This post covers Tess’s 12th month of life which was from July 1st through July 30th! She is considered “11 months old” during this month (I have to always write all that out so I can keep it straight haha)
Nursing:
This month the focus continued to be on introducing whole milk and slowly dropping nursing sessions. I was down to three nursing sessions a day at the start of the month and by the time she turned one I was still only down to two. I just didn’t have the heart to cut out any more than that!
I nursed her for her last 11:00 feeding on July 6th. We were on our beach trip and pretty randomly decided to go ahead and drop it. She wasn’t doing great drinking her milk at 3 and I was hoping by dropping the 11 that she’d start drinking more of the milk and I felt that since we were so busy that week on vacation that it would help us both not miss that nursing session!
These cups hold 7 ounces and THIS is how much she was drinking at 3:00. Yeah. Like nothing. I tried not to stress it but it’s hard not to worry about stuff like that as a mom. Even with your third baby 😉
The day we dropped the 11:00 she didn’t eat every well at that time. She didn’t want to drink the milk either. But then she CHUGGED it that evening! We offered her the milk sippy throughout the afternoon from her 11:00 feeding up until dinner time. She finally drank the whole thing!!!
I continue to offer a snack at 3:00 and try to keep it mostly dairy (cheese!) so i don’t worry as much about the amount of milk she drinks. I also mix in yogurt or cottage cheese with her oatmeal each morning. She loves dairy in other forms just isn’t a huge fan of milk which is something very new to me. Both of my older kids LOVED milk from the get! I think it’s just because Tess loves to nurse so much 🙂 By the end of the month she was doing much better with her milk intake and I didn’t stress it anymore!
She may not be a huge fan of drinking but girl LOVES to eat. I’ve never had her once turn away food! Child can GRUB and her little belly gets so hard and full!
By the end of the month I was nursing in the morning and before bed and no nursing sessions during the day. It was great. I didn’t have to deal with pumping if we went somewhere but still got to enjoy the sweetness of nursing twice a day. I could have kept it like that forever 😉 As an added bonus she started “sleep nursing” again in the evenings which I loved. Sometimes she’d nurse/nap on me for like an hour and I never complained!
She started playing with my fingers a lot this month. I love her hands so this was so sweet to me
My absolute, hands down favorite part of my day is the time period after I nurse her before bed and before I put her down for the night. She gives THE sweetest cuddles and I love just SITTING and enjoying my baby!
On nights when Zach is traveling I let the big kids watch a movie while I nurse her and when I get done she will lay in my lap and watch too for a few minutes. Nothing better than being surrounded by three precious children!
Tess gets pretty impatient when she’s put in her high chair. It’s something i need to work on with her because I feel this sense of urgency to get her food RIGHT NOW when she sits down because she starts kicking those legs (she does that when she’s excited) and saying “mmmmmm mmmmmm mmmmm” for more. I pulled out some of the attachable high chair toys and need to do better about utilizing them! She has to learn patience! She’s too spoiled 😉
She also is very sneaky. Her little hands will reach and grab things and I have to watch out! When I was prepping for her party I left some stuff too close to where she was sitting and I turned around to find her eating paper shreds bahaha
Sleep: We had a ROUGH 4 month sleep regression with Tess. However, if you take away that really rough month, she’s been an awesome sleeper. She’s not a high sleep needs baby so she will often wake 15-30 min early from nap or bed but she’s typically happy to play in her crib until it’s time to get up. I’ve never ONCE gone in her room to get her and not be greeted with a big smile.
She must pick her ears in her sleep? Britt has this happen on occasion as well (even at 3 years old). Tess will wake up with dry, crusty blood in her ears! Icky!
Your Baby Can Read: Zach is a big believer in it, even after all the law suit stuff saying it doesn’t work haha. Kye is a great reader and Zach credits YBCR because we did it so religiously with him as a baby. I personally don’t believe it helps them read. BUT I believe the time spent sitting still is valuable. And I have times where I need to get things done and can’t have a wild crazy baby all over the place while I do it (hello cooking dinner!) I pulled out the toddler seat we have this month and started letting Tess watch YBCR once a day. I don’t do it every day but if she watches something on tv this is the only thing she watches (other than in the car on trip which we do other baby movies). She instantly fell in love with this seat and will even crawl to sit in it when she’s not watching the movie!
It SHOCKED me that the big kids wanted to watch too!
Schedule: By the end of the month this is what Tess’s schedule looked like!
