Vote!

Don't forget to vote today!  That is of course unless you are voting for people I didn't vote for - then we'll just cancel each other out.  Kidding - get out and vote!  You can't have an eleven month old showing you up.

11 Months

Okay, so I'm about nine days late on this one, but Miller is officially eleven months old.  I'm not crazy about the above picture, but it was literally the only one I could get where he didn't look like this...

Miller is on the go and into everything these days.  He keeps me on the my toes and may call me "no" instead of "mama" because I say it to him so much.

 

He isn't walking yet, but he pulls up on everything and has started cruising from one thing to the next. 

He is also starting to enjoy his activity table.   You may recognize it as his former exersaucer converted.  This time the construction was much simpler.

Miller continues to bring us more immense joy than we could have ever imagined.  It seems like he hasn't changed as drastically {physically} in the last few months as when he was younger.  He has been in the same clothes for several months whereas before I felt like we were barely getting a few wears out of each outfit.  He is still wearing size 9 months, but I can't tell it won't be long before they will have to be packed away.  He still has not said a real first word.  I have heard him say "mama" and "dada" a few times, but not consistently enough where I feel like it should count.  He does however point to one of Bryant's mounted deer in the garage every time we get in or out of the car and say "duh" very excitedly.  It is so cute!  Another recent change is that Miller wants to feed himself and doesn't want me to feed him.  I still have a good bit of pureed food in the freezer so I'm trying to persuade him to let me feed him at least a little at each meal so that we can finish it off.  Plus, until recently when he got those four teeth, there wasn't a lot that he could gum on his own.  He's ready for more now, though.  I guess that's one more step towards independence :(  He is not drinking {much} from a sippy cup on his own though.  He'll take a few sips, but then refuse to have anymore.  At some point we may have to go "cold turkey", but I'm not quite ready to take away his bottle completely so we'll hold off on that.  For now, I'll hold on that every little bit of baby I can.

Fourth of July Weekend {and then some}

Last Friday we went to Gran and Pop's house on Lake Martin for the Fourth of July weekend.  We had such a great time visiting with family {Kate, Scott, Brad, Lauren, Aunt Debbie, Uncle Randy, and Morgan (my first cousin)}, eating LOTS of yummy food, taking boat rides, and just hanging out by the lake.  Miller was up during the night a good bit due to those four teeth he has coming in and I was so thankful to be able to pass him off to the grandparents at 7 a.m. and get a little more sleep.  So thankful, in fact, that when my mom suggested that Miller and I stay a few more days I jumped on the chance before she could change her mind :)  So, that's where I've been until today when she and Bryant drove halfway to "exchange" us.  I have been enjoying life at Camp Gran and have a feeling that tomorrow will be a rude awakening when it's back to the real world.  Here are some pictures from our stay.  Some of them were taken with an iPhone and therefore may not be the best quality, but they still capture some great moments!

Gran made Miller some "popsicles" with water and he absolutely loved them!

 Then we tried one with apple juice in it and...

 

 On our way to the fireworks show on the fourth.

Sharing some food with Gran.  Yummy ;)

Miller made some new friends at the mexican restaurant on our way out of town and they let him try on their hat.  He's thrilled, can't you tell.

Alright, time to go hang with the hubby a bit.  It's been a while!

Playing Chase with Daddy

I'm so thankful that Miller has such a fun, playful daddy! Miller loves to play chase with him and I love to watch!

Play Group

A few weeks back some of us started a play group to meet in Guntersville.  We started out meeting at a park by the lake and just hanging out.  Enter 100 degree temps and we had to change our location. Now we're meeting at people's houses and this week we took the kiddos swimming at Kendall's.  It has been such a blessing to hang out with other moms and it really gives us me something fun to look forward to every week.  I'm sure Miller will make some great friends too once he's a little more socially aware :)  For now, I think he was just excited to have new toys to play with and an interesting place to explore.  Here are some pics from one of our times together.  I don't think I was successful in getting everyone's picture, but I was close!  Thanks for hosting us, Lori!

Vroom Vroom

I recently discovered several toys that I had tucked away before Miller was born to save until he got bigger only to forget about them entirely.  One of which was this tractor book that Miller has become absolutely obsessed with.  He has zero interest in me reading it to him, but just wants to push it around all day.  He even makes a little "vroom" noise sometimes which might just be coincidental, but I prefer to think he is a prodigy who understands the mechanics of such things.   :) This little one is already showing signs of being "all boy"!

Dancing Baby

Most of the time that Miller hears music or singing he will start to "dance". It is pretty funny to watch because he'll break out into this dance no matter what else he is doing whether sitting, standing, squatting, or being held. Of course, we've had a little difficulty catching him on camera so this was the best we could do. Enjoy!