12 Months Old

Dear Raye,

Well, girlie, you've gone and done it. You turned one a few days ago. It's just as hard to believe that you're one as it was when your first sister (and your second sister!) turned one. The time really does just fly. Being my third child you got a little bit of a different attitude from me than Lane did, or even Noel. With you I knew that it ("it" being any inconvenience or "hiccup" in our lives due to your infant-ness) wouldn't last forever and that I really could just roll with the punches for a year. And roll we did.



Raye, you're still the sweetest baby. You love attention and love to play peek-a-boo, be sung to (Itsy-Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle, etc.), and in general just have someone's attention. But generally speaking you're content with playing in the same room as someone else: you don't have to have their full and undivided attention, as much as you love that.



This month you got two of your molars. They're not all the way through yet but both of your top molars are at least part-way through, and I can tell that at least one of your bottom molars is on its way. You handle the whole teething thing like a champ, though, and are not usually very fussy. You are very drooly, though, and the front of your shirt is often wet these days.



You learned how to drink from a straw and while you can do it, you make a huge mess. It's like you suck in and then blow half the water that you just sucked in out. Your shirt ends up soaked anytime you drink from a straw. You're also eating almost everything. You've tried some strawberries now and you really like them, as long as they're soft enough for you to gum. You've also tried some rice cakes, many kinds of crackers, new veggies (cooked mushrooms), and some other things. I've lost track and honestly if you can gum it, you can have it, and usually you like it.



You've finally expressed some interest in walking and standing on your own! You're not walking yet but you can stand on your own for awhile (if you have something to do, like put things into something and take them out again) and love to walk if holding onto our fingers. It's mostly your favorite thing to do these days. And we've dropped you down to one nap a day in the past week and while you're a little grumpy in the mornings, overall you're doing well with the transition. These days you usually wake up around 6:30 or 7 and go to bed at 7:30 or 8, and nap at around noon for 2.5-3 hours.


Gotta love a baby in a bikini.

You're a jabber jaws and like to babble and make a whole lot of nonsense words and sounds. You can sign "all done" and "more," and once this month you actually said "aww done," but you haven't said it since. You love to crawl all over anyone who's in your way or in your space. You got a few new toys for your birthday that you really love: a radio thing that plays [real] music and some balls, and you got a touch-and-feel animals book that you really like. You love to destroy lego structures and to put things into baskets/buckets and to take them out again.


I actually can see a bit of me in you in this photo.

Raye, you're so fun and so sweet. You're content and joyful and a bottomless pit, acting like we never feed you. You love your sisters and your daddy and to pull books off shelves and to rifle through my purse. I love you and am so, so grateful for a whole year with you, and I look forward to many, many more.

I love you,
Mommy

11 Months Old

Dear Raye,

A few days ago you turned 11 months old. You'll be one soon, and I'm a little amazed at how quickly this year has gone by. Before I know it you'll be the five-year old in this house. But for now I'll just soak up your grins and giggles.



This month you got three teeth, all on the top. The last one gave you a lot of trouble for awhile but it finally came through and you were almost immediately happier. I think you might be starting to cut some molars already, though, because you're still pulling on your ears and have some pretty nasty diapers, as seems to be par for the course with teething Scarbrough babies. But you're pretty cute for now with your front eight. You bite your tongue on accident quite frequently which is oh-so-sad and yet oh-so-funny at the same time.


Showin' off the chompers. And the haircut.

This month I finally had to give you a little haircut. Your bangs were just getting a little out of control, long and stringy, so I let you lie down on the floor and hold onto something forbidden while I snipped them a bit. It's made for a lot less food in your hair these days.



Speaking of food, you're a fan. Seriously, you eat a ton. We can't figure out where you put it all, but you are hungry. You've had just about everything except citrus fruits, nuts, honey, and obviously anything really sweet (although you have had things like waffles with a bit of syrup, applesauce, sweet breads, etc.). You drink really well from a cup and we're working on getting you to drink from a straw, but you're not very interested yet. We'll be traveling next week and I'm really hoping you figure it out before then, but if not...I guess I'll just have to tote a plastic cup around with us.



