Our baby girl is growing up so fast! Her personality continues to grow bigger and bigger each month. Hannah Maxine has really turned into a toddler lately.

• Weight: 26 pounds, 6 oz {88th percentile}
• Length: 32 inches {60th percentile}
• Clothing size: 18-24 months and growing! Anything new I buy for her I’m sizing up to 2T.
• Shoe size: toddler size 5 – growing, growing, growing!
• Number of teeth: twelve
• Eye color: I’m calling them “alpine lake” – the most gorgeous greeny blue
• Favorite foods: pomegranate, smoothies!!!, Grammy’s party mix, mangoes, blueberries, cookies
• Least favorite foods: beef, chicken
• Favorite things/activities: doing anything Ben does, brushing her teeth, reading interactive books, playing with cars, taking things out of drawers or cupboards, waving at a dogs/people passing by, going to the park, climbing!
• Least favorite things/activities: waiting, not getting what she wants, going in the car seat, getting her diaper changed

Hannah wants to do everything Ben does. “Monkey see monkey do” is on repeat inside my head all day long. Ben bangs his fork on the table, Hannah bangs hers harder. If Ben is putting on his backpack, she wants hers on too. Thank goodness she can now fit into Ben’s old red Hunter rain boots so she can have a pair that matches his. When Ben comes home and immediately wants to get his jammies on, Hannah goes to her PJ drawer and picks out a pair for me to help her into.

She is becoming so independent in wanting to do everything by herself too. Hannah loves to refill Jackson’s water bowl {so much so that she dumps it out on the floor just so she can fill it back up again}, wash her hands, pretend to vacuum or sweep the floor and pick out her own boots to wear.

Hannah is so helpful around the house! I am amazed that she’ll just walk around picking things up and putting them away. Just the other day we were playing in the living room and she noticed Ben’s mittens were on the vent drying from the day before and she went over and put them away in his basket. She is a really terrific listener and she follows directions promptly and with enthusiasm. Boy do I hope this keeps up! It’s so endearing watching her help out.

In the last month or two Hannah has become more interested in playing by herself, away from me. I’ve always felt she’s pretty independent in that she likes to do things for herself; however, she generally wants me to be with her. Recently that has begun to change and she’ll spend longer periods of time playing with a toy off in the distance at the mountain house or around the corner in another room in Seattle.

It seems like Hannah has been working on repeating more words this last month. She definitely has a few new ones. Most of Hannah’s words sound like a variation of the word “dada” so it’s rather hard to understand what she is saying at this point. For several months now it’s been clear Hannah can understand everything we say – we’re just working very hard to understand what she has to say.

While Hannah isn’t pronouncing many words properly she sure can convey her point. It makes me wonder if she’s satisfied with her method of communication and has chosen not to talk more. She uses sign language a lot, does a lot of pointing, a lot of shouting and demanding, she’ll bring me something she wants me to put on her or she’ll take my hand and pull me to where she wants to go. She surely has figured out how to make the most of her abilities.

Hannah’s personality continues to mountainous. She is SO much fun. When she’s supremely happy, generally after filling her belly, she puts her arms up near her shoulders, stiffens her body and just shouts jubilantly. Over and over again. We all know when she’s happy because she starts to get really loud!

Hannah is incredibly slow to warm up to people who want to get in her personal space and rarely leaves my side in a new setting or when other adults are at our house. I think she’s afraid I’m going to leave. Hannah is my little koala bear.

Within the last week or two I’ve started to notice Hannah and Ben actually beginning to play together. They sort of wrestle and goof around with Hannah climbing on Ben’s back. Hannah is always the instigator and her ever patient big brother is typically a willing participant.

Lately I’ve been noticing that Hannah is extremely jealous when I pay Ben attention, especially during an afternoon when Ben has been at school. Those are the days Hannah and I have special one-on-one time while Ben is away. She is known to push him out of my lap, come up and whack him on the head with a toy or her hand or just start shouting at him.

She’s also figured out just exactly what she needs to do to get my attention when I’m trying to get something done. Generally it’s by dumping Jackson’s water or food bowl out on the ground. Other times it’s wiping her high chair tray clean of food if I am multitasking while she’s having a snack. At 18-months old she’s got it all figured out!

