Infancy is nearing an end! (11 months)

How is this happening?  Our Little Man will be a year old in April.  Say it isn't so!  Phillip and I were talking the other night about how time seems to inch by so slowly when you're waiting for these little bundles of joy to arrive, but when they get here it's like life is automatically spent in the fast lane.

We're learning to savor the little things.  I try to catch every first (what few we have left) on record somehow.  I relish holding Emory in my lap during our story time every night.  My heart leaps with joy as we're walking through a store and he's screaming "Mama!  Dada!  Dada!  Mama!  Bye bye!  UH OH!"  I wish there was a pause button.

I love these days with him.  Maybe it's the weather, but he has been in the best mood these past two weeks.  Maybe it's just that he is no longer sick.  Either way, I'll take it.  Since I had to take him in for a doctor's appointment a few weeks ago due to illness, he got weighed once more.  He had on clothes, but he's still hanging strong at 22 lbs and some change!  :-)  Emory is trying to beat Mommy in the height department by the age of 5 (or at least that's what Phillip says).  I should measure him.  At his 9 month appointment he was almost 30 inches.  His clothes are usually too short and fit in the waist or too loose and fit in length.  Thank goodness it's warm because we are breaking out the shorts!

He's quite the mover.  Only holding on to things and scooting.  No independent walking...YET!

Oh the faces.  He loves it when people make faces at him.  Emory is a wonderful imitator. 

Did I mention that he is tall?  Holy cow!

The meltdowns: my least favorite part of parenting.  He picks the WORST and MOST INAPPROPRIATE times to do it too.

...and then he goes right back to this!  I can't be mad at him because he's too cute! 

We have the same two teeth we cute at 9.5 months and 10 months, but I believe the top ones are closing in on us.

This pictures is funny, but he really is a thinker.  He studies things so diligently before making his move; and is he ever some kind of calculated when he does move. 

Emory's scrunchy faces remind me of Phillip...a lot!

Emory's feet are huge.  One of his favorite things to do is take off his shoe and hold his foot up to our noses.  One of us will give the obligatory "PEW WEE!" and he just cackles.  If he's still doing this at 17 we will revisit the issue. 

Oh this child loves the outdoors.  God definitely meant for him to be a Spring baby.  He starts bouncing when I open the door to go outside with him.  Looks like we're going to have a long, hot summer.

So serious.  Emory, I fear, is a little too much like his mama in this department.  Other babies find things amusing while Emory requires something completely different.  I hope he grows out of this a little.  He needs to live a little!

Technically, he has been saying "dada" and "mama" for a long time now.  I think that we're going to officially say that his first real word (meaning he said it and meant it) was "bye bye."  He has the wave down and everything.  Somehow his signing has taken on an interesting turn.  Instead of one hand eating the other (the way he formerly signed "more") now he flaps his arms and smacks his hands (much like children do when they are singing the "Baby Bumblebee" song).  It's too amusing to correct though.  We get the message.  He still won't sign any of the other words.  He recognizes and squeals/whines when I sign "eat" and sometimes when I sign "daddy" or "mommy."  I think I'm going to work on incorporating "please," "thank you," and "milk" in pretty soon.  

Some of his likes:

• sweet potatoes (at least 3 or 4 a week) 
• It should also be noted that he eats as much as a grown man at certain sittings.
• any kind of fruit
• singing and dancing
• Goodnight Moon
• playing peekaboo
• chasing the dogs and cat
• poking belly buttons
• driving his car
• fish/aquariums

Some of his dislikes:

• still weird about textures of foods (especially beans)
• bedtime and/or napping
• the end of bath time
• broccoli (the real stuff...he loves the purees)
• new people
• clothes, especially socks and shoes (he gets this from his daddy)
• loud noises (vacuum, blender, etc.)

Wow!  Our next post about Emory will have pictures from his birthday.  We are so blessed that God picked us to be the parents of this crazy, wonderful, bouncing baby boy!  

Milestone Friday

This past Friday was a huge day for Emory. Seems like all that fussing was pent up frustration from working on accomplishing a whole lot developmentally. All in one night he started crawling and pulling up! Oh buddy, look out!

He has kept us some kind of busy since then (and has refused to nap all week). It's still cute though! Check out all this hard work:



...and pulling up:



We can't wait to see what next week holds! Hope you are having a fabulous week!

Kitty Prison

I never mention our cat, Sassy.  She's pretty much just an inanimate object that decorates our living room. 

Emory is fascinated by her.  He squeals with delight when he sees her walking through.  He wants to pet her.  He loves to try to poke her nose. 

Unfortunately for Emory, Sassy doesn't feel nearly as much warmth in her heart towards Emory.  I had the chairs from our table in the living room the other night while I mopped.  Sassy used this to her advantage when little feet came toward her.

Clever feline.

Emory will get her next time, you wait and see.  He is coming up with all kinds of ways to get into things these days!

Emory meets Wilmington

A few weekends ago we went to Wilmington to visit Brandy, Will and Ella Kate.  Really, we just went to visit Ella Kate, but Brandy and Will were there so we pretend to play with them too.  :-)  We traveled at night hoping that Emory would sleep.  Guess who stayed awake the WHOLE 3.5 hour drive?  Yes!  Our child.  He is the worst at sleeping on the go. 

Saturday all of the girls hung out while heavens only knows what kind of mischief Phillip and Will dragged Emory into.  Sunday we decided to take the babies to the aquarium at Fort Fisher for a little outing.  We started the day off with lunch at The Copper Penny. 

Little did we know that Emory had other plans all together for that day.  It was, by far, the worst dining experience we have ever had with him.  I got to experience my child embarrassing us to the fullest.  No idea what was wrong with him.  He fussed and screamed.  Nothing worked.  Disastrous!

Brandy tried keeping him happy by running up and down the street.  It worked, but was short-lived.  Valiant effort!

Lemon?  Why yes!

We decided to push on and head for the aquarium.  Luckily, he is a lot like his Daddy.  Emory loves anything fish/amphibian/reptile related. He wasn't as willing to touch the snakes as Ella Kate was.  She would grab anything they directed her towards.  Fearless little thing (I was squirming behind the camera). 

Albino alligator.  Right up their alley!

Seriously, the happiest baby ever.

Why is my child not scared?  He acts like he's trying to pet Mason.

Ella Kate was all about this boa.

Emory was not nearly as willing to participate in the hands-on as Ella Kate.

Plotting a way to get inside to that sea turtle.

 

"Mama!  Daddy put me in this crab.  Are you gonna do something about it?"

Ella Kate thinks her mama is crazy.

 

There's no telling what these two were laughing about.  They get into lots of trouble together. 

Childhood wonder!

 Don't you just love watching babies take in new things?  Currently, I'm watching Emory kick his foot at Mason's snout.  His goal is to get the dog to remove his sock.  (Who said I don't have a genius?!)  We had fun in Wilmington!  Hopefully, the next time we're down we'll come equipped with a much happier baby.  He can channel his inner Ella Kate!