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13 January 2015

The first year of a baby's life is so wonderfully unpredictable, isn't it? I had many struggles with baby Julia (I like to call it Clueless New Mom Syndrome and I think I had it worse than anyone ever in the history of CNMS) but one of my biggest conundrums was her ever-evolving nap "schedule" and all the loads of advice coming at me from all directions. And those other directions too. I remember when she downgraded from three naps to two I was SO frustrated and befuddled as to why it was happening. I was too caught up in the small picture (a! rigid! schedule!) to take an adult step back and look at the big picture: babies don't grow up into adults with thrice daily built into their day-to-day grind (although! a nice thought, right? ) ... the naps slowly get dropped. It seems so simple in retrospect but the learning curve of that first year is steep (like taking a sip of water from a fire hose! some might cliché) and every baby is entitled to a different temperament and your second baby will throw you a wildly different year than your first baby did and so on but there's something about the first baby that's just ... well, something. Profundity in spades today, folks.

But I'm not here to wax chatty about baby drama or even about sleep schedules (although - I can say without a hint of irony - that it is something I could talk about for hours, sadly). Nope - I want to talk about something even more sexy.

throw back head cackle. Curve ball!!!

Let's talk about milestones and mobility.

I remember Simon's mom saying that a mobile baby is a happy baby and holy true. So true. Julia took her sweet, sweet time to start crawling (10 months) which was okay because my hands were free to cart her wherever her highness might desire to be carted. Sebastian was up and slithering long before his 1/2 birthday but Theo! Oh, Theo. If literate Theo is reading this: know that I loved you through it but 7-11 months was a dark and stormy time of your life. Your frustration was almost tangible as you sat and threw vocal pity parties about not being able to move and were only happy on my hip during your waking hours. Happily, as soon as the clouds parted, and the rain cleared, and you figured it out at 11 months old .. it was the brightest and sunniest day of my mom career. Your personality transformed into something that didn't trigger dangerous waves of anxiety on the hour which was um, nice. I guess it left a bit of an impression or what some might call PTSD because my hands got clammy just typing about it.

The tangent was necessary, I'm sorry. I had to pave the way for Phoebe's seemingly humdrum milestone that she mastered last week ...


I don't know what's in her mouth ... maybe she popped, lost, and ate her third tooth all in the same second. Yes, let's roll with that.

Oh, you better believe I was so excited (the weeks leading up to her takeoff were scarily reminiscent of those months with Theo and I was starting to sweat profusely) that I put together a grainy video montage complete with dated ditty soundtrack.


It's okay if you don't watch the entire minute to the "eat a piece of lint" bitter end. I showed it to Simon and even his eyes were darting as he was looking for an escape route.

And while life isn't perfect, of course! It's whole bleep of a lot better with a happy baby sprint-laughing toward the stairs while they watch you sprint-freak toward them during dinner prep vs. an angry baby doing anything at all. Bring on the baby-proofing and all the headaches people like to warn you about a crawling child ... bring them on strong.

{I'm sure your baby has been mobile since 4 months? 5 months? And I hope you celebrated appropriately and made them a fancy YouTube too. You both deserve it.}

47 comments:

  1. SO CUTE! Charlie is snake sliding all over the apartment, but no up-on-the-knees yet. Wherrreee is her heart shirt from? I love it so.

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  2. That video is SO cute...she is just darling and yay Phoebe....get it girl!!! Is it bad that my kids are 5 and almost 2 and my mom brain can't even remember right now when they started crawling?!! Yeah....hope I wrote it down somewhere for them to read in all their glory one day!!

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  3. Love it. I think I may have to play that video for my Michael over here. Maybe Pheobe can teach I'm a thing or two. We've been waiting for him to crawl for WEEKS now. I sure hope he doesn't pull a Theo or else….I don't know what.

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  4. I'm actually really looking forward to the fact that life won't be as terrifying with a second baby. I know they are all different with different challenges and blah blah blah... but Clueless New Mom Syndrome is REAL. And I also had a bad case of it.

    YAY Pheobe for crawling!!! Give her a week and she'll be like, "It's time to walk. Crawling is for the birds."

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  5. "she's a little silly baby girl! crawling all over!" - Ada is impressed. I have to add that a happy baby is one who can crawl and get back to sitting without getting stuck. Cute!

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    1. haha true! she had that mastered a long time ago -- she did the "rock in place" forEVER -- thankfully. Because you're right! the other way around is ROUGH!!!

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  6. Yay for mobility!
    Side note/question...where do you find her adorable little headbands? The infant bands I have found are too tight for our meatbrick and her mega melon.
    Glad you're getting a teensy bit of a break!

