I started planning Henlie's birthday party between 9 and 10 months.  Granted, initially it took me awhile to decide on a theme lol.  Once that was decided, I could get into full planning mode.  The last month to month and a half has been actually putting things together for her party.  Yay for Pinterest! hahaha

Initially the theme was "vintage" but it turned a bit into "shabby chic." The final theme was Purple and Pearls.

Once I was finished eating, we got down to the presents!






After presents, we stripped her down and let her have her cake.  After her birthday photoshoot on Halloween, she had a better idea of what this was for and how to do it :)







Thanks to everyone who came to our little party! We had a great time and Henlie got some wonderful gifts that she truly enjoys!

It's pretty crazy to think it has been a year since we welcomed a tiny little baby into our lives.  She has been the most exhausting, trying, fun, and rewarding little person.  I love watching her grow and learn, explore and test her limits.  It has been fun to watch her personality emerge as she becomes her own person.  She's a charmer.  She's observant.  She's also sneaky.

This month, we were really affected by separation anxiety, but only with sleeping and directly after napping.  During the day, she is fine going off and playing on her own, or hanging out with Grandma or the ladies in the primary presidency.  At night (or nap time, sometimes), it could be a lot harder to get out of her room.  Usually she's okay at the beginning of the night, but if she wakes up, it can be a challenge to get her back to sleep.  We would lay her back down, and she would lay there (which she has been preferring her tummy with her legs tucked under her), then sit up and look for us.  Once she saw us, she would lay back down for a minute.  This would happen for quite awhile, and then sometimes she would get too awake and start grinning at us and wanting to play.  It made for some long nights.  We had even started bringing her to our bed when she woke up in the early morning, just to get a little bit more sleep.  (It seemed to get everyone a bit more sleep, at least :)) With napping, if she woke up crying, she would be awfully clingy for a good while before she would be okay go-go-going again.  Like, I couldn't even set her on the floor next to me to do something that required two hands (like put on a jacket to take the dog out).  Her life is rough.


In order to help her get to sleep (which she got better later in the month with sleeping again.  It is probably just a teething thing.  Oh those teeth.....) I have started singing to her.  Primary songs.  We start with I Am a Child of God, and sometimes I pull them up on my phone and we just keep singing songs.  I still prefer nights she falls asleep after nursing and I can just lay her down without incident, though :)

As for eating, I have still been buying jarred baby food.  Mostly because it's easier and I'm sure it's a more healthy option than what I may find for her otherwise.  Most of the time, I don't even know what to do for myself for lunch.... At the beginning of the month, we were still nursing between 4 and 6 times in a 24 hour period (4 if she didn't wake at night, and another 1 or 2 times if she needed it to calm down to go back to sleep in the middle of the night).  She doesn't nurse for super long, so pumping at work is a little discouraging.  I rarely get more than 1.5 ounces per session.  Oh well :)  For that reason, I think weaning would be kind of nice (that, and it takes a serious chunk out of my shift to go pump twice in a shift).  




She wasn't so cooperative for pictures this month.  I just let her hair air dry after her bath, so it's kind of shaggy, too :)


At the end of the month, nursing was down to four times total.  Then right around her birthday, we dropped to three.  That same week, I dropped to one pumping session at work.  Weaning is around the corner!
 
About a week after turning 11 months, we introduced whole milk.  I know it is supposed to be at the one year mark, but surely some babies are developed enough to handle it before then.  Mostly, we were getting low on formula, and I didn't necessarily want to buy more.  I only put the milk in her oatmeal in the morning.  This also helps cut down on dishes since I don't have to fix a bottle to make her cereal with.  She has had no problems with the milk at all.  We ran out of formula just over a week before her birthday, so she now even gets to drink it from a cup or bottle when Mommy is at work.

Her tooth count at one year is four.  It seems once the first one broke through, all of the others that were making their way down wanted to join the party.  We thought the fourth tooth on top had broken through, but now, I don't think it did.  However, right around her birthday, she got her first bottom tooth! Center right.  However, going most of the month with only top teeth has made biting things a little difficult.  She has tried biting her Gerber's Lil' Curnchies (like cheetohs, but in multiple flavors).  It's fun to hear them crunch, but having no bottom teeth makes it hard to get all the way through them, so she ends up popping the whole thing in her mouth. :)

She loves books.  I know I mentioned last month her love of Moo, Baa, La La La! but now she loves turning pages and carting them around the house too.  It's super cute.  She'll even flip through the pages of a couple of small notebooks we have laying around.  She also will bring us a book.  She loves to sit back while we read to her.  She's pretty adorable.


