about why the Kardashians are so ridiculous life, when you put both hands on either side of my face and gently touched my forehead to yours.  It was one of those moments that I felt instantly freeze frame in my heart, and that overwhelmed me with gratitude, once again, for the privilege of being your parent. 






Next month you will be a YEAR.  Someone very wise told me when I was pregnant with you that the thing about parenthood is that the days are long, but the years are short.  You, my dear, have made both of them magic.  Can't wait to celebrate a year of you!  We love you more than books and Travian.

Ten Months

Or rather 10 months one week.  Sorry this post is a bit late, but for your 10 month birthday you celebrated by getting... another ear infection!  And a referral to the ENT!!  Needless to say, it was a rough couple of days, and you were in no mood for a photo shoot.

Since we were just at the doctor, we know that you are at 22lbs 10oz and somewhere around 30 inches.  Your adorableness still ranks off the charts.

I also realized that the more mobile you get, the closer up the chair photos get!  Hello, giant child baby with the sassy expression.

Every day we get a bit more of your personality.  You are by turns happy, silly, slightly stubborn, and loud.  I'm not sure where you got ANY of that from us or our families.  Nope, not at all.

New things this month:

• Learning to crawl on your hands and knees
• Pulling up to standing
• Being able to mimic "words" (but still not saying any on your own yet... so close!)
• Waving when we say "hi / goodbye" and clapping when we say "yay"
• Playing peek-a-boo on your own
• Top right tooth is through the gum, and the left is pushing its way through
• Growing some curly hair in the back!

You have this way of making people smile.  It works on just about every one, from the old ladies who line the hallways at Great-Grandma & Papa Wayne's to the 20 year-old bag guy at Kroger who remembers me solely as your mother and is sad when you're not with me.  My prayer for you is that you will never lose that spark that draws people in and leaves them feeling just a little better in their day, that you will always be quick with a smile and a wave, and find joy in something as simple as twirling around our living room.

Now, I'm going to turn it over to you for a minute, Avery.  Can you walk us though this photo shoot, and what you were thinking?





Hmmmm... a photo shoot you say?

We really should discuss the disaster of post-bow hair happening on my head. No?  You're just going to go for it??  Ok, how, can distract them from the hair??  Oh, I know..








I'll wave!!  Waving. is. awesome.










Oh, that was hilarious.













I'll show them  how I like to chew on my finger.  Just like my Daddy did when he was a baby.  I know that kind of thing isn't actually genetic, but I want to be just exactly like him in every single way because he is so awesome and my hero and...

Ooooh, camera... work it!













Now, wheeere were we?

Oh yeah, follow me... I have something awesome to show you.

It's called a door, and I freaking love. it.

Oh, you're still there?  Well, that's embarrassing!  Ummm, I'm going to go now.  I'll see if mom let's me post again soon, because I love the computer more than just about anything, but I'm not so good at the buttons.  Mostly I just close important screens (on accident) and drool on the keys, but how am I supposed to get better with no practice???  I'll work on that so we can post more than once a month.  For now, though, goodbye!  I love you all more than cheerios and cheese!!

Nine Months

Congratulations, Avery!  You have now lived in the outside world longer than you were growing inside.  That is just crazy.  Mostly because it feels like you have been here with us for wayyy longer than I was pregnant.  And let's be real here, your birthday is in August... in Texas... it felt like I was pregnant for-ev-er.  This is also your last month in the single digits month-wise.  Insert single rolling tear.

So, what's up with you at nine months, nugget?  Let's break it down, shall we.

I think you've been secretly dieting, because you LOST a pound this month.  Although, this is apparently kind of normal when you are becoming an actual person and learning to be mobile and spend 99.9% of the time you are awake flailing about.  Maybe I should try this.  I'm sure no one would give me the side eye if I decided to try crawling at work.

Jeez, mom, focus.

Stats, yes, stats.

