11 Months of Lil: Teething and Talking

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Our sweet LilliAnn is 11 months old! In just two short weeks she'll be a big 1 year old! This is so cliche, but I really can't believe how quickly the time has passed. She weighs 19 pounds and 8 ounces and has finally gained her weight back from when she was sick a few weeks ago. About two weeks ago LilliAnn got really sick and I was very worried about her. She had been running a low grade temperature for about a week, but since she's right in the middle of cutting two more teeth and had a little bit of a runny nose I didn't think much of the fever. We were at the lake that weekend when her fever spiked to 103. She vomited a few times, had diarrhea and a terrible runny nose, and wasn't eating. When her fever reached 104 and she woke up with a nosebleed, I really started to get worried. I had listened to her chest and knew that her lungs were clear, but didn't have my otoscope to look in her ears. The nurse practitioner I work with is a family friend and lives close to our lake house, so that evening I took her over there so she could look in her ears. We discovered that Lil's tonsils were red and huge and that she probably had tonsillitis/sinusitis. The next day I took her to the clinic and got LilliAnn a rocephin shot...her very first antibiotic and very first shot. LilliAnn hasn't had any immunizations yet, so I wanted to be sure and treat the infection. Rocephin is a miracle drug! She slept 2 1/2 hours and then woke up a completely different child! She was smiling, had her appetite back, and was running around the house again! Antibiotics are a great thing...when not overused!

She lost a little bit of weight when she got sick and so I have been trying to get her weight back up. I've gotten her to eat baby food again, which I love because I feel like it's easier to get her nutrients in that way. I started giving her baby cereal again in the mornings to get her iron level up and introduced meats, such as chicken and turkey. She's still breastfeeding several times a day and about one or two times at night. I'm not going to wean LilliAnn at a year like I did Reid. I nursed Reid until almost 13 months, but have decided to let LilliAnn wean herself. She's sleeping in her crib now for half of the night, then when she wakes up wanting to nurse I'll put her in bed with us. She still doesn't have much hair, but it's definitely going to be blond like her daddy's. Her eyes, however, have changed from dark blue/gray to a green/gray and I think they are going to end up being hazel/green like her mama's! She walks bow-legged, but chases Reid around with no problems! She has four teeth and is currently cutting two more on the bottom. 

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This past month, one of LilliAnn's biggest accomplishments has been talking. She's such a talker! She understands everything that you say to her and she is very good at communicating what she wants. LilliAnn just seems to do everything early! The other day I walked into the living room and she was trying to put her jacket and her shoes on herself...and she knew what she was doing! She's such a little smarty pants! Her big cheesy grin is contagious and her adorable personality lights up the room! As a friend of mine said about her daughter on Toddlers and Tiara's, "I couldn't have pre-ordered a better baby girl." We've started planning her "Button Birthday," and although it's bittersweet, I'm so excited to celebrate her big day!

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A Few of LilliAnn's Favorite Things:

-smiling

-throwing clothes into the bathtub

-chasing Reid around the house

-making animal sounds (especially a puppy dog sound and a pig sound)

-playing on the iPhone

-dancing 

-reading books, especially "Where is Baby's Belly Button?"

-doing flips

-throwing balls

-taking baths

-kissing her baby dolls

-playing the kazoo or blowing Reid's whistle

-crawling underneath the chairs to the kitchen table

-carrying around a sippy cup

-pulling Reid's hair to wake him up in the mornings

-putting things on her head

-M & Ms from Papa Kelbo

-suckers (that she takes from Reid)

-cheese

-popsicles