11 months

My sweet boy,

Here we are. 1 month away from 1 year since you were born. This time last year was a frenzy of preparations for your arrival. I had my baby shower, we were finishing up your room, and we were consumed with never ending projects. Now here you are, one year later, and life is totally, wonderfully, different.

I don't even remember life before you. In fact, I don't even remember what life was like when you were like this:

All I know is that life right now is so sweet. Every day seems like it brings about new changes in you as you blossom into a little boy right before our eyes. Perhaps the biggest blessing to me is that I get to stay at home with you and know the ins and outs of who you are. It is such a privilege to watch you grow up and be right there beside you. I hope I tell you enough how thankful I am to your daddy for how hard he works and how important he thinks it is for me to stay home with you.

You are lots of fun. I usually have at least one story for dad when he gets home from work- whether it's about you hammering on the baby gate, learning a new dance move, or sneaking into the bathroom and unrolling toilet paper.

You've got quite the repertoire of tricks these days. I put together a video of you doing some of them. You know how to wave, clap, put little pom poms in a yogurt container that I cut holes out of, dance, kick a soccer ball, give kisses, and walk with your walker. You also love to bang toys together, play with my necklaces and cd's, listen to music, swipe all of your food off your tray at once, lift up my shirt to poke my belly button, carry objects with you as you crawl around (especially the red cylinder block and your xylophone stick), read books (you are very particular about which books we read, and will often close the book right in the middle of reading to grab another one), push the buttons on the printer, stand on the windowsill to look outside, watch the garbage man, stand by the toilet to pull toilet paper down, figure out a way to sneak a quick swipe of my cell phone or a quick bang on the computer keyboard, and play with water. You are really going through separation anxiety this month. Unfortunately, you have developed quite the reputation with the nursery workers at church (I try extra hard to dress you super cute to try to trick them each week). Anytime I walk out of the room, even if some of your favorite people are there, you lose it. I mean even to get napkins at a restaurant when you are surrounded by dad, your cousins, and your auntie/uncle, you cry and cry and cry. Your poor uncle Mark watched you and your two cousins while your auntie and I got pedicures, and you cried almost the whole time.

I have finally come to terms that I am raising a boy and that is ok if you get dirty. Since this realization, we've spent quite a bit of time outside letting you crawl around and examine plants, rocks, and bark. We've had a couple nice sunny days recently and we have sat outside looking at rocks for over 30 minutes. Maybe you'll have a rock collection like I did someday. Just promise me not to be obsessed with gift shops to get rocks like I was :)

We've heard what we think are a few words. You've either said, or are very close to saying ball, mama, kitty, and uh oh.

Life has gone downhill in two areas this month. The first is diaper changes. You have squirmed with changes for a few months, but this month you have taken it to a whole new level. No matter how many songs I try, new toys I give you, you just hate to have your diaper changed. So many times I get the diaper on you and I'm so tired I just let you crawl around with no pants for a while before I work up the courage to wrangle you again. You twist as hard as you can, it is like wrestling a greased pig. Which leads me to a story that just has to be recorded. If you do not like potty stories, skip the rest of this paragraph. You've been warned. The other day we were in the middle of one of these joyous changes, and your dad got you cleaned up, but you escaped and started crawling around nude. I thought it was cute of course, so I started taking pictures of you. Your dad kept saying we should get a diaper on you, but I just had to take one more picture. All of a sudden dad said "he's peeing!" and sure enough, I look over at you and you were peeing on the carpet. Good thing I looked over because I quickly realized peeing wasn't the only thing you were doing. We just had our carpets cleaned so in desperate circumstances, I did the only thing I could, I caught it. Yes folks, it's true and your dad couldn't believe it. We have officially had our first poopscapade. Anyway, moving on. The next trouble spot is getting you in the car seat. Once we are driving, you're totally fine, but man alive, getting you strapped in is such a battle. You grab the side of your seat and flip yourself around. You are STRONG! Before I know it, you're standing up backwards in your seat. Sometimes I think someone is going to call CPS on me because you cry so hard. Again, no amount of song, goofy dance, distraction, or toys have helped this issue. oh well.

You have one top tooth coming in, which brings your tooth tally up to 4. Don't worry, that weird tooth shown below, is looking much more normal these days.

I know i'll look back on this blog some day and want to know what your sleeping and eating habits were like, so here's the boring details. You still wake up once in the night, but we've decided after your cousin Harper is born, we are going to start crying it out at night because you really don't need to be nursing anymore at night. You are normally up close to 6, and take 2 naps- 1 around 9 and the other around 1:30. You are normally in bed between 6:30/7. You love your lamb lovie. When you find it in the crib, you normally dive on top of it and wrestle it around with your mouth. It's definitely looking well loved these days. You still love to eat. There isn't much you wont eat. You're starting to get really interested in what I have on my plate, so I'm guessing we're going to start feeding you our meals soon. You still aren't the best with a sippy cup, but you rock the water bottle. I am still nursing you 4 times during the day. Weaning is going to be interesting and I haven't really put much thought into it.

Well I think that's it. Till next month. Just like God's love for us, our love for you is Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love.