letters to julia: month ten

dear julia,

what a month it has been! you are getting around so well now. you crawl everywhere, you cruise on furniture and walls, you even climb the stairs!

you're still a fantastic eater. we are still breastfeeding (woohoo!) and other than that, you basically eat what we eat. i make some special meals for you (your current favorite is pasta with cheese, tuna, and peas). i have started buying you some toddler snacks (the earth's best brand elmo crackers and letter of the day cookies) and you love them. you also love the old standby, cheerios. anything you can feed yourself is right up your alley.

you love to play with our dog, henry. you know which toys are his and which are yours, and when you pick up his toys, you find him and hold his toy out to him. sometimes he ignores you, but sometimes he plays tug of war with you. you screech and giggle. it's so cute. you also like to feed henry from your plate at the table, and sometimes you'll even lean over the side of your chair and spit something out of your mouth for him to eat.

you got a new carseat this month! 

you are so beautiful, peanut ...

... and so funny.

i love you.

you love (love love love love love) to be naked.

you still love mirrors. there is a mirror in your closet that you can't get enough of. you like to play peek-a-boo around corners of the house and around doors. you like elmo, and much to my chagrin, you have figured out what a remote control does. you pick it up, press buttons, and look at the tv.

i love spending my time with you.

you're the best.

love you so much.

love,

mama

cloth diapers: snaps vs aplix

if you have ever bought a cloth diaper, you were probably faced with two options: snaps or aplix. when we first registered for cloth diapers, we chose snaps because i had heard that they wash up better and last longer. we liked the snaps. in february when we bought new diapers, we chose all aplix because we thought they would be easier (more like disposables) for dad, grandparents, etc. and they were easier, i guess. they were fine for a few months. then i grew to detest them.

they don't wash up well. everything gets caught in them. they stick to each other in the washing machine. and when your baby starts to crawl, they stick to the carpet. a few times our baby would be clear across the room and her diaper would be several feet behind her, stuck to the floor. they do their job -- they stick. but they stick to everything. the other problem is that the aplix fades out and they start to not stick to themselves anymore, which is the one thing they are supposed to stick to! frustrating, right?!

we sold all of our aplix. we bought all snaps. i'm much happier. i still feel like i get a great fit, they wash up better, they don't stick together, and they're not that difficult if someone else is changing your baby.

letters to julia: month nine

dear julia, 

you have made some huge strides this month. 

your favorite trick is going from crawling to sitting position. 

you are so proud of this accomplishment and you do it all the time, 

especially in your crib. 

you are so proud when we come in to get you and you're sitting up. 

 

a few days after mastering this, you started to pull yourself up to a stand in your crib.

you did it like it was nothing -- "no big deal, mama, i got this."

now you find different things around the house to pull yourself up on. 

it makes you so happy, julia.

you have recently noticed things on ceilings.

when we walk into a church or another room or building with a unique or ornate ceiling,

your eyes go straight up and you stare in wonder. 

you have also started to reach for the decals that daddy hung around your crib. 

we went to the zoo with grandma, grandpa and aunt becky.

the fish are still your favorite.

you have started to get very uninterested in foods that we feed you.

you want to feed yourself.

most things you get now are cut into bite size pieces for you

and you eat everything.

you're a great eater.

when you are eating and something falls out of your mouth,

you quickly put the back of your hand to your mouth to push it back in.

it's pretty adorable.

you have had lots of fun with toys this month.

you are becoming a lot more playful now that you're able to get around a lot better.

