Well, it's happening... Acelyn is one month away from being ONE. I don't know how it happened so quickly, but this little lady sure is in a hurry to grow up. This past month she has grown leaps and bounds, and is starting to act more like a one year old than I would like! The biggest news is that Acelyn has started walking this month! She took her first steps right at 10.5 months and hasn't stopped since. She is great at taking about 10 steps before plopping back down and crawling to where she needs to go. She's scaling walls and furniture, and pulling herself up on anything to help her in between, and she's 100% mobile in all forms! She's very busy and is always on the move.... there's no getting her to sit still for much unless it's Trolls, a song/dance on TV or food!
Acelyn's personality is really starting to come out, and she's a funny little girl with lots of drama and sass to go around. My sweet, tiny babe has turned into one with wants and preferences over the last month, and if she's not getting what she wants, she'll let you know by shrieking as loud as possible! She's great at pointing to what she wants to tell you, especially when we're eating. She's definitely a dare devil and loves to be spun around, thrown up in the air, swinging high on the swings, and wrestling with her brother. Her favorite thing is to be outside and she will stand by the sliding door to ask to go out. If we're inside, her absolute favorite thing is to dance. We typically have dance parties once or twice a day, and girlfriend knows how to shake it! She loves the Trolls and Moana soundtrack, with her favorite song being the "Everybody" song from Trolls. She can be in the other room and as soon as she hears it come on, she books it in, hands waving in the air and bouncing up and down to the beat! She also loves books and has started favoring certain ones: her Sesame Street books, Polar Bear, Polar Bear, the Wheels on the Bus, and her Eric Carle's ABC lift-flap book.
With her funny personality comes her sweet side, too, and Acelyn is always full of kisses for her family and dog dog. She's known how to "give kisses" for a while, but will voluntarily give you them herself by looking up at you and opening her mouth if you're holding her or crawling onto your lap and attacking your face if you're at her level. She's a cuddler and will often wake early in the AM just to cry out for Mama, so we've started spoiling her by bringing her in bed with us and cuddling for another hour or so. (She's our baby and our last... so let us enjoy the spoiling!)
Along with giving kisses when asked, Acelyn is also starting to follow directions well. She can give you something in her hands when asked, or if you ask her to put a toy somewhere (in a bin) she can do that, too. She will follow you by crawling or walking if you tell her to "Come here or follow me!" She also understands "No", and will look at you before doing something she knows she's not supposed to (touching cords or going into the pantry), and most of the time decides its more fun to test Mama than to listen (i.e.: throwing food off the high chair is way too fun!)
Here's what else this munchkin has been up to: Height, Weight and Sizes: Still no official weigh in until next month when she turns one, but I'm guessing she's still around 18.5 to 19 pounds. She has definitely lost a lot of her baby rolls this month which makes me sad, and has lengthened out a ton. Her hair is finally starting to thicken up and grow a bit, but mostly in the back and not so much in the front! She sports a cute pony on the top of her head as of lately due to her new, longer locks. She remains in 12 month clothing and is starting to move towards 18 months, especially in summer jammies that we need to stock up on! Her diaper size remains a 4, and she still only has two teeth!
Feeding: Acelyn continues to grow her palette of finger foods and "grown up" foods, as she eats pretty much what we eat at every meal. She continues to eat a puree or pouch at almost every meal, because she enjoys fruits and veggies and with only two tiny teeth at the bottom, has an easier time with these than uncooked veggies or fruit. She loves mixed fruit cups and continues to love anything with cheese, avocado, scrambled eggs, rice of any kind, and chicken. This girl is not picky and will eat most of anything. We've been toying with the idea of dropping nursing sessions and just touching on starting our journey into weaning (because with her temperament, it's going to take months!) and discovered that Acelyn does not enjoy bottles, sippy cups, straw cups, regular cups... you name it. She hates it. So it's definitely going to be a process to switch from breast to anythingbut boob. We're taking it very slow and gentle and I've started introducing a RePlay sippy of both water and milk at every meal, and I'm hoping she will eventually start taking some in and learning to like them. She's been normal with her nursing schedule otherwise, and will sometimes skip out on the 11AM or 5PM feeding, depending on how our day is planned out and how busy she is. She's so opposite of Nolan and how scheduled (and an easy transition) he was, so this is all new territory for us, which is why we're taking it slow!
