I feel like I say this every month lately but really – how did we get here?! Maggie was born just before the pandemic really begun, so time has gone both slow and fast at different points. Looking back – it feels like the past 11 months have flew by in many ways though, especially from 6 months forward. I think because babies have so much going on from 6+ months forward (in terms of development), it just feels so fast.

This past month honestly has been one of my favourites, for many reasons. Let me share our milestones and what has made this month one of the best… (not that every month isn’t amazing!!).

Maggie can stand on her own!

That’s right – no couch or surface-to-hold-onto needed! She can stand on her own by stepping away from a surface or just by squatting to stand up. The first time she did it she was so proud of herself. Both Cody and I cheered her on too which she loved.

I am waiting any day for her to walk now. She has become obsessed with her push walker and can walk around the whole main floor of the house with it. I figure it is only a matter of time – but she doesn’t seem quite balanced yet so I imagine that will be what she works on this month.

She can wave (with purpose).

I think I mentioned in a previous post that Maggie learned to wave but wasn’t doing it consistently. Now she waves at everything and everyone! Sometimes she also just waves at nothing. It’s still cute though.

And her newest “thing” is pointing.

She points at everything. One day she just started pointing at objects in the house. The Christmas tree. The clock. The lights. I love it. I’ve been using it as an opportunity to tell her the names of things in our house.

There have been lots of exciting moments too – Maggie started daycare this past month.

I unexpectedly had a job change and went back to work earlier than expected (only by a few weeks but still). We quickly transitioned Maggie into daycare by doing a few transition days while I was still off, and then two weeks ago she started full time.

I was really nervous about her going away for the whole day but she absolutely loves it. After the few transition days, I dropped her off for her first full day of daycare and she didn’t even look at me while I was saying goodbye. A little heartbreaking for mama, but also heartwarming because it is such a relief that she loves going there.

I decided to go with a home daycare because of the price point but also because I was hesitant to send her to a large centre for the first time during a pandemic – this is not a statement of judgment, just a voicing of the worries I have been feeling especially over the few months leading up to me returning to work (heavily influenced by the pandemic).

Overall it has been a hit so far for her, and there have been a few benefits to her attending daily such as…

She is sleeping like a champ!

She struggled her first day of daycare with naps, but after that she has been killing the nap game most days. She finally has mastered self-soothing – I worked on this forever with her and was having so much trouble the past few months. Who knew that having to nap away from mama would be so helpful?!

It’s not just naps either – her night time sleeping has been a lot better too. She is regularly sleeping 6-8 hours straight. This past weekend she slept 11 hours straight. I woke up dazed and confused (and with a very heavy chest) – I haven’t slept that long (for me it was only about 7 hours but still!) since before she was born I think.

I still feed her before sleep (because this makes us both happy and I love my cuddle time) but now if she doesn’t fall totally to sleep I can just lay her down and she rolls over, sometimes lets out a few quiet complaints, and falls asleep. It’s amazing. I got a few tips from Dream Come True Sleep Consulting as well, just before Maggie went to daycare – I think this helped a lot too with her transition.

Good sleep and being active all day at daycare…

She has quite the appetite now!

Maggie has always been interested in food and liked to taste and try things, but the past couple of weeks she has been so hungry! She eats entire meals at daycare and asks for more!! Then she comes home and has snacks before dinner, eats her dinner, and on top of that is still being breastfed or bottle-fed breastmilk (at daycare).

And she is not picky at all (yet – I know this can change). She hasn’t shown distaste for anything yet really, though she definitely has preferences. She loves anything potato (that’s my girl), avocado (still), berries of all varieties, and yogurt is her new favourite. I give her the baby food pouches sometimes too for snack and she now can eat a whole one.

It’s funny to be proud of your baby for eating but I so am! She is such a good eater and it makes me happy – because we started off with struggles in that department.

I am also happy that we have made it 11 months so far breastfeeding! Our exclusive journey ended in October (because she is now receiving bottles), but I’ve been pumping (I’ll write a post about this) and she gets about 2-3 bottles per day and then breastfeeds as normal when she is at home.

It has been a busy month for us – full of change and adjustments that my little gal has been taking so well. She is a champ! I can’t wait to see what this last month of her first year brings us – at my next post she will be ONE! I’m not crying, you’re crying..