Pirate Queen Deia

Luke Shoptaw turned 1 and had a pirate party in Orange. Deia embraced the theme and wore a pirate dress, a bandana and sported a new "mom" tattoo on her arm. Love costume parties!

9 Month Stats

20.10 lbs and 29 inches! 90% in height and 80% in weight. The doc found her well and sweet. We are going to add in lunch now and will try to ease her into crib naps slowly and kindly, no more sleep training...too brutal and it's been long enough so we don't need the quick fix. Great health, great progress. Yay!

9 Months Old!

Deia is now 3 short months shy of a year.  Whaaat! In the last month she has learned to crawl efficiently on all fours, crawl up steps, pull herself up to standing on furniture and people and now can stand while holding on with only one hand! One day we woke up and there she was, standing in her crib! It's so damn adorable to see her little face above the slats, smiling when we come to pick her up. We have babyproofed the house...all outlets covered, corners padded, drawers and toilets latched, pieces of furniture moved out and stored, the living room a total playland and an ugly and absolutely necessary pool fence is up. Deia still naps three times a day and still in her stroller or in the car. We are currently working on breaking that habit. It's been great to be on the go-go-go, until now. Mommy needs a break from 1-3 walks per day in this summer heat. Our baby has slept through the night for 3 months now, peacefully falling asleep with her last bottle of the day. Tonight, we sleep train and I have never heard her cry like this. I know she is not hurt, just mad. But as I see her on the monitor, she has already taken off her pants! Oh boy. It's been 25 minutes and she is still complaining and stomping around. Don't know how long I will last!  Anyhow, she has been a joy to travel with.  We have been in Lake Arrowhead for 5 weekends this summer and are about to enjoy our final 2 weeks up there. She LOVES being in the lake and LOVES to sit at the waters edge and play with the sand. She actually gets a kick out of splashing water in her face! Deia is now on a steady diet of pureed yams, carrots, green and yellow squash, green beans, tomatoes, chicken and some cereal, fruit and/or yogurt on the side. She's not quite ready for the chunks of anything (cheerios, cheese, tofu etc) as little tastes make her gag and throw up so far. In time she'll get there. She is still saying mama and dada and says dada a lot more. Deia is quite the daddy's girl already. Her favorite song is Jump In The Line by Harry Belafonte. She dances at the drop of any beat, but her face lights up when you play that. She is beginning to enjoy being read to and I am thankful she'll finally sit long enough to get through a book! She still only has her 2 bottom teeth but is actively teething and I cannot see those suckers peeking through yet.... She just had her first weekend at home with tuti and tati and did fabulously! Though it took her a moment to warm up to me when we picked her up, she loooooved her daddy. But she made up for it the following day with tons of love and kisses for mami. Deia still hates having her clothes changed and prefers not to have her diaper changed too. She is amazing when we take her out and has many smiles to share with strangers. Deia's eyes shift from light blue to blue/green depending upon her mood and clothes :-) and her lips are candy pink. Her favorite game is trying to scare us and she let's out these little grunts and expects a frightened reaction. Deia has screamed so loud in some of her attempts that she makes herself crack up! And the savior of the month is a cube of ice in her mesh Nuby sac. Couldn't make it without those things!!!!!! 

Spitty Face

Sometimes Deia spits/blows bubbles because she can and because she thinks it's really funny. Other times she does it to communicate extreme frustration. It's hard not to laugh when she is upset and spitting all over the place, repeatedly...for up to 30 minutes sometimes!

Oh Boyz

Guess Deia likes being one of the boys, or she is already a HUGE flirt. Well, she is a little cutesy with the lil guys, and the grown up ones too! In this photo...from her right shoulder clockwise, Cole, Noah, Bronx, Jacob and Noah. Bronx kinda had his eye on her that day. They even held hands :-)

Toddle Tunes

We started a class called Toddle Tunes! It's a great music class for kids and Deia seemed to really love it! This week was a timely tribute to Michael Jackson and the guys replaced some of the words in the songs to make them child friendly. ...for example, "Don't Hop Till You Get Enough" was jammin when they brought out a ton of stuffed froggies! They had a whole band set up, we clapped and danced, played with tambourines and xylophones and then the babies got to test out a keyboard and bass guitar! Very cute and very wonderful for the moms too! 

Sleeping Beauty

Aaaah, the peace, the quiet...the mobility of her naps! Over 8 months and she will still only nap during the day in her stroller, the car, the Ergo or on a person. Try to put her in her crib, not gonna work out for ya. Though there are times when we are home when the extra hour with my hands free would be wonderful, I have to say, I have come to be thankful for her hatred of the crib during the day because it allows me to be somewhat flexible and spontaneous with our time. It's wonderful to take a long walk on the beach with her sleeping soundly in the pack and we both get to enjoy the fresh air. And it's nice to walk her to and from lunch and her snooze is fulfilled in the sunshine. Even when she has to rest on the pillow on my lap, I get to enjoy watching her dream and catch up on bad tv or return some emails. It's not so bad.  ....but one day it will change. No toddler is going to be resting on my body when they get to those 3-4 hour stretches!