12 Months Old

Gemma is officially one! I look forward to the next year of her becoming more independent. She's been a great baby but she is also pretty sensitive/particular. I am well aware that the baby phase isn't my favorite. I much prefer the toddler years so I am excited that Gemma is getting closer to that.

Playing with a ball when driving to Lake Jackson.

She is now a walker. She took her first steps a few weeks before her birthday. Just in the past week or so, she's walking more and more. Gemma is an efficient crawler so I anticipate crawling to last a little longer.

Her schedule most days:
Wake up by 7:30am
Nap from 10:30-11:45ish (she can get by with a catnap for this nap and then a longer afternoon nap)
Lunch/play
Nap from 3-4:30ish
Bedtime around 8:30pm
She wakes up 1-2 times per night. I am hoping this ends very soon as we are about done with breastfeeding. If not, Joseph gets to take care of her for a few nights to convince her to sleep.

Her hair is starting to curl a little like Ashton's. I'm hopeful it stays that way.

Took her to the zoo and she did pretty well. Her favorite thing was to crawl behind the fences and play in the dirt/mulch.

Gemma is the most attached kid out of the three. Her separation anxiety is pretty bad. All I have to do is walk into our YMCA and she starts screaming. If I take her to the drop off daycare so I can work out, she loses it completely. They try to console her for 15 minutes and then they come find me. Gemma is finally getting better with staying with Joseph but even then, she just tolerates it. While I love her affection towards me, I also look forward to some change in this area. Hopefully by about 18 months, she should be good to go with other people.

First trip to the splashpad for 2019 and Gemma was a big fan!

She figured out how to go down stairs correctly so she turns around at the top and slides down. This also helps when she plays on our playground outside. She knows to go down the slide correctly. Hooray!

Her favorite toys include books and balls. She also loves playing with Ashton and Tanner. They can often get her to chase them around a room. Another favorite of hers is playing in mulch, dirt, or water. This girl loves being outside and getting dirty.

Gemma is finally warming up to solid foods. She is just about done with nursing so she has no other options. She drinks almond milk rather than whole milk. Tanner did this too. Her favorite foods are cheese, eggs, meat, anything close to spaghetti (ravioli, etc), peas (she eats them by the handfuls), and apples. I pretty much feed her what I know she will eat since she is picky. I'm not too worried as Ashton and Tanner have turned out okay with their eating habits.

Weight is 22 lbs and height is 29.5 inches. She's our shortest baby so far, which makes sense as her pants are always a size smaller than her shirts.

She had a great birthday. The big kids were much more into it than she was. She had some yummy cake with some friends. The big kids opened all her gifts for her. As usual, Gemma cared more about the boxes that the gifts came in. She got some new dresses, a few toys, some yummy snacks, a bubble machine, and a few books.

Dog food cake (cocoa puffs and chocolate frosting). She actually ate some, which surprised me. I thought she would just throw it off her highchair.