Lena: 11 Months

Quick picture snapped after the Christmas Eve service at church.

Lena is 11 months old. I can't believe she's going to be one next month! By the time Lucy was 11 months old, I had spent weeks researching and planning her first birthday party. Sorry, second child. I think you might just get a cake and some balloons. Lol. 

Anyway! Here's what's up this month:

Routine
We've really started to nail down a good routine. (Which will change as soon as I hit "submit" on this entry.) It usually looks something like this:
7:30 Wake up, nurse.
8:30 Eat breakfast: waffle and half a banana. (She rarely eats much of the waffle.)
9:30 Nap
11:30 Up, play for a while
12:00 Lunch, play
1:30 Nurse, nap
3:30 Up, snack
5:30 Dinner
7:00 Nurse, bedtime

Eating
For a while, I was stressing about how to drop a feeding during the day. Finally, I just decided to worry less about how many hours it had been since she'd nursed, and just feed her 3 meals a day, snacks when she acted hungry, and nurse her once at my leisure. It has worked out well to nurse her before her afternoon nap, but I think we'll drop that soon.

She's a good eater and loves most foods. Some of her favorites include: bananas, peas, carrots, peaches, pears (canned - she chokes on fresh ones because they're too hard - same with apples), mac n' cheese, lasagna, pasta of any kind, bread of any kind, chicken nuggets (I peel the coating off, so she just gets the chicken), cheese roll-ups, goldfish, puffs, and anything sugary. If she ever sees anyone eating anything, she will be at their side in seconds begging for a bite. She's recently started to say "om om om" when she sees food. It's adorable. :-)

She's become a pro at drinking out of a cup. She tips her head back and guzzles it. Right now she's just drinking water with a splash of apple juice. In a couple weeks I'll start introducing cow's milk.

Sleeping
Last night for the first time in her entire life, Lena slept through the night. And there was much rejoicing!! We celebrated Christmas at Justin's parents' all day and got home late, so I didn't feed her/put her to bed 'til 8:30. She didn't wake up 'til 7:30 am!! Woohoo!!

Her sudden ability to sleep through the night wasn't a total fluke. I've been working with her for a week. We started CIO last Sunday. I fed her at 8 and midnight, then made her cry it out at 4. She was actually much easier than Lucy was (probably because she's older). She only cried about half an hour for the first few nights, then just kind of fussed by day 4 or 5. Last night was day 7. So we'll see if it continues!

She's a great napper. I don't even rock/sing to her anymore. I bring her upstairs, turn on the fan, lay her down on her back with an "Ellie" on each side of her. (Her lovies.) She grabs onto them, usually covers her face with one or both of them, I cover her with a blanket and she goes to sleep. She sleeps with one binky. (Lucy had 3 by this age. Haha.) She usually sleeps for 2 hours like clockwork.

But she's a very light sleeper. If I ever try to sneak in my room (where she sleeps) during her nap, she automatically senses me and bolts upright. If I turn off the fan, she wakes up immediately. For a while, at night when Justin went to bed, she'd wake up every single time he took off his belt. The clanging of the metal woke her up. Ridiculous. Once I have her consistently sleeping through the night, my next challenge is going to be transitioning her to the crib in Lucy's room. I am majorly dreading it. She's getting this sound machine for Christmas though, so hopefully that will help somehow!

Walking and Words
She's getting so close to walking! She pulls up on everything and cruises around furniture with ease. She lets go of furniture all the time and stands alone - especially if she's distracted and doesn't realize she's doing it. Haha. She can get down to sitting/crawling from a standing position, but I haven't seen her stand up in the middle of the room without holding onto anything yet. 

As for words, she definitely says uh-oh. I'm declaring that her first word. She whispers "wow" (usually at the Christmas tree or my mom - haha, Grandmas are amazing). She says "om om" for food. And I'm pretty sure she means "mama" when she says it now.

Milestones and Personality
The fun stuff! In no particular order:

• She hates baths. She loves to stand by the tub while the water is running, but as soon as I put her in the water she starts screaming. I've gotten good at giving speedy baths. 
• She loves music. And she knows the word "dance." If I say, "Dance, Lena!" she starts bopping her head and bouncing up and down. So cute.
• In the past week, she has mastered climbing stairs. She did it for the first time at Justin's grandparents'. I was standing upstairs and she was downstairs with Justin. She caught sight of me and booked it all the way up. (It's not a short flight of stairs!) The next day she figured out the steep, wooden stairs at home. It's actually kind of a pain. I have to remember to close the door to the stairs or I'll find her halfway up them. Haha.
• She suddenly turned the corner and has gotten so much better at playing by herself. I think it really started once she became so mobile. She loves crawling around the house getting into stuff. When she's hungry or tired, she'll start to climb on me and whine, but for the most part she's content to play with her toys. Woohoo!
• She's starting to get an attitude. She screams when she doesn't get her way. She's obsessed with my camera/computer/Luke's iPad. Every time I take them from her, she screeches. Naughty. 
• When she sees someone she recognizes, she makes this hilarious face (that I've yet to capture on camera) - she kind of tilts her head back and does this thing with her mouth that makes her look scared. Lol. I obviously can't explain it. Take my word for it. It's hilarious.
• She loves "touch and feel" books, but still won't really let me read to her. She likes to look at books on her own terms. Lucy was the same way and loves to read now, so hopefully Lena will come around.
• Still no teeth. Although I've seen her chomping on her fingers a lot lately so I'm starting to wonder if they're in sight!
• She's not a very consistent clapper/waver. She does it on her own terms. Haha.
• She loves her tongue. She's a little lizard.
• She loves seeing how many things she can hold at once. Again, something I can't really explain. For instance, she loves Lucy's dominoes because she likes to see how many she can cram in her little hands. When we went to the Children's Museum, she did it with screws:
  

• She loves animals. She's not at all scared like Lucy is. She gets so excited every time she sees Lola or any dog anywhere. 

Ok, this has gotten ridiculously long. You get the point. She's totally adorable and hilarious and awesome. We love her so much!!!!