The Zipps Family: 11 months!

This little one is 11 months old! Her 11th month was definitely eventful! It was a crazy month but I have absolutely loved watching her get bigger, discover new things, and show her personality more and more.

There were a few things that happened over the past month-

My sweet, ever so slightly mischevious girl picked up a peanut butter cracker and ate it at this indoor playplace, Wonderwild. I had not let her try any nuts before and was planning on doing it in a much more controlled (and definitely more sanitary) place but she had other plans. I literally turned my head to check on Avery for maybe 10 seconds and a random peanut butter cracker appeared from thin air and was in my child's mouth. I can't express my horror adequately in writing. Where did it come from? Who's grubby hands were on it before? UGH! Well, we found out that she was not allergic to bees or peanuts in the course of 1 week. This girl may take years off my life ;). Good thing she's cute!

Chloe also got her first illness. I'm so very thankful that she didn't get sick until almost 1 year old. On the Friday evening before she turned 11 months, she was acting really fussy and felt warm to us. Her top two teeth were pushing against her gums so we thought that those were just coming in. She was ultra fussy and woke up once overnight. Every time I took her temp, it never got higher than 98.8 but she definitely felt hot. By the next evening, she no longer felt warm and was acting better so I still thought it was her teeth. Well, that evening I saw a couple of spots on her low back but thought her skin was just irritated. I dropped Chloe off at the nursery at church the next morning and saw a couple on her neck. When I picked her up after the service, she was covered- her face, her legs, everywhere. I became that parent that I dislike that drops off their sick child! Thankfully, the rash didn't bother her at all and wasn't contageous. She just looked a little frightening.

The spots were everywhere. :(

Waiting for the doctor. That face...

Her rash eventually went away a little less than a week later. The following Saturday, I came down with the same sickness but a little more extreme. It was by far the worst I've felt in years and years. My neck was stiff, I had the worst headache ever, and it was just awful. The following Thursday/ Friday after that, my mom and Bill were taken down too. My mom didn't recover quite as quickly and ended up in the hospital where she was diagnosed with Viral Meningitis. I'm assuming it all can be linked back to Miss Chlo. I was SO sad that Chloe had felt so awful and I hadn't even realized that she was sick. At least, we got the first illness out of the way and hopefully she won't ever get it again!

Here's the latest on everything else...

Eating- still a champ but has become a little more opinionated. Some days she does not want to eat off a spoon and flings her hand at it. It makes a huge mess and requires a little bit of patience! Other days, she eats anything and everything. She also has decided that the top of her head is a good place to put the rest of the food that she doesn't want. She refuses to wear bows, hairbands, etc but food is perfectly acceptable.

I think that we now have tried most all foods with the exception of honey and shellfish since she decided to conquer the peanuts herself.

She still nurses 4 times a day but the sessions are way shorter than they used to be. I am very torn about weaning in the near future. Part of me is thrilled to be able to eat, drink, take any medicine, etc but the other part will totally miss it.

Sleeping- I am happy to report that she is still sleeping great. Naps started getting a little tricky this month so towards the end, she would take 2 naps half the time and 1 nap the other half. It seemed that she just wasn't that tired in the afternoons. When she would take 1 nap, it was a really good one so I think only 1 is in our near future.

New discoveries-

-She is officially a big girl crawler! Woohoo! I didn't think it would ever happen but she finally started crawling on all fours. She definitely reverts back to her old ways when she wants to get somewhere fast but she's been doing such a good job! Her onesies are way cleaner too.

She is so much more sturdy standing. I don't have to be constantly by her side anymore. She also is still into everything! I don't see this ending any time soon.

-Chloe has become a major shrieker. I will chase after her and she will shriek like a teenage girl. It is hilarious! She "talks" all the time with her noises and I feel like she is trying to communicate with us. She cries Mama all the time when she wants something, wants to be comforted, or is sleepy. It is so sweet to hear her calling intentionally to me.

-She totally is a daddy's girl too. She crawls so fast to Bill each day when he comes home and literally melts into him when he holds her. I just love to see her show him so much love too!