At nine months you are:

20lbs 14oz (88%)

30.5 inches  (99.67%)

I don't remember your head size, but it is like suddenly tiny at 67%

(although they didn't measure around your ears this time)

12-18months clothing size

Size 3 diapers

I'm sorry, but did we all see that height business??  In case you are wondering what that looks like in graphical terms, I have re-created the growth chart they give us when we go to the doctor.  Those things are really detailed these days.  I think you're so tall because you need the extra inches too keep all that cuteness contained.

You still have an ear infection, btdub.  Please stop with that.  We are slightly worried that it might be messing with your speech development, as you were super quick to pick up on the bababa dadada mamama, but haven't really moved past it since the infections started up.  Also, you have no inside voice.  Can you not hear yourself??  Just kidding, we love listening to you babble.  You have a follow-up in two weeks, so if you could just go ahead and un-infect yourself by then that would be just swell.

Socially you are slightly ahead of the game.  You completely mastered waving and clapping this month, and have started pointing, which is super adorable.  

You can also feed yourself small bits of real food, which just about makes me cry my eyes out because you look so big when you're feeding yourself.  So far you've at least tolerated everything you've tried, and we pretty much just feed you whatever we're having for dinner plus some cheerios, cheese, yogurt, etc.

You still scoot from place to place, but can take a few wobbly crawls forward on your knees.  You also learned to go from lying on your stomach to sitting upright, which has really upped your game in terms of total house destruction.  See, before you couldn't really reach for anything above you when you were crawling, but now you can crawl over to the bookshelf, sit up and go.to.town.

I'm trying to re-arrange everything so that you can pull off whatever you'd like, so our house is basically just getting undecorated from about three feet down.  And remember not leave anything out that we don't want tore up.  Like the day you ripped out and gnawed on the first page out of my Bible.  We'll have to re-discuss the whole Bread of Life concept, stat. 

You just never ever stop moving.  And we love to watch you discover new things and get distracted by your own fingers.  Or the cats.  Who have started taunting you relentlessly by staying still until you get close enough to reach out, and then sauntering a few more steps away.  (You fall for it every time.)

So sad.

Your daddy bought you this toy, which is labeled as a "Jewelry" Box, but contains lipstick, a comb, and perfume, so it's confusing, but fun.  He bought it for you because thus-far you have only collected gender neutral or on-the-masculine side of the scale toys.  Every time I think of him in the toy aisle all by himself picking out the most fun, girly toy he could find for you, my heart just melts into a big mush puddle.  (You have a really great dad.)

So, there you have it, Avery-cakes.  We love you more than baseball and sandwiches and can't wait to see what adventures the next months and years will take us on.

Mother's Day Re-Cap

I wish that I had some really profound but still slightly witty words to share in my Mother's Day re-cap.  Something deep to share regarding the joy of motherhood and how awesome my own mom is.  Or at least just a decent yo mama joke. 

But I just got barfed on and then had to deal with what I'm pretty sure was hazmat level poop.  So right now I'm feeling like motherhood is kind of a mixed bag.

Whatevs, Mother's Day was stellar.  Sam worked really hard to make this a fabulous day for me and our moms.  He did a truly fantastic job, and I felt treasured.

Especially when Avery presented me with the gift she worked really hard on in the car on the way to church:

I mean, is that not the most impressive snot bubble you've ever seen?  Thanks, nugget!



 

So happy belated Mother's Day to all of you.  I hope you all hugged a mother at some point, or said a little prayer for mothers in general, or gave props to Mother Earth, or something.  And thanks, sweet girl, for making this snot/barf/poop-filled ride so darn much fun.

Lately...

We've been pretty busy over here at the Hosack house.  Not exciting-busy, really, just busy-busy.  Really, this post might also demonstrate that we are the most boring people on the planet, so be jealous.

Turns out babies AND houses are spency...

 

So we've been getting our kicks by playing "pin the Cheerio on the baby"

Just kidding... learning to eat is tough work!

And then we baked some awesome cookies to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. 

As my mother would say, "Ole!"

Then, because we ate so many cookies, we had to dance off the calories.

 

We also scored some free food (and awesome company) with a visit to 

Great Grandma and Papa Wayne's.  We made ourselves comfortable, and had a few laughs.

