amelia: eleven months old.

first, just let me say: what? i have a how-many-month old? eleven, as in, 12 minus one?*insert8millionwideeyedpanickyemojishere*great. now that's out of the way,  my tiny little baby is eleven months old! and just like that, i'm all, "oh crap, i think i should maybe start planning for a birthday party or one year photos or something that prove i'm not completely inept at this modern mom thing". hashtag killing it.we are so so close to that magical one year mark. why is it magical? well, for me, a big part of it is getting to worry about sustaining my body only. no more pumping three times a day at work, plus some on the days i don't work, just to make not even enough milk for that sweet little darling of mine. no more needing to be home for the nighttime feeding, or skipping every happy hour because of the timing. no more stressing about if there is enough milk left in the freezer, or avoiding leaving the house because it's not worth using up a bag. i can go to the gym again instead of half-assign these at-home workouts! (see also: new bras!!) it's also magical because she is proof that i can help another human being not only survive, but thrive for a whole year. in my opinion, one of the harder years, from a physical standpoint if not an emotional one. this year has made me think that i could do this baby thing a few more times and not ruin anybody's life.and while there are challenges to having an 11-month old toddler (like, oh i don't know, the fact that she can't understand how stairs work but can get to them pretty damn quickly...), there are so many fun things about it. we can play on the parts of the park equipment that aren't the swings, we can explore the backyard together, she can help me push her stroller around (kidding, but she actually does that sometimes).she can also tell me what she wants or doesn't want from time to time. my favorite thing right now is when she gets up in the morning, she doesn't usually cry anymore. instead, she wakes up, talks to her lovey and nook for a minute, then stands up in the crib and says, "all done! all done! all done!". you know, because she's done sleeping. it makes so much sense that it brings tears to my eyes. she's figured out that all done applies to more than just her mealtimes. baby humans are amazing creatures, i tell you what.the next month is going to fly by. mister man is traveling a ton, we have a wedding every other weekend through september, and i have to plan a few parties in that time, not to mention work getting really busy right about now, because of course it did. i'm really going to try to pay attention as much as i can, so 12 months doesn't sneak up on me too bad. because if i let it, i could see having to drown my nostalgia in copious amounts of wine. or buttered popcorn.little miss amelia. turns out you're a pretty cool toddler, which we should have predicted based on how cool of an infant you were. did you even have a normal baby stage? it feels like you just jumped from infant to toddler when we made the mistake of blinking one day. the good news is, no matter how old you are, one year or 75, you'll always be our baby. and we couldn't be happier about it. we love you bubba.

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