Abigail: 11 Months Old – Trav and Erin + 3

Abigail turned 11 months old last week on July 16th. The countdown to her first birthday is ON! I feel like Abigail has grown and hit so many milestones this month. I don’t feel like I’ve been super sentimental since she’s been born even though she’s our last baby, but something about planning her birthday party has made me so sad in a way. I’m not ready for Abigail to be so big yet, but at the same time, it’s exciting to see her personality bloom and watch her interact with her big sisters. I just love her to pieces!

Abigail goes to the doctor for her next checkup in a little over a month from now, but I’m guessing she weighs around 16 pounds right now. She is definitely feeling heavier lately, and her clothes are getting more snug. She is actually getting a little long for some of her 6 month sleepers and fitting into the 9 month ones pretty well. Most of her onesies, shirts, and shorts are still 3-6 month or 6 month size though and fit fine. She is still in size 2 diapers. Still rocking just the two teeth on bottom with no signs of any others on the way. Her scalp is looking great these days without using any medicated creams/oils. And, we are still giving her the iron drops twice a day (at least when my tired mom brain can remember!), and we’ll continue that until her next checkup.

Abigail is nursing 4 times per day now, so we’ve dropped one feeding in the last month. She has started eating 3 meals per day lately, so it was getting difficult to squeeze in 5 nursing sessions around that where she was actually hungry enough to want to eat. She typically nurses right when she wakes up, late morning, late afternoon, and right before bedtime. I feel like we’ve gotten in a good groove with her schedule lately, and I’m in no hurry for her to wean, so we’ll probably keep going through the winter at least and re-evaluate then.

Big news: Abigail has pretty much transitioned away from purees and is eating mostly table food now (soft food, at least)! She has really come a long way in the last month with how well she is able to pick up small foods and get them into her mouth. She loves fruit and Cheerios and even tried things like spaghetti, meatballs, chicken pot pie, etc. She will really eat just about anything I put in front of her. As long as the pieces are soft enough, she can gum them enough to swallow pretty easily! It’s really nice to be at the point where she can sit in the high chair and feed herself because it frees me up to be able to do other things while she’s eating. I’ve given her a sippy cup of water once, but she had no idea what to do with it other than bang it on the tray, so we’ll have to work on that in the coming months :)

Abigail is also FINALLY sleeping until about 7 AM every morning…yay!!! For the longest time, she was waking up between 4 and 6 AM to nurse and then sleep a while longer, but it’s really nice that she’s stretching it out a little longer these days. Bedtime is typically around 8 PM. She is taking about 2-3 naps per day depending on how long they are. Many days, she doesn’t get a great morning nap because we’re out and about, so her afternoon nap is typically the longest one of the day. She still uses her paci to go off to sleep, and she’s gotten really good at picking it up and putting it in her mouth all by herself.

Abigail is still happiest when we are holding her or playing with her. She is sometimes content to play by herself on the floor, but it all depends on her mood. Other times, she will cry and wail until we pick her up, and then she’s immediately fine. No more tears. She doesn’t seem to care too much who is holding her and will go to pretty much anyone who asks to hold her. She is just content to be right in the middle of the action. She is babbling more every day and is now saying things like “mamamama” and “nananana”. I don’t think she’s really started saying any official words yet, but she’ll be there before we know it.

Abigail has also gotten a lot more mobile this month. She isn’t crawling yet, but she is getting up on her hands and knees more and more every day. She scoots around the living room on her bottom and has gotten from the loveseat all the way around the back of the recliner to the kitchen table before. She also has started pushing herself up to a sitting position from her belly, so many times she’ll be sitting up in her crib waiting for me when I go in to get her from her nap. It won’t be long before she’s on the go all over the house!

Likes: chewing on everything, playing with my cell phone, being held, taking baths with her loud and crazy sisters, eating REAL food, and pulling Mommy’s earrings and hair

Dislikes: not being in the center of the action, running out of food on her tray, and getting a toy taken away…like Mommy’s phone :)