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Eliza - 12 months

My big girl is ONE! It still doesn't seem possible that she's been here a whole year.

* About a week after her birthday, she really started trying to walk. She can now stand up in the middle of the room without having to pull up on something and she can walk while carrying things. She has the cutest little side step that she does too. I think I can officially call her a walker!
* She is becoming quite opinionated and sassy. She'll point her little finger at you and say "Dop"; I think we say "stop" around here too often. HA! She'll also babble when she's irritated and it sounds like she's really telling you off.
* My mom can get her to do about anything! I've started calling her the Eliza whisperer. My mom taught her "so big" & "pat-a-cake" in one day. She won't even sign nurse for me anymore, but she will for my mom. She will mimic just about everything, or at least try to.
* She waves Hi and Bye, blows kisses, will sign 'eat', and we're working on 'please' and 'all done'.
* She has started eating a lot better. Breakfast is probably the easiest meal for me to plan for her. She loves oatmeal, so that's usually her breakfast staple. Lunch and dinner are a little harder. She does like fruit, veggies, & pasta; I'm having a hard time with the protein though.
* I found a cup on clearance at Target awhile ago. I thought it was cute & small and would be perfect for Elz. Since I didn't know whether she'd like it, I only bought one. Little did I know she would get to where that's the only cup she'd want to drink out of... and that I wouldn't be able to find the cups anywhere locally. Thank goodness for Amazon and Pops' prime account. We had 3 more cups in 2 days.
* Sleeping is going ok. She cat naps most days, but occasionally she'll take a long nap. She's been starting off the night in my bed, so that makes for several nursing sessions throughout the night. If she starts off the night in her crib, she usually only wakes up once to nurse. You'd think I'd be pushing for her to sleep in her crib. HA! But just like everything else, one day she'll be grown and I'll miss her babyhood.
* And speaking of nursing, she still is... A LOT! Her ped. was pretty surprised that she still nurses as much as she does.
* Elz is a peanut! At her 1 year well check, she weighed 19 pounds, 3 ounces. Her ped. was a little concerned that she's dropped off her growth curve since she's under 50% now. She said it could be because she's moving more now, but Em was the same way. I forsee her wanting us to try the toddler formula and/or Pediasure again.
She's 29 inches long, so still at 50% in length.

Eliza - 11 months

No picture again this month...yet! I really need to do that.

* The countdown is on to the big 1st birthday! I can't believe it.
* This month, Elz has learned how to wave, clap/play pat-a-cake and she's really doing well with drinking out of a sippy cup. She also loves to look at herself in the mirror and has started waving at herself. It's hilarious!
* She is getting so close to walking. She has started standing without holding on to anything and she'll take a step or two.
* She loves being outside! Luckily, her sisters take pity on her and take her out in the backyard. She also loves to swing!
* This has been a rough month. Elz has been very clingy and fussy. She has also started biting me, so I'm wondering if she's cutting more teeth.
* She's still kind of grazing off of everyone's plate, but I'm not having much luck with her actually sitting in her chair and eating. I forsee us having some concerns from our pediatrician. Emory kind of hit a spot where she wasn't gaining like the ped. wanted around a year and it was due to the same thing.
* Eliza and Harris LOVE to "watch" Mickey Mouse clubhouse. And they especially love the "Hot dog song". They both get spellbound and start dancing. I have yet to be able to catch it on video though. So for her 1st birthday, I'm going with a Minnie Mouse theme. It's going to be a small family party, but I'm still going to do some decorating and such. I've been pinning things like crazy on Pinterest; it's going to be hard to narrow it down.
* I took her to the doctor on June 10th. Baby girl had lost weight (18lbs., 4oz.), had a double ear infection, and thrush. That's why my poor baby was so clingy.

Eliza - 10 months

No picture this month - BAD Mama!

* May 10th - My baby tried to take her first steps. I am SO not ready!
* Teeth #7 and #8 popped through
* She is infatuated with Harris! If she can get her hands on him, she is slapping and kissing all over him. Luckily, he takes it all in stride and usually laughs.
* She still isn't eating a whole lot of solids. She usually eats off our plates, but doesn't really care for sitting in her highchair and eating.
* She has finally mastered the use of her sippy cup.
* And I have done a bad job with keeping up with her milestones. I haven't been using Twitter, Instagram or Facebook very much lately. Boo!

This month has been crazy. We've been gearing up for end of the year and that always throws me for a loop.

Eliza - 9 months

* My baby girl seems to be learning new things every day. At 9 months, she is blowing kisses, fake laughing/coughing, and she is a pro at mimicking.
* She celebrated her first Easter. She got a new sippy cup and her eggs had cheerios and fruit puffs. And thanks to her big sisters not keeping their baskets up, she had some chocolate as well.
* At her 9 month appointment, she weighed 18 pounds,
* She's infatuated with dog food. I've had to pry it out of her mouth on several occasions. She won't eat mashed potatoes, but she'll eat dog food. Blech!
* She's eating some table food, but still not a lot. She's nursing a lot!
* Elz still isn't sleeping through the night, which can be tough.
* She's doing well, as usual. :)

