47 Weeks Old....& The Fourth Of July

In 3 days my little babe will be 11 months old. It's completely bittersweet to think that he will be a year old in a month. I know I'm super excited for his first birthday party, but I know I'm going to be a cry baby as well. I promise you all, it goes SO much faster than everyone tells you. I feel like I was just in the hospital giving birth, every time I think I have "baby fever" I remind my self about the hospital lol....seriously. This was about the best picture I could get after the 40th something try. Matthew always smiles, that's not the hard part, the hard part is getting him to be still. He is climbing, throwing himself everywhere, its crazy. & when I count to 3, its almost like he knows he shouldn't move, so he does HA.

Health: Well I have officially confirmed the 12 month appointment now that we have normal health insurance for him. But it's not until a little after his birthday. The lady on the phone said we should just skip the 9 month appointment since he is already 11 months old anyway. Matthew has 8 teeth, he seems to be getting a little fussy this week, so possibly more are on the way. He has been sick once, which was last month. His hair getting blonder, & his eyes are still blue lol. I'm guessing he weighs around 21 pounds now, & defiantly 28 inches long. It's crazy how much the weight gain stops after they start crawling & walking, & since he is running, yes, running, its staying put. 

Nutrition: I haven't used the baby bullet in almost 2 months, why? because Matthew doesn't really like Purees, or even slightly chunky purees, he wants the whole piece of food or cut up into little bits, no liquid. So I've just been cutting up fruits, veggies, & chicken for him to eat. He still loves yogurt though, & apple sauce. Adam & I eat pretty healthy, so we normally just give Matthew what we are eating at each meal now. For example if we are eating Spaghetti, asparagus, & a roll I'll just give him little pieces of it all. It's a lot easier that way & he knows that he wants to eat what we are eating now. I've also got a lot of snacks that we give him. Mum mums, granola bars, organic cheetos, puffs, cereal, so on. Their little gums can mash up a lot more than you think, but it's always better to stay on the safe side & watch them as well. He takes about 6 ounces of formula every 5-6 hours. We are trying to add less formula in each bottle, & eventually turn it in to water, & give him real milk in a sippy cup. We never realized how bad it was to let him go to sleep with the bottle. Apparently the milk left in their mouth that they didn't swallow and fell asleep with will stay in their & rot their teeth. So we are now giving him formula before bed still, but before he falls asleep putting water in there. One of Matthew's favorite breakfasts are eggs, & chocolate chip mini waffles. 

Sleep: Matthew takes around one or two naps during the day. The first one lasts for about an hour, maybe longer if he is in his bed upstairs & the other one lasts about 30 minutes. He sleeps through the night, he normally wakes up like clock work between 9-10 a.m always. So the hard part is trying to get him to go to sleep earlier than 12, he fights it. He sleeps in his pack n play next to our bed, sound machine on. We have completely stopped using the pacifier, I know, I said 7 months but 9 1/2-10 months is when we dropped it. It's a lot easier said than done. I don't really have any advice on how to get rid of it, he really got rid of it himself. We would give it to him, but he would take it out instantly. We never swaddle anymore, he actually gets mad at us when we do it now. 

Toys: Matthew doesn't really like "baby toys", he played with them, then stopped, then played, then stopped, it's been going on for a while lol. He generally picks up any of the toys in the basket just to teeth on them/chew them. As you can see my child doesn't like money at all, he just wanted the wallet ;) I'll catch him occasionally pushing his walker around, most likely backwards pulling, or playing with his activity cube or musical toys. Other than that, its tupper wear, wallets, cell phone, cds, ipads, coasters, kitchen utensils, whatever he finds. He is super sneaky, & finds everything. 

Skills: Matthew opens & closes doors, he can open the stove ugh, he climbs on top of the cabinets & rails to the gates, he claps when we sing "if your happy & you know it clap your hands", he runs when he wants to get somewhere, he says Bye, mama, dada, & ball. He picks up the phone & puts it to his ear & attempts to say hello. He jumps into the pool, he waves goodbye if your lucky. He loves when we scare him or play peek a boo. He likes to play peek a boo & use whatever is next to him to hide his face. He drinks out of a straw now. He opens & closes cabinets all the time, can get down off the couch or bed on his own. He runs to the stairs where the gate is when he hears the garage door. Can't think of anything else right now ;)

Matthew took his first ride in a Publix car ;) He totally loved it more than the regular cart, that's for sure. He was holding the wheel the whole time. But when I say these things are hard to maneuver  I mean it, as in, I had Adam do it for me lol, so I don't plan on putting him in this when I'm alone!!

Matthew & I had our first pool day just him & me!! I love this gap cover up, he kept the hood on the whole time, but with the hats he takes them right off, even the ones with velcro, he rips them off. I cornered him between the chairs so he couldn't get to the water while I was laying out for a little bit, gave him a bunch of toys to play with & he was totally content. I love to go to the pool when he needs a nap lol, that makes it a lot easier too. It's just really hard to stay in the water or walk around with them the whole time. The sun is beating down, & they are flying all over the place, it's hard. 

Clothing: Matthew is in 6-12 month stuff from Gap & Old navy. We don't have a ton of onsies anymore, this one & maybe 10 others. Everything else is shirts & little jackets. Obviously the onsies are easier, but I feel like he is old enough to not wear onsies all the time, he needs some pants haha. He is in size 4 diapers, & size 5 shoes. 

We had so much fun walking around the neighborhood the other day & playing in the grass. Matthew loves to just be free & go where ever to explore. 

We took a walk on the Fourth Of July, even though it was raining the whole day & even sprinkling on our walk, we still went to get out of the house :) Matthew stayed in the wagon for about 5 minutes & then got out to walk with us the entire 15 minutes back home! It was adorable. He had to grab every sign outside, like the for sale signs, or adt (whatever its called) signs, it was funny. 

Matthew is falling asleep everywhere lately. Once he gets to that point where he is just too tired to care, its where ever he can close his eyes lol. He even fell asleep at his high chair today!! He rarely ever will fall asleep on us, & cuddle with us though :(

Matthew got his first pair of "Stride Right" I decided he obviously had to have a pair since he walks & runs all the time!! I love these ones because they are more like sandal tennis shoes, so they are perfect for the summer time. Not that it matters this summer, since it's been the rainiest  summer I feel like we have ever had. Come on Georgia, I want to go to the pool more, once a week is silly!! 

Loving on my little man :)

We hope everyone had a wonderful & safe Fourth of July. We spent ours indoors all day, with the exception of a grocery run & quick 20 minute walk outside. We watched the Macy's fire work show on TV, made the best hamburgers we have ever made & ate some dessert. It was a very chill Fourth of July, that's for sure. It was raining all day!! The big firework shows were cancelled :(

Family picture :)

The awesome fruit pizza I made for the Fourth of July. My mom always used to make fruit pizzas,so I always make them now too :) They are SO yummy. All you need is a roll of sugar cookie, roll it out into a circle, bake it, then mix cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla & orange juice for the icing & add the fruit, YUM.