Chewing

I noticed baby girl has been chewing a lot/and hard on everything.  Her toys, towels, tubed things like sunscreen bottles, and now her new one is my face. Seriously....I thought she was coming in for a big open mouthed kiss when all of a sudden...CHOMP! Oh man did that hurt. I said OW, that hurt mama. That's what I tell her when she does something that hurts.....she's started hitting too when I pick her up. She starts slapping my skin on my neck/chest. Everytime she does that now I say OW, that hurts mama, and now put her down. Last night she threw a fit, but she has to learn.
anyway, the reason why she is chewing is.........teeth galore! I don't know why I don't realize it until I see more teeth. Poor baby has teeth breaking through skin all over her mouth. On the top and two places on the bottom.....one looks like a molar (or two). It looks painful because just the 4 corners are popped out of her gums, w/ more to go.

She also stood by herself w/out holding on to anything for several seconds on Sunday. We were playing on the carpet and I was lying next to her--she uses me as her personal jungle gym. Then she pulled up on the couch and simply let go.....and stood there for a few seconds. I clapped like a ridiculously proud mama.  Also yesterday when we were at the bath she normally leans over to look, but stood up holding on to the side--and let go again.  She stood there for a few second before sitting down.  Oh boy, we know what's coming next....WALKING!  Our nanny has been working w/ her on walking by holding on to her two hands and letting her 'walk' around.  Doesn't bother me, but I can say I'm not in a hurry for this one. I know she'll be able to do it soon enough. She's a fast crawler, but not too fast that I can't get her easily. Walking will be another story.

As for me, I am still waiting on all my results regarding the testing we did for my excessive sweating problem.  The blood work came back and it was all normal. That's good. We are still waiting on another test to come back. One thing that showed up was I am Vitamin D deficient. Not surprising since I spend zero time outdoors. It's too stinkin hot here in the summer. So, will get more advice from Dr. on what he wants to me do.

Not sure if I mentioned but I am trying to build my mom circle of friends. I went to SMC event recently where there were lots of moms, and lots of kids. From thinkers, to pregnant, to brand new baby, to toddlers, to almost teenager.  It was nice to meet them, but I honestly didn't get much quality time to spend chatting w/ them.  My baby was crawling everywhere and putting everything in her mouth, with me not far behind.  I tried to strike up a conversation w/ several of the moms.  Not sure I felt a 'click' w/any of them, per se, but I will go again if they have another event. I found that some of them knew each other for a long time, and some brand new to the group. But I didn't get the sense from any new ones like myself that they were looking to make new friends.
Also, the younger girls loved the babies, mine especially, and carried her and followed her all over. That was great, but sure enough my baby ended up getting sick....started w/ the runny nose, but ended up w/a 101.4 degree fever. She was burning up so I took her to the Dr. and sure enough she got a virus.  And guess who got to have it all this past weekend? Mama!
That's the one thing I just struggle w/ taking her places.....like to events, the y, whatever....seriously anytime I take her out she gets something....and her runny noses last forever.

I also joined a local mom club. Soon realized they don't have scheduled meet ups, and people use it mostly for classifieds/referrals.  I did spend one evening scouring the site and took down a ton of referrals--like contractors/handy  men, etc...so not a total waste. I even emailed one of the moms who posted she was looking for a play date. And wouldn't you know, she's moving!

I've just started looking around to grow my circle......can't say anything yet has been overly successful, but I certainly won't give up.  I am proud that I've stepped out to make connections because my preference is, well, to not do that.

The other big thing is I've got a first birthday to plan that will happen in a few weeks......I already have in mind this is going to be small, quiet, and intimate. We aren't going anywhere, we will have cake, we will have a few people, and for the heck of it, some birthday hats. I need to get on top of it, though, and at least send an evite or something.  I have big ideas about getting baby girl a super cute dress, but haven't even made it to the store yet.  Planning is not my forte.  I like to be a bit more 'flexible' shall we say.

I also rented the treadmill again. It got delivered this saturday. I haven't used it yet since I've been sick. But, I will get on that darn thing.  It was delivered the same time I had a mold inspector at the house. For some reason I've had terrible allergies that turns into asthma for the last few months. I now need to take allergy meds everyday. So, long story short no mold, but the guy recommended a complete vacuum of the 50 year old insulation in the attic, new insulation, and a whole house air filter.  sounds expensive.  However, can't do that until I get my A/C fixed i.e. rebalanced. It is cold in front bed, medium in baby, then warm in mine.
This is when I would like a husband to just handle this stuff.  It is a lot when you are a single mom, work full time, and have to take care of a house. Sheesh.
Just typing it all out is making me tired.

