a milestone worth celebrating

When is a milestone worth celebrating? When is it worth sharing the excitement with family, friends and other moms? When will others rejoice with you? 

If a baby hits a milestone early, am I bragging if I share my excitement?

If a baby hits a milestone in a timely manner, will anyone care, since the baby is 'normal'?

If a baby hits a milestone late, will others question why I celebrate it since the milestone should have celebrated already?

I have three kids, and as babies, I had one to develop at a 'normal' rate, an early rate, and a delayed rate. I have found the of these three situations, I get most excited when the baby that is delayed hits a new milestone. People see her, ask her age, then usually follow with a "Is she crawling yet?" type question. I like it when I can say YES. 

I have learned to celebrate all milestones regardless of the age. Not only with my kids but others. If a mom shares a milestone with me, that means they are celebrating it. I therefore celebrate it with them. I don't consider age as a factor in the celebrating. I have a friend whose child is about Brady's age and hitting milestones years after Brady. But when she gets excited that a milestone is met in our presence, I am honestly celebrating with her. 

I remember the first day Brady walked across a room; July 4, 2008, 12.5 months old. We celebrated this milestone, gosh fireworks flew all over America, but I was a proud momma. 

I remember the day Reese walked across the room; Novemeber 10, 2009, 10.5 months old. We celebrated this milestone, with cake and a surprise party (okay maybe it was my sister's 30th birthday too). I was a proud momma. 

Elli Dew was diagnosed today with Hypotonia. She has low muscle tone. She is delayed in gross motor skills. But, I have known that she is hitting gross motor milestones later, big deal, a name to go with what we already know. She will be starting physical therapy whenever I work through all the red tape. I was told to expect Elli to walk her 15 month birthday or later. Guess what, when that day comes I will celebrate and I will be a proud momma.

Owl Blanket Project: 11 months

Elli is over these monthly pictures! I couldn't get her to sit still long enough to snap a good one.. at one point I had to throw my camera because she tried to crawl off the couch. Here is the picture that I was snapping at that time...

Habits:

• The hair fetish is still going strong!
• She loves observing dogs.
• Her favorite toy these days is opening and closing doors of any type. Mainly her bedroom door and the door on the dog crate. 
• She loves to join in on adult conversations by laughing along. Then she continues to chuckle trying to get more attention. 

Percentiles:

It has been awhile since I have posted her actual numbers in this category  Like with my other two, she has been slowly dropping curves towards the 50th percentile curve. 

Today she weighed 19 pounds 15 ounces, yes, one ounce from 20 pounds. That puts her right above the 50th mark. She measured 29 inches in length and again she is just above the 50th mark. Her weight and height haven't changed much in the last three months.

Milestones:

This has been a month of gross motor firsts, it has been a couple months since she made strides in this area so it is very exciting for us.

• Elli can now sit up on her own from crawling or lying. Once she got it figured out, she really utilized this new skill that allows her to view the world at a new angle. 
• Elli has now done two or three crawling steps on all four! In about a week I think she will have the whole crawling thing down pat. 
• She has about 8 words: Mama, dada, dog, eat, hi, bye, stop, dewy dog
• She now has 5 teeth!
• The biggest milestone of the month... SHE IS NOW A COUSIN!!!! Elli will have a cousin just 10.5 months younger then her. She is so lucky, and family get-togethers will be a blast. 

Now for my favorite pictures from the last month...

People, I have only one more month of having a baby in my house. This is a bitter sweet proclamation for me. I love me some baby snuggles, those will be missed. I also love observing toddlers discover the world around them and the adventure of learning to communicate. It is good thing I am an Aunt to this cutie so I can get baby snuggles every time I am in NC. 

Four is the magic number

I have mentioned this before, but there is a miniature coming of age for the Orthner girls at age four (well I am calling a pattern after two for two). One small coming of age is the willingness to try new foods. But the big thing here people is the overnight transformation to becoming Daddy's Girls!

Both Brady and Reese went to bed one night at age four as a Momma's girl but woke up a Daddy's Girl. As a stay at home mom you would think I would be disappointed by this. I put so much effort into raising them, I wipe their bottoms, drive them all around, dry their tears, pack their lunches day in and day out. But I am over the moon that they have become daddy's girls.

Karl had to leave us for twelve days recently to be on a ship...that stayed in port. So other words he was in town  but we couldn't see him. However he could 'jump ship' if an emergency did arise. We all went to drop Karl off and my newly found Daddy's girl lost it. She didn't want to say bye to her Daddy...it is only ten days! What am I going to when he has to leave for months at a time?!?!?!

Love my daddy's girls and my momma's girl too!

 In the picture below Karl is the silhouette in the center with a bag in hand to his right, directly above Reese.

 Excuse the booger nose, but look at that love and pride on Daddy's face!

Snapshot of a Day

I realized that I didn't get really any pictures of the girls (especially the older two) in the month of March. I was wondering to myself why I didn't grab more and then I thought because all the pictures would look like this...

Brady and Reese are OBSESSED with their new neighbor friend. They could play hours upon hours with him. He is a super sweet young boy (on this particular day, the first thing he said to Reese was "Nice Dress") and I am glad they have found a good buddy right next door! 

With that said, when we went to the zoo today, I tried to grab some "real life" action shots! I am showing you my family the way I see them on a daily basis. Some pictures are posed but most are the girls being themselves.

Brady eating on the move...on of her areas we are constantly trying to improve!

Daddy has recruited another one into his "Daddy's Girl" Club! I guess the age to enter the club is four.

 My Cutie Pie

 This is a moment that is typical but warms my heart. The wind was blowing through the breezeway pretty hard and chilling the air quite a bit. Brady took off her coat and gave it to Reese, even though Reese had on long sleeves and Brady had on a tank. These girls look out for each other, and I can't even start to tell you how happy that makes me (on a daily basis).

 Love how sweet of a face Brady makes when she knows she is being photographed...

 But we caught a candid face too!

 Reese has a spirit of life that we should all have

 Sweet sweet girl!

 "eat"

 "more"

 "so big"

We had a good day today! How about you?