11-12 Months

Well, I figured I needed to get this up before FRIDAY when Elsa turns ONE! I cannot believe it.

Before I get too far into what she's been up to, I want to welcome my newest nephew, Noah, into the world! He was born on May 9th. Look how cute he is! I'm so happy he is finally here, and I am so anxious to meet him!

I already wrote about month 11, so I am going to go ahead and write about month 12 and leave the one-year post for the birthday pictures.

As for 11 month stats, Elsa weighted 19 lbs 3 oz. And I never measured her length. Whoops.

 Well, we are excited to share that Elsa took her first steps April 29th. That is probably the biggest milestone for the month. Since then she has gotten pretty steady on her feet. It is so neat to watch her confidence develop and take more risks like walking on different surfaces. Now she is trying to climb up on the couch, and climb in and out of toys.

We continue to meet up with my friend and her daughter on Tuesdays, and we started meeting up with another friend of mine and her son. It's been a blessing to have other mom friends to talk to and relate with. Both of their kids are a couple months older than Elsa, close enough in age but old enough to give me an idea of what is to come. :) Perfect!

I was able to celebrate my first Mother's day this month. Shane was so sweet to me. I felt very loved. I feel so blessed to be in the place that I am.

 Elsa has started to say a few words...so we think. Shane and I have heard "dog" and "yogurt" (or "gurt"), my mom and David have heard "water," and Grannie and Pawpaw have heard "apple." She always waves hello and goodbye now, she's close to blowing a kiss, she signs "more," and she responds to the words duck, ball, walker, button, her name of course, book, cheese, and "want to go for a run?" (she goes and stands by the jogger <--my sanity, thank you G and L)...I think that's all. It's hard to think of everything while sitting here...I'm a proud momma, can you tell? Oh, and she tries to put her socks and shoes on...sooo sweet. And she has 6 teeth. Ok, I'm finished.

She continues to sleep 11-12 hours a night and nap 4 1/2-5 1/2 hours during the day. She put herself on a pretty impressive schedule. I told her that I get kind of lonely during the day with her sleeping so much, but she didn't seem to care enough to wake up sooner (and it leaves me with no excuse for a dirty house, dirty dishes, dirty laundry, or clean laundry not folded, thanks, Elsa). She's a great eater and tries everything. I had no doubt she would be between Shane and myself, but it is nice to see that she is eating well. Last week my parents neighbors brought over a tone of Lebanese food. I didn't want to share it because it was amazing, but I did end up giving Elsa quite a bit of it. She loved it! How could she not though? It was the best food I've had in a while.

Speaking of clean clothes still sitting in the laundry basket...

We bought her a couple early birthday presents. A pair of shoes and a seat for the bike. We've been on bike rides every weekend since we bought the seat. She seems to like it. And considering she fell asleep on the last ride, I think it's safe to say that she isn't nervous.

This past weekend we went to Monroe for the weekend. A couple weeks before that we had our first tear-free swinging at the park. I was excited to share that with Grannie and get her excited about swinging Elsa on the swing at their place...of course all of us forgot to bring the camera down to the gazebo, but here is one from the park from the week before. 

Grannie and Pawpaw were eager to teach Elsa new things. They were teaching her "up" and "down" and "off" and "on." Elsa got the hang of this little game (where you put the rings on the stand in order from biggest to smallest...not sure what the toy is called) and then decided she wanted Grannie to put all of the rings on her arms. She is a hoot. They also walked her out to the orchard to teach her about the apples, blueberries, pears, and peaches. 

When Shane gets home from work she follows him into our closet and then puts her hands up for the pull up bar. Does anyone else know of a 10 month old that could do a pull up? How cute is that? 

Then we take her for a run around the lake, and when we get home she plays on Daddy while he does crunches and I make dinner.

This month she's started to ask for piggy back rides. She comes up behind me when I'm sitting down and grabs the back of my shirt, and then tilts her head as if she's asking, "Do you see me mom? I want to go for a ride!" How can I resist the cuteness? I don't. I trot all around the apartment as she giggles on my back. Over and over and over and over again...it's a workout! 

Piggy back rides with mommy, and follow the leader with daddy. 

And here are a couple pictures from today to end on

She figured out how to climb in...

And her first attempt getting out. It looks like it would end ugly, but don't worry, she didn't hurt herself. And she's improved on her exit. 

It's looking like laundry is becoming a theme. 

Thank you to all of you that love her so much and so well. We are excited to celebrate her first year despite most of our families are not able to make it. We are so blessed to be apart of two amazing families and wish we were all together more often. We couldn't have asked for more love for this child. We pray daily that she will accept the ultimate Lover into her heart soon. We are so thankful the Lord gave her to us, and we will be so thankful when she gives Him her whole heart.