At 1 year you are...

*sleeping from 7:30ish to around 7 or 7:30am
*taking 2 naps a day - the morning one is usually around an hour to an hour and a half and the afternoon one is typically an hour and a half to 2 hours.
*eating most everything now although you have started showing some definite preferences. I am not sure what all you will be eating now that we are living full time at camp, but we will figure it out. Your favorite thing right now is probably grapes (although just today you refused them - who knows with you!). You also love crackers or cereal. You are down to one bottle a day (most days) and I bought some whole milk and you tried it for the first time the other day and weren't too sure. Don't know if its the temperature or the taste that you didn't like.
*the top, front left tooth finally poked through about a week or 2 ago and just this week the top one on the right side of your front tooth broke through. I think you are getting another one because you are doing this thing where you wake up about 30 minutes to an hour after you go to bed and need to be rocked back to sleep. The only time you do that is when a tooth is coming.
*you LOVE your walker/push toy but get VERY frustrated when you run into a wall or something. Now that we are at camp and the campers haven't come yet, I have taken it up to the dining hall and let you walk your little heart out in the wide open room. You just smile and go from wall to wall. You have pretty much won everyone over with your clapping and waving and how you smile ALL THE TIME. Everyone says what a happy guy you are.
*Obsessed with stairs and I am thankful that we don't have too many to deal with here at camp. At the house this month you were constantly wanting to climb the stairs and I would have to just sit behind you as you have no clue how to come back down yet.
*you finally said your first word - "bye bye" quickly followed by "mama" (I was SUPER happy about this as both of the other boys said "dada" first. You have been saying the sounds of "mamamama" and "dadadada" for awhile, but I don't count it as an official word until I know you know what it means. You don't say "mama" too often, but it was shortly after mother's day that you said it while looking/reaching for me. You understand so much and it seems like you get smarter every day. You do say "dada" quite a bit now - especially since we have been out here at camp.
*You love "patty cake" and "ride 'em horsey"
*You can blow kisses (when you want to) and you give high fives to pretty much anyone

This birthday marks a big milestone for me - since you are my last baby (sniff sniff) and are almost walking, I feel like the baby days are over for me. It is bittersweet as I was never a huge fan of the baby baby stage, but for some reason this time around, I didn't mind it as much. I cherished the sweet moments, probably knowing it was my last time to do things - also I just knew from my first two times around that those tough stages are SHORT. They don't SEEM short when you're right in the midst of one, but they really are. Just about the time you drive yourself crazy trying to figure out a solution, the phase ends. I guess by your 3rd baby, you "get" that a bit more and are able to be more laid-back and just ENJOY things. It makes me a bit sad that I just figured all of that out - BUT I am excited for the future and to watch my 3 boys grow up and experience new stages, together.

We love you Tan Tan and can't imagine our lives without you - God knew just what we needed!

A couple weekends ago I got to take Mason and Brody to Chick fila's mother/son date knight. It was such a cute night. They had valet parking and someone to greet us at a podium next to a Knight when we walked in. We were taken to a special line to order food and then were taken to our seats. The tables were covered with tablecloths and each boy got to decorate a family shield. I didn't have to get up one time to get anything - the employees were dressed up and walking around to tend to our every need. They brought out our food on plates and we enjoyed a great meal and great company. There was a photo booth to capture the night and they gave the boys flowers to give their moms. The boys seemed to have fun although they were very confused why someone else was driving our car :)

I love the idea of going on "dates" with my boys. I want them to learn how they should behave and how they should treat their future lady friends (WAY in the future). Anyone who knows our family knows how much we love Chick fila (most of the staff know us by name which is pretty sad) but this is one of the many reasons why we love it - such a great company that promotes family. I hope they do it again next year!

At 11 months you are...

