Always & Forever: Madeline and Molly: Eleven Months

Madeline and Molly,

You are ELEVEN MONTHS old today! Before I wax nostalgic about MY BABIES GROWING UP I just want to say thank you for joining our family and being the sweetest babies on the planet. Thank you for loving each other and your brother the way that you do. Thank you for sleeping, eating, and playing so sweetly and making life with three under three not as bad as it could be. We love y'all so much and love watching y'all grow up into the little girls you are today. Now stop growing (but stay super sweet!) Okay, thanks.

Our days our becoming a little bit more relaxed and we are opening up larger chunks of awake time for y'all, which makes getting out of the house a tad easier. We dropped your morning bottle and I started pumping at night instead of in the morning so that freed up a good 45 minutes to an hour of our morning routine. Y'all still wake up between 7:00 - 7:30, nurse, eat breakfast, and are back down for a nap around 9:00-9:30. Your morning nap will end anywhere from 10:30-11:30 and after y'all nurse again it's our best time to get out of the house and get any errands done that we need to do that day. Thankfully y'all enjoy being in the car/in your carseats so running errands is always pretty fun, especially since we always get stopped so y'all can be stared at and gawked over. Y'all eat lunch around 12:30 and go back down for your afternoon nap about 1:30. This nap overlaps with Carter's nap so it's usually the first time during the day that I can sit and slow down. Molly wakes up around 4:00 and Madeline around 4:30, y'all nurse, and then it's playtime until dinner. The weather has been usually pleasant for January so we've been spending this afternoon time outside going to the park, walking in the stroller, or in the backyard. Dinner is served around 5:45 followed by baths (typically every other night, but sometimes every night if we've had an especially messy dinner) and a couple minutes of playtime with Daddy. By 6:45 Molly is usually melting down so I nurse her to sleep, followed by Madeline and y'all are usually in dreamland by 7:15. In the morning y'all tandem nurse, at night I nurse you separately, and the rest of the day is either or.

Mealtime seems to be a favorite around here and nothing seems to be off limits. Seafood and honey appear to be the only foods y'all have not been exposed to, and off the top of my head I cannot think of anything y'all turn down or dislike to eat. Fruit and yogurt are favorites, as well as macaroni and cheese and pastas. Y'all are drinking out of sippy cups at church and anytime we are out running around but are not interested in drinking anything during meals. Our other big news this month is y'all are pulling up to standing! It happened on a Sunday at nap time and now every household object has turned into something you could potentially pull up onto. Truthfully we are doing a lot of falling and it's pretty stressful trying to keep y'all safe. I feel like y'all are always on opposite sides of the room so if I'm saving one of you from falling down the other is taking a hard fall, and vice versa. I don't remember this stage with Carter being this hard, although I could focus all of my attention on him alone so it probably wasn't. Daddy and I are just praying that y'all get steadier quickly so we can stop faulting ourselves for not being able to keep you safe.

Madeline Kate,
Maddy Kate, Maddy Girl, Magellan, Sister Bear...hello to you, too! You are still all about exploring and seeing what you can get into. When you are in our arms you are touching our faces and playing with our hair. When you are next to Molly you are putting your hands in her mouth (still haven't learned that lesson) and taking away her toys. When you are in your high chair you shovel food into your mouth as fast as possible, earning you the nickname "garbage disposal." When you are on the floor you speed off from room to room and we routinely are searching around the house to see where you are. Likely hiding spots are in your carseat, underneath kitchen chairs, or in Carter's room. You don't play with any toy for too long.

You are finally crawling on your hands and knees, but resort to your army crawl when you want to get somewhere really fast. You pull up but only on occasion any anytime you want to look out the backdoor. Your favorite place in the house is in the living room on the floor in front of Carter's PB Anywhere Chair. You pull up into the seat, spin around to sitting on the floor, and back again. You do this for long stretches of time and think it's hilarious.

You love to clap your hands, chew on tags, your blanket, have screaming contests with Carter at the dinner table, splash in the bathtub, eat blueberries, and "experience" your meals by rubbing everything all over your face. You are still so sweet and happy all of the time and have really enjoyed being outside more. I can't wait for it to warm up a little bit more and for y'all to start walking (did I really just say that?) so all three of you can really play together.

Madeline 11 month Stats

Weight: 17 pounds 13 ounces (11%ile)

Length: 28ish inches

Eating: nursing 3-5 times a day and 3 meals

Bedtime: around 7:15pm

Awake: 7:00am

Naps: 9:00-11:00am, 1:30-4:00pm

Diapers: size 3 Huggies

Clothes: variety of 3-6 months and some 6-9 months

Teeth: 4 on top, 3 on bottom

Food: everything, favorites are blueberries, grapes, pasta, and macaroni

Favorites: sleeping, Daddy, Carter, Molly, riding in the Ergo, eating blankets, chewing on cords, all food, being outside, being "thrown" up and down, exploring, Carter's Anywhere Chair

Development: crawling on hands and knees, pulling up to standing

Words: dada,

Milestones:

12/22- said "dada"
12/25- first Christmas

12/27- first trip to Louisiana

12/28- sippy cup

1/5- clapping
1/12- strep throat

1/18- pulled up to standing and lowered crib

Molly Ann,
Molly Girl, Molls Balls, Sister Bear...what a month we have had! Since we drove home from Lake Charles on the 27th you have been a needy, clingy, crying baby girl. In your defense most of the month you did not feel well, but you have also decided your favorite place is on Mama's hip and can let everyone know in a flash if you are ever put down from my hip. Girl! I love you but this has been a hard month. Between strep throat, clinginess, and teeth I've almost thrown in the towel a couple of times, and there have been some desperate texts sent to your Daddy several afternoons. Thankfully you are still sleeping well and happy as a clam when you are being held or worn.

Besides strep throat (which you shared with your sister), this month has been all about pulling up to standing. It's all you do whenever you are not being held, although you have not figured out how to get down once you stand up so we hear a lot of crying and a lot of falling. You will crawl on your hands and knees but still prefer the army crawl. And you are just not a fan of sitting up and sitting still. You would rather be on your belly or standing up on your feet. This still makes grocery shopping and bathing extra hard, but I'm confident we will eventually master all of these skills.

We've also nicknames you "Princess" because you are prissy and dislike to be dirty. You would much rather be fed with a spoon or fork than pick up anything with your hands. You love to have your hands wiped but hate your face to be wiped with a passion, and don't even think of putting you down on the grass. About the only time you are still is when you are outside on a blanket in the grass, completely in fear of touching that green stuff. Whereas your sister is all over the yard or park putting ALL the grass and mulch in her mouth. It's funny the differences that comes out of two babies born together and raised the exact same way. I can't wait to see the differences and similarities of your personalities show more and more.

Molly 11 month Stats

Weight: 17 pounds 11 ounces (12%ile)