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    1. little crane headbands on Etsy!! they are made out of what FEELS like pantyhose - ha! just VERY soft and stretchy --- perfect for above average heads :)

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  7. LOL! My babies were all late crawlers (between 9 and 11 months) but they were generally content…except #3 who wasn't content with life in general so sadly crawling did NOTHING to brighten his mood. Worse yet is a late walker (mostly because it's rough on this old mama's back!), but eventually they all do it. I'm expecting #4 in a couple months and I love to see you celebrating your 4th's milestones as excitedly as you did your 1st, 2nd. etc.... I hope I do the same :)

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  8. So exciting! I'm a first time mom and my daughter just started crawling after I adamantly told everyone she was "probably going to skip right to walking" since it took her a little time. (CNMS sufferer)
    Also thanks for just mentioning the days of the first as I always read the blog and wonder what a pro like you felt like in the beginning...
    Long time reader, first time commenter :)

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  9. That video seriously made me smile! She's such a cutie!

    My second thought was "look a baby without a toddler trying to ride on her while she's crawling." Why do my toddlers always try to ride my brand new crawlers?!?! It's the bane of the crawling phase for me.

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  10. We are currently in my absolute favorite phase of babyhood, the "I will lie here and happily look at things while smiling and cooing and remaining immobile" phase and I'm in heaven! But I remember all too well just how grumpy they get in those weeks/months when they're trying to crawl and can't figure it out... Way to go Phoebe! I hope you're having a celebratory drink or two ;)

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  11. Gah! My babies are so lazy. #1 didn't crawl till 11 months, #2 didn't walk till 18 months, and #3 is 9 months and the clock is a tick-tocking and there is no sign of movement! Phoebe is adorbs, as usual.

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  12. Are you sure that's not video of Theo? Really sure?

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  13. My son was a preemie so it felt like he was a little delayed developmentally. It took him forever to be able to sit independently, almost 9 months! Once he figured out scooting, though, it seems like everything started happening overnight! He started crawling everywhere at 11 months and pulling up on everything, and now at a year he is starting to take steps while holding onto the furniture! I'm not sure I'm ready for a walker yet!

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  14. Isaac was smitten by the video. He's quite the lint connoisseur so...

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  15. Oh, she's so cute. That's all. I don't think I tell you that often enough. And #momblogger #fashionblogger #lifestyleblogger #sleepscheduleblogger, you can't keep me away. Never ever.

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  16. I'm not a Mom yet, but my Mom loves to talk about my refusal to learn to crawl- ever. She claims to have developed back issues from my insistence on walking with help for several months :)

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  17. My son didn't crawl a lot until about 7 months and didn't walk until 13 1/2. Both of which I was fine with (babyproofing and all). He's also our only child so...maybe I won't be so happy if the next one takes that long??

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  18. That's pretty young by Patton standards!! :)

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  19. Sometime give us an update on your kids' walking ages, please and thanks. Ours didn't walk till 15 months, which is always humbling when you talk to other mamas whose darling was toddling around the playground at 7 months while mine was the lump sitting in the sandbox.

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    1. hahah okay let me think! Julia was 14 months, Bash wasn't quite 10 months, Theo was 15 months and Phoebe ......... time will tell!!!!!

      7 months is YOUNG!!!!

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  20. Ella was mesmerized by the video and says "you go girl!" to phoebe. She just does the army crawl all over and doesn't have time for all that up on the knees crawling haha. Phoebe is adorable!

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  21. Very cute. Agreed that a mobile baby means a happy baby and happy parents. When our twins were tiny and endlessly screaming to be picked up/bounced/moved "helpful" people kept telling me "Enjoy it! This is the easiest it ever gets! Just wait until they're mobile, then it will get so much worse!" I beg to differ. Calls to poison control aside (there have been...a few), my twins becameso much more content once they could explore and satisfy their own whims. Give me two mobile cheerful babies over two bored little turtles on a fencepost any day!

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    1. HA. Can we just ban people from telling parents to "enjoy it!!!" ..... and then warning of stormier waters??? Maybe we like the chase :)

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  22. Love the video! My 9 1/2 month old baby girl just started crawling this week too!! I've been wanting to catch it on video but my phone storage is full from the 2000 photos I've never deleted from the last 9 1/2 months!!

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    1. hahha you gotta be ruthless!!! delete delete delete :) But - I've been there. So many times!!

