11 months.

Just one more month until my baby turns one! WAAAAHHHHHHH!!!

Linna is still crawling everywhere and MAN can that little girl move. We've started closing our bedroom and bathroom doors, because she's such an explorer. Our main living area is on one level which made baby-proofing pretty easy. We have one gate to block off the stairs, and we have outlet covers on the outlets. That's about it for baby-proofing. The things we don't want her to get at, we just move up a little higher.

Linna and Auntie Lisa

Linna is pointing at things she recognizes and says, "Geeeee" or "Daaahhh". This weekend, Auntie Lisa came to visit from Brooklyn, and Linna hadn't seen her "in person" in months (we Facetime every week or so). When Lisa was here, I asked Linna, "Where's Auntie Lisa?", and Linna pointed right to her. SUCH a smart kid:) She also points to Papa, babies, and balls.

Eating food in Iowa

Linna loves saying "Papa", "Baba", "Lala", "Dada", and once she gets going, there's no stopping the little blabber-mouth! She pulling herself up on things, and loves doing her "down dog" yoga move. She's actually stood up a few times on her own too, and can stand for a few seconds (I think four seconds is her longest standing time). She points to her tummy, can do "sooooo big", and she's almost able to point out where our noses are. She loves flipping through pages of books and hums to herself while doing so:) Every morning, I turn on TPT so she can watch Super Why, Curious George, and The Cat in the Hat. When she hears the show's songs, she books it over to the TV, or just does a little dance while clapping from her high chair. These shows allow me to get stuff done around the house, while she's occupied. I try to talk to her during the shows too, so she's learning and not just watching.

We've also started giving Linna whole milk, along with breast milk. My husband and I are going to Chicago next week for five days and we're leaving Linna with our parents. I've been weaning myself from pumping and tomorrow I'm completely quitting the pump! Right now, I'm pumping once a day and I pump about five ounces. I don't have enough breast milk stored in the freezer to get Linna to one year on exclusively breast milk, so we're mixing my breast milk with organic whole milk right now, to make the transition easier for Linna and the grandparents while we're in Chicago. She had her first bottle of whole milk last night and didn't seem to notice a difference. That's a HUGE weight lifted off my shoulders. I'm so excited to be breast-pump free while we're in Chicago! Our pediatrician said it was fine to start giving her milk now, as long as we give her a multivitamin too.

Playing in Iowa with her younger girl cousins on the Saigh side.
(Bella, Ally, Tess, Linna, and Ella)

Linna is also pretty much eating anything we give her. She loves all kinds of foods, which makes feeding her pretty easy. I really rely on the squeezy packs, especially when we're outside the house. But if we're at a picnic or something, she loves eating baked beans, pulled pork, fruit, hummus, fish, pickles, etc., and of COURSE Cheerios (I swear the kid could live off Cheerios alone)! I asked our pediatrician about giving Linna peanut butter, and she said it's fine, as long as it's given every once in awhile, and we watch hr closely. We haven't done this yet because I'm SO nervous! We don't have any peanut allergies on either side of our family, so she should be fine. She hasn't add any allergic reactions to any other food she's tried, so our fingers are crossed! Plus, natural peanut butter is such a good source of "good" fat and protein, so I think we'll try it soon.

We spent last weekend in Iowa, celebrating "Christmas in July" with the Saigh family. Not everyone can always make it to Iowa for Christmas every year, so we decided to switch things up a bit and get together this summer! Linna got to play with aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents that she rarely gets to see. She spent HOURS with her little girl cousins on the Saigh side. I loved this because it was like having built-in babysitters. Thank you Ally, Tess, Ella, and Bella for showing Linna such a good time!

Eating corn on the cob for the first time, in Iowa of course.

Linna also cut a few teeth this month, and that was a bit of a challenge. She just wasn't herself and was in SO much pain. My independent baby turned into a cuddly, clingy, yet whiny little baby. As much of a change and frustration time that was for us, it was so nice to spend a few days cuddling with my bug:) She now has four teeth on the bottom, four teeth on the top, with two more sprouting!

I'm so busy planning Linna's birthday party, planning for our trip to Chicago, and our move to Singapore, that I feel like I haven't had time for myself. I did join Lifetime Fitness because they have a great daycare program/center and outdoor pool, so we try to go a few times a week (my goal is to go every day). It's so good for Linna

Playing with her girlfriends at ECFE

We just finished our last ECFE (Early Childhood Family Education) class today, and our Baby Gym class wraps up pretty soon too. We both have had such a great time getting to know other moms and babies! It's going to be hard not going to these types of things while we're in Singapore, but I'm hoping to find a class or two while we're there. We'll have a lot of free time on our hands!

There has been so many changes over the last year for our family, and even in the last couple months. Time is absolutely FLYING by, so I try to remember to enjoy every second with Linna, and take as many photos as possible. Only three more weeks until by baby turns ONE! I can't believe how fast she is growing!