Long overdue baby post!

 Today I decided to do a LONG overdue post about our precious baby girl, Gabrielle and some products that I really think other Mommy's might appreciate knowing about. Especially if you are into natural and organic products as we are.

 

First let me introduce Gabrielle. Gabby, as she is usually called, is 10 months old. She has 3 older brothers that she ADORES, but she is still such a girly girl - yes, you can tell that at only 10 months old!  She loves baby dolls, stuffed animals, hair brushes and her purse (please see pic below for proof on the purse thing! :)  She just got this one from Aunt Sarah at Christmas and she loves it!

Gabby is 21lbs (yes she is a big girl!!).  Most of her clothes are 12-18 month size. I just bought her the most adorable polka dot skirt last week on clearance in a size 24 month and she can actually wear it!  ;)

 

Gabby's Care Essentials:

I do want to bring up the diaper brand that I use for Gabby and would highly recommend to any mom!   We use the Honest Company for her diapers, wipes and baby shampoo. 100% non-toxic, chlorine-free, sustainable, and plant-based materials - NO harsh or synthetic chemicals (ever!). This is very important to us. We try very hard to eat organically as a family and to use cleaning products free of chemicals - especially around the kids - so I thought why would I then put my baby in toxic materials 24hrs a day??  In my search for something safer for her these diapers and wipes are what I found - the company was started by Jessica Alba who was also looking for the same thing for her girls and couldn't find anything like it out there. I am so glad she took this on! The best part is that they are delivered every month right to my door. I never run out and I am never worried about getting to the store to pick up diapers. With my busy household this is a welcome thing!  I also LOVE the fun girly prints that the diapers come in. She gets compliments all the time (silly, huh?!).....her doctor even commented on how "stylish" her diaper was the last time we were in there! ;) The diapers are also super high quality.  I can't tell you how many times I have pulled the tabs off of Huggies (really dislike these diapers!) or how many times Pampers have leaked or even worse, broken open spilling all the little beads inside out. 

I have never had either issue with Honest Co. diapers and I have been using them for 10 months solid! 

I also think it is worth mentioning that Gabby has never had a diaper rash - ever. Again, I don't know how much of that is girl vs boy (my older 3 are boys), but her brothers had many diaper rashes by the time they were 10 months old. Chemical reactions on their skin? I also used Pampers almost exclusively with them.  Just thought it was worth a mention.

 

(All pictures found on Honest Co. website - a sampling of what they offer)

I also really like "Burt's Bees  - Baby Bee" multipurpose ointment for just about anything you can think of....around her lips, cheeks and nose in this winter weather to protect her from chapping, for any dry areas on her skin and on any new cut or scrape she manages to get (which are happening more and more frequently the more she is mobile!).  Baby Bee is petroleom & paraben FREE,
hypoallergenic and all natural.

What Gabby eats:
As you may have gathered from Gabby's size, she really does love to eat!
I did start out by steaming and making her baby food myself (in my Cuisinart food processor), but recently switched to mostly Earth's Best organic jarred food and Happy Baby Organic Pouches for when she does eat food on the go. Otherwise, we try to make sure that I have things that she can eat with us at dinner. Often I will just steam some fresh carrots and cut them up to bite size for her and/or some green beans or avocado.  She doesn't care much for the mashed up food anymore and far prefers anything she can feed to herself and chew up. We also found that she loves mashed up beans (usually black beans is what we have) and she really enjoys rice.
For snacks I love "Happy Baby - happypuffs Organic Superfoods" in greens puffs and sweet potato puffs flavors for her. They kind of look like little cheerios, but melt in her mouth. She has been eating these easily for the past couple of months. She also really loves "Hot- Kid Baby and Toddler Mum Mum" organic rice biscuits. They come in strawberry and banana flavors. They also melt quickly and she has been eating these well for a couple of months. These are all sold at my local Kroger and Target stores.

She also loves to drink from her "big girl" cups (anything with a straw!) to drink her water (the only other thing she drinks other than formula). I got her an Avent sippy cup early on and had her using that around 3 months for water, but she never really figured out how to pick it up and it like I thought she would (several months later). So around 6 months old we were out to dinner and I had forgotten her water cup so we tried to give her a sip of our water from the straw. She figured it out and has been drinking her water with a straw ever since! She now picks up her own straw cup, holds it straight and steady and sips right out of her straw - perfect!   I am not sure how this will work once we switch her to milk and off the bottle, but I think I am going to just steer clear of the traditional sippy cups altogether - for many reasons.  I guess we will see how this all plays out in a few months!
My favorite straw cup she has is the Playtex Gripper straw cup - the one you see on her high chair tray below.

Enjoying a pancake breakfast with the family on New Year's morning :)

Gabby's milestones:

Gabrielle has been standing and cruising for a couple of months now...she can usually be found cruising around and around the gigantic leather ottoman in the center of the family room :) Although in the last couple of weeks she has began to let go of the ottoman (or piece of furniture or person or dog or whatever she has a hold of!) and just stand there. Sometime for nearly an entire minute before either sitting down so she can crawl away of grabbing back onto the object. She just will not take a step. Not that we are really encouraging it too much!  I remember what comes after they start taking steps!! ;)

She has 7 teeth fully up and in use already!  I think the 8th is beginning to break through now (4 on top and 3 currently on bottom).  

Gabrielle is a great sleeper for us. 7:30pm until about 8:00am every night and really she has been doing that since she was a few months old. Really all of our kids have been great sleepers, though. I am not sure why we have been so blessed with that, but I am super thankful!  She was taking 3 naps a day in addition to the overnight, but in the last month she has phased out the 3rd late afternoon nap. Now she is pretty set on a morning nap from about 9:30-11:30 and an afternoon nap from about 2-3:30pm.  This is when I try to get EVERYTHING done!  LOL

Gabrielle is our precious angel!  She is just the sweetest little thing we can imagine. She is completely upbeat and happy pretty much 24/7!  She loves to follow her brothers or my husband or I around the house, but she will also just sit and play by herself for long periods of time. After having 3 boys, I am not sure if she is different because she is a girl or if it is just her personality in general, but she really is just a sweet sweet little thing. She is very outgoing (waving, talking, smiling and laughing at just about anyone who will talk to her) and wants to be in the middle of whatever is going on - no fear! 

Below are just a few more pictures of Gabrielle randomly from the past month.  I can't believe her 1st birthday is just around the corner!  Where does the time go??

All bundled up for some shopping

Always exploring! (this is an art display at my son's school)

Waving "Good-bye" to her brothers as the get on the bus......and checking out the snow for the first time on her own - look at the hand to the mouth! You can almost hear her saying, "oooohhhh" (which happens to be her favorite expression! ) Notice our 2 year old Standard Poodle is often by her side - I think she is his best friend! It is so sweet :)

Her introduction to Mr. Clause :)

 

 Gabby for her 9 month pics....she is due for her 10 month ones this week! 

Taking these pics have been so fun. I ordered these onsie stickers from Etsy and just stick them onto the front of her onsie each month for the first 6 months. It is wonderful to look back at her 1 month shot now that she is 9 months! Each picture was taken in a plain white onsie in the same glider in her bedroom. As she got older we photographed her with different hats and/or ribbons/bows in her hair.

 

I hope that you enjoyed and I hope that something I said will help another mom out there!  This is not my first time doing this (4th actually!), but I am constantly learning still and love to get tips and pointers from other moms, as well. Feel free to leave any comment or suggestions for me, too.

XO

Jessy