The Hatz Family: Isla

Oh Isla! One year just flew like a blink of the eye. How did you get so ~~big~~ old?!

Likes: Her mommy, being held between the hours of 6 am - 7 am and 4:00 - 5:00 pm, playing with the big kids, eating, and flying down head first off of any elevation.

Dislikes: Wiping snotties of her nose, not getting what she wants when she wants it, being told no, and wearing her hat outside.

Biggest Achievement of the Month: Learning to feed yourself with a fork!

Biggest Challenge(s) of the Month: You got the flu! With 'big girl' puke and all. It was tramatic for both of us as you were cranky being so uncomfortable and mommy worried about dehydration. You have also been battling a cold since last month. It has come and gone and just when I think you are getting over it you wake up and the snotties are back! Followed by congestion and coughing. Poor girl!

Eating: Well, you still like to eat a lot of food but now are getting picky about what food you like to eat.. As in, 'if it isn't a carb or fruit please don't put it near my mouth. Kthxbai!' Oh sweet child, are we are going to have another child with eating 'issues?' ;). You seem to do better if someone feeds you with a spoon/fork rather than their fingers.. For instance, the Meyers had us over for salmon the other night and when I first put a piece in your mouth with my hand you turned away but when I let you eat it off my fork you chowed it down! Also, just the other day I stabbed some small pieces of pizza with a baby fork to see if you could feed yourself and you did! And you proceeded to eat almost an entire piece of pizza :).

We started giving you whole milk. I still plan to mix it with some formula but the other morning you were trying to steal your brothers sippy cup and we had just bought some whole milk so I decided to let you try it. You seemed to like it! We still nurse first thing in the morning and before bed.

Trying Whole Milk!

Sleeping: Hasn't been great...To be completely honest, naps have remained the same and getting her down has been easier. But she will not sleep past 5:45 in the morning and we are over it! I know I shouldn't complain because many parents have kids who get up at this time but Carter has always slept until at least 6:30 but usually more like 7 am. The worst part is, is that Isla's fussing wakes Carter up earlier than he is used to and we have two crabby kids! Also, I 'think' this has just become a habit for Isla and she really isn't ready to be up at this time. You can clearly tell she is still sleepy but would rather crab then fall back asleep. Sigh...

Personality: You are still as happy as ever either smiling or laughing pretty much all day long. But you have started to become so much more dramatic! Oh my! In the morning if I make you wait like 5 seconds to nurse so I can brush my hair you throw you body back on the bed while crying. Life is just so hard when you are a baby ;). You are still as tough as ever and you need to be! You love to fall head first off of any surface. We don't allow you to do it when you are on the couch or the bed {obviously} but you love to crawl over our legs or the kid couches. Crazy girl! You also have been trying to crawl into the tub and are finally tall enough to be dangerous! I was doing my hair one morning and looked over at you (usuallly are playing nicely at the edge of the tub) and you were planking on the edge of the tub! Both of your feet were off the ground and you were just balancing on your belly. OMG! Cannot be trusted anymore!

You definitely have a mischevious side and LOVE to play with the dog food and water, climb up the stairs by yourself and try to play with the outlets. Any time we catch you attempting to do these things you always give us this sly smile as if you to say, "I'm not doing anything...just sitting here and being cute." Or, in the case of the stairs or dog bowls, you will kinda giggle at me and continue on. Are you going to be a handful?!

An then there is this:

New Face!

You have starting making that face and I have no idea what that's all about. :) But I love it!

The Superficial: My little Miss! You are growing but are still very petite. The sad news is the 12 month summer clothes I bought for you last year are too big :(. You could still wear size 1 diapers but you generally wear 2s. Mainly because we ran out of 1s but had a box of 2s your daddy bought months ago thinking you would be wearing them already. You have the skinniest legs and tushie I have ever seen! The funny thing is that I have always said that you were little (and you are) but I was putting together your monthly pictures for your Birthday Party and in some of the pictures you look so chubby! It appears you started thinning out around 7 months.

Your hair is getting so long and light. I think your hair will be blonde {at least this summer} but it did have a little red tint in the sun the other day. Mommy still tries to style it in a mowhawk but it generally falls throughout the day due to the length. I'm going to miss your little mowhawk and probably won't be able to style your hair until it is long enough for pigtails. :)

Motor Milestones: Clapping has been a big thing this month. And pointing. You will point to an outfit in your closet when I am choosing clothes for you in the morning. It is always your "Happy Birthday" onesie so I haven't let you wear it yet until today. You have been saying 'hai' or 'hi-ya' more often and in appropriate situations. You were watching the kids out back from the window and kept saying 'hi' to them :). You are also starting to use and repeat words more often. Any time you see your dad it's 'hai da,' 'hai da,' until he acknowledges you. You said mom(!) the other day and 'na na' when you wanted to start eating a banana at lunch. You are trying to say 'Hayden' and it sounds like "hai de" and say 'na na na' when you want to eat. It is so cute hearing your little voice!

You are cruising a little more around furniture but still don't have the confidence/desire to stand or push a walker. I don't see walking in your near future, which is fine with me since I love watching your cute tush wiggle while you crawl :).

You started dancing more, putting your cell phone up to your face and brushing your hair ~ love it!

Teeth: I will call it 4 although your second bottom tooth isn't completely through yet. But I see at least one more coming through on the top! Luckily it doesn't seem to bother you much (knock on wood that continues!)

Miscellanous:
You generally go down for bed well but on the nights you don't you are always standing up and have thrown your pacifier across the room!

You have ticklish feet! I realized this after the many nights I have had to put Vix on your feet due to your cough.

You love taking laundry out of the basket and hugging it as if to say I just love all my clothes. Such a girl!

You also love taking things out of tubs and baskets and sometimes putting them back in. You could sit for relatively long periods of time doing this.

You still love to play with your duplo blocks and cars. You just love to play with cars and will usually pick them over any other 'girly' toy {other than your Little People princesses} and that sometimes drives your brother crazy.

Little Sister & Big Brother: Some big differences are that Carter was walking and was getting his 7th tooth! He was also almost all the way transitioned to sippy cups. Isla will drink from sippies but don't see her bottle going anywhere anytime soon. But who knows?! I don't 'think' she is as attached to her bottle as Carter was but it is hard to say because I don't ever feed her bottles the way I did with Carter. Carter was also getting his first haircut! Isla's hair is definitely longer but probably won't be cut any time soon.

They both liked to goof around on the couch but Carter knew how to safely get down. Both understood/understand verbal commands and cause and effect. Both were very happy with the biggest smiles.

Edited to add: this morning when I was doing your 12 month picture on the couch and randomly turned around and got down feet first!

How Mommy is Doing Carter vs. Isla: I have to say, I am a lot less anxious about Isla's 1st birthday as I was about Carter's. We shall see if by her party on Saturday I am a huge mess of tears :). With Carter I was really sad that his first birthday had come so fast and the first 12 months was all I had known as a mother. With Isla, I knew it would go by fast and time sure didn't slow down. Even though I am a little sad her first year is behind her, I know how exciting each upcoming stage is so I am looking forward to see how my girl
grows.

1 Year Stats:
Weight: 16 pounds 14 ounces = not on the weight chart
Height: 28 inches = 19th percentile
Head Circumference: 44.5 centimeters = 35th percentile

Still little but healthy. There are no concerns except for your iron level is low and you now need to take iron supplements once a day. You actually didn't cry with the finger stick but did not like that they put a band aid on your finger! You kept moving your finger slowing like it weighed a million pounds. You did not like your shots and did cry for those but we comforted fairly quickly.