In exactly a month, Claire will be a year old! Can you believe it!?!? I know we can’t!

As each day passes, more of her personality comes out and she continually keeps us laughing. She is so much fun to be around!

Here’s a rundown of our adorable little 11-month-old:

• Weight: She’s a little over 18 pounds. She definitely went through a growth spurt over the last month or so and is looking so big and tall!

• Loves:
  • To point at everything! She loves to point at pictures of us, at things she wants, and basically everything. It’s so cute!
  • To talk – she has a lot to say and I want to squeal every time she starts chatting because her little voice is almost too adorable to handle.  It’s sounding a lot more like she’s trying to say words and sentences, even though it’s still her own little language.
  • To walk around furniture while holding onto it. She’s getting better at holding a toy with one hand and holding onto the furniture with the other hand.
  • To have Mommy and Daddy help her walk around.
  • We went to our family cabin for Easter weekend and Claire LOVED to use the high chair as a walker (it has wheels) and would push it around the cabin non-stop.
  • She loves to eat grapes, cheese, and spaghetti! Those are really the only true “solids” that she eats, all other solid food is pureed.
  • She loves drinking from her new water bottle and munching on Puff snacks.
  • To give kisses.
  • To flip through (and, unfortunately, eat) board books.
  • To snuggle.
  • Going on slides. We took her on her first one last weekend and she had the time of her life.
  • Zoe, duh! Zoe is turning a year old on April 23, by the way.

• Hates:
  • Diaper changes.
  • The nose frida. She HATES having her nose blown.
  • Being fed. She’s an independent woman and would prefer to serve herself.

• Talents:
  • She can say “Ut Oh” and loves dropping things on the floor and saying it. It’s absolutely adorable and I can’t get enough of it. She especially loves saying it in the bathtub when dropping toys outside the tub. Her little voice is soo cute!!
  • She can take a few steps! She’s definitely not walking yet but she can walk from one couch to another (about 2 steps to get there) and, the other evening, pulled herself up to stand on me, turned around, and took 4 steps. We were so surprised that we started cheering and she sat down, got the biggest smile on her face, and giggled. She only takes a few steps maybe once a day, if that. It hasn’t become a regular occurrence yet.
  • She can stand for longer periods of time – I’ve counted up to 45 seconds at one point!
  • She understands us more – I can say “Where’s Mickey?” or “Can you give Zoe a hug?” or sing the Winnie the Pooh song and she totally responds and points to, hugs, or goes to whatever I’m talking about. She definitely knows what Zoe, hugs, Mama, Dada, milk, come here, Winnie the Pooh, and Mickey means.
  • She loves to dance! She bounces up and down and shakes her little booty.

• Sleeping:
  • She’s still not sleeping through the night but she is doing well at going down for bed. We have a good bedtime routine that we start around 6:30ish and she’s normally asleep by 7pm. She typically wakes up around midnight and then around 5am. We’re hoping she starts sleeping through the night again but only time will tell!
  • She’s VERY particular about her sleeping arrangements. Last weekend, when we were at the family cabin, we barely got any sleep. Apparently, she doesn’t like sleeping anywhere but her own crib and does not enjoy having Mommy and Daddy sleep in the same room as her. Duly noted, little one.

• Other Random Facts:
  • She had an ear infection for a week or so last month and it was horrible. She was in so much pain and, for a weekend, she only wanted to be held and slept on us. It was so upsetting to see her in pain but not being able to do anything about it but I would be lying if I said I didn’t love all the snuggles. Those were definitely the silver lining in the dark clouds of her first ear infection.
  • We celebrated her first Easter last weekend and had so much fun at the brunch and Easter egg hunt. They had an egg hunt for the littlest ones but, unbeknownst to Claire, the first round was unsuccessful for her. CJ placed an egg right in front of her so she could grab it and a little boy ran up and stole it right in front of her. His dad told him to give it back but he didn’t! We even have a picture of the little bandit being caught red-handed but I won’t post it here because we didn’t ask for consent from his parents (and I’m all about getting explicit consent from people before posting pictures of them or their children). Anyway, we went over to the 9-12 year old section of the Easter egg hunt which hadn’t started yet and helped Claire find her first Easter egg. That one egg made the day for her. She threw it around, chased after it, and looked like the happiest little girl in the world. Success!

Family photo before Easter brunch!

Holding her precious Easter egg

And that is our beautiful, sweet, spunky, opinionated, PERFECT 11-month-old. Every moment may not be filled with giggles, but it is filled with love and awe for the beautiful gift that we have in a daughter. It’s amazing to think how much our lives have changed in the last 11 months and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us in the future. One things for sure, it will definitely be an adventure!