12 Month Photo Shoot - 1 Year Old

Oh my!  The 12 Month Photo Shoot was by far the best!  Charley was excellent!  She did all of her "tricks" and was absolutely adorable!!!  So much so, Momma cried throughout most of the shoot.  All I could think about was her first month's photo shoot and how sweet and little she was and how fast this year has flown by.  This particular month was full of big changes.  At 11 months and 1 day, Charley took her first few steps.  It was a Friday morning, and it was just me and Charley at home.  She was standing in front of me and I put my hands out (like I have been doing for a while now) and she just wobbled to me!  It was PRECIOUS!!!!  After 5 or 6 steps, I scooped her up giving her the biggest kisses!!!!  I don't know if she would have gone any further or fallen or sat or what, because I was too excited!  On that same day, she learned to drink from a straw...which was something we have been working on for a while, too!  This made it much easier for her to drink from a sippy...and Granddad's coke, and Gramma's and Momma's diet coke!  At about 11 months and 3 weeks, I was at my wits-end and broke down in the car seat department!!!  I literally pulled the car over and turned the seat around in the middle of running errands.  I figured she was over the weight limit, and I doubt a cop would be able to tell if she was 11 months and 3 weeks or a one year old!  At that point, it was a risk I was willing to take!  Car rides are definitely not perfect, but MUCH better!!!  Plus, I can reach her and the DVD player much easier now!  By the end of the month, I was able to teach her to show that she was "1" by holding up her little finger!  This is just another trick to add to her skill set :)  Some of our favorites are spitting, blowing a kiss, squealing, showing how big she is, showing she's "1", showing her belly button (it often varies from place to place on her stomach), giving "five", shaking it, and my new personal favorite is when she shakes her finger and head saying "no, no!"  She is a MESS!!!  At her 1 year check up we stopped doing formula and made the switch to whole milk.  We are also working on getting rid of the b-o-t-t-l-e (we spell it now), which is going ok except for when its time to nap or sleep....so we still use the bottle at night and some morning naps.  As far as teeth go, the count is still 2.  That doesn't seem to hold her back on eating, as long as its something she likes.  If she doesn't like it, she spits it out...which is pretty gross.  The only place that you can guarantee she will eat and eat well is Chuy's...the apple doesn't fall far from that tree...like mother like daughter, and I like the sound of that!