7:00 nurse then solids for breakfast (with whole milk to drink too)
8:00 indepdenent playtime for 30 min
9:00-11:00 nap
11:00 your baby can read movie while I make lunch
11:30ish: lunch with whole milk to drink
1:00-3:00 nap
3:00 small snack (usually dairy) with whole milk to drink
5:30 dinner with family (whole milk to drink)
6:15 bath
6:45 nurse
When done nursing: straight to bed for night
Bible Class: Bible Class has been more of a struggle for Tess than any of our other babies. Including Britt who was a MEGA Mama’s girl and wanted to cling to me all the time. The reason for the struggle is NOT Tess though. Sadly it’s another child in her class who cries a LOT and that causes Tess to be upset. We’ve left Tess once and called called and had to come back to stay with her (and I knocked over a decoration and broke it in my Bible class in the process haha). Tess does SO well in the class and really likes it but will get upset very easily when another child is upset and we just don’t want the teachers to deal with that. Plus Tess doesn’t feel comfortable with other people and if she does get upset she wants US. Thankfully she has the most awesome bible study teacher ever!
In Bible Class!
Sizes: Tess is still only in a 9 month size for clothes. I’m starting to use some 12 month stuff because I had bought her a bunch of super clearance summer 12 month sizes last year. Oops! I also pulled down Britt’s shoes from the attic. My baby girls have TINY feet. Tess wears a size 2 shoe. I’m thankful I don’t do shoes on my infants (like legit, they are always barefoot until they walk) b/c she wouldn’t have had any to fit her tiny feet! I remember with Britt she was a later walker (14 months) and had to wear crib type shoes b/c they didn’t make hard sole shoes for her size yet. Looks like Tess will be the same way!
Convertible Car Seat: This month the big switch happened! Again, it took us longer to make the switch for Tess than it did the other two. I think partially because she is smaller and also because she’s just very content in the car so why change? As always I did a LOT of research and ended up getting the Graco 4ever 
. I have a post where I talk about this seat and why I purchased it here!
My two rear facers! (Kye sits in our third row!)
Tess continues to do well with independent playtime. She goes for 25-30 min without fussing. Usually she will fuss a little when I first put her in but after that she’s good to go and is always standing up waiting for me when the timer goes off!
She still very much loves to put her head down and look through her legs 🙂 It’s such a cute “Tess thing” to me!
Tess LOVES small toys. Which is stressful for me! She also likes to carry things in her mouth. Which is also stressful. I keep a constant eye on her and let the big kids know what small toys are too small and have them play with them in areas she doesn’t go. She does put things in her mouth more than I remember Britt doing but probably about the same as Kye did!
The big thing this month has been opening and shutting every door she can find. She’s had quite a few smashed fingers but whew child is TOUGH. She will whimper a second and then just keep on cruising!
Tess reminds me of Kye in many ways and people often say she looks like me but man she def has her Daddy’s way of thinking. Zach is SO good at figuring things out. He’s very “common sense” smart and Tess is the same way! She amazes me at what she will sit and figure out how to do on her own. She never whines or “asks” for help and I can tell she enjoys the process of doing it on her own. I cracked up when I found her in the dog’s crate! Again, she didn’t fuss a bit. She figured out how to get in, how to turn around and shut the door, and then how to get back out!
We were playing in her room and I legit couldn’t find her haha good hiding spot!
This picture is beyond precious to me. You can see BOTH Kye’s and Britt’s toes as they were playing with Tess under the door. She was cracking up and so were they!
In recent months we’d kicked both of our dogs outside all day long. We just got to the point where there were too many issues and it’s been SO much better now that they are outside. The downside is that Tess doesn’t get to play with them but she LOVES Zeke. It’s so sweet how she’ll get so excited when she sees him and how she crawls up to kiss him! He does have rear claws and she has gotten scratched a couple of times but it doesn’t stop her.
Diaper changes have become more entertaining now that Tess has figured out that she can use her foot to turn on and off the light and fan!
Tess is on the move ALL the time. She’s quick, she’s sneaky, and she’s quiet. It’s a dangerous combination! I have toys in all rooms of the house but they don’t keep her attention for long and before I know it I have to go on a Tess hunt to see what’s she’s into. I need to get better about blocking off the kitchen so she’ll be trapped with me 😉
I’ve started tying back her curtains (with some leggings haha) and she’s loving standing by the window 🙂
Tess is also getting into shoes the same way her sister is! She always tries to put them on 🙂
She is getting taller and it’s so cute that she will cruise around the house…
and the kids appreciate her cleaning up help 😉
The negative about Tess being so mobile and liking opening doors is that she’s literally into everything! I have to take things away from her on a regular basis. She’s funny because she KNOWS she’s not supposed to have things and makes this funny face about it 😉
This is another guilty look 🙂
I found one of her pacis from the brief time she used them and she has fun playing with it!
The playroom is where it’s AT. We added some blinds now on the window and it’s helped keep it much, much cooler. The kids can ALL play in the playroom and we don’t have to worry about injuries because everything is little kid safe. They all love it up there and it’s great to see Tess enjoy the space too! You can see more about our playroom here.