Gosh this girl is a blast. She is just so much fun. We’re looking forward to the next few months as we continue to enjoy winter in the mountains!

Ben is 18 months old

Hannah continues to be our little party girl. We’ve started joking that she’s going to be first in line for rush at the Arizona State University sororities. Look out class of 2040 {2040?!!} – here comes Hannah Maxine!

• Weight: not sure – was 24 pounds 5 ounces at her last checkup
• Length: not sure – was 31″ at her last checkup
• Clothing size: 18-24 months
• Shoe size: toddler size 4
• Number of teeth: twelve! Four new teeth this month – she has all four of her first molars
• Eye color: I’m calling them “alpine lake” – the most gorgeous greeny blue
• Favorite foods: tangerines, pomegranate, smoothies, bananas, mangoes!!, crackers, cheese, applesauce
• Least favorite foods: beef, chicken
• Favorite things/activities: doing anything Ben does, reading interactive books, playing with cars, taking things out of drawers or cupboards, waving at a dogs/people passing by, going to the park, climbing, bath time, pushing her toy vacuum around
• Least favorite things/activities: waiting, not getting what she wants, going in the car seat

New this month Hannah can: stand up in her high chair, ring the doorbell, flush the toilet, open the refrigerator, climb on top of the coffee table, roll her eyes and say “love you.” She has begun to answer “yeah” or shake her head no and say “uh uh” when asked a question.

Hannah is really beginning to become a bit more independent and able and willing to play on her own while I’m occupied elsewhere. Now, in all honesty, this is usually when she chooses to cause mischief.

We sure are entertained by Hannah’s mountain-size personality. Dang, she is a force. She is rough and tumble, she can hold her own and she will absolutely not stand to be pushed around by anyone else. Boy you better believe she’ll push back harder. Hannah has started to laugh when she hears laughter around her – it’s really sweet and rather amusing that she’s picked up on social laughter and wants to join in, too.

While she is quite rough, she does have a few sweet spots. It melts my heart to see when we’re out and about how friendly she is. She loves waving at a person or a dog passing by. It makes her day when the person actually stops and waves back. She loves to dance and sing and is very affectionate.

Hannah love, love, loves fruit and smoothies and cheese, but that’s about where she draws the line most days. Occasionally she’ll eat bread, pork, eggs, pasta and vegetables, but mostly she just wants fruit. If you put something she doesn’t like on her plate the whole meal will soon become food for the dog. It also seems like this month her appetite has decreased significantly and either she doesn’t need quite as much food anymore or the emergence of her new molars were playing a role.

Lately Hannah has been repeating all of the words. It’s been so fun. I have no idea what her comprehension is in terms of vocabulary, but she is extremely quick to follow directions and always seems to know what is being asked of her. Her spoken vocabulary is tough to decipher at this point.

Alex and I have really been working with her on pronunciation but it is extremely difficult to understand what Hannah is saying. Contextually you can guess, and she has the syllables down, but, it just sounds like most of her words are a slight variation of “dada.” She has been saying “mama” a lot more lately and some of her consonants are becoming more clear. I’ve noticed a big leap in her communication skills in the last week or so.

Climbing things has been very exciting to Hannah. I think she just grew a little taller and that has opened up a few new possibilities for her. She loves climbing the stairs and thankfully she’s starting to get pretty good at going down backwards. Hannah can climb up into the furniture in the living room and is getting more confident in her abilities at the park.

Hannah is generally a terrific sleeper. She is sleeping soundly for around 11.5 hours overnight and typically naps for 1.5-3 hours during the day. The catch is if she has a morning cat nap, she’s not going to have an afternoon nap.

{Faceplant 🙁 }

Recently Hannah has been imitating actions quite regularly. She’s figuring things out much earlier than we had expected based on our prior experiences. Hannah wants to do anything her brother does. She has been quite vocal about her preferences with things and is starting to show favoritism to the colors red and pink.

Gosh this girl is a blast. She keeps us on our toes like none other, but boy is she fun. It’s fun to imagine her as she carries on through toddlerhood.

Ben at 17 months

Hannah is acting like such a little girl right now. She has done some major growing up in the last couple of weeks. Our girl is 15 months old! This age is one of my favorites of toddlerhood. It’s soooooooooo busy but so much fun!

