1 year update

I’ve been writing a whole bunch of posts revolving around the 1-year mark. Catching up? See my 1 year reflections here, and pictures from the girls first birthday here. More to come : )

So what’s new?

This month has been so much fun! It’s included my doctoral dissertation defense (and i passed, so it’s FINALLY done, y’all!!!)

it’s also included a trip to Utah, a couple of trips to the pool, a trip to the Children’s Museum, and more!!! I’ll write a whole post soon with lots and lots of photos to give some updates about those various happenings. But first, let’s get to what’s new in terms of the girls’ development, shall we?

• Both girls can now wave “hi” and “bye”…and they do so all the time!  : ) The other day we were walking into daycare and Brooke was proudly waving at all the old ladies coming out of water aerobics. It was adorbs!!!
• Both girls enjoy playing pat-a-cake and Bailey, in particular, loves to clap!
• Both girls can now pull themselves to a standing position with ease and can even stand unassisted for brief periods of time. We’re not quite at the furniture-cruising period yet, but its very close!

 

Likes and Dislikes

• The girls now HATE diaper changes. Or clothing changes. Or sitting in the carseat. Pretty much anything that forces them to be held down against their will.
• Both girls are exerting more of their independence. Although they still eat some baby food, they really want to feed themselves. Sometimes I’ll try to put a bite of something in their mouths and they’ll grab my hand to block it, then grab the bite of food, and feed it to themselves. They both do this.
• Their LOVE of all-things water continues. We got a little inflatable pool for the backyard that they love, and I’ve been letting them play with a “homemade” water table (aka:  old infant bathtub that is filled with water). If I don’t watch them closely, they’ll also try to play in Rocky’s water bowl.
• The girls are starting to dislike stroller rides! It’s a bummer for me, because I’ve been meeting with a mom-friend weekly for stroller walks (we go at the mall now that its too hot to go outside), but I think our walking days are numbered. The girls don’t want to be confined to the stroller anymore (see the first point re. hating being held down or confined).
• The girls love animals of all kind! When we were in Utah we went to a farmer’s market that had a little petting zoo with shetland ponies, lambs, goats, ducks, bunnies, etc. The girls absolutely loved being able to pet all the animals. They also love marine animals, as we went to the aquarium and they equally loved just being able to watch the animals swim around.
• Here’s an odd one…..both of the girls LOOOOOVE pickles! Who knew? We were out to eat and gave them a piece of a pickle spear to munch on and they just about went crazy for it! Guess who’s buying a big jar of pickle spears!? THIS family!!! : )

Baby Stats – 1 year old

Bailey on left, Brooke on right in both of the above pictures

• Weight: Brooke = 16 lb. 3 oz (5th percentile); Bailey = 17 lbs. (11th %)
• Height:  Brooke = 27.5 inches (5th %); Bailey = 28 inches (13th %)
• Head:  Brooke = 46.75 cm (91st %); Bailey = 46 cm (79th %)

Regarding the girls’ head circumference – the girls have always has large heads in proportion to their body (compare here, where the girls were less than 1 % for body weight, and in the 52nd percentile for head circumference). But for Brooke’s head to jump up to the 91st % was a little alarming to the doctor. She thinks Brooke is just having a big growth spurt and everything will even out, but we’re going back in a month to have her head re-checked. I’m not too worried right now, being that her Dad’s head is enormous (hello, heredity!) and behaviorally she’s been 100% normal!

• Clothing Size: mostly in 12 month, but some clothes are sized 6-12 months and 12-18 months. In those cases, we’ve outgrown the “6-12 month” sizes and have moved into the “12-18 month” sizes.
• Diaper Size: Hanging steady in Size 3. Hopefully for a long time, because I just bought 2 giant Costco size boxes last week!
• Sleep:  Nighttime sleep has finally gotten a bit better. There are still occasional wake-ups requiring a little soothing, but nothing too long. Daytime sleep is a whole other story. Sometimes the girls want two 2-hour naps a day. Sometimes they’re skipping a nap all together (and always at different times!!! Like, Brooke will skip her morning nap and Bailey will skip her afternoon nap….leaving Momma with 0% downtime!!) Sometimes they still sleep twice a day, but only for 30-45 minutes each. They’re all over the place! I think they’re in the process of trying to drop down to 1 nap per day, but we’re in the transition phase and its pretty unpredictable what kind of daytime sleep we’ll get each day. I’ve actually heard that once you go down to 1 nap, although initially a huge adjustment, it actually makes things easier. Instead of worrying about rushing for errands in-between naps,  we’ll have longer chunks of time to run errands, go on fun outings, etc. Although I’ll miss the extra “Mom” time (which is not TV watching time….it’s laundry/dishes/email time), I can see the benefits of a 1 nap/day system too.
• Food:  We’ve been fully eating 3 meals of “solids” each day for the past month, and even have snacks occasionally too. Right now we’re transitioning to whole milk but haven’t cut out the formula cold turkey. The girls usually eat 6-8 oz per bottle (4 bottles per day), and right now we’re at a mixture of 3-4 oz. formula and 4-5 oz. whole milk. We’ve been making the transition over the course of the past 2 weeks and I think we’ve got another week or two until the formula is totally phased out.

Catching up? Check out past updates here:

11 month update

10 month update

9 month update

8 month update

7 month update

6 month update

5 month update

4 month update

3 month update

2 month update

Check back for a Utah recap (complete with lots of pictures) soon!