Leslie

Other than blogs of personal friends of mine, I follow two blogs. The writer of my favorite blog passed away yesterday. It’s so strange to grieve the loss of someone I didn’t actually know, but the thing is that it always felt like I did. I have real friends (Ok--I should probably file them under "acquaintances.") whose children’s names I don’t know or can’t remember. But hers? I know their names, their birthdays. I remember her pregnancy announcements, her cute outfits, the house she and her husband bought not long ago. Several times a week I checked for and devoured her posts about life, fashion, the hogs, babies, whatever. The one thing in all this sadness that has made me smile today is looking back at her blog. I kept scrolling, page after page, thinking wow, how wonderful for her baby girls to have this to look back on when they grow up and can read so many of their momma’s own words about how much she loved them. Please keep her family in your prayers. She’s 30 years old and has left behind a husband she adored, a not-quite-2 year old, and a 7 month old. Devastating.

I am allowing myself to feel the sadness, and I’m choosing to draw inspiration from her life. I need to write more, both for myself and for pure documentation/family keepsake. I didn’t write a 12-month post for Owen. I had so many feelings that were too raw at the time, and by time I came to terms with them, I felt like too much time had passed. I actually have part of a post saved, so I might go back and post it soon. I regret that I didn’t. I’m still upset that I only got to be with Owen for 10 minutes on his first birthday, but I’m thankful for the enormous amounts of time I get with him on most days. He and Ryan bring me joy after joy. I really don’t have much more to say tonight, but I think it’s important to name and express our emotions in whatever way we can, and be vulnerable enough to allow our experiences to change us in both big and small ways.

Until next time,

Megan

11 Months

My baby boy is 11 months old! We got one picture of him looking at the camera with his sticker on. The rest look a little more like this. :) He is so fun. We are never, ever bored. My favorite thing is watching him eat. His little mouth is adorable. He is still obsessed with blueberries. If I put them on his tray with other foods, the blueberries are always the first to disappear. He likes them more than strawberries and more than bread. He seems to love all fruit.

He's learning and growing so fast I can't keep up. He's in mostly 12 month clothes, but we've had to move him up to 12-18 month pjs and size 5 diapers right at 11 months. One day something fits, and the next day it doesn't. It's the craziest thing! I'm not sure how big he is, but I'll find out at our one year appointment early April. He had an ear infection a few weeks ago, and he was over 24 lbs then. He has six teeth and more visibly on the way.

One day he suddenly started pulling up on everything, and that's been his favorite activity ever since. He's always just standing up and holding on to something. It's so funny. :) He is walking all over the place with his walker or by holding on to furniture or various objects. He's used his rocking chair as a walker, too. He's a creative little boy! He still says "uh-oh" all the time. He also says dada and mama! It's sweet. He loves music and really started noticing it and paying attention to it a few weeks ago. He usually stops what he's doing and starts dancing or at least looks at the tv or speaker or wherever the music is coming from. He is really interested in books now and sits still for several stories in a row. He loves taking baths. He is getting better at using his sippy cup on his own. He still loves his bottles, and eats like a champ at every meal. He loves playing with his toys, but I think he would be fine if he didn't have any. He's always playing with random things for long periods of time. The other day it was bibs; today it was an empty box. He is so good at playing independently, especially if he has some room to explore. We try to give him quite a bit of independence. We don't usually follow him around at his heels when he crawls around the house, as long as we know certain doors are shut, the floors are clean, etc.

His favorite thing to do right now is put in, take out, put on, take off, open, close, etc. He is constantly stacking stuff, and is so good at his stacking rings and making towers out of blocks. He can build a tower that is 5 blocks high! He opens and closes doors, cabinets, and drawers. He's obsessed with my jewelry armoire and has broken one bracelet already. Ha! :)

He takes a short, usually thirty minute nap at 9am and a 2-3 hour nap at 2:00. He goes to bed around 7/7:30 and usually sleeps for 12 hours, although he's getting to where he can stay up a little bit later and still sleep 12 hours. He used to wake up by 7 no matter what, even if he hadn't gotten enough sleep. He's still Mr. Happy, and we are SO crazy about him!

I'll be adding my favorite pictures from this past month at some point... hopefully soon. :)

9 & 10 Months