I'm also reading this book, and it's kind of awesome and is making me more mindful of the abundant blessings smack dab in the middle of our (never) boring life.





Tiger Stripes?

So, this post has been rattling around in my head for awhile.

It's an uncomfortable subject for me, but I'm going to put it out there, so that if, by some chance, another new mama out there googles "body after baby" or "holy mother of the sweet baby Jesus what has happened to my body and will it ever be normal again after baby" (because in case you didn't know, you become a certified google black-belt when you have a baby) they will maybe know they are not alone in this.  But sweet Avery, should you ever read this, you should know that absolutely none of this makes me love you one tiny smidgen less.  That part's important, too.

You may have guessed that I'm going to be talking about body image and weight and all that stuff today, so if you are here the for the usual cute baby pictures and stories, I'll leave you with this. You know, so your double click was not for naught:

Okay, check ya later!  (No, seriously, later I use the actual words for lady-bits so, if that doesn't interest you at all, you'll want to peace out.)  (Also, maybe if you haven't had babies yet... I really don't want to scare anyone off and this might be veering into stupid-lady-in-the-Taget-checkout-line-unsolicited-horror-story territory).

Lately, or okay, really forever, but especially lately, I have been struggling with feeling... gross.  Everything else in my life is going amazingly well, but I cannot seem to find the motivation to get my eating and exercise together.  I've been doing quite a lot of thinking about it as to why, and it's slowly come to light that I am, in fact, really angry at my body.

You see, my body and I have never really been besties.  It has failed me many times over the years.  I wanted to be 5'6", and grew like a weed until I hit puberty (seriously, I was the center on my 5th grade basketball team), but instead I topped out at 5'4".  Not a huge deal.  Then I was sucky at pretty much every sport ever.  Still not a huge deal.  Because in my heart I always knew that there would be one thing my body would be awesome at... having babies.

But that's where my body failed me the worst.  Let me clarify.  Yes, I did in fact have a baby, and she is healthy and gorgeous and thriving.  I am deeply deeply grateful for this and know how very very lucky I am for it.  However, I also can't deny the feelings I am having towards my body.

The pregnancy changed my body in profound ways, some of which I was expecting, others... not so much.  Like that time when I had a weird rash on my back, and my OB was like, "yeah, no idea what that is, go see the dermatologist."  So I had to find a dermatologist, and then upon meeting me he was all, "ummm, you're pretty much just really sweaty and allergic to your pants."  Stellar.  See you again never.  And then I grew like a thousand moles on my neck.  And then the swelling.  Oh.my.word. the swelling.  So, between the weird rashes and moles and the cankles with cankles with a side of super sweatiness I was not even a remotely attractive pregnant lady.  But that was all okay, because I was going to give birth!

Except that my body didn't want to.  And while I know that a lot of this is probably my fault, because I did everything wrong (didn't exercise at all, agreed to an induction, etc.) I never figured that actually giving birth would be an issue. Instead I ended up having a c-section.  Which my head knows is not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, but giving birth was a huge dream of mine.

Every year during college I was in or went to the Vagina Monologues.  One of my very favorite pieces was the closer, "I Was There in the Room" in which Eve Ensler records her thoughts on being present during a birth.  The following excerpt evoked a physical longing that I could not fully explain:

[I was] there as her vagina became a wide operatic mouth
singing with all its strength;
first the little head, then the gray flopping arm, then the fast swimming body, swimming quickly into our weeping arms.

But my body would not cooperate.  And I felt like was robbed even I was given the biggest gift that I have yet to receive in this life.

And then, there was the breastfeeding drama.  I had these giant bewbs that should have sustained 4 babies, and instead we struggled.  We struggled and struggled for 4 months and then they just dried up.  I would pump and pump and pump and get 1/2 an ounce.  And no amount of oatmeal or fenugreek or prayer would increase my supply.  So I gave up.  You win again, body.

And so now I'm left with this shell that feels like a failure.  Where things have been rearranged into odd places and there are marks that will fade but never fully heal.  And I try to internalize images like this:

Via Pinterest

But all I can think is... but she's so skinny!!

Yes, I am angry at my body.

