10 Months Old!

So in the midst of all the craziness of the past two weeks for us Tula Belle turned a whopping ten months old! I know, crazy right? And we have just been so busy around here that I haven't even had that much time to think about it, let alone write a blog update. When I posted her nine month update, she was just beginning to pull herself up on things. Now, almost 6 weeks later, she pulls up on everything and is definitely "cruising", moving from one piece of furniture to another, around the outside of her excersaucers and jumperoos, or even walking behind push toys that she has. The walking behind her push toy actually started when we were in Canada, I had bought her a little push car for there and as soon as we set her down behind it she took off like a natural. She loved that were were all geting so excited about it and kept lokng up at John and I for our reactions. She knows how, and loves to make us smile.

Another new trick Tula learned in Canada was to say the word "Aunt". It started one day when I was standing at the top of the stairs yelling down for Tiffany. I would yell "Tiff" and then a pause, waiting for a response, and Tula would yell "Aunt". It really just came from out of the blue. We went back and forth for a while, I would yell Tiff and she would tell Aunt, when I got got louder so would she. And when Tiff or Jenelle were around she seemed to get that they were "Aunt" and she would continually say it to them. Oh yeah, and still no sign of the Mama word. In fact, when I say Mama, she looks at me and says "Aunt". We have been home for almost a week and she is still babbling that word in most of her sentences, we will see when I head back to Canada tomorrow and she sees her Aunts if she still remembers to call them that.

Another big thing that happened this month for Tula is she finally gained weighed! At her weigh in this week she weighed 16 pounds, 13 ounces, almost a pound and a half more than her nine month weigh in. She sat at the 15 and a half pound mark for the last three months and I think everyone was starting to get a little worried, myself included. But I guess all is well and there probably is a good reason most people only see the Docs for a weigh in every three months. I am glad I track her weight for my own journals and memories, but it's hard when it's being watched that closely and nothing is changing. I am glad everything is fine and convinced it was all the Canadian foods that fattened her up. whatever it was, it worked and that's what is important. She is still on the small side, but at least she is back on the charts. I think she is in the 3rd percentile for her weight and age. Um...yay for being on the charts!

What else is new this month? Not really any more words, Dada and Aunt and a bunch more jibberish. Her speech seems to have hanged a bit in that she seems more "into" her stories. She will scream sometimes, or use her hands a little to talk. Even when she babbles to herself sometimes you can almost hear her differetn emotions or feelings in her tone. No new teeth, and frankly, I don't even think she is teething at all. I see no indications of any more popping through, I will keep you all posted if anything changes but I am thinking those top ones could still be a ways off.

Tula is still eating similarly to last month, she loves apples with cereal for breakfast, yogurt for lunch and sweet potatoes for dinner. We tried giving her Macaroni and Cheese for the first time this month and she wasn't having it. I have tried giving her saltine crackers as well and she doesn't like them. She seems to actually not like salty things, even cheese she is steering away from when it's on her tray, she will pick out the cucumbers or cheerios or whatever I put it with and leave just the cheese on the tray. I guess she isn't a salt fiend like me, which is probably a good thing for her actually. She loves sweet though. Oh yeah, and bread. Loves any kind of bread. And loves to go for breakfast with Mommy and Daddy and have a pancake. She will eat a whole one if I let her! I usually bring her her own breakfast and feed her while I wait for our food to come and just let her pick at things while we eat, but she cannot get enough of pancakes, and I think I have found the secret to being able to take her out for a three course meal. She would eat them for hours! And she hasn't even learned of or tasted syrup yet. I can only imagine how hooked she will be after that. That's a little ways off yet though. For now, she seems to like fairly bland foods, too sweet or any salt and she loses interest completely. She is still nursing about 4 times throughout the day and once through the night. Taking a trip to Canada messed us up in the sleep department so she is waking a little more than she was before we left, soemtimes two or three times, but we have been home 6 nights and already she is starting to get back into the swing of things so I am hoping after this trip home for Grandma's funeral that it will only take a few days for her to bounce back into the old routine. Oh yeah, speaking of the old routine, apparantly the other thing Tula decided in Canada was that she like to wake up at around 6ish and get a head start on the day. And she is doing that at home to. Yuck. We are really hoping to get things back to the way they were next week after we get settled at home, the 6 o'clock business is NOT for me!

Well I am off to bed, Tula and I fly out tomorrow at 10:15 and I need to be well rested for our long day of travel. It will be a quick trip to Canada for Grandma's funeral on Thursday, I will be heading home on Sunday afternoon (I think).

Here is one of my favorite pics so far of Tula as a ten month old. We were twins for the day with our white tanks, black leggings and shades. She really is my little buddy!