Emme At 12 Months

It's hard to imagine life without this little girl. She's such a ray of sunshine in our lives, and we look forward to picking her out of her crib every morning. We love watching her learn and explore and grow every day. It's amazing how much Emme understands when we speak to her, and how much she remembers. It's like there's a little human in there who's wheels are spinning, and not just a baby anymore.

{Kisses for the bunny}

I never ended up finishing my story about why I decided to stop breastfeeding Emmeline. The short of it is, that I just had a strong feeling that I needed to, I can't tell you why. I knew from what I was pumping at work that Emme wasn't drinking 24 oz of milk per day (the recommended minimum amount). But it wasn't as if she was hungry -- it's just that she wasn't drinking enough.

So when we stopped nursing and began with the bottle, we discovered she preferred around 18 or 19 oz a day. It took us a while to work her up to 24, and we did that by slowly decreasing her solids until she drank more, and then increasing the solids again while keeping the milk steady.

As I explained this to our pediatrician at Emme's 1 year appointment, she nodded her head and listened. When I finished, she looked up at me and told me to trust those instincts, because they are good. She wheeled her stool over by me and showed me Emme's growth chart, which had a dip at around 9 months, but then shot back up again at 12 months.

So moving to formula was the right thing for Emme at that time, and she's doing great because of it! Her weight percentile is up, her height is way up, and her head is bigger than ever. Sigh.

Height - 70%
Weight - 15%
Head - 95%


Emmeline's Favorite Things:

• Giving hugs
• Blowing kisses and giving hi-fives
• Dancing -- she swings her arms around like she's hula hooping -- it's adorable
• Falling and bruising her forehead (is she top-heavy or something? seriously. it's ridiculous.)
• Riding in carts or strollers at the store
• Climbing up and down the stairs, and climbing down off of couches and beds all by herself (see below)
• Feeding Chris and I bits of food while we feed her
• Brushing my hair when I brush hers in the morning
• Mom's ipod (it lights up and sings when she shakes it, which sounds a lot like her toys, doesn't it?)
• Talking on the phone
• Putting things inside other things, and then taking them out, and then doing it again
  

{"Okay, mom, this photo shoot is officially over!"}

I can't believe how big my baby is getting! Makes me sad sometimes. Time flies so fast, we're trying hard to enjoy every minute. We love you, Emmeline, and we're so glad you're in our family. Happy birthday!