The Journey of Parenthood…

Tess Summary of Month 15

Tess’s 15th month was from Sept 30 – October 30th. She was 14 months old during this time!

 

Nursing/Eating: This is the first full month of Tess’s life where she wasn’t nursing! You can read about my weaning experience with her here! 

 

She’s adjusted very well to being weaned. It’s def helped up her amounts of whole milk drinking! Since I have SO much breastmilk stored up, I decided to spread it out to last as long as possible. I read somewhere at some point that it benefits a baby more to have smaller amounts of breast milk for a longer period of time than more breastmilk in a shorter period. Good to know if you have decided to wean to formula for a younger baby! If you have a stash of breastmilk, make it last as long as possible! Since I have my milk stored in 2 and 3 oz qualities (you can read more about pumping and storing breastmilk here!) I decided to just thaw out 1-2 baggies a day for her and mix it with her breast fast sippy of whole milk. So she gets 3-6 oz of breastmilk a day. 

 

I am still giving her a dairy filled snack in the afternoons as she isn’t a super huge milk fan still. She LOVES water and prefers it to milk. I know a lot of people are that way, I’m just a big milk person (I drank it 3 times a day until I started Advocare!) and both of my older kids love milk so it’s different for me and I want to make sure she gets enough dairy! 

 

I did make the switch to the 10 oz sippy cups this month and she LOVES the character cups and will talk to the princesses 🙂

 

 

 

I’ve noticed with both of my baby-led weaning babies that they start to prefer larger chunks of food at the toddler age rather than the smaller, cut up pieces. I think it’s part of wanting to show their independence? 

 

 

Can’t be a Parker if you don’t love Little Mama’s corn bread!

 

 

Schedule:

 

7:00 up for day

Breakfast (banana, ½ prune, oatmeal with cottage cheese, whole milk with 2-5 oz breastmilk mixed in)

9-11: nap

11:00 up from nap

movie time while I fix lunch 

12:00-12:30: lunch

1-3 (or 330): nap

light snack with cheese and milk

independent playtime for 35 min

5:00 all kids watch video while i make dinner if Zach not home

5:30 dinner

6:00ish: bath

6:45: pjs, story, prayers

7:00 bed for night

 

Sleep: I def miss the cuddles from nursing and Tess is NOT one for a whole lot of cuddling at bedtime. Like her siblings, she gets silly when she’s sleepy so we have lots of laughter 🙂 She loves to stand up in her crib now and play peek a boo when I tuck her in! She will stand up and “jump” in her bed too. She does also give HUGE kisses when I tuck her in. I savor those!

 

 

 

Walking: Tess took her first steps in mid-September but her walking was still slow-going. She was in that stage where she’d walk holding hands but preferred to crawl everywhere because it was quicker. Most of Oct she’s walk from thing to thing, just a few short steps at a time. Like she’d be holding onto a chair, let go, take a few steps, then hold onto another chair etc. 

 

After we went to the pumpkin patch we went to night church and were SUPER early and had a lot of time to kill. The elderly people who also got their early really enjoyed watching Tess as she cruised around and it was CRAZY the difference in her! It’s like she needed that time to practice. When we got to church she was mostly holding on and then crawling across the aisles and by the time services started she was RUNNING all over the place and walking with ease between aisles! It was awesome to literally see her progression in front of my eyes!

 

 

 

 

She also walks best when carrying things!

 

 

 

 

 

The days of holding hands don’t last long enough!

 

 

The bath is Tess’s FAV! We typically eat dinner at 5:30 and the kids finish up by 6ish and the girls will play in the tub for a good 45 min! They play very well together but man Tess LOVES it on the odd occasion where she gets to have a bath solo! She doesn’t know what to do with all the space ha!

 

 

 

 

I’m pretty hardcore about limiting bubble baths for my girls as it can cause so many female issues, Tess had her first bubble bath this month! She LOVED it!

