nev turned 11 months old 5 days before christmas! she is (in my unbiased opinion of course..hee...hee) the cutest kid ever! aunt tammy and uncle mike confirm my reports that she is cute. which by the way, congrats to them on their recent engagement on december 20th!
anyway, nev had her first christmas and loved it! she helped open up gifts and was very good during the entire process. she took a nap at the end of the festivities but woke up just in time to have brunch with all of us! i should mention that on christmas eve nev got grandma marsha's famous swedish meatballs! she devoured them and ate 6 of them along with all the other food she ate! she is a trash compactor at times! she also got to hear 'twas the night before christmas and wore her christmas pj's (a new family tradition that we will start...every xmas eve she will get some jammies to wear). then on christmas day she opened lots of gifts, ate grandpa cal's famous breakfast potatoes, played with her new train and crab toys, and had grandma marsha's homemade pizza for dinner (she broke down crying when i ate a piece of her pizza...whoops)! the entire family completely spoiled nev (arizona family and indiana family)...she has tons of new clothes, pj's, and toys for the new year! thank you to everyone!
nev has been practicing walking and gets one step closer each day. her balance is even better and the new push toy train is great! i can see how independent she feels by reading her facial expressions when she pushes it around! she loves to practice walking and gets mad if i stop and she is not ready too! she is also pointing at more things now and more regularly. she p0ints at birds, airplanes, and the food that she wants if it isn't in front of her on her tray.
her vocabulary keeps expanding. she now says...uh-oh, ho ho ho, ma ma, da da, num num (when referring to food), and has said duck and dog a few times (those aren't quite as clear as the other words...but she has said them at the right times). she tries to imitate a "woof woof" when we see dogs...but that still needs work.
the only other news is that i start full-time work again tomorrow. my employer is being flexible with me for the first month so i can transition back and nev can transition into "school" (aka...daycare) once they have a full-time spot for her. she visited the daycare a week ago and i had a hard time getting her to leave (which i guess is a good sign...this is going to be harder on me than her obviously). so...the pictures and journal entries will probably start to dwindle a bit since life will be getting a little more hectic. anyway, happy new year! grandma and grandpa herzog will be coming to visit soon...so we are looking forward to that! more pictures are posted and her birthday is coming up on january 20th...so stay tuned!