ONE ENTIRE YEAR OLD! (12 Months)

My Little Beauty

My HAPPY girl!

Holy wowzers! My little peanut of a baby is one year old.  I have a hard time believing one year has passed, but at the same time can't believe she's only been here for one year.  She is such a joy! I can't put into words the amount of love I feel for this child.  We could not have asked for a better baby and often worry that the next one will be a total terror since she's such a sweatheart.  She really is a charmer and has so much personality! I am looking forward to watching her grow this next year as she learns to walk and communicate, its sure to be exciting!

Family snap shot after my LASIK eye surgery. 

Someone recently asked me if I'm sad that my baby is now a toddler.  I'm really not because she's been a late bloomer and still seems incredibly babyish to me.  I'm sure once she's running around with a fierce attitude, I will want my infant back!

Feeding: Veda is still breastfed, at least four times a day.  We have not yet introduced her to any other type of milk, we have her one year check up next week and have a lot to discuss with our pediatrician.  We're nervous about her lactose tolerance.  I haven't tried yogurt/milk products again on purpose - one night I gave her custard, not even thinking it was a dairy product and she woke up with obvious tummy cramps.  She ended up hanging out in bed with us and watched Snow White and the Huntsman.  I don't want to try Soy because I've researched it and don't think it's right for us, which leads me to Almond milk.  I'm just not sure how to provide her with enough fat.  

She still will only eat purees.  She just pinches and looks at finger foods.  I expose her to it 1-3 times a day and she has yet to put anything in her mouth.  When I sneak real food into her purees, she gags every time she gets a bite.  What will I do with this child?! Feed her purees until preschool!?

We took Veda to Granville for her birthday and bought her a beer ;)

Sleeping: She has officially dropped her third nap of the day.  She takes two naps that are 1-2 hours.  She had been going to sleep earlier, too, around 7.  Right now I'm flexible, she can go down between 7-8:30, whenever she shows signs she's tired.  She still wakes up around 5 to nurse and then back to sleep until 7:30ish.  This last week she now prefers daddy to put her to sleep at night.  She's been working me and would prefer I hold her all night... no matter how much I love her, that's just not happening, mommy needs her sleep!

Goofy girl!

Stats:  I weighed her at our mommy and me class today and she's lost weight :( She didn't have any to lose, but she's down about a pound and a half.  When we were back in the Midwest over the holiday she had the stomach flu :( This was her first illness.  And she was teething, too.  She was up puking for about 3 hours during the night, felt a little feverish (Of course we don't pack anything like a thermometer with us) and was really snuggly.  Poor baby :( She was not herself for a couple of days, but quickly recovered.  And then she shared her flu with mommy - that's a whole other story!

We go to the doc next week and will get her official stats and percentiles.     

Milestones:  We're still scooting over here.  She is attempting to pull herself up on furniture finally, and she does cruise around furniture.  She can walk for miles with her walker or if we let her hold our fingers.  She prefers the latter because she has better control of where she wants to go, with the walker she runs into furniture or the wall and has to wait for someone to redirect her.  She wants to spend all of her time on her feet.  She's a little wobbly, but much stronger than she knows.  She's had a few falls so appears timid.  One of these days it's going to click and she's going to be gone!  

New found independence!

She has seven teeth now.  The newest one is a right upper, that one was a hard one for her, but it may have been because she also had the flu.  She was pretty whiney.  I don't know what it is about going to visit the midwest and getting teeth! 

She now claps and waves, we're working on blowing kisses.  She randomly hugs us, which is just the sweetest thing!  She got a baby doll for Christmas and either kisses her or tries to eat her face, either way, it's adorable :) 

She is now able to make the 'mmm' sound and says "mamamamamom." Does she know its me? I'm not sure but I love hearing it!
She's started dancing to the music some of her musical toys play and it's so cute!

I sometimes feel like she's behind her peers (and I know I shouldn't compare) so I'm trying my best to point everything out to her and read her books and keep her moving.  

Likes/Dislikes:  I've been off work for the last four weeks and she and I have seriously bonded.  She is a total mommy's girl right now and does not want me anywhere but right next to her.  It makes me feel very loved but I also have a hard time getting much done. 

