{11 months}

This is Miss Pepper Mae's 11 month post... on time!  I can't believe she will be a year in one month.   Here are a few things we discovered about Pepper Mae this past month:

• She has discovered a new hobby... "wallowing".  We push the ottoman up to the sectional and put her on the couch,  and she goes to town,  just rolling around without a care in the world.  This will occupy her at least 30 minutes,  which is amazing for her age. 
• She has started hugging... for real.  I will be holding her and all of the sudden she will wrap both her arms around me and squeeze as hard as her little muscles will let her,  all along with the sound of her straining she is trying to hard.  So sweet.
• She has started mimicking us... coughing, stretching, you name it.
• She is still pretty weary about "strangers", so if you say something to her expect her to burst out in tears.  She lives by the motto you can look but you can't touch.
• She has discovered the drain in the tub... and how to open it.  I stick her in the tub and 3 minutes later she's let all the water out.
• You can tell she knows what your saying,  it's so crazy.  If I say let's read a book,  she goes and gets a book.  Babies catch on way sooner than most people think they do.
• It's nearly impossible to change her diaper at this point.  If you can change a moving object that refuses to lay on it's back... call me.  This girl has more interesting things on her agenda!
• The squeaking of the front door really freaks her out... I have no idea why.  One day I spent 15 minutes with her moving it back and forth showing her it was okay,  and it didn't help.
• Yes, we got her ears pierced...  and they are blingin'. {did I just say that?}
• She crawls around with "foe" pacifiers in her mouth.  One day it was the plastic syringe we give her her Zantac with,  and another day it was a little teething "toothbrush" with a handle.  We took the poor thing's pacifier away at 3 months so she has to make do. {see picture above}
• She still has the sweet curls on the back of her head... love love love her.

{i love messes}

Every baby has their messes,  and here are a couple of Pepper Mae's lately.  Since she has become mobile,  her toys just do not seem to suffice!  The top pictures are from her playing in the freezer {yes,  I let her play in the freezer when I'm cooking}.  She pulled out a container I had made of pureed blueberries... I turned my back to clean out her highchair and she opened it up and went to town on the frozen cube.  It ended in an early bath for the day and a belly full of blueberries!  The second pictures are of her getting into the toilet paper roll... seems to be a staple of every baby at some point!  Enjoy!

{on the menu}

This is what we have on the menu lately for breakfast, and she seems to love it!  Organic Blueberries, Raspberries, French Toast {Earth's Best Frozen Organic} and organic baby blueberry yogurt for dipping.  We are getting better at figuring out meals and hopefully she will continue to be a good eater! 

{ten months... and some change}

neck tickle and fell asleep on her daily evening walk

love her.

momma got a haircut... finally!

I'm a little late on this post but things have been quite crazy around the Ustad house!  We have been dealing in ear infections galore {with antibiotics that don't work}, along with, on my end, a crazy amount of photo sessions,  editing and packaging... and some stupid things like locking our baby in the car.  But that's not what this post is about... it's about Miss Pepper Mae being 10 months {well... 10 and 1/2 now} and what we have learned about her so far:

• She is completely obsessed with her "lamby" at this point.  She won't go to sleep without it and wakes up looking for it in the middle of the night.
• She has started to refuse all of my pureed food!  I need to donate the frozen cubes or something b/c this girl wants real food she can pick up herself.  We haven't introduced meats yet,  but everything else is game!  
• Self weaned herself off morning nap... 2 months early.  What can I say, she's never been one to like naps!
• She LIVES for her neck getting tickled.  We tickle her next while she's eating, playing, and while we are rocking her to sleep.  She will be sitting there and all of the sudden throw her head back for you to tickle her.  Over, and over, and over again.
• She walks on her walker like a freak, the other day she went around my moms pushing Jackson in his red/yellow fisher price car... he was enjoying every minute of the luxury!
• Her most current favorite book is Brown Bear, Brown Bear... she wakes up from her nap and immediately points at it from her crib wanting me to read it to her.
• She points at EVERYTHING.  
• She loves patty cake and grabs your hands and claps them for you.