10 months of delight

 What Joy is doing: 

• Joy loves to stand. She has figured out how to stand up and then get back down and "swim" to the next destination. She has also started to move along the furniture. Watch out world! This last week she has barely fallen which is great because our apartment is all tile and when she falls she is pretty sad. She is always on the move, so there aren't as many pictures this month of her sitting with a cute smile :-) 

    

• Joy loves to feed herself but is super slow. I try and sneak in bites between her feeding herself.
  

   

• Joy has two bottom teeth and one top tooth. Her second top tooth is close to poking through. Teething is a very LONG, slow and painful process for Joy (and us). There were two weeks where her night time sleep was really disturbed by teething. 

• Everything still goes into her mouth still. 

• Joy has started giving us "kisses" (that are very wet and slobbery) and high fives. Also yesterday we distinctly heard her say 'Bye bye" as she waved to Brad.

 Eats

• Nursing:Joy still eats every 4 hours and once during the night. 
• Solid food: Joy loves to eat and likes to feed herself, especially her dinner meal. Her favorite combination is peas and brown rice. We are trying to teach her the sign for all done, so she doesn't SPRAY her food when she is full.
• Loves: pumpkin, carrots, green beans, apples, pears, avocado, bananas, peas, zucchini, egg yolks, oatmeal, brown rice, quinoa, flax seed, eggs, pasta, lentils, kiwi
• Verdict is still out on: Joy likes egg yolks to be scrambled and not hard boiled!
• Introducing this week:chicken
• Joy still can't hold the sippy cup herself.

Sleeps:

•  Night time: She still sleeps for 12 hours and goes to bed at 6pm. She sleeps in a sleep sack and thankfully took to that well.
• Naps: Joy is taking 2 naps a day. I am enjoying this new routine because it means we can get out a little more. However,  it is a little hard to meet friends for lunch dates because Joy naps during that time.

Weighs: Joy weighs 17+ Lbs. She is too wiggly in my homemade scale and I can't get an accurate reading. So I will weigh her on a regular scale at Grandma's house in a couple days. 

Likes:

*Bear (and sucking her thumb) ...I will stop writing about Bear because Joy's love for him (and her thumb) will last a life time :-) 

 

*Joy bored at home and needs at least one outing.

* She likes playing with her blocks and we find her by her books countless times during the day. We have to make sure that the silverware closet is closed because she LOVES to play in it. She also still loves the dog toys and I have to admit we do let her play with them from time to time. 

*She loves her bath and likes to play with her stacking cups (and is really interested in the shampoo bottles).

* Joy loves it when people on public transportation pay attention to her. She is constantly trying to touch them/pull their hair and get them to interact with her. So far everyone has been very obliging in entertaining Joy.  

*  Joy loves the Christmas tree and playing with a couple of the ornaments. We have the tree barricaded in the corner so she can't pull the whole thing down.

Dislikes: Joy is usually a happy baby, but we are realizing that she wears her emotions (both happy and sad) on her sleeve. When she is tired, or wants to get down from her high chair or is left in the room alone for a moment (while I go to the bathroom) she lets us know she is UNHAPPY.

Favorite event:Joy has gone to so many fun Christmas activities. She went to her first cookie exchange, countless Christmas parties (including a mom's group Christmas party). She also went to her friend Elena's birthday party. In less than a week she will get to see Grandma and Grandpa Condie in England!

We love you Joy and can't imagine our lives without you. You are precious and full of life and laughter. We are excited to have our first Christmas as a family.