Bailey's Eleventh Month

Our lil active boy has turned into such a sweet snuggler this month. He will often run into our arms, lay his head on our shoulders and snuggle us while making sweet 'mmm' noises. Sometimes he'll flings his arms back behind him, thrusting his head and body as close to us as possible and sometimes he wraps his arms around us and gives our backs a little pat. He is just as precious either way and each time it just melts my heart to pieces. But naturally he's gone as quickly as he arrived, running off to tackle something else. After many failed attempts, these two pics were the best blanket shots I could get. He is not at all interested in being still - not even for a second! :)


Along with being so, so busy, this little guy is the toughest wee one I have ever seen!! He always has a bump and bruise on his forehead, a busted lip, a scrape on his chin, or a scratch on his nose or cheek. It is amazing - and terrifying - to me the spills he takes and how little he cries during them.


Here are some other things I want to be sure to remember about Bailey at 11 months:

• We have caught him using our leather couches as a teether on several occasions.
• He's chatting a bit more, making G-sounds, and some D- and R- sounds.
• LOVES music and is such a cute dancer. We started him in music class this month.
  
• He can be quite the naggy younger brother and sadly gets great delight out of pulling Ainsley's hair or stealing her hair bows to chew on.
  
• But his world revolves around Ainsley and will run at her with eyes closed and arms open wide to give her big hugs around her belly.
• He is absolutely obsessed with shoes!! He'll spend quite a while emptying his and Ainsley's shoe baskets, playing the the laces or velcro on each shoe, and then carrying them to random locations around the house.
  
• Loves, loves, loves to flip through pages of books and to be read to.

• He does almost everything with his right hand, esp. eating, and every night I scrub stains out of the right arm of his shirt.
  
• He hasn't shown any real attachment to the loveys in his crib but loves to play with Ainsley's whenever given a chance. Ainsley's loveys are sacred to her so his attraction either causes her to scream or she sweet says, "sure baby, I share them with you."
• He is already amazingly athletic and can scoot himself on a bike, climb all the way up the stairs, and can climb up the ledge on their outside play gym and almost go down the slide on his own.
• Bailey is SO determined which makes him kind of naughty. And when he doesn't get his way he throws himself down and has a fit. Yikes. I see this requiring a lot of patience in the future.
• Trys hard to push anything that will move, even if it shouldn't move, like furniture.
  
• Has a big, raspy, open mouth laugh that sounds fake. "HaaaHaaaHaaa"

• He loves meat and his definitely not going to be my vegetarian son!!
• He has the sweetest smile in the world that lights up his whole face and melts my heart. It is just so hard to catch!
• He's just the perfect mesh of wild and sweet.
  

I still just can't believe how big our little baby boy has gotten. I'm so impressed and surprised by him every single day and I can't believe that the invites have already gone out for his first birthday party!! I can't believe my little boy is almost one! One of my fondest baby memories is the sweet smell that hits you when you open his nursery room door. It's a mix of dreft detergent, clean diapers, and just newness and I can almost smell it just thinking about it. I remember it with Ainsley too. I guess because their bedroom doors are shut so much at first with them napping all the time that all that baby freshness just gets locked up in the room with them. Well, with Bailey getting older, you can barely smell that baby smell when you open his door. :( I know it is a little thing but it just makes me feel like he has just grown up already. Between his demanding big sister, all the junk with my back, and him just being a precocious lil boy, I feel like all his baby moments have flown by. It's also a good reminder for me to live in the moment as much as I can and cherish each second with this lil guy. We love you baby Bailey!!