Chic Geek Diary: 11 months old

Ava is now 11 months old and I'm struggling to comprehend that in just a matter of days she will be one year old! It's crazy and makes me feel so emotional! I've already started prepping for all the things I want to do before her big day and for her birthday party too! Where has the time gone?

Let me tell you, those milestone card photo's have gotten more and more difficult to take as the months have gone by! Now she's either playing peekaboo behind it, throwing it to the other side of the room or she's gnawing on it. We recently got a carpet in our living room where we take the photo every month so I made sure to keep a patch of the old carpet so then the photo's will be exactly the same! It would have looked so strange if the last two milestone cards were taken on black carpet! Yes, I'm crazy!

Character
She has the most endearing little personality, she's so lovely. There's nothing she likes more than being with her family and smothering us with lots of kisses and cuddles (and the occasional cheeky smack to the chops!) She's affectionate, inquisitive, comical, excitable, independent and cheeky. She also feisty when she wants to be and will tell you off if she isn't happy! I love watching her character develop every month, she is a total mini me. God help us!

Size
I've not had her weighed this month but I'm guessing she is around the 22lb mark. She is quite tall and now that she's more mobile she is slimming down a little, which I'm sad about. I love her plump, there's nothing better than a chunky baby! She still has the sweetest little hamster cheeks though, I hope they stick around a while longer. She wears 9-12m in pretty much everything now and they all have plenty of space. We recently had her feet measured and she was a 3G.

Health

She's not been so well this month. She's had a cold which seems to have lasted forever. She's not unwell in herself but has a cough which is on and off and a constant runny nose. She's also cutting her 7th and 8th tooth which I think have been bothering her, the others didn't seem to do. They've given her a temperature and she's quite touchy and off her food a little.

Feeding

We still breastfeed and have no intention of stopping anytime soon. With her being unwell and teething she has been feeding more than usual but I'm glad I'm able to offer that comfort to her. She also drinks a cup of water a day, she's not just drinking milk. She loves to eat but with her being unwell I've noticed she hasn't had her usual appetite. Her favourite foods are; pasta, carrots, baby corn, sweet potato, scrambled eggs, ham, chicken, cheese, tomato, yogurts, raspberries, blueberries, grapes, banana, cereal. She enjoyed her first ever nutella pancake on pancake day, yum!

Sleep

Her sleep was terrible last month as she was going through sleep regression and a leap at the same time but this month it's picked back up again. She's still not sleeping through but she's started to settle easier at night and she is waking less. When she does wake she quickly goes back to sleep with a feed or with a cuddle. She's very hit and miss when it comes to sleeping in her cot, she of course prefers to be cuddled up to me. I don't mind this. We sleep safely and although I don't get much sleep when she's tucked up beside me, they aren't babies for long so I'm soaking it up. When it comes to naps she prefers to sleep in her pram in the kitchen. She'll nap in her pram for a good hour, sometimes two. If I put her in her cot upstairs she will only have 20/40 minutes. I think it's because our bedroom is at the front of the house so it's quite noisy around the time she naps.

Milestones and new tricks
* We have a walker! She's not 100% confident yet but she can walk from one piece of furniture to the next without holding onto anything. She can also take around 10 steps before dropping to her bottom. She's very steady when standing up and can balance for long periods of time. She never stops and she even tries to climb!
* She's not saying any new words this month but she can say; mama, dada, daddy, hiya, aww, cat, ta.
* She very independent and likes to try to do things herself, like putting on a hat or attempting to put socks on. She also tries to brush her hair and is getting quite good at feeding herself with a spoon.
* She copies everything that Noah does and follows him everywhere. Whenever he's playing with his toys she will sit or lay beside him (depending on if he's sitting or laying down) and joins in. It's so cute watching an 11 month old baby trying to play fight with superhero figures, she makes little sound effects!
* She has a snug seat from Mamas and Papas which is a lot like a bumbo. She can take off the tray and climb right out of it! She's a little Houdini.
* She nods her head for yes and shakes her head for no.
* Daddy has taught her how to head bang!

Likes and dislikes
Mummy mummy mummy! She would be clung to be 24/7 if she had the chance, I love it! She loves it when Daddy comes home from work and she see's him walk through the door. Playing with Noah and being smothered in big brother cuddles first thing in the morning. Kisses, cuddles, clapping, dancing and singing. She loves to read books, especially touchy feely ones. Mummy's make up bag and the hair brush. Being on the move. Rummaging through things she shouldn't be! Being mischievous! Playing with Noah's toys and the Baby Secrets dolls. CATS! Guitars and rock music. Wooden blocks and balls. Going for walks in the pram and swinging on the swings at the park. Looking for trees and birds. Walking! Putting toys onto tables. Exploring the house. Nursery rhymes on YouTube. Playing with the Xbox remote and headset. She doesn't like having her teeth brushed, sleeping alone or men with beards!

Another month, another baby diary. You are now 11 months old baby boy! And wow, just wow. You have come on leaps and bounds his month. Physically and mentally you have developed so much and your personality just keeps on growing too. I feel like we are closer than ever and I think this is my favourite age yet.

Character

You are so funny and cheeky. You love to giggle and make others laugh by performing and if people applaud you well it just makes your day! You are so so smart too. You learn and pick up new things so easily and really don't miss a trick. You have been able to kiss and cuddle for a while now but this month you kiss and cuddle all the time and it's heaven seeing how affectionate you are becoming. On the flip side you can have such a temper at times and can have little crying episodes when you don't get what you want. You certainly know your own mind and I know which parent you get that trait from.... Ahem.

