12 month update

How is my little baby already one year old? Time has gone by so quickly! On the 28th, we celebrated her first birthday as well as Thanksgiving. She ate a pumpkin muffin (which she had at her birthday party instead of a cupcake) and she loved it! She also had some turkey and mashed potatoes at our thanksgiving dinner, although she wasn't so sure about the mashed potatoes. 

She is just the sweetest little baby and I feel so lucky to be her mommy.  Whenever she falls asleep, she has to be holding my hand or have one hand on my chest.  She also loves to give kisses lately which totally melts my heart! She will stop nursing to kiss me and at night before bed she will go back and forth between me and Michael giving us each kisses.  She likes to give kisses to her stuffed animals as well.  She has also be giving me lots of hugs! Every time I take her out of her car seat she lays her head on my shoulder and gives me a sweet little hug. 

 She's pretty funny about strangers and people other than me or Michael.  Sometimes she's just as friendly as she can be, waving to everyone she sees (even if they aren't looking at her).  Other times she is really shy and will bury her head into my chest when someone looks at her.  I went to dinner with my mom and her fiancé a few weeks ago and Betsy Grace was fine while we waited in the lobby, even waving to all the people walking by, but the minute that my mom's fiancé walked in she got so scared and started screaming.  I thought maybe she would calm down once we sat down to eat but she didn't. Every time she looked over at him she would get upset again.  Eventually, we asked the server if we could change our table to sit outside because I didn't want to bother everyone sitting inside with my screaming child.  She also freaked out in the mall the other day while we were in line getting a drink at Chick-fil-a and an old man was looking at her.

Her favorite foods to eat are chicken, yogurt, and grapes.  She likes blueberries, pears, raspberries, pretty much any fruit, cheese, and cottage cheese too. She enjoys cheerios as well but I feel bad giving them to her since they aren't all that nutritional. She is still primarily breastfed.  Even though she loves her solid food, she hasn't dropped any of her normal feedings yet. Breastfeeding an active one year old is challenging though.  She will nurse for a few minutes and then try to crawl down so she can go play. And just in the past few days her first little tooth finally popped through!

Her sleeping routine is pretty much the same as it has been, although she has dropped to only one nap during the day.  She wants to nap around 1pm and usually will sleep for 3 hours.  She sleeps the first hour or so in her crib (which is still as a sidecar to our bed) so I can sneak away for a minute to grab something to do while she naps.  I don't leave her in their by herself since she could easily crawl off the bed, but at least now I can sneak away to go to the bathroom if needed.  After an hour or so she starts to stir and I just give her some cuddles and she falls back to sleep.  She's sleeping about 10 hours per night, with nursing probably 3 or 4 times throughout the night.

She loves to play with her puzzles and read her books.  She especially loves books that have flaps or make noises.  She says "mama", "dada", "dog", and "duck".  She also barks like the dog when she hears him barking... "woof woof woof".  She loves to pet the dog and thankfully, he is very tolerant of her.  She loves to dance and listen to music and she tries to sing along.  She loves the song "What does the fox say" and if you ask her what the fox says, she will say "ding ding ding".  It's cute!
She has been walking all over the house lately with the little toy that she pushes around, but she has yet to take any steps on her own.  She will stand up by herself but she hasn't attempted to walk yet.

Yesterday she had her 12 month check up at the pediatricians office. She weighed in at 20 pounds 9 ounces and is 30.25 inches long. She's in the 86th percentile for her height and the doctor thinks she will be around 5'7" (definitely taller than mommy!). That's it for now!