So I have been abusing it with food and slothfulness.  And that's why I still have 15lbs of baby weight to lose (not to mention the 25 I gained after our wedding... woopsie daisy).  Although, if you lose it and then gain back I'm not really sure you can still technically call it "baby weight", can you?

But the hopeful part is, I'm working on it.  I'm buying a few outfits that make me feel at least okay with how I look.  I've started eating better (well, mostly, except for today when I may or may not have had Starbucks coffee and candy for dinner) and exercising some.  I'm keeping up with positive and inspirational stories like my friend, Carlie.  And I'm really going to try to keep it up, because while my body and I might be having issues, we are kind of stuck with each other for life.  So, I'd like for us to make up at some point and at least be civil.  Because there will be (God willing) more babies, and I'd really like for us to work together (unlike you, thighs, who fight each other with every step!).   We're both worth it, and remember how hot we looked at the wedding?  Let's get back to there (or at least some mole-ier saggier bewbed version of there), how 'bout?  I'm in if you are.

Eight Months

Here we go!  I think we are over the hump sickness-wise.  You'll need another ear check this week sometime, but as far as how you're acting, I think we are good to go. (Touch every piece of wood in a 10 foot radius and cross all of our fingers and toes!!)

Your seventh month was quite eventful, what with the sickness, but it was still a great month overall.

Since we went to the doctor, oh about a hundred times, we know that you are definitely over 21 pounds.  Not sure about your height, but your car seat maxes out at 30 inches, and you are dangerously close to hanging out both sides.  We're looking in to getting you a big girl seat, so if anyone has any suggestions we're listening!

Your biggest milestone this month, by far, was learning to crawl.  Or rather, scoot.  You do this goofy army crawl that I can't really explain, so I shot a quick video of you to document your lightning speed, and the reason you have pretty much full body carpet burn at all times now:

You can stand for short periods of time now if you have something to lean on.  Also, holy snot-face batman.












There was a lot to celebrate this month... up first was St. Patty's day, celebrated in style thanks to a tutu from your friend (and ours) Haley.  You attracted lots of attention when we went and ate Cajun food with your grandma and grandpa (yeah, we're not Irish, sorry dear... we'll still kiss ya though!)  Also, white onesies were apparently your outfit of choice... you kind of grew out of all of your 6-9 month clothes, so it was slim pickin's for awhile.  Don't worry, the grandmas have you well stocked once again!





 Up next, your Aunt Lauren and Uncle Steven came home from their year in Honduras.  The last time you saw them you were just 3 days old!  You got reacquainted really quickly, though.

 And you had your first Easter (and your first photo bomb... thanks, sir.)

You also got the hang of riding in shopping carts like a big girl. You're so fancy.  I feel like I'm going to be seeing this face a lot in about 12 years...

Thankfully you also did LOADS more of THIS this month:

You are also SUPER into:

• The Backyardigan's theme song
• Any sort of animal that comes into your line of site
• Books books books
• Blowing raspberries and making the "cluck" sound with your tongue as loudly as possible in public (it has made even grown men giggle)
• Being ridiculously adorable pretty much all the time
• Growing teeth
• You got two this month (bottom front)!  Not that you would show them to me AT ALL during this photo shoot. Best we could do...

There are few things you are not, so much loving this month.  Those things include (but are not limited to):

• Taking oral antibiotics (thanks for the nose-pinch trick, Uncle Steve!)
• Having your diaper changed
• Having your clothes changed
• Being held for any lengthy period of time
• Sharing toys at daycare 
• You were bitten on your hand by a toddler who wanted the toy phone you were playing with.  You were inconsolable and required several rounds of The Itsy-Bitsy Spider to recuperate.  Now, it's okay to let things go, Avery.  It's a good skill to have in life, and daycare.

• The baby jail play pen 

You are just so. much. fun.  I was going through photos and pretty much had to decide that there was no way to cram all of your awesomeness into just this one post or it would take people until you were nine months for this one to load.  You're just so stinkin' cute we can't get over it.  Facial expressions, noises, everything.

You take our breath away, baby girl.  Happy 8 months!