11 Months

This month has probably been my favorite so far!  We are loving 11 months!  Molly's 1st Birthday is in less than a month now.  I thought that this would make me sad, but I am far from it!  I am so excited about her turning one and seeing what the new year has to offer.

In the last week she seems to have gone from baby to little person.  She is teetering on the edge of toddlerhood and I love it!  She is interacting with her world in a whole new way and is a little sponge absorbing everything she encounters in a day!

She is taking her sweet time to walk on her own, but it is just that...sweet.  She stands up on her own quite well, usually with something in her hands.  She will walk barely holding onto a finger and she will move from coffee table to couch to ottoman with grace and ease.  But when she wants to walk, she wants to hold on to me.  She still wants my support, my comfort, and my protection and that is beautiful.  One day she will be shoving my hands away because she is big enough to do it on her own.  But for now, she needs me and she can hold my hand as long as she wants to.  

In the last couple days she has been braving steps more and more though.  I love to watch her face as she contemplates whether or not she can make the next move and then her delight when she does as she falls and crawls away!  She is the happiest baby I have ever seen!

Her big achievement this month has been to say Dada!  It almost seemed as if she had been saving the word until she could say it perfectly.  Because when she did finally say it, it was perfect.  She looked at Austin, and without a doubt blurted out "Dada" as clear as day.  I watched Austin's heart melt and it melts even more every time she says it.  Which is a lot.  It is her favorite word at the moment and she has abandoned nearly every other word.  She says dada a lot as babble but she knows who her Daddy is.  She will point to him when he walks into her view as she says Dada and she will look at him every time you ask her where Daddy is.  A girl loves her Daddy and this girl is no exception.

But I have to say, my favorite thing that she has started to do this month is to laugh with me!  It is just so sweet and special to laugh with my favorite little person!  If I laugh at something she does, she will join in, but it has become more than just mocking my laugh.  She has started to enjoy the laughter.  Then she will repeat what made me laugh in the first place and we will continue laughing together.  I love her so much!

This past week was such a joy for us.  The three of us flew up to Washington to visit Austin's family.  Molly got to meet a bunch of family for the first time including her Aunt Sara, Grandma (Austin's mom) Great Aunt Alison, and Great Grandma.  Everyone was thrilled to meet her and Molly was not shy at all!  She did beautifully the entire trip.  She is a champion plane rider and and handled the layovers with a breeze.  She didn't even seem to notice a two hour time change.  She kept to her schedule for the most part but was flexible when the time called for it.  She slept beautifully even in a new room and borrowed pack n' play for both night time and naps.  And we didn't even have any issues in un-babyproofed houses.  I am looking forward to many more trips in the future.  Our one regret is that we didn't get the chance to go to Hood Canal.  Our hearts were set on taking her but snow was in the forecast on the day we had planned to go, so plans changed.  We hope to be able to take her there next summer.  When the air is warm, the water is not ice cold, and she can enjoy it more.

Pictures, pictures, pictures...

I am going to post all of these pictures in as best of an order as I can.  There will be iPhone pictures mixed in with pictures from my dSLR.  Though I try to take as many pictures as I can with my dSLR, my iPhone is on me 98% of the time.  

Molly celebrated her first Valentines Day while we were in Austin.  We got to do a little photo shoot with her and her daddy down by the lake. Precious.

Having her first tea party with Momma, Elmo, and Dolly.

The she had a living room campout with Daddy the next morning.

One day, I went to wake her up from a nap and found her like this.  

Monkeying around at Target!

She was pretty proud about drinking out of a real cup all by herself!

Baby girl was so tired after a long morning playing with friends that she fell asleep in my arms!

Can you tell I love a sleeping baby...and my Instagram app?

Hanging out in Momma's room and playing with a heart shaped cookie cutter.

Poppa put up her new swing in the backyard.  It has been such a mild winter, feeling more like spring, that I'm shocked we didn't do this sooner!  She loves her swing especially since she is still too little to fit into the swings at the park!

This is how we roll after our first flight and a layover in Colorado. Whiskey sour for Momma, pajamas and cheerios for Molly.  We won't tell anyone that it was 10am ;)

Molly and Aunt Taylor were so happy to be reunited again!  They look like twins!

Aunt Taylor bought Molly a bunch of new toys since we were staying at her apartment.  Of all the toys, this ball, which was probably the cheapest afterthought of a toy, was Molly's favorite.  She is crazy about this ball.  I can't tell you why.  But we brought it home with us.  Her face lit up when she saw me pull it out of the suitcase.

Having a bottle with Daddy.  Love.  This picture is horribly grainy and I had to increase the exposure a ton just so you could even see this picture...but I actually kind of like it.  I don't know if it's just the tenderness of the moment or how the grain gives it an almost old world feel, but I love it.

Molly got to meet Grandma Tammy for the first time.  Such love and joy!

Grandma Tammy brought presents!  It was like second Christmas (or early birthday)!

After presents, it was breakfast time.  Mmmmmm, eggs, whole wheat waffles, and blueberries!  Molly felt like such a big girl eating at the table, in a real chair, with a plate and place mat!  

Then I caught these two blowing raspberries in the air together!

Sleepy morning bottle with Daddy.

Peeking out the window.

Picture proof that she does indeed stand on her own.  Is she not the cutest thing you have ever seen?!

Trying to run away while Aunt Taylor puts on her slippers.

This has to be one of my favorite pictures of her this month.  Happy, happy, happy :)

To top off our trip, we spend the last day and night in Seattle.  We went to the Seattle Aquarium which Molly absolutely loved!

While we were in Seattle, we not only got to walk around the park that Austin played at as a child but Molly got to meet her Great Aunt Alison and Great Grandma Janet!

All in all, it was a wonderful month and a great week in Washington!  We are so much looking forward to this next month and Molly's first birthday!  I plan on doing a traditional monthly post next month as well as an entire birthday party post!  This will be an exciting month as we prepare for the big day and also celebrate my dad's 51st birthday (maybe he'll even get his own post!), and the turn of spring!