HOW is it possible?

How can my baby girl be 11 months old already? Seriously, how?? It is incredibly bittersweet. It is no lie at all when a seasoned mother tells you every single age/stage your child goes through will be your favorite. At each stage you think, "How can it possibly get any more fun than this?" But it does!!! As each month passes, I find myself thinking, "Okay, now THIS is my favorite age." Until I had my own baby, I thought I loved newborns most of all. To sit and hold a newborn while they slept all day equaled pure heaven to me. I thought nothing could be better. But I'm telling you, as great as it was with Claire as a newborn, it has gotten even greater throughout these last 11 months. I don't know how but it has. I can no longer say that the newborn age is my favorite because now I realize I don't have a favorite...I love them all.

Having a baby makes you also wonder how you can possibly love someone more and more with each passing day. It's mind boggling! But you do! It's like with every ounce Claire gains on the scale, I have another ounce of love for her. It's CRAZY!!

My 11-month old baby girl is becoming more and more of a little person these days. She likes to be tickled and chased. Today she discovered that Heidi likes to go under our bed, which she thought was hilarious. She is still Miss Serious for the camera but if you put that camera away, you can have the pleasure of hearing some adorable giggles. She continues to crawl faster and faster and faster. Like, you can blink and ZOOM...she is GONE! She has practiced standing without holding on a few more times...lasting up to about 7 seconds or so. Still no steps yet but still loving to walk with her push walker. She understands more words like "outside", "night night", and "Dada". (I'm still pushing Will to use my name more so she learns who I am too!! I can't easily refer to myself and teach her my name. But I refer to "Dada" and point to him all the time so we're working on him reciprocating for me!) She is babbling a lot lately...and says "Mama" a lot but it doesn't seem to be in direct reference to me. :( Oh, and we've started with the baby toothbrush, which is quite possibly the cutest thing ever to watch her brush her teeth!! I think that's really about it for her. It's been a relatively quiet month this month. I have a feeling this next month might see a little more activity...like maybe some new teeth and possibly taking some steps. We'll see!!

Here are pics from this month's "photo shoot". I have now resorted to feeding the "model" Cheerios in order to get her cooperation! I think I've gotten a little better at getting her to look at me, huh?! (The key is CHEERIOS.) :) And as evidence of her rapidly-blossoming personality, you can see a few pics down where she is sure to let me know when the photo shoot is OVER.

Here's a toothbrush pic. Cute, huh? :)




Here's a video that cracked me up. She is obsessed with doors these days...loves to open and close them over and over. And the little smart stinker has even figured out that she has to get out of the way of the door in order for it to open/close.

Finally, here's a little video of Claire just being Claire: