Did I mention....

that my baby is one?

And though this post will be about her first year, I am not including any photos. It's feast or famine around here! ;)

Of course, as every mom in the world laments, I can not believe she is already one. A toddler. Her infancy is over. In all honesty, she was my hardest infant. But these days, in her babbling, tottering around phase, she is much happier. And her cheeks.... on. my. goodness. Softest, most kissable cheeks ever. Still fairly bald, but I'm okay with that. I don't have time to do any more pig tails in the morning anyway! She {FINALLY} takes a short nap at 10am and long nap at 3pm. She's getting down right religious about it!

One thing that I think contributed to my fatigue and just general I'm slowly dying of sleep deprivation feelings during this past year is exclusively breastfeeding her entire first year. Well, I don't know if exclusive is the right word since she did eat solids but never ever ever a bottle/sippy. No juice. No formula. Not even expressed milk in a bottle. Just nursed the whooooooole first year. Now... I am very glad to have nursed my babies, and obviously don't regret it. BUT. It would have helped me if she would have taken a baba once in a while!

Here's the moral of the {terribly uninteresting} story:

When you read in the baby how-to books that if you don't introduce a bottle to your baby, ideally at 2 months, they may never accept a bottle, they really do mean that! They ain't jokin'! Not even a little! It may not apply to every baby. But let me tell you: It does apply to some! Namely, Leila Christine McCoy.

I was pretty "by the book" with the older girls and made sure they could switch from breast to bottle comfortably. But with Leila I though oh fooey on the book; I'm sure it'll be fine. And of course it was fine in the sense that the child was fed and grew and pooped and grew and all that. And {I think} I survived it too. But around 6 months into it, I began to really really wish the baby would take a bottle... you know... at church or in the car or with a sitter or (and here's a big one) in the middle of the night! Even if she did accept a bottle, I still would have continued nursing... it just would have been nice to have a little variety in the "soothe the baby" tool bag. Because when only one thing and one thing only soothes the baby.... that one thing may occasionally want to pull the covers over her head and go back to sleep.

So maybe someone out there is thinking That's just crazy!A baby who won't take bottle? Absurd.

And last year around this time I would have agreed with you. But now I don't. =P

Yes, I just stuck my tongue out at you.

yes, YOU.

So the following guidelines will be in place should I have another baby:

1. At exactly 8 weeks, the baby will be introduced to her (because of course, it would be a girl☺) new friend, and my old friend- a bottle.
2. Bigger hair flowers will be worn.
3. The baby will pose for hundreds of photos.

I reserve the right to add to the list at any time without advance notice.


Love,