Owen - 11 months

Oh, how we all love this sweet baby.  Like I say all the time, it's so bittersweet seeing him get older and learn new things.  As excited as I am to see him reach different milestones, I hate that my baby is growing up.  

These days he always has something in his mouth, and usually it's not something he's supposed to have!

When he got a hold of these crayons I couldn't take them away fast enough!  He kept grabbing different colors.  And if it's not a crayon it's something else laying around.  If it's too big to keep hidden in his mouth he sticks it straight out like in these pics, which always cracks me up.  Crazy baby.

I wish he liked having food in his mouth as much as all the inedible things he somehow finds.  Granted he is getting better, but eating is still a bit of a challenge.  He does finger foods much better than purees, but sometimes it's hard coming up with things soft enough for him to eat with his three little teeth on the bottom.  (The top two look like they're just about reading to come in any day...)  He likes torn up bread or waffles or anything of the sort, Cheerios, bananas, grated apples, pieces of cheese, etc.  Sometimes when I'm desperate I'll let him gnaw on a fruit leather, which he seems to like...

We did have some luck with peas and peaches the other night.  He's making progress!

But some days are just rough. :/  And when he gets frustrated he pulls at the back of his hair.  Can you tell he wasn't too happy here?  Looks like a little Jack Nicholson!

He actually plays with his hair for comfort, too.  I think maybe it stems from playing with my hair while he's nursing.  As soon as I give him his paci or lay him down for a nap his hand will go up to the back of his head and he'll start playing with his hair. :)  David wants to give him another haircut sometime soon, but I hate to take away his little source of comfort!  I took these pictures the other night right after he fell asleep nursing.  So sweet.  (They're not the best quality because they were taken with my phone...)

Cute dreamy smile.

It's been nice to have some warmer weather and be able to spend more time outside.  We went on our first morning walk the other day when all the other kids were at school.  Owen enjoyed his morning nap in the stroller, which worked perfectly for me.  He's a great little walking buddy.  (Notice the hand on his hair...)

And he got to crawl around on grass for the first time!  Last year, before the snow came, he wasn't quite old enough to sit alone so he'd never really felt the grass before.  He didn't seem to mind the prickliness at all, but I couldn't keep him from putting wood chips in his mouth!

He also had a blast on the swings.  I love his goofy smiles here. :)

He's actually really close to walking right now.  He can walk with us holding on to just one hand, and he gets so excited about it!  Our neighbor actually started encouraging him to take some steps a couple weeks ago at a party, and I was surprised to see how anxious he was to try.  I hadn't been in a big hurry to get him walking, because then he'll really be a toddler and not my baby anymore!  Or so I feel...  But I guess there's no stopping it.

We brought up our push train so he could push it around the house and it's definitely his new favorite toy!  I think he's going to be our fastest walker yet.  (Again, bad phone pics.)

So that's our sweet baby.  Always curious and on the go, and sweet and smiley as ever.  These are my favorite recent pics, taken just after he woke up from a nap.  He gets a little line across his forehead from sleeping with bum up and his head pressed against the mattress.  Cutest little sleep face ever.  I love him!

Odds and ends

With the cold weather, the kids have had to be pretty imaginative during all our time indoors.  It's actually been really fun seeing them play together, and seeing all the things they come up with.  Ari has proven to be a little artist and I especially love her people.  This is a picture of Cinderella, and then the second one shows the cat she added. :)  So cute!

She was playing school with Matthew once and wanted something to label her pet fish, so she asked me how to spell it and wrote it herself.  I think this is the first word besides her name that she's written on her own. :)

Matthew's loved making rooms/forts with chairs and things, and I've just had to tell myself that the fun they have using their imaginations is worth the mess.

This is Ari and her "store."  She liked to collect things and we'd take turns checking out the other person, complete with debit cards and change and punching in our phone number.  She's got the whole shopping thing down!

A few times Heather and her girls came over and the girls played with Heather and I watched Downton Abbey episodes. :)  Ari and Cami are so cute and quirky together!

Matthew had yogurt for lunch one day and ended up with this totally unintentional mustache.

And one day we went to McDonald's for some reason and he took his Happy Meal box and created these glasses out of the pieces.  He's such a little clown, but I love it!

These days the kids get a kick out of playing with flour and cooking utensils.  As long as they don't add water to the mix, I don't mind.  Ari can stay busy doing this for a surprisingly long time.

Ari loves her twirl dresses.

And tutus!  I found this tutu at a consignment sale and it makes the perfect Fancy Nancy skirt.

She also got her very own umbrella, which she was thrilled about!  She'd claimed our State Farm umbrella as her own, but this one is much cuter and now she can't wait for it to rain so she can actually use it outside!

Cute girl - playing doctor here, I think.  School, shopping, doctor... she really enjoys role playing activities these days.

A couple weekends ago, Bree babysat the kids while David and I went out and she made them all duct tape wallets!  Bryan had pulled up some You Tube tutorials and they were able to figure it out.  (Way to be an awesome aunt, Bree!)  Then the next day I took them to get things for paracord bracelets.  Bryan had wanted one forever and we finally got around to making some.  It all made for a pretty productive weekend!

Bryan and Matt's favorite thing lately has been the basketball hoop in their room.  We changed their beds to bunk beds so they have all sorts of extra room now to play, and they're getting pretty good at it! We've had some good games of "pig" and "horse," and I think even I've impressed them a bit with my skills. ;)

We've tried to do some fun things as a family on the weekends, especially since we got our new car last month - David finally got his wish.  A big SUV!  I actually really do like it.  It's big, but I drove a 12-seater van in high school so I feel right at home. :)   

David's tried to find reasons to take it on little trips, so a few weeks ago we took the kids to ride the ferris wheel at Scheels - great, cheap entertainment!

And we took a day trip to Park City to see a Lego exhibit at a museum there.  It was so cool!  The boys were pretty impressed.

So it's been a fun month!  All these little things have added up to make me feel so blessed just to be able to spend time with my kids and enjoy our simple life at home.  Once again I'm reminded that it's the small day-to-day things that count the most.