11 months

This had to be one of the most stressful months since our little princess was born almost a year ago (oh my goodness!) Because of some medical issues I had, I had to stop breastfeeding very suddenly and it was pretty traumatic for our sweet girl, who quickly turned into a not-so-sweet girl. I fully understand why you slowly ween a baby, instead of cutting her off cold turkey! Jillian cried for almost 2 weeks straight. And I do mean straight...unless she was asleep or had food in her mouth, she was unhappy and she was going to let everyone know it! But we made it to the other side and our little girl has pretty much returned to her sweet self with one exception. She has always LOVED food, but she now has this fear that it might be taken away suddenly (go figure) so she screams at the top of her lungs when she has finished a meal, or if you take a 5-second break, or if you scrape the bottom of the bowl with the spoon, because she knows it's almost gone. It's not attractive, so we are hoping she will soon learn we aren't going to let her starve and there WILL be a next meal. Here is what Jilli has been up to the past month:

-She learned to wave and clap! She absolutely loves music and to clap along. Little Einsteins is now her favorite show to watch because of the music and she gets SO excited whenever we put it on for Zoe (Bubble Guppies is a very close second)!
-After the sudden stop of breastfeeding, she refused all bottles--formula or otherwise. Seeing a bottle instantly aroused her anger and she would hit the bottle out of our hands, or throw it down. Yes, she has a bit of a temper. She is now drinking water or milk out of a sippy cup. She prefers a cup with a straw, because that's how her big sister drinks.
-She can still wear 9 month clothes, but is mostly wearing 12 months now.
-She LOVES to eat. Anything and everything.
-She had her first encounter with a wild animal...she got to feed the giraffes while we were up in Nairobi.
-She wears size 3 diapers.
-She sleeps a good 12 hours at night straight through (usually 7 pm- 7am)
-She loves to talk.."hi!" is her favorite word and repeats it until she gets someone to respond. It's the first thing we hear in the mornings when we walk in to get her. Because of the little temper that has shown itself this month, she now says "don't" quite often, because she has heard it so many times. And just the other day we heard her first sentence "hi dad!" It was precious and purposeful. I was changing her diaper and Nate walked in the room, she just looked over at him and said it. I'll be just a wee bit jealous until I hear "hi mom!"

a little embarrassed.

Ok, I am just a wee bit embarrassed that I haven't written a post since October. But I'm stuck here in Nairobi--Jillian is asleep and Nate and Zoe got on a plane earlier today headed back to Dar. So I have no excuse not to at least catch up on the past few monthly updates for J-pop. And by the time another week rolls around, I may be so bored that I post just about anything just to give myself something to do. But for now, let's get down to business. The last month I posted about was when she turned 7 months...and she is about to be 11 months (how can that be?) So I've got 3 months of baby girl to catch up on. I realize nobody (except maybe grandparents) care what Jillian was doing 3 months ago, but this is more for myself so I can look back at her first year...which is passing oh-so-quickly! Here we go...

8 months
-She finally got her first tooth...and then her second. Her two front bottom teeth came in one right after the other. She was a little fussy, but did pretty well.
-She now has two words...dada and MAMA! Yay yay yay!
-She is loving to play with her big sister...especially in the kiddie pool...whether it has water in it or not!
-She is still a fabulous eater...will try anything and likes almost everything! She still gets super upset when the food is gone; I'm not sure if that is gonna go away!
-She is still nursing...hates formula and bottles...not sure what happened there?
-She is sleeping through the night! We are welcoming our full nights sleep with open arms!
-She is pulling up!

9 months

-She celebrated her very first Thanksgiving and was given the honor of playing the turkey in the Thanksgiving Day Play (picture below!)

-She's picked up a third word, "hi." It's precious beyond belief when she crawls over, pulls up on one of us and says it in the sweetest little voice ever.

-She is becoming more and more fun for Zoe as she learns how to play with her and interact. I must say, she is a pretty good sport!

-She is scaling the sides of the furniture and getting more and more confident with standing and walking with some help!

-She is still eating like a champ and nursing about 4 times a day.

(this picture makes me laugh because she is only milliseconds from being hit in the head with the beach ball)

10 months

-She celebrated her first Christmas and loved our little tree, the lights, and of course, the wrapping paper! She had more Christmas presents from her grandparents than she knew what to do with!!

-She is starting to stand all by herself! She will be holding onto us or furniture and briefly let go to test her balance. Usually it's only a few seconds before she plops down on her bottom or grabs ahold of something, but she is getting closer!

-She now has 4 teeth! Bottom two and top two.

-Her newest word is "uh-oh!" and she uses it correctly. You know...when she knocks my water glass off the table, or spills her carrot mush all over the floor, or drops her puffs in the cracks of the couch.

-We have attempted to begin to ween her by using formula or pumped milk. She wants nothing to do with it! She batts the sippy cup across the room and yells at us for even trying to fool her!