Raina Grace: Birthday Party and One Year Update

I love her silly faces. She loved her little cake, but didn't have much luck blowing out the candle.

Well, it happened; Raina is one year old. It's been two months since her actual birthday, and I'm finally able to wrap my mind around the fact.

We have had such a crazy summer, and I wanted to include everyone in Raina's party, so we planned it for the first Sunday in August, when she was actually 13 months old, so that my little sister could be there. Of course, in the end Steve wasn't able to be there for her party, which made me so sad. But there's only so much you can do to try and plan ahead with his job, we're kind of used to it. I'm glad we got so many good pictures so he could see all of her adorable little expressions as she ate her little cake and opened presents. I was sure to get a few videos too throughout the party.

My family actually all came out and 'camped' in our driveway in their campers the night before, and then we all went to my church in the morning. It was so fun! After church we came home to get the party started, except poor Raina was already so ready for her nap by the time we got home. She made it through (just barely) and I laid her down in her crib as soon as we finished opening the last present. The rest of us enjoyed lunch and cake and each other's company at a pleasant, leisurely pace after that while she slept.

I went with the same cake I made for Riggs' first birthday, adding strawberry preserves to the frosting
for flavor and a hint of pink. She LOVED the cake and at way more than I thought she would! 

I asked my family to pass on buying her any toys, and they did a great job of getting her other useful items, like books, clothing and even her first money! Only my mom broke my 'rule' and got her a toy, but grandma's are allowed to break all the rules, haha.

Tearing up while reading her the book from Steve and I. Seriously, go find this book and I challenge you to read it (especially aloud!) without crying your eyes out.

The cake was a hit and we ended up with only one small slice left after the adults were done eating.

Watching Raina grow has been one of the most beautiful things I've ever experienced. She has such a sweet, happy spirit and her face just lights up a room when she smiles. No one else could have added what she has to our family, and both Steve and I are head-over-heels in love with everything about her.

At one she crawls at lightning speeds, stands for a few seconds on her own, cruises around furniture, and climbs everything. She will walk if we hold her hands, which her cousin Noah discovered. She's got six teeth with two more on the way, and has much more hair than her brother did at the same age. She's in between clothing sizes, with 12 month being nearly too small and 18 month being pretty loose and baggy. Size 4 honest or seventh generation diapers fit her now and probably will for a long time. Her growth really slowed down from 9-12 months, just like big brother. Here's her growth curve from year one:

weight
birth - 8 lbs 1 oz
4 months - 15.12 lbs
8 months - 20.08 lbs
12 months - 21.5 lbs

stature
birth - 19.5 in
4 months - 26 in
8 months - 28 in
12 months - 29 in

Other than mama and dadda, her very first 'real' word(s) was "oh wow!", which is pretty much just perfect. In the last two weeks, her speech has really picked up and she'll often surprise us by repeating something we say to her. She loves to give hugs and is a very snuggly baby. Organizing is her favorite, and she loves to take things out of their bin and then put them away again over and over.

Her and Riggs share a room, and during a typical night (6:30pm to 6:30am) she wakes 2-3 times to nurse then goes right back to sleep. I haven't done a single thing to encourage her to not nurse at these times, as I'm pretty ok with it for now. Riggs dropped all but one feeding on his own between 12 and 18 months and then was sleeping through the night by 24 months, and I just trust that she's follow the same general schedule.

Before you were born, my heart always knew I wanted to be a good parent to you. 
I imagined for months how our family would be, the things you would learn, the places we'd see.
What I couldn't have known was all that you'd be by you being you and giving to me!
You're my joy beyond joy to grow you, my child, my delight and my thankful, my adventure, my wild.
You are all this and more, a gift from the start. You are my blessing and love - you are my heart.
-Marianne Richmond; excerpt from You are my Heart board book

Raina Grace: nine month update

Is there anything sweeter in the world than a nine-month old baby? I just don't think so. They smile, they giggle and play. They eat and crawl and still sleep (hopefully) two times a day. They interact more than ever before and it's just glorious. Raina is all of these things, and I love her so very much. 

This month has been another full of milestones for our little 'chunk of joy' (Steve's favorite name for her haha) including eating solids, pulling up to stand, and sleeping her crib the entire night instead of with us. Each is met with joy and a little sorrow by her mother, whose heart aches to see her baby grow up so fast, yet swells with each new accomplishment she masters. 

