Life with an 11 month old

In less than a month and half months, I will have a one year old!  I remember being told that the first year will go in a blink of an eye and it has!  I will soon be chasing my baby around the house, park and parties…I already do this but now its going to be on Olympic status. A part of me is ready for her to be independent but another part of me wonders if I am  ever truly  ready?

Riley’s Daily Life 

In the last update, Riley was crawling. Now she’s a speedster on the floor. She has also been STANDING UP and WALKING side to side. Granted, she’s holding onto furniture but she’s walking!!! We have a walker and for the longest time, it was a device that I could use in order to get things done and she would work out her muscles….AND BOY has she. She puts her leg on top of the walker and recently I found her standing up in her walker sling. She was clapping and smiling at her accomplishment. When she’s on the floor, she’ll go everywhere and take things down. It is amazing to see how much a 11 month old can do! 

I’m constantly impressed by how much she already knows and absorbs on a daily basis. She understands a handful of command words now and will clap (so much clapping happens in our house) or she will abruptly start babbling as if she was actually holding a conversation with me. We’re working on giving high fives. Dancing… she has down. She is her mother’s daughter.  Before I forget her two favorite words are mama (which she learned how to say a month ago) and dada. 

The water is quickly becoming one of Riley’s favorite places to be, whether it be splashing around during bath time or jumping in the pool (with her floatie of course). She actually got angry with us when we took her out of there aunt’s pool. I’m heavily considering taking her to some rescue swim classes. You can never be too prepared. 

Sleeping + Feeding

Riley drinks a full 8 ounces and has been doing so since she was about 8 months. I don’t know if this happens to every parent, but every time I am eating, she GRUNTS until I feed her some of my food. Its quite hilarious! She doesn’t shy away from any of the foods I’ve given her. She has had beans, rice, chicken, ground beef, carrots, pepperoni, grapes, watermelon, strawberries, pieces of cheese, lentils, peanut butter, eggs, avocados ( guacamole too) and pasta.

In regards to sleep, she still naps on the way home from Day Care or to Physical Therapy. Sometimes she sleeps for 2 hours and others days it’s short and simple.We officially co sleep! Yes, in the last update I mentioned that since Miguel left, she has been sleeping with me in my bed but that there were days where she would sleep in her crib. That’s non existent now. I get flack for this…but alas what mother doesn’t get shit for her decisions. I’ve been working with her on going to bed anywhere from 9 pm to 10pm. Some days, I am lucky and she falls asleep right away. Other days, it’s a lot of work. Sometimes, I even fall asleep with her, leaving the lights and TV on. When this happens, I do wake up in the middle of the night and stay up cleaning, shower and set for the next day. A mother’s work is never really done. 

How Am I doing?

Well, I have my good days and not my not so great days. I would be lying to guys if I said I didn’t want to cry at least once a week.  And this just so happens to be a combination of things, work, stress, home life and going to Physical Therapy. There have been days were I cry hopelessly and get all melancholy. After everything has been said and done, I go about my day because I can’t afford to be upset as I do Riley to think about. Luckily, these types of days are few and far in between.

Postpartum body wise? It’s still under construction. Other than this, my days are pretty busy. Between work, cooking, caring for Riley,  Physical Therapy, filming & editing Youtube videos, writing blog posts in between…I’m surprised that I even get any sleep. I think that planning ahead of time of what I want to do and what I can actually get done has helped. It also doesn’t hurt that Riley has been falling asleep much earlier than usual. She’s not going to bed at 7 pm, but she’s also not going to be at 11 pm either. I try to squeeze everything where I can and if it doesn’t work, I just go to bed a bit late. I’ve been vigilant about not going to bed at 3 am and going to work at 9. Either way, I’m too busy to dwell on any sadness. And I’m grateful for that. 

I can’t believe Riley Serenity will be ONE in a MONTH. To look back and think how much things have changed in a year, is overwhelming (in a good way of course). She has come so far along and I feel confident in my abilities as a parent than I did a year ago. 

I hope to continue documenting our journey as it is the only rollercoaster ride I’ll ever get on. 

xoxo

Millennial and Pregnant