Eleven Months

This time last year I was in my last week of work before going on maternity leave. On the one hand it feels like a lifetime ago, but on the other it feels like only yesterday.

You can get your own month stickers from the awesome Picky Sticky website here

On Tuesday my baby girl was 11 months. 1 month off being a whole year old! To say this has been the fastest year of my life would be the understatement of the century.

Butter wouldn't melt!

I think this last month I've noticed the biggest changes in her growing intelligence. She's just about got waving figured out. She waves hello when people show up at our house, but instead of waving goodbye she claps. It's very cute.

Say What?!?!

She's understanding so much more now, I can ask her questions such as "Where is Punky's nose?" or "Where is Mummy's nose?" and she points. I ask her "Where's Daddy" and she'll point to wherever Dave is. If I say "Kisses for Mummy?" or "Kisses for Daddy?" she leans forward and presses her mouth against your face. Sometimes she even makes a kissing sound as she leans toward you.

The girl does not sit still! Trying to get a decent, non-blurry shot was difficult to say the least!

She knows my "What are you doing/What have you got?" voice now and she takes off in the opposite direction when she sees me coming and doesn't want to give up whatever she has (which is usually in her mouth!).

She gives me a cheeky smile when I say "No" and continues to do it, but if I go "Uh, uh, uh!" she stops whatever it is and then has a little cry coz she knows she's been roused on and shouldn't be doing whatever it was.

One of her favourite games, I say "She's coming to get me!" and she charges for me

This month she has gained 2 more teeth, bringing us to a grand total of 6! The last one has given her quite a bit of grief, but she has handled it much better than she did with the first top two, she's such a little trooper.

She's also getting closer and closer to walking. In fact, she has actually walked all by herself towards me quite a few times, but hasn't worked up the courage to give it a go without Mummy in front of her to walk towards. I watch her get to the edge of the furniture and contemplate taking a step with nothing to hang on to, but then she catches me looking at he, gives her cheeky grin and plops to her bottom and crawls off.

Quit it with the pics Mum!

This last month has also seen Punky start to self-settle at bedtime. We've got a really good bedtime routine going now and once all the steps are complete we have a little cuddle with the bedtime music playing, then I pop her in the cot and she rolls around for a bit before going off to sleep. I'm so proud that she has started doing this and also a little relieved to be honest. I had started to dread putting her to bed because of the tears but thankfully things are getting better.

She is still waking up at the crack of dawn, and not wanting to sleep a lot during the day, but I have come to terms with the fact that there isn't a lot I can do about it and to just go with the flow. There is no use getting annoyed or frustrated when she won't sleep later than 5 or 5:30am , or won't have a second nap in the afternoon, I just have to suck it up and roll with it.

See how flexible I am Mum?!

Thankfully on those early mornings she is quite happy to play in her bedroom, so I pop her in there, safe in the knowledge that the room is completely baby-proofed, turn the baby monitor to face the mirror so I can see the whole room, shut the door and go and lie in bed to a more respectable after 6am time! Say what you will but even just an extra 10 minutes of lying in bed makes me a much happier Mum for the day, which makes for a much happier baby.

This time next month I'll be recovering after her birthday party and I'm pretty sure I'm going to be feeling a little emotional about it all. I never could have imagined that one person could bring me so much joy.

Cheeky Chopper

To celebrate her first birthday on the blog I am going to be posting a pic a day of my little munchkin, the first week will be pics from the first quarter of her life, the second week pics from the second quarter, and so on, you get the idea.

Today I'm sharing this post with the ever wonderful Grace a for Flog Yo Blog Friday and the fantabulous Bree for Flash Blog Friday.