 

you got a little cold that turned into bronchiolitis. 

we have to give you breathing treatments, 

but you are feeling a lot better than you were.

you're so much fun.

every day with you is an adventure.

we love you so much.

love,

mama

my take on attachment parenting

there has been a lot in the news lately about attachment parenting. is it helpful, harmful, bizarre, the "new normal," even dangerous? here are my thoughts. 

we (at almost 9 months) are still breastfeeding. julia has three meals per day, nurses about five times per day, and has never had formula. we cloth diaper, we baby wear, and we don't let our child "cry it out."
the reason i have chosen these parenting practices is, i think, out of respect for my daughter.

yes, we breastfeed to save money, but it's also the healthier option for both of us. i want to eat healthy and i want my children to eat healthy, so i choose to breastfeed. as for her solid foods, i try everything before i give it to her because if i wouldn't eat it, why would i make my child eat it?

i wouldn't want to sit in a plasticky, papery diaper for hours on end. i wouldn't want diaper rash. given the choice, i would choose to wear cloth over plastic -- who wouldn't? so i do the same for my child's diapers.

babywearing is one of my favorite parts of being a mother. i love to snuggle my baby close whether we are on a walk through our neighborhood, at a park, or just doing things around the house. i would hold my baby all day if i could and babywearing helps me get one step closer to that. it is also very convenient in crowded places or places with uneven pavement where a stroller wouldn't be beneficial.

i wouldn't want someone to put me in a bed that i couldn't escape from and let me cry and scream until i was red in the face, sweating, soaking with tears and exhausted because they "knew what was best for me." we don't do that with our daughter.

a big part of attachment parenting is cosleeping. we do not and never have shared a bed with our child. we co-slept for the first three months of her life to better facilitate nighttime feedings, but then she moved to her crib. we do this for us, for our safety and for julia's, and we think everyone gets a better night sleep if julia is in her own room.

to me, so many aspects of attachment parenting just seem like parenting to me. they come naturally to me, and it makes it more enjoyable to be a parent.

letters to julia: month eight

dear julia,

my sweet girl. eight months seems so close to twelve months. please slow down.

at the very beginning of the month (you were like, 7 months and one day old) your bottom left tooth came through.
the next day, your bottom right one came through.

 this month we spent three weeks at the beach. we went with friends, mama's family, and daddy's family. you loved seeing everyone and everyone loved seeing you. you were such a good girl in the car, and you made it so much fun.

you played in the sand and daddy even took you in the ocean a few times. (you were kind of intimidated by it. i don't blame you.)

 after the beach, we went to washington dc for a few days. you got a whirlwind tour of arlington cemetery, a few monuments, a few smithsonians and a few metro rides.

 we also went to the great nurse-in on the lawn of the capitol and nursed with 600 other mamas and babies to help set a world record. (we did. over 8000 mama/baby pairs nationwide.)

as soon as we got home, you started moving. you're EVERYWHERE. yes, you were "mobile" last month, but this month you have perfected your army crawl. we have to put baby gates up or you end up crawling into the laundry room before we even realize you're gone. you're mighty quick and mighty pleased with yourself.

 

i started watching other children at our house last week. you're still trying to figure out what's going on, but you love it. you always smile when you see the other babies. you study them hard and are learning so much from them.

yes, this is mama's job

julia, you're so much fun. you're really developing a personality. you love to squeal, especially in public because of the reactions you get from other people. you're an observer, a people watcher. 

we love you so much, pipsqueak.

love,

mama

letters to julia: month seven

dear julia,

i say this every month, but i can't believe how much you've grown.

you're now seven months old.

you are mobile.

you aren't quite crawling

(even though you want to)

but you roll everywhere.

you lay on your belly and spin in circles.

you're almost clapping.

you have a cool new dance move where you put your hands together

and move them up and down.

you've eaten a lot of new foods and you like everything except peas.

(nobody can blame you.)

your two bottom teeth are coming in and that makes you pretty uncomfortable sometimes.

we have been swimming in pools, lakes, and the ocean this month.

you like to splash but you don't like waves.

we also watched fireworks this month,

and you were enthralled by them.

the other day we drove eleven hours in the car to raleigh, north carolina

and you were so well behaved. we couldn't believe it.

you hardly cried at all.

you got your first taste of sand and saltwater.

 we are so blessed to have you, julia. we love you so much.

love,

mama