11 Months

Wow, now we are officially in the home stretch of finishing up Lucy's first year... We will be celebrating our little St. Patty's baby soon! I can't believe how fast things have gone! When Lucy used to be up all night and was nursing round the clock, I honestly thought I was so ready for her first birthday to come, but once we got into the swing of things and Lucy started sleeping more time started going by way too fast!

This month Lucy continued to sleep well, 12-13 hours every night and 2 naps a day totaling 2-3 hours (sometimes even 4 if I'm lucky!) She goes down really well for me, and will put herself to sleep, but we've had trouble getting other people to put her down to sleep. This hasn't been a big deal so far, but I'm hoping we can get that figured out so Ben and I can have our first night away from Lucy in the near future!

We haven't had a night away from Lucy yet because I am still nursing her during the morning and evening. This month she gave up the middle of the day feedings, I tried offering her formula but got worried that she wasn't consuming enough (I don't think she really liked it) so I went ahead and switched to whole milk a little early (which she loves!). I was a little sad to give up those two feedings, since my goal was to make it to 1 year, but I was actually able to keep the morning and evening feedings and haven't lost my supply. My plan is to officially take those two feedings away when she turns a year... and then pat myself on the back for nursing my baby girl for one whole year! I stopped pumping around 9 months since I could never get much milk out, so I've felt a little stuck at times, knowing I needed to be home with Lucy every evening. So, while I'll miss nursing Lucy and the closeness that comes with it, I'm excited to have a bit more freedom.

Lucy's personality has continued to blossom this month, we have such much fun playing together and she laughs all the time now. She loves playing peek-a-boo, especially when I sneak up on her and loves wrestling around on the bed. She especially loves getting a horsey-ride from mom or dad (below) or getting to ride on our shoulders or back... and I mean she LOVES to do those things, to the point where she throws a little tantrum when we take her off or won't put her on our back... so glad we introduced those things to her!

She also loves dancing still, anytime music is on and continues to carry a baby doll or stuffed animal with her wherever she goes.

People continue to comment on how happy Lucy is and how much she smiles... I always tell them how lucky we are! And how nervous I am if we ever have a baby that isn't as happy as Lucy. Friends will be with us for a whole day or over a weekend and say, "I never even heard her cry once!"... and I realize how much I take that for granted! She loves people and loves to smile at every person we pass in the grocery store and especially loves other children.

Her vocabulary is expanding and I think I've made out the following words: mama, dada, nigh-nigh, hi, bye, dog... although she's still pretty inconsistent with using them.

No doctor visit this month, although we did take her to the med-check one night because I thought she had an ear infection. Fortunately Ben's mom was working so she got us right in to see the doctor, only to find out there was no infection but she was running a fever. The fever ended up lasting for 4 days, with no other symptoms except for an extra cuddly/fussy baby... at one point I thought maybe she had meningitis and yelled to Ben that we needed to call the doctor immediately! Of course, I was over-reacting and had been researching a bit too much online and Lucy was actually fine :)

11 Month Photos... a cuddly baby girl...


All smiles as usual...