11 months

Our little baby is 11-months old today. Eleven. Why does that seem so much older than 10 months? Maybe because in another short month, she'll no longer be considered a baby, but a toddler? We're going to have a toddler. Insane. I find myself shaking my head in disbelief at how quickly this year has flown by. My plan was to take her pictures outside today, so I was a little disappointed when I woke up to a complete downpour that lasted most of the day. When I got home from work, it was still a bit soggy outside but no longer raining so I put her in a raincoat, grabbed an umbrella and decided to go out and give it a shot. She's been busy cruising along furniture...barely holding on, but too afraid to completely let go just yet. When she "forgets" to grab on to something, she's able to stand on her own, but as soon as she realizes she's not holding onto anything, she sits down. I'm not sure if she'll be walking by her first birthday...we'll see. In the meantime, she's still crawling like a madwoman...she really gets going sometimes.

Her giggles are contagious...especially the ones where she throws her head back and lets out an honest to goodness belly laugh. There's nothing better than hearing a baby's laugh. So awesome. She understands when we laugh and she'll smile and laugh along with us eventhough she has no idea that she is the reason why. She loves to play in her crib before bath time...she crawls all around while we tickle her and she'll pull herself up on the edge of the crib and let go so she falls straight back while she laughs. It's so funny to watch. I really need to get it on video. It reminds me of when we were kids and we'd fall back like that on our beds and yell, "TIMBERRRRR!"

Changing her diaper has become increasingly difficult...I keep thinking this phase will pass any day now, but I think it's been going on for well over a month. Not only does she squirm and try to get away, she has added some loud screaming to go along with it. It's a high-stress operation we're dealing with here. Especially when there's an inch of poo hanging out on her cute little butt that I don't necessarily want smeared all over the changing table...or my hands. Speaking of changing...clothes are evil too. All those cute clothes and she doesn't want to stay still long enough to put them on. Shoes, however, have been winners. (That's my girl!) She'll sit on my lap and let me put them on while she intently studies what is going on. If she finds a random shoe of hers, she'll grab it and stick her foot up in the air so I can put it on for her.

She continues to learn new words/things. I try to pick an object every few days...something I know she'll recognize and I'll point at it and repeat the word until when I ask her, "Where's <insert object>?" and she knows where it is and points at it herself. She's so proud of herself when she knows what it is. :) As for actually saying words, we have a new one: "uh-oh." She likes to drop things on the ground...which is kind of annoying after picking them up for the umpteenth time, but add in an "uh-oh" in an impossibly sweet voice and it becomes quite cute. For now anyways. She also "barks" when she hears dogs barking...this one she picked up on her own. She scrunches up her mouth and says "wuh-wuh-wuh-wuh-wuh!"

As far as eating goes, we're still not doing so hot. (Which makes me wonder if she's really ours because we like to eat.) On rare occasions, she surprises us and eats really well. For the most part though, not so good. This is definitely something I will be asking about when we go to her 12-month check-up. I'm running out of ideas. I just want to make sure that she's getting all the right nutrients. I know everyone keeps telling me that she'll eat when she's hungry and that she'll stop when she's full...but seriously, two baby spoonfuls of yogurt does not equal breakfast in my world. And this "phase" is going on six months.

All in all, she is a happy little baby...when we're out, she loves to smile and wave at people. I think if she had a choice, we'd be out all day long. :) She's more and more fun every day...we are really having a blast with her.