Easter 2018

We had a wonderful Easter this year.  We participated in our neighborhood Easter egg hunt.

And also the one at our church/ Matilda's school.

Mabel's Eleventh Month

I'm about a week late posting this, and I think it's mainly because I'm in denial that my baby is 11 months old.  In one month, she'll be a year.  And I'm so, so sad. 

And in the meantime, she just keeps doing new things.  I honestly am probably going to forget several things in this month's post, because she does so much these days.

Stats: She's big.  Not sure how big, but fills out her 12 month clothes.  Still has two teeth.

Sleep: No change here.

Eat: She likes solids.  Pretty much everything you put in front of her.  She eats at least three solid meals a day.  Her favorites right now are grapes and broccoli.  When she wants more, she waves her arms like a madwomen.  She's not shy about asking for seconds. She also likes drinking water from a cup.

Nursing has definitely waned a bit; if I had to guess, she's drinking about 15-18 ounces of breastmilk a day.  She doesn't comfort nurse and she doesn't nurse to sleep, so I think that once we start cows milk at a year old, that weaning will shortly follow.

Play/ Milestones: Ugh, I don't even know where to start.  As far as gross motor skills, she's still cruising a ton (and walks behind her walker), is starting to free stand, and LOVES to climb.  She climbs on the fireplace, uses her walker as a step stool onto other things, and has started regularly climbing up Matilda's learning tower.

She is a very social baby.  She has officially learned to wave, and it's about the cutest thing ever.  When I get home from work, I'm greeted with the friendliest little wave I've ever seen.

So Mabel stinking loves to dance.  It doesn't matter whether you sing a line of a song, or music is playing at a restaurant, but this baby starts bopping.  She goes back and forth, up and down, and starts clapping if she's really into it.  She dances to anything that has a beat... including my breast pump.  Ha!  It is the silliest thing.

Mabel officially said her first intention word... "DAWG!"  When we were at Ferryn and Steve's lake house, she got so excited to be around the several (very patient) dogs that were there.  She'd call out to them whenever she would see them.

She's also started saying Momma intentionally.  She babbles Dada a lot, but Momma seems a bit more intentional at this point.

She knows the word "no" and will shake her head every time she hears it.

She likes playing peekaboo with her sleep sack, which is darling.  And she still loves baths.  About the only time Mabel gets really upset in life is when you or someone else is taking a bath or shower and she wasn't invited to join.  She throws a royal fit.

Time slow down!

Sherwood Forest Faire

Because one Renaissance festival a year isn't enough, we headed to the Sherwood Forest Faire near Austin this past weekend.  It was hot, and the campgrounds were packed, but we still had a good trip.

I was surprised to learn that the festival is only in its ninth year, but honestly, it does kind of feel like it's had a hard time keeping up with its popularity.  Maybe I am spoiled by the Texas Renaissance Festival, but I feel like it needed more bathrooms (and cleaner porta-potties in the campgrounds), more potable water (we couldn't find any water fountains), and more food and drink options.

We still had a good time though.  We made friends with our camping neighbors (and were super jealous they had a huge group of friends that regularly attend renfests together), Matilda was happy we let her stray from her medieval garb and wear her fairy costume (plus she liked the magic show, getting a unicorn arm painting, eating a huge lollipop & candied cashews, riding the spinning teacups, camping, etc...), and Mabel was just happy to be along for the ride (like always). Oh, and I got new moccasins for my garb, so I was happy. Plus, we got to see Jason's cousins Kelley for a bit so that was good too.  :)

Lakehouse

We always try to visit our friends' Ferryn and Steve a couple times a year (summer & winter).  While we usually just visit for a long weekend, it never disappoints.  This past visit, our other friends' and their two kiddos (and two dogs) joined as well.  We all had a great time!