She still loves to go for walks and swing, I think she just likes to be outside.  

Bathtime in Grammy Rhonda's sink

Rock Chalk!

She HATES her diaper changed and changing her clothes.  You just walk into her room and she starts to squirm! Our neighbors probably think we beat her because she cries so loud, throws her head back/arches her back and now stomps.  She's obviously a toddler now! 

How cute is she in this chair?!

Adventures: Well this month we went on a few adventures without Veda.  Yes, we hired babysitter(s)! Brett and I got to go to a wine tasting event with a friend of mine in Culver City.  We also had a night out so that I could watch him perform (Other than Kansas in November, I hadn't seen him since I was pregnant with V!).  Brett was beginning to get sick that night so it wasn't too wild, but he was a trooper and stuck it out.  I offered to go home early many times that night but he was just excited to be out with me :) We also went to a holiday party at the Laugh Factory.  We have used three different girls to babysit and they've all been wonderful.

Happy! Happy! Happy!

Our lil fambam

I also got LASIK eye surgery last month and can now see 20/15, better than perfect! It's been amazing! I sometimes forget and attempt to remove my glasses or think to myself, I should take my contacts out. I'm so happy with the results!
Veda and I went to my work holiday party, Brett was under the weather.  She charmed everyone, as usual!

Christmas Morning

And then the day after Christmas we headed back to the Midwest where we spent a few days with my mom and family and then rented a car and headed to Kansas to spend time with Brett's family.  It was a great trip (minus the sickness) and the weather was decent - the next week the temperature was NEGATIVE 50* so I will not complain about the 30* temps that we had while we were there.  Veda is a great traveler! I know it won't always be this easy, but for now I'll relish in it!

Christmas with Nana Nancy

With her new Baby Grand

She actually looks like she knew what she was doing! (She didn't)

Scootin' around Grammy's kitchen

Practicing walking with Grandad & Uncle Matt

Struggles: Seeing your baby ill is not fun, but we all handled it pretty well.  We are so lucky that she's only been sick once in a year.  I know we are very fortunate.  It was harder for me to be sick because I couldn't take care of her.  I was pretty laid up in bed at my mother in law's house the majority of the time we were there.  I hate being sick, but I especially hate being sick away from home.  We were supposed to be hanging out and having fun, instead I was in bed by 8PM on NYE.  

Sicky cuddles with daddy. 

Santa was a little frightening.

Looking forward to: This weekend we are celebrating Veda's birthday with friends! I'm excited! I planned a small party at our apartment.  Since her birthday is in January I never would have imagined it would be possible to celebrate in a park, but it is going to be 72*.  We're still doing it at home, but my guest list is somehow over 40... wish me luck!

Birthday at Grammy's. 

Her birthday gift from Mommy & Daddy. 

Opening presents on her birthday.

 I know what I'm not looking forward to... returning to work after six weeks off! It'll be good to get back at it, but it would be just amazing if I could be a stay at home mom.  I'm pretty sure it's the world's best (and most challenging - I'm aware) job!

And here is our monthly photo in our 12 month old outfit, it's actually still a bit big, but Veda is a little girl.  

Eleven Months

I've been told she looks like ME here, YAY! 

Feeding: I'm still breastfeeding Veda, but I'm planning to wean right at one year.  I won't mind if she still nurses morning and night, but the daytime pumping at work has to go!  I'm a little nervous about how she will react to cow's milk because I recently gave her yogurt (with whole milk) and she had a major blow out and serious butt rash.  I can tell it hurt so bad, she was not happy! Hopefully it was a coincidence... I'm planning to let the rash completely resolve and then try the yogurt again.  

She's discovered she likes chicken, still loves her fruit and will now tolerated most veggies.  Thank goodness!  I was getting worried that she would only eat fruit forever!! She still needs her food pretty smoothly pureed because she gags on anything slightly chunky.  I'll keep trying and eventually I'm sure she'll get it.  

I haven't introduced a lot of 'snack' foods to her, just these disolving cracker things that she is less than impressed with :)  

Just drinking my milk!

Not so sure about beets, mom!

What is this?!