Raye, you weaned yourself this month and it made me really sad. You bit me once and I gasped and told you "NO!" and you went on strike for a day. And then the next time you bit me and I gasped you just decided you were done. You haven't nursed since. I would have been more okay with the whole thing if you had given me some indication that you were about done, but to go cold turkey on me...really not cool, girl. I've upped your daily cheese and yogurt intake and have let you go straight to cow's milk. You don't seem to love it, but you get probably 8-12 ounces in a day so far, so we'll take it. I tried to give you a bottle and you would have nothing to do with it, so it kind of limited my options, you know?



You are a crawling machine these days. You're fast. And you're quick at cruising, too, but you have no interest in walking at all. If I try to hold your hands and let you walk you just drop to your bottom, or arch your back and push your tummy forward so that you're forced to your knees. I'm quite curious as to when you actually will take interest in trying to walk, because as of now, your interest level is about .05%. Or practically non-existent.



You're into all 12-month clothes these days and you hate shoes, which is alright since you don't need to wear them often, but is really annoying when they need to stay on and you're doing everything you can to kick them off. I guess it's a good thing you're not interested in walking yet, because with walking comes...you guessed it: shoes. So maybe you'll decide you like shoes about the time you want to walk. And then we'll have a winning combination on our hands.



You figured out how to stick out your tongue this month, and you love to stick it out, especially if someone else sticks theirs out at you. You also love to clap. You clap at the right point in "pat-a-cake" and if someone says "yay!" You wave bye-bye anytime someone says "bye-bye," and sometimes for "hi," too. And sometimes you look at us and just throw both of your hands up in the air with a big grin. It's super cute. You finally said "mama" this month and say it frequently now, but it's usually when you're crying about something and want me to rescue you. You're also doing lots of babbling and spitting, much like last month. You're just a cutie-pie, all around.



Raye, we love you so much. You're so laid-back and content to crawl around and play with whatever you can get your hands on. You love to be tickled and played with and give us great bit laughs and grins when we play one-on-one with you, but you also enjoy playing alone in the room with someone else or getting into whatever your sisters are playing with. You're easy-going and content if your diaper is dry and your belly is full. You sleep all night and take 1-2 good naps each day. I love you, sweetie, and am so grateful for you.

Love,
Mommy

10 Months Old

Dear Raye,

This has been a big month for you. For starters, you're crawling for real now, meaning you prefer to "really" crawl over the army crawl. You're getting pretty fast, too. You can pull yourself up to standing and you've started cruising along the furniture. You've also stood on your own a couple of times for just a few seconds.



You've tried a lot of new foods this month. Honestly, a bit of it is "third child syndrome," meaning that I'm not quite so worried about what "they" say you can have. I still usually check the books (sometimes after the fact...) to make sure your tummy will be ok, but I'm not so concerned with only giving you one new food at a time since nobody else in our family has allergies. So if it's small enough and soft enough, you've tried it. You've tried corn and black beans, mushrooms, raisins and dried cranberries. You've eaten casseroles and baked oatmeal, chicken noodle soup, pizza and grilled cheese sandwiches. You love bananas and plain yogurt and applesauce. There are actually very few foods that you don't like and I think at mealtime you generally eat more than Noel does, although she has more snacks than you throughout the day. Often when we're feeding you you'll scream for a bite until we get it in your mouth and then you'll be quiet while chewing and start screaming when you're ready for the next bite. You also started drinking water from a cup this month and you're doing pretty well at not letting too much dribble out your bottom lip.


Playing in your sisters' "tent."

You are babbling up a storm these days. Your favorite thing to say seems to be "dadadada" but you also throw in a good bit of "babababa" and general spitting and silly noises. You are dabbling in 12-month clothes, although a lot of your 9-month things still fit. Generally you're wearing 9-month tops and 12-month pants, because otherwise they tend to gather around your knees because they're just not quite long enough to stay down.

You also got some teeth this month. You got your fourth bottom tooth and your first top tooth. It's so funny that you have all four front bottom teeth and just that top middle tooth. Your smile is so cute with all those teeth!


Your favorite place in the kitchen: the napkins and plastic bowls. These end up all over the floor multiple times a day.

