Bridget is 11 Months Old

Happy New Year, and Happy 11th Month Bridget!

Vitals: Bridget is only growing longer these days. She seems to be stuck around 18.5lbs but is quickly growing out of all of her clothes. One day a shirt or pants fit and the next time I put it on her they are too small.  I recently just took out all of the 9 month clothes (which lasted Abby until she was over a year!) out of her drawers. Bridget is in 12 months clothes and growing out of some of those too. She has 7 teeth - the bottom tooth refuses to come in to make her mouth symmetrical.

Accomplishments: This month, Bridget grew developmentally in leaps and bounds. She is fully mobile now.  Bridget is crawling everywhere, and real crawling now - no more army crawls. She is pulling up to stand now too. She really likes to pull-up and stand near her toy box and pull her toys out by herself. Bridget has also begun to communicate with us. She has a few baby signs down now ("more", "please", "milk"). She can wave and clap her hands. When walking up the stairs to go to bed she will wave "good night" to her family. It's very sweet. Bridget is also giving high fives and especially likes to high five mommy while we are breastfeeding, or "honk" mommy's nose or poke my face. She's become a very distracted nurser.

Bridget is also learning the rules of the world. She has really started to pay attention to the world around her. She loves to "test" things and figure out the consequence of her actions. For example, she's a big fan of throwing food off her highchair and watching it hit the floor. She has learned object permanence (you can't hid toys or phones or things you don't want Bridget to have behind your back anymore - she knows you put them there!).

Sleep: Sleeping is still same old. Some nights are better than others, but usually Bridget is up 2-3x a night between 7:30/8pm and 8am. We've tried to encourage her to drop one of her night wakings, but that usually ends up with Bridget crying for 2h before Dustin and I give up and I just feed her and she falls back asleep within 5 minutes. It's very frustrating some nights, but I know it will not last forever. Naps are a breeze though. Bridget really likes her midmorning, early afternoon nap and will sleep for 2-3h most days. I'm not planning on switching her nap to an afternoon nap, as I've heard from many moms with school aged kids and a toddler who naps, it gets tricky with school pickups if you toddler naps in the afternoon - so we'll try to stick to this schedule as long as I can.

Likes: Finally, Bridget is starting to eat. She still is a fan of chicken, fruit and vegetables, yogurt and Cherrios.  She's eating most of what the rest of us are having for meals these days, which is great - makes meal time fairly easy. I have another bookworm, which is awesome. Bridget loves reading books and will sit and look through the books for minutes. It's also one of the only ways I can get her to sit still while changing her diaper, give her a book to read. 

Personality: Bridget is still our easy going girl. She's quick to smile and laugh. She's very ticklish. She loves her sister and her Daddy (and Mom too - but I'm always around). She's starting to let us know what she likes and doesn't and what she wants - which makes things easier. I suspect I have another adventurous and crazy girl on my hands though. Bridget is not a cuddler, nor does she want to be held most of the time (much like Abby was at her age). She prefers to explore and play on her own. I fear my desire to have a calm, sweet little girl is a pipe-dream, instead I have two girls who are going to keep me on my toes and keep me active and entertained!

We did not want to get our pictures taken this month. Bridget kept wiggling and taking off her sticker and eating it.  I did the best I could, but seriously, this kid would not cooperate!

Sisters make the best friends!

And Abby: