50 weeks

My little love has had a rough week with lots of drool, so more teeth will be popping up soon.

She loves to "talk" with strangers. I'm sure she really is saying something, we just don't know what it is :) It was fun to hear her babbles change to word-like sounds and then into whole conversations of word-like dialogue. I'm pretty sure when she starts talking she isn't going to stop! She loves to nod yes and no and at one point I was sure she knew what they meant, but I now I think she just does it for fun.

We have few peek-a-boo books that we read her. One goes through different Peek-a-____ that rhyme with boo. She has figured this out, so every time she turns the page she says, "Ooooooo!" with conviction. She hasn't quite got the zoo, you, choo-choo part, but she loves the "Ooooo!"

I'm struggling to accept the fact that she is almost one. We have spent the last week trying to put together the details for her party in Nebraska. I feel like I just found out I was pregnant, let alone had my baby in my arms, and now she is just weeks from being 1 year old. Craziness!

The planning begins!

49 weeks

The past couple of weeks Juni has gotten the hang of pretending. She likes to pretend to eat puffs out of a bowl and drink out of a cup, she pretends to brush her hair, and she has been picking up books and reading them on her own.

As swimming lessons this week she went under the water (lots of times) and did it like a champ. At first, she was naturally afraid, but then was taking it in stride. Last night in the bath she bent over and put her face in the water up over her nose and didn't even flinch. It is so fun to watch her comfort in the water progress so quickly.

She started walking on her knees this week and even took one little step on her own on Wednesday.

48 weeks

Juniper turned 11 months old yesterday! She is growing as big and strong as ever. We took a "doorway picture" like we did throughout my pregnancy just to see how funny it would be if she were still in my belly. She spends her days being giggly and excited by everything she sees. When we go on walks she wants to reach out and touch every brick, plant, pole, and trashcan (ewww :>) we pass by.

Juni is enjoying her doorway bouncer more than ever. She loves to dance in it and sing with me while we listen to music and I cook dinner, if Zach isn't quite home yet. She is making more sounds as her teeth are growing in, but no more words we can understand yet. Her new favorite sound is, "Blah, blah, blah!" while sliding her tongue all around. :) I may have taught her that :)

She is becoming more comfortable on her feet. She stands solid on uneven ground and loves to climb over whatever objects get in her way. As she has gained more control of her motions, she has learned how to softly pet Juicy on her own, which makes Juicy even come up to Juni all on her own every once in a while, but Juni still spends lots of time chasing around the room after her kitty. When she can't catch her real kitty,  she still loves her pretend Juicy Louise too!

At swimming lessons this week, she passed her first goal! She held onto the wall for 8 seconds on her own!

47 weeks

Juni's body has been busy this week. She not only got her 2nd front tooth, but also the tooth next to it. Her 4th tooth on top is about to cut through as well. No wonder she was drooling like crazy!! Her FOUR top teeth were all moving into place at the same time. She has started eating little bits of food off of her tray while we eat dinner. She has decided she does like her puffs, as well any thing else she can pinch-up and put in her mouth.

We have always loved reading to her, but she is really starting to enjoy it herself now, especially when Mama and Papa use fun voices for the different characters. Her favorite book right now is The Very Busy Spider, which was actually Papa's when he was a boy.

She had her 2nd swim lesson on Saturday. She loved it all over again. The lessons are already helping her to be more comfortable on her back in the water, including her bath, which makes washing her hair MUCH easier.

We took time on Sunday to go to the beach. Juni was a little afraid of the sand at first. We sat her on the blanket, she crawled straight for the sand, then cried when she touched it and couldn't figure it out. After about two minutes she was ready to play again. :)

We had a big earthquake just this morning. I guess it was only a 4.0, but it felt big! It happened at 5:30am, so we were all still sleeping. Juni woke up and thought we were playing! She smiled, squealed, pumped her arms, and was ready for more!