Elayna 10 & 11 Months old!

Yes, it's been a while! And so I don't get too far behind and not leave room for her big 1 Year old event I figured I should get some pictures posted!

Elayna is actually almost 11 1/2 months now, (pictures are from the last month) which means it's time to start thinking about birthday cake and presents again. Elayna has grown so much in the last few months and has become very active and mobile that it almost seems like she isn't a little baby any more. I remember thinking it was taking so long for her to hit her milestones, but now I look and think it has gone so quickly. I'm glad I've taken my thousands of pictures so I glimpse back to when she was so much smaller and 'my little baby'.


Elayna started walking at about 10 months. It was a little slow and then after being tackled one to many times by her brothers, she went on strike for a few weeks. She wouldn't even stand up or even put her legs straight. But then out of the blue, a few weeks ago she just started walking and now she is everywhere.

I was very worried about the stairs and have had a baby gate up because without fail everytime it was taken down it would take all of about 10 seconds for her to climb to the top. She hates the gate though, and would just whimper and whine at either end of it every time I had it up. But I was worried that she would fall, but after realizing that I might be hindering her progress in learning to go down the stairs, I finally took it down the other day to find that not only could she can go down by herself (looking a little like her gimp crawl) but that she does real well in turning to go down herself as well. So much for my paranoia!

She is very expressive. Ohhhhh is she expressive! She's very good at letting us know when she is or isn't getting what she thinks she wants! Not just with facial expressions, but volume as well.

She loves her sunglasses, loves to look pretty and will sqweal with delight when she looks in the mirror and see's her 'pretty' outfit.
And she has a love of music that I've not seen in very many babies. It doesn't matter if it is a song playing, music to a video game, someone humming a tune or just random noises; she immediately turns to the source and starts jamming out. And it's not just head bobbing or swaying. It's full on dancing - head bobs & turns, arms moving, feet tapping, legs kicking (balancing and kicking out to the beat) and her face it always smiling and she blinks. It's funny!

Books - she loves books. Not to read them really, but to hold and touch them. She can entertain herself for a very long time with a single book - thin paper - just by thumbing through the pages and opening and shutting the book. While flying back from Chicago, she entertained herself for a good 45 minutes with the in-flight magazine. I was amazed. She has yet to try to rip or crinkle any of the pages, but who knows - it may start soon enough!

She has been a lot of fun and though her brothers adore her and do all they can to entertain, protect and appease her; she is doing all she can to assert her independence! I'm very curious to watch as her personality develops. She seems very adventurous and ready to do most anything. She has already claimed the tricycle and any thing else that moves as her own. And she gets very upset when her brothers try to protect their own teritory!













(Already ready to do the money thing!!!)