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.