• 24 pounds 5 ounces {85th percentile}
• Length: 31″ {75th percentile}
• Clothing size: outgrowing 12-18m so anything I buy now is 18-24m
• Shoe size: toddler size 4 – new shoes for this girl!
• Number of teeth: six, though she just cut at least one bottom tooth
• Eye color: I’m calling them “alpine lake” – the most gorgeous greeny blue
• New words this month: lots! I really can’t remember them all, but some include: doggie, Jackson, daddy
• Favorite foods: fruit, pasta, crackers, cheese, pumpkin muffins!
• Least favorite foods: meat
• Favorite things/activities: playing with Ben, reading interactive books, playing with cars, taking things out of drawers or cupboards, waving at a dog passing by, going to the park, climbing, bath time, watching the garbage trucks, pushing her toy vacuum around
• Least favorite things/activities: being in her high chair, waiting

Walking has been a major theme this last month. It has been so much fun watching her turn into a true walker. She is getting very sturdy on her feet and now rarely crawls to get where she wants to go. While she still falls quite a bit every day I notice an advance in her walking strength. I can tell she is so proud of herself too.

One of my favorite moments from the month is walking down our very, very long gravel driveway at The Lodge. Ben was up ahead on his pedal bike, Jackson was alongside us and Hannah was on foot, walking, the whole length of the driveway {about the length of a city block}. I stepped back to enjoy the moment and take in this huge leap for our family. Hannah walked down the driveway while Ben was riding his bike. It was such a small and ordinary thing but it was so special to me.

There was one day right in the middle of her 15th month where something clicked with Hannah’s communication and she started signing repeating all of the things and figuring out how to sign a bit more. She now signs “please” and that’s usually her request to get something. She’ll point to something {or whine!} and then rub her belly or her chest {her sign for “please”} to ask for what she wants.

Sometimes her spoken words are clear as day, other times she repeats the syllables and the words sound a lot like “dada” – that’s by far her most commonly used word and it must be the most comfortable combination of phonemes. I’m starting to pick up on when she is saying the word “water” but it can be pretty hard at this point to understand what she’s saying. Either way, she’s working hard on getting the hang of speaking and has been repeating things so much more recently.

Following directions is something Hannah is excelling at right now. It is so endearing to ask her to go do something and have her get up and go and do it. She loves being a little helper when it’s time to clean up.

Additionally, we’ve discovered that she will start putting things away all on her own without being asked to do so. We have two step stools that live in the bathroom and Ben likes to bring the taller one into the kitchen to help cook. Hannah will frequently carry it back to the bathroom and put it away all on her own.

Hannah wants to do anything her brother is doing, including play with the same toy he’s playing with. She loves to take his cars that he precisely lined up in a special order. Naturally, Ben isn’t keen on this game. He knows that if he holds out his hand and asks for the toy back that almost always she’ll hand it right over.

More and more lately Hannah has been getting herself into all sorts of mischief. Another favorite pastime is opening drawers and cupboards and trying to pull as many things out as she can. When I open the refrigerator door she’ll pull all the condiments out of the shelf in the door – usually she puts them back, though! Now she’s starting to climb up into the refrigerator, though, so this will be interesting. It is amazing how quickly a young toddler can wreak havoc on the house!!

Long ago we nicknamed Hannah the “wrecking ball” and that is only becoming a more perfect name for her as time marches on. She destroys everything in her path. A few more of her favorites are pulling cheerios or crackers out of her snack cup and throwing them all over the floor, or pulling out the baskets of hats and boots and mittens and throwing the contents around – usually dipping something into the dog’s water bowl. If Ben is building a tower it doesn’t stand a chance of staying put for long before his sister comes and knocks it down.

To say Hannah is rough and tumble is an understatement. We’re working on helping her be more gentle. Hannah loves to walk around with a toy in her hand and unfortunately that toy becomes a weapon most of the time. Usually Ben and Jackson are on the receiving end of that and get bonked in the head.

Aside from frequent hitting Hannah is as sweet as they come, just like her big brother. She is such a cuddle bug. She has always been a super snuggly girl. I adore my morning cuddles with her. We sit together on the floor – her in my lap – snuggling while I read her favorite books and she has her morning yogurt.

Lately Hannah has been walking up to us – Ben especially – and giving the biggest bear hug. It is the sweetest thing! She adores her big brother SO much.

