Eleven Months Old

• Age: 11 months 1 day/47 weeks 6 days 
• Weight: 17 pounds 5 ounces  as of 2/15/13
• Height:  27 inches almost 28 as of 1/25/13
• Head Circumference: 18 inches (90th percentile) as of 1/16/13
• Hair Color:  Brown with red highlights
• Eye Color: Grey blue 
• Diaper Size:  Size 4
• Clothing Size:  6-12 months
• Mommy's Favorite:  When she crawls over to give me a hug and a kiss then goes back to playing.
• Daddy's Favorite:  Everything.  Walking, Clicking sound. Uh-oh pose. Laughing more. Kissing and lovey-dovey-ness.
• Favorite Toys By Month
• June=mobile
• July= kitty blanket
• August=links
• September=duck rattle and blankets
• October=Box of Fun
• November=Bouncy seat and jingle bells
• December=Activity Table and alphabet magnets
• January=Walker, elephant, and Winnie the Poo train
• February=Pete the Cat book and video of live telling, dishwasher, getting into cabinets 
• Gross Motor Development:
• September=rolling
• October=sitting
• November=standing
• December=crawling and pulling to stand easily
• January=crawling, cruising, and walking holding onto hands
• February=crawling and walking on her own 
• Sleep:  She goes to bed around 8pm and wakes up 0-2 times a night.  She gets up between 7 and 8am.  
• Feeding:  She gets about 5, 6 oz bottles a day and 3 meals of baby food plus a snack in the afternoon
• Food:  She is eating tons of finger foods and is refusing pureed baby food.  
• Favorite Foods:  Apples, blueberries, homemade popsicles, and quesadillas.  
• Teeth:  3 

45 weeks

46 weeks

47 weeks

BIG NEWS
Well we went back to the cardiologist on Monday.  It was the first time we have seen him since the end of October.  He said that she is doing so well that we don't have to go back for a YEAR.  This is amazing news!  We aren't even a year post-op and she has exceeded their expectations.  Usually children that have feeding tubes or that have heart surgery don't do well eating afterward.  They were too worn out to eat before surgery and they get used to eating through the tube.  Usually they need speech therapy or occupational therapy to work on feeding.  Caroline started wowing the doctors a week after surgery when they finally let her try eating from a bottle and she ate 2 ounces.  The cardiology team and the speech therapist were amazed.  They said that very rarely happens.  While it has been a struggle at times (In August she would take an hour to eat and was eating every two hours.  Yikes!) we are sooooo happy with how well she is doing.  Today she is an eating champ!  Also, earlier this month she was dismissed from early intervention services.  This means she met all of her goals and no long needs physical therapy!  Her pediatrician keeps calling her her miracle baby.  We are so excited that she is doing so well.  Words really can not express our joy.  

Random Cute Stories
As she gets bigger and bigger she gets more of a personality.  This month I'm trying to show her personality to our friends and family that live far away and don't get to see her very often.  Basically this is a collection of ridiculously cute tidbits about Caroline.

This month she has started communicating a ton more.  She claps appropriately, waves and says bye-bye to people and objects, waves hi, and shakes her head NO vehemently.  She has also started saying pat pat pat.  It is something my mom showed her a few weeks ago and we have been practicing.  We pat pat pat Zach, pictures in books, her teddy bear, etc. So now she says pat pat pat as she pets Zach.  

It is amazing how much Caroline is changing every day.  Last month she started moving everywhere and capped it off with taking her first steps.  Now I need to clarify that she isn't walking consistently yet.  She is very capable of walking but she still prefers to crawl.  The post a few weeks ago was that she took her first steps without holding onto anything.  She had been walking and holding onto things since Christmas.  Super Bowl Sunday was just her first steps on her own.  

She is obsessed with the dishwasher.  I've never seen her crawl as fast as he does when she hears the dishwasher open.  

She has started waving as she leaves a room.  For example, I was doing laundry the other day and Phil was with her in the office.  She decided to see what I was doing so she crawled to the door, turned around and waved and said bye-bye to Phil and then came crawling after me.  

The other night we went to dinner with friends and Phil took her to the cashier to pay.  She held his credit card and handed it to the lady when they got to the counter.  Then the lady handed it back to her when she was done!  

She loves to dance and clap to music and this month she has started singing too.   I keep trying to get it on video but no such luck yet.

While changing her diaper the other day I gave her her pants to hold onto.  She used to play peek-a-boo with them. She would lay them on her face then squeal and laugh while I said oh no!  Where is Caroline? Then she would pull them down smiling and squealing with happiness.  Now she has started dropping them onto the floor and then doing her uh-oh pose.  She has also started dropping food on the floor while eating in her highchair.  Then she does the uh-oh hands.  Messy but the dog loves it :)  Actually everything gets dropped on the floor or in a bucket and then she "says" uh-oh!

This month she tried her first meat, chicken.  She started with it plain but then I started putting it in quesadillas the rest of the week.  She LOVES quesadillas.  She shovels it into her mouth as fast as she can.  I had to take some of it away the other day because her mouth was full and she kept putting more it.  Philip is so proud that she is already loving Mexican food.

In addition to her two bottom front teeth she has all four top front teeth coming in.  Only one has made its way out thus far.  It looks like a little fang.  See the picture below.

See that third tooth on the top left?

Phil was out of town until early evening on Valentine's Day.  This is how he was greeted when he got home :)

Caroline loves to pull up on our legs then hold on and walk around with us holding onto our legs.  

LOVE this photo!

The other day, while changing the laundry from the washer to the dryer, a sock fell on the ground.  I showed her it and asked her to put it in the dryer and she did.  Then she waved bye-bye to it all on her own!  I of course encouraged this cuteness by giving her a small pile of socks to put in and we would wave bye-bye to each of them as she put them in.  You know I grabbed my cell phone and took pictures :)

She really is the sweetest child.  She will be sitting there playing the come crawling over as fast as she can, pull up on us, give us a hug and a kiss, then go back to her toys and playing.  It warms our hearts!

The other day while skyping with my brother who is deployed in Afghanistan, Caroline started trying to feed him her breakfast.  It was so sweet and cute!

Random Cute Photos

Love Aunt Amy!

Gran Dan!

Getting into mischief!

Wearing RED for congenital heart defect awareness week!

LOVE this photo too  

Big girl drinking out of a sippy cup!

yuuuummm homemade popsicles

More mischief!

Check out our new couch!  I am making different throw pillows.  I will share our updated family room at a later date. 

Go over to the Little Lessons for Little Ones blog that I started to see a cute video of her and I playing a game this week.  It is at the bottom of the post I linked to. 

Also, congratulations to our dear friends John and Maria Brown!  Their son (our Godson!!!) Hudson was born on February 27th!  

Can you believe she is almost one year old?  March 31st will be here so soon!  

Love,
Megan