Natalie at 1 years old

So this is a little late, but better late than never.  Natalie turned one back on Oct. 5.  We had a small "family" party for her, which included Molly and the Belt family.  She absolutely *loved* her cupcake.  :)

Yesterday she went for her 1 year checkup.  Here are her stats:

Height:  30 inches (73rd percentile)
Weight:  19 lbs (12th percentile)
Head:  45 cm (44th percentile)

Yes, weight has taken a dramatic drop.  In fact, since her last checkup 3 months ago, she grew a whole inch but only gained ounces in weight.  Because of that, we are now going in for a weight check in another 6 weeks.  I think a lot of it has to do with weaning her from breast milk.  All of that milk I had saved and we have virtually run out.  She just doesn't drink the other milk the same, so she isn't getting that many calories.  On another note, she is eating lots of solids - 2-3 jars of food a day!  But she also likes chicken and turkey, so we try to stock that protein for her.

Natalie doesn't use many words.  She has lots of sounds, but she really isn't that interested in using words.  I'm waiting for her to explode into sentences.  She knows what she wants, and she's able to communicate her wants pretty well with pointing, crying, and giggling.

And despite my thoughts of her walking all over when we got back from Italy, she saved her steps for us.  She hasn't done much walking while we were gone, but is now taking 4-5 steps at a time towards us since we have been home.  She stands, balanced, by herself for long periods of time, even with things in her hands and her concentration on other things.