Sweet Pea is 11 months old!!

One month away from her first birthday! Wow! It is hard to believe she was once this tiny baby with the furrowed brow. I am so thankful for God’s healing touch on her life.

This has been a big month of change and developments for this sweet baby!

Eating: Sweet Pea has decreased the amount of formula she drinks at 12 and 4pm. She only wants 2-3 oz. The other two bottles she drinks 5 oz. I guess our formula days are numbered. That is kinda awesome though because it will be like a pay raise for us!

Solids/Table foods: I think our pureed baby food days are also numbered. Sweet Pea will eat her pureed foods just fine, but when I offer her some table foods this baby gets excited. One day at lunch I gave her tiny pieces of chicken and she was SO happy about that. It took her a while to gum them but she sure enjoyed the chicken. She has also had tiny bites of turkey, green beans, peas, black eyed peas, sweet potatoes and spaghetti noodles. All were a hit. I would say one of her favorite times of day is dinnertime because she gets to try new foods!

More chicken, please, Mommy!

For two weeks this month, Sweet Pea was taken off “binding foods” (like applesauce, bananas, squash, carrots) and we were to feed her the non-binding foods (peas, peaches, green beans, etc.) to hopefully get her digestive system working better. After those two weeks, we added back the binding foods one-by-one every other day and I think Sweet Pea was relieved to finally have some variety to her diet. I am now trying to make sure she gets a good balance of binding and non-binding foods and her digestive system seems to be working much more efficiently now. I’ve also taken her off carrots because they don’t seem to agree with her.

Sleeping: The biggest news here is that Sweet Pea is now sleeping in the CRIB! No more Rock N Play sleeper! And…the transition went smoothly. June 29th Dave was working late and I was getting both girls to bed. I had already put Sweet Pea to bed (in the rock n play) and was getting Little Bug out of the tub when I heard Sweet Pea fussing. I thought she had probably dropped her blankie so I went in to give it back to her. Instead, I found that she had completely climbed out of the buckle!! I knew right then and there that was the night she was going to her crib. With a wet, naked Little Bug at my feet, I got all the stuffed animals that had accumulated out of the crib and then I picked Sweet Pea up and told her she was going to sleep in her crib! She wasn’t too happy about that but within 10 minutes she was asleep and she slept the whole night through. She has been in her crib ever since and hasn’t missed a beat.

Waking up in her crib for the first time on the morning of June 30th

There were some changes in her sleep patterns this month. She shortened her morning nap slightly and increased the wake time between her two naps by 15 minutes. She was overtired when we returned back from vacation because of missed naps and early wakeups, but it was nothing staying home for the week and laying her down for early naps and early bedtimes couldn’t fix. Within several days of being home she bounced back to her normal schedule. I love that about a Babywise baby. You can get them “off” but they bounce right back to normal within a few days.

Milestones: Sweet Pea is getting closer and closer to crawling every day! June 30th she started pushing herself forward with her feet/legs to get something she wanted! She has been turning herself while siting with her feet for a couple weeks now. She leans so far trying to reach things that she will often fall onto her tummy. She is still slow in getting places and I wouldn’t exactly call her “mobile” (although she is very close) but she found her way to the TV stand doors the other day and was quite proud of herself. Teaching her boundaries and that certain things are “no-no’s” is just around the corner.

Sweet Pea was siting in her highchair as I was feeding her and as plain as day she said, “Mama”! That was June 30th.

June 30th she also started folding her hands together when we say, “Let’s pray!” before a meal.

June 30th was a big day for Sweet Pea!

She has been waving goodbye for about a month now.

Favorite toys/activities: Sweet Pea plays with just about anything you give her. She loves toys but she also loves to explore objects that aren’t necessarily toys but are still fun to play with. A box of toys brings her much pleasure and entertainment. She will sit and play for a good long while with a box of toys. I see those days coming to an end very soon however with her newfound mobility! She wants to get places now instead of just sit. I love this phase of babyhood. It is so fun to watch my baby explore her world on her own.

She still goes to town jumping in her jumperoo. Sweet Pea jumps so fast and furious in that thing that sometimes we wonder if she is going to catapulted herself out! Little Bug likes to interact with her when she is in there. She gets Sweet Pea laughing hysterically while she is jumping.

Diapers/Clothes: Sweet Pea was moved to size 4 diapers this month. She wears 6-9 month, 9 month and 12 month clothing. I recently packed up all the 6 month clothing.

Personality: Sweet Pea is still just the sweetest little baby you’ll ever meet. She is known by her smile, which is why her first birthday theme will be “Smiley Faces” (I think)! She does love her Mama. She doesn’t like to be away from me for long and I don’t mind that in the least little bit.

She’s never been one to complain about anything really, but in the last couple of days she has shown some frustration in not being able to get where she is wanting to go and she has shown her dislike of having something taken away that she wants.

Sisters: One day Sweet Pea and Little Bug were playing and Sweet Pea’s finger was accidentally closed in a drawer. Little Bug was so concerned about her sister. While Sweet Pea’s cries were pathetic, I was so happy to see the concern Little Bug had for her baby sister. She wanted to make sure she was okay.

Schedule (10 months old):

8am wake up, Breakfast

9:30-11:30am nap

12:00pm Lunch

1:30 – 4:00/4:30pm Nap

4:00/4:30pm Dinner

7:00pm Bath, bottle

7:30/7:45pm Bedtime

Happy 11 Months, Sweet Pea!!

- Elaine