I’ve also recently noticed that she is very different when it’s just the two of us and Ben is away at school. She is much softer around the edges. I’m sure she enjoys not having to compete for my attention. I just love our time together.

I’m so SO happy to report that sleep is going so, so well this month! Alex took over bedtime with Hannah and it’s made all the difference. Alex is gently helping Hannah learn how to put herself to sleep, still with his support.

Very recently Hannah dropped her morning nap. We are still very much in the “figuring it out” phase because if given the opportunity she’ll either fall asleep in the car or stroller still, or at lunch. It seems like she needs anywhere from 2-3 hours of an afternoon nap and has been sleeping about 10.5-11 hours overnight. Everything combined with a little more consistency in our location {i.e. not going back and forth every 3-4 nights between Seattle and Leavenworth} seems to have resulted in Hannah’s “ah ha” moment with sleep.

Hannah has always excelled at fine motor skills and it has been really fun watching her master the use of her fork and spoon lately. It’s pretty impressive that she can feed herself with her utensils. She is so proud of herself, too.

Climbing is something Hannah has gotten into recently. Whether it’s up into a chair, up a ladder or to the top of the step stool, Hannah wants to climb it. She takes tremendous pride from getting to taller heights. She’s already figuring out if she slides her brother’s puzzle box over to the water dispenser on the outside of the freezer that she can reach the button to push to release the water.

Hannah and I have been loving our mid-week mornings together. We go for a girls coffee date most weeks and my girl is really starting to get into the steamed milk.

I could go on and on and on about Hannah and all of the things she’s into these days. She is such a happy girl and she’s not afraid to let everyone around her know it. We’re having so much fun with our girl and love how perfectly she fits into our family.

Ben is 15 months old

Our littlest love is quickly working her way through the early toddler years. Hannah Maxine remains a force to be reckon with. She is fierce, so cuddly and loving, extremely happy, loud, demanding, strong-willed and determined. She’s living up to her middle name more than we could have expected. This girl is not short on personality!

Hannah’s stats:

• Weight: at her 12-month check up she was 23 pounds 3 ounces {90th percentile}
• Length: around 29 inches give or take
• Clothing size: outgrowing 12-18m so anything I buy now is 18-24m
• Shoe size: baby size 3
• Number of teeth: six
• Eye color: bluish turquoise
• New words this month: kitty, blueberry, water
• Favorite foods: fruit, pasta, crackers
• Least favorite foods: beef, chicken, avocado
• Favorite things/activities: big brother Ben, dogs, really any animals, watching the airplanes, playing with cars, cuddling, reading books, eating, climbing
• Least favorite things/activities: diaper changes, getting strapped into her car seat, abruptly stopping an activity when mom forgets to explain what’s going on, really loud noises

The biggest thing that’s going on with Hannah this month has been her transition to walking! Just three days ago we finally deemed her a walker. Over the last 6 weeks or so she had been taking a step here and there, then 2-5 steps here and there and then finally! She decided she was ready.

I made the call that she was officially a walker at Ben’s first soccer practice. She was standing next to me on the field and just started walking towards the bigger kids playing soccer. Ben noticed and ran over exclaiming “mama! Do you see Hannah walking??” She kept practicing her steps as Ben was playing soccer and he would frequently come over and clap for her, one time grabbing her hand and helping her walk. We are so proud of our little walker!

Hannah is really sharp with her fine motor skills and seems to challenge herself in small body movements. When it comes to gross motor skills, like crawling and walking, she really waits until she is good and ready. Walking seems to be no different. She seems to have been physically ready for more than a month but was holding off until she was comfortable. Switching gears to fine motor skills, Hannah is working on mastering the art of using a fork. She loves to feed herself!

This last month Hannah took her first airplane ride! Hannah LOVES airplanes. Anytime she hears a plane flying overhead she will reach her little arm up and point to the sky, even if she can’t see it. That’s her sign for “airplane!”

I had very low expectations for taking a very loud and wiggly Hannah on a 4+ hour flight to Wisconsin. I was so prepared with everything I could think of to make the flight more bearable. Turns out, all I needed were a couple snacks and one or two toys and she’d take care of the rest. She was so into the airplane and the experience that she was just so excited the whole time. I was even able to get her to fall asleep in the baby carrier on both flights. She was a travel pro!

