Clara 11 months

We took Clara's 11 month picture this past Saturday, in our back yard, and somehow managed to snap about 50 photos over the course of a few minutes. Don't worry, I won't post all 50 but I will post 15 (I know). But oh my goodness it was really hard to narrow it down. Here are some of my favorites. . .

And a little bit about our girl at 11 months. . .

Loves:
Her Skip Hop owl toy, her piano, and her new little drum
Watching us blow bubbles
Bath time!! She seriously is giddy every time we put her in the bath. Loves splashing, flailing her arms and trying to reach to get her bath toys.

Does Not Love:
When I first put her hand splints on for the day
Sun in her eyes
When we try to manipulate her hands for certain therapy exercises. She's a pretty chill baby but I'd say this is when she gets the most frustrated! This makes teaching her how to hold her bottle rather difficult. Do. Not. Touch. My. Hands.
Food that has texture. I keep telling her she's missing out but she's not buying it.

Eating:
She still gets 4 bottles a day along with a breakfast, lunch and dinner. She will eat almost any baby food that we give her (other than green peas/beans, unless they are mixed with something, but I'm still determined!) and even took a few bites of hummus and guacamole the other day. She's not too keen on anything with texture (when given stage 3 baby food, she spits out the textured pieces) so we are working on it. We are also working on self feeding. . . not there yet, but progress. I'm interested to see what the pedi says at 12 months regarding her nutrition. . . specifically if I can switch her to whole milk or if I will need to put her on formula for a while until she is taking in more solids/table food.

(P.S. On April 2nd I said bye bye to my friend & sidekick the Medela pump. This was not a sad day in the Blackburn house. My goal all along had been to wean off by 11 months. . . Now working on the freezer stash!!)

Sleeping:
Two naps a day, one morning and one afternoon. Each nap lasts 1-2 hours. She goes to bed between 7-8pm and wakes up usually between 6-7:30am. Sometimes she will wake at night, maybe 3am or so, and I will look over at the monitor and she is just going to town, playing in her bed. She is as happy as a clam and doesn't even fuss (I hear her kicking like crazy so that's how I know she's awake) and eventually she gets tired and goes back to sleep. Crazy kid.

Schedule at 11 months:
7:30 wake (the last 3-4 days she's been sleeping till 7:30), bottle 
8:30 breakfast (practice with finger food, give some purees)
10:30 nap
12ish bottle
1ish lunch (practice with finger foods, give some purees)
2:30 or 3ish nap 
4:30 or so bottle (although some days she's not too interested) 
6pm Dinner (practice with finger foods, purees)
7:30 bottle, bed (When do most babies typically transition off their bedtime bottle? Or which bottle do they drop first? So many questions for next months pedi appt!!)

Development:
Several HUGE milestones to note. . .

She brought a graham cracker to her mouth! Brandon and I were seriously cheering and going crazy with the camera as this was the first piece of food she has ever been able to bring all the way to her mouth. Got to celebrate these small victories! (Since this pic was taken she has picked up several different things and while not really eating them, she's getting them to her mouth and kind of sucking so I'll take it!)

We have also seen an increase in motor imitation. The video below is the first time she has EVER mimicked me.  Usually she only preforms for Brandon. . . daddy's girl in the making.

She's started reaching up her arms for us which I LOVE. She doesn't do it all the time, but occasionally when she's getting out of her highchair, and she's done it several times to me when I am pushing her in a shopping cart.

Still not crawling, but we are working on it :) She is showing more motivation and you can tell her (mental) wheels are turning on how to make her legs and arms work together, just not quite there yet.

She is still a really really quiet baby so we are constantly talking to her and working on different sounds. She has a whiny/fussy nose she makes when tired or frustrated, and makes the "Mmmmmmmmm" sound, but that is about all. We did get her to laugh out loud in the bath tub a few days ago, which was really fun to hear!

A few other things:
Seven teeth - three on top and four on bottom
Size 3 diapers, size 4 overnights
Size 12 month clothes
Size 1.5 shoe, if baby shoes came in half sizes :) 1's too small and 2's too big.
Guessing she's about 18-19 pounds

Adventures:
We enjoyed Clara's first Easter by spending the Friday prior with Brandon's parents (huge thanks for the cute Easter basket!) and spent Sunday going to church as usual and then lunch at my parents house.

And she enjoyed her first taste of Dunkin Donuts

And apparently at some point Brandon and Clara had their own fun with the camera because I randomly found these just now. . .

Countdown to her 1 year has begun!