{On the Brink}

She's on the brink of turning ONE. In just a few days she'll turn 11 months, and soon after that, we step into toddlerdom with our second born. I can't believe she's been in my arms for almost a year!

At almost 11 months, Mary Ellen has undergone a transformation in her mouth. Just two weeks ago she housed only her two bottom teeth. She now has teeth #7 and 8 about to break through the gums. We've had a couple of fussiness issues, but overall, she has handled the teething like a champ, or maybe it's Mama that's handled it like a champ ;). Patience with a dash of baby tylenol is my perfected recipe for teething, I think!

Mary Ellen is also undergoing a learning explosion. Just this week she learned to go from crawling to sitting. She's been going from sitting to crawling for a couple of weeks, and I'm glad she can now achieve the other side of that. She also learned to say, "Uh-oh!" Her sweet little voice is just the cutest thing! A new favorite game she likes to play is she drops something from the highchair, like her sippy-cup, and proclaims, "UH-OH!." Press repeat on that game about 20 times, and you get an idea of what mealtime looks like in our house!

I don't think I've ever mentioned her sleep habits on here, but she is even our little "wild child" when she sleeps. She never falls right to sleep at nap-time or bedtime. She prefers to have conversations with herself in the dark, and sometimes they are long-winded. Usually and eventually she'll fall asleep, but almost without fail when I go to get her after her nap or in the morning, she's contorted herself in the corner of the crib with her legs stuck in the bars somehow and usually has a big ol' smelly something in her britches. I'm not sure how to break the stinky habit at sleepy time, but she's been doing this since about 4 months old. I just cake her up with diaper cream before bedtime. This is all probably too much information, but I want to remember it, so when she comes complaining to me someday that her own beautiful bundle poops at naptime every day (and all mothers know how annoying that can be!), I'll let her know that the apple didn't fall far from the tree ;)!


Mary Ellen is our little toot-toot! And she just fits into our family so well. She's a lively breath of fresh air added to our household that I never knew was missing until she arrived. Now we just wouldn't be complete without her. And if I could only stop time and savor this stage a little bit longer, I think I would, but since I can't, I have a first birthday to plan!