You're still nursing and generally I nurse you about three times a day. You might get another feeding in the middle of the night if you're up, but during the day it's three times. You were sleeping all night and doing really well until you started getting all these teeth and now you frequently wake up at least once a night. You love your paci and would probably tote it around all day long if I let you, but instead you only get it when you're sleeping, unless you're very upset about something and then I'll let you have it for a minute to help you calm down.


Lovin' on Noel.

You love peek-a-boo and you love for someone to get on their hands and knees and "get" you, meaning you crawl straight toward them with a big smile on your face instead of away from them. You love to knock over block towers, and you love to pull yourself up on the toy bins in the girls' room and dig stuff out, throwing it on the floor after you've chewed on it for a few seconds. You love to crawl up on Noel's bed. You still chase after the vacuum cleaner. You're hilarious in the bathtub, flipping over onto your belly to crawl around in the tub, getting onto your knees to get toys off the side of the tub, and just in general acting like a little fish. I don't remember Lane or Noel being so crazy in the bathtub and while it's cute, it stresses me out just a little that you're going to swallow huge mouthfuls of water or bonk your head on the side of the tub. But you have fun so I just keep a close eye on you (and usually a hand, too).



Raye, you are such a sweetie. We have so much fun with you and love watching your personality develop. I'm so glad you're a part of our family.

Love,
Mommy

9 Months Old

Dear Raye,

A few days ago you turned nine months old. This has been a fun month. Well, let's face it: all months are fun these days!

This month you started crawling for real. You still don't do it often, as you get in a hurry to go somewhere and drop to your belly to army crawl there quickly. You actually crawl most often to just go a foot or two, or when you're about ready to pull up on something or crawl over it. You really love to crawl up onto Noel's bed, probably because it's hidden most of the time. You have started pulling up onto things...the couch, chairs, the step stool, using our knees and shirts and hair to pull yourself to standing. It's pretty cute. You don't like to stand for very long unless you're on the rug, usually because your feet start slipping out from under you, I think. But you're getting more mobile and it's fun.



You went to the doctor this month and got your 6-month immunizations. Actually maybe it was your 4-month immunizations. At any rate, you got some shots. You were not a fan, of course, but you only cried for about a minute afterwards and then were happy as a clam again. You weigh 8.4 kilos and are 71 centimeters long. You're completely in 9-month clothing.

You got another tooth this month, but you apparently like to do things differently. So instead of getting one of your top teeth like is "normal," you got another tooth on the bottom. So now you have three teeth on bottom and none on top. We keep thinking you're going to get some of those top teeth because you're a little grumpy sometimes, but they're still not coming in.



You love to dance and bounce, to knock over block towers, and to crawl into the bathroom and get into the basket that has the bath toys in it. You love, love, LOVE your sisters. You love to smack us on the head or in the face and practically bang your face into ours in excitement to give us kisses. You love the refrigerator and anything loud: if you hear the vacuum cleaner or the blender or blow dryer you will come crawling into that room to listen to it. If it's the vacuum cleaner making all the noise you will crawl to it and wrap yourself all over it, smacking it and pulling on the cord and hitting the buttons. It's so funny that most babies are scared to death of these things, but you love them. You also love to take a bath, although honestly you usually just get a really quick one. You like to flip over onto your belly and try to crawl around, and it's just a lot of work to keep a slippery wet baby still in the tub, so you don't usually get to play for long. You started clapping this month and babbling... Usually you babble, "dadadadada" or "bababababa." I'm just waiting on you to say "mama," but you just haven't yet.



You tried some new foods this month and pretty much like them all: kiwi, cheese, bread, pasta, crackers, even a little chicken. Honestly I'm losing track of what you've tried because I'm just letting you eat what we're eating or just giving you the few staples that I keep in the fridge for you. You really like wheat products and love noodles with parmesan cheese on them. You also really like oatmeal mixed with applesauce and you like plain yogurt. Those seem to be your favorites these days, I think because your gums are bothering you. Your pincer grasp is getting better and sometimes all you want to do is feed yourself while other times all you want is someone to feed you. You're funny like that. You're also still nursing about four times in a 24-hour period, sometimes more but never less.



