one year old!!!

Sweet Lilah Jane,

 The first year of your life has been so much fun.  I've really enjoyed watching you grow and develop into the one-year-old you now are.   It has truly been a gift.  It's a couple of weeks after your birthday that I'm writing this post, but I feel like you've changed so much even in the past couple of weeks that I'm just going to cheat and include that stuff.

 You have such an adventurous spirit.  You love the wind in your face, whether swinging on a swing, riding on a boat, or even having your brother blow in your face.  You love being swung around and spun in circles.  You like to hang upside down.  All of these things make you smile and giggle.  It is so sweet.  You also don't seem to have much fear, which could make for an interesting childhood. 

Here are some 1-year-old stats:

 

Weight: 17.5 lbs; Height: 28 1/4 inches (you're a peanut)

Number of teeth: 4

Words: hi, uh-oh, yay, yeah, read, more, no

Signed words: more, milk, bye

You have started waving.  You do this cute thing where you scrunch up your nose and breath in and out of it audibly.  Whenever you're excited about something, you kick your feet.  Even when you're not excited about things, you like to move your feet around in little circles.  I think you might have gotten that from me because I do that sometimes too.

When your daddy gets home from work, your brother and I have started saying, "Yay!!"  You have picked that up and now say yay often too.  You say it when Dada gets home from work, but also when other people come over or even just enter a room sometimes.  The other day I went to pick you up from the nursery at church.  It was a quiet morning in the nursery so it was really quiet when I walked up.  You looked up and saw me and broke the silence with a loud, "Yay!!"  Not sure a person can get a much better welcome than that.

You have definitely turned a corner with your social skills.  You let others hold you much more readily.  You even choose to go to others instead of me.  You'll stay in the nursery at church without crying.  It's a welcome change.  Especially since you still light up when you see me.

You really like to read books.  However, you definitely prefer certain ones over others and will often not make it through even a short book if you don't like it enough.  You're still picky when it comes to eating as well.  You're a great eater...as long as we're feeding you things that you like.  If you don't like something, getting you to eat more than a bite or two is usually a hopeless endeavor.

You learned how to climb the stairs this month.  The first time, your brother was right beside you showing you the ropes, egging you on.  Our stairs are split into two sets with a turn in the middle so that you can't see the top of the stairs from the bottom.  You made it all the way up both flights!  

A day or two later, I was in the kitchen and all of a sudden realized that you'd been quiet for a while.  I hurried toward the playroom, noticing that the gate at the bottom of the stairs was open.  I peeked around the corner into the playroom...no Lilah.  I immediately dashed up the stairs, turned the corner, and there you were all the way at the top of the stairs, standing at the railing and looking down into the play room.  Yikes!  I quickly learned that closing the gate is a must now.

It's so fun to watch you interact with your brother more and more.  He still loves to make you laugh and if he finds something that works, he'll do it over and over until you lose interest. 

 We've started this little family ritual in the evenings.  After dinner, when it's time for you and Caleb to get ready for bed, we all race upstairs to his room and dive onto his bed.  Then he jumps around and you join in on the fun.  You can't jump yet, so instead you get up on your knees and throw yourself forward onto your hands and giggle.  I think that's one of your (and Caleb's) favorite things to do. 

 
Here are a few pics from your 1st birthday party.  We kept it pretty low-key.  Brunch at our house with family and a few close friends.  It was fun to celebrate you!

 I made you some cupcakes and kept them as healthy as I could.  You weren't a big fan, but you humored us.

 You bring such joy to my life, Lilah Jane.  I wasn't super excited about having a baby girl at first, but now I wouldn't change it for the world.  God knew just what he was doing when he gave you to us.  I can't believe a year has gone by already.  In some ways, it makes me a little sad.  But I'm also looking forward to seeing all the exciting things that your second year will bring!   I love you with all my heart, baby girl.

Love,

Mama

eleven months old

Dear Lilah,

Eleven months old!!  That means one year is right around the corner!  So crazy how time flies.

