Double Ones!

Brayden is 11 MONTHS OLD today!  Can you believe it?!  (I can't)

New for Brayden over the past month:

* High fives

* Clapping

* Dancing

* Standing

* "So big" (actually I think he was doing this at 10 months, but I forgot to include it in that post)

* Incessant "talking" - His list of words now includes Dada, Mama, Bubba, Nana, Papa (but only occasionally), no no, ni ni (night night), ball, and I swear a few times he's said "key key" (kitty kitty).  He sounds like he is talking in complete sentences a lot of the time, it's just unfortunate that no one understands a word of what he's saying!

* Pointing at objects that he wants

* Occasional signs for "all done," "milk," and "more" - we're still working on this; I was much better about sign language with Logan, but Brayden's starting to pick up on it too

* Teeth #5 and 6 - he now has 4 on top and 2 on the bottom 

* Walking holding onto a moving object or holding our hands

* No more baby food!  He's eating all table food now.  I find that I rely on many of the same foods to give him because they are small or easily cut up.  I try to rotate them the best I can, but I just don't feel like I'm giving him enough variety sometimes.  I'll take any suggestions for easy-to-manage finger foods.  He tried a lot of new foods this month - too many to remember!

* Falling asleep by himself, and as a result, sleeping better throughout the night and later in the morning.  This was a HUGE accomplishment this month!!

* Eliminating our 3:30 nursing session, which was MUCH easier than I thought it would be.  I've cheated a little bit and started him on whole milk already, but just for this one feeding for now.  We are still nursing 3 times a day - morning, lunch, and bedtime.

He's such a happy little baby, and I'm shocked that he is going to be a year old (and no longer a baby) in just four short weeks.  For those of you with only one baby, just wait until you have another - time flies so much faster with the second I think!  I can't imagine how quickly it would go with a third or fourth...and NO, this is NOT in the works for us!

I feel like I included a huge mix of this month's pictures in my other posts, but here are a few that I didn't include and some from our monthly "photo session" this morning.

 When he can't reach something he wants, he has started climbing to get it.

 Walking...we're so close!

Sharing a popsicle with Logan

 Just cute!

The theme of the month was SWIMMING...and lots of it!

11 months old!

Photo Dump

I'm trying to keep up with my vow to post at least once a week, but since this week has been so hot we're really not up to anything exciting.  The theme of the week has been SWIMMING!  No pictures to post from the pool, since most days I'm in too, but I thought I'd just post some randoms that I've taken since my last post.  Enjoy!

Crazy (loud) baby

This was the view from my porch one night last week.  Made my heart (and my face) smile!

Last summer Todd and I both bought bikes.  I didn't do any riding last year because I was quite pregnant, but I've been anxious to use my bike.  We finally have helmets for both boys, so this week we hooked the bike trailer up to my bike and off we went.  It was a bit hot, and both boys were sweating like CRAZY with the helmets on, crammed together inside the trailer, so we only rode for a short while each day.  Here are the boys before our first ride.

It's been a long time since I've taken bath pictures.

Love these little butts!

This was the first day that Brayden figured out how to walk pushing these cars.  We were so excited.  Logan kept yelling, "Look, Mommy, Brayden's walking!"  Now Brayden can't get enough, and Logan takes him "skiing" behind the cars (Logan rides and pulls Brayden along while he walks) - it's adorable!

I'm not sure why, but this cracks me up every time Logan does it.  He attaches the string from the helicopter to the seat of the bus and pulls it along behind him.  It's pretty creative thinking if you ask me.

Our own Team Umizoomi measuring lesson, courtesy of Brayden!

Here I was trying to get a decent smile out of him. 

After three tries I gave up.  This is about the best "smile" I can get out of him lately.

More walking!  We're hoping for some independent steps sooner than later!

I caught him mid-"bbrrrmm" - love the lips!

 ...And a video - Logan playing guitar and Brayden busting some moves!