Party of Five: One Year!

Gretchen is one year old! She is the first Brevetti child to make it through her first year of life without a pregnant and miserable mom!  But she's also the first Brevetti child to have had to share everything about her first year.  From her toys, to her room.  Gretchen doesn't know anything other than sharing, so maybe she'll grow up generous....?

If you've ever watched the show The Middle, you would be familiar with the character Sue Heck.  Sue Heck is the awkward-as-all-get-out middle kid who has no idea how weird she is.  She looks up to her "cool" older brother, and she does her own thing.  Before Joseph and I had kids, I told him that if I had a daughter, I wouldn't be sad if she turned out just like Sue Heck.  There's just something about her that is so admirable.

And I think that Gretchen will be like Sue Heck.

Gretchen is definitely her own person--and she's only one year old!  She is talkative.  She is funny--she cracks herself up.  She dances to make herself feel better.  She eats everything she's given without complaining.  She has the weirdest hair (that only gets weirder the longer it gets....).  She's easy to laugh at--with her crazy hair and ginormous cheeks, but she is gorgeous.  And she's silly enough that hopefully she'll be the likeable gorgeous (instead of the stuck-up kind).

Gretchen started walking this past month.  She's our earliest walker by 2 months!  She is starting to cut her two front teeth, and they're going to be giant (like Holt's were).  She loves to eat, and she also loves to let us know when she's done by feeding Huckerby (who has seemingly permanently nested below her high chair).  Gretchen has started to try to climb (oh, help us), and she is extremely determined.  I wouldn't put her in the stubborn category like Astrid, but she's definitely got an opinion.

I think that Gretchen is going to be a night owl (much like Holt).  She likes to dance around in her crib until she's too wobbly to stay up, then she crashes for the night.

I predict that Gretchen will be our most hilarious child (taking after her mother, of course).
I also predict that Gretchen will be our instigator.
I predict that she will get in the least amount of trouble because she is just so darn likable (and sneaky).
I tell Joseph that she must be more Italian than the other two, because she is louder and talks way more....and waves her arms around all the time.

Happy Birthday, Gretchen!  We love you!

Party of Five: Eleven Months

Gretchen is 11 months old!

In a lot of ways, she's still such a baby.  The other two are walking, talking, doing many things for (and by) themselves; and Gretchen still needs us to do it all for her.  In other ways, she is dominating the big-girl scene.

It is pretty likely that Gretchen will start walking this month.  She already takes as many as 4 steps before falling down to her hands and knees and crawling herself the rest of the way there.  She has great balance, and really enjoys bouncing up and down.

Gretchen has started to get her "Mommy Only" temperament this past month.  She used to be okay as long as she didn't see me....but now she starts screaming when she's handed over.  It's weird, though, because I think she only wants me when she's tired.  When she's happy, she only wants her daddy!

Gretchen is very verbal, and likes to vocalize.  Sometimes it's happy shrieks (she either learned them from Astrid, or taught Astrid how to do them!).  Other times, it's just a constant babble.  She's great with "da-da-da-da" and "ma-ma-ma-ma."  And I'm pretty sure she uses them correctly, too.  Then there's "ba-ba-ba-ba" and "bup-bup-bup," which seems to mean "Holt" and "Astrid." And you're going to think this is nuts, but I swear she says, "I did it!" and "Thank you!"

Gretchen has started recently showing us her temper.  If you take something away from her that she wanted to keep, she SCREAMS.  Like, body-shaking, face-reddening, tears-flowing, hair-raising SCREAMING.  One shrill syllable.  Over and over again, only pausing to take a breath.  She does this until you either give her back said thing, or somehow find a way to distract her (which doesn't always work).  And in a similar vein, she's good at letting you know when she doesn't want something, because she'll throw it down.

Her hair is getting longer, and more and more confusing.  This isn't what I was hoping for, because it's always been a mess....I was thinking length would be the answer!  We're still a ways away from any sort of .... resemblance to a reasonable hairdo on this girl.

Gretchen has her bottom front two teeth (barely--though they're getting taller!), and her top front teeth are breaking through.  She might be getting her two front teeth for Christmas!

Next month we will have another ONE year old! 

Party of Five: Ten Months

Gee whiz, it's hard to get on a computer to sit down to write this!  I feel like 2 days late is still acceptable, though!

 

Gretchen is 10 months!

This girl is getting sillier and sillier by the day.  Her hair looks like a big fluff-ball, and her alternating between squeals and bleating (seriously--she sounds like a baby goat) keep me constantly amused.  Gretchen thinks everything is funny; and if it's not funny, it's the most exciting thing in the world. 

Gretchen still just has the one tooth on the bottom.  It doesn't seem like any more are close to breaking through, but it doesn't stop her from eating!  She has finally gotten over whatever problems she previously had with swallowing and is doing a great job eating all sorts of foods.  I haven't let her feed herself as much as I did the other two, because--let's face it--I just don't want to clean her up!  I don't think she's going to struggle when we let her take the reigns--she'll find a way to get the food to her mouth if she wants it bad enough!  She's enjoyed yogurt, peanut butter and jelly, spaghetti, fish sticks, cheerios, coco puffs, crackers, and lots of other types of baby food.  Gretchen also loves stealing sips of sissy's milk or water when it's left unattended.


Gretchen has been pulling up on EVERYTHING! She even pulls up on my legs if I'm standing in one place for longer than 5 seconds.  She has also started crawling on all fours, instead of spelunking around the house.  Just last week, Gretchen started standing all on her own.  She also had a lot of fun sliding down the slide.