Sleeping:  No issues with sleep over here, but I'm noticing that she's fighting her last nap of the day.  That's ok because she still gets two one hour (at least) naps a day + sleeps through the night.  She's dropping her evening nap, which makes her really ready for bed.  

All this playing is hard work!

Stats:  I weighed her at our mommy & me class the other day, and with clothes and diaper she weighed almost 18.5 pounds.  She's slowly growing.    

Milestones:  Veda still scoots, no real crawling.  Still can't figure out how to keep her head and butt in the air simulaneously, haha! She's really not that interested in being super mobile, which I'm pretty ok with.  She'll walk if you hold her hands and she'll stand for long periods of time against furniture, but does not pull herself up.  

She has six teeth now.  The top two have taken a while to descend, but they're almost there.  They look gigantic! 

She's almsot got her clap down and sometimes tries to wave 'hi!'  It sometimes sounds like she's saying hi, but she may just be mimicking us a little bit.  She says dada, but we're not sure if she knows that's Brett.  She laughs every time I say Mama :( Little stinker!

When she's in her exersaucer and we tell her to jump or bounce, she does.  I also tell her, "arms up" when I put her tray on her high chair and she will lift her arms.  She does seem to understand some words and I'm trying to incorporate a little sign language, time to watch our mouths (Daddy!)!

Likes/Dislikes:  She loves scooting around the room and is really attracted to shoes and the wheels on her stroller(s).  Of course, the dirtiest things in our place.  Yuck! She is still putting everything in her mouth.  She's got some toy balls that she really likes and loves to read books! She also still loves bath time and has become a master splasher!

Loves bathtime!

Just reading my books!

She is such a smiley little child!

Oh, and did I mention I love swinging?!

She still doesn't like her diaper changed or her nose messed with.  She whimpers if you even touch it, let alone wipe it or pick it! She also doesn't like her face cleaned after eating.  She whines a little when she's done eating, too, like she wants more, so we've been giving her more and more and more. 

Swinging with Henry

Adventures: We flew back to Kansas for a weekend and stayed with her Grandad.  Brett had shows in his hometown and we hadn't seen Grandad for a while so we all headed back and had a good time.  She got three teeth that weekend so it was an adventure for sure!

We also hosted Thanksgiving for our friends and their little dude.  It was my first time ever making a turkey and I think it turned out pretty good, no one complained anyway!  

Me & Henry on Thanksgiving

We had our first non-family babysitter this month! We all survived.  Veda was well behaved as usual and went to bed with no real issues.  Mommy & Daddy got to do some wine tasting, it was fun!

Me & My Granddad 

Me & my new friend!

Struggles: We may or may not be on the verge of being sick.  Brett had a cold and locked himself in the bedroom for a couple of days.  I noticed Veda had a runny nose (for like an hour) but it was also the same day I gave her the yogurt.  She's been sneezy but doesn't appear to be ill.  I, however, have a had a sore throat for the last few days so I'm really hoping she doesn't get it.  Fingers crossed because we've been so lucky with her being so healthy.  

This picture cracks me up.  My mom made that outfit for me when I was a baby.
Side by side of Veda & Me, her at 10 months, me at 2 months - same outfit.  

Looking forward to:  

LASIK eye surgery this week! Woot woot! We're also heading back to the Midwest for a few days during the holidays.  We're excited to see everyone and we know they all want to see Veda so badly, I am not at all looking forward to the frigid temperatures and snow.  I hope they get some crazy heat wave! Why again do we not celebrate Christmas in Cali? 

Peace out glasses!

Sometimes my daddy dresses me and he forgets we live in Sunny SoCal!

And here is our monthly photo in our 12 month old outfit, it's going to fit soon :(

It's safe to say she is no longer a fan of these photos!

Ten Months

I've been too lazy to add photos to these because we have so many pictures and I didn't feel like going through them all.... Then our computer charger broke and we had to get a new one, so I'm a bit behind. And now that I've waited so long, I'm likely putting the wrong photos on the wrong month... it is what it is! It's hard to be full time mommy, full time nurse and master historian!

One of my Favorite photos!

Ten months! Oh no! Now we're counting down to one year.  I'm happy-sad about this milestone.  It is flying by.  Oh my little baby is growing ...

