Mattox's 11th Month

Oh no!  My sweet little baby is not a baby anymore!  You are pretty much full blown toddler now getting into everything.  You are just so much fun, but you can be a handful too.  You are still the sweetest baby though, and you will always be my baby.  Just one more month until you are the big 1!

Size:  We won't go back to the doctor again until you are a year old, but I suspect you will weigh somewhere between big brother Evan's 19 lbs. and big brother Brody's 22+ lbs. with you surpassing the 20 lb. mark.  I had to buy you some new winter clothes, and you have been wearing a lot of 18 month clothes which you fill out pretty well.  I was hoping to get more use out of them next Fall and Winter, but we will see.  You have still been wearing size 3 diapers.  

Developmental Accomplishments:  You are crawling and cruising full speed ahead, but like your brothers, you are taking your time letting go so you don't fall.  You are also a climber and are figuring out how to get through my barricades.  Sigh.  We have caught you going through the open shelf of our living room end table, but we caught you before you made it out the other side.  I also caught you as you had climbed up onto the ottoman that I use to block the entrance to the living room.  You were all the way on top of it.  You want to grab everything you see and are always figuring out how to get to something you want.  You open drawers, can reach so many things I don't think you can and are really keeping me busy now.  You are babbling more, and Evan swears you were saying "mama" this weekend.  I am sure you have just discovered the "m" sounds and are making those repetitively.  You do act more like your big brother Evan at this stage, and he was saying several words before he was a year old so we will see if you do the same.   You still only have four teeth at the moment, but that does not stop you from eating what you want. You love your big brothers, and they just make you laugh so hard.  You also love getting Brody's silky blankie or his teddy bear too, but I think you do it on purpose because you know it is his.  You are just a sweet little mess!

Sleeping:  You still sleep very well through the night and only occasionally wake up once to get more milk.  You sleep in your crib in your own room, and I am very thankful for your angelcare monitor.  You did well sleeping in your pack and play while we traveled to the mountains with Daddy.   

Eating:  You will eat ANYTHING!  We are still chugging away at breast feeding which I am thankful for.  You get 4 to 5 feedings a day getting between 5 and 7 oz. each.  We also switched to whole milk in your one bottle a day this month, and you are doing well on that. You still really love eating solids and have really been doing well with every food you have tried.  You have now tried avocados, peas, squash, apples, pears, bananas, sweet potatoes, peaches, zucchini, green beans, broccoli, white potatoes, mangoes, kale, turkey, chicken, ground beef, pasta, grilled chicken nuggets, and much more.   You enjoyed some bangers and mash (sausage and mashed potatoes) with me at an Irish pub on our trip to the mountains and ate two large portions with broccoli.  I have been making more toddler style meals for you, including pasta with meat sauce and mac and cheese using star pasta.  You have definitely been wanting to eat more these days.  While in the mountains, you enjoyed continental breakfast at the hotel and were eating a whole yogurt container and a mixed fruit cup or a very ripe banana that you were feeding yourself.   

Favorites:  Cocoa (your dog); Cocoa's food bowl; food; Mommy's glasses and trying to steal them off her face; when Daddy gets home from work; playing with your big brothers; taking the track apart to your new car race track; blocks; cars; cups or bowls that have food or drink in them that you try to grab; spoons; bath time and splashing in the water; music and turning on the stereo (just like big brother Brody)

And of course, more cute pictures from the month:

We were ready for snow at the beginning of January.  Evan and Brody both wore this snowman outfit. 

"Yay!!!  Who needs toys when you have diaper rash cream and baby wipes???"

Picture taking time has gotten a little crazy lately because this boy hates sitting still. 

And the living room area has transformed into toddler play area and is usually covered in toys most of the day. 

Throwing a fit because he doesn't want to sit for pictures.  Haha!  

But we get creative with poses and locations like in the crib where he can't escape. 

And enlist the assistance of photographer's assistant, Brody, to entertain the baby and get him to smile and laugh.  

And we get cute shots like these.  And those little horsey feet...I just can't stand the cuteness! 

In honor of national football month and our Panthers making it to the NFL playoffs, we had to do a football theme.  

Yep, he tried to eat it. 

Down, set, hike!

I love this sweet little sweater I found at Janie & Jack for Evan.  I really did used to love that store, but I don't find nearly as many cute clothes there anymore.  Sigh.  Mattox is posing with his heartbeat teddy bear from his special ultrasound session.  I put his little brother onesie on it. 

He is absolutely fascinated with tags.   And he looks so big in his blue jeans.  We had to buy him 12 - 18 month ones.  *Sniff*

"Peek a boo!"

Gorgeous blue eyes. 

He makes the funniest faces.  I suspect he could have been making some of these expressions at big brother Brody.  "Haha, you're so funny!  Oooo, you're going to get in trouble!  Aaaaaahhhhh, you scared me!  I love you too...but oooo, you stink!"  Haha! 

I just love those little toothy smiles.  He definitely looks like daddy when he shows his teeth. 

I needed a picture of Brody and him wearing these matching shirts that Evan and Brody wore together.   They weren't very cooperative.  

Really, Brody, could you at least pretend to be interested?

These two love bath time together. 

I captured a happy baby and a sad baby picture within seconds of each other.  He often stands here at the ottoman either happily waiting for someone or crying because I had to leave the room for a minute.  

And of course, we had to start celebrating the month of love with some special heart pictures.  He is definitely Mr. Irresistible. 

I "heart" those smiles and belly laughs. 

He couldn't leave the heart alone.  I had just cut it out from some red glitter scrapbook paper I had.  

From Mr. Irresistible to Heart breaker.  I loved this little bow tie I had bought for Brody from the Target dollar section. 

Looking like a little Chippendale dancer.