 

 

 

 

Another first for Tess this month was riding in Kye’s jeep with him! We think long term when we make big purchases and THIS is the reason why both Kye and Britt have two seater power wheels 🙂 I love that they can ride together! Zach rigged up a seat belt to hold her in and she was off! Kye is SO protective and so careful with his driving and she LOVES IT. Like will cry if she sees the jeep and he’s not riding her! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She wasn’t an outside lover from birth but she now LOVES the jeep and also loves to swing! I just love to hear her laugh and see her smile 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

Over it haha

 

 

I don’t remember ever being overly hardcore about “baby proofing” my kitchen but whew rubber bands for the win in the kitchen right now with Tess! She enjoys opening the cabinets and taking things out and making a MESS. Of course having older kids they often forget to put the rubber band back on so she goes running 😉 

 

 

 

Wild child will climb up ANY stool!

 

 

 

“helping” Mommy unload the dishwasher

 

 

I will say Britt’s room is Tess’s favorite! She’s very quiet and sneaky and if I look up and she’s gone I can almost always bet she’s in Britt’s room (or in the kids bathroom as her second favorite). Anything that Britt has, Tess adores!

 

 

These two are quite the precious pair!

 

 

 

 

I’ve said for awhile now that Tess is my angel baby. I’ve told many people that I don’t understand why people stop having kids at 2, b/c that third baby is just straight perfection! She is starting to prove me wrong haha. We’ve def hit the toddler stage of some defiance. And when we got onto her she does NOT like it. Whew. She will cry so much that she holds her breath (which freaks. me. out. Especially b/c I had to call 911 a few years ago for a baby who stopped breathing in my care. I think about that moment every time Tess holds her breath while crying!) and will stay upset for awhile. It makes it a pain to get onto her bc who wants to deal with that aftermath? But just b/c she’s cute and knows how to make some drama doesn’t mean we will let her run the show 😉 I sent this pic to my friends to show them that my angel baby isn’t always such an angel! She would NOT sit down in her seat at dinner!

 

 

More About Tess:

 

  • Tess now dances when she hears music
  • She will randomly come up and kiss us
  • We started saying ‘bye bye” to things to help her transition
  • She will pitch little fits. She will lay down on the floor for a few seconds and then be over it!
  • Tess is SO TOUGH. She will pinch her finger a lot in doors and drawers (since she’s at the stage where opening and closing things is fun) and she won’t even cry at all!
  • She likes to hold our hands and run
  • she LOVES applesauce and yogurt
  • She also LOVES to jump on the playroom trampoline
  • I’ve started putting her in dresses as it discourages her from crawling!
  • She will eat the dog food and cat food if we don’t keep an eye on her
  • She can go from sitting to standing on her own
  • She chews on her bible in bible class
  • I have to get onto her for putting stuff in her mouth, Britt sucked her fingers so this was never an issue with her but Tess WILL put things in her mouth but knows she shouldn’t as if I look at her she takes it out
  • In the living room she ALWAYS goes for the remotes and will put them away (in the drawer of our coffee table) and then get them back out
  • She loves the “hide it under a bushel NO” part of This Little Light Of Mine
  • She said “ball” for Ms. Francis in bible class
  • She got both of her lower molars in on 10/23 and had a BAD diaper rash
  • On 10/22 was a day that was just a HUGE day for her! She started picking up toys off the ground and choosing to stand on her own and going from standing to walking. She started talking a TON and when I asked for a kiss that night she gave me a HUGE hug and kiss! It just seemed like it was a day where things “clicked” and she seemed OLDER!

Videos:

 

All our kids see a tv and instantly turn into zombies haha

 

 

 

Typical little sister 😉

Kye wrote on the box “keep out, only kye (no sisters)”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love this “I’m a grown up” face she makes!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Waiting for brother after school!

 

 

 

 

 

She turns so red just like Kye and Mommy do when we cry!

 

 

 

 

This girl brings me SUCH joy!

 

 

 

 

Sibling Comparisons: You can see Britt’s post here and Kye’s here! I’m SO thankful Tess doesn’t keep busting her lips like Britt always did at this age. Tess is def a little behind her big sister with her development but I feel like Britt was ahead of the game in a lot of areas so I don’t stress it! She still reminds me more of Kye at this age in how she looks (and like I’m glad she doesn’t get Britt’s busted lips I’m even more glad she didn’t get Kye’s awful rash!)!

what to expect with a 14 month old toddler

Emily Parker
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