11 months--Tantrums, swimming, and a whole bunch of other stuff

I went to the Dr. today (IVF doctor)--he is a reproductive endocrinologist...no I didn't move up my consult for baby  #2, I'm just having such a hard time w/ the excessive sweating, fatigue, and not sleeping great (that's an ongoing issue). Boy o boy.  It just isn't normal.  Just the other day I had lunch w/ someone I hadn't seen in a long time.  I literally had to use the napkin to wipe my forehead off about 10 times during lunch--and then when I got up my pants were almost wet.  Yuck.  I do have the consult scheduled in late August, but I think it's important to get things sorted ahead of time w/ my body. He is initially thinking it's thyroid-related, but he ordered a lot of blood work/tests to see where we are at.  Some good news about the visit: all along the Dr. has been great, but the issue was his staff was a mess (remember took a year to get the insurance finally sorted and get my 1k refund?). Well, to my surprise the receptionist is no longer there?!! I was just so excited about this. She was pretty nasty and I thought about going elsewhere because I just didn't want to deal w/ that woman. So great news there. AND, there was a finance person who remembered me from last time (really smart/sweet) and came to give me a hug, asked about the baby, when for number 2.  What a difference!!  

Something that's been on my mind lately and I'm still lamenting over is the lack of 'community'. One thing I am doing, and am proud of, is going to a SMC get together. Never been to something like this, but I am hopeful I make some connections w/ the moms. 
More what I am lamenting over is this: I DO have good friends from my work circle. I am just not sure if my work circle friends think I don't need help because I don't ask? I was thinking these past few days......I can't remember the last time, well, ever, really.....that someone just e-mailed or called and said hey, let me watch the baby while you go do X, Y, Z.  I have a lot of friends that visit, but in terms of helping w/ the baby, not really so much. I'm not sure if I shouldn't expect that even because heck, most of them don't have babies, maybe don't relate? or maybe they don't want to, or maybe they think I have it under control and don't need any help.......not sure.  Part of me feels uncomfortable even thinking this way because in actuality, she is MY baby and I shouldn't rely on friends to help out. I think that's where it stings more that I don't have family around.  (One caveat is I do have one work friend that does help regularly by accompanying me w/baby to stores, plays w/ her while I get ready, etc..I tell her every time how much I appreciate her.)
Not sure even what to do about this, but clearly I need to grow my mom friend circle. I've read in other blogs how some SMC women rely on each other a lot.....like hey, you take my baby today, and I'll take your baby tomorrow.....I would love that kind of set up. Just  not sure how to find it yet.

I've also been on the hunt for daycare or preschool next year.  I think we are still okay w/ the nanny for now, but most of the places around me have a year wait-list.....so, that means if I even want to do something different, I have to check them out now.  I haven't been too impressed w/ the 2 preschools I went to.  They were in old converted bungalows (read small) and that bothers me a lot. It just seems so.....congested w/ kids!  Minimally I want to put her in preschool a few days a week when she is two. So, I have to keep looking. There is one daycare I want to check out for FT care because they are recommended highly....but also have a one year wait list.

On to baby girl.....one of her newest things (other than her 6th tooth at 11 months now) is TANTRUMS. Oh....my....word.....!! She now has an opinion on what she should be doing and where she wants to be.  If I take away something (like the soap she figured out how to open) melt-down city. Throws herself to the ground, screams, wiggles around.....I asked my nanny if this is normal this early, and she said it usually comes later.....lucky me!  The one that got me, though, is the camera. I was playing w/ it and looking at pics. She saw me and crawled over reaching for it.  I turned it off and gave it to her. She Screamed and threw it down. I was like, oh em gee, does she want it only if it's on? I took it back, turned it on, give it back to her.....magic, she was just fine. I thought no way, is this for real? so tested it again......sure enough, off=scream. on=fine.  Aside from the screaming, I think that's pretty impressive for a baby not even a year to discriminate something was different, she didn't like it, and communicate that. Maybe all babies do this, who knows.

On the flip side of the tantrums, she is doing some really cute stuff. For example, she uses me laying on the floor like her personal mountain. She crawls all over me and falls to the other side.  She also likes to "share" now.  She might have something in her mouth (remote, toy) and will take it out and try to put it in my mouth.  She's babbling constantly. She says babababababababa, gagagagagagagaga, mamamamamammama. Sometimes, just two syllables like mama. So technically it is a word, but she's not relating it to me yet, I don't think. She wears size 4 diapers and is eating the crawler baby food and still on formula. She's tasted real fruits like peach, grape, banana, strawberry. She also eats adult cereal pieces.  She doesn't like the babyfood spaghetti.

She's also been swimming about 3 times now. I can't really tell if she likes it. She doesn't cry, but she's not jumping up and down and giggling w/ pure glee. She'll go for about 30 minutes w/ me holding her, floating her, twirling her around, sitting on the steps....and then I can tell when she starts to be about done.

Here she is checking out the sunscreen ahead of time. The cap is on, BTW.

Here's what she thought of the hat when she first tried it on....um, no hat mama.

And finally, something else she did for the first time........her first ART PROJECT w/ the nanny.
I found this on the fridge today. So stinkin cute.