Her first birthday has come and gone

It's the one you've all been waiting for, right?  She's a year old!  I saw a quote, "The days go by slow, but the years go by fast," and it couldn't be more true.  I remember when she was about 4 weeks old in the midst of colic and sleepless nights thinking, "What did I get myself into? 8 more weeks until the colic goes away? I can't last 8 weeks!"  I'd say from 4 months old and on, motherhood has been a complete dream.  Yeah, some days I want to stay in bed and will her to go back to sleep for another hour (or two), but for the most part I wouldn't choose my life to be any different.  Here's the list:

• At her doctor's appointment she weighed 18 lbs 14 oz (15%) and measured 29" (51%).  Her iron levels were low, so he prescribed an iron supplement drop.  Luckily, she takes the drops no problem (I hear they can taste like a penny, but I'm not going to try it).  He said it helps to take them with orange juice, but silly girl won't drink it, so I've been feeding her foods with vitamin C to help with absorption.
• She's pretty much weaned herself off the bottle.  I'm only feeding her one in the morning and she barely drinks it (like 2-3 oz), so I'm probably going to cut that one out soon.  She loves water, it's her favorite drink.  She tolerates whole milk if it's the right temp (about room temp or cooler) but does not like juice (pear, apple, orange, cranberry).
• She's finally feeding herself!  It started with Olive Garden breadsticks one day and she's been pro ever since.  She's learning to use her (4) teeth to take bites of larger foods.  The doctor said to expect 8 new teeth in the next 3 months (by 15 months most babies have their pre-molars), so then she'll really be able to chomp food down.  Her favorite finger foods are breads, Cheerios, puffs, and french fries.  She's still hesitant about the gooey or sticky foods.
• My big frustration this month has been her refusal to eat for me sometimes.  I know she's hungry, and it can even be food I know she likes, but it turns into a power struggle.  When Doug is home he can usually get her to eat for him (which makes it all the more frustrating).  She's eating 3-4 times a day and anywhere from 4-8 oz of food each time.  Since she doesn't really like drinking plain milk we mix it in with the cereal flakes before bed and/or feed her yogurt.
• She's belly crawling and will get up on her knees (in a crawling position) but plops back down when she decides she wants to go somewhere.  So definitely no walking yet, or even pulling up on things, but she's gotten better about standing if I lean her against the couch or a box.  The doctor said she won't be considered "late" unless she's not walking by 16 months, and then we'd just have to meet with a physical therapist.  She has plenty of strength to do it, it's just a matter of her deciding it's in her interest, and no amount of persuading on my part is seeming to help that along.
• Just this last Sunday (Feb. 14th) she really learned to get herself in a sitting position.  She's been able to sit up for a while now, but it's only been recently that she's done it herself consistently.  Doug and I would clap when she did it, for encouragement.  And now she'll sit up, clap for herself, will get down again halfway, sit up, and expect us to clap for her again.
• She says some words, kinda.  I think she finally has "dada" for Doug, and she'll say "mama" if I say it first.  I think she's been saying "theedee" for "kitty" for a while now, but I didn't make the connection until recently.  She's best with her animal noises, she knows "roar" (lion), "hoo" (owl), "eeow" (cat), and "emmoo" (cow).  She signals that she's ready to get out of the high chair by raising her hands above her head.  She waves all the time, to me, to strangers, anyone, and kinda says "hi" while she does it sometimes.

At the beginning of January she didn't like her "standing time"

I love this scrunchy-nose smile

When Grandma Becky gives you a cookie, you eat it.

What she does when I try to feed her.  Hand covering mouth and whining.

She still likes sleeping with her hands behind her head.

I said, "Eww, yucky! Don't lick that." So she looked me in the eye and licked it.

The only one I'll share my fries with.

We tried coloring, she wasn't super interested.

On her actual birthday we went to Sam's Club and got a soft pretzel.

She did a lot better opening her presents this time.

I made a cake just for her, and she didn't want to touch it because the frosting was sticky.

That's the messiest her face got.  After 10 minutes I called it quits.

I walked out of the room and came back to her sitting up.  She loves the tv screen saver with animal pictures.

Classic messy morning hair.

The rest are pics from Camera Shy that I did for her birthday.