I will post more about our trip to Wisconsin shortly, but one highlight was spending time with and meeting her great grandma, Nana. Nana is Alex’s and my only surviving grandparent at this point. It was very special to introduce her to Hannah.

Lately, Hannah has been really getting into reading books. She’s obsessed with interactive books, especially “lift the flap” and ones that make noise when you push a button. Her favorite books right now are “Dear Zoo” and “Planes Go.”

Hannah has been working on communication a lot recently. She’s getting to be a little patient, too! She has been signing more – she mastered “all done” a while ago and the other day she randomly signed for “help” when she was frustrated. It’s been a while since I’ve seen her sign for “more” and she tells me “water” when she is thirsty. She has a tendency to be rather demanding so we’ve been encouraging her to sign “please” – she’s not too keen on this one yet! She hasn’t said many new words this last month, but the ones she did say came out of left field and were spoken so articulately. A lot of her babbling is really just babbles, but when she really says a word {which is rare} it is so clear.

Last month I mentioned that sleep had been a challenge. I can laugh at that this month because this last month has undeniably been the most difficult sleep month of Hannah’s life. I attribute her challenges with sleep to travel. Unfortunately in that regard it’s just something we’ll have to deal with.

Another big change for Hannah is that last month she stopped nursing. It was fairly anticlimactic – both of us were ready. Nursing was suuuuch a big part of our time together for so long and then right around when Hannah turned one we started turning her milk intake to a cup of cow’s milk. It took a bit for her to adjust but now she loves cow’s milk like her big brother. She’s even had a couple steamed milks when we’ve gone to the coffee shop.

I think this month our trip to Wisconsin and the end of our time nursing is the cause of the latest sleep regression for Hannah. For the two weeks following our Wisconsin trip Hannah rose for the day by 4:15 a.m. and that was usually preceded by a fitful sleep. Finally after we had been home about 3 weeks she started sleeping through the night and waking after 5. We have a lot of travel ahead of us in the coming weeks so we’ll see what happens, but we’re ending her 14th month on a good sleep note.

My sweet girl and I have gotten a lot of extra cuddle time in this month during the early morning hours. We cuddle together on the floor of her room, she has her yogurt pouch while I sip my coffee. We snuggle. Then we read for a while and snuggle some more while we wait for one of the boys to come in. This girl is a world class cuddle bug.

More and more each day Hannah becomes completely smitten with her brother. I’m positive the feeling is mutual. These two are so stinking cute together. Hannah loves doing anything Ben does. She tries so hard to play cars with him and she’ll be trailing right behind him saying “vroooooommmm” while he’s running full speed ahead pushing his car.

These days and weeks and months keep flying by. We have a lot on the docket for this next one. I have a feeling it’s going to be a good one! It is going to be so fun to watch how Hannah’s world changes now that she’s mobile on her feet.

Ben at 14 months old

So much has changed in the last month with our Hannah girl. She is TOTALLY a toddler in every way, shape and form. We are having a blast with her but daaang this girl knows what she wants and she’s not afraid to make demands to get it.

Hannah’s stats:

• Weight: at her 12-month check up she was 23 pounds 3 ounces {90th percentile}
• Length: around 29 inches give or take
• Clothing size: 12-18 month but she’s starting to outgrow pants & PJs already
• Shoe size: baby size 2 or 3, depends on brand
• Number of teeth: SIX!
• Eye color: bluish turquoise – seems like her gorgeous eye color will be permanent!
• Words: dada, Ben, mama, yeah, hello, banana, uh oh, no, water, cracker, hi, Jackson, all done
• Favorite foods: strawberries, watermelon, pasta, smoothies, ham, bananas, bread, blueberries, crackers
• Least favorite foods: this really depends on the moment these days

The most exciting thing that Hannah has worked on this last month has been standing up on her own. She did it a couple times before she turned one and then as the days and weeks went on she was standing up more and more on her own, working on balance and strength. There were so many times when we swore she’d take her first step. She is just waiting until she is good and ready…. any day now!

This last month it seems like some things clicked and she became a little more patient and a little less demanding, though she started the month being extremely loud and demanding, so much so I considered ear plugs at dinner a few times. We’ve been working more and more on sign language with her and it’s definitely helping her ask nicely when she wants something.