You're a pretty good sleeper for us, although you've had a rough time the past few nights. You're a little congested so you've been waking up at least once, if not twice a night. But generally you take two naps a day, usually around 11:30-1 and 3:30-5. You wake up in the morning anytime between 6 and 9, and your nap schedule kind of flexes around that, and you go to bed between 7-8, depending on how the rest of the day went. I'm so grateful that you seem to be able to roll with the schedule changes and as long as you're not up for more than 3-3.5 hours, you'll sleep just fine without it throwing you off too much.



Raye, you're such a joy and bring so many smiles to our faces every day! I love you so much.

Mommy

8 Months Old

Dear Raye,

On my 35th birthday you turned eight months old. It's always hard to believe that you're already as old as you are. It seems like you were born yesterday. And it seems like a lifetime ago, too, if I'm honest. It's been a long year. =)



This month has been a fun one. You have started army crawling and are pretty fast at it. You've gotten up on all fours and gone forward a "step" or two, but you always drop to your belly to go faster and just army crawl wherever you want to go. I don't think it helps you any that we don't have many carpets and you slide on the floors when wearing pants, which you usually do since, hey, it's winter. But you can get wherever you want to go. You've also started climbing a bit, or pulling yourself onto things. You can get all the way on the girls' small trampoline, into Noel's bed, or pull yourself up to sitting on your knees. You can sit for long periods of time and never fall anymore, but can scoot yourself forward from a sitting position until you're on your belly so you can crawl places.



This month you also started to eat more foods. I still don't have tons of time to cook for you, but you usually eat scrambled eggs and yogurt for breakfast, some oatmeal mixed with applesauce and some squash for lunch, and some of a banana and something else for dinner. And thrown in the day will be some other food that I've prepared for the rest of us (carrots, potatoes, rice, etc.) or some other soft fruit that we have on hand. Your diet is limited but you don't seem to care. You've also started to feed yourself some, but honestly most of it ends up on the floor. You prefer to use your left hand right now, too, to feed yourself.



You're still sleeping well, love your sisters, love to be tickled, love being sung to and danced with, and love to chew on things. You're a great baby, and I love you and am so thankful for you.

Love,
Mommy

7 Months Old

Dear Raye,

Today you are seven months old. You're getting bigger so quickly, already trying to get into everything, and it reminds me how quickly you'll really be a toddler and into everything. I need to soak up your baby-ness for as long as it lasts!



This month your nighttime sleep has gotten better. Most nights you sleep from 7 when I nurse you until around 6, when I nurse you again and you go back to sleep until 8 or 9, or sometimes you'd sleep even longer but I have to go to class five days a week so I have to wake you. Sometimes you wake in the middle of the night, sometimes you wake around 10:30, but overall you are sleeping all night and I am very grateful. You're taking two naps a day and I think you'd be up for a third catnap, but honestly I just can't make it work, so you just get the two naps. I think that's part of the reason you sleep so late in the mornings.



You are still nursing like a champ, and eating like one, too. You like oats mixed with applesauce, plain yogurt, bananas and pears, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin. You've tried carrots a few times but just off of my plate, and I let you try potatoes once but you did not like them at all. Your poor face was hilarious. I also let you try some scrambled egg yolk the other day but once again, you were not a fan. I'm excited to let you try more foods this month, as you seem to enjoy eating! You don't seem too keen on trying to feed yourself yet, but I'm ok with that. Less mess for me to clean up off the floor for now!



This month you got your two bottom teeth. You got one of them almost a month ago and the other about two weeks later. You were a bit of a grump from teething but really you did pretty well. You're still pulling on your ears some, though, so it makes me wonder if your top teeth are on their way in.

You are sitting up on your own well, although we don't leave you sitting up because you still tend to topple over after awhile. You get yourself up on all fours and rock sometimes but always drop to your belly to creep forward. You're scooting yourself around and remind me of an inchworm. Today you scooted yourself over to the Christmas tree and were feeling the branches. You like to sit up and bash squeaky toys on the floor and listen to them squeak. You, of course, put everything in your mouth, but you do seem to really like fabric and soft toys in particular.



You love to be thrown in the air and caught, and will usually reward whoever is throwing you with a big laugh when they catch you. You love the "ba-zoomba dance "that I've done with you now and your sisters when they were babies, too. You are ticklish on your ribs, and love to get kisses on your neck. You love to watch whoever is in the room with you and are easily distracted by anyone else around. You love peekaboo and grin really big and sometimes squeal when we play it with you. You love to play with my hair and are always trying to grab it when you're nursing.


