11 months

11 months.  Hard to believe!  These past few weeks I have been remembering this time last year.  I had so much anticipation of what it would be like to welcome this beautiful girl into our family.  I was nervous about how Hunter would do and what it would be like to juggle two kids.  I was physically very uncomfortable and ready for her to be here.  As the leaves were falling off the trees last year my heart was in preparation mode, readying myself for a new season of life with two kids.  This fall, my heart is just so full-- life is so rich.  Adelyn has blessed our family greatly.  I know it sounds cliche- but I really cannot believe we are about to celebrate her birthday.

 She is about 17.5 pounds now.  She has really had a rough couple of months with her health.  After we spent 4 nights in the hospital in September, she took about a week to recover and even then she wasn't back to normal.  We spent another afternoon in the hospital around that time to make sure she didn't have another bladder infection.  Thankfully, she didn't.  But since Mid-September, she has had: a yeast rash, and then developed eczema on her arms and legs; an ear infection; then another virus that caused coughing and low grade fever.  The girl has had a tough time.  I think that is why she hasn't gained much weight in the past few months.  She is on antibiotics every day to prevent bladder infections.  Now we do cream on her arms and legs twice a day for the eczema and we are starting her on probiotics.

 Adelyn has gotten the hang of "cruising" while holding on to the couch or a walker toy.  She hasn't taken the plunge to start walking on her own yet.  She can stand for a good 30 seconds on her own, but when she realizes what she is doing she sits down.  I think she could walk if she tried, but she hasn't been interested yet.  She definitely gets around, though!  She is keeping me hopping more than ever.  EVERYTHING she touches goes in her mouth.  And she finds everything.

 Tonight I let her have a little chocolate ice cream.  I know, she is still a little young for that.  But the girl loved it!  She is a little foodie!  When she tries something new, she makes lots of sounds while it is in her mouth.  Josh & I joke often that if she had words she would be telling us all the ingredients to that item.  She really analyzes everything.  With the ice cream tonight she would mumble and then whine as soon as she swallowed her taste.

 Adelyn sleeps like a champ at night--usually about 12 or 13 hours!  During the day she sometimes takes 2 short naps and sometimes one long one.  She LOVES her bunny and now holds it with her most of the day.  It is funny to see her crawl around with it because it isn't much smaller than she is! ;)  She still gets between 4 and 5 bottles a day and eats 3 meals of solid food.  She really likes Mum Mums and puffs and really anything she can feed herself.  I have been trying to teach her the signs for "all done" and "more."  She has her own modified versions--it is so neat that she is able to communicate!

 Speaking of communicating, she associates "momma" and "dada" with us now!  She also occasionally says "bye bye" and "uh oh."  She babbles a lot so I think more words will be coming soon!  Another new development this months: she points!  She points at what interests her and it is helpful in knowing what she wants!

She is happy and so charming.  She truly loves her brother and they actually play together quite nicely. Hunter loves her and it is neat to see such a good relationship forming.  She has a different childhood than Hunter already-- he was not entertained by a little person all the time!  

She is less of a cuddle bug than Hunter was at this age.  I do love it when she snuggles up close, though.  She still smells so delightful and her soft baby head is my favorite.  Such a precious baby.  I love her!