Emma :: 11 months old

Dear Emma James,

You are 11 months old! I'm in such denial that you will be 1 in a month. This year has gone even faster than Hudson's 1st year. I'm not sure how that is possible. You are such a joy and such an easy baby.

You are so fast at crawling! I really don't think you are close to walking on your own. You do great walking by pushing toys and holding our hands but you can barely stand on your own without holding on to something. I'll be shocked if you walk before you're 1. I am SO okay with this!!

You have 3, almost 4 new teeth this month! Your top 4 teeth all started coming in about the same time. 3 of them have broken the surface but the 4th is still right below. So you have 5 teeth now! You are constantly drooling and have a runny nose. Teething was so easy with Hudson but they are not as kind to you. Although we haven't had to use any Advil, Tylenol, or Orajel in over a week so that's great!

You are really able to understand what we say and communicate back with us. You can sign "all done" and "more" but you also wave bye bye and hi. You understand when we say, "sit on your bottom," "let's go bye bye," "come here," "look," and if we ask you if you want to eat a meal. ("Emma, do you want to eat lunch?" and you will crawl to your high chair.) You also say mama, dada, and nigh nigh for night night.

You love to dance. When you hear music you will start bouncing and sometimes wave a hand in the air. It's so cute and funny! Your favorite show is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and love the Hotdog Dance at the end. You do very well playing independently but still love to cuddle and be held. You love reading books with Hudson.

Your schedule changed a little this month. You wake up between 6:30 and 7:00 and nurse for about 5 minutes. Then you eat breakfast around 7:30 or 8:00. You nap from 9:00-10:15ish. Eat lunch around noon and then nap again from 1:00-3:30ish. You nurse again when you wake up from that nap but only for a few minutes. Then dinner is around 6:00 and you go to bed at 7:00. You will nurse again before bed for a few minutes. You nurse for 30 minutes total each day. And that's a generous amount. Some days it's only 15 minutes total. You are weaning yourself slowly and I'm okay with this. I don't want to rush anything and I'm just letting you be in charge in this area.

You love just about any food except meat. You aren't a big meat eater at all. You love greek yogurt, strawberries, blueberries, cheese, scrambled eggs, goldfish, peas, green beans, and corn. You eat pretty much what we eat.

Your clothes are all over the place. You can still fit into some 3-6 month things, but you're also wearing size 12 month outfits. Your jammies are 9 months or 6-12 months. You are wearing a size 3 diaper and when you do wear shoes I think it's a size 2. You are also still ripping a bow out of your hair as soon as I put it in. I gave up on them for a while but I think I'm going to start trying again soon. You just look too cute with a bow on your head! 

You love to be outside. Now that the weather is cooling off we've started playing in the backyard and you love to crawl around in the grass. If we didn't have several steps down to the backyard you would crawl right out on your own. You don't know how to do stairs yet. You and Hudson play SO well together. I love watching y'all together and it makes me SO happy to see how much y'all love each other. You've also started playing with Oliver and it's so much fun. As always, he is so good with you and Hudson.

Emma James, you have made our lives so much more exciting. You are a little spit fire but you are so sweet and cuddly at the same time. You have a voice and you definitely know how to use it. We love watching you grow and learn and can't wait to see how you will continue to change and develop. 

We love you so much.

Love,

Mommy

::11 month stats::

weight: 20 pounds

height: 28 inches

eating: nursing at 7, 3, 7 meals at 8, 12, 6

clothes: anything from 3-6 to 12 months

diaper: size 3

And of course, Big Brother climbed up in the chair with his truck for a picture. :)