Not Bad, Just Different

As you know, if you've read my blog over the last week or so, my little baby girl just turned 1. It's been an interesting year and I can't help noting the differences between her turning 1 and when my other children turned one. Now, I want to say that I'm not complaining or comparing per se. I do not expect Finleigh to be where the boys were. Nor do I wish (that much) that she was. I love her and am glad to have her...no matter what. But, those little milestones that I remember enjoying with the boys are not the milestones we're celebrating with Finleigh.

Let's see...

- Formula. When my sons turned 1, we made the exciting and budget relieving change to whole milk. Woohoo! Was a great feeling. With Finleigh, we're just starting solids. Equally as exciting, but no easier on the budget. I have down graded the formula now though, probably saving us $20 or so a month.

- Carseats. Turning 1 usually signifies being ready to face forward in the car. This was a huge relief with the boys, because they hated riding backwards. With little Finny, she's about outgrown the carrier, but is nowhere close to being ready to face forwards. So, to the backwards facing carseat (that goes up to 30lbs) we go.

- Walking. My boys both walked between 11 months and a year. With that came more independence and all the other fun exploring that came with that. Finleigh's just starting to hold her own weight with her legs and is sitting on her own most of the time now. We still have to do some stretches with her as many of her muscles are still pretty tight and are hindering her development some.

- Bottles. I started weaning my other children off their bottles at a year and by about 15 months, they were bottle free. With Finleigh, I'm hoping to wean her off her tube soon and will likely move directly to a cup. Funny, when I look back at pictures of Finleigh being bottlefed, it almost seems wrong somehow. However, for all I know, she may be on a tube for years to come.

- Teeth. Now I know that there's no set time for teeth to come in or anything, but Finleigh only just cut her first tooth. I can see a couple more through the gums, but I know my boys had a good majority of their teeth by now.

- Talking. First words? My boys could at least say a few. Finleigh's just now starting to make consonant sounds. Mmmmmm. Is her new favorite. So close to mama!

I'm really not hung up on the developmental schedule with Finleigh. We enjoy each new milestone as she reaches it and celebrate perhaps even a bit more because we're so relieved that she's reached it at all. We're still largely in unknown water and don't know exactly what the future holds for her. But I really think that by 18 months or so, she'll be walking and talking and doing all that other fun stuff that we usually take for granted that our kids can do.

We're heading down to the big city tomorrow for another couple appointments at the hospital. Looking forward to it because we're making a bit of a mini holiday out of it. Now that my sister lives there, we get to stay with them. We have plans to go see a movie and do a bit of shopping. (I'm badly in need of a new bra...again! Why is that area shrinking the fastest????? sigh). I've managed to save about half my flex points for the weekend. Looking forward to it.