1 Year Of Mabel!

And just like that, my baby girl is an entire year old. I don’t know how that is possible. And I know everyone says that, but seriously, it’s so unfair how much faster time went this time around. I know she is still little but she is becoming more toddler every day, and I am just not ready for that!

We had a wonderful celebration for her the weekend before her big day and then the day of, I let her eat a little donut for breakfast(made her entire year right there) and we met Daddy at the mall for a Chick Fil A lunch before he left for a business trip that day for the entire week. As we were walking through the mall I made a comment about how there was some pretty trippy music coming out of this car ride thing and Jim’s eyes lit up and he was like, “that means there is a FREE RIDE LEFT” so the girls got to ride in the car/truck thing at the mall and it was Mabel’s first time and she was OBSESSED. So, happy birthday to her. We shoot for the stars on the day of their birth.

So anyway, here is her last monthly update. I’m sure I’ll update on her milestones specifically as time continues to fly by, but I don’t plan to do anymore monthly updates after this one.  So here we go, 1 year of Mabel! 
Size: Well, we just had her one year check up yesterday and she had actually LOST weight since her last appointment. Has anyone else experienced this?? The dr. didn’t seem worried in the slightest. She said that once babies start to move a lot of times they “level out” size wise. But this is uncharted territory for me. Abigail was always like…up in the 90th percentile for both height and weight. So to have a little peanut is not something I expected!

Weight: 18 lb 15 oz (34%)

Height: 28 inches (10%)

She is still wearing 12-18 month clothes, size 5 diapers, and size 3 shoes(though they’re getting snug!)

Eating: This girl is finally eating more and more table food. She tries to only eat bread, but we have started to make her eat her other foods first and *then* she can have her beloved bread. We cheered so much for her recently when she ate food that she didn’t want that now she cheers all the time during dinner. “Yayyy!!!!”

Favorites are: Grilled cheese, toast, peanut butter sandwiches, strawberries, blueberries, beef, ham deli meat, and pizza.

We’re still nursing….a lot. Which is also uncharted territory for me! With Abigail I had her down to a bedtime session only by her 1st birthday and we were completely weaned by 13 months. This time around, I have had high hopes of extended breastfeeding(nope, I have no idea exactly how long!) and so far, so good. We still nurse all throughout the day and typically once at night.

Sleep: At this point, we’re still doing two naps a day(though they’ve both gotten shorter) and she goes down to bed still in the 7 o’clock hour. I try to push it closer to 8 but on days when she wakes up from her afternoon nap early, she just can’t make it much past 7. She has been sleeping pretty good- she usually only wakes up once, but it can be anywhere between midnight and five am. There doesn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason to it. Then we’re up for the day lately sometime after 6:30.

We’ve had a bit of a sleep snafu recently because Mabel has taken it upon herself to throw everything out of her bed regularly. Which are all things she needs to sleep. So, she cries and I go in and give it back to her and then she’s mad because I left so then she throws everything back out but then she can’t fall asleep because she doesn’t have her things…rinse and repeat a million times. So we’ve been working on training and fixing that, but it doesn’t happen overnight so, Mama tired.

Teeth! We finally have teeth! Just a few days before her 1st birthday her bottom two teeth decided to show up! True story: I didn’t even notice them. Jim did. He was all, “babe? Did you know Mabel has some teeth?” and I was like, WHAT. So yeah, they came, and I didn’t notice. Since then, one of her top teeth has cut but it isn’t one of her front teeth. Snaggletooth here we come!

Anyway, a year old, three teeth. That I’ve noticed.

Mabel is communicating more and more. She still signs, “Milk”, “All Done”, “More”, and of course waves “hi” and “bye”. A lot of times she gets confused and signs all done when she is really wanting more, so we have to clarify whenever she is talking to us.

She says Mama, Dada, Baba, and Nana. We’ve been working on “eat” “drink” and “thank you” but so far none of those have really clicked. She signs “all done” and “more” pretty universally so I’m trying to refine exactly what it is that she wants so that she doesn’t get as frustrated!

This month has been the month of the toddler sized spirit erupting in Miss Mabel. We’ve finally had to enter the land of child training, which is just crazy! Training her not to touch outlets, not to throw her food, not to scream, to ask nicely….translation: a whole bunch of work for Mommy!

I have to say, she has quite a bit more *spirit* than Abigail did as a baby, so, I guess I’m in for it. Or whatever. Just send me all the good vibes and strong coffee that you’ve got.

Movement: Still no “official” crawling from Mabel, though, I’m not sure that remotely matters. She is getting around like crazy! If you follow me on Snapchat(@CourtSpena) then I know you’ve seen her technique. She sits and scoots all around the house. It is hilarious!

She has also started pulling up. Not a ton, but she can do it successfully.

She WILL crawl on her hands and knees in her crib, but I have yet to see her do it anywhere else. She’s just a fan of the scoot and slide.

Loves: Bath time(so, so, so much. Like gets mad that you’re taking so long to put her in the water, bouncing up and down, signing more repeatedly, squawking at you to put her in the tub kind of love), nursing, her pacifiers(like, borderline obsessed. Will be needing to join pacifiers anonymous), her Daddy(had major major separation anxiety while he was gone), doing whatever Sister is doing, and eating whatever food I’m trying to eat.

Dislikes: Being put to bed, sleeping anywhere but her room, being told no.

Oh Miss Mabel E. I can’t believe that this is your one year update! My how much you have changed. You are quickly changing from the laid back, happy baby, to the feisty, adventurous, and spirited toddler. We love you so, so much. Your stoic little face, your hearty giggles, your sloppy kisses and warm snuggles. Your ways of letting us know what you do and don’t want and us constantly trying to figure it out. It’s all part of what makes you YOU and we love it so much. We’re so thankful that you are ours and we are all so excited to see where the next year takes us!