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  23. Love it!! And I so agree!! My first wasn't mobile until forever and it was so hard; of my second and third (twins) one was mobile pretty quick, the other was luckily a more content baby but even he got frustrated until he finally started crawling. I am totally chasing them both up the stairs and pulling them away from the computer or out of the bathroom all the time ... but they have happy faces while I do it. :-P

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  24. No but really, that's Theo right?!?! She is so stinkin' cute.

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    1. haha! they look nothing alike in person but I guess I can SORT of see it in photos :)

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  25. I honestly would love to hear your take on the sleep schedule topic AND introducing solids! It's always so interesting to hear everyone's experience with both (seriously, I'm not being sarcastic at all!).

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  26. OMG she is ADORABLE of course! and I had a NON WALKER for 13 months : /

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  27. Yes! All three of my babies learned to crawl about 6-7 months old and got wayyyy happier. And I got happier too :). I have seriously been loving months 6-12 with my youngest because I appreciate it and know things will eventually get shaken up with walking, dropped naps etc around 1-2 yrs old.

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  28. so cute!!!

    can you please give me a like to my picture? it's for a compatition/ thanks!
    https://www.facebook.com/SoftwareAG.Israel.SPL/photos/pb.177022865677721.-2207520000.1421216840./824539290926072/?type=3&theater

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  29. Bravo Pheebs! She looks so pleased with herself... anything to get that donut toy!

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  30. Oh, yes, CNMS over here haha! So... the napping thing isn't so frustrating with #2? Because not only does mine not have a nap "schedule," she just hardly naps at all :-/

    And, I think we're in some weird in-between stage on the crawling thing... we've got a slow-ish army crawl going on for the past 2 weeks which is sometimes awesome, but sometimes leads to, I need to go to the bathroom and she just drags herself to the (open) bathroom door and lays there crying like the world is ending because I've been "gone" for 15 seconds. And she IS a lot happier lately but I thought that was due to me eliminating soy and dairy from my diet... but maybe it is the crawling (oh please, please I want to drink real milk again!)

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  31. THIS VIDEO. I cannot stop smiling. She is PERFECT.

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  32. Oh boy, she needs to give Declan a lesson. At 9 months, he is still army crawling all over the place. I gotta bring him to the gym for some core conditioning.

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  33. That level of cuteness almost hurts.

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  34. I'm showing this to my 6 month old right now to motivate her. ;)

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  35. Adorable! My sweetie is 7 months and still in the "get on all fours and rock back and forth" stage. :)

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  36. Hello! Been a reader for years, but just not a commenter until now. But trying to turn over a new leaf this year. So just want to say thanks for all the excellent blogging - you do my mom heart good.

    Yes to the early mobility = happy babies! I have a 5 year old, a 14 month old and a 5 month old. We adopted our son and then found out I was pregnant several weeks later. So they are exactly 9 months apart. To the day. God is so funny. Anyway, our son started walking at 9 months, to which everyone said "oh, I'm so sorry". Are you kidding me? I was carrying around a newborn! A walking 9 month old was a dream.

    And then our daughter (the youngest) was colicky and so high maintenance. But she figured out army crawling several weeks ago - right before her 5 month birthday. And hello happy baby! She can cruise around, get into her siblings toys, and generally assert herself. And it makes all the difference. So yes - I'm right there with you - the earlier the better for babies having some mobility. I'll baby proof every day over listening to a sad baby, stuck where they don't want to be.

    Thanks for the smiles - Pheobe is just too cute.

    Ashley in Montana

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  37. Good to see this today! (Especially the not crawling 'till 10 or 11 months part.) My 9-month-old is a good 2-3 months behind his older brothers in the mobility department. Still not crawling, still not standing while holding on to things, and only just this week started pulling himself into a sitting position. We're just starting to get a smidge concerned about it. Just a smidge.

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  38. Love the video! I have a 7 month-old who is just starting to get up on her arms and lunge forward in an impressively uncoordinated move. She is so frustrated and I am just waiting for the mobile baby/happy baby.

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  39. Ha! New mom here and definitely struggling with the ever evolving nap schedule. CNMS is no joke! Lol I will laugh at myself next baby, right? ;-)

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  40. Bahahah, the lint. I love how excited babies get for anything within grasp. She pounced on that lint like a kitten. And for realz, I had CNMS hard core. My second is about to turn 7 months and she is like a drunken pirate trying to sit up, say a prayer for my next few months.

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  41. FWIW, neither of my babies crawled, Garrett walked at 21 months and Caitlin is closing in on 23 months very CLOSE to walking but not... quite... there. YET. I suspect it'll happen very soon, likely before her second birthday. I love Phoebe's pounce on the lint. Caitlin still eats random stuff off the floor, including huge tufts of cat hair. YUCK.

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