More Visitors and 11 months old

Usually in the month of January, the winter blues really start to set in around the Freij household. Thank goodness the good Lord knows how to remedy the situation and has sent us many visitors...both family and friends. It has been a month since my parents visited, and they were more than happy to spend a long weekend with Helaina.
Helaina is definitely a people person. She never really had much separation anxiety and hasn't been upset with anyone we've left her with...which we are thankful for! However, it's amusing that she does have "preferences". If there is a room full of people, Randy and me included, she would probably ask to be with Randy's dad or my mom. At this age, it's amazing to us that she doesn't see my parents for weeks at time and seems to remember them immediately!
One reason I know she loves Grandma Cathy, she brings LOTS of presents...this was an early Valentine's Day gift The newlyweds, Kelly and Tony, were in Michigan visiting a childhood friend of Tony's. They were able to spend most of Saturday with us. Kelly and I have been friends for almost 20 years and our dads coached softball together for well over 10 years. I know my parents enjoyed the visit with them just as much as us!

We think, very soon, that Helaina will be taking steps on her own. She's now strolling around the living room, walking from furniture to furniture but still holding on with one hand. Maybe she'll be a "walker" by her first birthday!

She's also turning 11 months old this week! Here is a list of some new things she's doing.

*growing into her 24 month/2T clothing

*can tell you when asked (in Arabic and English) where her hair, eyes, nose, teeth, stomach, hands, toes are)

*waves bye bye and blows kisses when asked

*when mom tells her to "splash" in the bathtub, she soaks Daddy with the water :)

*dances EVERY TIME she hears a song

*says the words baby, bye bye, momma, dadda, go-go

*signs the words bottle, please, more, and all done

*gives hugs and kisses

*loves to read books, she'll get the book she wants and hand it over to us to read (sadly, it's the ONLY time our little girl will snuggle with us, so we do lots of reading in our house)