11 months oh my!

 

I am way behind in my blogging. We still have so many posts to write about our great Christmas break. Christmas break is now over and we are getting back into the swing of regular life. We have been home for four full days and jet lag is waning. We didn't pack away all our Christmas things before we left for break so we still have some big tasks ahead of us this weekend.
p.s also YES our Christmas tree is still up....we didn't take it down before we left and we juts haven't had time yet. It may be up until the end of January :-) 

What Joy is doing 

• Over Christmas break, Joy mastered the art of crawling correctly (no more "swimming" to get to her next destination). Joy is a very busy girl and is in to everything. Thankfully our house is very baby proof.
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• Joy loves to feed herself and isn't so slow anymore. I look forward to meal times because it keeps her strapped to one place for a while :-) However she is catching on that mom and dad's food is more tasty and she would rather eat what we are eating.

• Joy has two bottom teeth and TWO top tooth.  Thankfully we seem to have had a few weeks of reprieve from teething. 

 

Eats

• Nursing:Joy still eats every 4 hours and once during the night. Over Christmas break, with us all in the same room Joy fell into some bad habits of nursing more than once a night. However now that she is back in her own room she seems to be sleeping much better. 
• Solid food: Joy loves to eat! She would eat carbs and MEAT if that is all I let her eat. She does love fruit and veggies I just have to give them to her first. She has started to "fish hook" our her food and look at it, which is very messy. 
• Loves: pumpkin, carrots, green beans, apples, pears, bananas, peas, zucchini, egg yolks, oatmeal, brown rice, quinoa, flax seed, eggs, pasta, lentils, kiwi, chicken, turkey (tried on Christmas day)
• Verdict is still out on: Avocado 
• Introducing this week: I'm loosing creativity with new food introductions. Joy has such a large variety she eats and likes, so I think this week there will be no new introduction.
• Joy still can't hold the sippy cup herself, but doesn't drown with every sip anymore. 

Sleeps:

•  Night time: She still sleeps for 12 hours(although the last few days have been 13 hours, I think she is making up for loss of sleep during jet lag). During Christmas break we adjusted her bedtime to 7pm (and wake up to 7am) and that has been working much better for us. It gives us a little more time in the evenings together.
• Naps: Joy is taking 2 naps a day, 9am and 1pm (one hour each). As I think back to her first few months of life and how hard naps were, I am very thankful that we have reached a happy nap schedule. 

Weighs: Joy weighs 18 Lbs (last checked in England 3 weeks ago since we don't have a scale).

Likes:

*Bear (and sucking her thumb). Grandma and Grandpa Christensen send her bear's cousin "Frog" so now we have two (which helps with washing  and if he are to "gasp" ever loose one). She loves bear a little more than frog but he does the trick still.

* Recently Joy also likes to sleep with my bathrobe in her bed. It started as a desperate jet lag measure one night and she loves the thing. Great....now she is getting attached to a HUGE bathrobe and not just two small cuddly stuffed animals! 
 

*Joy is learning to like the stroller. My goal over the next couple months is to get her to really love the stroller. So far this week we have gone on two stroller outings and she has done GREAT. 

* Joy loves to read and will sit for about 20 minutes while we read to her. Quite an attention span for a little creature. She definitely has her favorites and will not put up with her non favorites being read to her. This week her favorites as: Llama Llama Wakey Wake, 10 Little Fingers & 10 Little Toes, Foot Book, Disney seek and spot and any book with animals in it.

* On the animal note, Joy loves DOGS....she has a love affair with Rudy (although he is not so sure he shares the same feelings) and squeals with delight whenever she sees a furry four legged creature.

* I must say that Joy must like to fly because she does an amazing job at it. She doesn't sleep tons but is so happy the whole flight. We had minimal crying, even in the middle of the night. She loved exploring air plane food (which I was happy to let her play with because I usually think it is gross).  I get quite motion sick on the plane so Joy enjoys snuggles with daddy while mommy tries to keep it together during take offs and landings.

Dislikes: Joy is not a fan these days of playing alone and would rather someone sit with her while she plays. 

Favorite event: Joy had a great time in England with Grandma, Grandpa and Auntie Ruthie. She enjoyed walks in the country and exploring Bruges (Belgium). She really enjoyed spending the day with grandma so mommy, daddy and Auntie Ruthie could go to London for the day. We are going to  miss having grandma and grandpa babysit now that we are back in Hong Kong!

A picture from Christmas just to entice you. Next blog Christmas in England and a quick trip to Belgium.