Sleeping: Our biggest change this month came with Acelyn's sleep habits... apparently as she reaches one, she also has decided sleep is a challenge. My babe who used to nurse and fall asleep soundly now fights going down both at nap and bedtime, arms flaring, tossing and turning as if she's uncomfortable and wants to put herself down.. but the second I place her in her crib she wants to be held. She also has been waking more frequently during the night, and early morning wake ups occur almost daily, where we've resorted to (yes, we never said we'd do this butttttttt) putting her in the Dock a Tot in our bed for the remaining hour or so before we all get up for good. Although it's frustrating to not have a good groove anymore with sleep, and I know I'm not doing us any good by snuggling and rocking and savoring, I'm totally eating up every second I can, knowing these moments of her being small and wanting to be comforted aren't going to be as often soon enough! We'll work on a better sleep schedule and routine in the very near future, probably around when we plan to wean.
Likes:
Practicing walking, all over! Dancing and music, especially the Trolls and Moana soundtrack Sound and touch and feel books Giving kisses, without prompting When Nolan "carries" her around Playing in the mirror Throwing food off of the high chair Playing on the push airplane with Nolan (he pushes her, she holds on and walks behind him riding it) Climbing the stairs Playing "chase" and "peek a boo"
Dislikes: Sitting still for pictures Being left alone in a room (even for a second) Strangers talking to her (and she will typically give anyone straight face stares when they talk to her initially... even if she's familiar with you!) Being told No Diaper changes and getting dressed When Nolan and I play catch- she gets frustrated like it's keep away!
Happy 11 months, baby girl! ONE MORE MONTH til ONE!
We spent the AM shopping, where Nolan thought the dressing room was super fun and bright, so... photoshoot, obviously!
We're raising another Jeopardy lover, as Acelyn is totally into it when we watch during dinnertime...
Nolan had his first Combo Sports class through the rec center, and the first sport they covered was baseball! He did great at first and then got a little nervous and didn't want to participate alone. After some convincing, he got back out there and went back at it! He was actually really good at throwing and seemed like he enjoyed it when he wasn't freaking out about being left alone!
Little did I know, later that night, he started with a stomach virus that was soon to be passed around our entire household on/off over the next month. It.was.awful. So, we spent a lot of this month camped out inside on the couch, depending on who was sick and when!
Acelyn wore piggie tails for the first time and looked way too adorable.
She practiced cruising the furniture and taking a few steps barely holding on to my hand.
We spent a night at the Queen Bee Market with our friends the Luks and the Espejos, and loved checking out some local small shops as well as chowing down on some Waffle Love for the first time (and definitely not our last). After our shopping, we all grabbed dinner at Brio at Town Square. Our entire crew sat outside, where the weather was gorgeous and the kiddos could be crazy. We love hanging out with them every time- it's always guaranteed a fun time, especially with all of the kids (8 all together...of which elevators can barely fit us all plus strollers!)
The next night, Jason had an event downtown to inspect for work, so we decided to join him for dinner and have our own little adventure while he did his thing after we ate. We went down to The Park at T Mobile Arena, which is one of our favorite spots to hang out with the kids on the Strip. When we got there, we saw the Pac 12 games going on, which Nolan instantly got excited about with the giant basketball display. We made our way to dinner at Shake Shack, and then when Jason split ways to inspect, we headed over to Hershey World, but not before we stopped to play in the waterfalls, first. When we got to Hershey World, we cashed in on some Hershey Kisses, since there were TONS to choose from! Afterwards, we hung out and ate our chocolate by the waterfalls and Nolan spent about 20 minutes dancing for everyone to see. He thought it was hilarious that people were watching him, and he had some pretty crazy moves. Acelyn laughed in her stroller and watched him go crazy. Jason finally met back up with us, and we walked over to the Pac 12 game viewing area, where they had booths and basketball games going on. Nolan loved watching and we spent some time over there before heading back home.
