One Year

When I wake...

My baby will be 1. Maybe if I just skip the going to sleep part it won't happen? Oh well...

 I had to capture her last moment of "babyhood" as she slept. At Christmas she inherited my baby blanket and I love to see her snuggled in it.

She has grown so much in the past few weeks, and it is amazing how in such a short period of time she is becoming less of a baby and more of a kid. No matter what, though, she will always be my baby.

Eleven Months

Some eleven month tidbits:

Super clingy. I am excited for the day when I can pee alone without her screaming because I left the room.

Still loves to eat, but is starting to be a little bit picky. Not a fan.

Loves to scoot on her butt.

Plays a mean game of peek-a-boo.

Loves to take things out of containers and put them back in. She especially loves to put things in my shoes; I spent like half an hour looking for my phone one day before I found it in my running shoe.

Knows the signs for "milk" and "more" and sometimes will sign them.

Is officially only two weeks away from her first birthday.

Legwarmers

B fought the legwarmers all day today. She was pulling them off as fast as I could put them on. I gave in as we were getting dinner ready. Come to find out all she wanted to do was eat them, is that such a crime? She scooted around for like half an hour with one stuffed in her mouth and every time it fell out, she stopped whatever she was doing to stuff it back in. 

 

Does she look like a puppy to anyone else?

Snow

We have had a crazy winter storm here this week and pretty much everything is shut down. After living in Utah for so many years, I think it is crazy how quickly they cancel school and dedicate 100% of the news to the snow (it was the same in NY too), but I guess it is pretty awesome. We did end up getting like ten inches, after all.

We ( read: I) really wanted to take B sledding, so I found this inner-tube in the basement and made it happen. I realize that I always post videos on here that are probably not very interesting to anyone but me and my mother, and that I have the world's worst "mommy" voice. Whatever, I am sure there are many more to come.

Ten Months

With every day, I realize she is getting dangerously close to a year and without fail, that thought makes me want to alternately barf and cry. I hate that she is not a tiny baby, plus I am not so sure about having a kid. Babies I love; kids make me nervous.

At ten months, she is full of energy and personality, but is still a pretty easy baby given the fact that she doesn't move much. I didn't care for a long time that she wasn't crawling, but about ten months I started to get real tired of people's shock when they found out she didn't crawl. Now would be a great time for stories about cousins you have who never crawled and turned out to be brain surgeons.

She finally popped her first tooth on her ten month anniversary, followed shortly by her second. Since it was the week of Christmas we thought that her two front teeth were gift enough and told Santa he could just bag it this year.

She eats everything. She is a lightweight, but she loves food.

Naps have been tricky this past week. She is reverting back to catnaps and I am not okay with it. I am wondering if maybe we are transitioning to one nap a day.

Her hair is crazy long and in this weird Justin Beiber phase that I am trying to wait out. Just look at the pictures. I have taken to putting it up in a ponytail to keep it out of her eyes.

She is super clingy and getting more cuddly as she gets older. I love the cuddling. The clinging is okay, except it would be nice to be able to hand her off to other people sometimes.

She is impossible to take pictures of because she is always moving--I need a much faster camera.

She is a big fan of standing and can pull herself up like 80% of the way, just needs a little help with the last bit.

She's a babe and we love her.

Christmas

This Christmas was awesome. People are always saying that the holidays are so much more fun once you have kids, and I never really paid attention to them, but I have to admit that it's true. For once, I almost didn't care about my own presents (almost, I'm no saint). 

I think we were too excited and got her up before she was ready.

B loved spending time with her cousins, aunts and uncles, Mimi and Poppy, and the original Britta (my Omi).

As some sort of child anomaly, she actually liked the present Santa gave her more than the box it came in. I am so proud.

Cheerios were a big highlight too though. Pay attention to the stocking to the left of her in the video. I made that bad dad--finished it on Christmas Eve with the help of my mom. Yes, I have spent many nights lately sitting up cross-stitching. I am 85. 

There is nothing like being home for Christmas; I wish it weren't over. 

2011 Recap

January

We started off the year with a bang by packing up all our belongings and making the cross-country trip from Utah to New York. I don't recommend it if you are seven months pregnant, but there are very few things besides sleeping that I do recommend if you are seven months pregnant.

We made a couple trips into the city to explore and got our new home ready for a new addition.