Size
I guesstimate you are around 23lb now. I can tell you have put some weight on this month because you feel so much more solid. You hardly have an oz of fat on you but are like a sack of spuds! In the nicest of ways of course! You are still in size 4 nappies. You wear 9-12m trousers, vests and babygrows and you are just moving up into that size in tshirts too. Most 6-9m jackets still fit as all the ones I bought seemed to be bigger fitting.

Health

You have had the occasional cold and constipation just like last month. Your wheeze had come back too so we took you to our GP who prescribed another inhaler after I said it helped last time. I would like to take you to see someone else though for a second opinion as this wheeze does seem to come and go a lot. With asthma running in the family I think I need to have it looked at further. You have been teething more but we are still waiting for teeth. We are hoping you cut your first tooth before your first birthday!

Feeding

You have still been having 3x 5oz bottles of formula a day and around 8oz of water. You love your food and have 3 generous meals a day. This month you have really enjoyed oranges and you absolutely adore sandwiches! You mainly eat what Mummy and Daddy have now and you really enjoy sitting down for meals with us. You always share your food too which is really cute!

We introduced your first bottle of cows milk today. You drank 1 oz and then refused the rest. I don't know if you didn't like it, need to get used to the change or if you were full up from your late dinner. Only time will tell and we will see how we get on in the morning.

Sleep

Since we've moved into our new house your sleep has changed dramatically! The first night we had you in our room and you were fine. The next day I decided to see how you slept in your cot in your own room at nap time. Nap time was great and you slept fine. You napped so well in the cot during the day I decided to see how you managed at night time too. Night time came and you pretty much slept through! 2 weeks on and you usually sleep 8-8 which is fantastic. If you do wake up it's because you have banged your head on the cot or have a limb stuck through the bars but you usually settle again.

When it comes to naps you are a changed baby. I simply place you in your cot, walk out the room, you roll onto your side and go to sleep!!!!!!! Let me explain those exclamation marks.... You have always needed to be cuddled to sleep and couldn't self settle. This isn't thanks to anything I've done, you did it yourself!

As much as I miss co sleeping and having naps together I am so proud of how great you now are with both sleeping and napping and how much you love your own room.

It just goes to show you cannot spoil a baby. Let them sleep in your bed. Cuddle, sing and rock them to sleep! They are only babies for a short while! Let babies be babies and they will do it when they are ready!

Milestones

- Speech. You are very very vocal. You could already say Hiya, Mama, Dada, Nana but your new favourite word is Dad and you say it all the time! Dad, Dadad, Dada. We do get the occasional Mam too.

- Knowledge. You know certain requests such as; take out, wave, up, ta, off. You also grab your hairbrush and try to brush your hair and will attempt to put a sock onto your foot. Clever boy!

- Responding. Last month you learnt to give me something when I said "ta" or dance when I said "dance. This month you wave when I say wave or waving. So cute.

- Crawling. We are FINALLY crawling! Well sort of as I wouldn't call it a crawl. It's more like a backwards bum shuffle. Not the typical crawl but it certainly gets you from A to B.

- Pulling up. You now kneel and try to pull yourself up onto everything. If someone is sat on the floor you will shuffle over to them and literally clamber up them like a climbing frame.

- You can now sit up from laying down on the floor. You roll from back to front, get up into the crawl position and then sit up. You shocked me today by doing it so easily!

- Standing. You are so good at standing now and can stand a few seconds unaided. When you are standing against something you will often let go to test your own balance. You are trying to cruise with furniture and I think it will be a matter of weeks before you are. It's so exciting because it's almost like you have learnt everything all at once.

Things you like

- Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Move over Doc Mcstuffins, move over Spongebob Squarepants there's a new favourite in town. You are absolutely obsessed with the hotdog song and you smile so much when it comes on. The smile is usually followed by some giggles and lots of dancing!

- Standing up. You love for me to hold your hands while you are standing. You try to take steps but most of the time you dance!

- The cats! Since we've moved into the house you have seen the cats everyday and you love them. Considering you are so young you are ever so gentle with them and they are really good with you too. It's like they know you are a baby and are patient with you. It's lovely to watch you interact and enjoy them like we do. I can't tell you how important I think it is for babies to learn how to love and respect animals.

- Cuddles and kisses. You are always kisses and cuddling us now and you love it but not as much as we do! There is nothing like a cuddle and a kiss of your baby.

- Your own room. I can't believe how well and how quickly you have taken to being in your own room. It feels good knowing that all our hard work has paid off.

- Diet coke cans. Yes you are still obsessed with them. You will point none stop at them and end up throwing a mini tantrum if we don't let you hold the empty can. We've resorted to drinking it in mugs to try to trick you. You still want the mug but you aren't as fixated as with the cans.

- Remote controls. You play with them all the time and even point them in the direction of the TV. We have caught you many times almost buying a movie off the Sky store!

- Wires. Another obsession that I would prefer you not to have! I have to try to hide every wire but that's impossible with an eagle eyed baby!

- Gadgets. You are a real bloke. Laptops, iPads, iPhones. You see one you want one! You even know to turn them all on and off with the button! Move over Steve Jobs!

- The changing bag. Possibly your favourite thing to do is to pull everything out of the changing bag and play with spoons, wipes and your inhaler.

- Fruit. I think you could live off it if we let you!

Things you don't like

Being told no! Go's without saying really!

Nappy change. You used to be dine but more often than not you will now cry/tantrum when we change you. That's if we don't give you a toy to play with.

The car. I thought all babies loved the car but not you. You get bored of being in there for too long and often cry and become restless.