Tess is a helper with laundry…especially at taking things out of the baskets and giving them a good chew 😉
Tess’s hands are my favorite thing about her. They are so soft and just precious. This is random (and I’m swear I’m not gonna cry when writing it) but I’ve been missing my mom a LOT lately and the thing I miss the most about her is her hands. I think Tess’s hands remind me of hers. I also adore the little chunky rolls that cause her to have the white line on her wrists. Sweet baby.
Still using the bath seat for bath time…if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, right?
I noticed these raised darker spots on her skin after bath one night and luckily Casey has seen them on Carter before and told me it’s probably just a little touch of eczema. I used aquifer and it helped!
Siblings: I know most people want their kids close in age but man I never realized how awesome being further apart in age can be. From BIRTH Kye has adored Tess and he’s old enough where he will legit remember her as a baby. I love, love, LOVE their age difference so much! And the more I think about it why do we push for close age differences? Other than our biological clocks ticking, what’s the advantage? They will spend most of their lives as adults and what difference will it make if they are 27 and 30 vs 25 and 30? Right?!?! Can you tell I’m in noooooo rush for baby #4?!?! Haha!
I love watching her watch her siblings!
I remember when Robyn had Cooper that Lorelai was 6 months older than Kye was when Britt was born and I liked that age difference WAY better. Britt and Tess are actually closer in age than Kye and Britt (only by a month haha) and it did take longer for Britt to really pay much attention to Tess. She is super, super sweet with her now though and it brings my heart so much joy to see them play together. That sister bond is so special!
and the sister stealing thing starts early…Tess stole Britt’s headband and wanted to wear it 😉
More About Tess:
- On July 8th Tess said MAMA for the FIRST TIME!!!! We were at the beach and she said it in her room after naps when we were cuddling. It was SUCH a happy sound!
- She loves “this little light of mine” and will put her little pointer finger up for the song
- Child has ZERO fear of sand or the ocean
- She is my “allergy” baby. She has a lot of drainage and coughing (another Daddy trait!) and Clairitin seems to help!
- Tess has a natural smile. She just is always happy!
- For the first time on July 14th Tess “cleaned up” her toys in her pack and play after independent playtime!
- She will crawl up my legs to ask me to hold her
- Signs “all done” and says “mmmmm” for more
- She likes to hand things to me
- Can stand solo for a few seconds at a time if I place her in the standing position
- She likes to point to my eyes, nose and mouth a lot
- We use a legit tooth brush for her teeth (along with baby toothpaste)
- I started using Zarbees when she has a cough and it really helps!
- Child is amazing in the car for trips. Like we rarely have any fussing from her and don’t even have to use the movies most of the time!
- She loves to put small objects into buckets and dump them out, this was her favorite beach activity
- She’s still not interested in other people. Zach actually came home one day with a hat on and she thought he was a stranger and she flipped out!
- On our trip she didn’t have her bath seat and she stood in the tub a couple times but after Zach spanked her she never did it again!
- She still acts very frantic about wanting to nurse in the mornings and evenings and is still very focused on nursing and never distracted. It’s gonna be tough to wean her!
- Kye gets her kisses the most and I’m jealous 😉
- Tess dances to music and will bounce up and down on her legs
- She is starting to pull herself to standing position but doesn’t let go on her own yet
- She makes car noises and kissing sounds
- I was gone one morning when Tess got up and Zach said she kept saying “mama mama mama”
- When we were at the zoo and aquarium I didn’t pump as well as I should have and I got a clogged duct. Boo.
- Tess kicks her legs when she’s excited
- She says “gog” for “dog”
- She is still very fussy at 5ish every evening
- Since I know weaning is coming soon I’m trying out a new bedtime routine where I sit and cuddle with her in her room before laying her down so maybe I won’t be as sad when nursing ends!
- She is truly just an angel baby! My first one and I REALLY appreciate it! It makes me feel bad for moms who get their angel baby at their first baby b/c then when they have more kids and those aren’t angel babies it has to be super tough on them. For me, it’s like I am in heaven b/c I’ve never had one before!
Videos;
- Turning off light switch
- This little light of mine song
- Nursing for last time at 11 am
- putting toys in and out of bucket
- “Jumping” off pool ledge
- Kissing Zeke
- Bath getting water poured on her head
- Playing with door
- Signing/saying “all done”
- Car noises
Tess brings us all so much joy each and every day! I’m so thankful she’s part of our family and truly cherish each moment with her as she’s growing up SO FAST!!!
I’m not a huge fan of smocked stuff but man every once in awhile it’s just super sweet 🙂
Sibling Comparisons: You can read Kye’s month 12 summary here and Britt’s here! It’s crazy that I feel like this post is basically Britt’s post from the same month just pasted over here! SO many similarities! They still don’t look alike to me though? She looks a lot more like Kye and they also had similarities in their development. I think the negative side of having multiple kids is that cute things you think are so precious that your baby does you realize is just stuff that ALL babies do haha. Of course they are each special and have their own special things too but stuff I got all excited about with Kye is stuff that I just expect to happen now with Tess 😉
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