11 Months Old

Dear Miles, 

Here I am writing your 11 Month letter. I cannot believe you are already 11 months old! You're almost 1...where has the time gone? This has not been an easy year for me - adjusting to being a mommy to 2 children has been a difficult transition, but here we are...almost a year later. I cannot thank you enough for what you've taught me as a mommy/person/Christian. You are precious to me. More precious than you will ever know. You have such a passion for life. You go after everything with your whole heart. I can already tell that you're going to be a lot like me. You have got to be one of the cutest lil' guys on the planet. You have a huge grin, and you're one of the wiggliest worms I've ever seen - you want to be on the go at all times.

Here's your 11 month picture: 

Here's you and your dog. 

Here's a picture of me, you and your brother (2 years 8 mos):

You and your brother are growing so close. You are by his side at all times. You don't even like to be strapped in to eat because that means you cannot get to where Carter is :) I love that about you. Carter likes to keep you informed of EVERYTHING. He has started to tell you things. He'll let out a huge (fake) burp and say "Heard that burp, Miles?" When we are riding in the car, I'll hear him say, "See that Jeep, Miles?" When we finish with a meal, he says, "Tum on Miles, let's doe play in playroom." He bosses you around and you do exactly whatever you want to which makes him very mad most of the time. Brothers. We are in full brother mode around here from sun up to sun down.

Here are some of the things we did this month: 

• You got to experience your first Easter. You got to see the Easter Bunny. You sat in his lap, but you weren't too sure about him. We died Easter Eggs. You got to hunt some Easter Eggs too. You ended up sick on Easter Sunday, so we decided to stay home from church, but we had a nice restful morning at home with family. You got to check out your first Easter Basket - it had all kinds of fun things in it.

• We went to Auburn to see Nana, Papa J, and your Aunt/Uncle/Cousins. It was Nana's 60th Birthday, so we all celebrated together! We had a fun weekend.

Yes, that finger ended up in the cake :)

Here are some things you are doing now: 

• You weigh 21 lbs. and I need to measure you.
• You nurse about 4 (sometimes 5) times a day. We start the weaning process this next month - here's hoping that goes well! 
• You are slowing down on baby food. You prefer meat (especially in casseroles/pastas mostly) and carbs. Your favorite foods are fried chicken, yogurt, and baked beans. It's really hard to get you to eat fruit or veggies. I try to sneak in some babyfood here and there still, but you do not like them anymore.

• You have 6 teeth (4 on top, 2 on bottom).
• You sleep about 10-11 hours every night. When you're not getting sick/sick/getting over being sick,  you sleep through the night until about 6:30 - 7am now. That is a blessing.
• You take two naps a day. When you get tired, you bite people.
• You are getting better with a sippy cup.
• You are cruising around everything - you can even cruise with one hand on things....maybe soon you'll let go and walk soon!
• You are a super fast crawler!
• You love your push and walk toy. Unfortunately, Carter does too - he steals it from you on a regular basis.
• You love to climb. You climb into the toy box, up your little slide, onto diaper boxes, up into Carters chair, on the hearth, and up the stairs. One problem with this is you cannot get down from any of these places without falling. You've gotten a few bumps and bruises along the way. 
• Your worst accident yet was falling and hitting your face on the rocking horse. Your teet cut your lip. I thought you would need stitches, but you didn't. You're a tough guy!
• You learned to throw a ball this past month and you LOVE IT! When you were sick during Easter, we couldn't get you to go to sleep one night. You cried and cried. We figured out that throwing a ball would soothe you, so we threw a ball back and forth late into the night that night...you didn't want to stop. 

• It's warmed up finally, but at first you HATED being outside. The feel of the concrete and grass totally freaked you out, and you screamed like somebody was trying to kill you when we put you down. Over the course of the month, you've figured out that it's not so bad. Your favorite activities now are swinging and sliding. You love going down the big slide at the playground (with an adult). You also like to sit in Carter's cozy coupe. Carter does not like you to sit in it. When you get in it, he automatically climbs on top...that's quite a site.
• You also discovered the joy of building towers with blocks and knocking them down. You could do this forever!
• You said "mama" this month!!!!!! We were on the phone with Grandmama the first time you said it. She claims that you were trying to say "Grandmama," but I know you were saying my name :) You are also saying "Dada" and "Nana" 
• Your favorite toy is ANYTHING your brother is playing with! 
• You know what "No" means, and you listen a lot of the time. 

Here is your typical schedule...

6:30am - Wake up / Nurse / Breakfast Babyfood (yogurt / dry cereal) then Play

8:45 - 9am - Naptime (1-2 hours)

11:00am - Nurse then Play

11:30 - Lunch (PBJ) when brother eats then play

1:00 pm - Naptime (2-3 hours)

4:00-5pm - Mealtime (Nurse & sometimes babyfood) then Waketime

6:00pm - "2nd Supper" when we eat :)

7:30-8pm - Bathtime (on bath nights) / Nurse / Bed

REPEAT...

My next letter will be written to you when you turn 1! Part of me feels like this year has flown by, and part of me feels as if I cannot remember our family without you in it. We all love you so much, Miles. Your Daddy, your brother, and me (your mommy) are so blessed to have you in our lives. 

Love,

Mommy

PS. This is what your brother did when he was 11 months old.