February

Serious nesting, serious swelling, and finally a baby girl on February 21st. My angel mother came out out to help and we spent a lot of time nursing, recovering, and baby worshiping.

March

Britta took her first international trip to Toronto, Canada because I was not about to let Chris go on a business trip and leave me home alone with a three week old. These weeks are all a blur of exhausted wonderment.

April

We enjoyed having both sets of grandparents out for Britta's baby blessing. We spent lots of time exploring New York City and the town of Babylon, NY where we lived. We also took a trip up to Palmyra, NY to check out the church history sites. Very cool.

May

Warmer weather and lots of walks around the village where we lived. Chris and I took up tennis and I started whooping him on a daily basis. Over Memorial Day weekend we took a trip down to Washington D.C. and Philadelphia to explore some national treasures.

June

We kicked the summer months off with lots of visits to the beach. Oh, how I miss being fifteen minutes from warm, gorgeous beaches. We also paid a visit to Boston where my Dad was for a business trip. Such a great city.

July

More beach and pool time with friends, and tennis with Chris. Chris received a job offer with ADP and we decided we would be moving back to the West Coast. 

August

Crazy packing of what I felt like I had just unpacked. We bid farewell to New York (and I miss it more than I thought I would) and Chris went to St. Louis for a three week job training while I spent three blissful weeks with my family in Utah.

September

Hello Evergreen State. I think the majority of this month was spent painting over the lavender walls and oak trim in our house. We enjoyed the last little bit of sun WA had to offer before the rain set in and gorged ourselves with fresh blackberries (at least I did).

October

The beginning of Britta's first holiday season--I was way more excited that she was, but whatever. We did lots of fall activities, went on lots of walks in the fall weather, and spent a week with Chris in Billings, MT for work. We went to the Billings Zoo while we were there and I think I was one of three other patrons. Not a lot going on in Billings.

November

We spent a weekend with my sister as she made her way home from Alaska, spent an inordinate amount of time painting the kitchen cabinets white, and I prepared my first Thanksgiving dinner. It was so nice having my parents here for the holiday.

December

Best month of the year. I loved watching Britta experience Christmas for the first time. She was enamored with the lights, music, and tree. I turned 25 and had a low-key celebration with Chris and the babe, we spent a week with my family in Utah and then had Chris's family all together for New Years. Chris and I reached the four year mark of marriage and both forgot it was our anniversary because we were in different states (Seriously, don't get married at Christmas). 

All in all, 2011 was a very eventful year for us. We definitely experienced the most changes during this year than any other so far. Here's hoping 2012 is just as great. 

Shortly after she got the news that pooping your pants earns you a spot on the "naughty" list...

If you look real closely, you can see Santa here trying to give her a candy cane to appease the situation. Nothing doing. 

Merry Christmas.

Nine Months

Miss Britta is over nine months old and is starting to seem less and less like a little baby every day. At her check up yesterday, she weighed in at 16 lbs 1 oz, which surprised me because it is only in the 12th percentile. She measured at 27 3/4 in, in the 47th percentile. I can't remember the story on her head, but it's big. I mean c'mon, she is Chris' daughter. 

She is developing her personality even more all the time and is so fun.

At nine months:

She is obsessed with hair. Her "security blanket" is my hair. When she is tired or upset, she will bury her face in it or take pieces of it and rub them across her eyes. Recently she has started twirling her own hair when she is tired. It is kind of adorable.

She is loving the Christmas tree. She will just stare at it in the mornings when she get up--I love it. She also loves singing along to a good Christmas jam. We went to a Christmas concert the other night and had to take her out because apparently she thought it was a sing along deal. 

I swear she says "Dada" sometimes. Never when I try to get her to say it though.

She still hates being on her stomach and I am starting to think she will be one of those babies who skips crawling. 

She has been sleeping a ton lately and I keep thinking that either a) she has died in her sleep, but I am too lazy to get out of bed and check on her and instead I will just enjoy sleeping in until 9, or b) she will be three feet tall when she finally does wake up.

I am sure there is more about her that has changed, but all in all the big changes are that she is learning and growing by leaps and bounds. 

 We went to the Nutcracker and she LOVED it (the first half anyway). P.S. Does this look like a child who is in the 12th percentile for weight? I'm just sayin'...

 She loves socks and shoes, just not on her feet. 

 Grandparents!!

Four generations of pure awesome. 

Happy nine (almost ten) months.