Overall, I think this year went pretty great. Some days were challenging and taught us to have patience, but for the most part the 3 of us make a pretty good team, at least we think so! And, as much as Natalie is doing at one year old, it's hard to imagine what she will be like after another year. We look forward to teaching her new things and watching her at each new milestone.
Miss Natalie did not wake up in the greatest of moods this morning. She is finally down for a nap, and we're hoping its a long one! Otherwise, the theme of her birthday party might just be "It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to".
I had intended on adding a lot of pictures to this post, but you can see how our morning went. So for now, just the status update. We'll upload more pictures from later this afternoon.
Still no walking. She is getting really steady on her feet and gaining balance. She stands without holding on and when she gets excited she shakes her arms, but I haven't seen her lift either foot. As soon as she looks like she is going to move forward, she bends her knees and sits. Getting closer, but still not there. Her crawling is so fast that she really has no reason to walk!
I need to get the video camera out and film her crawling. She still crawls with her left leg/knee on the ground, and her right foot on the floor. It's pretty funny to watch. And at the end of the day, the bottom of her right foot and the top of her left are dirty.
Her "talking" goes in little spurts. She does new things and changes them up frequently. Two weekends ago she was saying "dooka, dooka, dooka". I tried to get it on camera, but it was too distracting and she would stop as soon as she saw the camera. When David picked Natalie up at daycare that Monday, Kristi said "how cute, she says tickle, tickle tickle". So, who knows what that was all about, but she's moved on to new sounds now. The last few weeks have also included "Uh Oh", except she does it her way and says "uh, uh, oh". No idea why the extra syllable, but it's really cute (and consistent!). Her vocabulary mostly consists of Dog ("dah"), Dadadada, Uh Oh, shrieking, laughing, and crying.
When we ask her where her baby is, she'll pick up her doll (as long as it is close by). We tell her to give the baby kisses and she holds it up to her mouth. So cute!
We've moved to the big girl bath tub sometime this past month. She was making a mess of the kitchen and was enjoying splashing, so we got a bath mat and put in the bottom of the tub for her. She loves her bath time (quite different from those first weeks home!) She splashes around and I'm constantly reminding her to SIT. Crazy girl keeps trying to stand. I leave her bath toys on the edge of the tub, and when I get ready in the morning, she comes in and plays with them, stands up, looks into the tub as if she wants to get in!
We had some crazy weather this past week. It went from around 100 down to 60s in just a few days. I gave her a bath on Wednesday, but it was kind of cool and I didn't really want to leave her hair wet. So, after she was dressed I sat her in the bathroom sink and turned on the hair dryer. She sat there and watched me dry her hair! I thought she'd be afraid of the dryer, but she just sat and watched. This technique will probably only last until she can figure out how to turn on the facet! After that..we'll have to figure out something else.
Wednesday was her first official day of getting cow's milk for lunch and snack! For two weeks we blended my freezer stash of breastmilk with cow's milk, gradually increasing the ratio and Tuesday was the last of my supply. She's still nursing in the mornings, but I think we'll be phasing that out shortly.
The best part of the transition to cow's milk is that we went cold turkey with the bottles! Natalie is now drinking milk from a sippy cup!! She protested a bit on Wednesday, but I switched cups a few times and found one that she'd drink from. I think bottles are a thing of her past. Now if we can just figure out how to abandon the pacifier...
Natalie is still great at falling asleep at night, as long as she has her pacifier. We had a rough week or so when she was sick (just a cold, no ear infection after we went to the Dr.). She cried and cried that week when it was time for bed, but now that she's feeling better, things have been pretty simple. Part of that was probably that it was difficult to suck on her pacifier with a stuffy nose.
Nap times at daycare are great. Still two naps a day, 1.5 - 2 hrs each. Naps at home could use some help. Not sure if she is just excited to be home, or she knows that if she fusses long enough I'll get her up or what her deal is. After 2 hrs of fussing, I figure she is not going to nap, so we might as well get up and start over. I get her nice and tired on her days home, and then she goes to daycare and sleeps the day away!
Things in the food department are still well. Natalie eats most anything but is not a big fan of meat, but I've made meatballs (ground beef and mashed potatoes) and turkey fingers (ground turkey, shredded apple, shredded carrot, onion, egg yolk cooked into the shape of little nuggets). She usually eats them the first night or two, and then she gets less interested. She had some of my chicken the other night, and a few bites of Papa's fish. I'm still hoping meats will be easier once she gets some more teeth!
Still only the 4 teeth. Bottom two came at 9 months and top two at 10 months. No activity since then! I hope the rest of them are as easy as the first 4!
We're working on the big girl car seats. The seat in my car is good up to 30 lbs and 30 inches. We're getting closer on the height, but we're not sure which seat we want to buy. David was using a spare car seat from some friends and the height limit was 29 inches. Her head was getting close to the top and she just looked too big for the seat, so we upgraded to the Sunshine Radian 65. We figure we'd give it a shot since it will let her be rear-facing up to 40 lbs and is a slimmer design so there is more room in the back seat. It seems like a nice seat, but we're not super exicted that it only fits in the middle position of both the truck and car. We can put it on the side, but the front seat has to be moved so far forward that it's not comfortable to sit in (unless you like your knees to touch the dash). The middle is good for safety, it is just a little difficult to reach for putting her in and getting her seatbelt on. Do-able for now, but we might research a little more before buying a seat for my car. I had no idea she'd be in her infant seat this long!
Natalie's party is this afternoon, and it looks like we're going to luck out on the weather! Family & Friends, food and cake. I can't wait to see Natalie eat her birthday cake! A few weekends ago we were at Ryan's party and I shared some of my cupcake with her. She actually cried when it was finished. Apparently she thought cake was pretty good. Meals are usually served on her tray and she eats with her hands, so hopefully she'll dig into her cake!
This post is far too long, so stay tuned for a party update and pictures!
This months stats:
Height: 28.5 inches
Weight: 18.5 - 19 lbs
Clothes: 6-9 and 12 months, depends on the brand
Diapers: Size 3
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