*sleeping about the same at night although you had a stretch of some early mornings this month - thankfully you are back to your normal 7:30ish wake up time
*taking 2 naps a day - the morning one is usually around an hour to an hour and a half and the afternoon one is typically an hour and a half to 2 hours.
*loving table food and hardly eating baby food anymore. You love strawberries, grapes, chicken nuggets, yogurt, and any kind of cereal or cracker. You still have 2 bottles of formula every day and otherwise eat at regular meal times. I plan to take away at least one of the bottles this month and the other one next month
*you got another tooth - this time on top. It came in April 7th but there is still no sign of the one next to it on top although it looks like it will pop through any day.
*you are becoming quite a bit more high-maintenance it seems - your laid back personality doesn't seem to be as strong as it once was :) You are not as patient in the car when we run errands and you will definitely get upset if we take something away from you
*doing great at church/MOPS for childcare. You cry when I leave but they say you do well and are happy while I'm gone
*started playing with a push toy and are doing pretty well at walking behind it although you won't go more than 4 or 5 steps
*moving around very well now - can get to where you want to go and have attempted the stairs a few times, although you did fall a couple weeks ago from a few steps up and got a nice size bruise on your forehead (mom felt terrible about that one). You haven't really tried the stairs since then.
Speaking of falls - you also had a nasty fall at a friend's house while standing up against their front screen door. Someone opened the door and out you fell, head first on the concrete porch. You scraped up your nose and above your top lip pretty badly - that combined with your bruise, and scratches on your forehead from the fall made for a sad site.
*you do this thing where you cock your head to your right shoulder - it started out as just a thing you did when you were bashful or flirting, but now you do it all the time.
*you can sign "more" and understand a lot of words now. I know you understand bath, eat, bottle, dog, bye bye, dance, and shake

*you become more and more fun with each day - your brothers love to play with you and make you laugh

I was very determined this year to help the boys understand more about the actual reason behind Easter - not just the egg hunts. Actually a song that Mason learned at preschool sums it up pretty well (and its one I want to remember because Mason taught it to Brody who is hilarious when he sings it)
"I'm a bunny..and its not funny...people think its all about hunting eggs...I'm a bunny...and its not funny...listen, sunny...Easter is all about J.E.S.U.S...JESUS!"

I had heard about Resurrection Eggs and thought we would give them a try. It turned out to be a great, simple way for the boys to learn about different aspects of the Easter story. They would look forward to seeing what was in the egg each night. We also used The Jesus Storybook Bible (which I HIGHLY recommend to anyone looking for a kids Bible) as we went through the story.

finding out the last egg is empty...

Here are some other pics of our fun Easter holiday...

What makes you happy?... sharing

What makes you sad?... Mason push me

What do you like to do?... play with cars and trucks

What is your favorite color?... all the colors

What do you like to eat?... lunch...broccoli...carrots...ranch

What is your favorite toy?.. truck - auto carrier truck

What are you excited about?... going to Monkey Bizness

Where do you like to go?... Branson!

what is your favorite song?... hmmm....(finger on cheek)...I like the animal song (one we make up and sing at bed time)

Do you like to take naps?... yes

Who is your best friend?... Mason...I mean mama

What is your favorite thing about preschool?... playing outside

What is your favorite animal?... lions and tigers

What kind of job do you want to have when you grow up?... at a construction site

What is your favorite kind of candy?... gum

When do you feel happy?... when dada or you takes me to camp

When do you feel sad?... when Brody hits me

What is your favorite color?... pink and red (although today he said it was orange)

What do you like to eat?... apples

What is your favorite toy?.. my helicopter

When do you feel frustrated?... when Brody doesn't listen to me

What is your favorite song?... "You Make Everything Glorious"

What is your favorite thing to do at Preschool?... eat snack

Who is your best friend?... Brody

What kind of job do you want to have when you grow up?...construction worker

At 10 months you are...

*still sleeping from 7pm to around 7 or 7:30am
*still the same as last month on the naps but rarely taking that 3rd one these days
*doing much better with table food - you love crackers, bread, yogurt melts, cheerios, puffs and are getting better with diced fruit. You have 2 bottles of formula every day and otherwise eat at regular meal times
*pulling up on everything and starting to move around from one thing to another while standing - found you standing up in your crib a week ago. You can also go from crawling to sitting which was something that took the other boys quite a while to do
*you started waving on Saturday (3/31) and were pretty proud of yourself AND you have started dancing which is so cute - basically just bopping your little body up and down when you hear music
*have done much better at church the last few weeks - you still don't like it when I drop you off, but you have made it through the whole service AND you made it through 2 hours of MOPS this week and did really well
*I constantly thank God for you and feel so blessed to have you in my life!