The Dotsons: Aubrey is 13 Months Old!

I don't know how time is passing by so quickly....I feel like we just celebrated Aubrey's first birthday and now yet another month has passed. Aubrey is 13 months old!

* She weighed 18 lbs 2 oz at her developmental checkup the other day (on 9/11...so a little past 13 months, but close enough).

* She's in mostly 12 month clothes but some 18 month shirts, too. She still has the tiniest waist and I have trouble sometimes with pants/bottoms being too big in the waist (but the right length)....same issue with Caleb. They get this from their daddy! She is still wearing size 3 diapers. Who knows what size shoe she would wear...I never put her in shoes!

* She is still taking two naps a day. The morning nap is usually about 1 1/2 hours and afternoon one is typically 2 hours, but sometimes 3 hours if she did not nap in the morning. It's funny how things change after the first child. With Caleb, I did everything in my power not to miss a naps...everything! With Aubrey, I still value her naps and try to get both in if I can....but I'm definitely not as strict about it. If I have something I need to do, we usually go in the morning and she'll miss that nap. Not saying it's ideal, but the second child just has to go with the flow!

* She still to bed around 7:30pm and is still waking (I think) before 7am. I'm pretty sure she's waking up sometime in the 6 o'clock hour. We're going to have a problem if she starts getting more vocal about having to wait around in bed for over an hour! There's just something about having to wake up before 7am that I do not like - ha! Caleb used to wake up earlier too and now he usually sleeps until 8 or 8:30am....so here's hoping she will eventually do the same! (I've mentioned this before but I am NOT a morning person!)

* She is FINALLY all over the place with her army crawling. It only took her 13 months, but she is really on the move now. She still doesn't crawl "normally" (nor has she ever tried), but we've seen a great improvement over the last month. I can no longer leave her on a blanket and walk away without her moving. She is even following us from room to room and sometimes she just up and decides that she wants to go to a different room by herself. She loves going into Caleb's room (where most of the toys are). I am reminded just how dirty my floors get when I pick her up and see the front of her clothes!

* I'm still giving her three bottles (4 oz) of formula a day - morning, right before her afternoon nap, and bedtime. We are still working on the sippy cup and she is getting better. I just don't want her to get dehydrated so I'm keeping on with some bottles until she starts drinking more from a cup. We're getting there, though. She will drink some whole milk, but seems to prefer water to milk. I even tried almond milk and she definitely was not a fan of that....so we'll keep working on the cow's milk.

* She's getting all four first molars at once!
- bottom, right; 8/14
- top, right; 8/16
- top, left; 8/21
- bottom, left; 8/23

* She loves little stuffed animals, especially two little plush dolls (Carter's brand, I think). One, she got for Christmas and the other is one that my mom bought for her house. She ended up coming home with us and Aubrey sleeps with both of them now. They are pretty similar but the one from my mom has a rattle in it. We call that one "Dolly" (creative, huh?) but honestly, she thinks they are both "Dolly" - we need a name for the other one! (Dotty? LOL. Probably too confusing!)

* Her favorite foods are strawberries and cheese. She would live off strawberries and cheese if I let her. She's tried lots of new stuff that I can't remember! I think I'm doing better with introducing new table foods with her than I did with Caleb. She also loves waffles. She was really into scrambled eggs there for a while, but I think she's tired of them now. I'm really having a hard time with veggies. I've been trying peas and carrots, but she's not crazy about them. Sometimes she'll eat them, and sometimes not.

* She is finally warming up to my parents. She's been letting them both hold her lately! This is a major breakthrough!

* We had "promotion Sunday" at church a few weeks back. Because of her age, she got moved to a room with kids who were walking. I even saw one kid running! I was pretty worried about leaving her in there that first day. I went to check on her between church and class and they had set her up in a little chair at the table (it has arms on it to hold her in). She was just sitting there chilling out, eating crackers and playing with a disposable sippy cup they'd given her. When I picked her up after class, they said she did ok just sitting there. They didn't want to put her down on the floor for her to get trampled on. I went and talked to someone and asked for her to be moved to a crawlers room. That room is much more appropriate for her and she now has one of Caleb's old teachers that we loved, Mrs. Drita! We also love her teacher on Wednesday nights, Mrs. Kim! They are both so sweet and patient with her and her stranger anxiety (yes, still!!) and her mobility delays. Her "nursery" teachers were awesome as well. They have even given tips to the new teachers on how to best care for her. I was pretty impressed to hear that!

Ok, now for some pictures.....

This is how you know she needs a nap! (sidenote: this is the first time I have ever just clipped a bow right into her hair....what little she has. It actually stayed, however I think we'll stick with the headbands for a while longer. I think that looks better since she is practically bald!)

She spots something she wants......

Oooh, I got it!

But not for long.....found something better!

And then she spotted something in brother's room.....

and made a beeline for it!

hanging with Uncle Mark

She was obviously not having it with this picture attempt.
She gets SO red when she gets worked up!

She will eat Cheerios, but she is not super crazy about them.
Caleb used to devour dry Cheerios, but she could take them or leave them.

One of her favorite things to do is to play in the curtains.

Her awesome birthday quilt....will post more pics of this later.

She is tolerating my parents now! Major breakthrough! (this pic reminds me of a pic of me and my dad when I was a baby....need to find it and compare! Um, she definitely got my ears!)