12 Months!!!

Well. It's come and gone. Maura turned one on September 10th! Happy late birthday, Lovie Love! (It's just still so crazy to think about what I was doing this time last year. I think the first thing we should do on our birthdays is call up our moms, and dads, and thank them for everything they did that day to bring us into this world!!!) I really can't believe that a whole year has gone by already. It is amazing that a little human being can change so much in such a short amount of time!! I'm so proud of you, girl! At first I was sad that the first year is over, but I'm realizing now that this whole toddlerhood thing is such a fun stage:)

One of the best things about this month was that my sister was in town all the way from London for two whole weeks. Maura loved spending time and bonding with her crazy (and I mean that with the utmost respect and love!) Aunt Moh. Here they are together watching an outdoor movie at our neighborhood block party (on Maura's actual birthday).


Here's this month's bunny chair pics (maybe I'll take them at the end of every month from now on?):

{woah!}

{nothing like a new pajama shirt and no pants to end the year!}

Weight: 21 lbs 5 oz

Height: 31 inches

Eating Habits: Maura's doing a great job with table food. We are slowly adding more to the menu of things she likes. She's still not a fan of real vegetables, but she really loves fruit (especially blackberries...weird, huh?!) She'll eat like a champ at the beginning of each meal and then she hits a stopping point and does not want to sit in that high chair for one more second (at this point the screaming starts)!

Bedtime: bedtime somehow got pushed back this month to around 8:30/9 pm. I think the fun activities of summer, mainly the beach, made her nap in the afternoon a bit later than usual, which resulted in a later bedtime.


Sleep Habits: Maura's sleep patterns are mostly still the same. She continues to sleep through the night and wake up at about 7:30am (thank you, girl!). Just as we reached the end of the month, her naps started to be a bit more inconsistent though:( She used to nap guaranteed twice a day for 1 hour and 15 minutes each time. Every once and a while now her morning nap will last for a lot longer (one day she slept for 3 hours!) and this is beginning to effect her afternoon nap. I think she might be starting to transition down to one nap a day. (Not sure how I feel about this!) Any advice for setting or adjusting to a new schedule?


Developmental Milestones: Maura's finally getting some more teeth! Four are coming in on the top all at once (both central incisors and both lateral incisors). The biggest thing I noticed this month in terms of development is her ability to understand what we are saying to her. It's like we can really communicate now..I can say "let's go into the kitchen and make a bottle" or "wanna go outside and take a walk?" and she knows what to do. She's starting to build a large vocabulary of words/things she knows and can point to or go get when you ask her to like shoes, hair, shirt, bunny, frog, ball, etc. (she doesn't say them yet).


Firsts: first Labor Day, first (and only!) Christening, first time away from Mama overnight (for 4 days and nights while I was away at a wedding!), first time gardening, first neighborhood block party

{sorry, this pic is terrible quality (Maura's baptism was rescheduled to a weeknight because of hurricane Irene), but that's my sister and brother - Maura's godparents - and you can kind of see Maura's dress here...I had to have it hemmed so the girl could walk comfortably!!}

Favorite Toys: do shells, rocks, mulch, sticks and leaves count? I'm having trouble coming up with her favorite toys because this month has been a lot about playing outside or at the beach, and just generally walking around and exploring the inside of the house. She still loves her Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Say Please Tea Set, Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Learning Letters Maibox, Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Laughing Kitchen, and books. She loves playing with silly stuff like a package of paper cocktail napkins, Tupperware, or a storage basket of old, empty toiletry bottles, etc. I held off buying her any new toys recently because I was hoping she'd get some cool new ones for her birthday. And boy, did she! She definitely has some favorite toys now, but those don't count for this post:)


Favorite Pastimes: walking everywhere, going to the beach, anything involving playing in/with water, exploring nature, anything outside, climbing up and down the stairs over and over, climbing up and down from big people chairs, listening to music, going for walks, play dates with our friends, going to the last few days of our Gymboree Play and Learn Class (the location we went to closed down, we definitely want to continue some "mommy and me" activity, just signed up at My Gym - anyone done these classes?)

{shout out to Mason and Morgan!}

Mama and Dada love you so much, Maura! Thank you for being our little girl:)