I am 11 months old! Let the countdown begin!

Wow! 11 months let the countdown to 1 year begin!!! The tenth month was a rough one in our house, but we managed to survive :) Ford got 4 new teeth (yes 4 in a matter of weeks), and took a lot of falls mostly his head colliding with something solid! Poor guy had a hard month, but the teeth are through the gums and he is becoming much more cautious about falling. A lot of tears were shed this month from a baby who rarely ever cries, but most of the time the tears were warranted. All that being sad there was still a lot of smiling, giggling, hugging, wet kissing, joyful screaming and lots of proud moments for our sweet boy! Here are some facts about Ford at 11 months!

* He went from crawling to speed crawling in only a few weeks, and is into EVERYTHING!

* He is pulling up on just about anything he can get his hands on. I really can't leave him alone or take my eyes off of him!

* He loves to play in his room and most of the time it looks like a bomb went off. Erik and I think he tries to see how fast he can dump everything out!

* He is still very wild and very loud!

* He knows what he wants and what he doesn't want and lets you know about! I am not ready for this much attitude and this young of an age, but oh my is it here!!!

* Currently his favorite toy is an empty diaper box with a picture of a little boy on it that he calls "Daga"! Most pictures of little kids he calls "Daga"!

*He loves the beach crawling all in the sad getting into every crevice and sometimes taking a handful to the mouth!

*He loves music and loves to dance!

*He LOVES Cooper and anything with a dog on it!

*He loves books and currently his favorite is one about 101 Dalmatians not a big surprise!

*When we ask his what a doggy says he makes a panting noise with his tongue out! He knows what a lion says, a monkey, and and Indian (Erik taught him that not me :), but he gets them confused a lot! He always gets the doggy sound right though!

*He now has 6 teeth and I am hoping we get a few weeks break from any new ones!

*I still rock him to sleep and he loves to snuggle with me while he drifts off. It is pure bliss for me!

* He is finally sleeping on his own without any sort of swaddle and loves to sleep on his tummy!

*He still takes 2 naps a day for about 1 1/2 hours each.

*He sleeps from 7pm-6am and I wished I could train him to sleep later!

*He has so much personality and is a super friendly little boy! He loves to hand out smiles!

*He loves to give kisses to Erik and I and to his stuffed animals! His lambie is his favorite!

Here is our sweet boy at 11 months!

Finally!

Finally after months of failed attempts (I tried every month since he was 5 months old!) Ford is sleeping without a swaddle, double swaddle, inside swaddle band wrapped in an outside swaddle, sleepsak with sewn up arm holes, sleepsak with one arm out and one arm in, and the final step sleepsak with arm holes open, but arms inside untiil he wiggled them out in his sleep! I am sure you can tell by my sarcasim that this has been a challenge, but at 10 1/2 months he is sleeping on his own. I had to get very creative to accomidate my growing baby who couldn't sleep with his arms out, but after much stress I can say we were successful! In hindsight I think I was caught up in "doing what you are supposed to do" mentality, and listening to people say "you are still swaddling your baby" when really I should have just let him go at his own pace, and saved myself a lot of anxiety. Ford now loves to sleep on his tummy and is taking great naps and sleeping great at night. Here are some pics of my sweet sleeping boy!

Random Assortment!

I finally downloaded pictures from my iPhone onto my computer, so here is a random assortment of pictures from the past few months!

Always into something!

 You can totally tell they are brothers :)

He loves to drink out of my cup!

Again, always into something!

Planking in the gym! Makes me laugh everytime!

Talk about perfect timing! Ford is 'in love' with Cooper, and Cooper is more 'in like' with Ford!

Mr. Personality! I love this face!

Again!

First time at gym class! He loved it!

Getting some curls! I love it!

Father's Day and Anniversary Party!

We spent last weekend in Sacramento celebrating Father's Day and Erik's parents 40th wedding anniversary! We had so much fun at their new house especially in their pool! It was a super warm weekend (108 degrees!!), but we managed to get everyone together and smiling for a family picture!

Ford's little red cheeks tell the story of the heat!

I love these two more than life!!! Ford is the luckiest little boy to have a daddy like Erik! Nothing has ever brought me more joy then seeing how much these two love each other.

He loves to swim!!

Coop keeping a close eye on Ford and Erik in the pool!

Melt my heart!!!

Cooper had no idea how to handle the heat!!! We pushed him in the pool a few times, but he was so hot!!!

Happy Father's Day Daddy and Grandpa!!

Happy Anniversary Grandma and Grandpa!

Fun with friends!!

Ford had some fun play dates last week with his buddies Nate Bentley and Sommer Negard! Erik was out of town on business all last week, so I made sure our week was busy so it would go by fast!

Sweet Nate! Look at those blue eyes!

I love this picture! These two are all boy and couple of bruisers!

It was so fun to watch Ford and Sommer because they actually played together!!! Ashley and I both commented on how well they played together!!! They are growing up so fast it's hard to believe! I think these two are going to be great friends!!!

Pool Time!!!

Ford loves the water so much, so I bought him a little dinky $10 pool the other day! It's been well worth the $10 he loves it!!! The first time I put him in I thought I don't need to waste a swim diaper I will just put him in naked. He played for about 20 minutes, and then he got that look and I heard that grunt that I know all too well. Sure enough on his pool's maiden voyage he pooped in it!!! Oh well  it's a one man pool, and he has a great Daddy that will fish out his terds, and wash out his pool!!!

His favorite pool/bath toy the blue Solo cup!!!

Taking a little break while Daddy does some clean-up in the pool :)..........

.....And we are back with a clean pool and a mohawk!!!

He has great post pool hair!!!

Little Mover!

I am happy to report that Ford is now crawling, and I am also very happy that I don't have to hear "Is he crawling yet? Really, how old is he?" anymore!!! Every baby develops at their own pace, and Ford felt 10 months was the perfect time to start crawling, and I agree!!! We have had 10 months of not having to worry about what he is getting into, if he's going to fall and bump his head or dirty hands and knees! He loves that he can get around now, and is working on mastering the skill of crawling! He actually first crawled on May 27th, but this video is after about a week of crawling. He is so proud of himself and so are we! Way to go Ford we knew you could do it!