11 Months

Yet again, another month has passed, and now Audrey is only one month away from becoming a whole YEAR old! I'm overwhelmed with emotion (I have had to stop the tears from flowing the past few days as I think about it) and am amazed at how fast the year has gone! In some ways, it feels like just yesterday we brought her home from the hospital, while in others, it feels like we have always had Audrey in our family. Either way, we cannot imagine life without her in it, and we are so, so, SO blessed to have our sweet daughter!

Today was a HUGE milestone as Audrey took a few steps ALL BY HERSELF! Jerry and I couldn't be more proud. Audrey was also quite proud of herself, as she would grab us, hug us, and squeal with delight when she reached whichever one of us she walked to! We can't wait to get this on video sometime, but it was really hard to do tonight. Earlier today, our sitter messaged us a video of her just standing by herself in the middle of the room, so Jerry told me later, "I think we should try to get her to take some steps!" We wanted to be sure we were the ones who saw her take her first steps, since we are both at work all day each day. We are so thankful that we got to witness this special moment! It's so funny to be all excited over someone taking a step, but when that someone is a person that you helped make, it's a bit bigger of a deal!  We're now trying to prepare ourselves for what is next: walking EVERYWHERE!!! We have already moved and rearranged things in the house to acommodate for her crawling, so I can only imagine that it will get worse! Time to put some more safety things up! She's on the move!

We are beginning to plan Audrey's 1st birthday party, which will be next month. I've made invitations, and we plan on shopping for some decorations, etc. soon. We're looking forward to a small gathering of our family, neighbors, and a few friends to celebrate the wonderful year we've all had thanks to Audrey being a part of it! For now, we'll just enjoy our 11 month old girl!!!

Mohawk in the bath tonight!

Audrey is 11 months old, and she...

• Wears size 12 month clothes, but is on her way to size 18 month
• Wears size 4 diapers and shoes
• Would rather walk (along the furniture or holding hands) everywhere than crawl
• Crawls QUICKLY when she does crawl!
• Squeals with delight when Betsy walks in the room
• Says, "Uh-oh!" "Da-da" and "Ma-ma" along with several other nonsense noises
• Gets very excited when Daddy comes home from work
• Only uses her pacifier while sleeping (and we're trying a night without it at all tonight--so far, so good!)
• LOVES macaroni & cheese, graham crackers, chicken, cheese, hot dogs, Cheerios, carrots, and so much more! No more baby food for our big girl!
• Drinks juice/water out of her sippy cup
• Seems a bit less excited about bath time these days, but I'm thinking it's because she wants to be on the move
• Usually goes to bed by 7 (sometimes before 6:30) and wakes up around 6ish
• Naps well at Mrs. Karen's but not so much at home on the weekends
• Loves looking out the window as she stands by it and talking to herself

Our next post may very well be regarding a big one year old!