Eleven Months

Now that I am almost (not really even close to being) over the fact there is only one month to go before the big first birthday, I can write a little bit about Mallory at eleven months old.

19 Pounds, 6 ounces.
30 Inches long.
Busy, busy, busy!

This girl is amazing. She is sooooo happy all the time, it’s hard to believe it’s real. She has her meltdowns like any other baby, but for 90% of the day, she is just smiling and loving life.

We tried a few new foods this month, and tried a few new things. We’ve tried (and liked) corndogs, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, french fries (although she’s not to big on the texture), hamburger, cheese crumbles, string cheese, hard salami (not a huge fan), cantaloupe (to hard), pineapple (another one that’s two hard), raspberries, iceee’s, and ice cream. Mallory LOVES ice cream. I am not kidding when I say, she already knows when we are at Dairy Queen and can’t wait to get her bite of whatever it is that Christopher and I are having. We have learned not to give her any until you’re towards the bottom, or she will want and try to eat it all. She even moans with satisfaction after she gets her ice cream treat. It’s wonderful to watch!

Bottles are still there, but only twice a day. One in the morning and one before bed. Christopher is going to be taking on a new, morning schedule at work, which will require me to drop Mallory of at daycare instead. I think this will be a good opportunity to break her of the morning bottle, but the nighttime one will take a little more doing I am sure. She really enjoys that warm bottle right before bed. I think a little weaning process will be in order. A switch to a sippy cup for a while first. I am sure I will be amazed at how quickly she adapts to not having a bottle, she’s amazed me with so many things already.

Still sleeping like a champ, off to bed around 8:30PM and up between 7:00AM and 8:00AM. She generally takes a morning nap, and then another one in the afternoon. The morning nap lately has been around 1.5-2 hours long. The afternoon nap can range from 1-2.5 hours. Either way, she's getting plenty of sleep!

Mallory is a little show off when he comes to her new talents; she can now stand up along the furniture and turn herself around, holding on with only one (sometimes none) hand. She has figured out she can balance along the couch with her butt touching, which frees up her hands to clap. She will stand there for an hour doing this, just so proud of herself. She has even taken a few steps towards me (although she’s heading straight for the ground when she does so), and instead of getting down to crawl over to whatever it is that she wants, she will walk along the couch, as far as she can before she has to let go, to get there.

The little squirt has also started pushing her way behind us, through us, and over us to keep from having to get down and crawl around us instead. She gets frustrated easily and very demanding if we don’t move.

On that note, we have one independent little girl on our hands. Hard to believe I know, that MY little girl would be independent. She does not want help with anything, and is very content to take FOREVER to figure something out. She’s a smarty though; here is a video of her figuring out how to put on her sunglasses. Note the anger she displays when I try to help her…..

Mallory is a snuggler and a HUGE thumb sucker (I actually have a picture of her sucking her thumb in utero). They usually go hand in hand. Here are a few photos of her and daddy at Farmington Dew Days snuggling while watching the parade. It seems these days, you can give her any old blanket, she’ll pop her thumb in and it’s off to snuggle land. Naturally, we LOVE IT!

Big changes are coming soon. This weekend we are on a mission for two new car seats, forward facing. I can’t wait for that day, to be able to see her sweet little face smiling back at me. I also purchased a new (and larger) diaper bag. One that will hold more toys and fewer bottles. In just another month we get to make the switch to whole milk. HOORAY, no more formula. Maybe I will get to go shopping with the extra change in my wallet? We’re also going to need to put her crib down another notch; she can stand up in there now, and bend over the rail. I seriously thought that wouldn’t be until she was two years old. My how time really does fly!

This weekend will be Mallory’s first on the water at the cabin; I can’t wait to see how she reacts to the water, all the boats and fireworks. Stay tuned for some fun 4th of July photos to follow!