Its hard to believe that just one (very) short year ago we were blessed with our beautiful Lola Catherine! I will always remember that first second I saw her and was overcome with a love that I didnt know existed. She was beautiful, amazing and absolutely perfect. She was oh-so petite and girly with small, exquisite features. She cried a little right at first then became calm and quiet but opened her eyes right away to look into mine. It was unconditional love at first sight! I remember thinking that I never wanted to lose the feeling of that moment and I now know that I never will because I feel it every time I look at her still. What a blessing she is to me and to our family. We love her so very much! She brings total awe, happiness and light into our lives and we are forever grateful that we have been chosen to be the earthy parents of her beautiful, sweet spirit. Everyday she sees and learns something new and it has been incredible to watch the learning through her eyes. I am immensely lucky that I have been able to stay home with her and see all of her firsts and watch her little personality grow. She is definitely turning the corner to Toddler phase but she's also holding strong to some of her baby-ness which Im glad for because Im not quite ready to let go. I am very excited however, to see what the next year will bring for our Lola and I hope its just as exciting and wonderful as this last year has been for all of us. Here's to Lola being 1 and absolutely adorable (as always)!
Lola's One Year Stats:
17.0 Pounds- 2%
28.25 Inches- 19%
17.7 Inches (Head Circumference)- 45%
Lola's milestones, accomplishments and favorites during the last month of her first year:
Learned how to wave! She now waves at everyone and everything she sees that she likes. She knows to wave when we say "Say Hi" or "Say Bye-bye". Just this week, she has started waving at Daddy when I say "Tell Daddy Night-night". It is the cutest thing EVER! Im her Mom and therefore allowed to think that even her tiniest of tricks are amazing and cute!!
Sleeping through the night!!!!! At 11 months and 1 week she started sleeping through the night 3-5 times a week and by 11 and a half months, it was every night. One month later, she has only woken up 2 of the nights and that was due to painful ear infections. Hallelujah, I thought this accomplishment would never happen :) So for now, Ill very much enjoy the many hours of sleep at a time until the next baby comes along (and no, that is not an announcement of any kind).
Favorite games: Peekaboo, dropping/throwing everything she can get her hands on so that someone will pick it up and give it back to her only so she can do it again (not one of Momma's favorite games), is obsessed with putting things into buckets, bags, containers, etc., then taking them all out and putting them back in again- keeps her very occupied :); sits by the door and throws each shoe, from the shoe basket, down the entry step or slides them under the baby gate so they tumble down the stairs and then when the shoe basket is empty, she sits in it very proud of herself; she loves to be chased and giggles like crazy while she's crawling away as fast as she can; LOVES to do the opposite when told no, she even gets this naughty grin on her face while she continues to do what I just told her not to- perfect example: Several nights ago, she crawled over to the Xbox while Daddy was playing and I told her to please not touch the buttons on the machine. She looked at me with the most evilish smile an 11 month old could muster as she got her pointer finger ready and while holding this smile at me, turned her finger and pushed the power button! Daddy and I couldn't help but laugh (after she went to bed of course). Such a little stinker!!
Her eating and sleeping schedules are mostly the same. She (obviously) doesnt eat much and lately has gotten even more picky about what she will eat but we are trying to add fatter foods as well as wean her onto whole milk to try and beef her up a bit. Poor thing will most likely be rear facing in her car seat until at least 2 years of age. She sleeps close to 12 hours a night with a morning and afternoon nap of 1-2 1/2 hours each. Naps are still in her swing, however, yesterday we tried a crib nap for the second time and she went down with no fussing and slept for a good hour and 15 minutes. Crib napping might not be as difficult to train as I have worked up in my mind :)
One of the best parts of this last month has been how much Lola's personality has blossomed. She has quite the sense of humor and is always looking to make Momma,Daddy, Sister and others laugh. She definitely has my sense of humor and I worry for everyone she will torture for the next 99 years. I was (and still am) a huge tease and I still think Im funny even though sometimes (okay, most times) Im not. Her favorite teasing game right now is pretending to want to share with you only to have you reach out and she pulls away and thinks she is SO funny. She also thinks its funny to pull my or her sisters hair but hurry and make it look like she doesnt understand what she just did wrong. She loves to dump out her toy bin after I just picked up the room to vaccum or mess up her hair after I just finished styling it and she LOVES to pull out EVERY bow, clip, band, etc from her hair the minute I put one in. I have pretty much given up on her having cute hair accessories for the next while. But at least she does all these things with the cutest smile on her sweet face or I might have to thinks she is a brat!
And the other best part of this last month is that Lola said her first word AND took her first steps!! Im a little relieved that she's already accomplished these things as her older sister, Brooklyn, didnt walk until she was 18 months old! Turns out that Lola takes after me (and her Daddy- we both walked at 10 months) and took her first few steps 1 week before her first birthday! She has since made it up to 20+ steps at one time! She hasnt quite learned to go from sitting to standing without the help of furniture or people, but once standing, she's off faster than her little wobbly legs can carry her. It is absolutely adorable and I will make sure to post videos soon. And Lola's first word was Momma! Okay, I lied. Im a little embarrassed to admit that her first word wasnt even close to Momma and that I dont rank near as important as 'Doggie'! I did however call that it would be Doggie, so at least I can claim that Im an attentive mother who knows her baby very well... But yes, Lola LOVES doggies and anytime she sees one or even just hears one she immediately starts getting excited- jumping up and down in her seat as well as waving her hand all spastic like. There are 2 dogs that live across our street and Lola can see them from the front window when they're by their gate. She will stand by the window and just watch for them for several minutes at a time. Then one day she saw them and pointed to them with one hand while waving with the other and said "Dah-Di!" Of course it was SO cute that I couldnt be too bummed about it not being Momma and it wasnt Dadda either so at least he cant rub that in my face :)
So there's Lolas 11th month in a blog post. I cant believe it is my last monthly update! I am a little sad I wont being doing one each month anymore, but I will probably update just as often so not to worry. We are headed to St George this weekend (and Daddy and I are planning to sneak off to Vegas overnight while Grammy babysits)! The weather is supposed to be close to 90' and Lola cant wait to model her summer swimsuit collection! Pictures to come of course :)
Lola's first Birthday cake! We had a butterfly and flower theme and the lady who made these did such an amazing job!
Me with my beautiful birthday baby
Daddy and his princess
Grammy Lorraine
Bonka Steve
Not a great pic, but this is Lola with her Great Grandpa Gray. He is the last grandparent alive of both mine and Luke's and Im so glad she will be able to have memories of him being around while she was growing up.
Me and my cute girls. Brooklyn was a great helper when it came time to open presents. You would have thought they were hers! Maybe it was all that cake and soda, but she was definitely excited and just couldn't contain herself :)
Lola was a bit surprised when we started singing Happy Birthday to her. It was cute how shy she got about all the attention.
My baby girl and I on our first Mothers Day together!
Shaking her pointer at Momma :)
Already sneaking into the fridge :)
Just woken up from her nap- Such a smiley girl
Cutest little bum in the world!
Getting ready for bath time!
This is how she naps lately. So cute that she rests her head on her hand and holds onto her silky for sweet dreams :)
Momma's Wakie-shine girl
Getting into mom's clothes. She loves to put anything she can over her head! Silly Lolie :)
She likes to climb into her infant seat and hang out. Maybe she's trying to tell me she wants to get out of the house more :)
Lets just say it hurt. A lot. And maybe I even cried a little...
