L's 1st birthday party!

10.5 months old - new photos

In the past couple of weeks, L has started to share with us her unique personality and communicate more. It is quite fun! She laughs at things she finds funny, babbles a ton, and lets us know when something does not suit her. She has a cute little personality (of course I am biased), seems to have a good sense of humor and is quite friendly now often waving to strangers! Below are photos from the past week.

Since the nearest real pumpkin patch is over an hour drive away, we visited the local "pumpkin patch" at our grocery store last weekend, ha!

This is a hooded bath towel we received as a gift but we have been having fun with it during play time!

L likes to eat all by herself now - solids only and with rare help from us.

L loves to burrow her head into soft things like pillows, towels and the bed.

Reading her Curious Kitties book with Dad.

L is 10 months old!

Lauren is now 10 months old! (I have no idea why the photo above keeps turning on its side - sorry!). In the past couple of weeks, she has started to eat real solids and is not interested at all in purees. So that has meant more food prep for me! But it is really fun to watch her feed herself or bite into things we give her. She absolutely loves pickles (just like Dan!) and kiwi. She can eat a whole pickle and an entire kiwi in one sitting.

Poor little L caught a cold yesterday and has a runny nose today, so she is not feeling great, but otherwise she is such a happy kid. I think she has a good sense of humor. She makes funny faces and seems to understand when something is funny (to her anyway).

She seems really close to walking and wants to stand up all the time, although she needs to support herself on things. She will walk around from object to object as long as there is something to hold on to. Thus, I have had to buy her shoes recently. Until now she mostly wore socks, but shoes are definitely a necessity now especially with the cooler weather coming.

Little L is very loved and she knows it!

Fall photos of L

It is starting to get a little cooler and we have stocked L's closet with her fall and winter clothes. She looks like such a "big girl" when she wears blue jeans and jackets! Part of that is also that she is just growing so fast and getting taller every day.

In the past week, Lauren has started waving at people. It is so cute! She will wave at any friendly face. There is a woman who works at Phoebe's Bakery, where I like to buy sandwiches for lunch, and Lauren waves at her every time! This woman just loves it and waves back at Lauren practically the whole time we're in the shop.

Also in the past week Lauren has started eating real solid foods. She loves pickles! I bite off the skin of the pickle and then she takes a big bite of the soft part and chews it right up. I am still nervous for her to be eating solid foods, but she can't eat purees forever. She has since tried bites of watermelon, banana, kiwi, pasta, a whole wheat waffle, and chicken. She didn't care for the watermelon or pasta but she was a fan of everything else, especially the chicken. Now that she is interested to eat real foods, I cannot rely on baby food pouches and will have to start preparing things. I knew it would happen sooner or later!

Below are photos taken within the past week.

Lauren at 9 Months

Lauren turned 9 months old last week. She is growing up so fast! I thought I would take a moment to document some of the fun things she is into now.

She is a super fast crawler and likes to stand up all the time. She crawls all around the house and pulls herself up on everything - boxes, tables, the ottomon, even Dan's violin case! In the past few days she has started standing unassisted for a few seconds before reaching out to steady herself. She gets very proud of herself! This is from a few weeks ago, but below is a video of Lauren crawling to chase Dan around the game room at our hotel in Bermuda.

Little Lauren is such a smiley baby! She was not an early smiler. I remember when she was an infant and I was worried she would never smile. Now she smiles all the time! She is very happy and gets so excited to see us. When Dan or I enter the room she gets a huge smile on her face and takes off crawling towards us.

She is a good little eater and has been doing purees for months now, but in the past week she has started eating real solid food. We have given her very small bites of mushy food like kiwi and banana. She has bitten into a pickle and has eaten chicken. So far, so good. She definitely has the Henderson sweet tooth gene, though. She loves fruit and doesn't care for veggies unless they have sweet fruit mixed in.

My favorite time of the day with Lauren is during her bedtime routine. It is the cutest, happiest thing I have ever seen. First of all, she loves bath time and splashes around, plays with her bath toys and likes to suck on a washcloth! We then have a special "dry off" technique (that we have been doing since she was born) that she just loves. Once she's in her PJs, we head to her room and she eats a little bit but then takes a break to play. It is the most precious thing and I would not trade this time for anything! She takes little breaks while eating her last bottle of milk for the day and cuddles, smiles, burrows into your chest and just generally has the best time! It is so fun! She started doing this about a month ago. At first, I wasn't sure how to respond because I thought "it's bedtime, not play time!" But then I realized that this is just how she likes to end her day - with some sweet play and cuddle time. It is just the sweetest thing and I love it so much. She loves to cuddle, which is really fun!

Last week we visited the doctor for Lauren's 9 month check up. She is still tall - in the 90th percentile for height. She is in the 50th percentile for weight. She has slimmed down a bit due to all the crawling she has been doing lately! She weighed in at 19.6 pounds last week, but I know she weighed just over 20 pounds a few weeks ago.

Bermuda Photos

Lauren Updates

Lauren will be 8 months old this weekend! New developments:

The only object that makes Lauren cry if you take it away from her is....her toothbrush! She loves to brush her teeth. We introduced a toothbrush about six weeks ago and help her brush her teeth every night before bath time. Now she likes to hold the toothbrush in her mouth herself, although she will let us help her move it around. When it comes time to put the toothbrush down, she gets very upset. It is so funny! We will remind her of this when she is older and doesn't like to brush her teeth!

Lauren is sitting up a lot more now. We had to lower her crib to the lowest setting because we often find her sitting in the crib and she is now starting to try to pull herself up sometimes.

She has started a weekly play date with Lydia's son John. John and his nanny Sabrina have been coming over once a week to play with Lauren and Barbara downstairs in our building's play room. It is so nice to have the play room as an extra place to go when it seems like she is ready for something different.

Lauren does not like to nap on the days when we are home with her. When Barbara is here, Lauren naps great and stays on her schedule. On the days when I am home with her, and on the weekends, Lauren will not nap on her regular schedule. I know we are doing all the same things that Barbara does because I've watched Barbara. I think Lauren just gets so excited to spend time with us. It can be challenging because she has a happier day when she naps!

Lauren sees our "toys" and wants one for herself. Dan, Barbara and I all have our cell phones with us all the time. I know Lauren notices this and one of her favorite toys is her little plastic phone that came with her activity center. She brings it with her around the house, just like all of us! She also seemed fascinated with my credit cards, so I gave her a Toys R Us rewards card that I never use and that is her own little "credit card." She is pretty attached to it.

Photos below were taken by Barbara today and last Thursday.