Trial By Sapphire

We hope you enjoyed the Thanksgiving weekend!




A comparison of the first and last photos shows how deceiving pictures can be! As if decorating for Christmas didn't already get a bit messy, we had a lot of baby stuff to contend with in the family room this year. Along with that sweet 18-pound love bug came another piece of furniture (the changing table), a jumper, a walker, and a lot of toys.

We decorated a bit early this year (two weeks ago!), so we could take some photos for our Christmas cards which I am so excited to mail out, thanks to my husband's wit. The record player spun with Christmas music while a football game was playing on mute, and we wore our Sunday best... pajamas. Pres is such a sponge these days that I thought she'd be more interested in the decorations. Hello! There's a tree with lights in the house! But no. She barely noticed it. Little Miss Sticky Fingers hasn't pulled down a single ornament. Thankfully, that made decorating really easy. She entertained herself with some boxes while we did our thing.

So this is where I say what every other first-time mom says: I'm not sure how we got here so quickly. When Presley was born in February, the thought of her first Christmas seemed so far away. I know she doesn't really get it yet, but it still feels a little bit more fun and special. I hope December doesn't fly by. May the rest of our month be merry and bright... and tidy and slow.

Hey! Remember me? Yeah, me either.

Radio silence on the blog means that the last month has been filled with exhaustion, work projects, a few falls down the rabbit hole of YouTube late at night, the longing to have friends in town who can babysit, ordering our Christmas cards, and what I have self-diagnosed as tendinitis in my right wrist.

But we're all still here and happy! And Presley is a-growin'!

It's really difficult to get a clear picture of her for these monthly photos now, because she can rock the glider by herself!

Measurements:

• She weighs 18 lbs., 2 oz. (50th percentile)
• She is 28 inches long. (75th percentile)
• Her head circumference is 17.5 inches. (75th percentile)
• She solidly fills out size 9 month clothes and is moving into 12 month clothes now.
• She wears size 3 diapers.  

Firsts:

• She celebrated her first Halloween as a mummy and a glow-in-the-dark skeleton.
• She took her first bath in the big tub on 11/6.
• She had her first taste of meat on 11/12 when she got into the cat food.
• She started clapping intentionally on 11/21. We say "Yaaaaaay!"
• She learned how to Eskimo kiss on 11/21.

Sleep:

• She usually sleeps from 7:30 PM to 6:30 AM.
• She sleeps through the night most nights. There have only been a handful of nights that she woke up and needed help going back to sleep. Two of those nights were because of teething.
• On the weekends, I have to "disappear" in the morning. Otherwise, she won't go down for her first nap. Because I'm so much fun, obviously! ;)
• She is a morning person. She'll stay in her crib for about 45 minutes in the morning to babble and play with her toys and books before she gives me the "OK, come get my now" whine.

Other Things of Note:

• Her top two teeth broke through on 10/31. That toothy grin is electric!
• The tune of the film intros on the TCM channel grabs her attention.
• She is frequently found analyzing her hands. She finds every single little piece of lint... and wants to eat it, of course.
• If a football game is on TV, she can't stop watching.
• We have a little thing we do every day. When we are at the bottom of the staircase, she puts her hand on the handrail ball. In a high-pitched cartoon voice, I say, "Hang on! Never let go, Jack! Never let go!" (Name that movie!) She laughs as I pull her away and spin around the room.
• She knows when she is doing something she shouldn't.  She does one of two things: She sits up straight and looks in our direction when she hears us say her name, or she locks eye contact but continues to move slowly (as if her eye contact will distract us).
• We play a game we call "Domino" after bath time. Once she is dressed, we sit her on our bed. We slam each hand down and chant "DOM... MIN..." and then we poke her chest and say "nooooo!" and she falls backward. Sometimes, we only pretend to poke her, and she still falls backward.
• She now does what I like to call "storyyelling." She babbles and then yells -- with much enthusiasm! Not out of frustration but joy. She yells when she is excited or just wants to vary the sounds she's making. She also knows that the kitchen and dining room have the best acoustics. ;) (Unfortunately for the cats, she gets really excited when they're near.)
• I love when she gets so excited that she smiles so big that her eyes squint, her shoulders raise up, and she hunches forward. So much joy and personality! 
• We are betting that she'll be walking by Christmas. We'll see!