I’ve said it once– no, I’ve said it a thousand times– but it is truly blowing my mind that my baby girl is ONE! My once 7 lb. 6.6 oz. teeny tiny baby is now a sassy, walking, talking, toddler. I swear, she grows bigger every night in her sleep, and she’s without a doubt, becoming more independent by the day, too.
This year has been the fastest, toughest, but most rewarding year of my life and Morgan has brought more joy into my days than I ever deemed possible. I love her so incredibly much that I can’t even put it into words.
Okay, enough mushy gushy – let’s get on with the updates, shall we?
1 Year Stats/Ped Visit
The Wednesday after Morgan’s birthday, I took her to the pediatrician for her 12-Month Well Visit. She is currently measuring 18 lbs. 2 oz. (23rd percentile) and 29.5 inches tall (62nd percentile). She is moving right along on her own little curve and growing just as expected.
At this visit, they pricked her big toe to check her iron levels, and also check for lead. Her lead test came back normal, but the iron came back low, so they came back in and pricked her a second time. Cue tears from both of us. After the Nurse Practitioner read the results, she explained that Morgan’s iron is slightly low. They like to see it measure 11 and above, and her two readings were 10.6 and 10.7. She recommended we start Morgan on a daily iron supplement called Fer-in-sol. After thinking about it, I remembered that was low in iron during my pregnancy and had to take a supplement to boost. My mom said that I also was low as a baby, and had to take a liquid iron supplement that tasted and smelled gross! I guess Morgan is following her mama’s footsteps on this one.
After the NP checked Morgan out, she sent in another nurse to administer her 3 vaccines: Measles/Mumps/Rubella, Varicella (Chicken Pox), and PCV13 (Pneumococcal vaccine). Poor girl had one shot in each arm, and one in her leg. We left covered in bandaids, but I did my best to calm her down and she walked out of there holding my hand, with her head held high, like a brave big girl.
As far as clothing goes, Morgan is fitting pretty well into most 12 month pieces. She is built very petite, but with long legs!
Feeding
These days Morgan is more formula fed than breastmilk-fed (as I am weaning from pumping) and we are beginning to mix in organic whole milk to ease the transition. She is becoming less and less interested in milk overall, and focusing on eating more foods. Right now some of her favorite foods are pasta (of any shape and sauce!), black beans, strawberries, deli turkey, hot dogs, and chocolate. We also mix in some organic pouches (Plum & HappyTot are our favorite brands) to make sure she’s getting enough protein, fiber, and vitamins.
Sleeping
I have to be honest, we are incredibly lucky that Morgan has been an A+ sleeper from the very beginning. The only time we have setbacks (and understandably so) are when she’s sick or teething. She usually goes to bed between 8-8:30. It’s easy to tell when she’s tired because she will start “silly rolling” on the floor, or she will walk over to her Pottery Barn chair and lay her head down on the arm rest.
On the days that I work, I have to wake her up at 6:15-6:30 to get her fed, dressed and out the door on time. Most other days she will sleep in until 7:00-7:30. Right now she takes 1-2 naps per day. Trying to hold on to that morning nap for as long as we can! 😉
I credit most of our sleep success to the TakingCaraBabies newborn class.
Speech
Morgan seems to be babbling more and more each day. She can say (when she wants to): Mama, Dada, Dog, RuRu, Arf (all animals bark, didn’t you know?) and most recently, she will grab my cell phone and put it to her ear, followed with a HELLO!
Sometimes she will repeat parts of words that we say. The other night in the bath I was telling her all the colors of her water cups and she would try to repeat me. Green: Geee! Blue: Boo! Yellow: Ello!, which also sounds like her Hello! 😉
She might not be saying too much yet, but she definitely understands everything that we say. She follows simple commands like, Give this to Daddy! Or, her favorite: Go get your shoes!
She also waves Hi and Bye, and we are teaching her sign language for “more” and “all done” for meal times, which she does really well with.
Mobility
It seems like the days of just watching Morgan lay on the floor on a blanket were not that long ago, but Sister quickly mastered crawling, and is fully walking now. And by walking, I mean mostly running. She has been a pro at walking since about 10 months.
Playtime
Now that Morgan is mobile, our playtime is definitely not sedentary! Indoors, she loves pushing her baby doll stroller, lawnmower or wagon, loves chasing Rudy and running laps through the house, and climbing and diving off the furniture. EEEK!
More than anything though, she LOVES to be outdoors. She loves playing with her water table, blowing bubbles, taking walks, and taking rides down the sidewalk in her cozy coupe. For Easter she got lots of sidewalk chalk, and I’m excited to show her how to draw on the sidewalk. We also got her an inflatable pool for her birthday, which will soon add to our little backyard oasis.
Likes & Dislikes
Dislikes:
- Sitting in the high chair for too long
- Rinsing the shampoo out of her hair/Getting bath water splashed in her eyes
- Having her hands, nose and face wiped
- Being cold
Likes:
- House plants. LOL Super random, I know, but she loves to sit in the plants at our house and at my mom’s!
- “Big Girls” – Several of our friends have 3-4 year old girls and she is obsessed with them. You can see in her eyes the way she admires them, and can’t wait to be big just like them. Below are some photos from her friend Rowan’s birthday party, where she was having the time of her life cruising with her girls in their Powerwheels Jeeps.
Miscellaneous
We installed Morgan’s “Big Girl” car seats right after her birthday. She was ready, and she was getting too heavy for us to carry in the infant seat anymore!
A Tidbit on Postpartum
It’s so easy to second guess literally every single thing as a mom but I have to remember to give myself grace. I recently realized just how important it is to take care of myself – mentally and physically – so I’m making that a focus these days, for sure.
(Side Note: Are you guys interested in more postpartum content? I’ve got some ideas, if you are, so let me know your thoughts in the comments below!)
And there you have it! I sure love this little wild toddler more than anything, but I’d be lying if I said I don’t also “grieve” the tiny baby she once was. Possibly, that’s because I know she might be my only child here on earth.
Miss Morgan Jean, you sure keep us on our toes, but we wouldn’t want it any other way. Love you millions, sweet girl!
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