As for speaking, she has a few "words" that sometimes even mean what they are supposed to.  "Ball" is the one that really means small round object.  She also says "mama" and "dada" (okay, like "dadadadadada").  I'm not sure she always means us when she says them though :)  We've also been practicing "duck" a little bit.  

She loves to play with the dog.  She will take Mocha's toys and run off with them.  Even if the dog isn't actually chasing after her, she thinks it's funny to run from the puppy.  She will bring us Mocha's squeaky gecko or spider for us to throw to the puppy.  The dog sometimes brings them back to Henlie.  Other times, Henlie goes to retrieve them herself from Mocha, only to give them to us to throw for the dog again.  I guess if our dog can't learn the concept of the game of fetch, between the two of them, we can play :)

She has become quite independent and has her own opinions about things.  Too bad she doesn't speak, so we have to resort to crying and tantrums.  (Whenever she's upset, she always throws her head and body backwards.  She usually hits her head, which results in more crying. I can't wait until she outgrows that reflex.)  She is getting better with walking and has ventured into some running.  It's cute.  Since she is so independent, it is super nice when she'll take us by the hand while we're walking somewhere.  It's also nice when she comes up and gives you a hug.  Sometimes she'll grab my legs from behind, and I'll peek down and play peek-a-boo between my legs.  She thinks that's funny.  I think it's adorable ;) 

We visited the doctor again for her 12 month check the morning of her birthday.  They are participating in a vaccine study to get another provider registered in the U.S. for the MMR vaccine.  We enrolled Henlie, so we were there for two hours.... that didn't help my party preparations :)  Poor girl got the standard 4 vaccines, plus a flu shot.  Then, for the vaccine study, they drew blood to get a baseline.  Since they were drawing blood and the iron indicator from her finger prick indicated her iron level might be a little low, we okayed them to take more blood to send to the lab to verify.  Poor girl didn't bleed quite enough for both tests on the first arm, so they had to draw blood from the second arm.  That was a total of 8 bandaids.  She wasn't a happy camper, even though they gave her a sucker during the blood draws.





She had fallen asleep on the way to the doctor's office.  After her ordeal at the doctor's she fell asleep again on the way home.  I let her nap in her car seat when we got home, and she felt better after that.  


Her measurements this month: weight=20 lbs 2 oz (56%), height=29.9 in (77%), and head circumference=17.7 in (52%).  We also got the lab results on her iron later that evening, and her levels were great.  She's a healthy little girl growing like a weed :)

Mocha had a grooming appointment at the Orem Petco on Tuesday, Oct. 22.  They have a four hour window to groom her, so we ran some errands while we were up that way.  After we dropped Mocha off (which the baby fell asleep on the way to Orem), we stopped at the post office to buy some stamps and mail her birthday invites to those who are out of town.  I believe she woke up while we were there.  Next, we headed up to Lehi to see Grandma and Grandpa Hadfield and give them their invitation.

A friend or cousin (or someone like that) of Grandma's answered the door.  She said they were in the shop, so we walked over there.  The back door was locked, so we knocked and waited.  Then we went around to the front door, which was also locked.  We knocked and waited.  We were just turning around to walk back to the house when Grandma and Grandpa pulled up.  I guess they'd been down to McDonald's for some lunch :)  For reasons unknown, they came home with an extra Diet Coke, which Grandma let me have lol

We chatted for a bit and gushed over Henlie :)  Then we went into the bedroom where they have toys stored, and Henlie played with legos.  While we were playing, Amy (Grandma's daughter) and her half-brother Spence stopped by.  While Grandma was busy with them, Grandpa, Henlie, and I went out to the swingset to try swinging.  Grandpa's little swing no longer has a seatbelt, so Henlie had a hard time staying in it.  That was okay, though, because there was the cat, JJ, and a whole bunch of leaves to play with.




