Eleven Months!

Today's the day my baby boy turned 11 months old! Time to start planning a birthday party! My how time flies! I just love this sweet little smile and those two little teeth! I took this pic with my old camera to keep the look consistent with months past.

Stats at 11 Months:

• Size 9 and 12 month clothes. We will be starting to transition into 12-18 months soon!
• Size 2 or 3 shoe. (2 without socks, 3 with socks!)
• Size 4 diapers
• Drinks about 25 ounces of formula per day (4 times a day)
• He's working on cutting down his number of daily naps from 2 to 1. Right now we just play it by ear. Can't wait for it to be consistent again!
• Climbs up full flights of stairs with ease. Hasn't quite figured out how to get back down more than 1 stair without getting stuck or falling. We'll work on that ;)
• Loves watching the intro scene/song to the Curious George cartoon (he won't move a muscle and stares, mesmerized, at the TV for the entire 60 seconds... and as soon as it ends he's back to playing like normal). 
• Officially said his first word "Uh Oh" at about 10.5 months! Whenever he drops something from his high chair or carseat, he'll say "Uh uh uh uh". He says it like he's trying to figure out how to say the "oh" part, and sometimes he gets lucky and says "Uh uh oh". 
• Also says bababa and mamama... I can't figure out if he knows what they mean yet, though. Sometimes I really think he knows that I'm Mama... so perhaps that will be his second word ;)
• Loves to play with shoelaces, spoons, books, and any toy that makes noise.
• When we go on walks, he loves watching the big cars drive by.
• Favorite "big person" foods include pizza, ice cream, yogurt, and anything sweet. He takes after his mama. I have to consciously remind myself to feed him veggies and meat. ;)
• Still only has 2 teeth! The next ones, the top two, are going to pop through ANY day now. The gums are so swollen it looks like they could explode. Just a waiting game at this point. I'd love for him to have more teeth so he can eat more things without choking, although I've been really surprised at how well he has managed with just two bottom teeth ;)
• Because of all this teething, he just recently chewed up his crib. Like, a lot. Talk about a sad day!
• Makes the funniest "freak out" face you've ever seen. (See this picture). It's even more amazing in person.
• Loves to be chased. We'll yell "I'm gonna get you!" and he smiles really big and starts to "run" (aka crawl as fast as possible) away. He'll stop and look back to see if you're close, and if you are he'll keeping trying to get away, giggling and smiling. 
• Still gets the hiccups when he laughs most of the time. It's SO annoying because sometimes hiccups = spit up! Errgh!
• Can stand on his own without support! He doesn't do it a lot, but I know he can because I will catch him doing it when no one is looking. Then he gets nervous and will quickly sit back down. He can practically stand from a squat as well! Crazy strong!
• He just started climbing up onto low surfaces (like the top of the diaper box, the dishwasher door when it's open, or into his wagon toy pictured below).
• Is getting very close to walking unassisted. We're working on it because I REALLY want him to walk already! He's a pro when we hold both of his hands or when he pushes around his walker wagon toy (see pic below!). He has just recently been able to walk and keep his balance if I hold one of his hands, but he's really really slow and only makes it a few feet before he decides he wants to sit down. Any day now, buddy:

We love this little munchkin and can't believe how much he is starting to look like a little boy instead of a baby! When he's not sick, he's the happiest, most independent little kid in the world.

Play Date with Friends

On Monday the 17th, Charlie and I went to Heidi's house to have a play date with our closest friends. I took this opportunity to take my new camera and practice some photography. I took over 100 shots, and narrowed it down to my favorite 21. So, without further ado, here they are! First, Charlie:

Playing:

Luke:

Crew plays basketball:

Lily & Meg:

Kate swings:

Kate again (look at that cute smile!):

Jana & Crew:

Emma (look at those eyes!):

Me & Charlie:

Lily & Crew (& Luke in background):

Emma & Charlie:

Emma:

Crew slides (love this angle!):

Meg & Lily & Luke:

Kate & Emma, sisters:

Luke climbs:

Charlie stands by himself:

Emma rides:

Lily blocks the slide (Kate at the top):

Kate & Luke eat fishies:

It was so much fun! So, which are your favorites?! PLEASE give me feedback... I'm trying to learn here what works and what doesn't ;)

Life As My Phone Sees It 9/3/12 - 9/18/12

9/4 - Well, who would have guessed that just a couple days after I posted that picture of my sweet Simba kitty that we would have to make the hard decision to put him to sleep... :( He stayed feeling somewhat better for a couple days after my parents took him to the emergency vet, but then on Tuesday, the 4th, he was back to looking frail, tired, and in pain. He could hardly meow and couldn't even sit down at all. It was SO sad, so my Mom made the tough decision that it was time for him to go to a better place. At 17 years old, he was just too old and too sick to get any better. I was there with my whole immediate family (minus Trev) when he died, and I honestly can't tell you the last time I've cried that much. I didn't think I'd be so sad, but it was just hard to say goodbye to such a great childhood memory! I am glad we were all there as a family, though, and now I know that my sweet little kitty is no longer suffering through mortal pains! It's so fun to think of him frolicking around in "kitty heaven" with his brother, Nala, who died over a decade ago after being hit by a car. After going to the vet, we took his body home and buried him in the back yard. We had a short funeral and remembered all the good times. It sure is hard to lose a family pet. Simba, you were so loved!