Hannah has been pointing to things and signing quite a bit to convey her requests. It’s been really helpful to have her be able to communicate more and more with us. Just the other day she was mimicking Alex say “cracker” and that was the first time I’ve heard her try to repeat a word in that way.

As a very new toddler, Hannah is extremely independent. At certain times of the day she wants to be held but she is also totally okay with playing solo on the ground with her toys.

Hannah is in a very exploratory phase right now. She loves checking out what’s behind or under things, she especially loves lifting the toilet seat up {and splashing in the toilet}, and her favorite toy-free activity is pulling the toilet paper off of the roll.

It has been really fun to see Hannah start to model what other people are doing. She loves to help rub sunscreen on her body, put on her own hat and use a wipe to wipe her arm or leg or the wall next to her changing table. She also likes to try to put sunglasses on her face all by herself. She has been practicing using a fork at mealtimes and has so much pride when she feeds herself.

We love watching Hannah model what her brother is doing, too. She loves to push around Ben’s toy cars and trucks, just like he does. We have a pretend kitchen at The Lodge and she’s been having SO much fun playing with that, particularly the pretend cookies. She loves to put them on the cookie sheet and pull them off and put them in the little cookie tube. Hannah has started throwing the ball for Jackson and gets so excited when he gets it after she throws it.

Undoubtedly, though, Hannah’s favorite toy right now is the water table. She points to it repeatedly throughout the day, suggesting we go out and play.

Hannah LOVES water and we’ve had such a blast playing in the pool and at the beach this summer. Pretty much every day is filled with water fun for Miss Hannah.

There are a few things that Hannah absolutely HATES right now. The biggest one is getting her diaper changed. We joke that it’s like wrestling an alligator trying to get her to lay down on her back without flipping over and flailing her arms and legs. Diaper changes typically take 5+ minutes these days and are filled with negotiations and concessions – usually on my part. Additionally, getting in the car seat is a major struggle, though we’ve found it to be rather successful if we give her a cracker before we put her in that she’ll sit nicely for us to buckle her. Otherwise it’s another 5+ minute struggle.

Sleep this last month has quite possibly been the most challenging of her life to date. We’ve had a lot of stretches where she’s slept through the night consistently but then we’d have these short periods where she’d be up for hourrrssss at night, or she’d wake up every hour, which she didn’t even do as a newborn. Hannah seems to be a lighter sleeper and often at this point if she wakes during the night it’s a 2-hour affair to get her back to sleep.

She is still showing that she needs two naps per day. They don’t have to be long and man she can rally if she doesn’t get any naps, but if it were up to her she’d have a 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. nap every day.

Nursing is something Hannah and I have really enjoyed during her 13 months. We’ve been working for a while to phase it out. She has really taken to whole milk, though at this point doesn’t show enough interest in it to get the recommended amount each day. Currently I’m still nursing Hannah before bed most nights, but not all. Alex is putting her to sleep now and that has been going really well.

We have a lot to look forward to with our 13-month old as we round the corner to fall. This developmental period is rather busy but it is so much fun as life starts to look a little different when explored on foot.

Ben at 13 months – I can’t believe how darn similar Ben and Hannah are as 13-month olds!

And just like that we have an “almost one year old”! Dang that went fast! Hannah sure is acting like an almost one year old these days. From month-to-month her development keeps changing more and more rapidly, it seems. This girl is turning into quite the little spitfire!

Hannah’s stats:

• Weight: heavy!
• Length: not sure!
• Clothing size: 12-18 month
• Shoe size: baby size 2
• Number of teeth: TWO!
• Eye color: bluish turquoise – it totally depends on the light and her surroundings
• Words: dada, Ben, mama, yeah, hello, banana
• Favorite foods: cheese, strawberries, smoothies, ham, bananas, bread, blueberries, watermelon
• Least favorite foods: jalepeno, sadly – egg 🙁

Hannah’s BIG personality comes out more and more as the days go on. She is a spitfire! Hannah knows just how to get what she wants {we’re going to have to work on this as she gets more into signing!} and is not afraid to ask for it. She’s becoming quite adept at communicating.

Lately, Hannah has been talking more, which is the sweetest thing. She’s been saying “Ben” but it sounds more like “Nen” and she started saying “mama” which, naturally, melts my heart. I swear she’s trying to say “water” – she gets out the “w” sound and looks at her water bottle. I’ll take that to the alternative, which is a bit more demanding. Yesterday when she was eating a banana she pointed to it and said “banana” – her communication seems to be taking off lately.

