12 Months

As I prepared to take Raelyn’s 12 month photos it made me a little sad to put the final monthly circle on her top. Of course there will be many more photos to come, just none with the little month circle.

Raelyn has accomplished a lot in her first 12 months of life! Let’s compare her first day and her 365th day…

What a difference a year makes!

Raelyn has become quite the singer. She loves to listen to her music and just “ah ah ah” along to it. Remember “laughing wars”? She now has “singing wars” too. She likes to see who will “ah” the loudest and longest. She wins much of the time. :) Singing is often the first thing she does when she wakes up from a nap. I’ll hear her loud and clear over the monitor just “ah’ing” away.

She has a new habit of sticking out her tongue, making clicking noises with it, and licking her lips. I’m sure it’s just a phase or maybe she is newly aware of this body part? Either way, it’s cute for now.

Raelyn has two favorite “lovey” toys. One is her purple blankie bear. She’s been sleeping with the blankie since birth and when she’s playing in her room she likes to help him “escape” from the crib. The other is her baby doll she got for Christmas. If you ask her, “Where’s your baby doll?” She’ll go get her and give her big hugs. It’s so cute!

Right now we are working on the transition from formula in bottles to milk in a sippy cup. So far she isn’t that interested in milk. She would rather drink water from a sippy. If her sippy has milk she’ll take a small drink and then throw it down. Hopefully we’ll have a break through soon!

Raelyn seems to favor her left hand when eating. She uses her right hand to wave and give high fives though. She likes to wave hi and will sometimes wave bye to daddy when he leaves for work in the morning.

She will give kisses too! If I say, “Give mama a kiss.” She will lean in and put her lips to mine. She’ll do this for dada too. We both love it!

Raelyn isn’t walking yet, but she will take up to four unassisted steps when she feels like it. She has also started going from a sitting to standing position without using furniture to pull up.

She loves to “read”! She entertains herself with books for 10+ minutes at a time. Of course we also have mommy reading time several times a day too. She sits patiently in my lap while I read the story. She happily turns the pages for me.

I’m sure there is much more I could say about our 1 year old. She is beautiful inside and out! I’m looking forward to watching her personality develop more and more as she enters this “toddler” stage.

 

Raelyn, mommy and daddy couldn’t have asked for a more perfect daughter! You are so special and loved by many, especially us!!