Always checking out what your sisters are doing.

You love your sisters and love to watch them. Lane loves to make you laugh, to squeal at you and make silly sounds and faces to get you to laugh. Noel always wants to hold you and to "pet" you. They both love you so much, and you love them, too. I can't wait until you can all play together.

I love you, Raye, and am so grateful for you. I'm so grateful for your easy-going personality and your ever-present smile.

Love,
Mommy

6 Months Old

Dear Raye,

Three days ago you turned six months old, the big half-a-year. Time sure does fly. Every time I start to get frustrated that you're not on more of a schedule yet I remind myself that another six months from now you'll probably be sleeping longer at night, you'll only be taking two naps a day, and so on. I'm much less stressed out about your loosey-goosey schedule than I would have been with Lane or Noel. Which is nice.

Snoozin' on the bus ride to Georgia.

Raye, you are such a sweetheart. You're still quite the happy and content baby, but within the last week you've started to get your two bottom front teeth, so they're giving you some trouble. You've been a little cranky about that, but overall you're still happy. You're still sleeping alright at night...I'm ready for you to sleep past 4 or 5 in the morning, but I feel bad for you because I know that your teeth are bothering you, so I usually cave and feed you and then you go back to sleep. You do usually at least sleep straight through until that early morning feeding, though, so I'm grateful for that. You're nursing about six times a day, still, but you're content so I'm not worrying about it even though I'd love to work you down to four or five. 

This month we started feeding you more solids and you are a fan. You do not like the texture (at least I'm assuming it's the texture) of the rice cereal here. You pretty much don't like anything pureed. So instead I'm cooking things in small chunks and you're chowing down. You love zucchini, bananas, and avocado. You'll eat plain yogurt and homemade oat cereal but your face is so funny because it's obvious you're not really a fan. You're still pretty slow at eating so I feel like you spend most of your day either sleeping or eating, because you still want to eat, it just takes you forever to gum things since you don't like them pureed.

Chillin' in Tbilisi.

This month you got another stamp in your passport as we traveled to Georgia. We took a bus and you did great. You were a trooper the whole trip, taking naps while I carried you in the Ergo and missing out on most of Tbilisi, but you didn't seem to care too much. Your infected hangnail is much better now and while we're still waiting on the fingernail to grow out, you're not sucking on your fingers/thumb much anymore (you prefer the paci, yay!) so you're not having to wear a sock on your hand 24/7.

You also have started to sit up a bit on your own but are not too good at it yet. You are usually trying to look at something so end up toppling over. But you can sit up well in your highchair and do well if someone is sitting behind you. You are also pushing yourself up into a "girl" pushup position but you're not trying to push yourself around much yet. I think it has to do mostly with the fact that we have wood floors and you're wearing pants because it's cold, so you just end up sliding around. You push yourself up much more when you're in the living room on our only rug. You roll all over the place, but you prefer to be on your tummy and to play on your tummy. You like to look at the world, chew on your toys, and sometimes yell at them.

You are such a sweetie-pie, Raye. We all love you so much and we all love to see you smile and interact with us. I'm so excited to see your personality develop even more and to see your relationship with your sisters deepen. You will surely all be thick as thieves.

I love you, Raye, and am so grateful for you.

Love,

Mommy

5 Months Old

Dear Raye,

Another month has gone by and you'll be half-a-year old before I know it. Five months...it's gone so quickly. You are seriously the most chill and relaxed baby ever. And everyone says so.

This month has been a fun one as you've started vocalizing and playing with toys even more. I don't remember when your first laugh was, but you've been doing it for awhile now. You love for us to "get" your neck or your ribs and will snicker and laugh. You love it when we talk "baby talk" to you and will just grin and coo and try to touch our faces. You found your feet and have put them in your mouth a few times, but mostly you just like to grab them and look at them. You also like to examine your hand and then slowly bring it to your mouth to chew on.



