Rowan’s Tenth Month

I am not sure how my baby is ALMOST A YEAR OLD, but somehow we’ve watch spring, summer, and fall pass together and are back into winter. It makes me sad, although 2020 was a year I was glad to see go. I will most likely stop doing these updates once Rowan hits 1 year old because things won’t change as quickly month to month after a year. I will still pop in and share some motherhood posts here and there, but I’ll probably find that once Rowan grows older, and becomes more of her own person, I won’t feel as comfortable sharing these little details.

Rowan has grown by leaps and bounds this past month, maybe more than any other month! I feel like I always say that, but this time it’s true. She started WALKING just days after I wrote her last update before Christmas. She just walks so fast around the house, park, anywhere she can walk, she wants to! And she can get up without assistance too now. I spend most of my daytime hours running after her, we both must burn so many calories that way.

She has 2 teeth – 2 on the bottom and now 2 teeth just starting to appear up top. For a baby teething, she did pretty good! You wouldn’t know she was teething for the most part, she had one fussy day and I suspect it’s when the top two started the other day. Because she still sleeps through the night, hasn’t had a fever, her cheeks aren’t red and minimal drool. I count us lucky so far, I can only imagine when the back teeth start to cut through, I bet that will be more painful.

Rowan also has started to climb on objects, the couch, ottoman, other bits at her art class, it’s been interesting to say the least. I can’t take my eyes off of her. She is a determined little girl with the need for exploration and adventure, if she isn’t moving by herself she gets mad.

Whenever she hears that we’re eating or I open the fridge, she walks as quickly as she can over to investigate. Oh and she now only wants to hold her bottle by herself. No assistance is required, same with her eating, likes to feed herself. And she is still eating everything, except hummus. I think the texture of hummus throws her off but we keep trying to add it here and there. Rowan is in the 97% for height and weight! She is now eating 3 full meals a day, an occasional snack from whatever Mom and Dad are eating, and gets to practice drinking from an open cup. She does amazing at that by the way, barely spills her drink on her.

She babbles a lot, but nothing coherent except for “dada” and “mama”. She has mastered signing “hello”, “goodbye”, “more”, “all done” and “milk”. Which makes it easier to know her needs at feedings! She loves to clap and dance, if music is on, she is swinging her hips even if I hum something. It’s been a fun month, I still cannot believe she turns one in March!

MOMMY UPDATE

I love her at this age, she’s a lot of fun, besides being extremely busy walking everywhere, it’s easier to watch her by myself all day. She still has great naps, but I spend those getting ready, pumping, and eating/drinking a hot beverage. So I don’t get much work done during the daytime if Curtis or my mom isn’t over.

I think to myself that I am SO lucky to be able to work with her and spend her entire first year and more together, but some days I just miss the old me – the person who could take a few hours to do things just for me without worrying about a tiny human. The feeling of not being able to fully focus on any one thing ever makes me do creep through somedays, I wish I could just sit at my laptop for a bit and crank out some work without distractions.

And breastfeeding update is that we are still nursing 1-2x a day, pumping bottles, and also supplementing with formula and I’m ok with that. As long as she is fed and I have less anxiety about nursing and making sure I pump on time is better for me. Plus her eating three solid meals helps out too because she is requiring fewer bottles, she just doesn’t want as many anymore. I’m going to try to get to one-year breastfeeding, as long as my milk supply stays, and then wean her off. I suspect it won’t be a problem because she isn’t the type to come up and tug at my boobs looking for milk.

Just some current thoughts and feelings, and if you’re going through the same, you are not alone.

Don’t forget to check out last month’s update here.