"Oh Yes I Can!"

I swear our child must have some kind of radar when a doctor or therapist asks me if she is doing specific things and I respond with "Not yet."  It is like I have issued her a personal challenge, and she often promptly proves me wrong within days (and has even been known to do it in the very same therapy session). I am just waiting for the day when she can actually respond "Oh yes I can!" right in front of a doctor. She is making so much progress in Physical Therapy, and just today Casey shocked both of us by pulling up on the coffee table from her position on our therapist's knee.  When Brian came home from work I was bragging about her new feat, and wouldn't you know she performed it repeatedly as if it was no big deal at all.  I was also telling our physical therapist that she has been trying unsuccessfully to go from a sitting position down onto her belly, but keeps getting one leg stuck underneath her.  Low and behold, she proceeds to lean forward, starts to get stuck, and then actually manages to pull her leg out from underneath her. I have a feeling crawling is just around the corner!  Casey has also become so much stronger (and strong willed for that matter) lately, and she is only needing a little assistance to pull herself from a side lying position up into sitting. It is crazy how fast she is learning and changing, and it is really just so amazing to watch her learn.

We had another follow up with our Developmental Pediatrician last week, and she was so impressed with her progress, and stated that she has no concerns as of now.  It was also the first opportunity we have had to get a weight check in over a month, and Casey now weighs in at 16 pounds 10 ounces.  This is a gain of well over a pound, so we'll take it!  Of course, it is a bit bittersweet because just as we started celebrating, The Doodle decided to throw us another curve ball and go on a bit of an eating strike.  She continues to gobble up purees, but is really starting to put up a fight with the bottle again. The big concern is that purees just don't have enough calories to support enough weight gain, and since Casey is pretty opposed to trying other textures of "people food" right now (although I continue to try and have had several things thrown at or thrown up on me lately), bottles continue to be her main calorie intake.  As you can imagine mealtime is super fun in the Sattler house these days. Not! Our best guess for her reluctance to take a bottle is that she is getting so used to the other tastes and flavors of purees that she is just not as interested in that same old boring taste she has known for the last eleven months. I can't really blame her, but I must admit that every time I throw another bottle labeled with a time of 2 a.m. down the drain, it definitely makes me cringe a bit. Guess she hasn't quite developed an appreciation for how hard I worked for that! I called our former Dietitian this week, and she gave us a few pointers to try and get her through the last month or so of our frozen supply, and then we are planning to give cow's milk a try.

In yet another effort to prove her mother wrong, Casey has developed quite the attachment to yours truly.  That will teach me to brag about how easy going she is and always so willing to sit contently with others!  In the instances that she will sit with someone else for a few minutes, if I dare to walk in the room or she hears my voice, she will let me know her displeasure with being left behind! Even Brian has been a victim of her separation anxiety lately, as Casey will stare at me longingly from across the room and whimper or cry until I come get her, and then breaks out into a huge grin.  Poor Daddy! We have been told that this is very developmentally appropriate, and it is very sweet that she adores me so much (what can I say, I am pretty adorable!), but I sure do miss the days when I could put her down to go to the bathroom with out a major meltdown!

 It amazes me that this child looks cute in every color, even neons!

 But pink is for sure her "signature color" (Name that movie!)

 Love this girl!

 Especially these big happy grins

 Giving her best "I'm innocent!" looks

 This girl loves to kick, and these feet are always in motion

 Monkey impression!

 "You want me to eat what?"

 "What are these 'Puffs' you speak of?"

 A rare moment when Grace actually came over and wanted to be by the baby.  Our dogs are in trouble when Casey starts crawling!

We seriously have the weirdest cat.  How many other cats have you met that would tolerate this?  But he LOVES her!