She has two bottom teeth and as I type this just shy of her turning ten-months, no new teeth seem eager to make an appearance. She chews on everything in sight and unlike Riggs at the same age, everything goes in her mouth, from grass to rocks to tiny legos.

Luckily for me, Riggs is almost more attentive than I am when it comes to his baby sister and he notices usually right away when she puts something off-limits in her mouth. He's such a great big brother and for the most part is very sweet and kind to Raina.

She really started getting into solids about halfway through her ninth month, and now has worked up to quite a voracious appetite. Her favorite foods are strawberries, avocado, cottage cheese, and egg yolks, although she happily eats anything I've given her so far. She only breastfeeds about three times during the day, sometimes more or even less.

Unfortunately she makes up for it in the night, nursing typically 2-4 times throughout the night. I am totally comfortable with two times during her 12 hour sleep cycle, and if she gets more into a routine of only waking twice I probably won't do anything to night wean for quite a while. But lately it's been three times each night and last night it was four times, which really starts to affect how well I make it through the following day. We did just transition her to sleeping in her crib the entire night, rather than starting the night in there and then ending up in bed with us, so I want to give her a little time to see if her night waking gradually balances out on it's own.

At her nine-month appointment Raina measured 28.5 inches which puts her in the 75th% for length, 20lbs 3oz which is 76th% for weight, and her head measured 47cm which lands about in the 99th%. She wears size 4 diapers and probably will for quite a long time, as she is leaning out and her diapers and clothes are fitting differently with each passing week since she has become mobile. She still fits in many of her 6-12m clothes, but I fear they will have to be put away and replaced with all 12-18m sizes soon.

I am blessed beyond measure to have her in my life and everyday I squeeze her and hug her and kiss her neck until she squirms to get away. I try so hard to savor every moment of her first year and yet find that despite my efforts the time is slipping away more quickly than I even though possible.  The next update I do will be her twelve month update, and she will be moving onto her toddler years, forever leaving her babyhood behind.

Raina,
These last nine (nearly ten) months have been so full of love and light, and as the days pass I find that I only love you more and more. As my love grows, so does our relationship, and even as I mourn your passing babyhood, I look forward eagerly to all that yet stands before us in our lives together as mother and daughter. You are a precious gift that I cherish dearly and I hope that you always know that.
Love,
Mama

currently {vol. 9}

m a k i n g
I spent this week organizing the photos from 2014 on my computer...oh my gosh that was a lot of work. I'm resolved to do this monthly in 2015 so I don't have to spend two full days at the end of the year deleting, filing and backing up the years pictures. Now that they're all cleaned up, I'm working on our 2014 part two photo book. I use shutterfly to make photo books with all our family photos instead of printing them out and manually putting them in albums, it works great! I also print out my instagram photos in books using chatbooks. 

l i s t e n i n g   t o
The dryer and washer are both running, KSKA (PRI's The World, to be specific) is on the radio in the kitchen, and Riggs is telling me everything he's thinking about as I type this. The soundtrack of my life, haha.

h o p i n g
A lot of my houseplants desperately need to be repotted and I'm really hoping I can find some cheap but not hideous pots at the thrift store in Palmer. Maybe the subtitle for this should actually be dreaming as I've never had the best luck at this particularly thrift store.

r e a d i n g
Slowly making my way through David Starkey's Six Wives. Every paragraph in this book is packed with historical information making it nearly impossible to read when the kids are awake. Since I haven't been able to commit to any fictional books lately I decided to read some history instead and learning all the actual details about Henry VIII's wives and marriages to them is really hitting the spot for me. 

p u r p o s i n g
I took so many pictures of Riggs with my real camera when he was a baby (see my 365 projects from 2012 here and 2013 here) and I've been feeling a little bit guilty lately about how many I've taken of Raina (not very many). So I'm purposing to keep my camera out and handy so that I can grab it instead of my iphone when I want to capture a special moment in her life. I wish that I would I have started an actual 365 project with her from day one, but I didn't and I can't go back, and late is better than never, right? I might actually have a photo a day of her since she's been born, but definitely not using my real camera.

Here are a few I've taken lately that really capture who Raina right now:

and one of Riggs and Tutka, I couldn't leave them out...