Grace 11 months

Dear Gracie,

You are now 11 months! We are getting close to celebrating your first Christmas and shortly after, your first New Year, and then your first birthday! This year is really going much quicker than I want. 

So many things have happened this past month. You went from being toothless up until you were 8 months old, to now all of the sudden you have a mouth full of teeth! You have 4 front teeth on top and of course 2 front teeth on bottom. 

At about 10.5 months you started walking. Although you still prefer to hold someone's hand because you can walk faster and will still often crawl to get somewhere quicker if you are on a mission! You do, however, enjoy your new skill. You can also climb our stairs and do a great job! Someone is always behind you to make sure you don't fall. 

Sadly, you attended your first funeral when your paternal grandfather passed away. You hung in there for most of it but started getting a little fussy about half-way through. It was a sad but happy day. We are glad Granddad is in Heaven but miss him. We were happy to see lots of family we don't get to see as often, including NeNe. You also met many of your older cousins. 

You are getting great at eating. You LOVE feeding yourself. In fact, we have struggled trying to feed you but you are Miss. Independent when it comes to eating. On the bright side, you are doing well with solids and you seem to really love meat. Last night we ate fish and you gobbled it up. Today we had brisket for lunch and roast and green beans for dinner. You loved it!

You mostly still take one nap a day for about an hour. If we go somewhere in the evening you'll fall asleep in the car and it throws your bedtime off. Typically you sleep from about 7pm  to 7:30am-8:30am. I usually nurse you before bed, then right before I go to bed, then around 6 something in the morning when you wake up. You nurse about 3 more times during the day. 

You love talking and dancing. Most of the time if you can't say a word you'll point and say, "bah." Some of the more common words you use are, "mom, dad, brother, ball, and bye." When you hear music playing, you start dancing. It's so fun to watch you!

You love being carried and held. You love to be read to and played with. I love watching you and Caden play together. He's so sweet to you and your eyes light up with delight when you two play. You also want to draw and basically do what ever Caden is doing. When he's doing his schoolwork, you try and take his pencil. Often, if he's really focused on what he's doing, you will take it from him. You have also taken a crayon and tried to color on his work. I have given you your own and you seem to like that.

I let you try some eggs the other day. I made banana, egg, and oatmeal pancakes. You had an allergic reaction to the eggs, as the eggs were your new food. The area around your mouth swelled up and turned red. We watched you closely and thankfully it eventually calmed down. Now we know to be extra careful and will avoid eggs for a while.

You have seen a few Santa Clauses, you are not impressed at all. Although you really like the Elf on the Shelf, in which we named Jimmy, after your paternal Granddad, Jim. We took you to see the play, "Santa is Coming to Town," at Casa and you really just wanted to get down and walk around. You have your own ideas of fun and most involve staying active and walking.

You are fascinated with animals and you love animal books. You also love other small kids and enjoy waving and smiling to people when we're out, just like your brother did and sometimes still does. However, with all your friendliness, if they dare try and hold you or something like that, you will cry and look at me. You are friendly at a safe distance. Which I'm happy about.

Praise God, you still have never been sick. Not even a runny nose! And you are building your immunity as we let you crawl and play in public places that we would not have let your brother. You are a happy, sweet, adorable, and precious girl! God has truly blessed us!

Love,
Mom

P.S. Our computer is down. I have better pictures from her 11 months coming with our nice camera. Until then, here are a few pictures I took with my phone.

You grabbed the bread at Spaghetti Warehouse

At Casa Manana

At Casa

Rash from eating eggs

Rash from eating eggs