Eliza is ONE!

My baby girl turned ONE the end of January. It is hard to believe an entire year has gone by. She is doing well, growing and learning every day. I was able to nurse her for a year. So very thankful for that and she's transitioned pretty well to coconut milk. She'll even take a bottle now (which she really didn't do her first year of life). She's eating a lot more, but certain textures bother her. For now, she really prefers the pureed baby food and since she eats a variety of fruits and veggies in them (spinach, pears, mangoes, peas, carrots, squash, blueberries, etc) I'm going to let her keep eating the pouches. She does like bananas but that's the only fruit or veggie she'll feed herself. She ate carrots and potatoes from my beef stew the other night, but wouldn't pick them up and eat them. She despises meat, any form. She is just getting her first molar so maybe once all four come in, she'll be willing to try more things she can chew.

EJ is a good sleeper. Still takes 2 good naps a day and goes to bed around 7:30 at night to sleep all night. I hear her some mornings at 5:30am, but she falls back asleep for another hour or so. It's hard to have her up in the mornings before EK gets on the bus. We have to do everything for EK to get her ready and Eliza is very clingy and a mama's girl when she first wakes up. Some day that will get easier...

At her well check, she was 19 1/2 lbs. I was surprised she wasn't over 20 pounds b/c she's heavy when I have to carry her for a long period of time. :) She started the real crawl a few weeks ago. I really thought she was going to skip it. She army crawled forever! She also started pulling up, but has no desire to cruise right now. EK and AC were late walkers (around 15 months) so I'm not too concerned. Of course, if we have to do some physical therapy in the future, we'll do that. She's starting to climb the stairs too. She only does one or two, but it's enough to keep me on my toes. If she falls, it's onto the hard wood floors. ACK! 

While I always have some fears in the back of my head, I really think EJ is doing well. She is VERY social. She squeals in delight and dances when she sees her siblings or her daddy. She's pointing and reaching for me to pick her up. She's still not saying words. "uh" is something she says all the time while she points to something. I just tell her what it is. She loves to play with toys, especially when she thinks they are toys she shouldn't be playing with. 

She went through a phase of hating baths so I decided to try her in our garden tub. She LOVES baths again. I don't know if it's because it's a bigger room or because her siblings take baths/showers in there or what. I'm just thankful that baths aren't traumatic anymore!

We love her to pieces! Seriously can't imagine our family without her. While she's getting into the stage where I have to watch her every minute, it's still fun to see her explore the house. Excited to see her personality emerge in the coming months and hear what she's thinking. :)