Happy 10 Months, Hadley!

This is the best "10 Month" picture I could get of her. Seriously.  She is WAY too on the move these days!

Still my snuggly sweet baby

A familiar place for her!  

Weight/Height/Head:  The last time I weighed her she was 23 pounds!  At her 9 month appointment she had dropped in the height percentile, down to the 50ish %.  Her head is also pretty small, that was in the 20th %.  

Hair:  It's blonde!  Light blonde and curly.  It's the sweetest thing.    

Eyes: Bright blue.  We get constant remarks on her eyes when we're out and about.

Diapers: Size 4.  Pretty sure we're making the switch to cloth diapers!  I have no idea how to explain the sizing on those things.

Clothes: Oh man, she's all over the board.  She wore a 9 month Carter's onesie to bed last night, but has a pair of 2T leggings (admittedly they're capris and she wears them as pants, but they fit perfectly).  She wears 12 month size dresses, 18 month size pants.  Some 24mo pants fit. 

Eating: Still doing 3-4 bottles a day.  Trying to replace the mid-day bottles with sippy cups.  She's also consistently eating 2 meals a day, most days 3 meals.  For breakfast we'll do Cheerios, bananas, frozen waffles, blueberries, eggs, etc.  Lunch and dinner is usually whatever I'm having, but if that's not the case, she'll eat sweet potatoes, peas, green beans, black/white beans, noodles, broccoli, chicken, meatballs (we're only giving her organic or local meat right now), Back to Nature mac & cheese, etc etc.  She really eats anything and I let her try everything - today I was making zucchini egg cups and had her sitting on the counter while I got it together.  I was cutting up the Vidalia onions for it and she reached over and grabbed a few...and I let her.  She wasn't a fan, obviously...but now she knows :)   

Sleeping: Sleep is "eh".  She takes 2 naps a day, her morning nap between 9 and 9:30 and her afternoon nap between 1 and 1:30.  She usually goes to bed around 8-8:30, though I'm thinking that's a little late considering her early afternoon nap.  She naps LITERALLY one hour.  No joke, I could practically set a clock by it.  Most nights she sleeps all night and wakes up around 4-5am, which coincidentally is when it starts getting light outside.  And about once a week she wakes up crying in the middle of the night, though that is starting to taper off.  (But when Mom goes to bed at 11:30-midnight every night, I guess waking up at 4am would feel like the middle of the night...need to do something about that awful bedtime).

Milestones:  Nothing huge this month, just a number of little things!  

• Says "Mama" though I'm not sure if it's actually directed to me or just a sound she's making?  She does it often when she's whining so I'm somewhat inclined to believe that it's to me :)  
• Standing by herself!  Yesterday I was visiting with my sister-in-law while Hadley played and I happened to glance over at her and she was standing and holding onto a stroller.  I watched her as she took her hands off and balanced for a second, then would put her hands back and then take them off again.  It was the cutest thing to watch her discover something new.  Afterwards she looked back at us with the PROUDEST smile on her face.  We cheered and clapped like crazy for her and she just lit up like the 4th of July :)  
• This isn't so much a milestone but I'm definitely noticing a lot more dexterity and comprehension on her part - figuring out toys that in the past she didn't really play with because she didn't "get" them (like stacking rings).  She picks up tiny pieces of food very easily, etc.  
• Had her first overnight away!  Brad and I went to a concert and got home late so she stayed with her Auntie.  She did super well and I was ready to pick her up at 7am the next day, ha :)  
• Got her second tooth on the bottom and also her top two front teeth!

I say this every month, but she really is the sweetest, happiest baby and such a joy to be around.  She's never met a stranger, will let anyone hold her and has a smile for everyone.  She's got such an adventurous spirit (that she definitely didn't get from me, ha!) - I will often catch her standing on top of the dishwasher door, or trying to climb in and out of the bath, climb stairs, stand on top of things that aren't meant to be stood on :)  I even see this in little things like at the grocery store, she rarely is facing me in the cart - she is usually turned around, looking to see where we're going.  She is so independent, plays so well by herself, and unless she's tired or cranky she could care less if I'm not around.  I do feel a challenge to be the kind of Mom that will encourage this independence - I want her to be this way SO badly, but she's also my baby girl and I feel like I will always want her near me.  But that's not healthy and my prayer is always going to be that God will teach me to "let her go" and trust Him to be her great Protector.  

You really don't think your heart can love them anymore but somehow it does grow each day.  Her and her daddy are my greatest and most undeserved blessings and I am SO thankful for them!