My words cannot express the amount of love and devotion I feel for my baby girl right now. She has changed my life forever. I am so in love with her it is crazy! I feel so eternally blessed and devoted to this beautiful gift from Heavenly Father. I keep wondering what I did to deserve such an angel in my life? I do not know, but I am also not protesting it! I am eternally grateful every single day that I get to spend with her. When I wake up, the first thing I think about is my baby girl. I want to kiss her, snuggle her, laugh with her, and just eat her up. It is incredible. She is everything to me. I could not imagine a single day from here on out without her. What did I ever do before she was born? I always knew I would have a girl and would love her, but I never knew how MUCH, until now. My mom always said I would not understand the kind of deep love you can have for your children until I had one of my own. It is so true! I love my family tremendously, I'm in LOVE with Spencer beyond expression and feeling, but when it comes to my daughter? There is no deeper joy and love that I could ever recreate. It is the most spiritual, deeply connected, incredible feeling I have ever felt in my entire life. I would do anything for her. I would protect her with my life. And I will provide her with an incredible life. I want each day to be special for her.
Autumn has been all over the place lately! She is a mover for sure and I can barely keep my eyes on her at all times. Sometimes she wanders into other rooms in the house, comes back after a few seconds, but at times she'll be gone for a minute or two and then I find her in the bedroom or bathroom playing with some object. It's hilarious. She is incredibly independent and enjoys playing on her own. Here are some specific things I have seen in her this past month.
Motor Skills-Walking like a champ! Getting very skilled at downhill and better at uphill. She trips over lots of things that are in her way and has little interest in even noticing things in her way. She will try to walk on top of things if they are in her way. It's pretty funny to see her fall and get right back up! Very rarely will she cry unless she is truly hurt. Then mommy will pick her up! She found her nose today and has been playing with it. She also knows where her belly is and touches her belly button. She is learning sign language and knows the sign for milk and all done. So cute! She likes to bend down to a squat and play with things. She is very strong it seems. She will still bear crawl if it seems easier for her to get to something. She likes to bounce the ball and roll it. She is getting taller and can reach for higher things. She is getting into everything and very curious about her surroundings. Autumn takes things and gives them to us all the time. She is very good at listening when I tell her to come here or go there. She hands me things and then takes them back. As soon as she takes them back she grins and makes a really cute "hehehe" sound. She thinks it's so funny! Whenever we put music on with a good beat she dances. She likes to wave her hands in the air and clap really big. She bends her knees and moves to the beat. We got it on video the other day and everyone in my family died laughing. Travis loved it so much he decided to reproduce it and put it on facebook!
Sleeping-Still taking 2 naps a day and sleeping through the night very well. She likes to have a bottle before bedtime and loves hugs still. She will lay in bed with her eyes open for up to 10 minutes before she falls asleep. She is incredibly peaceful and calm during the night. When she wakes up she will make tiny noises and eventually stand up when she hears us. I love waking up to a beautiful baby!
Eating-She is beginning to get frustrated when we feed her baby food. She likes to pick things up and feed them to herself. She likes to take the spoon and put it into the bowl and feed herself. But when she does this she gets SO MESSY so it's hard for me to want to let her do it all the time. She likes more solid foods now, which is good but she also still only has 2 teeth. She is great at mashing things with her jaw. She loves strawberries and bananas, bread, anything chocolate, turkey, ham, and beef, and pizza! Haha. She will pretty much eat anything. Not a picky eater.
Hardest part-Being away from her during the day sucks. I hate it. I love my job, but I also hate being away from her for most of the day. Spencer has been home with her in the morning, which is really nice, so that gives me great peace to know she is with family. Her last babysitter was amazing, but Spencer dropped his classes during Spring term, so he is now available to watch her. They have been having a great time! I think it's great for them to bond and have extra daddy daughter time together.
Best part-When it is just she and I we play a little game called "I get you." She walks around the house, I crawl on my hands and knees. I go to her and say "I get you" and she runs away and laughs hysterically. If I get close to her she will laugh even louder and get all nervous. It's so funny! I love it when she gives me hugs and wants me to pick her up. I notice her getting more independent of me which makes me kind of sad :( but I know she will always love me.
Most memorable moment-Yesterday, I came out to the living room and Autumn was on our cooler. Sitting peacefully with her legs hanging over. Spencer was laughing and said Julie come look! She was too afraid to come and jump off so she just stayed there until we came. She was laughing at it too for some reason. Hilarious!
Milestones-She is only 12 months old, but is at months 13 & 14 for developmental milestones!
- Uses two words besides "mama" and "dada" on a regular basis
- Enjoys seeing her own reflection in the mirror
- Cooperates while you help dress her (helps put leg into pants, reaches out arms when you put on his shirt, etc.)
- Can roll a ball
Self-feeds with fingers
Dumps out bins/buckets of toys/items
- Imitates others
- Likes to play games
- Can identify one body part when prompted ("Show me your nose! Where's your nose?")
- Uses utensils to self-feed
- Can match lids with correct containers
- Uses walker/push- and pull-toys correctly
- Dances to music!
Playing-Autumn loves to play! She is always looking for things that Spencer and I use on a daily basis like cups, bowls, hair brushes, shoes, etc. and tries to imitate things that we do. We bought her a stroller and she puts babies and teddy bears and walks them around. That is the CUTEST thing ever! She loves to splash everywhere in the tub, smiles big, and she also loves to play OUTSIDE. Outside is her favorite. She is starting to recognize that when we put her shoes on, it means we are going outside to the park. She is very independent and can stick up for herself outside with the bigger girls. She likes playing in the sand. She loves to play with a bucket and shovel and she also loves to swing. I take Autumn to local parks and she is learning to climb up stairs and is very independent. She does them very well!
Communication-Says mama and dada all the time. Still says ball but not as much. Starting to say "woe" and yay. She likes to clap at daddy, especially after he gives her kisses. She is learning sign language and picks it up very quickly! It is so nice when she understands things and then imitates them. When she signs milk, then I get her milk she gets very excited. She knows the signs for milk, all done, and more. I am working on water, food, and hungry. I also want to learn more signs like change my diaper and I'm tired. One step at a time I suppose! Autumn loves BOOKS! She is always turning pages in books and pretending to read to herself. We try and read to her a few times during the day. It is so cute watching her play with her toys.
Clothes-Size 18 months fits her the best! Her legs are a little shorter than her torso but not much. She is starting to wear more summer time clothes. Daddy bought her some shoes and they are little KEENS. So cute! They are a little big so they fall off but she will grow into them. I'm excited for the summer!
Likes-Walking, playing outside, eating her yogurt bites out of her new spill proof container, laughing, smiling, putting shoes on, pretending to do the laundry, playing in her crib with her toys, grabbing things off plates and reaching for things that she is not supposed to touch (hehe). Going for walks, slapping our faces when we blow up our cheeks with air to get the air out, listening to music in the car (calms her down), getting into cabinets, playing in the bathroom, pulling clothes out of her dresser and then putting them back in, playing with all my shoes and trying them on.
Dislikes-Getting her diaper changed, when we don't pay attention to her (sometimes it happens when we are distracted), putting her in her crib before she is ready for bed (needs some time to wind down), when we shut the door and she can't get out, putting her into her carseat. When mom leaves for the day. When we try to feed her and she wants to feed herself. Taking any food away from her that she is in the middle of consuming (no brainer right?) How many of us like getting our Cafe Rio salad taken away lol?