After Grandma, Amy, and Spence reemerged, Amy and Spence tried out the see-saw.  Then Grandma had to show Spence how it is done. hahaha  Grandma really wanted us to take some pictures of Henlie in the pumpkin patch, but she had wandered off with Amy and Spence again, so we took Grandpa and found a good Henlie-sized pumpkin.  Grandpa also picked us a couple of apples from the tree.  When we got back to the house, Grandpa filled up a bag of apples for us to take home.  He also picked me a rose.  It smelled so good!  We have an awfully thoughtful and kind Grandpa :)




After a photo op with Grandma, we were on the road again.  We took a detour to AF to grab me some lunch (I was so hungry!), and then we stopped by the BSA office in Orem to drop off our cardboard (they recycle).  Then we drove to Provo to visit Grandma Covalt.  We had to give her an invite, too :)  I didn't take any pictures at Grandma Covalt's, but we chatted for a little while.  Henlie had fallen asleep on the way down again, but she did eventually wake up.  Grandma had a stuffed bear in a cupboard, and Henlie thought it was great.  Henlie also loved seeing her reflection in the TV :)  While we were there, Petco called to let us know Mocha was done getting groomed.  We chatted for a few minutes more and then went to pick up our puppy.





We went one step shorter this time on Mocha's shave - she looks freaking adorable (and a little silly comparatively).  This time, she got Halloween bows. So cute!


When we got home, I finally got to really eat my dinner, which was great :) to top off my busy day, I went visiting teaching that night.  Pretty successful, fun-filled day :)

So, umm, this is really going to be more about what we did over conference than actual conference itself.  I have a crappy memory and struggle with paying attention sometimes.... but we had a great weekend that I want to share :)

We watched the Saturday morning session at home.  Matt was super sleepy.  I also had to work at 1pm, so I nursed Henlie before leaving, and she fell asleep.  They "shared" a conference nap after the first session.

At work, I streamed the afternoon session.  I also chatted with Matt a little about it during the session. (yeah, both of those things break rules....I'm over it)  That was probably the session I listened to the best....

Fortunately, it was an easy Saturday, so I got home at a decent time.  We went over to Mom's house for the Priesthood session (which was aired on the Internet and TV live for the first time!).  Matt watched and the girls did crafts.  I actually didn't take a craft (I really thought I wouldn't even get off of work until 6pm), but I chatted with Camile and Kayla while they did crafts.  Charlie and Henlie had fun playing with the train and tracks with Grandma.  After the session when Grandpa and Devan got home (they opted to still watch at the stake center), we had traditional ice cream :)

On Sunday, we watched the first session at home.  I'd asked Matt if we could ride up the canyon to look at leaves because the mountains had been so vibrant.  He said as long as the weather was good, he was always up for a drive.  I seriously looked forward to this all week lol.  We finally left around 12:30pm or 1pm.  Matt asked if I cared which canyon, and I told him one with pretty leaves.  So he took me to Provo Canyon, and we drove up to Squaw Peak.  It was my first time going up there.  I can definitely see why it's a favorite ride for motorcycles... so curvy!  But the leaves were super pretty.


It was pretty crowded, but we did get a parking spot at the top.  We hung out for a little while looking out at the valley.


It was kind of chilly....and, obviously, windy :)


We saw quite a few hawks, some at eye level, and some even flying higher than we were.  I love hawks :)


Other exciting sites were two guys parachuting off the mountain, and an itty-bitty red aeroplane that flew by.



We watched them land and then got back in the car.  Conference was starting, and it was getting chilly.


Matt wanted to drive out to the new UVU Intermural fields by Geneva, so we headed out there.  They are pretty nice.
 

There's a lot of land out that way with some new developments going up, so Matt made me get out the Zillow app while we drove around looking for houses in our current price range.


We then got on the freeway, but diverted in Provo to try to find Matt's old house...while still looking at houses on Zillow. 


We got a wee lost, and Matt gave up.  We headed back to the freeway and to home.  I had fun spending time with my little family and listening to conference.  It was a pretty great weekend.

One more month - eee! We've been in party planning mode for a month now.  I'm sure glad, too.  But let's not get ahead of ourselves.  Henlie still has a full month before the big 1 year mark.

This month has sure brought out her cute little personality.  She smiles easily.  She loves to dance, especially to drums.  She is our little drummer girl :)  She still doesn't like when people go to grab her hands.  She is also pretty stoic while she observes new people, but once she has warmed up, she does just fine being handed off.  She is very curious and loves to get into everything.  She also thinks it's funny when we tell her to get out of something. She'll turn and just grin like, "Yeah right, look at me go!"  She loves to go, go, go so much that she doesn't like to go to sleep at night.  She also will wake once or twice most nights.  Most unfortunate for me.


