A Growing Family: TEN MONTHS

TEN MONTHS

The past month has been a playful month. Morgan has really started to show her personality while playing with her toys and with other people. She loves her ball pit and enjoys taking all of her toys into the ball pit with her. Morgan will find anything that is in a ring shape and place it on her arm like a bracelet during her play time-she is going to love playing dress up. She also enjoys playing with her 'shapes' cookie jar-she takes all the shapes out of the jar and then puts them all back in. She also enjoys taking everything out of the diaper bag however does not put anything back in! She continues to enjoy climbing into and/or onto everything and has become very good about getting onto/into something but has not mastered climbing out of or off of the item yet-lots of bumps. Morgan has gotten better with her separation anxiety since I have been going to church on Sunday morning and Wednesday evening, MOPS/MMO on Tuesdays, and Baby Swap with Kelley and Andrea. Going to Andrea's house is new so we are still working on getting Morgan use to her place. Morgan is in all 9 month clothes and they fit very well. She wears a size 3 shoe with plenty of room in the toe area. Her hair is getting longer and thicker every week. It is long enough to put a bow in it; however, it doesn't look that great yet and she only tolerated it for about 2 minutes-long enough to take a picture. Her hair is very hard to manage at this point so most of the time it is straight forward on her forehead and sticking up in the back. Morgan continues to take a 30 minute nap in the morning and a 45 minute nap in the afternoon. She has been sleeping throughout the night every night from 7:30-8:30pm till about 6am. She continues to eat and drink about the same amount as last month but is getting better with the sippy cups and eating more finger foods (bananas, cheese, bread...). I just took her to the doctors because she has had a runny nose for a few weeks and has become very hoarse in her throat-especially in the morning. The doctor put her on medication for allergies which should clear up the runny nose, hoarseness, and the eczema on her face. We installed her 'Big Girl' car seat and she is so much happier in the car-the DVD player also helps. She is also 'talking' all the time. She says MaMa and DaDa very clearly and also says NaNa when she is hungry or upset. She has a thousand other sounds but nothing understandable.

Carl and I enjoyed a date night the Friday before Valentine's Day. The church had the nursery open from 6-8:30pm for parents to drop their children off and enjoy an evening out. It only cost $5. We went to a Japanese steakhouse and although we sat with a family who had very loud children it was still nice to be out without Morgan for a night. On Valentine's Day we went to church and then took turns taking naps in the afternoon-the days of taking naps together are over. I have been working one or two mornings a week at my old job while my Baby Swap friends watch Morgan. I started doing Baby Swap with another girl from church whose husband is in Iraq for a year. I enjoy being able to go back to work and have some interaction with the patients and my colleagues. Carl has been working longer hours at work and doing his MBA work in the evenings/weekends. He just found out that he will be able to attend his one week class for his MBA and graduate on time! I just finished my 14th week of pregnancy and I am feeling better. I still have a few bad evenings throughout the week but I'm no longer glued to the coach all day and night. I am just beginning to get a bump so I will try to get a belly picture for next month. Next month will be a big travel month for our family-Carl in Gainesville/Jacksonville and Morgan and I will be in Clearwater.