eleven months!

This girl is ELEVEN months old!!! And two days, but let's not count those, okay?

Don't worry, this picture was taken ON her eleven-month birthday! No cheating!

Not only is this post late, it is also the one and only monthly picture that is on a chair other than the gray rocker in her bedroom. WAAAAH for consistency. We've been traveling, though, and I just couldn't get it together to take the eleven month pictures before we left town...and also, they would have been lying pictures, since she would have still been a ten-month-old. So boo, her final sub-one-year-old photo shoot is different than all the ones before it. I imagine we'll survive, but it is tragic.

No mommy, what's tragic is how hot it was while you took these pictures. South Georgia is no joke. AND WHAT IS WITH THE GNATS??!

Aliases: Millie, Mills, Millsie, Millsie Lou, Nuggie, Nugs, Snugs, Little Bit

Stats: 23 pounds, 10 ounces last week. She is still comfy in 12-month and 12-18 month clothes. She still wears a few 9-month things, but she is way too tall for the pants, ha. She sleeps in this little one-piece footless snappy thing that is size 9-months and it used to be pants and now it barely comes below her knees- it is hilarious. But it fits fine otherwise, so we keep on keeping on. Ha. Sorry, no picture of that awesomeness! She wears size 3 and/or 4 disposable diapers and hasn't worn shoes in a few months, so no idea what size she'd be there...but her feet are still proportionately tiny compared to the rest of her body. Oh yeah. I tried on some of her Carter's 6-9 month sandals the other night and they were still way too big. So...smaller than that.

Also, I haven't been tracking this in the past updates, but I wanted to note that she has 6 teeth now- her two super-visible bottom center teeth, two semi-visible top center teeth (with a huge gap between them to accommodate her lip-tie), and two practically invisible top teeth (on either side of the middle two) that broke through at the same time as the center top two but are still itty bitty.

I also do not wear socks right now, but I like to organize them occasionally just to make sure they're ready when I need them!

Habits:

• Eating: She drinks 4-5 bottles per day for a total of about 18-22 ounces normally. She is definitely less and less interested in them and much prefers to eat food with the rest of us! For solids, she eats basically anything we do- the only things we have intentionally not fed her are nuts, peanut butter, honey, and shellfish. Other than that, she eats like a big kid an adult! Meats, veggies, fruits, grains, seasoning/spices...yup. Currently her favorite is blueberries, followed closely by BBQ pork, cantaloupe, and sweet potatoes.
• Sleeping: She's doing much better sleeping in her crib and room now. She finally seems used to sleeping unswaddled and not waking herself up every time she flops around, and she isn't teething and in pain anymore...so she sleeps well again! We bought some blackout curtains last week finally and that seems to have REALLY helped her not rise with the dawn at 4:00 a.m. or whenever the sun comes up. She also falls asleep much more quickly at night now that it isn't blazing bright in her room. So she typically sleeps from about 8:30 p.m. until 7:00 a.m.-ish. Sometimes later if we're lucky. Sometimes earlier if we're not. She takes about 3 naps during the day, usually 30-45 minutes each...when she's at home or on vacation. ;) When she's at school, we're lucky if she get an hour of sleep total throughout the day.

Likes: EATING. She is never happier than when she's eating...unless it's story time, of course. She loves playing with her toys, swimming in the pool, banging things together/banging on things, and freeing items from their prisons (such as Kleenex from their boxes, socks from their baskets, books from their shelves, toilet paper from its roll, dog food from its bowl, magazine pages from their binding...I could go on...).

Yeah but this magazine looked really boring, Mommy. It's not like you were going to read it, anyway...

She really loves playing with other babies now, too, and it's adorable. She doesn't know much about sharing yet, but she certainly likes to laugh and smile at people her size!

Hey Laney, let me show you how to use your jump-jump...I'm a pro!

Would you quit making us look at you for pictures? We are BUSY!

Dislikes: Shots. Surprising, right? Those three days of shots last week were NOT her favorite. Too bad for her, they worked like magic...so the next time she gets sick, I'm voting we skip straight to the shots and not waste time. Sorry, Mills. She also has started passionately hating having her diaper changed. I suspect it's because she's been having diaper rash (from the antibiotics, from the constant ear infections...it's all related, I'm pretty sure) and it probably hurts plus we fiddle around with creams and such and it's just a more involved process than it used to be...but anyway, now she'll pitch a serious fit when it's time for a diaper change. Too bad that won't get her out of them! She also seriously dislikes being wiped down (with baby wipes or a wet washcloth) after mealtimes. It puts a real damper on her post-meal buzz.

Undecided about: Strangers making eye contact with her. Sometimes she will just give a smile and a wave to anyone! Sometimes she will burst out crying at the little old lady in the aisle at the grocery store who dares to smile at her. It's really a toss-up, so good luck if you encounter her at the store!

Special skills: About five minutes after she learned to crawl, she decided she'd just start standing up on her own, too! Not just pulling up on furniture- she can go from sitting to standing all on her own in the middle of the floor. And once she stands, she can bounce up and down- she looks like she's surfing. It's really adorable. And now she has even started taking one step, but she technically didn't start that til she was eleven months and one day old, so we can't count it here.Pretend you didn't read this. 

I will stand up to pet this kitty! And to show off my ridiculous booty-ruffles...

I can't believe this is the last monthly update I'll write before she is one year old. I can't believe how quickly this year has flown by- how she's gone from a little lump of baby to this big, active, brilliant, full-of-personality toddler bigger baby! When I look back through her newborn pictures, it blows my mind how far she has come already. I truly don't (yet) miss those days- right now she just has so much more personality and is so much more interactive and fun, while still being cuddly and baby-ish in other ways (like, ya know, diapers...). Anyway, I just feel encouraged that so far everyone has been correct- it really does get better and better. I have no doubt that by the time I write her next update she will be walking (and sprinting, most likely, and pole vaulting...) all over the place...and right now that just sounds insane, like I can't imagine it, who will she even be when she can walk?? But now I have these eleven months under my belt of thinking things like that and then finding that the next milestone really isn't as scary (and is even more awesome) as I'd anticipated...so I just look forward with happy expectation. This month will be awesome. Every day with her is a gift.

Ten Months

Nine Months
Eight Months

Seven Months

Six Months

Five Months

Four Months

Three Months

Two Months

One Month