11 Months Old!

How did my girl turn 11 months old? It seems like only yesterday, we were bringing her home. She growing up too fast! I'm in party planning mode here and also Christmas mode. Things are definitely crazy! ha!

Ellie took two steps on her own last week. She had a nasty virus last week and I spent two days at home with her while she had a pretty high temp. Finally Wednesday evening she started feeling better and Barry was playing with her on the floor. She let go of the coffee table and took two steps towards him. It was sweet! She definitely loves her daddy. She hears the garage door open when he comes home and starts looking for him. As soon as he walks into the kitchen from the laundry room, she starts crawling as fast as she can to him. I love to watch her...and him!

She's started saying, "Wo" in the last couple of weeks. She'll say it when Sam comes running up to her or something surprising happens or even if she drops something. I think Barry and I must say it quite a bit. It's too cute. I think she says a lot of other things that I say to her often, but I'm not sure. Is it an accident or real words. So hard to tell sometimes because this girl babbles ALL. THE. TIME. She wakes up talking and doesn't stop until we lay her back for a nap or bedtime.

Speaking of bedtime...well really wake up time. Ellie still has her pacie. She's only ever had it at bedtime or in the car. We occasionally give it to her at church when it's nap time, but she doesn't get to crawl around with it. When she wakes up in the mornings, I'll pick her up from her crib and tell her to throw her "night night pacie" in the crib. She takes it right out of her mouth and throws it back in her crib. It's so stinkin' cute!

My girl has started biting. What's up with that?! Our pediatrician said most babies don't start until around 15 months. Just our luck she'd be an early bloomer with the biting. The first time she did it, I screamed a little because it HURT! This girl has 8 teeth and she bites hard. Plus it was unexpected. She laughed so it was hard for me to be serious, but I told her no. The next time she did it, she pretended like she wanted to snuggle and bit my shoulder. She's done it several times. Our pediatrician gave me some good advice and I'm hoping it works. The last thing I need is her biting one of the boys at the babysitter's.

If we are playing with Ellie on the floor, Sam is sure to be right there. A while back he stole one of her small teddy bear stuffed animals with a rattle right out of her toy basket. I didn't catch it in time and he'd slobbered all over it so I let him keep it. One day last week, he was chewing on what I thought was that, "baby" as we call it. All of a sudden I heard a "baaaa" coming from it and realized he'd stole another animal from Ellie. I grabbed it from him and washed it off since he'd just picked it up. The lamb got a good bath and was as good as new. Well, fast forward to playing later in the day. I'm playing with Ellie and throwing Sam's other slobbery baby for him to go get and bring back. Ellie goes to her toy basket, gets out that lamb and hands it to Sam. He takes it from her and runs off. I had to chase that dog to get that lamb back. Apparently Sam and Ellie have worked out some deal so he can have that lamb. They are really starting to interact more lately and it's so cute. She's even been throwing him puffs from her high chair.

Ellie is still wearing 9 month clothes and a size 3 diaper. I do have some 12 month onesies I got a while back for Christmas because I wasn't sure how big she would be by now. They fit, but are definitely big on her. She can't wear 12 month pants though, they fall right off her. She's just a little thing with a big personality. She laughs most of the time. Of course she's getting to that point where when she wants something, she wants it. If you tell her no, there is likely to be some screaming.


And now the important stuff...pictures!  I have gobs of them because she was just too cute this month.  Still a bit of a goopy eye.  Going to see a specialist in January about the clogged tear duct.  Hoping we come up with a plan. 

Here's a bit of that temper I mentioned.

laughing at my funny faces

had to pose in front of the tree

this is before our christmas with barry's parents and grandpa last night, but i love it so i had to throw it in!

My mom, sister and nephew arrive tomorrow.  I'm so excited!  Can't wait to get lots of pictures of Ellie and Cooper together.

10 Months Old...

Better late than never, right?!

Ellie has so much personality! She is so much fun! I wish I could freeze time right now...of course I think that every month. This month is so much fun though! Ellie laughs and smiles so much. I think she's got to be the happiest baby I've ever met. Don't get me wrong, we've seen glimpses lately at some serious stubbornness. But, that's OK too. We love everything about this sweet darling!




We finally got in for our 9 month well baby visit when she was 10 months old. Our pediatrician had to reschedule the previously scheduled appt. Ellie weighed 19.6 oz. Even though she's only between the 50-60% for weight, she's in the 90% for height. She is growing!

We still have lots of drool, but definitely not as much as before those last teeth popped through. She loves to bite. Sometimes us, but mostly our clothes or blankets...things like that. She's never been interested in those teething rings that you freeze or refrigerate too much. She is however loving her tooth brush! I’ve been brushing her teeth for a while and now she wants to do it herself. So of course I let her after I do the actual brushing. She smiles as soon as she sees that thing!




At our visit with Dr. L, he told us we could start some table foods. I had already given her a few things, but he said to try turkey on Thanksgiving. Let me just say, it was not a hit. I even tried leftovers with her a couple times and it's a no go for now. I think it might be the texture because her response was to put it in her mouth and then make a very odd face. ha! She did however LOVE the mashed potatoes. We've also tried steamed peas with the skin peeled off. She loves those as well.


She has added a couple words to her repertoire "dada" and "mama." She also says, "dog-dog," "no-no," and "ni-ni" (when it's time for bed). At first she only said "dog-dog" when she would see our dog, Sam or I would ask her where he was. Now she says it when she sees any dog. It's so sweet.
She loves, loves, loves to sing! In church she has started singing/humming along with the songs. We sing songs in the car and I'll look back in the mirror and she's just smiling away. We sing the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" several times a day and she now tries to do the hand motions. It's mostly just lifting her hands up and down, but it's so cute.

Bed head!

Ellie is still cruising around furniture. We also borrowed one of those stand and push toys from a friend and she goes to town with that thing. She will stand still on her own, but as soon as she realizes we've let go of her fingers, she sits down. She is just lacking the confidence...she'll get there though.  She also stands at her Laugh and Learn Fun with Friends Musical Table.  She crawls right to it and then will play with the different activities on it for what seems like forever.  She just loves it!




This girl loves to read! We have SOOOOOO many books. I went a little crazy with the board books. I turn in a scholastic book order every month for my class so I also go on their website and order from the baby/toddler book order. Ellie had shelves full of books before we ever even got the call for her. Now she continues to get books. Plus her Aunt Laurie (my bff) sends her a gift each month for her month birthday. There is usually one or two books included in that. You know how us teachers are! Anyway, her favorite right now is, Toes, Ears, & Nose! It's a lift the flap book of body parts. She will let us read that to her multiple times while she lifts the flaps. We've only had one mishap and had to tape the flap back on.

Reading with Daddy

 


Sleep is still a wonderful thing for us. She has been going down between 6:30 and 7:00 and I wake her up about 6:30. The weekends she usually wakes up by 7:00. I think mostly because she's in a good routine. Over Thanksgiving break, she slept until about 7:30. She still takes two naps a day. One in the morning for about 2 hours and her afternoon nap is down to 1.5-2 hours. On Sundays, she only gets one nap because of church. She sleeps in the car on the way to church for about 15 minutes and then sleeps after church for about 2.5-3 hours. She doesn't seem to have trouble with that. I mean I know she's tired, but never gets too cranky. She is definitely a go with the flow baby girl.

All in all....Life is GREAT!
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