12 months old!!

I have an admission. I have been procrastinating on Nora's 12 month post. And the rest of her birthday posts. The feelings I've been having with this milestone have been many. With all of the joy of Nora turning one comes a little sadness of some of the baby things that are getting to be less and less. We're almost done with the bottle, snuggle naps are extremely rare, and I no longer get to hold my little girl whenever I want. My time with a baby is coming to an end. And it's ending forever, given our fertility issues.

But toddler-hood brings with it a lot of fun times. Times that I appreciate so much.

Nora loves to explore and we are often "walking" all over the house with Nora holding onto our fingers or with one of her push toys. She dances to music, cruises between toys and furniture, loves to crawl up the stairs, brings the dogs their toys and is learning to pat them gently, points to things she wants, and smiles a lot. She has learned to smile for the camera, making what we call her "cheese" face. Her laugh is amazing!

Nora has also learned to express her opinion! It's very clear when Nora does - and does not - want something. It is really amazing to watch her develop her own ideas. She is still as observant as ever, always watching and taking everything in.

As you can tell from our blog, it's been an amazing first year and we are just so dang thankful for it all. So HAPPY 12 MONTHS to our sweet, sweet girl. We are so excited for the next year of memory-making and milestones!

Nora at 12 months old:

• 23.8 lbs and 27.5 inches
• Says Dada, Mama, Dog-Dog, Uht-oh, Kisses
• Wears 12-18 month-sized clothes
• Eats mostly finger foods - current favorite is a hummus sandwich
• 8 teeth

I'm gonna get this owl!

11 Months Old

OMG! I'm almost a year old!

Nora is...

On the move! Our sweet girl is on the go, seemingly all the time. Crawling is a cake walk these days. Pulling up? Easy-peasy. Walking while holding onto Mama or Dada's fingers is preferred. She is also pretty good at cruising around (walking while grabbing onto items like furniture). Perhaps those first steps are on the horizon.

Teething. We started out the teething process without too much discomfort or unhappiness for Nora. Well, her fifth tooth has brought along with it crankiness, drool, snot, and fever. We are really feeling for our little sweetie.

Munching. Nora now prefers to feed herself so finger foods are all the rage. We still spoon-feed her some foods, like her baby cereal, yogurt, and some pureed veggies. The veggies have to be snuck in between bites at times. We are also starting to transition from "baby food" to "food." A couple of the meals that we have shared with Nora lately include zucchini tacos (minus the shell) and ginger/zucchini/tofu pasta. She loves eating these tasty and flavorful foods that her Daddy is so good at making. And although it's a bit too early for Nora to be chomping down on Mommy's specialties (baked goods), she has been introduced to banana muffins. One word to describe the muffin experience: devour! She devours them. It's pretty fun to watch. :)

Vocal. When Nora wakes up in the morning, she is content to babble away in her crib for a bit. We love laying in bed listening to her chat, chat, chat while we get an extra few dozes in. Nora also talks it up when we are in the car, playing with toys, going for a walk, having a meal, at the pool... Maybe our little girl is going to turn into a chatty-Cathy. Between Mommy, Daddy, and Nora our house will be filled with chatter!

Adorable. Seriously, have you seen her?