9/6 - My mom and I enjoyed some much-needed "retail therapy" after Simba died. While we were out, we found these adorable mini Converse All-Stars for Charlie. Once we got home, my Dad reminded us that he had a pair JUST like them!! So cute! :)

9/7 - Just a fun picture for comparison. My child looks nothing like me. Ha! Just kidding ;)

9/9 - Back in Utah at church... Charlie got a hold of my phone and took this picture on Instagram... silly boy!

9/12 - Got tagged in a "What are you doing now?" post. I was working on my computer with this cute boy playing in the background. Can't believe how big he is getting!

9/14 - Girls' night out at Spark! Here's my peach ring martini!

9/15 - My two sweet guys thoroughly enjoying their Saturday morning college football! <3

9/17 - Bath time was EXTRA fun... he would kick kick kick to make the water splash and giggle about it!

9/18 - He woke up with some pretty awesome one-sided bedhead today! He must have slept well... either that or I need to give him a haircut ;)

Family & Friends in NC

Finally I found time to cull through the rest of the photos I took the second week I was in NC! Trev had flown back to Utah so he wouldn't miss a second week of work, so I took the opportunity to meet up with more of my family and some old friends that I grew up with. My mom and I also did our share of shopping! ;)

On Monday of that week my Dad's parents, Nana and Granddaddy, came to visit for the day. These are Charlie's great grandparents! It is so sweet to see them interact with one another:

And here is Granddaddy inviting Charlie to come play with him. Or, as he would say, "Chahh-lie":

Uncle Mike had so much fun with my little man. He LOVED when they would run laps around the big island in the kitchen, and his little feet would just kick and kick as he would pretend to "run":

Crazy Uncle Mike! :) Just playing with the wide angle settings on my camera. It kinda looks like he's coming out of the screen, huh?

I was so lucky that I had my parents around, especially since they would constantly play with and feed Charlie:

This is Charlie's infamous "freak out" face. Sometimes he just starts doing it, over and over again. Sometimes he does it when prompted. Either way, it's HILARIOUS to witness. He tenses up all over, squeezes his fists, stiffens and shakes his arms, and makes a "freak out" face. It seriously looks like he's killing brain cells every time he does it, but it is SO funny:

Another funny thing that Charlie would do is mimic my Dad when he would clear his throat. And my Dad tends to do that pretty often, so you can imagine how adorably funny it is to hear him repeat my Dad almost every time! :) What a sweet little boy:

Here is a candid photo I snapped of my beautiful 13 year old cousin, Lauren, who came to visit with her mom (my Aunt Kristen) over the weekend. Can you believe she's only 13?!? Neither can I!

One evening we had a thunderstorm and Mike took Charlie out in the rain to get wet:

Later in the week, we had visits from lots of my old friends. First to come was Kristi, who I've known since middle school, and her adorable son Hudson who is about a month younger than Charlie. He is so much fun and REALLY friendly... so much so that he would run/crawl towards Charlie every time he saw him and try to tackle him with hugs and kisses. Since Charlie had just been woken up from his nap a little early, he wasn't exactly keen on the extra attention ;)

Cute boy with those big, blue eyes:

Another fun shot of Hudson:

The two boys together... how cute, huh? :)

Another fun thing Charlie got to do during the week was hang out with Bebop (my dad) while the girls went shopping! They would go for stroller rides and he was introduced to the swing for the first time! Hold on tight, buddy!!

He liked to pull his feet up into the swing and sometimes he would even rest them on the top of the swing. Such a silly monkey...

But hey, it's no wonder he had so much fun! Who WOULDN'T enjoy themselves when they have this for their entertainment!?:

I had my brother try to take some successful pictures of me and Charlie. None of the face-on pictures turned out great, but he captured this wonderful moment on camera...I LOVE getting kisses from the second love of my life:

A couple days later, my friend Kristen came to visit. I've known her since birth, basically. Our moms were good friends and we were born about a month apart and looked just like twins. Oddly enough, my friend Kristen ended up having twin girls! They are about 2 months older than Charlie and they came over to play as well! This first picture is of Haley:

And this is her twin sister, Riley:

They are such cute little girls and they LOVE to play play play! I could never quite capture a good photo of all 3 babies looking at the camera, so this is the best it's gonna get... ;)

I was also able to visit with my friend Charisse who I knew from my days at Wymount. She brought along her 2.5 month old son, Benjamin and it was SO wonderful to meet him and get to hold a little tiny baby! I was also able to catch up with my friend Catherine (friends since Kindergarten!) and some old neighbor friends, Mr. & Mrs. Rosser! It was such a joy to see everyone and take little walks down memory lane.