abby's one year appointment was today. it went well.  she's doing just fine - i had some concerns about things she isn't doing (saying mama, pointing) and the doctor said that she's just fine and not to worry about things.  i was also worried b/c she does things like sit and spin on her butt (like in a circle) and she likes to put one hand in front of her when she crawls and skim it on the carpet, and he said that these are all normal things for a baby to do, so i feel better. i am not sure why i was so worried but i guess better to be aware of things & have concern than not. 

he did say that temper tantrums could start as early as 15 months. OH FUN.

also, he recommended to try & get abby off the bottle by sept/oct when ear infection season sets in, i guess bottle fed babies are more susceptible to them. so that gives me a goal to work toward. we'll see how it goes.  i'm not going to stress about it - she's still not totally GETTING how to use the sippy cup, but his suggestion was to give her the cup with water (or milk) on those hot days instead of a bottle and her thirst will outweight her stubborness. he did say that if i'm going to take away one bottle (for example, her lunch bottle) i should probably just take away all the bottles.  so we'll just keep trying the sippy and see how it goes.  stubborn ass baby!!!

she was crazy during the appointment and would not be held. howie was there and i tried to let her go by him while i talked to the doctor and she was just freaking out the whole time b/c she wanted to be down on the floor. we finally just put her on the floor so she could crawl around and the dr was like, well it's no wonder she's not walking b/c she can crawl like lightning. LOL! she is fast, i'll grant you that.

she does walk now if you hold her arms and walk with her but she gets bored of it after a while and wants to crawl.  she'll get it eventually! but in the meantime, she just crawls b/c that's faster!! walking would slow her down. :)

she got three shots which she was NOT pleased about.  she stayed upset for a good long time, too.  she was even crying in the car on the way home  and did not really calm down until we got home.
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she slept so good today.  she woke up at 6 for her bottle and then she went back til nine. NINE! it was so wonderful! we got home from the appointment and she went down for her nap and woke up around 2, or so.  she stayed up and ate lunch and played for a bit and then wanted another nap at 3 which is unusual for her.  she slept for an hour & i took a nap too!

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i made her chicken for lunch today.  i had two chicken thighs left so i boiled those for her & added a can of green beans and some pastina. so she had that for lunch  and dinner and i have enough for tomorrow too. i need to get more chicken for her.  for her, i buy chicken that is on the bone, like thighs.   for cooking purposes, i cook almost exclusively with b/c breast, if you were wondering.  i'm sure you weren't. LOL!

she really likes when we make the food with the meat for her and maria said she ate tofu the other day & liked it.  so i'll have to get some tofu next time i'm at the store.  i tried to give her tofu before and she didn't like it but maria said she tossed it in with the chicken broth and she ate it up, so i'll have to do that!! 

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she is so funny.  i was playing with her on the changing table before i changed her diaper.  she had her little baby toothbrush. i was talking to her and she actually stuck her toothbrush in my mouth!! i was so surprised!  so i guess she is figuring out objects and their uses.  the doctor said that she can actually brush her own teeth now. i'm not sure how much brushing she would actually do but i guess we can try it.

officially one year old!

man, this year flew by!

well, abby is officially a year old! such a big girl.  :)

so not much new is going on since i last updated.  she is pretty much completely off formula now, so that's good! we have a little bit left, so we will use it up in her cereal and bottles but once that's gone, we're completely on whole milk. so much cheaper!

we are working on weaning her from the bottle but that is not going as well as i had hoped!  she does drink from a sippy cup but doesn't really understand how to drink from it on her own, she doesn't understand how to tip it up to get the liquid.  and she gets frustrated and then just won't drink.  so i'm still giving her milk in the bottle but i do give her water in the sippy cup.

i talked to the pediatrician's office and they said that it's ok if she is still on the bottle. i got nervous b/c dr graham kept saying she had to be off by twelve months and i just didn't see it happening!! so i think i'll revisit taking the bottle away in a few weeks and see how it goes.   the nurse mentioned being off by 18 months and that is what the AAP website says too, so we'll go with that. hopefully we can get her off the day bottles sooner though. :)

she's not walking yet, still doing her crab walking in the playpen and on furniture. her new thing is to go up to you and crawl up your legs so you can pick her up but she doesn't say UP yet.   she is making a wide variety of sounds so i'm betting that a word is going to come soon.  she says something that sounds really similar to TICKLE and maria insists that she says 'hi ghingis' but i haven't heard that yet. no mama at this time!!! maybe soon.

she got scared when everyone sang happy birthday to her.  she cried, poor baby. i think the clapping was too loud and it frightened her!

she enjoyed her cupcake.  we took the frosting off b/c it was buttercream and it was hard from being in the fridge, and at first she was all dainty but eventually she figured out how to get a hunk off and was shoving it in her mouth. she was up pretty late that night, LOL. 

she even took an afternoon nap the day of the party b/c she was just so tired from being out in the sun and being around so many people!

she got lots of clothes and some new toys, so she will be a highly fashionable baby for the rest of the summer! :)