Feeding: Well, I've created a fruit monster! She was doing 'well' on vegetables but having a lot of irregularity issues, so I started giving her oatmeal with fruit for brunch every morning.  When I tried to give her veggies again, she was super dramatic and gagged a bunch.  It's a work in progress.  She's still getting breastmilk only, with a tiny bit of water when she will drink it.  I hope she opens her mind soon, because I plan to be done breastfeeding when she's a year.  At least during the day because I'm pretty much over pumping at work.  I won't mind morning and night, especially since its part of her bedtime routine.  Not sure how to overcome that change.  

Sleeping:  She's still a great sleeper.  She's also a still a little thrown off by the whole day light savings thing.  A lot of times when I come home from work, she's already asleep.  Since she hasn't eaten since 6ish, I wake her up, feed her, and put her back down.  (Not really sure if that's a great plan, but I want to see her and I'm afraid she will wake up at 2am!)  She wakes up between 4-6am, comes into our bed to eat and now prefers to go back to her bed to sleep until 7 or 8.  She sweats like crazy in our bed and I'm not sure why, but is fine in her crib.  

She still naps three times a day, usually 1-2 hours.  This week she did one nap for more than 3 hours, but she got up early that day.  She also naps in her crib.  She's such a big girl! We did have to drop the crib mattress because she was starting to pull herself up using her bumper pads.  Now she just tries to eat them ;)

Stats:  Brett and I just weighed her last night, she's still about 17.5lbs.  She's a little peanut.  At her nine month check up, her weight was 35th percentile, height was 25th, and head was 90TH.  Yes, you read that right.  It's a Riley thing.  The doctor said she's been growing at the same rate since birth, so he's not concerned with her noggin being so big, LOL! Looking back at her baby pictures, I now see her head was pretty big for her body then, too.    

Milestones:  Veda is so manipulative! She has her daddy wrapped, I'm telling you! Maybe me a little, too, but definitely daddy! She can scoot all across the room, but if she's feeling lazy she'll whine until you either bring her what she wants, or pick her up.  It's out of control! She can't crawl on all fours yet, once her butt is in the air, her head falls down! She's just a scooter.  I was a little concerned since she's already ten months, but I called my mother-in-law and it turns out Brett crawled (a real crawl) at 10.5 months, the day before he walked.  So, once again, she is her father! My mother-in-law also asked me, "How do you expect her to crawl with such a big head?!" Haha, good point!

She can pretty much pull herself up onto furniture but doesn't really know she can.  She has no idea her mobility possibilities, for which I'm grateful!  She is attracted to cords though, so more baby proofing must be done!

She got 3 new teeth this month, bringing her to 5! She got two uppers and another left lower.  She still has yet to bite me, thank God!

Likes/Dislikes:  She likes to play and play! Daddy is her jungle-gym! She chews on anything she can get ahold of.  She really like remote controls and cell phones.

She rolls all around during diaper change and really hates to have her diaper changed at all.  (She had her first diaper rash this month.)  She doesn't like to be alone in a room, unless there's a cute little girl in the mirror to keep her company.

Pebbles & Bam Bam (Veda & Henry)

Last Minute costumes for Mommy & Daddy
"Modern Day Flintstones"

Adventures: We attempted to go to an Oktoberfest in downtown Burbank, but it was a major bust.  So we went to dinner with a friend instead.  

Veda was in her first short film, "Life Grows On."  You can look it up on Facebook for now, it's not finished with production yet, but that's so exciting!! Daddy even had to fill out SAG info for her!

Uncle Matt came to visit for a week! Veda loves him and can't wait to see him again :)

Mommy got some adult time with a friend and went to the Hollywood Bowl to see the Zack Brown Band! The next day we went to a Flea Market in downtown LA and scored some fun finds, even a Christmas present!

I'm sure we did more, but I'm still suffering from baby brain. 

Me & my super white baby ;)

Dinner at the Yard House after the Flea Market

Looking forward to:  

Mommy is going to get her vision back! I booked my appointment for LASIK! YES!!! I've been waiting for this for years and am so, so, SO excited!!!

And here is our monthly photo in our 12 month old outfit, it's going to fit one of these days :(