Emma: 10 Months

I know I said last month that Emma figured out how to clap but now she is perfecting it. She claps when you ask her to or when anyone says "yay!" I forgot how much fun this age is as she gets more responsive! I'm still working to get a video of her clapping....

Emma is so, so, so close to crawling! I mean so close I don't know how she could get any closer. She hasn't had much drive to figure it out as her rolling mechanism has been so effective but she's spent the last month on her hands and knees rocking back and forth and doing planks. She did this on Wednesday (does it count?):

We've had a bit of a rocky month with breastfeeding. My milk supply has always been significantly better on one side and I think Emma finally got frustrated with it and decided the "dud" side was not worth her time. She started to refuse to eat on the left a few weeks back and, though I've been taking supplements, pumping and doing whatever I can to get her to latch on both sides (including the football position to make her thing she's on the "good side!"), I basically lost my supply on the left. I've never heard of this happening before so I'm not quite sure what to do about it other then press on, watch closely to make sure my good side picks up the slack and she continues follow her growth curve and then wean her completely at 1 year. I'd really like to make it through without formula! Unfortunately this whole ordeal has put a quite a damper on the joys of breastfeeding and it has become more a source of stress than joy I think for both of us! Sad. :( 

On a happier note, Emma has begun to nap!!!!!!!! I'm not sure what changed but she is finally sleeping for 1, often 2, sometimes 3 hours at naptime!! Hallelujah! It's been a challenging 10 months but I'm finally getting some pockets of time where both girls are asleep and I can get things done. Unfortunately these "things" are usually chores but I'm grateful nonetheless. Emma's morning nap is averaging ~1 1/2 in length (beginning around 8:30 AM) and then her afternoon naps is usually 2-2 1/2 hrs (1-3:30PM). I didn't realize how overtired she was until I finally experience her in a well-rested state. She actually wakes up from her naps HAPPY now and ready to play so that's wonderful.

I've started giving her 2 pacifiers when she sleeps--one for the mouth and one for her to hold. As soon as I started doing this, she basically stopped crying at nap times (distraction technique!) She loves banging the 2nd one on the crib rails and that's usually how I know she's awake--I hearing drumming upstairs. She is also sleeping through the night!!! She wakes between 5:45 and 6:30 AM for an early feed but then goes back down for another hour or 2. I've been getting up for the day after nursing her and enjoying some coffee and quiet time to myself before the whole house wakes. It's heavenly!

We spend lots of time at the park these days to burn off morning energy. Emma loves the swing almost as much as her big sister and I just love seeing her smile! She has also begun to dance when she hears music and likes to drum her hands to the beat.
Emma has begun to take some steps while hanging on to. She seems to get a kick out of being upright though she hasn't yet figured out how to pull herself up on anything on her own other than the laundry basket.

I just have to post another video of Emma's "sideways" trick. Now she likes to put on a full show while she sits in her high chair, do her sideways thing and then clapping for herself. She knows she's cute!