Just like her big brother, Hannah seems to be rather independent, especially for a baby. She’s cool just cruising around the house, finding her own thing to do. She’ll happily go to a toy basket and find something to do and entertain herself. I will say, though, just like her brother, she’s turning into a wrecking ball knocking things off the table, pulling books off the bookshelf, dumping out toy baskets. Oofta! That sure happened quickly.

Of course there are times throughout the day, usually when she’s hungry or tired, when she’d prefer to be carried around. Lately when she wants some love she’s come up and clung to my legs like a little baby koala bear, which is so stinking sweet. She has also started raising her arms up when she wants to be picked up.

When we’re out and about and she wants the attention of a stranger she’s not afraid to let them know she’s there. She will squak and make her presence known! Occasionally she will wave at people – it’s about 50/50 at this point, but she will clap on command. I love watching her clap her hands – she gets so excited.

New this month – Hannah is pulling herself up to stand! It’s SUCH a big milestone. She has had the lower body strength to stand up for quite a while and now put it all together and can push or pull herself up on things. She’s super sturdy and is able to push off and land on her bum when she’s ready to crawl around again.

I’m so excited for this milestone because it gets her closer to walking. I can’t wait to hold her little hands and help her take practice steps and watch her do some furniture cruising and be able to have a different perspective on the world.

The first day Hannah figured out how to stand up on her own she’d keep practicing standing, then plopping down and laughing hysterically at her new trick. She has the funniest little cackle when she’s just being silly, but her giggle is the sweetest sound in the world.

This is our last month before we can introduce cow’s milk to Hannah. This is going to be such a big change to start transitioning away from breastfeeding. I think both of us have enjoyed that journey tremendously and it will be hard for both of us to say goodbye to those sweet moments we have together every day.

We’ve recently started working on having Hannah put herself to bed. We’re not using any particular methodology or strategy – sometimes she’ll fall asleep nursing, other times she won’t. The times when I put her in her crib when she’s awake I stay in for moral support until she falls asleep. I think it’s our goal pretty soon to remove my presence for the most part. We’ll see how that goes…

Hannah is sleeping really well – the nights she puts herself to bed she typically stays asleep until morning, but when she falls asleep nursing she’ll usually wake up briefly within 30-45 minutes. Very occasionally at home she’ll wake up in the middle of the night. When we’re at the mountain house it’s much more common for her to wake up once in the night. Hannah is typically taking a short nap at some point in the day and then a long two to two-and-a-half hour nap at some point in the day. I’m working on getting her long nap to take place in the afternoon and have her take a short cat nap in the morning.

Hannah is the proud owner of her first two teeth! Her bottom front two teeth are mostly all the way up. She handled teething like a champ!

Hopefully having a couple of teeth will come in handy with eating; however, I don’t really think Hannah needs any support in that area. She is such a good eater and loves to feed herself. She will try anything I put in front of her; however, as she gets older, she’s really beginning to develop preferences.

Hannah typically has 3 meals a day plus at least one snack. These days she is very much into fruit. I have to hold out on giving her fruit until the end of her meal, otherwise she wouldn’t eat anything else. She really does like most things, though I’ve noticed recently she is starting to really develop preferences. Her preference is always for fruit! She’s got a sweet tooth, I think!

For the last couple months Hannah has really mastered using her water bottle. It’s been really fun to watch her drink water. I realize that seems like such a trivial thing, but it’s such an important life skill that takes a lot of practice. She loves water, too, which is just icing on the cake.

Lately Hannah has been so, so into her big brother. The other day we were having family story time and cuddles on the couch and Hannah launched over, grabbed Ben’s arm and gave him a big raspberry! It was so funny and adorable and perfectly Hannah. She sure has a big personality.

Jackson is another pal to Hannah. She LOVES our dog, Jackson! He’s not always so sure about her, mainly because she’s working on being gentle still.

We are going to thoroughly enjoy this last month with our baby girl before she’s not really a baby anymore. It has gone by so unbelievably fast and we’ve had such a wonderful year with sweet baby Hannah here in our family.

Ben is Eleven Months Old