12 Month Snapshot

A bit belated...here is Ainsley's 12 month snapshot. I can hardly believe we are already here! Below are her current stats when we went to the pediatrician last week.

Weight: 18 pounds, 13 ounces (20th percentile)

Height: 29 inches (50th percentile)

Head Circumference: 17.25 inches (10th percentile)

The biggest change we've seen in Ainsley this month is her ability to understand and comprehend what is being said or what is going on. She will pop out her tongue when asked where her tongue is, will lift up her shirt (or your shirt) when asked about her belly, can point to her ears on occasion, and usually responds to other requests/commands such as 'come back' or 'no touch'. Although 'no drop' (as in all the food on her plate) is still lost on her!


Along with her being able to understand more of what we're saying, we're beginning to understand more of what she is saying, although most of her new "words" are centered around b's. She's been waving bye-bye for a while now but she will now say 'bye' as she does it. Sometimes when I'm just reaching for my purse she'll start saying 'bye, bye' and waving. She also clearly says 'ball' and will retrieve it for you when asked, if she's in the mood. :) She sometimes says a version of 'belly' when pointing to it although I'm not sure if anyone else would understand this word. She says a very similar sounding word when pointing to a baby or when grabbing a book so I'm not sure if she's completely clear on these yet.


Other updates are that she now has all 4 of her top front teeth coming in and still 2 loners on the bottom. We have officially weaned her from her reflux/heartburn medicine!! Yay!! Even though she never fussed about it - and actually seemed to enjoy it - I'm so glad not to have to stick a syringe in her mouth 3 times a day! We just went from 3 to 2 nursing a day and plan to work on dropping the other 2 in the next few weeks. Luckily she is loving milk and so this has been an easy process so far. She loves to walk around and slug the milk from her sippy cup... freedom she definitely doesn't have when she nurses! :)


Right now the two main loves in Ainsley's life are books and her loveys. She is obsessed with books and will spend so much time taking them off the shelf or out of the basket and looking at all the pictures. There is this one little corner nook in our living room and she'll shoot her way in and wiggle around till she's comfortable and then go through one book after another (picture below). She also does a similar thing by climbing in the little chair in her room. And several times a day she'll bring us books to read to her but about half the time gets bored and wanders off before we finish them.


The other love in Ainsley's life is her lovey! I think I posted at one time about how once Ainsley started getting attached to her lovey, I started getting nervous because we only had one. Well now we have three... two of which she keeps in her bed... and one that is hidden for safe keeping. She has loved her lovey for a while now, but recently this affection has gone to a whole new level. She adores this little pink bear cloth, which we try to keep as a sleep item or as a comfort thing when her days have extra spills, new teeth, or no naps. Now, almost anytime we're in her room she will run immediately over to her crib and reach through the bars to grab her lovey saying 'ley, ley'. She snuggles is to her face and brings it along, if we let her. It is really so sweet to see her show so much affection for this blanket.


One of mine and George's favorite things is snuggling with her in our bed in the morning when she wakes up. She always has her lovey and will share it with each of us, first snuggling it up to her face, then over to George's face, and then over to mine, and naturally back to her own. It is so precious to see her desire to "share" the thing that brings her such great joy. Moments like these melt my heart and make me feel so blessed to have gotten to spend this past year with this little person. It is so hard for me to believe that a year ago we had just meet this little girl, and now it feels like we have never spent a day without her. Looking back at the pictures of her from those first weeks in the NICU, I am amazed at how far she has come and amazed at what a wonderful Lord we have. Just spending a few moments with Ainsley makes me feel blessed. But when I go back and look at those first pictures I get a pit in my stomach and my heart aches and then I realize how incredibly blessed we really are. (Below - flashback pic of our sleeping beauty at about a week old - my how things have changed!)