11 Months

 My beautiful baby girls is 11 months! Actually, since this post is again late, she is only two weeks way from being ONE. How is that even possible? My mom said something to me the other day and it was so true. My grandma keeps saying "I just can't believe it has been a year." My mom responded to her " it has gone fast, but in some ways it seems like she has always been here." It is very true. I look at pictures of her as a newborn and barely recognize her. I see pictures of her at 4 months old and am so amazing at how much she has changed. But in a lot of ways, it is hard to imagine life before her. Maybe it is because we waited so long for her. Or maybe it is because she just "fits." You just want help but love her. I am sure Brian and both our parents can agree, they knew that they would love her and be amazed by her, but they never thought they would love her  THIS much! 

   Little missy is trying really hard to walk these days. She can walk pretty well with just one hand for support, but the moment you let her go she falls. She can't even stand without support. She has taking a liking to walking along furniture and she is pretty good at it. It is fun to watch her get more confidence and try riskier things. She won't walk alone, but will reach for you and just kind of go before you are even ready sometimes. 

   Since summer has finally decided to show up, we have been spending a TON of time at the beach. Basically, everyday it is sunny, we are at the beach. She loves the water! She goes right in without a problem. I usually carry her and walk out a in the deep end and we both splash! She also really enjoys the splash pad. The problem with the splash pad is the water is ICE cold and since she can't walk along both her and mom get wet. I can only tolerate so much cold water before I am back to the beach. 

 Speaking of beach, my family rented a cabin at this place we went to as kids called EDGEWILD resort. It is about 30 minutes north of Brained in Fifty Lakes, MN. I knew she probably couldn't last the whole week, Brian could not get off work, and I had some birthday parties to plan. So the original plan was to head up there from Saturday to Tuesday. We loaded all our shit (it was amazing the amount of stuff we brought) into two cars along with a baby and a dog and made the 3 hour trek up north. It was an EPIC FAIL! She did okay on the car ride. We tried to go around nap time and my mom kindly road with me to keep her entertained. We arrived about 4:30pm and got situated. The plan was to have her sleep in the pack and play.  That is where the epic fail came into place. I will be the first to admit that our baby is spoiled. She doesn't go to daycare and doesn't spend too much time at our parents house. She slept in our arms until 6 months of age and now sleeps almost exclusively in her crib. At times at our parent's houses she will sleep in her pack and play but it is only for naps. We put her down at her normal bedtime and although it took her a little longer to fall asleep, she seemed to be doing okay. Come 12:30-1am and she is wide awake. She has not woken up in the middle of the night for about 3 months now. Not only was she awake, she was awake for 2 hours! When she did finally go back to sleep, she was really restless. She is at a tough age where she wants to be on the move. We can't just put a blanket down and get her to stay. Add that to a smaller cabin, 5 adults, and 2 dogs....it was just a little too much. I felt really bad as I was really looking forward to spending time with my family and I know they were looking forward to spending time with us. I am hoping next year she will be at a better age and we can stay for more than 16 hours or so! 

The spoiled baby in her crib!

   A week or so ago we took Paityn to the Como Zoo. They have really made the place nice! It is a perfect size for really little kids. She loved it and we had a great day!