Ella is ELEVEN months old and her first birthday is only a month away! Another big month and before we know it, she’ll be one. Now for her eleven month update!
Ella at eleven months:
- Weight: We did the classic step on the scale with her, step on the scale without her thing and she’s around 20 pounds.
- Length: No idea – we’ll find out next month!
- Her hair is still a light brown. Lately I’ve noticed her eyes changing color a bit – sometimes they are blue, sometimes more grey, and sometimes a bit hazel.
- We’ve mostly moved to 18 month clothes, although I can’t bear to part with a few of the 12 month ones just yet. I really need to organize her closet and drawers.
- No doctor’s visits this month, and no ER visits like last month! She had a random fever the other weekend that went away pretty quickly, and she’s fighting either a cold or allergies right now. Otherwise, healthy girl.
- Right after her 10 month update, I made the decision to slowly stop pumping at work and transition her to formula during the day. My body adjusted very quickly, and I go the whole workday without pumping with no problem. As of now, we’re still nursing morning and night, but I’m not sure how much longer that’ll be – I have a feeling she’s just going to taper off in the next month or so and our breastfeeding journey will end. It was hard to stop pumping short of my goal, and emotional – but as expected, I got through it. It helps that we only have a month left until she can have cow’s milk during the day… that and she prefers real food!
- Ella LOVES food, as always. No more purees for this girl and she eats everything we eat – chicken, potatoes, burgers, bananas – the only thing she hasn’t loved so far was teriyaki chicken (she looked at me like, mom, what’s wrong with my chicken?). I am so looking forward to Thanksgiving with her – I know it’s going to be so much fun.
- Still sleeping through the night – although that was a bit interrupted with some whining while teething. Most days she takes two naps, but occasionally it’s only one. She goes down for the night between 7:45 and 8:15 and usually sleeps until 6am or so – except for Sundays when she likes to get up at 5:30 to torture me.
- This month was a big month for teeth – Ella now has four – two top and two bottom. The top two were a bear to break through and necessitated some Motrin or Tylenol, but now she’s got this big toothy grin – complete with a big gap between her two front teeth. I see braces in our future! She’s also learning how to use them – she’s bitten my shoulder while playing a few times and cries at the loud “No” I give her when she does it. Those little teeth hurt!
- She’s always standing while holding on to things, but still not letting go. She’ll walk with our hands, but seems content with crawling for now. I really thought she’d be walking by now! She’s mastered the step in our living-dining room (both up and down). We’ll see when the walking begins!
- In cloth diapers 95% of the time, or in disposables size 3 – almost 4.
- She recently got attached to a Minnie doll that Abbie had, and we thankfully got Abbie to agree to give it to her. Girlfriend is OBSESSED and it’s helped the car rides lately.
- Also obsessed with ME. We took Abbie to Disney on Ice over the weekend (more to come on that) and my mom stayed with her. We left while she was napping and she cried for the two hours once we woke up. She finally calmed down when we got home and took a few hours to get back to her normal smiley self. I guess a bit of separation anxiety is at play. We’ll be trying to have my mom around more often so we can get her a bit more used to her – I’m hoping this is just a phase she’ll grow out of soon.
- Nicknames: Miss Ella, Ellabella, Boo Boo
Life with Two:
First, best big sister award does to Abbie for giving Ella her Minnie Mouse toy (that truthfully I’d never seen her play with). She runs up to Ella right away when she gets home from school, telling her she missed her and giving her hugs. She continues to be such a big helper, and I love watching their bond grow.
Postpartum:
Am I still postpartum at 11 months? Crazy to think just how pregnant I was at this time last year. I have been struggling with some personal things lately that I’m sure I’ll go into in a later post – but basically, my weight is stagnant and my hair is finally growing out. I feel like once I stop nursing completely, I’ll have a bit more motivation to work on myself than I do now.
Happy eleven months, sweet Ella! We love you and can’t wait for your birthday!
