First Birthday/Second Thanksgiving Photo Dump Pt 2

Yes, there will be a part three.

It’s been a while since my hand has been chewed on like this. It was amazing realizing Phoebe was that size only 8 months ago

It did take Phoebe a little while to get comfortable with all these extra people around.

Story time in the morning light.

Enjoying the morning together.

Sonje playing with his teething ring.

Phoebe insisting that Sonje play with the teething ring more.

Sonje was a little concerned about what Linus was and whether he was going to get eaten. Eventually Linus gave Sonje a good long face lick and that got a big smile and giggle.

Watching Phoebe interact with Sonje was always interesting. I have no idea how the interpret this pose.

This pose on the other hand is easy to figure out.

The birthday girl dancing away.

The birthday girl eating away.

Two new dads comparing notes about life, the universe, and everything.

I’m not certain whether Jo or Phoebe is happier in this picture.

 

 

First Birthday/Second Thanksgiving Photo Dump

There were a ton of photos taken and I’m still trying to track down a few, but here are some of the best ones. I can’t guarantee these are in any meaningful order, but I’ll try to group them by what’s going on.

Family

Two sets of Grandparents, one set of Godparents, a Godbrother, a proud Mom and Dad, and of course the star of the show.

Phoebe greeting her guests and Mom looking good in uniform.

Swinging at the park at the end of the block.

We tried the slide on our own, but it was much better when Daddy went with us.

Hanging out on Dad’s shoulders and making faces at Grandpa.

She learned the joys of grabbing people’s watches.

Taking a confident stroll down the sidewalk.

Again, note the watch in her hands.

Duck and Goose Find a Pumpkin is one of our favorite books so we had to show Grandma.

Food Time

Why eat the cake when I can play with the frosting?

Presents

A super soft pair of pajamas from Aunt Reb

Happily reading a new book with pictures of babies from around the world.

A soft and squishy stuffed moose. We may be in Mississippi, but we can still raise her as a good Minnesotan.

A new play center that she’s actually enjoying write now as I write this post.

Phoebe’s new chariot all put together and ready to go.

 

 

Godsiblings

I swear Sonje has the cheeks of several babies. He is so cute!

Tummy time going well.

 

Enjoying a sideways view of the world.

Singing Phoebe’s First Happy Birthday

Her Mom went to all the trouble of baking her a delicious mini chocolate cake, but Phoebe was surprisingly uninterested. She loved playing with the frosting though! She would squeeze it between her fingers and rubbed it all over her outfit. While she was busy with that we all felt it was the right time to sing to her. She still loves music of all kinds and one of the most reliable ways to get her to giggle is to pick her up and bounce her to whatever music is playing. Some of the pictures from the weekend will be posted tomorrow.

 

Random Nine Month Photos

After posting the write up of Phoebe’s nine month check up, I was promptly informed that I had inappropriately included no photos of this baby. Here are a couple pictures from the last week to make up for that.

Some babies are picky about food. Phoebe isn’t. One food we expected her to turn her nose up at, but didn’t was pickles. If you give her a pickle spear she will slowly but surely scrape all the flesh out and just leave the skin. Here she is in the process.

Since she had been chewing on everything, I decided to buy her some teething wafers from the store. Based on how excited she was by the box I thought it was a good buy, but as it turns out she couldn’t be less interested in the actual product.

As always though, a baby’s best friend is her dog. Linus continues to be a walking stuffed animal, face lick machine, and vacuum cleaner for anything dropped off the high chair.

In the next couple of photos Linus was trying to nap and Phoebe had other plans.

Recently we went to a dog park. Phoebe was amazed to find that dogs come in different shapes, sizes and colors. There was a particularly friendly and playful doberman who was also nine months old.

I assure everyone there were several adults close by and Linus was also there to ensure everyone was playing nicely.

Phoebe is definitely starting to get interested in some of the amazing toys she was given at her baby shower. This set of science blocks came from the Martensons.

I sincerely apologize for not including any pictures in the last post, and I assure everyone it won’t happen again.

