bringing you all up to speed

Once again it has been a bit since I last posted anything... I am sorry. Especially if many of you have been checking regularly to see if I have posted anything. I know what that is the expectation and excitement only to fall flat when there is nothing to read. I know I know I'm sorry. A went on some kind of a sleeping strike though. We were STRUGGLING there for nearly two weeks as she refused to go to sleep before 11 PM and only was taking one nap a day. Not to mention when she has been sleeping it has been fitful. I was thinking that maybe she is cutting more teeth, but there haven't been any new ones that have made themselves known... I don't know what has been going on, but it has been exhausting.
She is steady working towards walking. She can stand for as many as 4 or 5 minutes playing with a toy with out any aid in balance. She crawls like a lightning bolt from one place to another. I spend my nights now following her from one thing to another making sure that she stays out of trouble. She has figured out how to crawl up the stairs too... so we have to watch her carefully. I have let her get as far as the fourth stair with me close behind. She has a ball with it. You would think with all of her activity that she would wear herself out... and she does. Her not sleeping is not for lack of being tired... it is more from lack of ability to calm herself. We are working on that.
For all of her new found independence she is still a little uncertain about taking to many steps away from me and the separation anxiety is getting a little worse... now it is even with people she knows and trusts a lot ( like daddy and gramps and granny) Not to mention she has stepped up her nursing considerably. We now nurse nearly every 3 hours again. She asks for it all the time. My take on it is that as she takes those steps away from me she is doing what she can to hold me close too. I don't mind it a bit. We nurse 3 or 4 times a night again too. That is fine by me also we co-sleep so it really doesn't interrupt my sleep too much, and it gives her a measure of comfort.
She has grown nearly and inch in the last two weeks alone. People who see her every day have been surprised by the growth spurt that she just went through. That means though that none of her clothes fit her anymore so we had to go shopping this last weekend. It is a pain in the ass to get clothes for a kid too. Two outfits from the same company that are the same size ( 12 months) one fits beautifully... the other she literally crawled out of the pants. Go figure. But we have some hand-me-downs that are preshrunk and fit her well so we are grateful for that. Every outfit that we have for her has been put through its paces believe me. Between the stains on the front and the dirt ground into the knees they all look well loved in a matter of what seems like minutes. I swear that they should make all pants for toddlers in navy and black, any thing else has black knees in seconds. No matter how clean a floor is A can find the dirt and will make sure to get it all over herself. Her little fingers always seem like they are sticky now.
We found out that she is allergic to milk. I came home from the store super excited because I found Mac n cheese. Dave thought it was so cool he started feeding her right then. And as we watched our cherub became a mutant baby. Her eyes swelled nearly shut, and her nose started running like she had a cold. It would have been funny had it not been so scary. Thankfully there were no breathing difficulties. I called the Doc and he said that it could be the milk, wheat in the noodles, or coloring in the food. So this last weekend she got into my avocado dip and had to try it. ( My favorite treat cream cheese milk avocado and garlic salt all scooped up onto a thick chip... ummm heaven) She loved it... and I knew she would she is my daughter after all... only thing is that her little eyes started to swell and her nose started to run again. Not nearly so bad this time because we got it away from her and only let her have a very little bit. So we are starting to make some changes around here now so that we are firmly a soy house before she gets to the age where she notices. I suppose we shouldn't be too surprised D was allergic to milk too. Thank God that I have been nursing her, we would have had problems otherwise I am sure.
Life is busy around here... as busy as say a 10 1/2 month old who has learned just how fast she can crawl. There is never a dull moment. D and I are having so much fun we can hardly contain it. We took her to a pet store two weekends ago and let her pet all of the different animals. We will be taking her to the apple orchard here very shortly where she will meet a goat or two if not a cow and a pig. She loves new adventures and we are all for giving them to her. What fun what fun. Any day now she will take her first step and then it is a whole new world. I'm not sure if I can keep up with her.