11 Months

1 month left until Malia's first birthday and I am in complete denial. I even tried to put off doing the party planning because I didn't want to admit that I will no longer have a baby in our family....but, alas, I had to get over that and plan her party.

Speaking of her party, the theme will be, "Little Miss Sunshine". I don't know how this theme came to me, but when it did, it just felt perfect! She is our ray of light and her face always brings out the best in anyone- just like the sun. I can't wait to share the photos of the party!!!!

So back to Malia and her latest and greatest:
* She is still exclusively breastfed, but I have already started transitioning her with whole milk and a sippy cup. She is doing great. So I have officially met my goal of having Malia be EBF'd.

* Malia is on all table food now (another goal of mine). Only one time did Malia ever eat store bought baby food. I made all of her baby food with the baby bullet. She loves everything we give her, but her favorite is spaghetti.

* Wearing size 5 diapers and in 18 month clothing.

* Still wants nothing to do with crawling, which is shocking to us considering Jackson was walking at this age. isn't it the truth that every kid is SO different. We don't force her, but definitely encourage her.

* She is starting to pull herself up and when I stand her up, she will stay standing (leaning on something) for awhile. Something tells me she is going to skip crawling and go straight to walking.

* Says "Dada, mama, hi and bye"

* Is a mama's girl 100%. this girl HATES being pulled out of my arms. I have to admit, I kind of like it.

* She pretty much gets terrified when her brother comes within 12 inches of her. We never know if he's gonna kiss her or poke her eye out.

* Still to this day loves to snuggle with her mama.

* Sleeping 7pm-7am with one wake up at about 3am.

* We are so in love with Malia. The sweetest, sassiest, most lovable little girl.

Potty training

Before we left for Cabo, Jackson started showing signs that he was ready for potty training. There was no way we were going to attempt it and then let my mom deal with him for 6 days while we were on vacation, so we decided to start upon our return.

The Wednesday following our return, I decided to take the plunge and start the process. First off was talking to Jackson's daycare provider about a program. I know me, and I know Jackson and more importantly, I know my husband- we all work better with a plan in place. So my daycare provider Sent me this: Potty Training Basics
So we got some undies, the potty chair and all of our supplies and went for it! I'm not going to lie, the first day sucked! I cried about 10 times and debated throwing in the towel, but I made a promise to myself (and to Jackson) to stick it out for 3 days. If after 3 days, Jackson wasn't responding, we would try again when he was 3. Pee EVERYWHERE!  That evening, Shane came home (to me in tears) and suggested we try bribing Jackson with treats. At that point (12 hours in) I was willing to give it a shot. Instant change!

Day 2 was much better! Jackson only had 3 accidents and day 3 was even better. It did take about 7 days for him to really get the hang of it, but Jackson is officially potty trained during the day. We are still working on nights, but that is not too far off as he normally wakes up dry.

I will say that I am so proud of Jackson in his transition, he has taken so well to being a big boy. Now that he is potty trained, it means that he is that much closer to kindergarten which FREAKS ME OUT!

PLEASE VOTE FOR US!

The birth of Malia, was one of the most emotional moments of my life. Luckily, we had J.Shelton Photography capture every second of Malia coming into this world. Out of the 800+ photos that she took, my personal favorite has made it into Justine's TOP 10 for 2011. 

Please take a moment to click on the link below and comment: VOTE.

I truly appreciate your support!

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