Nine Month Check Up

It’s tough to believe, but Phoebe turned nine months old this last week. She fell asleep on the way to her doctor’s appointment which worried the techs who were going to take her measurements. They said every baby that day had cried, so they weren’t looking forward to waking Phoebe up. I told them she does great after a nap and Phoebe politely proved me right. She behaved like an absolute angel for the entire time causing the techs to declare her the best baby of the day. As for the measurements:

Weight – 19.8 lbs – 69th percentile

Height – 28.15 in – 72nd percentile

Head – 43.6 cm – 37th percentile

Her head used to be in the 15th percentile, so it’s good to see that catch up with the rest of her. The doctor came in and declared her the picture of health. Phoebe did really want to chew on her stethoscope though.

In other growth and development news she has two things she says that may or may not be words. Yesterday morning Phoebe was crawling all over Betsy in bed and I got up to go make breakfast. After I left Phoebe looked at the door and said, “Dada,” She will sometimes use that syllable, but I’m not entirely convinced she knows what it means yet. She will also repeat, “Nananana,” over and over when there’s something going on she doesn’t enjoy, like a diaper change.

She’s also standing and has taken a couple cruising steps. I’m anticipating her first steps any day now. Overall this baby continues to blow away any and all expectations  while proving her NICU stay was just a small bump on the way to a healthy first nine months.

Phoebe Plays the Piano

For the first time since driving all the way down to Mississippi, Phoebe was on the road again. This time she was off to Texas where she got to meet her newborn God-Sibling(photos coming later this week) and spend some time with her Grandma that lives just west of Houston. She has talented musicians on both sides of the family and for the first time she got her hands on an instrument. Her Grandma played some Beethoven, which enchanted Phoebe, and then it was her turn to give it a shot.

I love that you can almost identify the moment it clicks for her.

A few photos of the event:

I’m particularly a fan of this last one where you can really see the wonder in her eyes.

Afterwards Grandma pulled down some musical snow globes.

And of course anything this interesting must be chewed on.

Giggles During Meal Time

Phoebe was incredibly hungry and quite fussy, but after chowing down on baby food and cheerios her mood improved greatly to the point of giggling at Mom no matter what she did. I got some of the antics on video.

Phoebe’s Pool Party

Given that the heat index is over 100 degrees by 8 in the morning down here, finding a way to cool off is a necessity. Phoebe has always enjoyed bath time, so we bought her a plastic pool and gave it a go.

She was tentative at first, but largely because the hose water was pretty chilly.

When she finally got all the way in she was upset to start with, but then figured out that splashing was a thing she could do. She didn’t want to put the toy down though, so that got put in the mouth while we played in the water.

She’s been working on standing a lot recently and she’s getting quite good at it. We still didn’t want to drop the crab though.

At one point she slipped and tumbled onto her back getting water up her nose. She sputtered, coughed, and cried. I helped her sit up and was ready to get her out since I figured she would want to be done after that, but after a couple more coughs she went right back to playing. I’m continually amazed at how well she pushes through discomfort and shows determination.

Pictured in the top right corner of that last picture you can see a lazy dog enjoying the shade. Even though I tried to show him he could climb in, Linus refused to get in the water with Phoebe. He loves pools like this and I was surprised he gave the space to her. At some point soon though I imagine there will be cute photos of the two of them splashing together.

Phoebe and Cheerios

Recently we started Phoebe on Cheerios and she was popping them in her mouth with surprising regularity within just days of seeing them for the first time. Also surprising for us was the hand she clearly favors for the job. Maybe she’ll turn out to be a lefty just like her Mom. Linus has also learned the joys of the high chair and is now often camped out below it.

So Talkative Today!

One interesting pattern I’ve noticed with Phoebe is that although she’s talkative, not certain where she got that from, she’s more talkative when both Mom and Dad are around. I don’t know if she feels safer, or she just has more to say when both of us are here. You can hear many different sounds she’s playing with in the clip.