Oh man if I don’t write this post soon, I never will, as things just keep seeming to get busier and (usually) more fun around here. Kaitlyn turned 1 on May 16 and here is what she is up to (besides just looking super cute in her little Lilly P – thank you kind, fashionable friends…)

EAT

Like I mentioned, Kaitlyn is a small thing and can get distracted while eating so I’m working hard on making sure most meal times are together. She definitely eats better when we eat together. She eats 3 meals a day and sometimes a snack if I can get her to sit still. She loves anything dipped in marinara sauce, hummus or applesauce. She also likes bread with butter, frozen peas, sweet potatoes, peanut butter, yogurt, corn, oatmeal, most fruits and anything she picked herself, like peas from the garden or strawberries.

I have given her a spoon to work with and she actually did pretty well with it! I was shocked. She couldn’t quite scrape it all out, but about 75% of it made it into her mouth. She mostly drinks water and though I’ve given her whole milk, she doesn’t take more than a couple sips of it. She’s tried juice too, but doesn’t seem overly wild about things that are super sweet (in fact, I even gave her a milkshake and after a sip or two she was over it.. say wha???)

She still nurses 3-4 times a day, and honestly, on demand too. I’ve nursed up to 6ish times a day and as little as 3. I’m not sure how long we’ll keep it up, but it’s working for us for now. Morning sessions are my favorite, as she cuddles with bunny and takes her time eating. I get about a 30 minute snuggle session and I love it.

SLEEP

Sweet girl still loves her bunny!

I joke that she has no sleep schedule, but it’s not entirely true. She goes to bed at 7:00 pm every night and usually falls asleep quickly. 9 out of 10 nights she sleeps though until 6:30, sometimes as late as 7:15. Naps though, are all over the place. Oftentimes she is ready for a nap around 10:30 and will sleep 1.5-2 hours, but then she won’t nap again, no matter how tired she is. Occasionally I’ll get her to take two naps, but it’s rare, so right now I try to hold her off as late as possible before her one nap.

She always sleeps in her crib and has the white noise on a very low setting. When she does occasionally wake up in the night, I nurse her and she goes right back down. It’s actually pretty sweet.

PLAY

Oh man, where to begin?! Kaitlyn is a firecracker and is just such a cool little girl (says her mom). She’s all walking (no more crawling- sniff) and likes to be involved with whatever her big sister is playing with. She understands EVERYTHING which blows my mind. She grabs hair bows and tries to put them in her hair and brings me shoes to help her put them on.

She loves music and will bounce, clap and toss her hands around in the air whenever it comes on or I try to sing. She follows directions and I think it’s too cool that I can tell her to sit on her bottom or go find bunny/brush/daddy/baby doll and she can. She loves to snuggle me, bunny and baby dolls. She tries to give kisses but doesn’t quite get it. Still, she will push her lips against my face and just say mmmmm then give me a huge grin.

She understands a scary amount of what I say and says a couple words herself. Mama {mahhmahh}, Dada {dAH dAH}, Bunny {Buhh}, ball {bAH}, Uh-Oh {uhhh-o}. She will grab our play camera, hold it up and say cheese {geeeesh!} I love that when she is sad now she will run to me saying Mama. It melts my heart. She also loves Hailey and so far, no explosive fights over sharing (yes, I know, they’re coming).

Clearly I could go on and on (and on and on) but let’s wrap it up. At her 12 month appointment she weighed about 17 pounds and was 28.5″ long. She wears size 3 diapers and 12 month clothes. She has 4 top teeth and two bottom ones.

 

Possibly my favorite thing about 12 months though? Is that she’s in a mom phase right now and though holding her all the time can be a bit tiring, I also pretty much feel like a rock star. I love you so much Kaitlyn and love continuing to find out more about who you are!

For fun:

Hailey at 1 year old

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