We've been MIA this past month. I've been gone 8 nights this month, Brian has been gone 2 nights and leaves again on Tue for another 4 nights! On top of that, we've been trying to get our house ready to go on the market, as we've decided to move to the suburbs if we can get our house sold. So, it's been a super busy month!
Now, on to the important things....Madeline is 11 months old today! How can it be that she is nearly 1 year old? I see little babies in daycare and when we're out running errands and it seems like just yesterday that she was that small!
Here she is at 11 months old:
And, here are the highlights of her month...
She loves being outside and exploring. Last night she crawled back and forth across the yard chasing after Cooper who was chasing after the ball, all while I proceeded to throw the ball and chase the baby. Good exercise for all involved!
During one of mommy's business trips, daddy took Madeline to her first car show and they went out for a few Mexican meals as well. Mike joined them for a few of the outings. As you can see here, Madeline is quite fond of our neighbor Mike who really saved us this month when he happily agreed to watch Madeline for a few hours while mommy flew out of Houston and daddy flew back into Houston.
She is now pointing and loves to point at everything!
She enjoyed another trip to Tucson where she spent some fun time with Grandma and Grandpa James....
....and got to swim in the pool with daddy.
She has turned in to quite the little cruiser. She walks around all the furniture and has quite the reach! She'll let go and stand on her own when distracted, especially when she has a toy in her hands. As soon as she realizes she's standing on her own, she gets a huge smile on her face and immediately sits down.
We have quite the little chatterbox on our hands. She loves to talk to people, herself, her toys, the animals, you name and she'll talk to it!
She now has 5 teeth (maybe 6, but she won't let me get a good look in there to see if the 6th has finally broken through the skin). She has taken to making this scrunched up smiling face, which is about the only time she lets you see her teeth! Her side 'fangs' came in before her front teeth, so she looked like a little vampire baby for a number of weeks. Those front teeth have finally made an appearance though, so the days of the baby vampire are coming to a close.
I love the face she makes when she is really concentrating on something. I wish I knew what was going through her little head when she makes this cute little expression. So many new things to learn and explore:
She has really enjoyed her jumperoo this month. She will often go over to it, pull up and start bouncing. When you put her in it, she goes wild. In these movies you can also hear our monster baby. She enjoys making this low pitched growl or grunt that we refer to as her monster voice. You her this voice when she is really enjoying herself.
Little cowgirl rides with one hand in this movie!
We've started trying to move away from purees and give more and more finger foods. You might think this looks like a lot of food, but she ate all of this (minus a few pieces of blueberry and avocado) and then proceeded to eat some eggplant and a banana. This girl can eat!!
Each time a make a comment on here about Madeline's sleep habits, I seem to jinx us, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't jinx us this time. Madeline is back to sleeping through the night. She goes down really well and has been sleeping until a bit before 7 a.m. I am so thankful that I *think* we have finally turned the corner for real! Besides making for a much happier mommy and daddy, a sleeping baby makes for a happier baby, too. She's been waking up cheerful in the morning and plays by herself for awhile before we need to go in and get her. She does this for her naps sometimes, too, and I tried to sneak in and watch her today, but as you can see, she discovered me. I like that cute little grin that she gives me!
Other noteworthy things:
-She weighed in at 17.5 lbs today -- I think she will have gained those 2 pounds that the pediatrician really wanted her to gain before her 1 year check-up.
-In addition to feeding herself, she also likes to feed you. If you take a bit of food from her hands, she thinks it is the funniest thing!
-Each day her hair looks more and more strawberry blond. I think we might have a little redhead on our hands after all! Her bangs are also getting quite long, so we need to find some barrettes soon!
-I think she's going to be walking before her 1st birthday, so stay tuned for new in that department. She just needs to get up the courage to let go!
I can't believe that the next monthly post will be her 1 year old post! Time sure does fly. We were chatting with a woman in line while we were waiting for our Father's Day breakfast and she said, "The minutes go slowly but the years fly by." How true that it is!
Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful daddies out there!