 

I took you to the doctor earlier this month and you saw a doctor you hadn't seen before.  Here are some of the things she had to say about you (in a friendly, understanding tone of voice):

"Wow!  She's pretty opinionated, isn't she?"

"Is she really 10 months old?  She seems more like a teenager!"

"You better watch out...you're in trouble with this one!"

Ahh, yes.  I'm afraid she may be right.  Your daddy already calls you our little princess.  You definitely have your opinions and find ways to make them known.

People have asked me recently if you're personality is much different from your brother's.  Yep, it is.  Your brother was more laid back as a baby.  Not mellow exactly, but easy going.  We could bring him along with us wherever we went and he'd rarely complain.  We could pass him around to whomever we wanted, and he'd be totally fine with it.  We could easily leave him with others so that we could have some time to ourselves.  You, not so much.  You'll happily interact with others from the safety of your mama's arms, but you certainly don't want to be placed in a strangers arms, thank you very much.  On the other hand, you are more adventurous than your brother was as a baby.  You get into everything.  I don't seem to remember having that problem with him.  Ever since you started crawling, I've really had to keep an eye on you!  I call you my little explorer.

You are pulling yourself up now and seem pretty proud of yourself.  Or at least excited about the new opportunities that opens up for you.

 

Your hair is starting to get a little out of control.  Dada says we should cut off your mullet.

  If we do that soon, you will have had your first hair cut before your brother had his!  To be fair, though, he needed one a little earlier than he got one.

On Halloween, you got your first taste of candy.  Unintentionally, of course.  You were gnawing on a candy bar wrapper while trick-or-treating in your tia's arms.  When I got you back, I immediately noticed the chocolate smell.  So I took a look and discovered that you'd gnawed right through the wrapper and were actually sucking on a Snickers bar!  I, of course, took it away instantly and you screamed your sweet little head off the whole walk home.  And so Tia can now take credit for introducing both your brother AND you to sugar.

 You are getting to the point where you can interact with your brother a little more.  I think he's enjoying that.

It's SO much fun to watch you grow and change.  I'm loving getting to know you and can't wait to see what other developments are around the corner!  I love you so much, my baby girl.

Love always,

Mama 

ten months old

My girl,

Your mama is having a hard time staying on top of things (like blogging), but you just keep right on growing and changing.

This month you started crawling on your hands and knees.

And I have to keep a close eye on you!  You are quite the little explorer.  And you have a strong attraction to things like shoes, cords, and plastic bags.  If I turn my back on you for long, I'll find you halfway across the room with a shoe in your mouth. Lovely.

 I've already noticed how different it is for you as a second child.  You get to play with things that I'm sure your brother never did.  

Small balls, colored pencils, plastic bags filled with small objects.  Sometimes I'm diligent enough to keep them out of your reach or take them away if I see you with them.  Other times, I just let it slide.

It's fun to watch you explore though.  To you, the world is full of wonder.  

You got a couple more teeth this month.  The top two front teeth.  We had some rough nights when they were popping through.  And that was followed by a cold that stuck around for a while.  So every night you'd wake up (at least once) and scream your sweet little head off.  We'd be up with you for an hour or two.  It's in those moments that I need to remind myself (over and over) that I will not be able to cradle you in my arms a whole lot longer.  Still, at 2 o'clock in the morning, it's a tough reminder.  Fortunately, once you got past all of that you went right back to sleeping through the night. 

 You can stand with support, but aren't pulling yourself up yet.  You don't seem in too much of a hurry, and that's okay with me.

 You have gotten LOUD.  You really can make a lot of noise.  You're not noisy all the time, fortunately.  But you can be when you want to.

You've started getting into books more this month. You like the touch and feel ones the best.

I don't think there's too much else to report so I'll just throw in a few more photos.  Here's some of you chillin' with your dada...

laughing at your brother...

and hanging with your tia, who returned from Bolivia this month!
 

I'm excited that the two of you will have some time to get to know each other before she takes off on another adventure.

In the meantime, I am sure that you will be filling your days with your own little adventures.

I love you so much, little lady.  You fill my heart with joy.

Love,

Mama