She doesn't mind "standing time" anymore.

The easiest way to get her to smile was to get her to clap.

First Christmas, First Sickness, and First Real Snow

What an eventful month!  It seems like December is always crazy, but this one was a little more exciting too.  Her stats:

• Weight 17.8 lbs, Height 28".  She feels heavier but hasn't grown too much.  She can still fit in the 9 month sized clothes and the 12 month fit well too with some room to grow.  Her feet are still itty bitty, she wears a pair of the Carter's 3-6 month size but they are still pretty big.
• She's eating 3 bottles a day 6-8 oz of formula each.  I give her baby food 3-4x a day.  She usually eats 4 oz each time, but at lunch sometimes she'll eat 8 oz.  We've been giving her more table foods.  She loves all types of bread (pancakes, rolls, buns, etc.) and does okay with pasta.  With more solid things that don't break down as easily she tends to store them in her cheek instead of swallowing it (rice, vegetables, eggs).  She's also doing better about drinking water, meaning she'll actually drink it.  Before, once she tasted it she wouldn't drink any more, now she will drink it from a sippy cup herself (actually she insists on doing it herself).
• She goes to bed between 6-7:00 pm and will sleep until 7:30-8:30am.  She takes a morning nap about 1.5 hours after she wakes up and it will last from 30-60 minutes.  Then she takes an afternoon nap 3-4 hours after she wakes up from the morning one, this nap lasts 30-90 minutes.  For her naps and bedtime I just rock her for a minute and sing a song, then put her in her crib while she's still awake.  Sometimes I can hear her talking or playing for 10-15 minutes, but she eventually falls asleep.  Once in a while she will cry for a minute (especially if she's overly tired) but she'd good at self-soothing.  I've realized she's very sleep-motivated, I've never really struggled to get her to sleep (she started sleeping through the night at 2 months old).  Eating enough and motivating her to move and strengthen muscles have been my struggles with her.
• She has mastered sitting up (if we place her in that position).  She will sit as long as she wants to, and she's learned to lean forward on her hands to get down (instead of falling back and bumping her head).  I sit her up in the bathtub too after she's been washed so she can play for a bit.  She loves splashing and scooting around in the tub.
• At the end of the month she learned to inch-worm/army crawl.  She doesn't get up on her knees, she'll pull with her left arm and/or push with her feet.  It's probably not very efficient use of energy, but she's able to get around.
• It's still a struggle to get her to put weight on her feet.  She'll cry and get upset when we prop her up, but she's doing a little better than she was a month ago.  Once she decides she wants to then she'll magically be able to do it all on her own and will probably be walking a month later.

The snow really started to fall this month and I had to shovel the driveway (a few times).  I'd put Katelyn in her carseat on the porch all bundled up, and it's a good thing we don't have a very big driveway because by the time I was done she was cold and sick of being outside.  She caught her first cold and we were both miserable.  Her nose was all stuffed up with snot, but she wouldn't let me get it out.  We spent most of the days closed up in her room with the humidifier (and heater) on.  It was bad for about 4 days, then her nose cleared up and she was back to normal within a week.

Christmas was fun to plan for her.  I know next year will be even better because she'll understand it more.  We let her open a pair of pj's on Christmas Eve, and then Christmas morning she got 2 books from us.  I had bought a couple other toys but let her have them early (because she needed things to play with and I didn't want to wait a month before she could).  She got a musical guitar from G. Jaffa and she loves it, she'll bob and sway to the music.  Christmas was pretty low-key, but I'm excited for her to get older and understand more about it.
We took a quick trip to San Diego the week after Christmas.  Doug already had the week off and we had free hotel nights to use.  We drove there in two days, staying the night in Vegas (I don't especially like flying with her, and having to go through security, ugh).  She didn't sleep the whole time and got grumpy for parts of it, but it was still better than flying.  We went to the San Diego Zoo two days, the Safari Park once, and walked around an outdoor mall another day.  The weather was soo nice!  It was a little chilly in the mornings (around 50 degrees) but by lunchtime it had warmed up to the mid 60s.  Katelyn loved looking at the animals.  I think her favorites were the giraffes, elephants, polar bears, tiger, and gorillas.  It was a great trip and I can't wait to go back soon.