You're still sucking on your thumb or fingers but will take the paci if you can keep it in. You're just not going looking for it after it's fallen out. Hopefully soon you'll actually prefer it and keep your fingers out of your mouth. You got a hangnail this month that got infected and now we're having to keep a couple of socks taped to your hand to keep it dry so it can heal. It's like torture to you because you love to have your hands in your mouth! But it's looking better and hopefully in another couple of weeks you won't need to keep the socks on your hand.

I weighed you this month and you weigh 16 pounds. Sixteen! But you've only gained a pound since we left America two months ago, so I'm glad to see that your weight gain is slowing down and that maybe the clothes we have for you for this winter will actually fit you this winter!



This month we gave you some rice and oat cereal, but you were definitely not a fan of them. In fact, you blow raspberries to spit them out. So I think we'll just give it another few weeks before we try again, because after four tries of rice and four tries of oats, you were still just spitting them out. I thought that maybe you were needing some more calories because you kept waking up in the middle of the night. But in the end we decided to let you cry it out for a few nights to see if it helped, and lo and behold, it did. Now you go to bed around 7 and sleep until 5 or 6, and I feed you once at around 10. You might wake up and cry for a few minutes in the middle of the night but for the most part you are sleeping much better. And we all feel better and more rested because of it.


Your first taste of rice cereal.

You are a drooler and a spitter. You spit up so much it's amazing to me. I think it's because you prefer to be on your tummy now and the pressure from the floor on your tummy just pushes the milk back up and out. I'm excited for you to learn how to sit up so that maybe you don't spit up as much. And you love to put everything in your mouth...toys, fingers, burp cloths, all of it. So there's a lot of drool going on around here, too.



Raye, you are so sweet. You're such a sweet baby. You really love your sisters. Noel loves to hold you and Lane loves to make noises in your face and watch you smile. I love to snuggle you after your 10 p.m. feeding when you pretty much just sleep on my shoulder. And Daddy just loves to hold you and talk to you. You are a good listener, after all. We love you so much and are so glad you're a part of our family.

I love you,
Mommy

4 Months Old

Dear Raye,

Two weeks ago you turned four months old. We've had a pretty busy couple of weeks so I haven't been able to write to you until now, but better late than never, I suppose.







This month has been a pretty big one for you. You learned how to roll over from your back to your tummy a few days before you turned four months old. And just like when Noel did it, you spent the better part of a couple of days rolling from back to tummy and then whining or crying about it. But you're getting better at actually enjoying tummy time, and you've decided you like to sleep on your tummy most of the time. Since you learned how to roll to your tummy we decided we had to break you of your swaddle, and that was rough going for a few days. Rough, I tell you. But we made it through and we're all happier for it.



This month you got your first stamps in your passport as we traveled across the ocean. You were a champ at jet lag and did pretty well recovering from it. You can go at least 7-8 hours at night without eating, but you certainly don't usually do it…most nights you wake up around 12 or 1, and then again around 4 or so, and again sometime between 6-8. We're working on getting you on a loose schedule now that we kind of know how life is going to look, but it's slow-going.


One of your first international flights.

You are still a big baby and I've pretty much packed up all your 3-month clothes and have pulled out all your 6-month things. And they just fit you really well, which I'm a little in disbelief about. You weighed 15 pounds before we left America. Fifteen. Eek.

Last weekend we went camping. You spent the nights bundled up in your snowsuit laying on your back and you couldn't roll over. So it took you about 4-5 days to remember that you know how to roll over. It was really pretty funny.





This month you learned how to "work" some of your toys. You learned how to hold onto and shake a rattle, how to hold onto Sophie the giraffe, and how to kick your legs to make the toys dangling over your play mat shake. You learned how to clasp your hands in front of you and how to grab the pacifier to take it out of your mouth. Sometimes when you're on your tummy you'll push yourself up a bit and I can see that scooting and crawling are in your near future.



You are so cute, Raye. You're such a joy. Other than not sleeping all night you are such an easy baby. You love to be held, love to look at your sisters, love it when we sing to you, coo at you, talk to you, and so on, love to sit in the swing we borrowed, love bath time, love to be on your play mat, and love to eat. The only things you do not love are having a dirty diaper and being too tired or hungry. I am so thankful for who you are already, as you make it easy for me to thoroughly enjoy you when I can and to not feel guilty for not doting on you when I don't have time. I am so grateful for you.

I love you,
Mommy