Britta - 11 Months Old

RICHLAND, WASH. -- My baby Britta is almost a year old! She just experienced her first Thanksgiving-- where she devoured sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes with gravy, and was smothered with love from all her Reeve family in Portland. 

At the beginning of the month we took her to Seattle Children's for a one-year old appointment of sorts. It was a follow-up with a specialist (Dr. Al-Mateen, a muscular neurologist) we saw back in March. He was impressed by how much she can do given the weakness of her muscles and how loose her ligaments are. He brought in another specialist to take a look at her. More tests were ordered and more blood drawn-- there probably won't ever be a diagnosis, at least not one with any sort of treatment, but for now we are hopeful as we watch her get stronger and do more things every month. She's quite a miraculous little thing.  

She is such a good little girl. She's getting a little stronger and is trying to stand on her knees now. Still no crawling. That's about the only update, if that's even an update. She's starting to say more words and it's been fun to hear her try to interact with us-- even though the latest interaction is an ear-piercing squawk when she wants something or is trying to get our attention. It reminds me of what a pterodactyl must sound like. 

Her big blue eyes make me melt. 

Eleven Month Old Stats:

• not measured this month

Sleeping: Goes to bed at 7 and has been waking up a little earlier than normal, usually around 6:30 and I let her cry for a bit and she'll usually fall back to sleep until 7:30 or so. Has a nap around 12:30 or 1 and sleeps for at least 2 hours generally. Today her nap lasted 3.5 hours!   

Wearing: 12-18 month clothes.  

Interesting tidbits: 
-Says: Dada, juice, cheese, shoes, dog (da), and ball. That's about it. 
-Can tell us what an owl, sheep, dog and cow say. 
-Can point to her ears, head, nose and tummy when we ask where they are and loves to wave hello and goodbye. 
-She likes to find things that look like a hat and stick them on her head. 
-Britta is such a good kid. Every Tuesday we spend two hours at the ballet studio for Paige and Marin's dance classes. She has never gotten fussy (or at least not too bad), gotten mad or cried during the two hours we are there. Maybe because I hold her the entire time, but it could be such a miserable experience for a baby-- but she's so good about it! 
-The poor girl has had a gross runny nose since about September. Initially the doctor said it was allergies and nothing could be done. After a month, she got put on antibiotics and it went away for about a week and then came back. Poor girl.   
-Lights up when Paige and Marin pay attention to her. 
-Bath time is still her favorite time of day. 

We recently got a piano, and Britta likes to delicately play. Her fingers have a hard time pushing down the keys, but she is good at playing with the palm of her hand. 

She curls her feet up when she stands, which means her feet may have to be braced eventually.

I love sleeping babies.

Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa Reeve's house in Portland. 

Being held by her cousin Connor (I think... he has a twin brother and I'm terrible at telling them apart)

Isaac making her laugh.