11 months old!

Emersyn is 11 months old today!  I honestly do not know where the past almost-a-year has gone - I know that all parents say that, but I really truly mean it!  I sincerely thought that time with Emersyn would go a bit slower, because it was my second time around & I know what I'm doing - and am not quite so impatient about her hitting all the milestones.

But no....  The first month or so went slowly, but each month since has gone faster and faster and faster - and I have a feeling it'll continue to do so.  I guess I kind of 'lost' two months after the February earthquake, where our routine was thrown totally out the window, it was somewhat like living in limbo, for those two months we spent living with my parents...  Emersyn had just turned 8mo when the quake hit - and we moved home after she'd turned 10mo.

I am amazed at how quickly she is starting to reach milestones now, it felt for a long time that she wasn't meeting any new milestones, and I was actually pretty worried about her.  I guess it started when we'd been at my parents for about 2 weeks, all of a sudden she started commando crawling, she began sitting herself up, she began saying Mama & becoming more vocal.  Just before we left she crawled 'properly' for the first time - though she still preferred commando crawling, and just within the last week has begun crawling 'full time', rather than doing the commando crawl, she's started making a lot of new sounds & saying 'bubba' - which she seemed to know was a word for my 11w/o niece when they were up over the weekend - and she also said 'Gabba' for the first time, which was an obvious form of 'Gaby'....  Just yesterday she started getting on her knees and trying to pull herself up on EVERYTHING, not just the couch & TV cabinet like she's been doing up until now.

My baby is leaving her baby days behind & is gearing up for those amazing 2 years that are toddlerdom... Part of me isn't ready for my baby to become a toddler, but the other part of me is so excited for the firsts & the changes that are ahead for her.  I remember I loved the 1st year with Gaby, but each year after that seemed to be more and more exciting and awe-inspiring, because she changed from a baby/toddler to a 'real' person & really became her own person...