Gretchen still is only angry when she's hungry, tired, or needs her diaper changed, so in that respect she is pretty easy to figure out.  She is an early riser (typically up and ready to party between 6:15 and 6:30am) and 5 out of 7 nights she sleeps all night along.  There are still a couple nights a week she'll wake up needing changed, and then also wanting an entire bottle.

Gretchen is coming up on ONE, and if we ever thought Astrid was a handful, we had better look out!  Gretchen is strong-willed, strong, and learning very quickly how to keep up with the other two!

 Happy Ten Months, Gretchen Kay!

Party of Five: Nine Months

Gretchen is nine months old!  Such a big girl!  I went back recently and read both Holt's and Astrid's nine month blogs.  While I think that Gretchen overall is reminding me more of Holt than Astrid at this age, she is still very different (and obviously her own person)!

Gretchen is typically the first person awake (besides me) in the mornings, and she's definitely a morning person.  She wakes up with a full diaper, and a squawking grunt.  She's almost always ready for her morning Cheerios and to play around until Astrid wakes up next.  Sometimes, if I don't grab Gretchen in time, she wakes up Astrid, and when I come into their room Astrid is standing on the side of the crib.  The girls are both standing, facing each other, and squealing like they've got a secret.  It's pretty cute.

Gretchen doesn't quite have separation anxiety, but if she's tired (or hungry) and she sees me, I'm who she wants.  Otherwise, she doesn't seem to mind who has her.

Gretchen flaps her arms a lot, and uses her tongue a lot.  She gets us laughing and how much of a weirdo she can be.  She finally sprouted her very first tooth (bottom right) and I'm so very glad she did, because she had been VERY upset about it.  The other two didn't have as hard of a time with teething as she has (at least not for the very first ones).  She still isn't great at eating food with texture.  She can do cereal, or crackers, but if you spoonfeed her something that's not smooth, she gags and throws up everything she's eaten all day.  Still working on it!

Gretchen is pulling up on EVERYTHING.  And she is FAST.  She army crawls everywhere, and it doesn't matter what surface she's on.  She's definitely moving right along!

Astrid and Gretchen are thick as thieves, and it's really cute.  I am excited to see them grow together...and bracing myself for the fights that inevitably will come.

We always say that Astrid is trouble, and she's lucky she's so cute....but I think that Gretchen might possibly be more "spirited" than Astrid!  I already have to hold her down with my feet in her armpits to change her diapers.  And getting her dressed is a wrestling match!  Sometimes Joseph has to come in and help--it takes both of us to change her!  She does not like to stay in one place, that's for sure!

Happy 9 Months, Gretchen!  

Party of Five: Eight Months

The other day I was talking to Gretchen about how much of a big girl she was and I told her that in four more months she would be ONE!  And then I had to stop myself and re-evaluate how soon that actually is.  She is 2/3 of the way there!  I went to the sink to wash out her bottle and tried to reassure myself that it, indeed, wasn't as soon as I thought by reminding myself that she's already been four months twice--that's half as long as she's been alive--which is much longer than how quickly it seemed like "four months until you're one" felt. 

All that to say, the first year seems to go by much more quickly when I'm not wishing for an uncomfortable pregnancy to culminate!

Gretchen is finding her voice, and it's bossy!  She like to interrupt everyone with a belch-like squeal, followed by a hearty one-syllable chuckle when she feels like she has some input to the conversation at hand.  This bothers her brother, who often reprimands her with a forceful "STOP saying WORDS, Gretchen!"  Those smiles and chuckles that we previously had to work so hard for seem to just pop out, lately.

Gretchen still is showing zero signs of any teeth--but it's not slowing her down!  She loves her morning Cheerios, and has also taken to Kix.  She likes to try pieces of bread, cracker, and anything else she thinks looks better than what we've already given her.  She likes to hide her cereal down her shirt so it's like a surprise shower of confetti when we open her onsie to change her.  I'm not too worried about the no teeth, though--her body just must be putting all of that energy into her hair!

Gretchen has gone back to sleeping all night long, and she wakes up happy around 6:30 every morning.  She also has gotten really good at getting herself into the sitting position, so she spends a lot of time playing in her crib.  She seems to be "needing" her pacifier more than either Holt or Astrid did at this age, so we'll see what happens when she gets closer to one.  Both of them had pretty much ditched it by 9 months.  I'm thinking that since she hasn't broken any teeth yet, she likes the pressure on her gums.  I also am probably making that up.

Gretchen is really good at crawling, and she is very FAST!  She uses both arms and both legs to crawl on her belly, and I honestly think she takes advantage of how she can slide across the floor to get herself extra speed.  She looks like she's constantly spelunking.

Right now, Gretchen's favorite thing in the world is Astrid.  She can be in a screaming cry, and all Astrid has to do is climb out of bed, get up on the arm of the rocking chair, peek over the end of the crib and say, "Baah-tee!" (Astrid's way of saying "Gretchen"---yeah, we have no idea, either.) and no more tears!  Astrid usually gets in trouble for getting down out of her bed, which is hard to follow-through on because it's so darn cute watching her be such a good big sister!

 Gretchen just (like in the past 2 days) has started pulling herself up to standing in her crib.  I can't remember when the other two started doing that, but I don't feel like it was this early!  Uh Oh!  She can also say "ma-ma-ma-ma" and "da-da-da-da."  Both her brother and sister couldn't (or maybe wouldn't) say "ma-ma-ma" for several months after they were saying "da-da-da."  I feel like a super-star!

Happy Eight Months, Gretchen!