11 months

Sweet Heidi Reese,

You're 11 months old and just one away from your first birthday! You have changed so much in the last month and your personality is becoming more evident. About you: -You're very fiesty. When you want something, you scream at me until you get it. And because of this trait of yours, we have started disciplining you to teach that screaming at Mommy is never okay. -You're walking everywhere now and are pretty good at it. You haven't crawled in several weeks and just get around so much quicker now. -You have 8 teeth. -We're only nursing for breakfast, lunch, and right before bed. -And that brings me to my favorite new skill for you...sleeping through the night! On Monday night, I decided that I wasn't going to nurse at 1:00 in the morning anymore and that we all need to get more sleep, so I let you cry it out. I hate this method, which is why it took me 11 months to do it. But, I knew with your personality that it would take something drastic for you to understand that nighttime is for sleeping only. If I were to go in your room to comfort you, the opposite would happen and you would get really angry that I wasn't picking you up. If Daddy came in, you would get angry because it wasn't Mommy. I think you had made nursing in the middle of the night a habit and you just liked to be held. Who knows how long that would have gone on if we didn't do something about it. So, I let you cry. For 3 hours! You cried and screamed. You definitely know what you want and may be a little stubborn. But, you know what? You have slept through the night every night since (three nights). Once, you woke and fussed just a little for a couple of minutes, but went back to sleep on your own. And, you don't seem to be scarred like I was afraid you may be. Ha! I'm so excited to sleep through the night again for the first time since the middle of my pregnancy with you! -You love to be chased and to hide from us. -You are a great eater and love string cheese, those great applesauce pouches, fruit, goldfish, and just about anything I give you. What a precious little girl you are. I just love that I have daughters that will be great friends one day and that we will always share a special closeness. It's such a special blessing to watch you grow and learn every day. Love you, Heidi! And here are some more pics from the bluebonnets we found yesterday. It's next to impossible to take pictures of both girls together. They seem to run in opposite directions.