Weekly Update

It's been a busy week in the Ditata residence and we've hit some major milestones this week. I forgot to tell you that last Saturday (July 7th) Tenley's third tooth appeared - her top left lateral incisor. Now, this week her top right lateral incisor looks like it'll be cutting through any day now. We'll have a total vamper looking baby on our hands people. Ok, so not only does baby now have THREE teeth, but she now started off this week referring to me as Nana (doesn't sound like the grandma 'Nan-a' more like 'Nay-Nay'); however by the end of the week it now rolls off her tongue sometimes as Mama so it's official... she's a total Momma's girl at this point. (YES!) She's getting so big. Anyways, here's the rest of our week for your entertainment...

Speaking of big, I decided to rearrange baby's play room since she's outgrown some of her toys. When I started to pack up her play gym she decided that after months of not even looking at it that it was time to play with it and try to demolish it:

It's hard to believe that she has outgrown her play gym already. I can still remember the  first time she did tummy time on her very first day home from the hospital: 

She loved doing her tummy time and playing on her play gym as a baby. Hopefully when she has a sibling they'll love it and have just as much fun on it!

Tenley has also  been practicing her walking skills on the furniture. Check it out:

(July 9, 2012)


She is much faster now and can transfer from the couch to the ottoman. The only downfall is that she thinks she's superwoman and can do it without support and takes off and plants face first onto the carpet! She's a brave one.


Since her balance isn't the best, I have her practice standing against the ottoman a lot:





But her favorite thing to stand next to is... the book shelf!! Go figure. She crawls to the bookshelf pulls herself up and starts pulling down her OCD neatly arranged books and hands them to me:






Ever since Tenley was a teeny tiny baby she has always been fascinated with books. Even when she was just a few weeks old she would turn the pages and just stare at the pages. Maybe she gets her love of books from when she was in my belly and Ed and I would take turns reading a children's book to her every night. Either way, this chick is going to be one smart cookie!


 To strengthen her leg muscles she's been bouncing in her bouncer:

(HAHA!! This picture cracks me up every time.)

The little chicken is really weaseling her way into and onto everything these days:

Watch the lil' monkey in action:

After a much needed chat my friend, Chelsea, about how Tenley is waking up EVERY 2 hours to nurse she suggested increasing the amount of solids I feed her. When I told her I was only giving her maybe 2 solid meals a day she said, "Give that heifer more food!" and I literally peed my pants. After being a zombie from sleep deprivation Chelsea always helps me feel better. After our talk, I decided to kick it up a notch and get a lil' more creative.


We went shopping so I could attempt a straw sippy cup so she could try drinking fluoridated water with her meals or even to drink breast milk. While shopping she found Mickey Mouse books and held on tight to them:


That day Tenley had four solids, snacks and nursed throughout the day. For dinner Ed made her organic grilled chicken and she loved it:

She even drank out of her sippy cup!!!!

(TOTAL PROGRESS HERE!! Now if we could only get her to drink out of a bottle...)

She loved her sippy cup so much that she brought it on her wagon ride:

I'm SO glad that she is drinking water out of a sippy cup because it is so hot here that when we are out at the park for hours she needs to rehydrate and I can't always keep nursing her just to hydrate her if she isn't hungry. So glad she loves the water from her sippy! Progresssiooonnnnn!!!! :)

Before bath time that night Tenley learned how to give a high-five:

We've had some beautiful weather here in Vegas and by beautiful I mean, thunderstorms!! Since Tenley wakes up around 6 am to nurse and goes back to sleep and I on the other hand never can fall back asleep I have been enjoying my morning coffee under the patio while she sleeps in her crib: 

(Nothing like the smell of rain while drinking your coffee!)

When T woke up, we sat outside together and watched the rain:

That night, Francesca and Matt came over and Tenley must've thought the house was dirty so she did a little cleaning beforehand:

 We had a great night sitting in out sweatpants outside enjoying the nice weather while chowin' down on some Little Caesar's, chocolate donuts, s'mores and coors light - the essentials for a perfect night. 

