like a hand out the window in the wind: 11 months old on Daddy's birthday!

Nola was 11 months on her Daddy's birthday. (Happy ??st birthday, honey!) I'll say it again. I can't believe how fast the time has flown. She is not my teeny baby anymore as evidenced by her ability to stay with Daddy and even take a nap Monday as I went back to school. She was not very happy with me when she woke up, and fussed, cried, looked at me like I was either crazy or torturing her, and refused to nurse. I set her down on the floor, where she continued to cry. But finally she came to me and decided to latch. Admittedly, I was quite worried for a few minutes there, but I was able to stay patient long enough for her to forgive me. Wednesday and Friday were better since she stayed up until I got home to nurse her and put her down for a nap.

And now for the update...

Eating: Everything. Still loves veggies and fruits and is willing to try everything at least once. Nursing several times a day still with no end in sight.

Sleeping: After a severe rough patch during which I was not sure I would survive, she's finally started to improve a little. Laying her down and having her sleep for more than two hours were the hardest parts. I had an epiphany about a week ago regarding her waking every two hours. Pretty sure she was waking because she was feeling herself wet her diaper. So since I'm pretty sure that Pampers swaddlers absorb more quickly than the cloth, we've switched back to disposables and noticed a huge difference in just the short time we've been trying this. Not sure if or when we'll go back to cloth, but I'm going to hang onto them for awhile because I loved them so much.

Teeth: Two more on top, which brings the grand total to six. So she's got all four across the top, and the two on the bottom. So glad we seem to be in between teething sessions now, so we're both getting a little more sleep.

New skills: More talking. She now has words for "baby" and "Natalie," and she calls for Da-da every time she hears him move around the house. She's starting to let go when she's standing up, and she laughs and thinks that's pretty cool. I'm in no hurry for her to walk. However, if she walks two days before her birthday I'll probably freak because that's when both Natalie and Nathan began to walk.

Loves: Her babydoll. This is new. It was a gift she got from Daddy for Christmas, and every time I go to get her out of her crib or nurse her she wants her baby. When she asks for it, her word sounds like "ba-ba," but there's an extra little vowel or something in there that makes it sound like something I have no idea how to type making it distinguishable from other things she says using the traditional "ba-ba" sound.