The morning result if I don't brush her hair after her bath

Her favorite thing is taking off her shoes and socks in the car.

Sometimes she refuses to eat for me, but will gobble it up for Doug.

Not liking the snow.

She got sick this month with a cold.

Snot bubble!

Unwrapping first present.

Christmas morning in her new pj's.

Cheese face is a result of the camera flash too many times.

Excited for her books.

All the Jaffa cousins are ready to help her.

Last minute trip to San Diego 

She loved the Polar bears, they were swimming and playing with toys.

Little 3 month old tiger in the background.

Efforts to keep the sun out of her eyes.

End of the day and she was pooped.

She didn't like riding the lion.

Long car ride home, trying to get comfortable.

Pacifier on thumb, one in mouth, and one to cuddle.

11 months old!

"Touchdown!"

Trying to get her to stand up more, we have to get creative.

Little Miss is 10 months old

My little munchkin is growing up so fast.  She's changed quite a bit this last month:

• Height 28 inches, weight 17.2 lbs.  Fitting in 9 and 12 month size clothes.
• I've been working on getting her on a schedule, 7:30a wake and bottle, 9:00 baby food and morning nap until 10-10:30, 12:30 another bottle, 1-1:30 baby food and afternoon nap until 2:30-3:00,  5:00 bottle, 6:30 baby food, 7:00p bath and bed.
• She's gotten good about taking her naps in her crib and doesn't cry (much) when I set her down while she's awake.
• She does a lot better putting weight on her feet and even balancing.  The other day she stood for over a minute while I just held her hands.  She's doing great sitting up too, she can sit unsupported for over 5 minutes.  Still not quite crawling, she gets around by rolling and pivoting on her tummy.
• Her chewing skills have improved immensely in the last month (from not allowing anything in her mouth).  We can give her little bits of almost anything we're eating and she will chew it.  I think her favorites are the Gerber puffs (sweet potato), pancake, rolls, and... cookies.  I let her have a taste of a peanut butter cookie to test her allergy and nothing happened, so I think she's good.  However, she does not like the Gerber stage 3 foods with the bits in them.  I don't know if it's the taste, but I think it's mostly because she thinks she can just swallow it like the normal food and then gags realizing there are chunks.  I've seen her put a puff in her mouth a couple times, but she has a problem letting it go, so she kinda licks it in her hand until it dissolves (yuck).
• I've also gotten her to kinda drink from a sippy cup.  One day I just handed her one while she was in the high chair and she started putting it to her mouth on her own.  I don't think she really likes drinking water just yet, but she's getting there.
• She's doing better at imitating sounds and noises.  Her favorite is blowing raspberries, but she can also kinda roar, clap her hands, and gurgle in response.  She says dadada but I don't think she associates it with Doug yet.
• She really likes looking at books.  The other day I had a board book on the floor in front of her and she was turning the pages by herself (the page had to be sticking up a little so she could grab it).

It feels like she grew up so much this last month and passed so many milestones.  She really is such an easy baby, it's funny the things she chooses to be stubborn about.  I know she understands a lot more than she can communicate and it's fun seeing her process new things.  It's getting easier to take care of her because she's becoming more predictable, I think putting her on a more rigid schedule has helped with that.

I almost didn't get the sticker on because she kept grabbing at it.

She likes this book

I could, and do, kiss these cheeks all day

Milo is becoming more tolerant of her petting him, and she's getting better and catching him.

First time sitting in a shopping cart

Morning pancakes

Second time in a shopping cart.  I've found if she doesn't hold on to the bar, she slides all around.

Thanksgiving outfit

Hanging out with the cousins over Thanksgiving week

Eating at Crown Burger, yum. (Also, sitting in a booster seat!)

Milo batting at the ears on her hood, and she was none the wiser.

Thanksgiving day and Grandma's house

Watching football and Daddy trying to teach her the touchdown signal.

Sitting on her own, but with cushions because she still likes to trust fall backwards.

Learning to use her own cup

Temper tantrum.  I think she was having a rough day.

I needed to empty the dryer and didn't want her to roll down the stairs.

Again, sitting on her own, but with a cushion.

She found her way to the Christmas tree.