Ever since Tenley has been more mobile she's accumulated a few bumps and bruises along the way. I keep reminding myself that these are bound to happen while she is learning how to move about. On Saturday, Tenley bumped the back of her head on the tile and instantly stated crying and asking for 'Nay-Nay'. She also turned into a total sweat box and once she calmed down we were laughing at how sweaty she was. Look at how wet her hair is:

I bought T a broccoli/apple pouch, but before I gave it to her I wanted to introduce broccoli separately so she didn't just like broccoli when associated with a sweet and it did not go over well:

Gosh... raising a baby sure is challenging, but it is so much fun at the same time!!


Until next time! :)

Weekly Update

We started off the week at the splash pad with some friends:

I love making Tenley as girly as possible, but she's such a maniac that she just rips off her headbands so those are few and far between these days. When I was a baby my mom used scotch tape to put bows on my head because I was so bald. Who knows maybe scotch tape is the bees knees? No need for scotch tape with this baby though because our little fuzz head is finally getting some hair!!

I was finally able to put a hair clip on the lil' munch:

Doesn't she look totally adorable? I can NOT wait to put her hair in a pony tail!

She lovesss playing with the iPad...

...and taking pictures with Mommy on the iPhone:

Remember how I said she was a maniac? Well, look at this chick yelling at me to get her out of her pack-n-play:

Since I didn't get her out she decided she'd start standing in there now:

I just can't believe how strong she is for an 8 month old! So proud of her...

We celebrated the fourth of July this week.


She read her favorite book with Daddy, 'Wet Pet, Dry Pet, Your Pet, My Pet!':

(She absolutely loves touch and feel books, but this book has always been her fav! It can entertain her for hours.)

She tried to escape:

Baby girl has now started to work her way around the pack-n-play:

She learned how to rip off the tray on her high-chair and thinks it is hilarious:

She loves to play with Pearl's toys...

...and go for wagon rides:

It has been scorching hot here so we met Karina and Sofia at Reunion Trails for some fun at the splash pad on Saturday:

That night we watched the UFC fights at Frannie and Matt's. Courtney and Isaac were also there and brought their girls. I got to rock Charley to sleep; which was sooo sweet! I totally forgot what it was like to hold a teeny baby. Tenley had a blast playing with Grace, too:

 Grace would mimic everything Tenley would do and it was hilarious. When T would crawl Grace would crawl and when Tenley would say "Dadada!" Grace would say "Dadada!" - they were so adorable together and they really entertained us adults.

Tenley also had a ball getting kisses from Lola:

Recently Tenley has decided to vamp up her diva behavior and not take bottles. We bought a Playtex bottle with a latex nipple and tried some new techniques... Ed feeding her while I wasn't watching, warming the nipple, giving her a bottle after she ate some solid food so she wasn't too hungry, giving her her bottle while sitting in her high chair so she's not confused as to why it's not a breast... I mean I've been doing research and getting ideas from everyone. Anyways, she sucked on the bottle for a little and then just started to play with it. Once I knew she wasn't interested I snuck around the corner and snapped some pics:

(How pissed does she look? Like, "Mom, just feed me!")

After she started playing with the nipple she began to fight the bottle so we took it away. At that time we stopped trying and I didn't reward her by feeding her myself because I didn't want her to think that if she fusses with a bottle that Mommy would just swoop in and feed her. She did drink for a few seconds so it went better than it has with our past attempts so we'll have to keep trying. Another technique I want to try is to have someone experienced with bottles (other than Ed or myself) try to feed her while were not around or in our environment and see how she responds. She used to take bottles like nobodies business so I know it's possible. I've read that some babies will all of a sudden stop taking them because they prefer Mommy and she is totally going through a "Mommy Phase" right now and only wants me to hold her. I must say I am totally enjoying this phase, but I would love it if she would take a bottle so I could go out with my hubby at night without worrying about her waking up and not taking her bottle if she did happen to wake up. Baby won't even take milk (or water) out of a sippy cup or a straw. I think we have tried everything at this point (if anyone has any suggestions please feel free to chime in). Please say some prayers that baby kicks this stubborn habit!

Until next week! :)