Determination

To survive all that she has in her short life, it really comes as no surprise that Casey has a lot of determination.  This week I have seen evidence of it in so many ways.  Her determination has made her quite the rockstar the last few weeks in Physical Therapy, and she has already met more than one of her six month goals.  She is sitting up completely unsupported, she is consecutively rolling across the room, and our physical therapist has been very impressed with her progress.  She also commented that Casey has all the pieces of crawling, and once she figures out how to put them all together we could have a crawler on our hands soon!  In other therapy news, we introduced a sippy cup this week at our speech therapy session, and for her first time Casey did pretty well.  Our therapist suggested it wasn't too early to start getting her used to a sippy cup (and we think it will be much easier for her to hold and tilt upward when she is ready), but at 8 months adjusted, we are still probably going to continue our love/hate relationship with the bottle for a while longer.  We have also noticed that Casey has become extremely determined when it comes to getting what she wants these days...and this week what she wants most seems to be my toes (maybe I should get a pedicure more often?), the drawstring of my pajamas, and my engagement ring (watch out boys, this girl already likes diamonds!).  Who needs toys when you have all those fun things at your fingertips?!?

Thanks so much for all that have taken the time to write and send such sweet notes for Casey's birthday. Several people have asked if there is a deadline for the notes and if there is still time to send them in.  The answer is "Yes!"  I am planning to print them the weekend after her birthday, so it would be great if we had them all by August 10th.  We would love to add a note from you to her collection!  You can send it as a comment on the post linked above (or this one), or e-mail it to casey.sattler@hotmail.com.

In case you need further proof of our determined little girl, here is a slideshow that demonstrates her persistence in pulling off her hair accessories:

Make your own picture slideshow

It sure does make her Mommy a bit sad though that my girl is already making her opinions about her fashion choices known!

11 months already (8 months adjusted age)

Just lounging with my bear (he escaped a beat down this month!)

 She did NOT appreciate it when I took away the month sign that she was trying to completely destroy!  This face kills me.

Then, she decided she had enough, and she was outta there!

Playtime!

Relaxing

Cutie

Bright summer colors

Still loves to play with her clothes

Waving "Hi!"

This is Casey's favorite face these days!

We took Casey to the park by our house the other day and tried out the swing.  I think she was still a bit too small for it.

Going after my toes!

Patriotic Baby

We spent the 4th of July visiting a Butterfly Exhibit at a local museum that my mom had heard about.  The trails were too rough for a stroller, so Brian decided it was the perfect excuse to buy a baby backpack.  I was a bit skeptical, but Casey loved it (which I'm sure means my nature loving husband will be looking for the next opportunity to drag this indoor, air conditioning loving mommy outside again soon!).  When we got to the museum, we realized calling it an "Exhibit" may have been a bit generous.  Years ago I went to what I thought was going to be a similar one that was part of the State Fair, so my expectations were probably a bit high.  There wasn't a whole lot to it, but I will say they packed in a bunch of varieties of butterflies in one small space.  They were really beautiful, and we all had a pretty good (and sweaty) time.   Then, we headed back for some grilling and swimming at my parents' house.  All in all it was a pretty good Independence Day!

In other news, we've been working on a pretty big transition around the Sattler house.  Casey is finally sleeping in her crib!!!  Since she came home from the hospital, she has been sleeping in the co-sleeper beside our bed.  She was definitely outgrowing it, and I knew the longer we waited the harder the move was going to be.  After a few pretty rough attempts at naps in the crib I was worried, but she has done very well overall, and has only cried once during the night and for just a couple of minutes on two nights when we put her down. I think it is safe to say she was ready, and I will admit it was really Mommy that wasn't.  I guess after 130 nights away from her, I just wasn't ready to think about moving her out of our room until now, but I was starting to have fears of sending her to kindergarten still sleeping in our room, and knew it was time.

Happy Patriotic Girl!

Yep, this was it.  The whole Butterfly Exhibit shed!

 Beauty in a backpack

 She loved the new baby backpack, especially because she could grab Daddy's head! (Oh, and that middle picture...told you she was so her Daddy's child)

  

Checking out the butterflies

 A few of my favorites

Just hitchin' a ride!

Beautiful!

It wouldn't be the 4th of July without a little pool time

We of course were decked out in our red, white, and blue much of this week:

 Check out that bow!

 The bow was so cute that we had to get a LOT of mileage out of it this week.

 She looked absolutely adorable in her outfit from Mimi!

And a few others from the week:

 Using those legs!

 My Dad's family was in town last weekend, and Casey got to meet her Aunt Bella! (The fact that she now has her permit, and I was just about to get mine when she was born, makes me feel so OLD!)

 Another of my favorite "Casey faces"

 Love these stripes

 She seriously cracks me up with these looks!

Big girl in her own crib (and still loving to try to rip off the bumper)!