Life with Our Miracles: 11 Months!

Now he's climbing like a monkey!

How can it be that my baby is a month away from being a one year old! We are in party planning mode and are taking him to have one year photos made next weekend. He is at such a FUN stage! I am loving every minute with him. He makes me laugh all day. This has been a busy month with lots of new abilities for Michael. His new favorite game is "chase." He absolutely cracks up belly laughing when you chase him down the hallway. He will even initiate the play by starting to head to the hallway (crawling), then look back to make sure you're coming. When he knows you're after him he goes super fast and laughs, laughs, laughs! I love his sense of humor. He is pulling up and standing all the time. Not cruising too much just yet. He squats quite often and makes himself fall on his bottom just for the fun of it. He adores his Elmo book called, "So Big." He loves for us to read it to him and he grabs it off the shelf almost every day even though there are a ton of other books to choose from. This month his new word/sound is "Eee." He says it all of the time and will say it in rhythm to the ABC's if he hears the song. My favorite accomplishment occurred just last night...He is saying, "Mama!" Finally! He said it all day long today. :)
He made super duper progress with his aversion to chunkier foods this month. No problems whatsoever now! He is still not too keen on feeding himself smaller food items (puffs, diced food), so maybe by next month we'll have a good report on self-feeding. He LOVES to play the piano and will do it all day long. He crawls to the piano bench, pulls himself up and plays his little heart out...sometimes even singing too! He will look back to check and see if you're watching and greatly appreciates applause ~ too cute! I am sad to report that this month Michael had his first hair cut. I tried to hold off until he was one, but we didn't make it. I cried after his hair cut because he looked like such a big boy and not my baby. But I admit he is quite the handsome fella. He has also discovered toilet paper rolls and the joy of unrolling them. I was right there with him getting his bath ready, turned my head just for a moment and there was TP everywhere...he is FAST!! This month Michael enjoyed swimming with friends a few times and made a fun trip to Keller/Denton. Stay tuned for one year pics and Michael's first birthday pics!

Standing up at the dishwasher...He loves to hang out at the dishwasher. Maybe I'll have a great kitchen helper in the future! Then he falls on his bottom and gets so tickled.

Swimming with the Salzman girls.

Last week I left Michael playing in the kitchen while I ran to the restroom. I was gone maybe a minute and returned to the kitchen only to find that Michael wasn't there. I looked in the living room, no Michael. I started calling for him and he wasn't making a sound. By this point I'm hitting panic mode! I look in every room of the house and can't find him. I return to the kitchen/living room area and I catch something move out of the corner of my eye...grinning ear to ear under a bar stool. I don't know how he got there but he played under there for at least 5 minutes.

Michael met his great uncle Ralph for the first time, along with cousin Sheila and family from Virginia. Michael and Adam were introduced to the Bailey tradition of El Fenix! I am sad I didn't take more pictures of this reunion.