Julianna is 11 months old !!

To my dear sweet Julianna.
You are 11 months old today. You are almost one year old. That is unbelievable to think that you were born 11 months ago today. You have learned so much in 11 months and given your daddy and I so much joy. We love you more than anything!! You are such an incredibly happy baby and you laugh at everything! We love to see you smile. I guess that means we are doing something right!

Some highlights from the last month:

In the past 2 weeks, Julianna figured out how to "army" crawl on her belly across the floor. She also got up on all fours and shimmied and started to crawl - a little bit. She's a bit late with crawling - but hey, that's ok!

Julianna is quite agile now - she can roll, sit up and flip over and army crawl all in one movement. No real crawling yet. {Yes she is late with everything it seems!}. When we come into her room in the morning, she is often sitting up and playing with a toy quietly. Such a good little girl!

Jules is getting so smart with putting toys in buckets, and figuring out things. She loves her shape-sorter toys more than ever- she tries to get the shapes in the right holes. So amazing how smart they are! She figured out how to rip up her floor mats we got for her - she disassembles it and plays with the individual tiles. Funny!

She claps both hands together when we clap and she does high-five with us!

Jules is becoming quite the imitator. She tries to imitate anything you do. It's pretty darned cute!

Let's talk teeth - As you saw in my Teething 101 post, she is sprouting teeth like crazy! About time! :) Daddy & I are thrilled to see cute chicklet baby teeth in her mouth. We can start giving her some chunkier foods - and some adult foods soon. (She didn't want anything to do with chunky foods so far).

Eating- She is doing good with eating full meals and her formula. We are at kind of a holding pattern right now until she can take some chunkier food with more texture. I am sure having her new teeth should help.

Talking- She is saying Da-Da all the time and some other words that we can't quite figure out what they are. No "Mama" yet. She says Di-dee alot. We can't figure out what it means either.

Julianna loves to give gifts now. She likes to give her Binky to me or daddy. I know how important it is to treat that as "exciting" - so I tell her "THANK YOU!!!" and then i give her the gift back and she takes it. It's a game. So cute. NOT cute when she gives the dog her Binky and the dog takes it. NOT CUTE AT ALL.

For Mama's with Babies and Pre-toddlers:
I just downloaded a great book to my Kindle - It's called "On Becoming Pre-Toddlerwise". I LOVE IT. It talks about how to transition your child from "baby food" to table food ... self feeding, daddy involvement, challenges you will run into with your 12-18 month old, and how to develop table manners... etc... I love it!! What great information for this first time mama!!

I read the Original "On becoming Babywise" book {for newborns/infants} to get Julianna on a schedule and to sleep through the night. HUGE Fan of Babywise!! Anyone I know that has used Babywise, has loved it & swears by it. I tell everyone that is having a baby to check it out. It's not for everyone ... but it DOES work. It simply explains how to get your baby on a schedule and how to get them to sleep through the night. Jules has been sleeping through the night since 7 weeks old ... and we haven't looked back since!

"On Becoming Pre-Toddlerwise" book is great. Check it out if you have a baby just reaching one year old or a Pre-toddler! :)