Eliza - 8 months

* I think that Eliza is going to be just like Emory. She's going to skip baby food and go straight to finger foods. She doesn't like the consistency of pureed baby food and prefers to feed herself. So far, she's had cheerios, pasta, diced pears, and fruit puffs.
* Tooth #5 and #6 have popped through!
* She has perfected pulling up and is starting to cruise the furniture.
* She is finally saying "Mama"!!!! And she says it all the time. I'll hear her on the baby monitor calling me when she wakes up. SO sweet! She has also started saying "nu nu" when she wants to nurse. I always do the sign for "milk" and say nurse before she nurses. I also hear that a lot! HA!
* I had to take her to the doctor last Thursday (3/7/13). She was super congested and had been running a fever for 3-4 days. My big girl weighed 18lbs, 3.5oz! The doctor checked her over and couldn't find anything visibly wrong; her ears were clear, throat was fine, flu test came back negative. She decided to put her on azithromycin to try and knock out our any potential bacterial causes.
Friday afternoon, her fever started running higher at almost 104. Tylenol would knock it down for awhile, but by that evening it was up to 104.9. I took her to the ER but they didn't seem overly concerned about the number. They tested her for the flu (again) and it was negative. The doctor thought that the antibiotic her ped. had prescribed was good enough. They did suction her out really well before we left and that helped for awhile.
Finally, by Sunday she was fever free. She was still congested but in much better spirits!

Big Sisters Update

And now for an update on the Big Sisters!!!

Ella


The biggest news for Ella is that she had to get glasses! After failing two eye exams at school, she decided to mention that she was having trouble seeing & having headaches. So, we went to the eye doctor at the end of January. She is near sighted and has an astigmatism, just like Mama! She picked her glasses out all by herself! Of course, they're pink and I love how they look on her. Much better than the choices I had at her age. :)
I think she's having a pretty good year at school. She's still struggling some with math so we've decided to have her tested to make sure she doesn't have any learning disabilities. If nothing else, the testing has already helped since it made us aware of her need for glasses.
She has made some different friends this year and has already had a play date with her "new" bestie. She has started talking to friends on the phone and she had her very first sleepover this year. I think this is probably going to be one of those "BIG" years.
I think the biggest difference with 3rd grade is that I can see the "mean girls" and cattiness starting to emerge. Ella has had a few days where she's mentioned that a girl has been mean to her. I have been dreading these moments since the day I found out she was a girl. I don't know if my heart can handle it.
She seems to be growing up on me overnight. Yesterday, she decided that she wanted to learn how to do laundry. So I showed her where the fill line was on the cup, the settings on the machine, and let her at it. She proceeded to wash everything in their hamper. Now if she'd just learn to fold and put it all away, we'd be good. HA!
She is awesome with Eliza! She'll entertain her so that I can fix dinner or finish up with something. Eliza adores her and will almost always reach for her. She carts that baby around on her hip for hours. I hope they're always so close!

Evie


My sweet Evie! Next month, she turns 7. How is that even possible?!? She is absolutely thriving in 1st grade. Her teacher is so impressed with how much she has grown this year. At the beginning of the year, she was reading at a Kindergarten level; at my conference with her teacher, about a month ago, she was reading at a 2nd grade level. Her "goal" for 1st grade is to be able to read 40'ish words per minute; she's reading upwards of 90+ per minute. She has shown the same growth with her math.
I think she is really enjoying school. She gets along with all of the kids in her class and everyone is her friend. I love that about her!
Her school play is this week and she is excited. She loves to sing and has the sweetest singing voice. And she has a real knack with words; I think she can recite the entire play, speaking parts & songs, verbatim.
She lost tooth #5 a few weeks ago. She was eating an apple at lunch and swallowed her tooth. So she had to leave another note for the tooth fairy.
She is at a pretty easy going age right now. Unless she's tired or hungry, she's all smiles and in a good mood. Now, let her blood sugar get low or push her bedtime back too far, and you have a hysterical, inconsolable girl on your hands.
She does really well with Eliza, but she doesn't want to hold her for long. She prefers to talk, sing, and read to her. I think she's a little nervous with her.

Emory


And my current spitfire! This girl is SO strong willed and SO loud. I don't think she could whisper if her life depended on it. She also has a tendency to back talk, which I'm really trying to get under control. She definitely tries my patience the most.
On the other hand, she can be super affectionate and is constantly wanting to sit in my lap or Nana's (my mom). I also have to carry her into school just about every day. She is also super independent. And I love when she's talking to Ella & Evie. She doesn't call them by name, they're "Sisters".
I'm at a cross roads about what to do with school for her next year. Her current preschool has a 4 year old program and both of my oldest 2 went through it. It's Monday-Friday from 9am-1pm. I LOVE our preschool! However, the girls school offers a preschool program now that she could attend. It's from 7:30-2:00 and she'd go to school with her sisters. The only "positives" I can find for sending her to public preschool are that it's free and it would be helpful if I had to go back to work. I'm leaning towards keeping her at her current school though.
She really enjoys school and playing with all of her friends. She's 1 of 2 girls in a class full of boys. With all of her boy cousins, she's pretty used to that. And she comes home with some of the cutest art projects.
Emory is the one that I really have to watch with Eliza. She is really good with her, but can be a little overzealous and unintentionally hurts her. And she also likes to try and pick her up and walk around with her. Heart attack!!!! Luckily, I found a crib on clearance so I don't have to worry about her getting her out of her bed anymore. She was too accessible in the bassinet.

Everyone's doing pretty well! :)