Eleven Months Old

My little bundles of joy aren't so little anymore!  Even doing these month photo shoots is quite the task now with two babies wanting to do anything but sit or stand in one place.  So I guess that is our first and biggest piece of news - Suzie is

now 

standing up on her own!  She even took her first solo steps while at my parents house tonight.  She had incentive each time, first it was to get closer to the TV and the second time it was to get a pack of fruit snacks I was luring her with.  Cruel, but hey - we got two steps out of her!  Suzie like to stand much of the time now and is very good at bending her knees to get a toy then come back up to a stand.

And as for Ian?  Well, just days (I kid you not) after we moved in he 

started to

take off 

 crawling!

 Which means he's been perfecting this skill for a few weeks now.  And man is he fast!  I had a feeling that was going to happen.  He also is able to pull himself up to a stand on the furniture and, after a few days, figure out how to bend his knees and get down by himself too.  Dave and I both agree Ian is much happier and very content now that he can crawl around and get the toys and go to the places he wants.  No more just sitting and watching Suzie move around.  It has also changed the dynamic between them a bit.  Suzie used to be able to take a toy from Ian then crawl away with it.  Now he is able to fend for himself by crawling after her to get it back.  It's been fun to see how both of them deal with his new found mobility.

Suzette has 2 teeth on the bottom now as well as the 4 on top and Ian is rocking 4 on top and 4 on the bottom.  I've tried to start feeding them even more finger food than I did before and it's been a hit and miss process.  Some things they like right away (mostly fruits like bananas, grapes and strawberries) and others take a few days to acquire the taste for (like cheese, squash, sweet potato and carrots).  I've been trying different combos of lentils, quinoa and pasta with a protein and veggies for their dinner meals and get mixed results each night.  Most often I think they're just so distracted when daddy comes home from work that all they want to do is get down and play with him rather than finish eating.  And sometimes that's exactly what happens, for everyones sanity sake!  I need to work more with them on drinking from a sippy cup.  We have 4 or 5 different kinds now (3 of those are with straws) and we never seem to get past the toy stage with them.  The day that they finally get the concept of drinking water/formula from the sippy cup will be one I'm sure I'll hear a choir of angels sing.  In all honesty, I probably haven't stuck with it long enough to give them a fair shake at it (I've read it can take 3 weeks to well over a month for the concept to sink in).  My days are numbered before baby #3 comes, so this will be my focus with them over the next couple months.  I'm open to any tips or suggestions!

I held on to their 10th month like nothing else, but it's funny now how the 11th month doesn't even seem to exist because when people ask now I say, "They are almost 1 year old."  And they are, but for a few more weeks they are still my little (big) babies.  Dave and I have loved this stage of seeing their personalities come through more and more.  Suzie is so sweet waning to just be near you and babble away (her first words, besides mama and dada, can't be too far off now) and Ian is quite the crack-up.  He loves to experiments with making all sorts of different noises with his mouth and tongue and will do anything to get a smile out of you.  Both Ian and Suzie love playing so-big and Ian's favorite is still peek-a-boo.  Bath time has become great fun and meal time the never ending sensory experiment with texture and taste.  Ian will let me tickle attack him every now and then and his laughter is music to my ears.  Suzie is a harder crowd to please and will only reward me with her lovely giggles when I make of fool of myself with all sorts of silly/crazy faces.  

Plans for their first birthday party are under way (it'll be a small event with mostly just family), but for now I just want to soak up each day I have left with my sweet and silly eleven month old babies.