Catching Up!

It's so difficult to believe that my tiny little Emily baby is now 1!! We had a little party on June 11, and I think we all had a great time celebrating Emily's birthday and watching her eat an entire cupcake (strawberry with cream cheese frosting). Her well baby appointment went well. The best part was that she got to stand on on the big scale. She looked especially tiny and cute standing there in just her diaper :) Her 9 month and 1 year stats:

9 month: weight-18 lbs, 5 oz (40%), height-26.75 in (23%), head-17.5 in (63%)g

1 year: weight-20 lbs, 6 oz (38%), height-28.25 in (23%), head 17.75 in (50%)

Emily has changed dramatically in the last couple of months. She started crawling when we visited the Letvin's in North Dakota when she was 9.5 months old. Once she figured out how much fun being mobile was, she didn't want to stop with crawling, and took her first steps right around 11 months. Now, she is walking all over the place, and sometimes even tries to run. She is a much happier baby now that she can get where she wants to go! Emily also "talks" constantly these days. The only actual words she says are "uh oh", "hi" and "dada" but she has her own version of a few other words like "diaper" and "thank you." Her biggest frustration these days is when she wants something and can't communicate what it is. She still does a few signs (more and milk), but hasn't started doing any others, even though we've been working on a handful of them for months. She has her own little language and just jabbers non-stop! So cute to hear her little voice!

We are down to nursing just in the morning and before bedtime. Emily isn't a very big fan of cow's milk, but she loves yogurt, cheese and cottage cheese, so I think she will be able to get a good amount of calcium, fat, protein and vitamin D, even if she doesn't drink much milk. She's still a great eater, and is pretty open to trying new foods. She loves all fruit, cheeses, and breads. She also does pretty well with chicken, pasta and some veggies. Peas, carrots, green beans, squash and sweet potatoes are her favorites, but she isn't a big fan of avocado, broccoli, or tomatoes. We'll keep trying!

Emily has become quite a good sleeper (yay!) She sleeps anywhere from 10.5-11.5 hours at night, and takes two naps that usually total 2.5 hours. She is starting to show signs of going to just one nap a day, but I don't think she's quite ready yet. So funny thinking back to the first 3-4 months of her life and how most of my life revolved around getting her to sleep and to stay asleep. I'm sure there will be other sleeping issues over the next few years, but I'm glad we're well past the newborn sleeping!

Well I've written a mini-novel, so I'll call it good for now! Matt and I are loving Emily's cute little voice and personality these days--she cracks us up every single day! We feel so blessed to be her parents!