Leah 1 Year!

Leah Joy is 1 year old!  The year seems to have gone so fast; I feel like it was just a few months ago we were bringing her home from the hospital and prepping for Christmas.  Now this year she is a very active/busy 1 year old, making it rather difficult to prep for Christmas!

Most of Leah's time is spent walking around the house from one thing to the next, usually with a plug in her mouth.  She loves to check out what Brie is doing, and often times tries to take what Brie is doing.  She plays very well though, she often times will be playing independently in the toy room; and for this I am very thankful!  She loves to climb up on things, or I should say try and climb up on them.....she falls often.  Leah is a bit dramatic!  If you have to take something away, or if she falls, or just generally doesn't get her way she does a very dramatic cry.  This is fairly new, and Alec and I just are shocked!  She was such a passive kid.....then the drama factor hit, haha! 

 Leah is still a good little eater.  I have noticed her appetite has decreased; every once in a while she will eat TONS for a meal, but then other times she starts throwing food on the floor after only a little bit.  She really will eat anything though, which is just amazing.  Every once in a while she will spit something out and not take another bite of it; I think it is mostly texture stuff though.  She drinks a bottle with just whole milk in it 3 times a day.  She will only drink it if it is heated up; but really likes her 'bubbas' :) She still only has TWO teeth; I asked the doctor about it and he said not a concern and it'll happen.  Doesn't stop her from eating anything and everything though, so I guess whatever! 

Sleep has gone down hill a little bit.  Naps have been a huge struggle.  She seems to be starting to move towards 1 nap, which I would love because then she and Brie would nap together!  But she can't make it past 11am without completely melting and needing a nap.  But even if she takes an earlier morning nap, it is like pulling teeth to get her take an afternoon nap.  But as you can imagine with no afternoon nap, she can hardly make it to 7pm for bedtime!  Her wake up time in the morning is different every day; sometimes it is closer to 6/6:30, and other times it is closer to 7/7:30 (obviously this is a much more preferable time!).  She goes down pretty easy though; sometimes a little bit of crying, but usually none.  She has a little light up thing in her crib that lights up when she pushes the button and she loves it. Sometimes we hear her playing with that in the monitor for a while before letting us know she is ready for us to come get her.  

No words yet; she does all the normal 'babababa, dadadada, mamama' but not appropriately referring to one of us.  Brie talks enough for the both of them.....so it works out :) Lots of pointing though, her pointy finger gets quite the daily workout.  She loves to hand stuff to you, it is so cute; she usually wants what she handed you back right away though.  We do a lot of labeling of things when she does this, hopefully she is soaking it all in and learning! 

Another signature Leah move is to take her shoes and socks off; she won't leave socks on for more than a few minutes.  Most days I don't even bother with socks.  I have one pair of little shoes (pink moccasins) that she can't get off; so if she wears those than her feet stay covered.  I think she just takes them off because she can, it is a demonstration of her abilities! 

Leah loves to play with books; she will sit and look at them on the floor by herself, but she isn't to the point of letting you read them to her....no patience for that yet! She also really likes baby dolls, which is super cute, she will feed them bottles and give them kisses.  It is amazing what she picks up on without us teaching her.  When she plays with the toy kitchen she knows how to stir things, and feed people things, drink out of a cup.  

She isn't much of a snuggler; she will if she is really tired sometimes, or when she just wakes up. But otherwise she just wants to be on the go!  She will give hugs (which is just a lean in) and she will give kisses (open mouth slobber kisses!).  

Hard to believe this baby is an entire year old!  We love watching her personality develop!  The interaction between Brie and Leah is absolutely adorable, Leah loves her big sister and gets so so so excited when she sees her.  Brie is so good with Leah; very patient and tolerant.  I love our little family so much, and can't believe it will be growing in 4 months!