11 Months

Dear Madelyn Kate,
Today we celebrated your eleventh month of life! It blows my mind completely that you are now less than one month away from celebrating your first birthday. In the last couple of weeks I have started making a few things here and there for your party. I think doing those little things has helped me to not actually think about the fact that as you turn one you are leaving baby Madelyn behind and entering a new stage of increased mobility, talking and toddlerhood.

This time last year I was on bed rest dreaming of what I would bring you home from the hospital in and attempting to make my very first bows for you. It amazes me to think of how much has happened since August 24, 2009. I look back at that post trying to imagine what it was like before you were outside of my belly and I cannot even make my mind go there. I don't remember life without you around.

Over the last eleven months you have provided our home and our family with so much joy. Your trials and triumphs have made us all clap with excitement, cry tears of sadness and tears of joy, and helped us to draw closer to our walks with the Lord. From the moment we knew that we were pregnant with you, we knew that ultimately you are His.

This past month with you has been so full of new things (as each month before has been). New foods, new sounds, new words, and new places. Just as we have encountered new things, we have left many of the norms from the first 10 months of your life behind. You were officially (although we hadn't used it in a while) discharged from you apnea monitor. You only drink from sippy cups during the day, but still take one bottle at night (only because the flow is slower and we think that's beneficial for your reflux). You are officially too long for six months footie pajamas, but you can still wear your six-nine months ones. There are so many other things that are "a thing of the past" that it is just hard to believe!You are quite the climber these days. You have mastered climbing on all of the furniture and while we were on our recent trip to OKC, we noticed that you realized that in order to get down from something that it's better if you turn around. Now you do that when going down stairs, getting out of Mommy and Daddy's bed, off the couch and pretty much off of anything that you climb up on to. It seems like such a simple thing, but it was so cool to watch you figure it out.
You still crawl so fast and have taken a few steps here and there, but you are not a walker yet. This week you have discovered how fun it is to scoot yourself backwards on your belly in your pajamas on the ceramic tile. Grandma calls it your Michael Jackson moon walk, so now when we see you do it everyone calls you MJ instead of MK.
You are as social as they come. You talk to anyone and everyone no matter where we are. The grocery store, the bank, church, the doctor's office...you have never met a stranger. So many people comment on your smile and how happy you are. They are right. You are such a happy little thing! Your cousins were the same way. They would jibber jabber at everyone too (and they still do!!). Speaking of cousins...you love Emily and Allison so much. It is fun to just sick back and watch you three play. Emily is really good at picking you up and loves to take pictures with you. Allison likes the idea of you...but isn't so sure about the fact that you always try to play with her toys or tackle her!

Your face lights up and you smile with your eyes when we sing Itsy Bitsy Spider, If You're Happy and You Know It, Little Bunny Foo Foo and well...basically when we are singing anything! You just love music in general and when you really get excited you start dancing to it! By dancing I mean you bounce up and down. It is so precious. I know I am a bit partial, but I think that just about everything you do is precious.

I am definitely past the "even your poop is precious" stage though. I am so thankful that for the first 8-9 months of your life, your poop didn't really stink. Once we finished breastfeeding that all changed. Now that your food choices are growing by the day, that has really changed. We didn't have to use your diaper champ until now. We would just put your diapers in the trash and they were fine. If we did that now, the whole house would have an unpleasant aroma (It only occurred to me just now that it's totally strange that I just devoted a whole paragraph to discussing the smell of your poop. Something changed when I had you and it instantly became the norm to talk about such things. One day when you are a mommy you will understand).

When we went to the doctor on Monday you weighed in at a whopping 19 pounds 5 ounces! You are growing so fast!! You still wear a size three diaper, drink milk three times a day and your food choices are expanding by the minute. You can still wear your 6-9 months clothes, but in just the last month you have started to fit in 6-12 months outfits as well as some just 12 months. Others still swallow you. It sure would be nice if the clothing industry made things the same size! Ha! It is so hard not to shop for you all of the time. Little girls clothes are so stinking cute and you make everything look that much better.
Madelyn...I love you now. I will love you forever. You are our first born and for now you are our only. The light of our lives. Our special little gift. Each day we are reminded by each breath you take that you are here for a reason. You are His and we are thankful to be your parents.

Love you sweet girl,
Mommy