Rachel: 11 Months

 Rachie is 11 months today! I can't believe she is almost 1! :) :(
Birthday preparations are in full swing. :)

In the past month, Rache has finally popped through some teeth (her bottom two, about two weeks ago.) She has also avidly been practicing her diaper-changing contortionism. It's somewhat akin to wrestling a crocodile (or so I imagine), more often than not covered in poo. Good times. And to fuel all the poo she makes, she continues to eat well, often more than her three year old sister. For example, at breakfast it is not uncommon for her to down an entire banana, a whole piece of bread, along with a bowl of yogurt, or something else. I'm sure we'll hit the Picky-Eating Toddler wall soon enough, though I'm currently waiting for a growth spurt, as she has been having hiccups a lot lately (anyone else notice that correlation?).
We are still struggling along with nursing. I am taking two fenugreek capsules a day and sometimes a cup of nursing tea, which allows me to make enough milk for about six feedings: usually upon waking, before morning nap, after lunch, late afternoon, before bed, and one middle of the night. She also usually takes one bottle still either when she goes to bed or when we go to bed. I would rather her not have formula at all, but apparently my body has other plans, and I place far too much of my perceived self-worth in my ability to produce milk. :( I am still planning to nurse her until she is at least two, as long as she wants to continue. I could see her weaning before then, though, as she is not an overly cuddly kid/ does not seem to derive a lot of comfort from nursing. I guess we'll see.
She is down to one nap most days now, and takes them fairly early (usually from around 10:00 until 11:30 or so). The odd day she will need an afternoon nap as well, but not that often anymore. I was kind of hoping she would take a good 2 - 3 hour nap when she went down to one like Laura did, but I guess not.
She is cruising around the furniture more and more, though still prefers crawling to get around. I'm sure it won't be too much longer until she walks, though! She is also standing up unassisted for longer and longer periods now, and she has even climbed down off the bed and the couch a few times all by herself. She continues to love bopping along to music with her 'neck dance', but also by bouncing her legs now. So cute.
One of her new loves are Touch 'n Feel books. One of her new hates is the bath. She screams bloody murder the whole time, so we only do them every other day and as quickly as possible.
She has started saying more words this month, too. She can now say: bath, dog, bye, yum, MUAH, and maybe one or two more I can't remember right now. She also says MOM MOM MOM and DAD DAD DAD very regularly now, and in context.