Oh. My. God. Becky. Look. At. My. Baby. She is sooooooooo big. #TellMeYouGetIt

And I ain’t lying, because the babe is 11 months old now. Whaaaaaaaaaa??!!!! ELEVEN MONTHS OLD?! SHUT THE FRONT DOOR! Actually to tell the truth – at the time of writing this, she is in fact just 9 days shy of being one freaking year old. #Oops

I honestly don’t know how I really feel about it…I mean, I feel so many emotions right now, that I may possibly explode and splatter weirdness all over the wall. #TooFarEllynTooFar

She is doing so many things, ALL THE THINGS in fact, and before my very eyes she is really blossoming into the most beautiful and sweet little soul. She is more than we could ever have hoped for.

This sweet babe of mine is just like her brother was at her age… She is the happiest and smiliest of babies, is very caring and loving, and she has an ABUNDANCE of playful energy. She is a true delight, and is just getting brighter and more vibrant every single day.

She is now saying “Ta” wonderfully clearly and with total purpose. As well as “Mumma”, “Dadda”, “Bubba” and “Pa”, and I LOVE that she is now understanding what she is saying. Yesterday she also managed “Bubble”, “Bye Bye” and “Mum Can You Please Shut Up So I Can Eat This Sock In Peace”. #Jokes

The little leg climber is OBSESSED with trying to climb up my body like a little monkey. She will call out mumma until I reach down and pick her up, which totally satisfies her for around 0.35 of a second before she wants to be put down JUST so she can do it all again. And while we are on this note, she has NO idea what personal space is. She wants to be touching me all the time – even climbing onto my lap whilst I am trying to do a sneaky poo without her noticing. Sorry. TMI, obviously, but everyone does it so…. #WhateverRight?

However she also climbs up OTHER things, like her brothers little kitchen step. I’ll turn around while cooking dinner and there she is, perched on top of it, gazing out of the window and the kangaroo’s pooping over the fence. And when she isn’t sitting on top of it, she is pushing it (or her high chair) around the kitchen with so much pride. She loves to show us how strong she is. Like we don’t already know from when she punches us in the face…

And when she is not trying to punch us (which admittedly, is starting to settle down now thank the fricking frick), the clever little pointer instead spends her time pointing at what she wants. Or… at things she wants to know the name of. Yes, she was pointing last month, however now it really feels like she is communicating when she is doing it, as opposed to her being amazed that she even has fingers to point with. #MindStillTotallyBlown

Speaking of fingers, she loves holding onto her spoon when eating, and seems to REALLY love trying to scoop food and feed herself. Though… she is still REALLY terribly at it lol. But she practises whenever she can… For example, she was recently given a pretty little tea set which comes with a spoon and a sugar bowl, and she can spend a good ten minutes scooping up the imaginary sugar and putting it into her imaginary mouth. I mean, her actual mouth. Oh my god someone give me a nap for Christmas.

She loves to copy her brother (or any of us really) like a hawk, and we can honestly feel that because of this she will be a bit of a dare devil as she gets older.  Her favourite past time is to climb up onto the trampoline, standing up and jumping till she gets exhausted, then try and swap dive off it head first. Good thing I am usually there to catch her while she giggles like mad. Although she also really loves laying down on top of it to rest each time life becomes a bit too exhausting. Those “rests” usually last a good 2 seconds before she hops back up and jumps about like a rabbit again.

She is so dramatic like that.

Sometimes I actually wonder if she has a future career in television, because EVERYTHING she does is dramatic. Like crawling. Yes, she still has an incredibly dramatic crawl with REALLY exaggerated arm movements. It began when she was younger, and I think it’s dramatic style has stayed around purely because she knows how much it makes us laugh.

There are some really beautiful parts of her development though. Something that I don’t remember as clearly with her brother, though I am sure it was the same. And it’s the complete comfort I can give her. I feel like I can calm her down so easily. She can be super upset and full of snot drenched tears but the second I pick her up, her whole body relaxes in one big sigh. She nuzzles in, and it almost literally kills me every time it happens.

And she truly is the happiest baby. Like her brother, she wakes up smiling. She smiles all day long, and permanently has excited legs.

She can get very fiery and sometimes let’s out a squeal of frustration when she cant do something or doesn’t get her own way. Or, really it’s when her brother snatches the toy out of her hand that she was playing with. That shits HER to tears, and she really wants to let us know it. But I love that about her. I love that she is a girl that knows her own mind. That she is determined. I don’t want her to be an indecisive fence sitter like her mumma…

One thing I truly love about this stage of her life is our night time routine which brings us all SO much joy…

After the bath and her bottle, when its time to go to bed, I take her around to say “goodnight” to our boys. I have to make sure I have a solid grip on her, because she throws herself completely backwards in my arms (giggling like mad the whole time) so she can have upside down goodnight kisses from her daddy and brother.

Sometimes she turns her head at the last minute to get a good old lick in, which of course delights her brother who will giggle, wipe his mouth and squeal “oh yuck”! However if he doesn’t get the lick he will cry like someone has kicked him in the bum until it happens.

He really loves her a lot lol. Which is good, because she loves him just as much.

I hope they grow up just as close as they are now.

And I hope my smiling baby always stays that way – smiling, happy and exploding with joy.

I can’t wait to see what she is like next month <3

What was your baby like in their first year? Where they happy? Serious? Good Sleepers? Bad? Leave me a comment below, as I would love to hear all about it!