As for her dancing, we went to the Great Basin Branch ceilidh and cookout on Saturday, Sept. 14.  After dinner, they had a kitchen piping contest.  She was rocking out and "singing" along.  She also loves to play with the little radio at Grandma Biggs' house.  I first saw her skills on Sunday, Sept. 15.  She beelined it to the radio, pushed a button for some music, and started rocking back and forth. It was so funny and cute!


As I have mentioned numerous times, she really loves the drums.  She loves to bang on the popcorn tin, the toilet, the walls, the doors, the tables.  She'll grab ahold of some drumsticks and bang on stuff.  She loves to watch Daddy drum.  Dad has even let her sit on his lap while he plays his drumset. (First time it has been played in awhile...)  Drums are grand.


I love how happy she can be.  She really does smile pretty easily, as long as it's not bed time :)  She'll see us down the hall and grin, along with a sharp intake of breath accompanied by a high-pitched noise.  That's her happy noise.  The first time Matt heard it, he thought maybe she was having an allergic reaction to something and her throat was closing off....  which, it does kind of sound like that...  However, that is just her happy noise.  If she's really happy, it is followed by giggling :)  She loves the puppy and the kitty still.  She will grin at them and get all excited if they get close to her.  She loves tickles, flying, and being upside-down.  She really loves if someone will play with her, too.  Who doesn't love attention, though? :)


She is really good and getting into everything and playing by herself, too.  This is handy when I'm trying to get other things done.  She likes to explore and get everything out.  She loves to pull her toys out of their respective put-away places.  She loves to get ahold of lots of papers and fling them about.  She thinks it is great fun to grab hold of them and flap like a crazy person.  In the kitchen, her first stop is the second drawer from the bottom.  (It's the perfect height for her while she is standing.)  She pulls out all of the hot pads.  If I put them back, this will entertain her for awhile.  If I don't?  Well, she finds other things to get into...  She can get everywhere in the house, pretty much.  She is a speedy crawler.  She can also be pretty quiet when she wants to be.  I have had to look for her on a couple of ocassions.


This month's biggest accomplishment, however, has been WALKING!  Friday night, Sept. 20th, I was at work.  Matt and I were chatting, and he told me the baby walked.  He said she took like a step and a half and then sat down.  I thought to myself, nah, that's not walking.  She has sort of done that already anyway.  Later that night (I found out later) she took like six steps on her own.  Since I had so vehemently denied Henlie actually walked, Matt didn't tell me.  


Well, Matt was gone recording with the pipe band on Saturday, and the baby and I were home together.  We had just finished nursing in her room, but she wasn't sleepy, so I set her down between the chair and the ottoman to put myself back together.  Enter the puppy.  Henlie got excited and started heading to the puppy.  Since I was otherwise engaged and she was next to two pieces of furniture, I wasn't positive if she was holding on, or if she walked on her own.  Two seconds later, she confirmed that she could walk by her lonesome.  We practiced lots that day, and she would just laugh and laugh, as if to say, "Look at me! This is awesome! I'm awesome! This is so much fun!"  Yep.  She is pretty cool stuff.


Other new developments including pointing and squinting.  She loves to point at stuff.  I think she is just starting to grasp that she can use this as a form of communication.  As for squinting, I'm not quite certain where she learned it.  She'll grin and scrunch up her face and squint her eyes closed.  She and I will squint back and forth at each other, and she'll just giggle.


Along with pointing, we've been doing a little bit of reading.  She has this book by Susan Boynton called Moo, Baa, La La La!  Basically it has lots of animals and goes through what they say.  I figured she's older, and she can point, maybe she'll be a little more into it and we can interact a bit more.  I think it's a favorite of hers for now.  She particularly loves the horse page.  The horse says, "Neigh!" and the way I read it sort of sounds like giggling, and she will sit and laugh every time I say "neigh."  It's pretty darn cute.

Perhaps the second most exciting thing, next to walking, as been her first tooth!  Her top teeth have been working on coming out to play for awhile, and her first one (top center left if you're looking at her) finally erupted on Oct. 3rd.  This makes her bites of banana much cleaner :)  The others on top are still thinking about coming out.  We haven't seen any inklings of the bottom teeth joining us, though.

I took her into the doctor for another weight check, and she weighed in at 19 lbs 3.5 oz. which is exactly 50 percent.  I measured her height a day or two later (because I forgot :)), and measured her at 27.75 in.


She gets more and more fun each day.  She loves seeing other kids.  She loves her cousin Charlie.  It really is pretty easy to get a grin or a laugh out of her.  Now if only we had the energy to keep up with her ;)