The next morning, we went out to breakfast at Babystacks, followed by a Sunday Costco trip.
Acelyn showed us how she learned "Up".
I had some prints done for our playroom makeover, and finally got them framed. Before putting them up on the wall, a photoshoot was in the works.
Nolan got a haircut and gave me all the angles.
Someone learned to climb the stairs.
Acelyn is usually at her silliest during dinner, and this night was no exception... showing off her new trick.
I cleaned the kitchen and showed off our daffodils, which are always a must in early Spring!
We spent some time outside with the nice weather, where Acelyn practiced standing up and posing, and Nolan later pushed her on the swing (which she loves, if you couldn't tell!)
Later that evening, Nolan had Combo Sports class again (we missed the previous week of basketball, because we were sick). This week, they played soccer, which Nolan did great at and followed directions on his own pretty well. Acelyn sat on the sidelines and played with the dirt and grass... and was not impressed.
She learned to sign "all done" (sort of).
We celebrated St. Patrick's Day with some Lucky Charms and a photoshoot (nothing fancy this time around!)
We ate out a lot on the weekend, trying a new donut place across town for breakfast (which was seriously legit... so worth the drive!) and eating at The Habit for dinner that night.
We finally rented Moana and Nolan sat through the entire movie since he was so pumped for it!
We played outside more with the gorgeous weather and Acelyn had to collect lemons with all of her lemon gear on.
I busted out the water table for the kids and they both thought it was the best thing ever! They played with it for an hour and Acelyn loved to splash in it and suck on the water toys. Nolan was totally in his zone with pouring over and over. After they got dried up and cleaned off, we had dinner outside on the patio because it was just that nice out. We finished dinner with a dance solo from Acelyn.
Acelyn played in her crib after her morning nap and talked to the pictures on her wall gallery.
We had a playdate with our friends Jamie, Coen and Shaw at the library, where the boys were hard at work measuring fruits and vegetables and sorting colors.
We met Grandpa at Sunset Park for a picnic lunch, and the weather took a turn with horrible wind, but we powered through it and played for a bit and fed the ducks, which is always a favorite for Nolan.
Acelyn jammed out to more songs from Trolls.
We had a photoshoot with her Peek-a-Whoo bunny to help promote, and Acelyn looked adorable cuddling and snuggling the softest little bunny ever.
Nolan did a backflip. (Hahah)
Nolan had his last class of Combo Sports where they learned how to play kickball and received a pizza party and their trophies! He was so proud of himself and we were so proud of him, too!
Acelyn decided she could climb all of a sudden and decided to try it out on their table... I never had to worry about Nolan climbing anything, so I think this time around is going to be much, much different...
She found a baby in the mirror and was so sweet to her.
The kiddos played so nicely together and pushed each other on their Plane, while my heart bursted as they don't often play together like this and when they do... I die.
We had a play date with the Luks at Fun Lane, which was actually our first time going and the kids loved it! Nolan wasn't timid or scared of this play place at all, so we will definitely be back!
Acelyn is a very snuggly babe, and I randomly got her giving lots of love to Mama on a video. It's definitely not the most flattering, but it 100% shows her sweet, lovey side that I absolutely adore. (the little hug pats at the end kill me!)
The babes played together again with their plane, so I think it's their new favorite thing to do lately. As long as they are playing sweetly together, it's a-okay in my book!
And finally, at the very end of the month, Acelyn took her first steps alone and we officially have a walker! She started on her own with a few steps the night of the 30th.... And by the next morning, girlfriend had it DOWN! Here comes trouble!
